Breaking Step, Draft 1, CH 33 (Patreon)

Tibs headed for the counter as he stepped into the busy inn, grabbed the plate of today’s meal Russel handed him, along with the tankard, and made his way to his team’s table, where the others already were. Other than Jackal, they were done eating and were quietly drinking.

He felt their eyes on him and ignored it.

“We need to talk,” Jackal said, once he finished his plate. 

Tibs was halfway through the steak, drenched in a spicy sauce with slightly sweet vegetables. “Okay.” He continued eating.

“Tibs, I said, we need to talk.”

“I can eat and talk,” he replied, doing that to prove his point.

“I’d rather you focus on us. The food can wait.”

The food would get cold, but that wouldn’t change how filling it was, just the taste, and that wasn’t all that important. He shrugged and put the knife down and looked at the fighter.

“You have to let go of water,” Jackal said. “It’s starting to cause problems.”

“Did you talk with—” Tibs stopped himself from saying Sto’s name as he glanced at Don. He realized Jackal couldn’t have talked with the dungeon, since he couldn’t hear him.

“Fine,” Don exclaimed. “Yes, I’m the one who brought it up. I figured you’d listen to him more than me.”

“Why? You’re the smarter one.”

They stared at him.

“That’s kind of what the problem is, Tibs,” Mez said.

“Not that I’m the smarter one,” Don replied, “but that you’re so blatant about pointing it out.”

“That statement,” Khumdar said, “sounds suspiciously like you wishing you were not.”

Don rolled his eyes. “It isn’t because I’m the smartest person in this town that I think I’m better than everyone here.”

“Yes, you do,” Tibs said.

Don sighed. “This is me trying to be humble.”

Khumdar hid his smile behind taking a drink. “You will need to continue practicing,” he said after.

“Look, there’s only so much awesome I can hide, okay?”

“Hey,” Jackal said, “I’m the awesome one here. You’ll have to settle for bring great.”

Don raised an eyebrow. “I don’t settle. So that man of yours will have to get used to his man not being all that awesome anymore.”

Jackal snorted. “You are going to have to try a lot harder if you want my man to think you’re more awesome than I am.”

“Your man’s going to have to keep thinking you’re so awesome anymore, because even to prove you wrong, I’m not getting in bed with him.”

“That’s good,” the server said, placing a tankard down and taking Jackal’s empty one and plate, “since I’m starting to like you, and I’d rather not have to punch you.”

“That just means there’s one less person in the lineup,” Don replied. “It’s not like I’m going to notice.”

Tibs looked up from his food at the ensuing silence. The others were looking at the sorcerer.

“What?” Don asked them.

Kroseph patted his shoulder. “I think I like you a little more after this.” Then he headed for the kitchen.

Don looked at the others. “What did I say?”

“If you do not know,” Khumdar replied, “then it was definitely the right thing.”

The sorcerer looked at Tibs, who shrugged and went back to eating.

“Tibs,” Jackal said, “we still to talk.”

He considered continuing to eat, but it would simply lead to a repeat of earlier. He put the knife down and looked at the fighter.

“You have to—”

“No,” Tibs said.

“Tibs, your actions are affecting the town.”

“Everyone’s actions affect the people in the town.”

“But not everyone’s letting a house burn down,” Don said.

“Or setting up a Runner for cell time,” Jackal added.

“The Runner’s fine,” Tibs said. “She was released before their run. And there’s plenty of other houses for that family to use.”

“Are you going to buy one for them?” Mez asked.

“Why?”

“Because unless they own the house, it’s not like they can just move in it.”

“There’s plenty of people in house they don’t own,” Tibs pointed out.

“If you’re talking about the houses the people looking after the runners live in, they, or at least their families, own them.”

“There’s still people living in houses they don’t own. Don lived in one before moving to our room.”

“Just on one floor,” the sorcerer said, “and I had to pay for that, every month.”

“That family’s house you arranged to be burned down doesn’t have that much money,” Mez said. “They can’t pay for both.”

