Even still, we were only about a hundred meters from the Empress, and Gwen’s life force felt stronger than ever. While we might be going slowly, we were making progress. Part of me wanted to rush forward, to bypass Sheila, but if we did that, the enemies wouldn’t be blunted by her ravager. That was suicide since as good as the dragon warriors were, even they couldn’t push through a wall of beholders ten deep. Sheila could.
The sky above crackled, and the ground shook again. More monsters surged from the sky, and as they did, I saw Diana coming toward me like a bat out of Hell. I didn’t see her other two dragons, and she an entire sky full of monsters after her.
Her dragon’s jaws seemed to unhinge as she let loose a volley of flame that scorched the earth between us and the statue, but as she pulled back up toward the top of the hill, she seemed to slam into an invisible wall. Electricity arced out from the space around the statue, turning her dragon crispy fried as she was thrown to the ground.
“Get to her!” I cried, sprinting forward through the path she’d just cleared for us. Already more enemies were coming, and without Diana and her dragons to help, the bats descended on Sheila. I instantly realized that while they posed no real danger to the ravagers, there was no way Sheila or Annabeth would be able to fight them off and help. We were on our own.
As we charged up the scorched path of death, I saw Diana at the crest of the hill. She was battered and bloody. Her face was a crimson mask, and as she made a move to stand, something flung her down the hill. She hit hard on her shoulder, and the snap of her collarbone was loud even over the din of the battle. She came rolling to a stop at my feet as Nadine took a step forward and smiled down at me.
“So, you’ve finally come, Builder. I wondered how long you’d take.” Her blood-red hair glittered in the Darkness as she raised one hand high, causing the sky to crackle and split. “I have been waiting for this day for a long, long while.” Her lips curled into a smile as more lightning than I’d ever seen in my entire life came arcing toward us.
I raised my sword to defend myself, wishing, hoping for some way to deflect the attack, and as I did, I felt the pommel of my sword flare. Green light exploded from it before rippling up through the blade and spreading out like an umbrella. The lightning slammed down into my makeshift shield, driving me to my knees in the dirt before sliding off the sides and hitting the ground beside us.
“Get Diana before it’s too late,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’ll take care of Nadine.”
“You’ll take care of me?” she tittered as the dragon warriors moved to advance toward Diana. “How delusional you must be.” She snapped her fingers, and the world erupted into flame that shot from the ground, turning the world molten. People screamed, and their cries were like daggers to my heart as geysers of magma shot from the earth.
“I’m not sure why you betrayed your people, Nadine, but I won’t let you continue to hurt mine.” I charged the dark princess. I had to stop her before she could do more, before she could hurt us more. If I didn’t, we were screwed. We wouldn’t rescue Gwen. We’d just die here.
“Pathetic,” she said, and then she was gone. Something hard slammed into my side, shattering my armor into shards. Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before exploded through me as I tumbled across the battlefield like a broken mannequin. I wasn’t quite sure if she’d broken my ribs, but from the way they hurt, it seemed likely.
Nadine stood next to where I’d been and pointed her bloody fist at me. “If you think I’m going to kill you quickly, you’re wrong. No. I want you to suffer for the humiliation you caused me.” Her face quirked into an amused smile. “I want to get my fingers all up in your gooey bits.” She waggled her fingers at me. “But first, you need to learn what it means to lose.”
With that, she spun on her heel and pointed at Diana and her dragon warriors. Before I could so much as shout a warning, the entire cadre of women exploded into bloody chunks.
48
“No!” I shrieked, my hand outstretched toward Nadine as pure, unbridled fury swept through me. My vision went red. I wanted to kill her. To rend her limb from limb. I. Would. Make. Her. Pay.
Scarlet flame spiraled off my sword as the Etheric Flame in the pommel flared to life. A comet of hellfire exploded from my outstretched hand, turning the ground beneath it to glass as it rocketed forward. The blast caught Nadine in her smug face, blasting her backward across the clearing before detonating like a nuclear blast. As a mushroom cloud of smoke filled the sky, and the shockwave threw monsters and soldiers backward, my chest heaved with pain. I could taste blood on my lips.
