Breaking Step, Draft 1, CH 37 (Patreon)

Tibs stormed through the room, ignoring the greetings from the other patrons in the inn. He’d sensed ahead and knew Don was there, along with his team, and he wasn’t waiting to let the sorcerer know what he thought of what he’d done.

“You lied to us!” He yelled, slamming a hand on the table.

Don stared at him in surprise.

“Tibs?” Jackal said, “maybe you should—”

“He fucking lied.”

“I don’t know what—”

“You said Tirania put you on our team.”

“You were there when she—”

“He told her to put you in our team. It was your idea, not hers!”

“Don?” Mez asked.

“I—” the sorcerer said, the word glowing. “Look.” The glow was less, and he looked at the others. Jackal’s and Khumdar’s expressions turned suspicious, while Mez looked hurt. “You have to understand.”

“Yeah,” Jackal said sharply. “I’m sure you think we do.”

“That’s why!” Don snapped. “What the fuck did you expect me to do? Come to the people I’ve gone out of my way to be an asshole to and just ask to be part of your team? You would have kicked my ass, laughing at me.”

“Don,” Mez said, “We wouldn’t—”

“Get off of it, Mez,” Don cut the archer off. “After how I treated you, there’s no way, you’d have welcome me in.”

“You lied,” Tibs snarled.

“How is it you missed it?” Khumdar asked cautiously.

“I don’t know!” Tibs snapped. He’d wracked his memory, trying to remember every conversations they’d had. Had there ever been light with anything he’d said? Sure, there had, no one was always honest, but what about anytime him joining the team had come up? Tibs didn’t know. Part of him hadn’t cared all that much after the initial shock, so he hadn’t paid that much attention. He should have. He should have known there was no way Don would be honest about anything. “I don’t know what else he lied about.”

“I didn’t lie!” the sorcerer yelled, standing, the words glowing bright. “Not about anything else!”

Tibs snorted as those words glowed too, if not as brightly.

“Really?” Don looked at them. “How many runs have we done? How many times did I keep my mouth shut and let him screw up? And this is the little trust you’re showing me?”

“Why?” Mez asked, still sounding confused.

“I told you why,” the sorcerer said through clenched teeth,

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mez snapped. “In all that time, why did you never tell us what you’d done?”

Don looked at him in disbelief. “And deal with this?” he replied in disdain, including the four of them with a wave of the arm. “What? You think I want to be treated like I’m something you need to scrape off your boot?”

“We’d have—”

“Fuck this,” Don told Tibs over Mez’s protest. “I don’t need this. I don’t need you. I learned what I needed from your lot, not you can go fuck I nthe abyss for all I care.” The sorcerer stalked away from the table.

“Good fucking riddance,” Tibs snarled, ignoring how bright the sorcerers word had been. “We don’t need him.”

* * * * * *

“No,” Irdian said dismissively. “Unless he’s dead, you can’t just change sorcerer.”

“He’s not working out,” Tibs said as evenly as he could.

The guard leader’s smirk told him it wasn’t as even as he thought. “That’s not my problem, Light Finger. Why don’t you take it up with Guild Leader Tirania? I’m sure she’ll be happy to bend the rules again, for you.”

Tibs stormed out of the office, going over all the ways he’d like to kill that man. Fire was too good for him. Dripping corruption over him ever so slowly would be appropriate torture for him not going along with what Tibs wanted.

As soon as he was outside, he climbed to the roof, surprising one of the clerks there enjoying a meal and a drink. Then Tibs threw himself to the closest roof and ran. He pushed himself until his muscles hurt and did not use purity to take the pain away. When he couldn’t run anymore he screamed.

Then he bent down, feeling like he was going to be sick from pushing himself so hard.

As tempting as it was, he wasn’t going to kill Don.

Maybe if they both went to Tirania and explained the situation wasn’t working she’d listen. Sure. Don was going to love going along with Tibs’s plan. The sorcerer was going to screw them over for as long as he could over this. Keeping them from their runs.

Tibs screamed again.

How could he have been so stupid to ever trust that guy? When had Don ever been about anything other than what Don wanted?

Fuck, he’d started liking him!

That was probably what Don had been after, making Tibs trust him enough he’d tell him his secret. The sorcerer had been probing a lot about what Tibs did these last runs. Tibs went over their interactions outside the run, looking for anywhere he might have let something slip. He didn’t think he had, but while iced, that hadn’t been something he’d cared all that much about. Tibs wasn’t sure he’d seen the guild learning about his element as something that would get in the way of taking it down in those last weeks.

He looked around, trying to place himself. He saw the pillars of the transportation platform, so there was Market Place. Over there the quality and height of the houses made that the noble’s neighborhood, so he was…

Fuck, hadn’t he ever paid attention to the shifting landscape of the roofs while iced? No, of course not, they hadn’t mattered to his plan. They were just a way for him to reach the nobles’ houses when he felt like breaking into one of them.

Which was what he felt like doing now.

So he ran in that direction.

It wouldn’t be the direct kind of suffering he felt like inflicting, but he’d know he hurt one of them.

* * * * *

Numbers. Numbers and more numbers.

Tibs grumbled under his breath as he went over the ledger. How had he ever enjoyed doing this? He looked at the list of repairs the equipment needed, what he had available, how much it would cost for the repairs, how much extra for the leathersmith to put his needs ahead of the other customers so he’d be sure to have armor for each team he was helping.

