“On it,” she said, giving the beholder one last slash that severed its flaming eye before leaping to the ground beside me.
Her feet had barely touched the ground when the beholder roared, tearing free of Crystal’s trap and flailing around. Dark ichor sprayed from the wounds Agatha had dealt, but I knew that while it looked hurt, beholders could take an incredible amount of punishment.
Sally stepped out then, one hand cocked backward, and as the monster caught sight of her, it roared. She flung the glowing horn directly into its open maw. The creature sputtered, tentacles lashing out right before the bomb exploded. Bits of black ichor flew in every direction as the back of the monster blew apart.
Its lifeless corpse collapsed to the ground and more green Experience numbers appeared over the heads of my party members. A quick glance at their Stat sheets confirmed it. Everyone had gained almost five hundred Experience from that one kill.
“Get the Dark Blood,” I said, gesturing to the glowing mass hidden within the corpse of the creature. “Then let’s rush the other three. Let’s do the same thing. Caltrops and then dark grenades. With any luck, we can take them out quickly enough to not die.”
“Assuming that’s all that’s here,” Crystal said as she took a few steps forward and pulled the hunk of Dark Blood from the corpse of the creature. She shoved it into her satchel and began to make her way toward the three beholders in the distance. It made me glad they were in the opposite direction of the five she’d marked earlier. Fighting eight at once didn’t seem fun, even if we had a plan.
This time the beholders didn’t stand a chance. Crystal easily froze them in their tracks with her caltrops, and as they roared and struggled, she, Agatha, and Primrose, one of the newer guards we’d gotten, planted the explosives. Two minutes later we were covered in muck and showered with Experience.
“How many more do we have?” I asked, glancing at Sally. “Because we’ve been here all of five minutes, used four bombs,” - I pointed to the spot where Crystal had thrown down caltrops, ostensibly to catch the other five -“and there’s five more coming.”
“We have nine left now. So, after that group, we’ll have four.” Sally shot me a concerned smile. “I didn’t realize we’d be fighting so many.”
“It’s okay,” I said, shaking my head as the caltrops exploded, grabbing the beholders out of invisibility and anchoring them to the ground. As they flailed and spat, we repeated the procedure with both Sally and Sheila joining in. Ten seconds later we were pocketing five more of the massive Dark Bloods. A good haul.
“Now we just need to get out of here,” Sheila said, turning to look at me. “Preferably before something worse shows up.”
“I agree,” I said, turning to Crystal. “You see any way out of this place?”
“No,” she said, turning in a slow arc. She stopped and stared at the statue of the Empress. It was only a few yards away, and our last encounter had brought us pretty close to it. Even from here, I could feel the dark, angry malevolence flowing out of the statue like it was a living, breathing thing.
“What is it?” Sally asked, laying a hand on Crystal’s shoulder. Only as the girl opened her mouth to reply, hideous laughter exploded from the horizon as the sky rent itself asunder. Bloody rain began to fall, turning the ground beneath our feet to scarlet mud as Nadine stepped forth from the rent in space and time.
“There is no escape, Arthur. I told you that before.” She smiled at me as scores of lizardmen stepped through the rift followed by half a dozen beholders. “There is only the cold kiss of death.” Her grin widened. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She had, and even though her words filled me with fear for me and mine, I shoved it down. There was no way I was going to let her kill all my people. I just needed to figure out a way to stop her. Fast.
“Princess Nadine?” Sheila said, awe filling her voice as the woman stood beside the statue of the Empress with an entire legion of monsters at her heel. “What are you doing?”
“You know who she is?” I asked, turning to look at Sheila. Only instead of responding, the big guard dropped into a bow… as did all my other people.
“Of course.” Nadine shook her head, causing her crimson locks to flutter. Lightning crackled overhead. “I used to be the ruler of Hell.” She waved her hand at the monstrous horde behind her. “Then I traded up.”
26
“Go!” Nadine cried, flinging her hand out toward us. “Drive them before you so the Builder may hear the lamentation of his women!”
