“Hmm,” I said, staring at them and trying to envision the dwarven archangel. “Nothing seems to be happening.” I glanced at Annabeth as I pulled out my book, hoping there might be something helpful inside. “Do you wanna try?”
“Try what?” she asked, taking them from me. Only, as her fingers wrapped around the pants, the light from her dagger, amulet, and assorted pieces of loot she’d gotten from the guardians in the cave along the way here flared to life.
“What’s going on?” Envy screeched, throwing one arm up and backing away as crimson light bathed the room.
“Why have you summoned me?” Sathanus’s voice boomed as she appeared overhead, her golden wings holding her easily aloft. Her gaze flitted from Annabeth to me before settling on Leviathan. “You!”
“Hello, sister,” the archangel of Envy said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at her with an unimpressed sneer. “It’s about time you showed up. We’ve been waiting for you forever, and you know how valuable my time is to me.”
“Waiting for me?” the dwarf said, dropping down in the narrow pathway behind me. “And what is all this junk? You’ve turned my palace into a mess.”
“Just stop,” I said, making a time out gesture with my hands before things could spiral out of control. I wasn’t quite sure how Annabeth had summoned her here, but I was guessing it was because her items were from Wrath’s minions, and that had somehow powered the armament enough for her to sense it. Then again, I wasn’t going to waste time trying to get an explanation.
“You’re not the boss of me, Builder. You don’t get to tell me what to do!” Sathanus snorted, reaching back for her axe. “Now step aside so I can teach the goblin some manners.”
“If you could beat me, you’d have done it already.” Leviathan rolled her eyes. “Now, come along like a good girl. The Builder has promised me things, and I want them.”
“What is she talking about?” Sathanus asked, her bushy eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “What have you promised her?”
“That you’d come with us to our camp outside.” I pointed at Envy. “You have to know she got hurt. I want my healer to fix her.”
“What you want to do is impossible.” Sathanus looked past me at Leviathan, and something like concern flickered across her features. “Do you not think we’ve tried that?” She huffed. “Do you think we’re all that stupid and never thought to try to heal her ourselves?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Well?”
“I think I’m the Builder, and so once I get Clarent repaired, I can find out if the skill exists to fix her. If it does, we can find someone to learn it.” I glared right back at the Archangel of Wrath, which yes, was probably a bad idea. “Did you have that when you tried?”
“No!” she hollered back at me before she realized what she’d said. Then she blinked a couple times and rocked back on her haunches. “That is an excellent point, actually.” She looked at Envy. “Very well, I shall accompany her to your village.” She actually smiled, and I saw hope glimmer in her eyes. “Tis the least I could do.”
Only as she said it, I realized I’d been tricked. Wrath hadn’t wanted me to get rid of Envy, she’d wanted me to help her. Or at least, she’d hoped I would. How did I know that? Because I could feel it through the bond I had with Envy. It was weird to feel the goblin’s emotional reaction it, along with the knowledge that the dwarf could have thrown her out if she’d wanted to. No. Envy had spent all this time waiting for the day of reckoning to come, and it never had. Interesting.
“Great,” Annabeth clapped her hands. “So, all that’s left is for Arthur to remake Clarent and we can help her.”
“Yup,” I said, hoping Annabeth was right. “But we can go to the village now, if you like.”
“I don’t want to go right now,” Envy said, biting her lip. “Not until I know you can fix me.” She swallowed. “I’m scared I’ll go all that way and then have to come back still hurt.”
“I could stay with you here,” Sathanus said, surprising me. “Keep you company until he gets back. Would that be okay?”
“I think I would like that,” Leviathan said, taking a deep breath. “As long as you don’t try to steal all my stuff.”
“I won’t steal your stuff, Levi,” Sathanus said, turning back to me. “What do you need from us to be successful?” The way she said it, let me know she knew I knew, and we could drop all the pretenses.
“I need you to mark me so I can use these pants.” I held up the pants to her. “Then I need Envy’s belt. Finally, I need something to present to the dwarves so they’ll help me.”
