Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 17 (Patreon)

“Did you know?” Jackal yelled at Harry as they entered his office.

Tibs didn’t want to be there, but Jackal had insisted. Other than being dragged before the guard leader for breaking one of his big rules, Tibs was the only way Jackal would be allowed into the upper floors of the guild building where the office was.

Harry looked at the fighter, a dark expression darkening. “Of course I do.” He turned his gaze to Tibs, who did his best to shrink in on himself. This might have cost him the goodwill looking for the thief had gained him.

“And why haven’t you thrown his ass out of here?”

Tibs told Jackal of his father’s presence as soon as he and Kroseph were back. He hated doing it while they still looked so happy, but Jackal needed to know. The change had been immediate. Disbelief, fear, and then anger.

“Because my brother hasn’t broken any of the rules.”

“You know why he’s here.”

“To see you.”

“Bullshit,” Jackal spat, “he wants the guild, just like the stories that got you here.”

“No, he has no interest in the guild or the dungeon,” Harry stated. “I asked him.”

“And you believe him?” Jackal asked in disbelief.

“Be careful what you’re implying, Jackie-boy.”

“I’m not implying anything,” Jackal replied. “I’m saying you’re an idiot if you believe anything my father said.”

“I am light,” Harry growled, standing and glaring at the fighter. “No one gets away with lying to me.”

“If one person can manage it, it’s him,” Jackal snapped.

“No one,” Harry repeated.

“Jackal,” Tibs said, grabbing his friend’s arm. “Maybe we should let Harry—”

Jackal pulled his arm away. “How does he even know I’m here, then? Serba told him, didn’t she?”

“I didn’t,” Jackal sister said, stepping into the office. Tibs looked around, reaching in his pocket for the dried meat he kept, but none of her dogs were present.

“You’re lying,” Jackal said without turning.

“She isn’t,” Harry replied, then narrowed his eyes at Jackal’s roll of his. “I haven’t let her leave for a reason.”

“And have you prevented her from sending out any messages?” Jackal countered.

Serba sighed. “Your paranoia is amusing at times, Jackie, but come on, I’m no happier with Dad being here than you are.”

Jackal glared at her. “Really? Little Miss wanna been Daddy’s pet isn’t happy to see him?”

She took a step toward him, hands closing into fists, and Tibs positioned himself between them.

“Enough!” Harry yelled, and the words slammed into Tibs with what felt like a physical force. Tibs stared at the guard leader, trying to understand how he’d done that. Light couldn’t be solid, could it?

Jackal and Serba kept glaring at each other, silently.

“Serba, are you here to report something?” Harry demanded.

“I saw my brother storm through the town, so I followed to find out what he was up to. And just to clarify something,” he told Jackal. “I didn’t know dad was here until I heard you yell it through the walls. Unlike you, he didn’t bother seeing me.”

Jackal rolled his eyes.

“Then, you can go back to your station, I’ll deal with Jackie-boy.”

“Uncle,” she said, then corrected herself, “Sir. I hate to say it, but if my dad’s here, it can’t be a good thing. Jackie’s is right about that.”

Harry looked from one to the other. “Why is it you don’t seem to think I know my brother?”

“When’s the last time you saw him?” Jackal asked, eying his sister suspiciously.

“Hours ago, when I watched him arrive on the platform and demanded to know why he was here.”

“Before that,” Jackal said, “obviously. I certainly never say visit while I was home. And my father complained about you often enough I know you didn’t visit since becoming comfortable in your position as part of the guild. So he was what, the last time you saw him, fifteen, sixteen?”

Harry kept glaring.

“Do you really think you know the kind of man he became?” Jackal asked.

“I know the kind of men who grow up to rule our family,” Harry replied.

“And yet, you let him into our town.”

“He hasn’t broken any rules,” Harry said through clenched teeth.

“You really think you’re going to know if he does?” Jackal asked, sounding tired.

“I have guards watching him.”

Jackal shook his head in disbelief. “You have people watching him. Like the nobility doesn’t have hundreds doing just that back home. And the people they use were never loyal to him. Unlike the bunch you brought here. And don’t tell me they aren’t loyal to him anymore. You aren’t that stupid.”

“Jackie-boy,” Harry growled.

“What? My father’s in town,” Jackal snapped. “You think you can scare me?” Jackal rested his hands on the desk and leaned close to his uncle. “Harry, you need to get my father out of here before things turn bad.”

Harry frowned at Jackal’s use of his name. “He has not broken any rules.”

Jackal cursed. “Of course he has. He’s here, my father has never followed any rules but his own, and those only benefit him.” He turned to Serba. “Talk sense into him, will you?” He pointed to Harry.

