“And if that doesn’t work?” I asked.
“It will, but if it doesn’t, well, we can always requisition it for an indeterminate time until it can be rightfully returned.” Buffy shrugged. “Either way, they’ll give us the flame. I’m sure of it.”
“So, if they don’t want to sell us some, you want to steal it?” I asked, not sure I was hearing her correctly.
“Steal is such an ugly word,” Buffy said, getting to her feet and coming toward me. “But yes. If you want Gwen back, then yeah, we’ll steal it.” She shrugged. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“I suppose not,” I said, wishing I didn’t have to turn into a thief just to save the world. The people in Royal Centre should have been helping us, not making us have to rob them.
“Good,” Buffy said, nodding.
I rubbed my face with my hands before turning to look at Annabeth. “What do you think?”
“I agree with the goblin. If you don’t think we can kill a dragon, we need to get it from someone who can.” She got to her feet. “Let me know when you set out for Blade’s End. I want to come.” With that, she exited the room, leaving me all alone with the goblin.
“Guess everyone’s too busy to hang out with me.” I sighed, turning my gaze back to my uneaten lunch. I knew I should be doing something, but at the same time, I didn’t know what to do. Everyone else was working to make the town better, and now it was humming along.
“You can get busy too,” Buffy said, winking at me as she made her way to the door, “but not with me. I’ve got a list of goods to put together for our trip to Blade’s End.” She gave me a small wave before leaving me all alone.
“How long will it take to be ready?” I called after her, but if she heard me, she didn’t bother to respond. I sighed, trying to think of what to do with myself when Maribelle walked in.
“Great. I was worried I wouldn’t catch you in time. I really have something I need your help with.” She beamed at me as she came over and unceremoniously flopped down in one of the chairs. “You have a minute?”
“Um… sure,” I said, turning my gaze from the door to Maribelle as she laid plans across the table. As I stood up to take a closer look at the diagrams, they resolved themselves into menus I actually understood. “What’s all this?”
“These are the plans for the town,” she said gesturing at it with one hand. “I need to know what you want me to do next.” She bit her lip. “It really can’t wait.”
“Um, okay,” I replied, shrugging as I looked over the papers she’d spread out once more. “What do we have here…?”
“Now that we have the mill, we’re producing enough lumber to build some more buildings.” She pointed to the plans again. “If we had those buildings, we could get them set up with equipment and maybe lure some more craftsmen from the Royal Centre or train our own. Either way, these are the ones I’d suggest next, given our current materials.”
“What about enhancing the walls and building more towers?” I asked, waving a hand at the plans. “Won’t doing this take away from that?”
“Yes and no,” Maribelle mused. “I’ve already earmarked most of the material for that so it should be okay, but shit happens so, you know. We can’t necessarily predict what we’ll need. Still, I think we should be able to make three new buildings without any impact to the wall. We might get a fourth building done if the wall and guard towers go perfectly.” She rolled her eyes at me. “And yes, that includes the new gate on the south side where the demon dogs keep attacking.”
“Well, fine then.” I shrugged. “Let’s look at the buildings.” I turned my eyes onto the ones she’d suggested, and like before, her notes resolved into Stat windows.
“Well, these are the two I think we should definitely build.” She moved her hand to indicate the note closest to me.
Barracks
Durability: 1,000
Use: Allows for the training of Fighters of various types. Increases Experience gain by ten percent.
Cost: 100 Thatch, 1,000 Lumber, 500 Cloth, 100 Brick
Archery Range
Durability: 1,000
Use: Allows for the training of archers. Increases Experience gain by ten percent.
Cost: 500 Thatch, 1,000 Lumber, 100 Cloth, 100 Brick
“Okay, those make sense to me,” I said, nodding to Maribelle. “I think we should do them, but can you give me a quick overview of what we already have so I can decide?”
“I thought you might be interested in that so I already prepared it.” She beamed at me, and I had the sudden urge to give her a cookie.
“Awesome,” I said as she handed me another list. This one had all the buildings we currently had.
