After dragging his body to the side, I waited once more, repeating the procedure eight more times. As I threw the last corpse into the pile, I took a deep breath. I was sweating and breathing hard. Adrenaline pounded through my veins, and I’d barely begin.
Now came the hard part. Turning to the wall behind me, I sheathed Caliburn and raised my gauntlets. Using the same trick I had in the tunnels, I used the Relentless Grips of Greed to carve furrows into the sheer wall. Belphegor had told me that all the entrances were warded, but walls? Why ward those?
Part of me wanted to use the grappling hooks, but I was worried someone inside might hear me, or worse, that the impact of the hooks would trigger the wards within the rooms. And it’d waste what little steam I had left. Now that I was inside and had some time, I didn’t want to waste the precious fuel. I might need it for later.
No. Climbing would be better, I could tuck myself against the wall and move unseen. I could conserve steam.
Moving up the wall, I took care to be as silent as possible. My muscles screamed with the effort as I pulled myself up, but with each foot I moved up the wall, I could feel Gabriella getting closer. I wasn’t sure how exactly, only to say I could feel her through the gem mounted in my crown. Pausing long enough to pull my dark cloak tighter over my shoulders, I tried to harness my inner Spider-man.
Moving up the wall, with all the strength and quickness my armaments afforded me, I felt Gabriella growing closer. It made things both harder and easier. Harder because it made me desperate to race to her, and easier because she felt like she was okay.
As I reached the parapet, the gem was practically glowing, and despite my best efforts to keep it shielded, I was worried the guards on the other side of the wall of the parapet would see it. I’d have to take them out.
Hanging there for a moment, I pressed the side of my head to the wall and listen. It took a few moments, but judging by the way they patrolled, there were probably only two or three inside. Granted there was a big difference between two or three, but it was what it was.
I shimmied to the right and waited until I heard a guard approached before I reached out, seizing the unfortunate lizard and jerking him backward over the edge. He flailed, clawing for purchase in the air, his hiss rasp of a voice sort giving a startled yelp.
The closer of the other two guards spun at the sound, and as his buddy exploded on the stones below like a bag of jam, the creature came closer, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
It said something in that weird Darkness language I never understood, and when there was no response, he started to turn toward the third guard. Fortunately, that one was all the way across the castle.
Taking my chance, I leapt over the parapet and flung Caliburn. The pointy end hit the side of the lizard’s head, skewering the creature. As it dropped to the ground, I darted forward, pulling Caliburn free. The third one saw me then. Well, sort of. As it spun back around at the commotion, I pulled myself against the wall.
The lizard man stared at the corpse of its comrade for a second before drawing its weapon and moving in to inspect the scene. The movement made a surge of relief rush through me. I’d been worried he’d sound an alarm, but fortunately, he’d decided to inspect the area himself.
As the creature approached, I sidled along the wall, so that as he passed me, I lashed out with Caliburn. The lizard man’s life ended in a spray of ichor as the top part of his skull went in a decidedly different direction that the rest of his body. It was a little weird because he actually took a few more steps before the nerves in his body realized he was dead.
I spun toward the doorway to my left as it collapsed to the ground and made my way toward it. As I’d moved to the right, the feel of Gabriella had lessened, but now as I returned to the left side of the parapet, I found it growing stronger again. She was definitely that way.
Smiling, I reached the door. She felt so close it was almost like being in her presence. Taking a deep breath, I reached out toward the door before stopping myself. What if it was warded?
I paused, trying to feel for traps with my magic, but alas, I wasn’t a very good rogue. I felt nothing more than the same heady feel of Darkness all around me. Still, I was worried. Belphegor had been pretty adamant about not using any normal entrances, and this was a pretty normal entrance. Granted it was three or four stories in the air, but still. Nearly everything I’d encountered could fly. Dred would have warded this door if he was smart.