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me for help?”

“You work for him, maybe he’ll respect your opinion at least.”

“Out!” Harry snapped. “All of you.”

“Sir,” Serba said, only to snap her mouth closed.

“That’s an order,” Harry growled.

She hesitated, then left. Harry turned his glare on Jackal, who returned in. Tibs grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. This time his friend let him lead him outside.

Jackal was quiet while walking to their room, looking around furtively.

“Stop it,” Tibs said and raised an eyebrow when Jackal glared at him. “You’re telling anyone looking that you’re searching for someone. I know what your father looks like, I’ll tell you if I see him.”

Jackal let out a breath. “He isn’t who I’m looking for. I know of six people supposedly working for Knuckles who are loyal to my father, no matter what he thinks. One of them would be who’s keeping an eye on me for him.”

“The guard who made your life difficult when we first went to the dungeon after he graduated?”

Jackal shook his head. “No, it’s would who told him to make my life difficult. Most of the guards had to be low enough my father wouldn’t have cared about them. But those six… I don’t know how they did it, but they lied to Knuckles.”

“Maybe he didn’t ask?”

Jackal looked at Tibs, eyes wide. “If he didn’t, then he’s an even bigger idiot.”

“Does he know them? You said your father was your age the last time they saw each other. Would he know who works for him now?”

Jackal shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Knuckles should have questioned each of them personally to find out if they were still loyal.” He sighed. “Why did he even do that? Hire people who’d worked for my father?”

“You said because they’re easy to control.”

Jackal nodded. “Exactly. Easy to control isn’t always a good thing.”

Tibs tried to understand what Jackal meant, but he wasn’t sure his friend was even trying to make sense. “The archer,” Tibs said. “The one who shot that Runner who tried to use the platform to escape when he went to MountainSea.”

Jackal stared at Tibs.

“He’s one of the men loyal to your father, right? He recognized you, and you recognized him.”

The fighter shook his head. “Not him. He… He isn’t here for my father.”

“Jackal,” Tibs said when his friend didn’t continue speaking. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the important stuff.”

Jackal let out a breath. “He was a spy for the king, put into my father’s men to keep an eye on what he was doing. I don’t know why he’s here, but it isn’t on my father’s orders, if anyone. He wouldn’t tell me when I asked. And unlike a lot of these guards, punching him wouldn’t help get him to talk.”

“Have you asked Khumdar if he knows anything about him?”

Jackal frowned. “Why would Khumdar know anything?”

“Darkness likes secrets,” Tibs said, figuring that as their teammate he wasn’t revealing anything Jackal wouldn’t know if he paid more attention. “He’s looking into the people in the towns instead of ours. It’s a deal we reached when I got tired of him trying to get you and Carina to make something slip,” he added at Jackal’s quizzical expression.

“I’ll check with him then.” Jackal grabbed Tibs’s arm and pulled him into an alley so suddenly he had to bite back a yelp.

He glared at the fighter. “I need to teach you to be more subtle. Whoever you tried to avoid, you just told them you know they’re there.”

Jackal snorted. “Look at me Tibs. You can’t make this subtle.”

Tibs rolled his eyes and sighed. “Only because you do everything you can to be noticed.”

Jackal grinned so broadly Tibs had to laugh.

* * * * *

Jackal stiffened and Tibs raised a hand to get Kroseph’s attention, indicating the table when he had it. In the process, he glanced around the inn and saw Jackal’s father at the door, looking the room over. His gaze slowed twice, and Tibs saw the guards seated at those two tables.

Khumdar watched Jackal intently. Mez and Carina continued eating, unaware something was wrong.

Tibs wasn’t surprised. Although he’d hope for his friend’s sake they’d have longer before his father tracked them down. Not that they were making it difficult, sitting at their usual table, eating dinner.

Kroseph placed tankards on the table, causing Jackal to startle. The server looked in the direction the fighter had been looking, but he couldn’t work out what was stressing him. Hadn’t Jackal told his man? Kroseph looked at Tibs, eyebrow raised, and Tibs bit his lower lip, then shook his head. It wasn’t his place, but he was going to kick Jackal’s shin for keeping this from Kroseph when they were in their room.

Jackal’s demeanor shifted as his father approached. He smiled and appeared to relax, but Tibs knew him well enough to see it as an act. This time Carina noticed something off and looked at Jackal.

“I guess it was too much to expect for your…” he indicated Tibs with a wave of the hand. “Whatever he is, to have told you I was looking for you.”

“Oh he did,” Jackal replied, “I just figured that since you’d come all this way, why make things any easier.” He raised his tankard at the man. “You look like shit. The king making your life hard again?”