I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I didn’t care. I was going to finish her. Even through the swirling flames in the distance, I could see someone moving. It probably shouldn’t have been surprising because she’d been stomped on by a bazillion ton ravager and walked it off.
I took a step toward her, light still streaming from Clarent, and as I did, I realized that’s what Nadine wanted because, at the end of the day, she was a distraction too. Albeit a violent psycho-bitch distraction but a distraction nonetheless. We had to save Gwen and get out of here. Every second we stayed to fight was a second too long, a second where more people died, and I was done with the Saving Private Ryan bullshit.
Turning, I ignored Nadine and sprinted for the statue at the edge of the hill. As I crested that hill, a thunderous shriek of pure insanity nearly stopped me in my tracks. My eardrums burst as the sky above ripped wide open to reveal something so massive and grotesque I could see little more than its head as it looked at me.
That single, unblinking, multifaceted eye fixed upon me, and it was all I could do to keep from going insane. Pain coursed through me and my vision tinged around the edges with blackness. Then it opened its maw and shrieked once more.
I felt myself wither, felt myself dying as Clarent slipped from my grip and hit the dirt beside me. Pain coursed through me, lighting upon every nerve as the fury of its gaze poured into me, ravaging me to the core. I coughed, blood spraying from my lips, and as the Darkness surrounding me threatened to swallow me whole, Sheila slammed into me.
The guard’s massive bulk threw me sideways, out of the smoking crater where I’d been standing. Once again, the monster screamed. This time, its cry was met by a flurry of flaming arrows that poured into the void from our archers. Fire and explosions rocked it, causing it to pull back from the void long enough to reveal the squid-like mass of tentacles the thing called hair as it turned away from the void, retreating from our attack.
“Go!” Sheila cried, shoving Clarent into my hand before pushing me forward. I took half a step and nearly stumbled to the ground. My body was shot. Whatever that thing had done to me seemed to drain my power.
“I just need a second,” I wheezed, and as I tried to suck in a breath that wasn’t broken glass and barbed wire, Sheila grabbed me around the waist, hauling me into the air. Her feet pounded the earth as she sprinted up the hill with me in tow.
Only I knew it wouldn’t matter. Distraction or not, Nadine stood between us and the top of the hill. Just beyond her, I could see the statue of the Empress, but not only that, I could see the altar behind it. Gwen lay bound on it, glowing sigils carved into her flesh. They burned with scarlet light, pulsing in time to the ones on Clarent.
“You won’t be taking another step,” Nadine said, whipping one hand toward Sheila and launching a bolt of scarlet electricity straight at her.
Only, instead of turning Sheila into a smudge on the ground, Nadine’s attack slammed into an invisible wall just in front of the guard. As the blast dissipated into nothingness, the air in front of Sheila crackled into a gummy mess like safety glass.
That’s when I realized Sally was behind us. She had one of her hands outstretched toward us while the other clasped Crystal’s hand. Power surged forth from her, and the shattered air went back to normal to reveal Nadine standing there.
“Color me impressed,” Nadine said, tapping her cheek with o
ne finger. “You stopped one percent of my power.” She smiled, the very picture of a Cheshire cat that enjoyed playing with its food. “Can you do it again? What if I get really serious?” She surged forward, practically blurring as haste magic wrapped around Sheila and me.
As the dark princess’s fist shattered the shield, Sheila dropped me. I hit the dirt with a thud as the guard threw herself into Nadine, slamming her shoulder into Nadine’s torso. The two of them crashed to the ground. As they did, Crystal’s hand flew outward. Caltrops fell around both of them, wrapping the guard and Nadine up tight.
“We’ll hold the line,” Crystal said, pistols in hand as she began unloading them into Nadine’s bound form. Energy crackled along her length as the magic binding her started to tear. I didn’t have long, and worse, I didn’t have time to stay and help. I had to stay on target.
