Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 70 (Patreon)

Tibs dropped onto the balcony of Amelia’s house. The noble had a three-story one, and the view from this balcony on the top floor was nearly as good as that from the roof. The door was locked, but the balcony meant the rogues coming in this way wouldn’t have to worry about foot and handholds while trying to get in. Those who wanted that challenge had plenty of windows to pick from.

He used picks to unlock the door.

As strange as it felt, this wasn’t about breaking into the house to steal from a noble. It was about testing the kind of difficulties it gave Omega Runners, so he had to work with what they had access to.

The lock wielded to him quickly and he cracked it open. Sound of snoring. This Amelia’s house regent’s room. The man was aware of what the noble had volunteered the house for but had stated that he wouldn’t give anyone breaking into his room a chance. He would not turn them over to the guard, but he would make them regret being caught.

Nothing more than bruises, Amelia had instructed and the regent hadn’t been pleased.

Tibs smiled at the wicker cane next to the bed, well within reach of the man.

Some rogues would have an easier time than others with this route. Sto still occasionally gave the silent shoes in the trap room’s cache.

Tibs didn’t need them anymore. He didn’t even need any essence to silently reach the door and—

It was locked.

He smirked at the sleeping man. Like that would be any more difficult.

For him, maybe, but for an Omega, this would definitely cause a problem. Good. A rogue needed to know if it giving up the loot now so they could return later was the right decision. Tibs silently unlocked it and cracked it open. Lamplight slipped in and he used his body to block it. He didn’t know how sensitive to it the regent was. He had no essence, but even ordinary people had varying degrees of sensitivity to light.

A woman walked by the door but didn’t notice it was cracked open. The clothing she wore was light but woven through with essence. She looked like a servant, but Amelia was not a fool. She had guards inside her house. They too were in on the help she was providing, but only Amelia would know when they were sending a Runner to break in.

She figured it help keep her security on alert. That was one of the reasons she’d agreed to Tibs’s proposal. The other was that it has sounded fun.

The guard posing as a servant reached the stairs and moved down them. Tibs exited the room and closed the door. The challenge with this entry point was that his target was one floor below and the only way there was the stairwell the guard had taken. There were two rooms by it, one on each side, but the guard would turn around as soon as they reached the bottom and start back up. The rogue planning on hiding in one of them would have to be quick and hope they didn’t wake the person in the room. The one on the left was Amelia, the one on the right was Andia’s.

Tibs was confused by the arrangement. From watching the two women, he had been certain they were together the way Jackal and Kroseph were, so why separate sleeping rooms?

Tibs wouldn’t pry. He also wouldn’t use either. He wanted a sense of how observant the guard was. He leaped to one wall, then the other, and pushed himself in the corner, using strength to hold himself up. This was getting easier with the sword training. His ice sword might not have weight, but wielding it about and blocking strikes was making him stronger.

The guard walked up the stairs and Tibs fought the urge to switch to darkness to hide. Not every Runner had darkness. The guard walk under him without looking up. Once they reached the regent’s door, Tibs silently dropped and quietly went down the stairs, stepping over the fourth step. He’d noticed it creaked when Amelia had given him a tour of the house.

Conversation stopped him at the landing. Laughter at the bottom of the stairs, deeper in. A glance didn’t show him anyone, so they were further. He walked around the landing and crouch. Three steps down he saw the back of a man and a woman. He was rotund, she was muscular. Tibs didn’t understand what they said.

He glanced up, tried to hear the guard’s steps but she was too far. Her steps were also light enough he might not hear her in time to move. The two in the hall still had their back to him, but weren’t moving. There was a door on the right at the bottom of the stairs, but he didn’t know if it was locked.

Still, the only thing staying here would get him was caught. He moved, taking picks from the bracer. He picked those he’d need by sight when the lock was visible and went to work.

This would cause more than one rogue to be caught. The stress of being detected while trying to pick a lock. He had his open and was in the room. it was one of the servant’s rooms. It was silent. Maybe that of the man talking with the woman?

Tibs looked around for places to hide if he came this way. He rolled his eyes when he concluded under the bed was the best place. As if he wouldn’t look there as soon as he was in the room.

