Breaking Step, Draft 1, CH 48 (Patreon)

Tibs sat still as Tirania read, nodding to herself and humming here and there in what he felt was an act to get him to fidget. Light wasn’t showing any of what she did as a lie, but would it react to actions by itself, like it did to words? To distract himself, he focused on the weaves in the room, studying the details he was now able to perceive. It didn’t help much. Even where he knew the element, he didn’t know enough about weaving to figure out much of anything.

At least it kept him from worrying about how he’d get out of this.

“Sorry,” She finally said, rubbing her temple. “This is just so much.”

He fought the urge to swallow. He could get out of this. He had an edge over her. He’d know when she was lying, trying to get him to admit to something. Even all those papers could be a lie. She’d held them as she read, so he couldn’t see if there was something written on them. 

Although her words had no light to them. So there was a lot to what she’d—

“What?” he asked, realizing he’d missed what she’d said.

She shook her head with a chuckle. “I guess it’s not that important in the end.”

Had she emphasized ‘that’, or was it his imagination?

He nodded and swallowed.

She looked at him, and he waited.

“Aren’t you going to ask why you’re here?”

“I figure you’ll tell me.”

She chuckled. “Just when I count on your unending curiosity to get things going.” She pushed the papers to the side. “The dungeon closed its door.”

Tibs opened his mouth to protest and immediately closed it. “I didn’t know,” he said instead. Was she trying to get him to admit to speaking with Sto? Not that he’d said anything about it.

“It just happened. I expect the word will spread soon, but I want to be sure you and Don know about it first so you can use the platform before the before everyone gets their bracelets and rushes out.” She took a bracelet from a drawer and placed it on the desk before Tibs.

He stared at it.

Was this a trick? She hadn’t lied about any of it. But she hadn’t said anything about the bracelet. What if there was an enchantment on it to compel him to tell the truth? There was light within the weave.

“Like the last time, it’s not going to turn black. Red will tell you the dungeon’s door opened. And, of course, your team won’t be able to go in until you’re back.”

No lies again.

Now he was worried. Don would have told her Tibs had Light as an element, and there were ways to get around it. He wouldn’t be able to tell what of the multiple items in and on the desk with a weave through them let her lie to him.

“Well?” She watched him.

He shook himself. “I’m sorry. With the escort, I thought this was more than just telling me the vacation was starting.”

“Escort?”

“The adventurer you sent to fetch me.”

She rubbed her face. “Someone’s trying to ingratiate themselves. Sorry about that. Someone was just supposed to let you know I wanted to see you as soon as you could.” She motioned to the papers. “As you see, I wasn’t quite expecting you this quickly.”

“What are they about?” she’d already mentioned his curiosity, so he could use that.

She sighed. “Inventories, personnel files, records of what’s been going on in Kragle Rock for my superior. Which includes you trying to break into the repository, Tibs. What were you thinking?”

He shrugged. “Irdian confiscated my stuff. I was trying to see if I could get it back.”

She stared at him before searching through the papers. She read something and looked at him again. “How were you planning on taking six crates of armor, weapons and tool out?”

He shrugged. “That was just to find out where they were.” Six crates? Had he had that much stuff then? If he included the armor that was waiting to be repaired, the locks and traps used for the rogues to train with, probably. It had all been spread out within the warehouse.

She nodded and put the page back in its place within the pile.

“You’re not going to tell me not to plan on getting it back?”

She fixed her gaze on him. “Tibs, if you can find a way to take even one item out of the repository, it’s going to speak to a flaw in our security so large I’m going to have to bring in experts from the head-guild to look it over.”

“I guess your superior would have to come too.” Could he use that to get him here? How long would he stay?

She snorted. “It wouldn’t take anything that drastic to get him here.” She looked at the pile and her brows furrowed for a second. She shook her head and looked at Tibs again. Was there something in there he could use? Could he ask what she was worried about and use that?

This no longer felt like she was trying to trick him into admitting his secret. Which could be the trap. He picked up the bracelet before she wondered why he wasn’t, but didn’t put it on.

“If I’m not leaving the town, can I just leave it with you?”

“Sure, but if you change your mind, I don’t know how quickly you’ll be able to me to I can give it to you.” Was she trying to convince him not to give it up?

“I can get a normal one if I need to.”