Blacksmith
Use: Allows for the creation of weapons, armor, tools, and other metal based items.
Tailor
Use: Allows for the creation of clothing and cloth based items. Creates 4 Cloth for every 1 Fiber processed.
Alchemist’s Lab
Use: Allows for the creation of alchemy based items.
Trading Post
Use: Used to facilitate trade within a town. Grants a 10% bonus to all transactions with other towns.
Lumber Mill
Use: Used to refine Lumber. Creates 4 Lumber for every 1 Wood processed.
Kitchen
Use: Used to increase edible food production by 25%.
Town Hall
Use: The seat of government within a town. Towns cannot exist without a town hall. Also doubles as a dormitory and a bathhouse.
“That’s kind of a lot to have already,” I said, looking over at Maribelle. “You built all that so quickly?”
“What can I say, I like my job.” Maribelle shrugged and looked away from me, clearly embarrassed. “So, do you want to build the barracks and the archery range?”
“Probably but let’s go through the rest of the buildings first. If we say we’ll build those, what’s next?” I asked, looking back over the notes.
“Well, there’s support type buildings and food production based buildings. Which do you want to look at first?” Maribelle asked, pointing at two different sets of plans.
“Let’s go with support buildings first,” I said, rubbing my chin. “I know we need food production, but at the same time, maybe we’ll better in the long run if we build those.”
“Okay, here they are,” Maribelle said, sliding a set of plans in front of me. “If I had my choice, I’d recommend the masonry. Of course, we’d need to find a mason…” She shrugged.
Apothecary
Durability: 1,000
Use: Allows for the creation of poisons, potions, herbal remedies, and the like.
Cost: 500 Thatch, 1,000 Lumber, 100 Cloth, 100 Brick
Rune Works
Durability: 1,000
Use: Allows the creation of wards which can be used to imbue items with magic.
Cost: 1,000 Thatch, 1,000 Lumber, 500 Cloth, 100 Brick
Masonry
Durability: 1,000
Use: Refines Stone. Creates 4 Bricks for every 1 Stone processed.
Cost: 100 Thatch, 1,000 Lumber, 500 Cloth, 100 Brick
“I can see why you’d want the masonry,” I said, nodding to her. “We would need a mason, but I think we definitely do that one too. Maybe we can recruit one?”
“I’ll put it on the list,” Maribelle replied, scribbling something on the notepad next to her. “Here are the production based buildings. Keep in mind that you already chose three, so if you want another, we may not get to it.”
“I think we’ll still have the same problem we’ll have with the masonry,” I said as I glanced down the list. “If we build farms, dairies, or any of these other structures, we still don’t have the skilled labor to run it.” I shook my head. “As much as I hate to say it, I say we wait on doing any other infrastructure building until later. I’d hate to run into a farmer and not be able to build him a farm because we built a dairy instead.”
“Okay,”
Maribelle said, nodding. “I guess you don’t want to see the academic buildings either then?”
“Not particularly,” I said, getting to my feet. “I need to go find Buffy now so we can figure out a way to buy Etheric Flame.” I rubbed my temples. Part of me couldn’t believe I’d just said those words aloud because they seemed ridiculous. “Can you take care of everything else?”
“I’m on it. You can count on me.” She gave me a salute as I walked out the door.
Evidently, it hadn’t taken long to get ready because, by the time I’d finished with Maribelle, Buffy was sitting atop her buggy waiting for me. It was laden down with supplies, refined Dark Blood, and even a couple of the enhanced weapons and pieces of armor Sam had made.
“I’m starting to think you may have planned this before you talked to me because it hasn’t been that long, has it?” I asked as I turned my eyes from Buffy to the rest of the assembled women. Annabeth was seated on the buggy, but she was too busy fiddling with something to pay me any mind. Sheila, Sally, and Crystal were there too, all watching me carefully.
“Perhaps,” Buffy said, giving me a rueful smile. “Look, I know you want to go after Gwen so we sorted it out. The others will stay and keep the town going. Elizabeth will handle the day to day. It will be fine.” She smacked the buggy. “We’ll be there in less than two days with this.”