The horde surged forward at her command, coming down the hill like a wave of death and destruction. My guards, bless their hearts, readied themselves for the onslaught, wrapping themselves around Sally and me in a whole shoulder-to-shoulder thing that reminded me of the Spartans in 300. Only, since half of our girls didn’t have shields, that made me think we were in a losing proposition, even if a swarm of beholders wasn’t coming down the mountain toward us.
“What do you want us to do, Arthur?” Sally asked, one hand whipping out to haste Crystal. As the glow of the spell wrapped around the girl, she unloaded her pistols into the coming lizardmen. Two fell, brains blown out in sprays of ichor. As their bodies tumbled to the ground to be trampled by their friends, she pulled out her rapier.
It was the last stand, and we all knew it.
“Just give me a second,” I said, frantically looking through their Skill trees for anything that could help us. My eyes fell across buffs and suchlike, but unfortunately, there wasn’t anything vaguely like a portal to get the fuck out of dodge, and even if there was, they probably couldn’t have afforded it.
Only… Nadine had somehow conjured a portal before, and what’s more, she’d manipulated space and time. How was that possible?
I wasn’t sure, but I ran out of time to think about it because the lizardmen slammed into us then. They swarmed around the wall of guards, attacking with fervor, but my girls, thanks to Sally’s hastes, were able to fend them off. For now, anyway.
Once those beholders got here, we were fucked. Even if we managed to blow up four, there would still be two left, and that would be two too many.
Sprays of ichor and screams of defeat filled the air as my guards pushed the line of lizardmen backward. My eyes flitted past them toward the portal. As I stared at it, I realized there was an icon above it. I opened it to reveal an unhelpful message.
Gateway Nexus: Graveyard of Statues.
Next to it was a little symbol, letting me know there was more information to be had. I quickly opened it to reveal the Tooltip.
A Gateway Nexus has been activated and can now be used to transport the user to their desired location, provided their desired location has its own Nexus. If their desired location does not have one, the user will be placed at the closest Nexus.
“That’s it!” I cried, pointing to the portal beside Nadine. The princess bitch was busy watching her forces whittle us down bit by bit. “If we can get to the portal, we can get out of here. It’s why she came to stop us from reaching it.”
“Then we’ll just have to get to it,” Agatha said, her blades whipping out at blinding speed to fell two lizardmen. As their corpses fell to the ground, more took their place, and I realized we might actually win. The lizardmen really weren’t going to be a problem because my people were strong enough to fend them off. Really it was the beholders. We had to stop them.
“Sally, I need you to get those bombs ready. As soon as those beholders come into view, I want you to blow them away. I know we won’t have enough, so we’ll have to kite the remaining two.”
Sally nodded to me as I spoke. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and readied two of our bombs. “I’ll make it work.” Her wings unfurled like she was going to leap into the air, only before she could, I reached out and stopped her.
“I’m an idiot,” I said, shaking my head. “New plan.” I turned to the group. “We make a run for the portal. Don’t look back, just get to it and think about Lustnor a
s hard as you can. As long as you do, everything will be okay.”
“What about you?” Sally asked, glancing at me. “You can’t fly.”
“I was hoping you’d carry me,” I said, giving her a hopeful smile.
“Oh.” she fidgeted for a second. “Okay.”
She reached out, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her body against mine before leaping into the air. Her huge wings beat the air, and I immediately realized she was struggling to hold me aloft. She definitely wasn’t strong enough for this. Damn.
“Break formation and get up here,” I said as the beholders lumbering forward unleashed blasts of fire and ice at us. Sally managed to weave around them, but barely. Not that it mattered because a second later my girls were in the air.
“Let me have him. I’m both stronger and faster than you,” Agatha said, ripping me from Sally’s grip and throwing me over her shoulder like I weighed less than nothing.
“Go to the portal!” I cried as we surged forward en masse, doing our best to weave by the blasts of beholder fire.
The portal loomed ahead, and for a second I almost thought we’d reach it. Then Nadine unfurled her own wings. Massive wings at least ten feet in width caught the air. Scarlet scales glistened along them, catching what little light there was and flinging it to the ground like drops of blood.