“Those only get handed at the announcement later today.” She studied him. “Is something wrong? I’d expect you to be excited about the opportunity to travel.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go,” he answered. The memory of his last travel out of the town pulled him down. Carina’s body, the ceremony. Her family.

His loss and pain.

He wiped at a tear.

“I understand. Still, you should take it. In case you change your mind. I know Irdian would be happy for some time without you here.”

Tibs smiled with her. Yes, he was sure the guard leader would love for Tibs to be away so he could raid all the places he suspected supplies were hidden.

“Unless there’s something you need to discuss, Tibs, that is all.” She tapped the pile of paper. “Unlike you, my work is only going to increase.”

He stood and paused. “How was Don?”

She seemed surprised. “He was closed off. Not as talkative as usual. Did something happen?”

“We had another falling out.” Had Don really not said anything? Tibs had trouble believing it.

“Then some time away might do you both good.”

“Is he leaving the town?”

“He didn’t say.”

Tibs nodded and left her office, turning the bracelet in his hand before putting it in his regular pouch. He had to track down Don and talk with him. She might have items that let her lie to him, but Don wouldn’t. Or, if he did, Tibs would be able to sense the new magical item, and he’d know they were planning on trapping him.

He… hoped that wasn’t the case.

It meant Tibs had overreacted and… Don was right that Tibs should have trusted him with his secret, but Don had to understand that…

No, Don didn’t have to understand anything. Tibs’s action had hurt him, so he’d have to explain as best he could and hope.

But that was only if Don and Tirania weren’t trying to trick him. And he needed to find the sorcerer to confirm that.

He stepped outside building and sensed for him.

Don was… Tibs thought the distance and direction placed him among one of the small artisan squares that had formed since after Sebastian’s attack. The town had grown enough Merchant Row was no longer the only place merchants setup shop.

There would be a tavern there where they could talk.

He really hoped he was—

“About time you got out of there,” a man said, falling into step with Tibs. “You’re coming with me.”

The man had no elements, was the first thing Tibs sensed for. He had a few hidden knives, along with the one at his belt. There was a small item in the coin pouch that was enchanted, and the black boots also had elements woven through them. The rest of the clothing was ordinary enough, but the man was keenly aware of their surroundings.

“Don’t run,” he said as Tibs tensed. “I really don’t feel like chasing you.” Like Tibs cared what the man felt like. “You run, and I’m going in there to tell them all the things you can do.”

Tibs froze.

The man took another step, stopped, and turned to face Tibs.

Tibs studied him. Looked for anything familiar, but he was a stranger. If a stranger knew enough to hint of a threat like that… had Don told others about Tibs?

No. Don wouldn’t spread that information. He’d take it to where it would do him the most good. The guild. No one else.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” the man asked, amused. He looked around. The street wasn’t busy. He lowered his voice. “The last time we interacted, I was on a roof shooting arrows at you. You were flying over them. You gestured in my direction and wind sent me tumbling away. Broke my arm, my leg, and my favorite bow. I can’t complain, in the end, cause I could easily have broken my neck. Before you lie to me. Your eyes are blue. That’s water. I’m pretty sure there’s some way one of you with Water can figure out how to fly, but there’s no way any normal Water Runners can also send wind at me.”

Flying and being shot at.

That meant when he chased Sebastian out of town after melting his house. He’d been having so much fun while channeling Air that time wasn’t clear, but he did remember the irritation as an arrow nearly hit him. Or had it gone through him? All he remembered clearly was the irritation and the archer, dressed in black, as Tibs sent air in his direction.

“What do you want?” he couldn’t deal with him here. Unless the man attacked him, Tibs couldn’t justify his actions with others watching.

“Your help.”

Tibs raised an eyebrow. “You don’t ask for someone’s help by showing up and telling them to come with them. Or threatening to tell on them.” Could he convince him to take this into one of the alleys? Where there wouldn’t be anyone observing the results?

“People who harbor secrets tend not to agree to meeting strangers.”

“Everyone has secrets.” They’d have to move away from the guild. This close, some adventurer or clerk with an element could sense something.

“I doubt anyone has the kind of secrets you do.”