Now everyone was looking at Sebastian, including the tables close enough to hear Jackal.

“You’d know what’s going on at home, if you’d stayed,” Sebastian said.

Jackal chuckled. “That was never going to happen.” He motioned around them. “This was just a happy accident. Of course, ending up dead in one of the pits would have ensured you never bothered me again, but, got to make the best of what’s handed to you, right?”

“Who is this?” Carina asked.

Mez’s stood straighter, and Tibs figured he was responding to the way Sebastian was dressed, all noble-like.

“This,” Jackal said in a dismissive tone, “is the man behind all the problems back home. Would-be noble, master of crime, the silver-tongued Sebastian Wells.” He paused, and as if it was an afterthought added. “My father.”

Sebastian’s face darkened, and Tibs thought he resembled Harry for a second. “You will speak of me with respect, boy.”

Jackals snorted in his tankard. “Never gonna happen.” He sighed and put it down again. “What do you want?”

The question seemed to startle the man. “What do you mean? You vanish years ago, I thought you’d been stolen from me, I waited for someone to make demands in exchange for your return, then I thought they’d just killed you and let me suffer. What did you think I’d do when I found out you were alive, but a prisoner of the adventurer’s guild? Did you think I’d just let them use you as feed for their dungeon?”

Tibs almost bought it. The man was good, but Tibs had talked with him before, and he’d seen the anger in the man’s eyes when talking about Jackal. This wasn’t about rescuing him.

“You really expect me to believe that you’re here to what? Bring me home?”

“Of course. They had no right to take you from me, I’m sure—”

“Cut it out, father. You know damned well I wasn’t taken. I ran away twice before I managed to lose myself in the city to the point no one could find me.”

“Jack—”

“Don’t finish that,” Jackal snarled. “I hate that name. It’s Jackal.”

Sebastian snorted, and the act broke for an instant, the disdain visible, then he was back to being the concerned father.

“I’m hurt that you think so little of me.”

Jackal rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t even thought of you until I found out you were here. So please, be even more hurt. Enough, that you’d rather never see me again.”

“Now, why would you want me to feel that way toward you?”

Jackal’s smile was nasty. “Because I know how to deal with the people you send to kill those you never want to see again.” The smile turned pleasant. “Father.”

Sebastian stiffened. The inn was silent, except for their conversation, and he’d just noticed.

“Son, I am sorry you ever felt I mistreated you. I was only doing all I could to prepare you for your future.”

“My future’s here. With my team, my town.”

“Yes, your team, the one you… lead.” The tone was pleasant, but the smile was malicious.

Jackal froze, and Carina tried to help.

“He’s a great leader.”

“You don’t say,” Sebastian replied, and she looked puzzled.

“He—”

Jackal placed a hand on her arm and shook his head.

“You’ve had your fun, father. We both know the guild doesn’t let go of what it owns. No matter the threats. So why don’t you go back home and rule those miscreants you enjoy so much?”

Sebastian looked at Jackal, surprised. “Leave? I wouldn’t think of it. Not when I’ve just found you again.” He smiled. “I just bought a nice little place, to ensure I stay close to my favorite son.”

“No,” Jackal whispered, his bravado breaking. “No,” he repeated. “You can’t.” His hand shook as it reached for the tankard.

Sebastian sighed. “You, Jackal, should know better than anyone, that I definitely can.”

Mez stood, smoothed his clothes. “Sir,” he said, his tone filled with respect. “I think it’s best if you leave.”

Sebastian looked at Mez as if he only now realized the archer was there, looked him over, the quality of his clothing so different from everyone else at the table it made him pause.

At their table, Pyan stood too. And another fighter at another table. In response, the two guards also stood, hand on their sword.

Kroseph’s father stepped to the table. “Sir,” he said, but not with quite the respect Mez had. “You’re disrupting my customers. I’d appreciate it if you left. I’m sure that whatever you and Jackal have to discuss can be resolved at a later time, and elsewhere.”

Sebastian looked the innkeeper over and smiled. “Of course, my good man. I would never think of disrupting such a vital business. You have my apologies. Jackal, I will seek you out at a later time.” Sebastian pulled a coin and handed it to Kroseph’s father. “For the disruption I caused.” Tibs saw it was gold as it changed hands.

Jackal opened his mouth, but the two men were leaving in their respective directions. Kroseph joined them.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “Is that really your father?”

Jackal nodded and looked from one departing man to the other. “Kro, I really wish your dad hadn’t stepped in.”

“It’s what he does, we can’t let things like this happen, it’s not good for business.”

Jackal looked at his man. “He has no idea how vindictive my father is, Kro. No one does.”

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