Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 22 (Patreon)

“You should have told us,” Carina said.

Jackals shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do about my father trying to get me to leave. The guild won’t allow it.”

Tibs had told Jackal what he’d heard when they’d met for breakfast, which had meant Carina, Khumdar, and Mez were there too. Khumdar looked interested, but Mez was distracted.

“What do you make of him claiming it is your destiny?” the cleric asked.

Jackal rolled his eyes. “It’s just a story he’s used my entire life to force me to do what he wants. Supposedly, he brought a seer when I was born and she claimed I would one day rule the family. He claims to have done it with all my siblings. Which is why he insists I’m the only one suited to take over after him.” He took a long swallow and made a face, looking in the tankard. “Which is awfully convenient, seeing as I am the last child my mother gave him.”

“Is that a thing?” Mez asked. “I thought seers were just in stories.”

Carina and Khumdar exchanged a look.

“It’s been documented,” Carina said reluctantly. “Some of the adventurers with void as an element have been shown to be able to predict the results of games of chances under controlled conditions, but…” she trailed off.

“But what?” Mez asked, sounding interested.

“But,” Khumdar continued in her place, “if the stories I have heard are to be believed, none of them live for a long time once this happens to them.”

“But if they can predict what’s going to happen,” Tibs asked, “shouldn’t they know what’s going to put them in danger?”

“The stories say they go insane,” the cleric said. “Raving lunatic, more precisely.”

Carina nodded. “The more accurate the adventurer was at predicting the results, the quicker their minds deteriorated. It’s like they can’t ‘see’ the real world anymore, just their visions.”

“So my father could have said the truth,” Jackal mused, sounding surprised. “That would be a first.” He put the tankard to his lips, then made a face again and put it down.

“I doubt it,” Carina said. “Any adventurer who shows signs of it is carefully watched. The universities have an arrangement with the guild to study them. The goal is to work out why they go insane so they can prevent it, but there hasn’t been any success.”

“As if those would be written about,” Khumdar mumbled before drinking and nearly spitting his ale out. “What is wrong with the ale?”

“Bad barrel, I expect,” Jackal said, getting Kroseph’s attention. When the server was at their table, he indicated the tankard. “Bad ale.”

Kroseph’s lips became a tight line. “Again. I’m starting to think all the barrels are bad.”

Jackal frowned. “How many barrels?”

“This will make the seventh.”

“Out of how many?” the fighter asked, his expression darkening.

“Twenty.” He looked over his shoulder as his father had a barrel removed. “Make that eight.”

Jackal cursed. “Did you warn your father about mine?”

“I told him what you told me, but those are kept in the cellar. I don’t see how your father could get in there and do something to them. None of them have been tampered with.”

Jackal looked at Tibs.

“I… I don’t know.” Tibs looked at the back of the room, the door to the kitchen. The cellar would be accessed from there. “I could sneak in, but I’ve never tried to open an ale barrel and then close it without leaving any indications of it.”

Mex chuckled. “You’d leave ale all over the floor, they’re stored on their side like you see them there. I don’t know if you could hold it back even with your essence.” He looked at the stare they gave him. “I worked at an ale-house in my youth.”

“Aren’t you from a noble family?” Jackal asked.

“No, I will be a noble,” Mez replied with determination. “And even a noble needs to know what work is or they won’t appreciate what those they protect contribute.”

“Where you’re from,” Jackal said, “has to have the strangest nobles I have ever heard of.” He raised the tankard and Kroseph stopped him.

“I’ll bring you all one from the next barrel. Hopefully, that one’s got good ale.”

It did.

* * * * *

Tibs studied the barrels lined against the wall. Like Mez had said, they were on their sides, held in place by wooden blocks then stacked three high. Each barrel went to his chest.

Jackal’s question had made Tibs curious. As he’d expected, getting into the cellar had been simple. Only one of Kroseph’s brothers was in the inn at night, and he had to deal with the food and serving. All Tibs had had to do was remain inconspicuous and slip into the kitchen when the man left it. Then find the cellar door and come down.

The barrels were proving to be the problem. They were wooden, but made of slats going from one end to the other. With metal rings holding them in place. He couldn’t remove one and then replace it—someone with wood as their element might—without it being noticed. Sensing the liquid within the barrel, he thought he could hold it in place, but even the end of the barrel were wooden slats.

He could only think of one way he could ruin the ale, and it was with his corruption essence. But only he and Don had that element, and as much screaming as Don did to the inn’s staff, he always ate here with his team.

Did Sebastian have something with corruption? He hadn’t been able to tell that element apart from the others when Jackal’s father had come to their table. There might be something among all the woven essence the man had on him. He’d have to see about finding that out now that he could.

Tibs left the cellar without attracting attention and went roof running, looking for a noble’s house to get into.

* * * * *

“Can essence make a lock?” Tibs asked Alistair.

His teacher sighed. “Please focus, Tibs.”

“I am, I’m feeling my reserve, I’m pushing the essence against the ‘edges’ of it, but I don’t know what’s supposed to happen, so I’m asking you a question.”