“Thanks,” I said, scrambling to my feet, trying my best to ignore the battle behind me. As I took one step after another, another volley of arrows entered the void, keeping the giant kaiju off of me. My people were holding the line. Now I just needed to make their sacrifice worth it.
As I reached the summit, the monstrous horde renewed its effort, surging toward the line of soldiers that had formed around the area to buy us time. Our ragtag group charged anyway, meeting the monsters’ teeth, claws, and tentacles with swords, gunfire, magic, and huge fucking ravagers. They pounded through the enemies’ lines, and through it all, I knew none of it mattered. We were so outnumbered, it nearly made me physically ill.
All they could do was buy me time at the expense of their lives. That, more than anything, was what I needed.
With that thought throbbing in my mind, I reached Gwen. Her eyes were shut, and the sigils still glowed. The statue of the Empress stared down at us, and even though I knew she wasn’t real, I felt her gaze crawl over me like a swarm of oily bugs. Her eyes seemed to watch me as I raised Clarent and brought it down on the first of Gwen’s bindings. It sliced through the chain with ease, shattering the bonds into etheric shards of fractured light and freeing her left arm. As I raised Clarent to do the same to her left leg, a lizardman came at me.
As its slavering jaws snapped at my face, I spun, swinging Clarent around like Sheila had taught me. My blade passed through its neck like a hot knife through butter, spilling ichor across the altar. An inhuman shriek erupted from that same altar, making me stumble backward, and as I did, Gwen’s eyes fluttered open.
“Arthur?” she asked, confusion filling her voice. “Where am I? What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said, bringing Clarent down and freeing her left leg.
“Get off me, worm!” Nadine roared, a combination of agony and frustration tearing from her mouth.
A surge of power erupted from behind me, and as heat washed over me, Gwen screamed, “Duck!”
I dropped as burning wind rushed over me. Nadine’s enraged fist passed over my head, and without thinking I lashed out with my elbow, driving it into her stomach. The force of the blow ran down my arm. It felt like I’d just tried to elbow a rushing locomotive. As pain rang through me, the dark princess smiled at me. She had a tiny cut on her lip but otherwise seemed unharmed. How was that possible? Where were Sally, Sheila, and Crystal?
“What did you do to my friends?” I cried as Nadine’s murderous eyes met mine.
“They’re dead,” she said, like the lives of my girls were meaningless.
Rage flared up inside me, and before I could stop myself, I swung Clarent at her. The blade came at her in an upward arc meant to cleave her from crotch to throat.
And she stopped it.
Barehanded.
“You can’t win,” she said, tearing Clarent from my hand like she was ripping away a cobweb. She flung the sword away. “The Builder was never meant to be more than a tool,” - she smiled - “and you’re not even good at that.”
“You killed my friends,” I said, meeting her eyes as my sapphire armor evaporated into sparks, leaving me standing there before her defenseless. “You will pay for that.”
“If I had a coin for every time I heard that, I’d be rich.” She tittered. “Well, richer. I’m already rich.” She grabbed my head and slammed me face first into the altar. My nose shattered into a spray of blood as my skull rebounded off the stone. My vision went blurry as she dropped me to the ground. I saw the broken sky again as she pushed me onto my back with her foot.
“Why don’t you lick my boot like the pitiful worm you are?” She shoved her toe into my face. “Go on now. Give mommy a nice long lick.”
“Why don’t you give this a lick?” Crystal said, stepping from the shadows and slamming one of the explosive arrows into the side of Nadine’s skull. The projectile exploded, blowing both women off the summit. My head twisted to watch Crystal fall, but only for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she was still alive or if she would die any moment, but her sacrifice wouldn’t be wasted.
I scrambled forward on my hands and knees, and as my hands wrapped around Clarent, I felt something grab my ankle.
“Where do you think you’re going, Builder? My shoes aren’t clean!” Nadine snarled, jerking me backward, and as she did, I spun. The force of her pulling on me combined with the strength of my thrust, and before I realized what had happened, I had driven Clarent clear through her abdomen. The blade jutted through her back, and for a moment, everything seemed to stop.