Moving to the side, I tried to find another way that seemed less obvious, but the rest of the wall was more sheer stone. That left me with a problem. I could go through the door and risk triggering whatever wards were inside, or I could try breaking through the wall. Part of me wanted to try using one of the guards to unlock it, but Belphegor had told me that wouldn’t work, though she hadn’t explained why. Now that I was here, I wished I’d pressed for more details.
“What would someone smarter than me do?” I wondered, putting my head against the wall and listening for sounds. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear anything within, and I had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Placing my hand on the stone, I reached out with Mammon’s gauntlet, and as her power pulsed through the mark on my neck, I realized I could feel how thick the wall was. Only a foot or so. That seemed like a lot, but was it really?
Shutting my eyes, I concentrated, drawing upon the power of my marks. My breath came out as mist while the stone in front of me began to pull free. My heart began to hammer, and I started to sweat as I used my power to remove a small section of the wall so I could see inside.
As the stone came free, I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. That had taken a lot more out of me than I’d expected it would, but even still, I had my hole. Peering inside, I quickly realized the room was a sort of hallway with stairs that headed both to the upper and lower levels within.
More doors branched off inside, leading to what presumably was the rest of this floor. Still, there were no guards to be seen inside, which made sense. After all, there were supposed to be guards out here.
Wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of one hand, I gripped Clarent. As the power of the marks rushed through me, I slashed at the wall. My magic-fueled blade cut through the obsidian like butter, and in only a moment I had a big enough hole to climb through. It had been louder than I’d wanted, but so far, it didn’t seem to attract anyone which was good.
Making my way inside, I felt the press of the magic within. All across the doorway to my left, sigils flared, making me think that going through the wall at the end of the hallway had been smart. Even from here I could feel the strain of their power, desperate to incinerate me or worse. Had I gone through that door, I’d have been dead.
Putting that thought out of my mind, I looked around, trying to ascertain where to go. Moving to the stairs, I first tried up, and when the glow of the gem faded and the connection to Gabriella lessened, I knew it wasn’t that way. Nor was it down.
My eyes fixed on the door that led deeper into the castle. Gabriella was that way. I knew it.
Moving forward, I pressed my hand to the door and felt for traps. Again, I felt nothing in particular, which wasn’t very helpful. Worse, there wasn’t enough room to try the wall here.
“It would be my luck that I’d trigger an inner alarm,” I muttered, gripping the door handle and pressing it in. When I wasn’t immediately incinerated or turned into a toad, I let out a breath.
Belphegor had been pretty sure none of the inner doors were warded, but pretty sure wasn’t one hundred percent. Still, in this case, wishes had been horses.
The room beyond was another hallway, only it branched off into what looked like rooms on one side while the other looked out over a large ballroom. Not seeing anyone inside, I crept forward, careful to keep myself to the shadows, but there were no guards at all.
Still, with each step I took, the feel of Gabriella grew stronger. She wasn’t far now. In fact, as I passed by the third of
six doors, I stopped. That was where she was.
I swallowed, turning to look at the door before me. It wasn’t any different from the others and appeared to be made from some kind of dark wood. There was just one problem. I could feel the magic coming off of it. Someone had sealed it with magic, and I knew that if I opened it, something crazy would happen.
That’s when I had an idea.
Hurrying back outside, I grabbed the closest of the dead guards and dragged him inside. By the time I reached the door again, I was breathing hard from the effort, but sure enough, as I raised his hand to the door, I felt the lock disengage.
Dropping the corpse, I pushed on the door, and as it swung open, I found myself staring at Gabriella. The archangel sat on a plush, four poster bed covered in bright pink sheets working on a quilt made of brightly-colored squares.
“Gabriella!” I cried, stepping inside and looking around. Buckets of paint, a few paintbrushes, and an easel sat against the far wall, which had itself been painted with a rainbow. That was odd. Shouldn’t it have been more, well, dungeony?
Gabriella’s gaze flicked toward me, and her eyebrows furrowed. “Who are you?”