The guard reached the bottom of the stairs and said a few words. The woman replied, tone jovial, and the guard went back up. Tibs peers out, the man patted the woman’s shoulder and went into a room, while she came Tibs’s way.

He cursed, was this her room? He’d expected the guards to have a common room on the ground floor, or in a building at the back. Maybe Amelia treated her guards better and gave each their room?

He stepped away from the opening so the guard wouldn’t see him if she looked this way, and watched her pass and then go down the stairs.

Tibs waited, then peered out, stepped out, closed the door, and proceeded to the far door on the left. His target. This lock was better made and required a delicate touch. Tibs had it open as he saw the top of a head coming up and was inside, door closed and listening for an alarm. The window would be easy to open from the inside and jump out if the alarm sounded.

Everything remained quiet.

He scanned the dark room, again resisting the urge to use darkness to see. This was Amelia’s office, one of the servant’s rooms she had converted, the desk was in the corner, so she looked at the door. Tibs hadn’t liked having his back to it while they talked. Two chairs were before it, a small table behind them with two more chairs. She could turn the space into a cozy speaking room if she wanted, but those were obstacles that needed to be maneuvered around.

When he was after was on her desk. A stone carving of a tree.

The rogue sent to break into the house wouldn’t be ordered to do so. They wouldn’t be told this was a test of their skills. Darran would hint at a buyer willing to pay good coin for the carving and that he would be whoever brought it to him proportionally well. The rogue would be led to believe they were competing against others, so they’d have to hurry.

Rushed work led to mistakes. And under these conditions, mistakes led to learning.

He stepped around the chairs and avoided the cabinet with the decanters on them. It took little to shake it and have the crystal glassed hanging upside down gently knock against each other. It shouldn’t be a problem for the others, but in his case, it would bring this to an early end.

He reached the desk and clunked a copper piece on it before sitting.

Amelia lit the lamp with a stone woven through with fire essence. “I saw the door open,” she stated.

“That’s why I said that didn’t count. If the rogue comes in while you’re working, they deserve to be caught.”

“And what do you think of my security?”

Tibs smiled. “They didn’t see me.”

She nodded. “Which means I need to have a talk with them. What should I bring up?”

He didn’t like helping a noble make their house more secure, but that had also been part of the agreement.

“They don’t look up. I was holding myself in a corner in the hallway as they walked under me. They also don’t pay attention to details. I had a door cracked open twice while one of them walk by.”

“The danger of a quiet life.”

Tibs shrugged.

“So any rogue caught is returned to you, any who manage to take this,” she pointed to the carving. A piece of stone with parts at the top jutting out randomly in something that Tibs could imagine was tree branches; if he tried hard. “Gets…”

Tibs chuckled. “Told they’re good rogues, and can probably try one of the other houses and not expect to be caught.”

“How long until they spread the word among themselves it’s just a test?”

“I’m hoping I can convince them it’s best if they down, but I should be able to send this batch through before they get annoyed at me and tell the newcomers.”

“If you let me tell—”

“No. Mez vouches for you and I trust him, but you’re a noble. And even you’ve said most nobles here aren’t good people.”

She nodded. “Then, once I have earned your trust, we can revisit this discussion.” She stood. “I’ll escort you out.”

* * * * *

Tibs looked at the warehouse. It was only him and his team in it. He felt no different.

“Okay, that is almost stranger than where you channel corruption,” Mez said.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re eyes glow, but they aren’t producing light,” Carina answered, “which is odd, seeing as you’re channeling light.”

“The essence,” he corrected.

“How do you feel?” Jackal asked.

“Lonely. Stressed. Wishing I’d never taken any of this on. What?” he asked at his friends’ troubled expressions.

“You never told us that,” Jackal replied

“This isn’t your burden, why would I tell you?”

“We’re your friends,” Carina said.

“Which is why I can’t burden any of you with this. It’s my job to make sure you can have your lives.”

“I believe this is Light’s influence,” Khumdar said. “Overabundant honesty.”

“It’s better than overabundant secrecy,” Tibs said. “You should try being honest for once, Khumdar.”

The cleric stiffened. “What would you mean by that?”

Tibs stepped toward the man, seeing the spiked of light his darkness fought to hid. There was so much Khumdar hid, and Tibs had a sense it wasn’t all the secrets he had uncovered about the people in the town.