“What if Gwen doesn’t have two days?” I said, turning my gaze to the buggy as Annabeth set a small sculpture of a rearing deer on the front of the buggy like a stone hood ornament.
“Everything will be fine. Trust me,” Buffy said, offering me her hand. “Besides, it's not like we have a better plan.” When I didn’t respond, she continued, “Now saddle up. We’re burning daylight.”
35
Thanks to the speed boost provided by Annabeth’s hood ornament sculpture, we arrived in Blade’s End after only a day of travel. Better still, thanks to our incredible speed, we were able to outrun most of the monsters, so we’d only had to stop and fight a couple of times.
Even still, I was nearly a wreck by the time we got there. What is Gwen had been killed? What if Nadine had come back and sacked the town? More what ifs burbled in my mind, and I frantically tried to keep a lid on them. I needed to focus on getting enough Etheric Flame to make the Nexus Gateway. Then I’d march on that stupid Graveyard of Statues with my pet ravagers and lay waste to everything, Nadine included.
Assuming, of course, she was dumb enough to show her face when I came a-knocking. Something told me she would. After all, she needed to prove herself after her last defeat. She wouldn’t come behind my back to do that. Not now anyway. At least I hoped she wouldn’t.
As we came up the bumpy road, I stared at the huge walls of the town. They were made from redwoods thicker than the ones I’d seen in the sequoias back in California and stretched nearly as tall. As we zoomed up the asphalt path toward the massive gate hewn straight into the wall, the smell of smoke hit my nose, and I had the growing feeling that something was wrong.
“Shouldn’t there be guards outside?” I asked, gesturing at the gate as I looked around. The entire landscape looked like it’d been burned. Just a few minutes ago we’d been surrounded by more lush vegetation. Granted it had been vegetation with leaves like blue flame but vegetation nonetheless. Now everything was scorched earth.
“There should be,” Buffy said, pulling up to a stop. “At least there always has been before.”
“Sheila, can you fly up and check it out? I have a bad feeling about this,” I said as I unsheathed Clarent. Just in case my feeling was correct, I called upon the blade’s power. Once again sapphire armor snapped into place around me like I was a medieval Iron Man.
“On it, boss,” Sheila said before leaping into the air with so much force, the buggy came off its two left wheels. Her massive wings propelled her upward as the wheels smashed back into the asphalt hard enough to knock me on my side.
“See anything?” I called, getting to my feet as Sheila reached for the spear and shield on her back.
“Yeah, and you ain’t gonna like it none.” She turned her eyes on me. “There’s a whole mess of lizardmen and beholders fighting with the villagers inside the town. The other end of the wall looks shattered.” She gestured toward the far end of town where I couldn’t see. “Looks like someone marched a ravager straight in here. There’s a dead one and a whole mess of dead dragons to boot. Must have been a heck of a brawl.”
“Really?” I asked, and as she nodded, I cursed. “Damn.”
“What do you mean ‘damn?’” Buffy asked, grabbing my arm. “This is our chance. Go in there and get the Etheric Flames from the dead dragons.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We have to help them.” I turned to Crystal and Sally. The two girls were already unfurling their wings. “You got any explosive bolts or bombs?”
“A few,” Sally said, showing me a small sack with half a dozen bombs.
“I’ve got about ten arrows,” Crystal added. “Am I gathering you want us on beholder duty?”
“Yeah,” I said. They both nodded at me before springing into the air, but neither made any effort to move into the town yet.
“What about me, boss?” Sheila asked.
“In a second,” I said, gesturing for her to come to me. “I wanna see the battlefield first. Sally, Crystal, you’re on me.”
“Affirmative.” Sheila dropped down and grabbed me up like a baby. A moment later, we were high above the battlefield, and it was as Sheila had described.
About twenty or so beholders were working their way through the wide streets of the town. The guards inside were doing their best to fight them but every time they seemed to gain an advantage, the lizardmen would attack.