42
“I’m Arthur,” I said, confusion filling me. “What do you mean who am I?”
“Arthur?” she shook her head as I approached. “I don’t know anyone named Arthur.”
“Gabriella, you know me.” I took a deep breath. “I’m the Builder.”
“The Builder!” she gasped, one hand going to her mouth in shock. “The one who stole my Armament and means to aid the forces of Hell against Heaven?”
Her words threw me for a loop because it sounded like she believed them. Only how could she possibly believe them after everything we’d been through, after everything I’d done to come save her?
“No,” I said, but before I could do more, she leapt to her feet.
“Guards!” she cried, hands curling into fists. “Come quick!”
Her words seemed to resound through the air, and as they did, the shrill cry of a claxon nearly blew out my hearing. I staggered forward, my hands going to my ears, which was made further complicated because I was holding Caliburn.
“Stop,” I cried, trying to shout over the noise. Only it didn’t seem like Gabriella heard anything, or at least, if she did, it didn’t bother her.
“I won’t let you kidnap me.” She narrowed her eyes, bringing up her fists. “I won’t.”
“Gabriella,” I said right before she decked me.
Her fist caught me on the underside of my chin, snapping my head backward and throwing me across the room. I hit the doorframe hard and felt something pop inside my back. As I slumped to the ground, she rushed forward.
I dodged. Barely. Her knee slammed into the stone where my head had just been with so much force the wall cracked.
“Stop attacking me,” I said, scurrying away from her as she whirled on her foot and tried to kick me. I caught her leg, and before I realized what I was doing, I flung her across the room. She smashed into the bed, shattering the wood before slamming into the wall. The stone broke, cracking in concentric circles as she slid to the ground, clearly hurt.
“That’s enough, Builder.” Dred’s voice filled me with, well, dread, and as I spun in a slow circle, I saw him standing there.
“What did you do to her?” I cried, one hand snaking out to point at Gabriella.
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “Belial did all the heavy lifting on that one.” His eyes flicked to the gemstone in my crown. “Thank you for bringing me that by the way.” He held out his hand. “Give it to me, and I’ll kill you.” He grinned, causing the scar across his cheek to stretch grotesquely. “Trust me when I say it is a good deal, Builder.”
“Fix her,” I snarled, gripping Caliburn tightly.
“I cannot.” His smile widened. “Not in my job description.”
I charged him, sword arching through the air, and as I did, he shook his head. “You should have just let me kill you.” As I reached him, the entire world exploded into scintillating light. My entire body felt ripped apart, and I realized I’d triggered some kind of trap. No. Not some kind. The trap.
In an instant, I found myself locked away in a room the size of a jail cell with no doors and only a single small window. Through the murky glass, I could see Dred standing there and smiling.
“I had wished to get the armament first, but alas, with you trapped there until time itself ends, I doubt I’ll be needing it.” With that, he moved toward Gabriella.
I wasn’t sure what he was going to do to her, and even though everything in me wanted to rail against my cage, I knew that it wouldn’t do any good. Instead, I took a deep breath and tried to reach out with the power of my marks, but like I’d expected, nothing worked. I couldn’t feel anything at all beyond these four walls.
As Dred knelt beside Gabriella, I shut my eyes and tried not to get pissed off.
“You’re awfully calm for a rat in a cage,” the Princess of Mirrors said, and my eyes opened to see her standing just beyond the wall with Michelle and Lucifer. “Where is all your rage?”
“I knew you would do it,” I said, nodding to the two archangels.
“They can be quite convincing,” the Princess of Mirrors said, shrugging. “It seems that the mirror can no longer be recovered and for that Dred must pay. Letting you do that for me, well, that’s just so much easier.” She rubbed her blood-red nails on her leather jacket. “Go.”
As she said the word, the window behind me began to shimmer and shine before turning into a swirling vortex of force that sucked us back out into Dred’s Castle.
The three of us hit the ground, causing Dred to spin on his heel.