Energy wrapped around her body as she leaped into the air, one hand outstretched. The lightning heeded her call, arcing from the clouds and into her hand. She grabbed hold of it like she was Zeus and flung it straight at us. Our formation broke as the girls flapped toward the portal with everything they had.
“You won’t escape,” Nadine snarled, bursting forward with so much speed she seemed to blur. Her fist crashed into Agatha’s chin, snapping the girl’s head backward. The guard’s eyes went glassy, and her wings seemed to sort of collapse mid-flight. Before I knew it, we were falling. We slammed into the ground just shy of the portal as Sally and Crystal disappeared through it, even though it looked like they’d been trying to avoid doing so.
Pain exploded through me, making my vision go hazy as the lizardmen turned on their heel and charged back toward us. Even though the pain, I knew we could make it to the portal before them. The rest of the guards came rushing forward, but I knew they would reach us after the horde was upon us.
“Go!” I cried, grabbing Agatha’s arm and trying desperately to lift her onto my shoulders. Damn, she was too heavy. I couldn’t do it.
“Come on, Builder. Don’t you want to play with me?” Nadine asked as she landed on the ground beside me and flung out one hand, stopping her army from moving to finish the job. She nodded to me, a sly smile on her lips. “I will give you this one chance to send your people home.”
“What’s the catch, Nadine?” I asked, gripping Clarent. Blue energy rippled across the blade, but I had no illusions. She was too fast and strong for me to fight. Whatever she was offering, I had to take it. If I didn’t, Agatha would never make the portal. The others might but not Agatha.
“The catch? Hmm,” she touched her chin with one hand. Eyes glinting with mischief. “Why that’s simple, Builder. You have to stay with me.” She licked her lips. “I assure you that I can be quite fun. You won’t get to experience that side of me, of course, but I assure you, I am. I just feel like you should know that.” She cocked a wry grin at me. “Now choose. Tick tock.”
That choice was a non-choice. I couldn’t let my people sacrifice themselves in a battle we couldn’t win. I could, however, sacrifice myself to save them.
“Leave,” I said, looking at my guards. They were all shaking their heads at me.
“We can’t! You’re the Builder. You’re more important than us!” Sheila said, taking a step forward, her muscles tensing like she was going to hurl her spear at Nadine.
“No. I’m just a man, and you’re my responsibility. I led you here, and I’ll make sure you get out of here. Now go. Take the blood back and carry out my plan. It’s the only way to save everyone!” I cried, and as I spoke, power rumbled through my words, and Clarent flared in my hand. “Go! Please!”
The remaining guards nodded, sprinting toward the portal. Sheila didn’t move, standing there unmoving as they all disappeared one by one. Her eyes flicked from Agatha’s unconscious body to me and back again. This time those eyes had something different in them as they settled on me.
“Sheila, you need to leave,” I said, gesturing toward the portal.
“He’s right. My patience will not extend much longer,” Nadine added, flicking her nails casually at the guard. “Go.”
“I’m going,” Sheila said, pointing at Agatha. “I just need to take her too.”
“Oh, very well,” Nadine said, sighing loudly as Sheila jogged toward us.
As the burly guard reached out to take Agatha from me, she grabbed my arm and sprang backward. Her wings beat the air, moving us closer to the portal at breakneck speed.
“No!” I cried, and as I turned my gaze back to Nadine, I realized she wasn’t coming toward us. Agatha had grabbed hold of the demoness, and not only that, she was glowing like a radioactive explosive. Sparks danced across her skin, and her eyes were white voids of power as she wrapped herself around Nadine.
“Good luck,” she whispered as she exploded.
“Cute,” Nadine said as heat, sound, and light swept out of Agatha, burying her in the center of a solar flare.
Energy leaped after us as we hit the portal, and I knew that if we’d been even a hair slower, we’d have been flash fried. Only it was a small consolation as I was torn limb from limb by the Gateway Nexus because I knew one thing. Agatha had just sacrificed herself for me.
