Chapter 40: The Puzzle Box That Binds You

  Ceru was the one person who could stop me from an all out dash to the throne room. That and what she carried in her arms. I couldn’t help but think about Bori and the corruption she suffered because she helped me when I looked down at my son, Cobalt.

  “Are you alright, Chonu?” she asked, worry creasing her brow.

  I brushed Cobalt’s red hair out of his eyes. “Bori’s in danger, and I can’t help her.”

  That was only partially true. I knew what I had to do, and for that, I needed Deductus.

  Ceru reached out and touched my cheek. “Chonu, there is nothing you can’t do. Go with confidence. You are my Chonu, the one true king.”

  “I’ll be back,” I said, giving Cobalt one last kiss before rushing to the throne room.

  A large circle of people stood around a god and a ghost floating in the air. Both were engrossed in conversation. Sir Palamedes clanked a large spear that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere to get everyone’s attention.

  “Make way for the king!” he announced in a booming voice that belied his age.

  The crowd parted, and the Arthur stopped talking.

  “I knew you would return,” Deductus smiled as I approached. “Have you solved the puzzle yet?”

  “Puzzle?” I asked, thinking of Bori and her many puzzles. Then I remembered the Deductus Cube and the green swirl on my hand. “Do you mean this thing? No. All it does it make strange coils.”

  Deductus gave me a knowing smile. “And what brings you here today?”

  “I need something to…something to…” I trailed off, looking at my hand as a thought occurred to me. “Do you mean this is the divine binder?”

  “The coil is but a mold,” Deductus countered. “The true puzzle is what you do with it.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, perplexed by the god.

  Deductus shrugged and chuckled, a laugh that told me I’d get no answers.

  Giving up on the god, I flipped open the cookbook. “Let’s see, the only missing ingredient is…”

  Required ingredients:

  1 Cursed Item

  5 Drops of Primordial Blood

  1 Mortal Sacrifice

  1 Divine Binder

  “…Primordial blood.”

  Where was Pi when I needed him? I turned back to Sir Palamedes. “Does anyone know where the airship is?”

  When nobody answered, I realized luck wasn’t on my side once again. I’d hoped the knights would have brough tit back to Albion. Pi was the last piece of the puzzle.

  While I had no clue where that airship was, I did know of another. One just waiting for me to claim it. It was also called Fred.

  Ceru waited patiently for me at the entrance to the throne room. An ogre I recognized stood at her side, and was cradling my son in his massive arms.

  “Orogurk?” I asked, hoping I got the name right. “Is that you?”

  He beamed, flashing two very large lower fangs. “You honor me, Chonu.”

  Ceru threw herself into my arms. She clung to me, burying her face in my coat. When she looked up, I could tell she was crying.

  “Don’t die, Chonu,” she sobbed. “You don’t have to be the hero if it means you can come back to me alive.”

  I swallowed hard. “Don’t worry, Chana. I have no intention of dying.”

  I used her special name hoping it would make her feel better. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. Her light blue skin was puffy and red. “Okay. You better not be lying. I’ll never forgive you if you are.”

  “Don’t worry, Chonu,” Orogurk added. “I’ll take care of your Chana if anything happens to you.”

  He withered as Ceru glared at him. She gently took her baby and turned away.

  Without looking back at me, she said, “Remember your promise, Chonu.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  For some odd reason, Cordelia was still waiting in the carriage. I wasn’t sure if she was still sick from the grimmling’s unique way of travel or if she was just more comfortable in the carriage. It took several minutes for the knights to mount several ruffalo before we could depart.

  “I’m going to the airship hangar,” I explained, sitting next to Cordelia.

  Cordelia sighed. “I was hoping you could at least help me get settled first.”

  “Oh,” I said, realizing I wasn’t being a very good host. “I promise I’ll take good care of you later. For now, Ceru will help you with anything you need.”

  She sighed. “Can I at least accompany you to the hangar?”

  I nodded. “That’s fine. The knights will have to bring the carriage back to the castle anyhow. Did you really live in this thing?”

  Cordelia blushed. “It sure feels like it sometimes. I’m looking forward to living in Albion. It has to be better than Veah.”

  “Veah?” I asked, realizing I’d never asked where exactly she lived.

  She nodded. “It’s a small village in the southwest. I wasn’t born there or anything. It was just convenient for me to live on my own.”

  “Don’t you have a family somewhere?” I asked, realizing I knew next to nothing about Cordelia.

  Cordelia turned away. “That’s a long story. Let’s just say some things happened.”

  I wanted to ask about it but she lost all interest in the conversation after that. In the sudden awkward silence, I was left to think about the fact that I just kissed my second child goodbye for this quest.

  “I have to pull this off,” I whispered. “I just have to.”

  The road outside the carriage was busy. People traveled on foot down the roads to towns I’d never been to. If the universe wasn’t at risk of being plunged into darkness, I would have wanted to visit every single one of them. The Albionians, or were they Camelotians, moved to the side of the road as we passed.