Maybe he should ask Sto to make armor for him. Nothing too special, just with the self repair his and the other’s had.

The others.

Fuck, Tibs was so happy they’d never gotten to the point where Don got Carina’s robe. That had been the plan, somewhere at the back of his mind, when he wasn’t so iced or angry he could think in that direction. She’d want to help their sorcerer anyway possible, even now that she was gone.

Fuck it still hurt.

He pushed the ledger away before the tears feel onto them.

I’m sorry, he thought again. I’m sorry I didn’t get there earlier. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to save you.

At least he’d avenged her.

But that hadn’t brought her back to him.

The satisfaction hadn’t lasted long.

He wiped his tears.

He’d make sure that when the others responsible paid for it, they suffered for much longer. Those responsible for Carina and Mama’s death.

But for now, numbers.

* * * * *

“The schedule’s up,” Jackal said, dropping in the seat. He was sweaty and bruised after his morning run and fighting. By the limp, it hadn’t been training. Tibs looked around to ensure no one was paying them any attention, then wove purity and sent if to the fighter’s injuries.

Jackal’s sigh was faint, but his posture relaxed.

That was the nice thing about not having Don around anymore. Tibs didn’t have to endure watching his friends suffer.

“On the afternoon in three day is our turn.”

“I believe we have something of a conundrum to resolve,” Khumdar said, “if we wish to go for out run.”

“I can fix the problem,” Jackal said, cracking his fingers.

“I suspect the guards will not approve of whatever you would do to Don so we can get another sorcerer on our team.”

“The only other option is to have him there when we go for the run,” The fighter said.

“No,” Tibs replied, not looking up from his breakfast.

“I don’t see what else we can do, Tibs.”

“We don’t go,” he replied, and felt the stare.

“Tibs,” Jackal said, hurt, “it’s…. We…” there was a pause. “Help me out here?”

“I’m with Tibs,” Mez said. “I don’t want anything to do with Don. If that means no runs until he finds himself another team, I’m okay with that.”

“Can he do that?” Jackal asked. “Pull another team together?”

“How should I know?” Mez replied. “Not that he’s going to care what he’s allowed to do or not. He’ll get things to happen his way. He always does.”

“He’s going to screw us over as long as he can,” Tibs added.

“Maybe you should talk with him,” Kroseph said, taking empty plates.

Tibs stared at the server. “You don’t like him.”

“No, I don’t. I think that how he went about doing what he did is reprehensible, but I’ve watched him over these lasts months as part of your team, and that wasn’t the man I’d grown to know since settling here.”

“That doesn’t mean I want anything to do with him,” Tibs said.

“Tibs,” Jackal said, “maybe we should…”

“You can survive without loot for a while.”

The fighter gasped in horror an Tibs rolled his eyes. That has stopped working a long tome ago.

“Excuse me.” Jackal stood. “I need to go see if I can pull Kro away from his work long enough to mend my heart back together.”

* * * * *

“He’s approaching,” Tibs said, pushing his plate away. Knowing he’d have to deal with the sorcerer had just killed his hunger.

“He might not be coming for us,” Mez said. “The inn is where the runners come.”

“He’s here for us,” Tibs stated. He was sure of it.

He felt the sorcerer enter, and the frost spread. Tibs glanced to the door before he could stop himself and there he stood, even more full of himself than before.

“Looks like he found that stick to shove up his ass again,” Jackal grumbled as Don strode through the inn. The runners watched him. The older ones smirked, while the younger watched with a mix of awe and confusion.

Don stopped by their table.

“Told you,” Tibs muttered, not looking at the sorcerer.

“The run is tomorrow,” Don announced. “And I decided that I won’t force you to miss it, therefore I am letting you know that I will be at the bottom of the steps—”

“We’re not doing it,” Tibs said, once he’d gotten over the shock of the sorcerer statement sounding like he was being kind to them.

“You are not doing the run?” Don asked, sounding as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

“Can’t do it a member short,” Tibs stated.

“Tibs,” Jackal said, “maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty?”

“Unless you found a way to bring a new sorcerer on our team, we can’t,” Tibs said.

“I did offer a way,” Jackal replied. “You said no.”

“I am surprised,” Khumdar said, “that you must lower yourself to being with us to take part on a run. Were you not able to find others and form a team of your own?”

“Don’t think so fucking highly of yourself, cleric,” Don said, making the last word derisive. “People are lining up to be on my team.” The words glowed bright. “But, because I’m already part of one,” he said words curt, “I can’t have another team. Even my status as Hero of the Town isn’t enough for the guild leader to bend the rule.” He glared at Tibs, and the rogue grinned back. “So, yes, I must lower myself to be with the likes of you, if I want to go on a run.”

“And you want to?” Mez asks.

The sigh was heavy. “I am a Runner. I am here to run the dungeon. Unlike some, I don’t seek to shirk my responsibilities.”

“No, just use us to get your loot,” Tibs replied.

“Let’s make something clear,” Jackal said, cutting off Don’s response. “I am the team leader. If we let you do the run with us.”

“Let me?” Don asked, smirking.

“Let you,” Jackal replied. “You came to us, like Tibs said, we were perfectly happy not doing the run.”

Tibs was happy Don didn’t have light as an element. Jackal’s words were so bright the whole room could be blinded.

Don looked at the others at the table. “Very well, to ensure to you do not miss your run, I will agree to follow your leadership. No matter how horrible it might be.”

Tibs raised an eyebrow in surprise as how little light the words had.