“Okay, I’ve got a plan. Can you take me to whoever is supposed to be the leader down in that cluster?” I asked, gazing across the battlefield. There was so much smoke, I couldn’t make out anyone individually, but maybe Sheila would know.
“I think so. Let’s get in closer. I wanna circle overhead first.” As she spoke, I turned to look at Annabeth and Buffy.
“We’ll be back in a bit. Stay safe.”
Sheila took off, flying straight through over the gates. Smoke stung my eyes, and the acrid taste of soot filled my mouth as I tried to breathe and wound up sputtering. Then we were through it, and Sheila set me down behind a blockade of women dressed in armor every color of the rainbow.
Crystal and Sally landed next to me as a woman a bit taller than the others and dressed in gleaming red and green armor turned her yellow cat eyes on me. Stray locks of snow white hair tufted from beneath her helmet as she looked us all over.
“Who are you?” she asked in an accent I could only classify as Scandinavian. “Surely not the reinforcements from the Royal Centre. There’s not nearly enough of you.” She gestured at me. “And he isn’t even a demon.”
“We’re from Lustnor actually,” I said, bowing my head to her. “I’m the Builder of Legend. These are three of my best warriors. Sheila, Crystal, and Sally. We saw the smoke and came to help.”
As she opened her mouth, I pointed past the line of armored warriors toward a beholder a few hundred feet away. “Sally and Crystal have a way of taking down beholders pretty easily, and Sheila knows Defending Aegis.”
“Oh?” she said, turning her attention to Sheila. “Is that true?”
“Yes,” Sheila said, meeting the woman’s eyes. “I do.”
“Excellent.” The woman nodded. “I am Diana. This is my town. If you offer me assistance, I will gladly take it.”
“As I said, that’s why we came,” I said, nodding to the battlefield as the glinting tower shields of the armored warriors knocked back the lizardmen before advancing a few feet.
“Good,” Diana said, looking me up and down before turning her attention to Sheila. “Use Defending Aegis to draw the lizardmen away. My dragon warriors will protect you.” She looked to Sally and Crystal. “When the beholders are vulnerable, ta
ke them down.”
The three women nodded, and as Sheila used her Defending Aegis Skill to draw the lizardmen away from the beholders they’d been protecting, Sally cast haste on her and Crystal.
Crystal, for her part, unslung her crossbow, and as she did, I realized the problem. We could only take the beholders down by shooting them in the mouth. Otherwise, the explosive wouldn’t do enough damage. It was why we’d been hitting them with fire arrows first. Only we didn’t have any.
“Do you have any archers?” I asked Diana as the lizardmen slammed into her dragon warriors, only to be thrown backward again.
“Yes.” She pointed to the rooftops, and I looked up to see more women on the rooftops, shooting into the horde.
“They need to hit the beholder with fire so it opens its mouth. That’ll let Crystal finish it off,” I said.
“If that is what you need, I will make it so.” She gave three sharp whistles before pointing to one girl in particular. “Crystal, that is Leilani. She will assist you. She is my best archer.”
“Okay,” Crystal said, reaching out and squeezing Sally’s hand before taking the satchel of bombs from her. “I’ll be back.”
With that she was off, flying toward the rooftop. As she did, beholders filled the sky with fire and ice, but she somehow weaved past them all.
“Good luck,” Sally whispered as I opened her Skill window. Thanks to the recent battles and all the travel, she had a bunch of Experience to spare so I quickly used some of it to improve her healing and haste Abilities. Not enough to drain more than a few thousand Experience but enough to give her a haste effect aura similar to Blinding Blade.
“Can you trigger Greater Haste, Sally? I think we’ll need it.”
“With pleasure,” she said, twirling one hand in the air. A giant ethereal clock exploded into being overhead, the second and minute hands spinning at ludicrous speed. Then the entire thing shattered, raining down bits of energy across the line of dragon warriors. As it touched them, their bodies began to move even faster.
“You have someone with Greater Haste, another with Defensive Aegis, and a way of taking down beholders?” Diana asked, raising an eyebrow as the closest beholder exploded into bits of goo.
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 20