“Why would they pay for both? They’d already bought the house. And if they only have to pay once a month, it’s easier to manage. It’s like how the shops pay for their security. If I asked for everything at once, they wouldn’t be able to.”

Mez looked at Tibs. “You have no idea how housing works, do you?”

“People spend coins to get a house, they live in it. When they move, they sell the house to someone else.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” the archer said. Tibs shrugged. It wasn’t like that was his problem. “And your lack of reaction is one of the example why you have to stop.”

“I can’t stop.”

“You can,” Jackal said. “Just let go of it.”

“You’ve seen how dangerous that is.”

“That’s why you’re going to do it in the dungeon,” the fighter replied.

Tibs narrowed his eyes. That sounded so much like what Sto had offered. He had trouble believing Jackal hadn’t been prompted by the dungeon. Although, Jackal had seen Sto survive Tibs losing control of Fire, so he could think the dungeon would survive anything.

“No. I’m not going to risk hurting him like that.”

“Tibs, this isn’t us asking you,” Jackal said. “We’re telling you to stop.”

“I’m telling you I won’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“It is not more dangerous than where we can see your current behavior taking you,” the cleric said.

“You haven’t seen what Jackal has.”

“He described it.”

“Not everything,” the fighter added as Tibs glared at him.

“But enough we get a sense of what you’re afraid of,” Don said. “And I’m telling you, Tibs. Where you’re heading can be much more destructive than that.”

“I’m working toward freeing the town. That isn’t something that happens without some people being hurt. I’m sorry it’s happening, but I’m not going to stop just because you’re afraid I’ll hurt someone.”

“Tibs, it’s not just some people,” the sorcerer said. “You are becoming so focused on your end goal that you might not see how much destruction you caused in insistence on doing anything you have to to win.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Tibs,” Don said in exasperation, “you already aren’t—”

“It’s not going to work,” Jackal said, studying Tibs. “He’s already too far gone to care about that.”

Tibs waited. Jackal didn’t say something like that without thinking he had a plan.

“Here’s what going to happen, Tibs. Unless you promise to let go of water once we’re in the dungeon. We’re not going to have another run.”

“You can’t stop doing runs,” Tibs replied, amused that was the fighter’s plan. He’d expected slightly better. “The guild isn’t going to let us.” He went back to eating his now cool food.

“Maybe not, but if I’m in a cell, the team can’t go on a run,” Jackal said.

Tibs snorted. “You, ending up in a cell? You’d have to walk up to a guard and punch one to make it happen.”

“I was thinking more of starting a brawl outside the Drunk Worm, since a lot of the guards hang out there after their shifts, but your idea does benefit from being quicker.”

Tibs stared at the fighter. “You won’t do it.”

Jackal smiled. “Test me.”

“That means you’re going to miss on all the loot in the dungeon.”

“It does.”

“You love loot more than anything other than Kroseph.”

“There’s one person I love more than loot, Tibs. And for you, I’m willing to sacrifice that a whole lot more.”

“I don’t need help,” he stated, filling the forming cracks.

“I don’t care what you think you need, Tibs. Until you promise to do it, the day before a run, I’m going to make sure I end up in a cell.”

The lack of light accompanying the words told Tibs the fighter wasn’t lying. He ground his teeth. He needed the runs. He didn’t care about the loot, but he needed to get stronger, and that meant doing runs. And now, Jackal was going to be stubborn and get in the way of that.

What he needed was a new team leader.

The crack nearly shattered his control. His hand tightened on the tankard’s handle to the point his knuckles turned while, as he filled it and iced everything back into control.

What he really needed was a way to show them he was fine.

He sighed and slumped forward. “Fine,” he said, defeated. “I’ll do it.”

“Promise it.”

He sighed again. “I promise,” he lied. Once in the dungeon, it wasn’t like they’d be able to force him, and if Jackal wouldn’t see reason…. Well, the dungeon was a dangerous place, and even someone at Lambda might not survive it.