27
“Agatha!” The cry was still on my lips as Sheila and I reappeared on the other side of the Gateway Nexus. We crashed to the ground on the forested edge of the Royal Centre. The rest of the girls were there, looking battered and bruised but not broken, not dead.
I shoved my way free of Sheila and turned toward the Gateway Nexus as it vanished into the ether, leaving no trace it had ever been there at all.
“Where’s Agatha?” Sally asked, voice small and distant as her eyes flitted from me to Sheila.
“She triggered her core to give us the time to escape.” Sheila took a deep breath.
Agatha had sacrificed herself to save me. Only, I knew I wasn’t worthy. I was just some guy who had been playing hero, and what’s more, my incompetence had caused one of my girls to die. No, not just die. Sacrifice herself for me.
“She shouldn’t have,” I said, wiping my eyes with the back of one hand. Clarent was still glowing in my hand, practically mocking me for not being able to stop Nadine. The sad thing was that I knew deep down she had let us get away. Despite Agatha’s sacrifice, I’d watched Nadine not even bat an eye as the explosion engulfed her. That bitch was still alive, and for all I knew, she hadn’t even been hurt.
The idea pissed me off. Part of me knew I shouldn’t be here, that I should give up before more people got hurt but more of me wanted revenge. Nadine had taken someone from me and for that, she’d pay.
My hands clenched around Clarent’s hilt as the memory of losing not just Agatha but my parents washed over me. It filled me to the brim with anger and sadness. Only this time was different. Unlike with my parents, I had someone I could fight. Someone I could make pay. I had Nadine, and I had the Empress.
“She was doing her duty,” Sheila said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It probably doesn’t mean much, but if our places had been reversed, I’d have made the same decision as her.” Sheila met my eyes. They were filled with pain and rage, but also understanding I’d never seen before. “You are the Builder of Legend. You are the most important person I know.” She smiled at me. “And I know you’ll make her sacrifice worth it. I know you’ll make Nadine pay and pay and pay.”
“I will.” I nodded because if there was one thing I was damned sure going to do, it was make Nadine pay. “I promise.”
>
“Good,” Sheila said, before looking around. “Now let’s get to Lustnor. We have ravagers to kill.” She offered me her hand. “I’d be honored if you’d let me carry you back.”
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath while making a promise to myself. I would avenge Agatha. Her sacrifice would not be in vain. It. Would. Not.
Sheila nodded and swept me up in her arms before leaping into the sky. The others followed suit, swarming around me to keep me in the center. As we flew, I found myself watching the Gateway Nexus and wondering why Nadine hadn’t followed us. Was it because she couldn’t? Or was she just toying with us? I wasn’t sure, but either way, I was going to be prepared for it.
“So, tell me about Nadine,” I said as the scenery below us flashed by us so quickly, I knew we’d make the entire trip in a matter of hours instead of a full day. That was good. We needed all the time we could get.
“Nadine was once the ruler of Hell. A few millennia ago, she led an army into the Darkness to try to drive it back.” Sheila’s eyes flicked to me, and she let out a slow breath. “The Builder went with her. None of them returned. We thought Nadine dead when the Darkness began to devour our land with increased fervor.”
“Now we know the truth.” I gritted my teeth. They’d lost, and what’s more, that Builder had lost. I wasn’t sure how or why but I knew one thing. I would not go back into the Darkness unprepared. No. Next time I went, it would be to win.
“I suppose so, but there’s the truth, and then there’s the truth.” Sheila squeezed me a bit. “Nadine was one of the strongest of our kind. If she’d wanted us all dead, we would be dead. I did not know her to be a fool then, and I suspect she isn’t now. No. She’s definitely up to something, and I’d give my left tit to know what it is.”
“We’ll figure it out and stop it,” I said, my eyes flicking back to the Nexus Gateway. “Still, one thing bugs me. Why couldn’t she come through the gateway? You guys make it seem like this is the first time she’s been seen in a few thousand years.”
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 16