“I can only grant two of those things to you,” Wrath said, and before I could say anything, she punched me hard in the left shoulder. Pain shot through me right before my arm lit up like it was on fire. I cried out, reaching for my shoulder with my right hand as the imprint of a red hammer began to glow through my clothing in soft red light. “That is my mark. It will fix your problem with the greaves as well as with the dwarves. It is written into their laws to help anyone bearing my mark.” She smiled. “And if it doesn’t work, call upon me, and I shall come to your aid.” She licked her lips. “I almost want that to happen.”
“Right, okay,” I said, still rubbing my shoulder. It hurt, but not nearly as much as when I’d gotten Mammon’s mark. Which was a little odd because that’d hurt so much, I thought I’d die. Was it because she’d had to infuse the gauntlet with power and these pants were made already? Then again, Leviathan had obviously marked me during our pact…
I glanced down at my book, wanting to flip through it and check for answers when Wrath’s voice brought my attention back to her.
“Sister, will you allow the Builder the use of your belt? It is the only way he will have the power to help you in his quest,” Sathanus, took a step forward until her body was practically pressed against mine. “He’ll return it when he’s done.”
“He already promised me that,” Leviathan said, pulling her shirt back up to look at the belt. “But I’m not sure I can do it.”
“You can,” Sathanus said, moving past me, and practically knocking me into a pile of candelabras. Annabeth wisely stepped aside as the dwarf approached. “I know you can, Levi.”
“Can you do it for me?” the goblin swallowed hard and shut her eyes. “Just take it off before I realize it’s gone. I can’t do it myself.”
“Sure,” Sathanus said, and as she reached out to undo the knot, Leviathan began to grow.
“Hurry,” The archangel of Envy hissed, her eyes narrowing into serpentine slits. “I won’t be able to hold back the serpent for long. She doesn’t want you to take what’s mine.”
“As soon as I get this to you, run!” Sathanus said, fingers moving quickly to unbind the knots. “I’ll hold her off until you can escape.”
“We can’t run all the way back, we’ll never make it,” I said as the dwarf pulled the belt free and offered it to me.
“You can because I know what this belt does. Take my teleport ability and use it to escape.” She shoved the belt into my hands as Leviathan transformed, her massive body exploding into being as she reared back, eyes fixed on the belt.
“Mine!” the huge serpent screeched. She struck, mouth agape. Sathanus jumped in front of her, catching the massive serpent’s strike on her axe and holding her back.
“Go!” Sathanus cried as I slipped the belt around my waist. The moment I did, I felt the raw pulse of Leviathan’s power. She aimed to have this back if it meant killing us all, but what’s more, I could see the pieces of her mind, and how they could be put back together. I just couldn’t do it now.
“Arthur?” Annabeth asked, grabbing my arm as I shut my eyes and focused on Sathanus. Every ability she’d used in front of me spilled out in front of me, and I quickly grabbed hold of the teleportation one. No sooner had I done it when Leviathan threw her across the room. She slammed into an old chandelier before plunging into a pile of shoe boxes.
“There’s no place like home
,” I muttered, clicking my heels together as the massive serpent struck once more.
18
We vanished as Leviathan’s jaws closed around us. I stumbling backward into the dwarven princess’s room, one arm up to shield myself while Annabeth moved to deflect the blow with the chainmail pants she’d been holding. Only the attack never came as we landed in a heap on the ground.
“What have you done?!” the princess cried, leaping to her feet and coming toward us, beer in one hand, axe in the other.
The entire room shook violently as she moved, causing the contents of her mug to slosh onto the ground. Pictures fell off the wall and shattered on the stone floor in front of us. Steins of beer fell over, spilling their contents onto the ground and bits of dust and debris fell from the cavernous ceiling.
“We hit a small hiccup,” I said, trying to push myself to my feet, but with Annabeth laying on top of me, it was no use.
“Why is my entire mountain shaking?” the princess snarled, her eyes filled with a strange combination of fear and anger. “How can this be? It hasn’t erupted in over ten millennia.”