“What is supposed to happen,” Alistair said, tone straining, “is that you need to work out how to get your essence to seep through the border and into your body. One of the aspects of being Rho, on your way to Lambda, is to get your essence to suffuse your body.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to do by overfilling my reserve?” Tibs asked, thinking back to what had happened when he’d absorbed the essence in Bardik.

“Yes, if that could be done, I expect it would make it easier, but remember what I told you before, overfilling your reserve is dangerous.”

It had been painful, but Tibs couldn’t think of anything bad that had happened because of it. Other than being drenched in corruption; but that was Bardik’s fault.

“Does moving my essence to my body let me have more of it? It would have been nice to work on that earlier if it does.”

Alistair chuckled. “No. What it does is reinforce your body, gets it ready for the next stage.”

“I thought Rho was about learning how to use essence, instead of just repeating what we are told to do.”

“You already know that part, Tibs.”

“So, can essence be made into a lock?”

Alistair sighed. “Why do you want to know?”

“There’s a house with essence woven through the windows and doors.”

“I think you’ve just answered the question of if it can be done.”

Tibs opened his eyes. “So how do I get through one?”

“You get the key.”

“I can’t get the key.”

“Then you can’t get through it.”

“So, they’re the perfect lock?”

Alistair opened his eyes and glared at Tibs. “That is not what we are working on today.”

“It’s what’s on my mind.” He smiled. “I’m not going to be able to focus on anything else.”

“Tibs, there are times when I seriously believe you do not wish to improve your element.”

Tibs shrugged. “I’m inquisitive.” Alistair raised an eyebrow. “Carina’s having me read books. The word was in one of them.”

“Maybe I should get you one of the principles of essence etching versus weaving.”

“I’d rather you tell me, it hurts less.”

“That aspect will hurt when you get to it. Understanding the differences is complicated, but needed to proceed higher.”

“Okay, so the essence lock, it’s perfect?”

Alistair closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. “As perfect as a lock can be. They always have a weakness, the question is what will it be.”

“The key, so the person holding it.”

Alistair nodded.

“If a lock like that is so good, why aren’t more houses using them? Other than that one house, the others have latches on their windows and regular locks on their doors. Even their safe only rely on complicated mechanical locks instead of essence.”

“Setting aside arrogance as a reason. That window with woven essence in it is basically a magical item. And as I’ve explained, those are difficult and expensive to make. The more essences used, the more difficult, and therefore, more expensive. I’m surprised one of the nobles here went to this level of expenses. Could you tell how many essences were used in the lock?”

Tibs gave Alistair his ‘are you really asking that question’, then frowned. “Is there a way to tell the other essences apart?” He could sense the weave, but unless he had the essence, he couldn’t tell them from each other.

Alistair nodded. “With training, it’s possible to pick up minute differences in them. If you can have someone let you practice sensing their essence, it’s even possible to tell what essence is being used in a weave, but the more complex a weave the more difficult it becomes.”

“It’s all the mixing together of the essences, isn’t it?”

“A complex weave will be denser, making telling each strand apart more difficult. And something the noble needs to keep in mind are the odds a rogue will be who attempts it, instead of simply a thief. In most cities, a simple weave will be enough, since rogues don’t make a habit of breaking into houses at that point.”

“It was complex, dense, I could tell that,” he added, as a justification.

Alistair nodded. “It makes sense. Here, rogues like you are practicing, so even if they go with one of the less common elements, crystal, for example. There is a chance one of the rogues here has that as an element, and then it’s simple for them to get in. So they use more than one element, but they have to consider that rogues can work together, so two elements could be bypassed with only a little cooperation, three and four become more difficult because they need to find the rogue with the correct elements, and the more people who work together, the more chances are that argument will ensue. Internal conflicts have brought down many teams.”

“How would they know what essence each member of the team needs to have? I can sense my essence, not the others.”

“Speaking from my experience, the one planning the break-in will find a rogue with experience telling essence apart. Once they know the essences involved, they will find people to fill in those roles.”

“All rogues?”

“Ideally, but since everyone coming through the guild has worked with rogues, they’ll have picked up enough to be able to help. Every essence lock I’ve come across amounts to teasing the strands apart. There is skill required, but not the kind of skill that takes a lifetime to acquire.”

Tibs nodded. That made Sebastian’s house off-limit for the time being. He needed to learn to identify essences first, then see about assembling the team.

“Is that enough of an answer for now?”

Tibs nodded.

“Good, now go back to focusing. You won’t be able to reach Lambda without that.”

“How will you tell when I’ve managed it?”

“Tibs,” Alistair warned, then sighed. “Once you have suffused your body with water essence, you will take on some of its characteristics. Motion will be easier, smoother.”

“Oh, okay.” Tibs closed his eyes. He wasn’t reaching Lambda at all then. His body was already filled with his essence, he couldn’t push water essence into that.

At least he didn’t have to worry about being the one to break the team apart.

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