  I was lost in thought, looking at the green swirl on my hand, when we arrived at the airship hangar. It truly was impressive how far the place had come since the first time I laid eyes on it. While there was only one airship left, the hangar itself had remodeled itself twice over. Automated winches and conveyors moved crates around the hangar for easy loading, and the ceiling retracted automatically in compartments to let each airship take off.

  The only ship left in the hangar was Fred.

  Fred: 1.1% Functional

  Mana: 1,162/100,000

  Operation Cost: 1,000/Hour

  Not only was it the cheapest to repair, but the kingdom had also gained more mana in my absence.

  Albion’s Mana: 257,349/14,921,021

  I pressed my hand to the reader and waited. The airship called Fred differed from the other two. Twin narrow cabins stuck out on either side of a sausage-shaped balloon with a rudder sticking out of it. Four large propellers were mounted above and below the cabins, giving the thing a rough ‘X’ shape. The helm was on the left cabin. From there, it was impossible to see over the balloon to the other side of the ship. That didn’t matter to me, as I was alone.

  The hangar itself changed once again. With the final infusion of mana, metal automatons sprang to life, moving cargo around the bay. I wouldn’t have been surprised the airships flew themselves. If there were any airships left, that was. I made a mental note to track down my missing airships after I saved the world.

  Knights appeared from my ring and took up various posts on the ship. Sir Palamedes took the helm and asked, “What is your destination, My Lord?”

  The problem was, I didn’t know. I need the last piece of the puzzle, Primordial Blood. Since I had no clue where Pi or Donn were, I went for the only other thing I could control, Bori and the dark heart. Now that I had the binder in hand, literally, it was time to take the first step to seal the cursed thing away. Perhaps if I at least encased it, Donn wouldn’t be able to use it to destroy the universe.

  “Take me to Bori,” I commanded.

  The airship shot up through the open sunroof before I even finished giving the order. Looking down, what was once a building in ruins now looked like a bustling hangar. The tiny automatons scurried like ants far below. It brought a smile to my face, thinking about it someday being a bustling airport.

  We followed the road as the ship flew south. From my new vantage high in the sky, I saw scattered buildings where the road spidered off.

  “That must be the towns,” I pointed them out to Sir Palamedes.

  He looked at where I was pointing. “Yes, My Lord. Those are the remnants of the old villages. We have received reports of twenty-three of them being claimed so far.”

  “That many, eh?” I said, smiling at the thought of the goblins creating a new village under my banner.

  The ogres too, for that matter. I hadn’t asked Ceru about it but I was positive they would want to claim one of the readymade villages for themselves. After all, towns weren’t exclusively for humans.

  We flew over Camelot Castle and skirted the mountains to the coast. On the horizon over the sea, Dabia castle loomed, but Sir Palamedes gave it a wide berth. I was amazed by how quickly we traveled.

  “Is this the fastest airship?” I asked.

  Sir Palamedes shook his head. “That would be The Interceptor. Fred is only second fastest, though not by much. Its small stature allows it to be both faster than The Dominator, and more maneuverable than The Interceptor. Its weakness is in its durability, so I do not recommend taking it into battle.

  While airship duels sounded fun, I had bigger fish to fry. “How far away is Bori?”

  “We should arrive within the hour,” Sir Palamedes announced.

  I sighed. Dabian countryside wasn’t nearly as interesting as Albion.

  “Bori,” I called her name softly from the middle of the forest.

  The holes she’d dug were nowhere to be seen. Did she cover her dungeon up to avoid detection? It was a good thing I was a Terramancer. I placed my hand on the ground and reached out with my senses. I could feel everything underground, including rocks, dirt, and even small subterranean animals. There was also something else, deeper underground, I found small pockets of blackness that evaded my senses.

  Then I felt it. The heart was like a black hole, only rather than sucking everything in, it radiated darkness, corrupting the surrounding earth. No matter how deep I went, I couldn’t sense Bori. I debated digging a hole to find her, but decided that getting the heart away from her was more urgent.

  I tried to snag the heart, but my magic had no effect on it. Instead, I used nearby rocks to form a cocoon and guide it to the surface. The shadows around me sprang to life the moment it moved. I summoned my golems to fend off their attacks as the heart slowly rose through the soil. Only, the shadows weren’t attacking. They hovered over me, cackling gleefully.

  “Look at my new monsters, Daddy,” Bori squealed in excitement. “And they’re strong too.”

  “Honey?” I asked, looking up for a second while I continued to focus on the heart. “Daddy needs the heart back. I’m going to seal it away.”

  “That’s not a very good idea…” Bori began.

  “I know if gave you power,” I sighed. “That was a mistake. I never should have let you touch that thing.”

  “No, that’s not it,” Bori replied. “If you dig it up, the bad man will get it.”

  “Bad man?” but it was too late. I only noticed the larger shadow behind Bori’s when the heart broke through the surface.

  “Um, Bori?” I said, fear creeping into me, and wondering why she wasn’t afraid of the wraith. “Run!”