“What are you hiding from yourself, cleric?”

Khumdar jerked away from Tibs’s poking finger as if it would burn him, and Tibs wondered if he could burn that darkness away. Reveal what was hiding underneath. It would do the man good to be honest.

“Tibs, that’s enough,” Carina said.

They could all use a good dose of honesty. “Really? Why? Because the idea you don’t need your family scares you, Carina? You do see that clinging to them will only hold you back. They’ll never understand what you want and what you can do. Mez, you’re still in love with Tandy, so why are you even—”

“Tibs,” Jackal called, “that’s enough.”

“And you—”

The fighter grabbed Tibs by the shoulders. “You can tell everyone what you’ve worked out about me Tibs, but two things. One, you do not, speak to your team this way. People have secrets and they keep them for their own reasons, you more than anyone else, knows that.”

Tibs rolled his eyes. He was planning on dealing with that once he was done with the fighter. Once the guild knew what he could do, they would be able to help him. There would be a cost, but they wanted power and that was what Tibs was.

“What’s the second thing?” he demanded impatiently.

Jackal grinned. “You’re going to lie to me.”

Tibs stared at him. “What?”

“One lie. It doesn’t even have to be a big one. Tell me that you’re fine Khumdar keeping things to himself. Or that there’s nothing wrong with Mez choosing to honor his family’s wishes over his hearth’s.”

“There is nothing wrong with that!” the archer stated.

“Tell me that my family will understand me,” Carina said, then swallowed.

Why was she in pain? She knew the truth, she just lied to herself about it. It was plain to see. The truth was better. Truth was freedom. Lying shackled people down. Didn’t any of them understand that? He was doing them a kindness in telling them how things were.

He wasn’t doing this to hurt them!

The pain brought him to his knees.

Lies!

No! They needed to know the truth! They had to!

He screamed.

Lies!

Fine! He was angry. He wanted to hurt someone. Didn’t have the right, after the pain that had been inflicted on him?

He was hands on the ground, panting. Was this what Harry dealt with? No, it wasn’t. Harry wasn’t affected by his element. His need for honesty was something Harry had decided.

“Tibs?”

That was who he was. Tibs. A man—a boy. He wasn’t Light. He didn’t exist in a place where things were clear-cut. Lies were needed.

He readied himself for pain that didn’t come.

“Tibs?” Jackal asked again.

The world existed because people lied to each other and themselves. Carina told herself her family would understand because her family was important to her. Yes clinging to them probably would hold her back, but she was Runner, she would be an Adventurer. Had had years ahead of her to come to terms with it. Let them go, or let her dreams go, in her own time.

Khumdar probably didn’t have a choice in the secrets he kept. Unlike Tibs, the cleric was directly connected to his element. Unlike Harry, he was affected by it deeply and Tibs had to option of stopping. Khumdar didn’t.

“You’re an asshole,” he told Jackal.

“I know, now lie to me.”

Tibs rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“I said lie, Tibs,” the fighter said severely. “Everyone knows that one to be true.”

If only Tibs could show him how brightly that lie shown. How he didn’t have to play the idiot, the jester. The light in him wanted him to spew out the truth, but he didn’t. Jackal felt safe as the idiot. As the man no one would ever look to for serious, life-threatening decisions. Tibs patted his cheek and let him have that.

His body protested as he stood, then he hugged Carina. “I’m sorry for what I said. They love you.”

She hugged him back. “Liar,” she whispered and they both smiled.

“That’s it?” Mez asked. He looked around. “Usually you cause a lot more damage before you get the element under control.”

Tibs looked at the cleric who eyes him warily. “I think I cause enough damage as it is.”

* * * * *

“We’re lost,” Jackal said, looking around the hallway.

“You can get us back to the entrance, can’t you?” Carina asked.

“Yes.”

“Then we aren’t lost.”

“But I have no idea where we’re going. There should be a passage there.” He pointed at the wall. “Tibs, help me out here.”

Tibs had no idea what Jackal wanted. He couldn’t just force Sto to remove the wall. Ganny had set up the rules for the floor and they had to succeed by those rules. That meant Tibs had to figure out the tiles and the triggers. He’d thought that avoiding them was the way, but now there were stuck halfway to where they had been the last time and a wall blocked their way. So they needed to activate some of the triggers. The question was which ones?