“It’s not going to erupt,” I replied as Annabeth finally managed to climb off of me. “That’s Leviathan and Sathanus fighting. I think it will subside soon, but either way, you have to help us.” I pulled down the collar of my shoulder, revealing the Mark of Wrath blazing on my left shoulder.
“That wasn’t our agreement,” the princess said, but it didn’t seem like there was a lot of fight in her words. Still, that didn’t stop her from coming over to me and glaring down her nose at me. “Our agreement was for you to get rid of the dragon who resides within our former stronghold.” Another tremor shook the room. “There was supposed to be treasure, not earthquakes.”
“Yeah, I said there was a hiccup,” I replied, taking Annabeth’s hand and letting her help me to my feet.
“Put them on,” she said, shoving the Merciless Greaves of Wrath into my hands. “I dunno what’s going on down there, but you may need the boost in power if Leviathan breaks through.”
She needn’t have bothered saying anything. The moment I touched the greaves, I felt the pulse of Wrath’s power. It reminded me of a pressure cooker right about to blow its lid and start screaming. The thing was, I could also tell that her battle with the Archangel of Envy, for better or worse, was winding down.
“What kind of hiccup?” the princess asked as the room shook again, causing the barrel of ale in the corner to fall over and roll against the far wall. That had been worse than the others. What was going on down there?
“Can you hear me?” Sathanus’s voice broke into my mind.
“Y-yeah, I can hear you,” I said aloud almost too stunned by the intrusion to reply at all.
“That doesn’t make any sense, nor does it answer my question,” the dwarven princess said, glancing back at the barrel as an aftershock shook the room.
“Good!” Sathanus thundered. “I think Levi is tired out, and she’ll nap for a while on account of the statue I broke over her head. I’m coming to you.”
There was a flash of light in front of my eyes like a thousand fucking daggers stabbing me in the brain. The greaves in my hand turned superheated, and as I tried to scream and drop them, a burst of plasma exploded from the mark on my shoulder. The whole of the room shimmered with silver light like it was covered in a glowing spider’s web. The crimson flash of energy tearing through me hit the web like a bowling ball, tearing a hole through the threads.
“Ahhh!” I cried, shutting my eyes and trying to think of something, anything but the heat pouring off my shoulder. I stumbled backward, one hand reaching out to the wall for balance, but my fingers melted through the stone, tearing molten gouts in the wall as I slid to the floor.
“Wasn’t sure that’d work.” As the dwarven archangel’s voice filled my ears, the pain vanished. My eyes fluttered open to find her standing in front of me while the remains of the tattered silver web fizzled and went dark. “Changed my mind about staying with Levi now that you’re safe, well, relatively speaking anyway. Besides, me staying there is just gonna piss off her dragon half.” Sathanus shrugged and moved to wipe some dust off her acid-pocked armor. “When she wakes up as a goblin, she might be more amenable to waiting.”
I wasn’t sure if that was true, but most of me didn’t care. I had shit to do, and dealing with the psychotic Leviathan now that I had the armament and mark was the last thing I wanted to do.
“W-who are you?” the princess asked from behind Sathanus, and as I looked, I saw the dwarf standing there open-mouthed. So far, the dwarven princess had been pretty unflappable, but Sathanus’s presence had definitely flapped her.
“I am Sathanus,” the Archangel of Wrath said, whirling to glare at the dwarven princess. “Archangel of Wrath and mother of your entire race.” She pointed to the ground. “Now kneel and show me respect.”
The princess dropped to the ground, prostrating herself before the archangel, and for a second, I wondered if it had been of her own volition or if Sathanus had made it happen somehow. Judging by the absolutely perfect stillness displayed by the princess, I was betting Sathanus had done something.
“Good,” Sathanus said, clearly amused. “Do not speak until spoken to because I’m about to tell you what you will do.” She gestured back at me. “The Builder has received my Mark, and in so doing has broken the ties your foremothers placed upon me. I can now leave this mountain and go wherever I please. I will be doing so.” She inhaled sharply. “Perhaps after I have a drink.” She reached down beside the prone princess and pulled the mug out of the girl’s hand. Then Sathanus gulped the contents down.