“How?” he asked, right before his eyes fixed on the Princess of Mirrors, who was still visible through the shimmering mirror on the wall. “Clever.” His eyes narrowed. “You always seemed clever, Arthur. Tis a pity I will kill you.”
It was a bit strange because, for a second, I almost believed he would be sad to see me die.
“Gabriella!” Michelle cried, moving to rush forward, but Lucifer stopped her. “Are you okay?”
“Michelle?” Gabriella asked, confused. “I’m okay.” She looked at her sister for a moment. “Why have you joined the Builder? Has he tricked you?”
“No.” Michelle shook her head. “Dred has tricked you—”
“Don’t listen, Gabriella,” Dred said, cutting off the Archangel of Justice. “She has been fooled by the Builder.”
“Oh.” Gabriella’s eyes narrowed at me. “Free my sister.”
“Gabriella,” Michelle pleaded, right before Dred rushed forward.
His fist lashed out, slamming into Michelle’s gut and buckling the archangel over. Blood spurted from her mouth, and as Michelle sank to her knees, Lucifer glanced at me.
“Save Gabriella,” Lucifer said, lashing out at Dred.
Only despite, the enhancements I’d made to her, Dred still dodged her blow. As Lucifer’s fist knocked out a section of wall and sent it flying outward in a spray of debris, Dred pivoted and slammed his foot into her knee.
There was a sharp crack, and as Lucifer started to fall, Michelle attacked, throwing them all through the hole in the wall and into the ballroom below. They were buying me time, but it wouldn’t be much. I had to make it count. I had to save Gabriella.
As I looked back toward Gabriella, an idea hit me. Dred had said it wasn’t in his job description to fix her, but it might be in mine. Quickly bringing up her stats, I nearly shouted with joy because at the very bottom was a message I’d hoped to see.
Flaw: Influence of Belial
Influence of Belial– The user has been afflicted with a curse that has twisted her memories.
Would you like to remove this flaw? Cost 33,000 experience. Yes/no?
It wasn’t even a question, and not just because Gabriella had almost a million experience. I spent the points, and as I did, the Archangel of Love blinked a few times.
“Arthur?” she asked, and as she took in the scene, confusion spread across her face. “What’s going on?”
“Gabriella, we have to hurry.” I moved across the room and grabbed her hand. “Lucifer and Michelle won’t be able to hold Dred off for much longer.”
“No, we have to help them.” She looked me over and flushed as she laid her eyes on the gemstone within my crown. “You have to help them.” She reached out, pressing her hand over my heart. A blaze of power filled me, and she grimaced.
“Did you just mark me?” I asked, swallowing hard as a surge of power unlike anything I’d ever felt before filled me. It was far beyond anything that had ever happened, and while part of it was coming from Gabriella herself and her mark, more of it was coming from the Armament itself.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Now save my sisters.” She pulled me into the hallway in time to see Lucifer go flying and slam into the far wall. Michelle followed her a moment later, and as the two archangels lay there confused, I realized I could feel their strength in a way totally different from before.
“Okay. I will draw his attention, you get them out of here.” I looked at her, and as I did, I found her looking off across the hall with a weird look in her eyes. “Gabriella?”
“Sorry.” She met my eyes. “I just need a moment, okay?” She touched my face as Dred stalked toward her sisters. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”
I wanted to argue, but there wasn’t time. Dred had Excalibur out, and both Lucifer and Michelle were down.
“Fine!” I said, hoping she was right as I leapt down, swinging Caliburn through the air.
Dred spun as I careened downward and caught my blow on the flat of his blade, and I wasn’t sure if it was my added weight and momentum or something else, but the blow actually knocked him backward.
The Destroyer himself stumbled backward, barely able to push Caliburn out of the way with his sword as he did so. I hit the ground a moment later, and even though I felt my bones crack from the impact, I shoved myself forward, ignoring the pain.
The Builder's Wrath (The Legendary Builder Book 4) Page 24