“Fine. Then let’s go talk somewhere with fewer people.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Before you carry through with whatever it is you’re planning, you should know there’s an envelope somewhere in the town. In it, I’ve documented everything I know about you and added a few of the things I suspect based on what was left of Sebastian’s camp. If you kill me, that’s getting delivered to the guild. I don’t know if the guild’s going to believe any of it, but I’m confident it’s going to make them look at you carefully. And if there’s one thing I know is that people with the kind of secrets you have do not want to be scrutinized.”

“You aren’t making me want to help you.”

The man smirked. “This isn’t about making you care about me, so you’ll help me. It’s about making sure you understand I respect the kind of threat you are and have taken steps accordingly. And I will point out I know you well enough to understand the stupidity of threatening your friends. Whatever happens between us, I won’t have anything happen to them.” He chuckled. “Not that I’d ever think to hurt Jackal. There’s still too much riding on that kid.”

“Fine. I’ll listen.”

The man walked, and Tibs kept pace with him. The tavern they entered no longer had a sign. Only a couple of chain links where it has once hung from the wooden post. The inside was dark, with only a few people at the bar. The woman behind the counter looked at them suspiciously until the man handed her a copper for two tankards. Tibs followed him to a table in the corner.

The man sat so he could see the door, and Tibs next to him. He was not putting his back to those in the room, even if he could sense them. It would just be inviting trouble.

“I used to have a good thing going,” the man said, sipping at the tankard. “Before you ask, I didn’t work for Sebastian. He was my job. Keeping an eye on him, reporting to my employer.”

That sounded familiar to Tibs, but he couldn’t remember from where.

“I’m not what you’d call a follower of the law. My employer’s power, on top of Sebastian’s, gave me the freedom to do as I wanted within the confines of both jobs. And before you ask. No, I’m not as bad as some Sebastian employed. My employer understood that what I had to do meant I’d break his laws, but there are things he wouldn’t abide. I couldn’t kill wantonly, for example.”

His laws.

In Sebastian’s employ, but to spy on him. His favorite bow.

“You’re the one who warned Jackal Sebastian was planning something. You were among Harry’s guards. You shot that Runner who tried to force the attendant to take him away.”

The man nodded.

“You work for a king. What do you need my help for?”

“Jackal told you?” the man seemed amused. “The thing with working for someone like a king is that they tend to look at someone like me as a long-term agent. With this job over, since Sebastian is dead, he’s just going to find me someone else to go work for. Probably whoever looks poised to take over for Sebastian.”

“So? It’s what you do.”

“It’s what I did.” He looked in his tankard before putting it down. “I worked for Sebastian for a long time, and once he figured out I also worked for the king, it became a game with him to see how far he could push me. What could he get me to do against the king as part of maintaining my cover?”

“Doesn’t it make you worthless to the king if Sebastian knew the truth?”

The man smiled. “He’s the thing about people like Sebastian. Even when they know the truth, their ego is such you can still play them. And I did. Sebastian played me, I played him, the king possibly played us both. I was getting paid. It was all that mattered in the end.”

“And you don’t want to do that anymore.”

The man nodded.

“Then go.”

The man smiled. “I guess it looks that easy to someone like you.”

Tibs shrugged. “Just take what’s important and leave.”

“At least you understand that part. That’s good.” The man’s smiled changed and Tibs suspected he wasn’t understanding him at all. “The thing is that for me, the important part of how I’ve been able to live. Sebastian and the king both paid me well. That’s all gone now.”

“You want coins.”

“I want coins.”

Tibs stood. “Get someone else.”

“Tibs,” the man warned.

He put his hands on the table and leaned forward. “I’m not some thief you get to steal from a king, or anyone else. Anyone can do that for you.”

“I’m not stealing from the king. I’m not suicidal. And what I want is going to help you, too.”

Tibs rolled his eyes.

The man smiled. “I want the coins Sebastian is using to pay those people that keep coming here to kill you.”

Tibs frowned.

“Did you think they were doing it because they loved was man enough to want to avenge him?”

Nothing the man had said was a lie, but it wasn’t like Tibs needed to do anything. The closest to success one of those killers had come to had resulted in him gaining metal as an element, and with that, the next tries were more bothersome than dangerous.

He could deal with them as they came.

He sat.

But they were bothersome, and he had more important things to deal with than those constant interruptions to his days.

“I’m listening.”