“Wait, Arthur freed you?” Annabeth asked, and her voice was barely a whisper. As I turned toward her, the Archangel of Wrath did the same.
“Yes.” Sathanus nodded before tossing the mug over her shoulder. It hit the ground with a crash, shattering into a billion shards of glass. “I was bound below, but now that I have shared my mark with one who is not bound, the binding is broken.” She smiled evilly as the last glowing remnants of the web finally died. “What? You thought I was helping because I’m nice? I’m the Archangel of Wrath, dearie.” She raised her axe and took a tentative swipe through the air. “Now then, I have some murder and mayhem to unleash upon those who imprisoned me, so if you’ll excuse me.” She gave me a salute with her axe.
“Wait!” I cried, holding out my hands, which admittedly was a bit awkward since I was still holding the greaves. “That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“You’re right, I did promise to make them help you, didn’t I. That seems like a perfect punishment for them,” she said, glaring at the princess. “Do whatever Arthur wants, and I won’t slaughter your whole race for pissing me off. Remember, I made you. I can unmake you just the same.” Wrath vanished, leaving us standing there like idiots.
“What did you do?” the princess snarled, leaping to her feet and charging me like an undersized bull. She poked me hard in the chest with one stubby finger. “How could you release the Archangel of Wrath? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?” I asked sheepishly. “Besides, none of this would have happened if you’d told me, or better still helped me.” I gestured angrily at her with the greaves. “I came here to get material to fix my sword, and you sent me on a long ass quest.” I glared at her. “Tell me, will your treasure matter even one iota when Dred comes to kill you all?”
“Your job was to get rid of Envy, not free Wrath,” she retorted, completely ignoring my point. “I’m guessing ye didn’t get rid of her either since Wrath said she knocked Envy out.” The Princess harrumphed hard before throwing her hands up. “And now I have to help ye because if I don’t, she’ll kill us all.” She gave me a glare that could melt stone. “So, thanks for that, ye fucking fuck.”
“You know, the language isn’t necessary,” I said, pulling on the greaves because I was tired of carrying them. I mean, I’d
fucked up by releasing Wrath, but hey, on the other hand, what was the worst Wrath could do, right? Right?
“When I want shit from you, I’ll squeeze your head,” the princess snapped but made no move to stop me from pulling on the greaves. It was a bit strange because as I secured them with Envy’s belt, I felt a surge of energy run from Mammon’s gauntlets on my hands, through the belt around my waist, and into the greaves.
The entire room slowed down. I could see every last dust mote in the air. Hell, I could hear every sound in the room, and what’s more, I could pick out each and every source. The whole thing only took a split second, but as it did, I felt the power of the three armaments I wore and knew that if I wanted to, I could kill everyone in this town, and it would be easy. No, it would be less than easy. After all, they’d offended me, and they owed me things. I could take those things, make them mine. I knew how to use them better, anyway.
I shook myself, trying to push back the thoughts as my whole world tilted sideways. My hand went to the hilt of my sword, and before I realized what I was doing, my blade was drawn. Sapphire energy cascaded off the blade as my gauntlets began to glow with soft silver light, my belt lit up like an emerald sparkler, and my greaves filled with crimson energy.
As I took a step forward, the temperature in the room dropped, and frost was left behind in my wake.
“No. You will be nice.” My words came out in an icy mist as I pointed my sword at her. “I came to ask for your help, to ask you to teach me the ins and outs of mining so I could get the material myself, but I’ve changed my mind.” The princess finally seemed to realize I’d moved, and her eyes filled with terror as she looked down at the glowing sword pointed at her chest. “See, I’ve been going about this all wrong.” My free hand curled into a fist as a surge of anger came over me. “I’ve been trying to work with all you people, trying to work the system, but the system isn’t working. It’s time for all that to end.”
The Builder's Pride (The Legendary Builder Book 3) Page 12