“At least this walking about means we’ll encounter creatures,” Mez said.

“But the real loot is at the end.” Jackal pointed to the closed-off passage.

“That was not the end,” Khumdar said. The cleric was away from them, from Tibs. After the event in the warehouse, Khumdar vanished. Tibs had worried the cleric had left because of him, of the thing he’d said when channeling light. He’d confirmed he hadn’t left via the platform, but the cleric wasn’t a convict. He could simply walk out of the town, never to return. Even Jackal hadn’t know where he was.

Khumdar reappeared the day before their run, but only to let them know he’d be at the entrance on time, then vanished again. He’d fought when they were attacked and carried the loot that kit in his backpack, but otherwise, didn’t interact with them.

“Sto?” Carina called, then looked at Tibs.

“I’m here,” Sto answered and Tibs nodded.

“I know what I want.”

“Oh good. What is it?” Tibs chuckled at the excitement in Sto’s voice. He nodded again.

“I’d like wizard’s robes, the same gray-blue as these. Actually, I’d like it to look exactly like what I’m wearing, down to some of the damage. But I want to be armored. It doesn’t have to be able to withstand everything, but I’m tired of the pain so some protection is needed, but what I really need to have is hidden reserves like Sto’s bracers, but for every element.”

“Do you not have more ranks before you are taught how to extract the essence from objects?” Khumdar asked.

She nodded. “But if there’s one thing Tibs has shown me is that I’m not gaining anything by just waiting for the guild to teach me.” She smiled. “They’re holding me back. So a set of robes like that, especially if no one can tell it’s enchanted, is exactly what I need to start figuring things out on my own.”

“The guild’s going to be pissed if they find out,” Jackal said.

“They aren’t going to find out,” she replied.

“Is that it?” Tibs asked and she nodded.

“I can do that,” Sto replied. “I’ll have it by your next run.”

“Next run,” Tibs said and she beamed.

“Okay,” Jackal said, “then I guess I should go next. I want a pouch like the one you gave Tibs after Walter died. The one where no one can tell what’s in it, and I want to to be like those chests that was larger inside than outside, and that the stuff I put in it doesn’t weigh anything.” The fighter smiled proudly.

“No,” Tibs said.

“The dungeon said he could—”

“You’re going to use that to hide all the loot we find!”

Jackal’s grin was answer enough.

“The guild’s going to know you’re scamming them. We always come out with loot.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Jackal stated, still grinning.

“What about the second or third?” Mez asked. “You aren’t going to be able to stop, Jackal.”

“I will,” Jackal insisted. “Look we’re going to do it once, then I’ll only hide one or two things from each run, I swear.”

“Sto,” Carina said, “don’t make it so the weight’s removed.”

“Carina!” Jackal called. “It’s my reward.”

“And your greed is going to get us thrown in a cell and get Tibs in even worse trouble. How are we going to explain it when the guild finds the pouch on you, with all the things hidden in it? You think they’re going to stop with you? Sto, how many people have items no one can detect even when touching them?”

“One,” the dungeon answered.

“Just me,” Tibs said.

“But they can’t tell he had it,” Jackal said in exasperation.

“Until they cut them open and find the gems Sto used, then they’re going to look at the rest of us, which means they’re going to find my robes and whatever Mez and Khumdar ask for.”

“I don’t know that I’ll ask for anything,” Mez replied.

“Even if it’s only the three of us, that’s going to be very suspicious. How long until they bring in someone with mind as their essence and question us? Questions Tibs?”

Jackal looked at Tibs, finally worried. “I…” his shoulder slumped. “Okay, the stuff weighs what it should.”

“You’re strong,” Tibs said, “you’ll still be able to take a lot.”

“But it won’t be everything.” Jackal forced a smile. “Which is for the best, I guess. It’s not like I’d be able to sell it all anyway.”

“I will also not be asking for a reward,” Khumdar said. “This staff has been enough of a boon and if it were to suddenly change, that would draw attention as well.” He took a breath. “Jackal, if you do not object, I would like to speak with Tibs in private.”

Jackal looked at Tibs who nodded and followed the cleric away from the group.