Her hands released me to go to the weapon in her gut, and as she stared down at it wide-eyed, she almost smiled. Tears began to fill her eyes as she sank to her knees in the sand beside me.
“Tell me, Builder. How does it feel?” she asked, turning her gaze upon me as her blood gushed through her fingers and onto the ground. “To penetrate me with your steel, is it everything you hoped it would be?” She smiled then, and it was the creepiest thing in the world because it was almost… relieved?
Only that didn’t make sense.
“Here’s where you’re thinking it’s over,” Nadine tried to laugh, but only bloody bubbles left her lips as she threw her head backward and stared at the void above. “But it’s only just beginning.”
“What the fuck are you babbling about?” I asked, Clarent flaring inside her. The light along the blade pulsed, and the craziness receded from her eyes. For a split second, I saw something softer inside her, something that had been corrupted over the lips.
“There were always two.” She coughed again. “Always two.” She turned her eyes to the ground before toppling forward. One hand went out to arrest her fall, but all she served to do was drive Clarent deeper into her as she fell on top of me. “Maybe you’re strong enough to stop it.”
“Stop what?” I said, trying to work my way out from under her. Gwen was still on the altar. I needed to get to her, but something was definitely wrong with Nadine. I wasn’t even sure why I cared, to be honest. After everything she had done, she deserved nothing but death. Still, from the way Clarent was pulsing, I knew she was speaking the truth. I just didn’t know what it meant.
“Always two,” she whispered, one hand snaking up to grab my shoulder. She pulled herself up until we were nearly eye to eye, and it was strange because her vision had gone distant. “One to build,” - she coughed, splattering my face with blood - “and one to destroy.”
“One to destroy?” I asked, and she smiled then. “I don’t understand.”
“I know, but you will.” Then Nadine kissed me, and my reality shattered. Literally.
49
I found myself standing on a battlefield similar to the one on which I’d been only a moment before. There were fewer statues though but the sky was still a swirling red mass of despair. As lightning cut across the horizon, I saw the giant squid-thing from the rent in space gazing down at us from above the statue.
At the very edge of the battlefield, Nadine stood beside an Asian man about my age. He had dark black hair pulled back into a samurai-style topknot. He couldn’t have been much taller than five feet and was
dressed in a strange blue kimono decorated with storm clouds. He had Clarent in one hand, and it blazed like the sun itself. His kimono shone with the same sapphire light my armor had, and his hands were wreathed in living flames.
Nadine turned to him, and the look on her face as she gazed upon him nearly broke my heart. I’d never had anyone ever look at me that way, not ever. There was so much love in it, the sight of it embarrassed me. She reached out, clasping his free hand in hers.
“We’ll hold them while you drive into the center,” she whispered, and her voice was calm and confident. “You must destroy the altar and free this domain from her grasp. Doing so will free our friends.” She gestured at the statues. “That is worth any price.”
“It will be done.” The man smiled then as he turned to regard her with that same love. “On my honor.” As he spoke, an army came through the void behind him. There were so many dragons and soldiers, it made my forces look like little more than a mote in God’s eye.
“We can still leave,” Nadine said, and for the first time, I heard the fear in her voice. “Run away together.”
“I cannot.” The man shook his head. “It would be like killing myself.” He took a step forward. “Now let us find honor and glory.”
He charged, and the world erupted into chaos. The scene scrambled into a pixilated mess, and as I stepped backward in shock, the shattered visage of reality morphed into a different scene.
Everyone was dead and dying and still more warriors surged from the Darkness. The man was on the hill, Nadine beside him as he slashed through a ravager like it was made of confetti. As the creature fell to the earth with a thud that shook the landscape, the beast from above howled.
“You have lost,” the man said, moving toward the altar, sword blazing. He was so bright I could barely look at him, and as he brought Clarent down, the clang of the strike rang out like a clarion call.
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 28
