Breaking Step, CH 51 (Patreon)

Tibs sat still as Tirania read.

For the first time, she didn’t look calm. As she read, the weariness was at times replaced with angry glares at the papers, shakes of the head, and muttered curses.

What had Don said to make her react this way? He’d expected mostly disappointment. He had claimed to be her ally afterward, so she’d have expected him to come to her with what he could do. Anger? There might be some, at him being able to do something the guild thought impossible. Maybe something she’d want to be able to have for herself. But not so much as to make her throw the papers she held on the stack hard enough to topple it and have them slide off the desk.

“This is just too much to deal with,” she muttered. Definitely angry.

He fought the urge to swallow as she turn that look on him. He reminded himself that he had something she’d wanted. He could bargain if he couldn’t undo what Don had said. And he had light, so she wouldn’t be able to trick him into admitting things Don might not have been sure about.

“What?” He asked, realizing he’d missed the words in his eagerness to notice any light on them.

She shook her head and chuckled. When had the anger left her face? “It’s not that important.” She looked at the spilled papers; in annoyance this time. Had she emphasized ‘that’? “Just something I need to deal with.”

Had she emphasized ‘I’? Or had he imagined it?

He nodded and did his best to seem calm. Having her look at him in silence didn’t make it easy. If she was trying to unnerve him, he hoped he wasn’t letting on how well it was working.

“Aren’t you going to ask why you’re here?” The amusement looked genuine, but then again, she was letting him stew. She probably hoped he’d break just from nerves.

“I figure you’ll tell me,” he replied, and thought he’d sounded disinterested.

“And just when I count on your unending curiosity to get things going.” She chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “The dungeon closed its door.”

His mouth was open, the protest already formed when what she said registered. He managed to close it before revealing he had no idea what this was about anymore. Was it a trap? Trying to have him admit to speaking with Sto? But Don had no way to even guess at that. And there was no light on the words.

“I didn’t know,” he finally admitted.

“It only happened a short time ago. Word will spread quickly enough. I wanted to be sure you and Don knew early so you could beat the crowds looking to leave.” She placed a bracelet on the desk. “Don was already here, training, and I’m glad you were brought quickly.”

Training? No light on the words, so she wasn’t lying. Maybe he’d done that after spilling everything to her as an excuse to remain within the protection of the guild’s enchantments.

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

Was it so he’d think he had a chance to run? If he was willing to sacrifice his team. Only none of the words had light on them. Everything she said was true.

Or, since Don would have told her he had light as an element. She had something that let her lie without him being able to tell.

“Well?”

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I’m just surprised.” 

What if… What if Don hadn’t told her anything? What if Tibs had, again, jumped to the conclusion Don would think of himself first just because… He could say it was what the sorcerer would have done before, and it would be true. But since joining his team, what had Don done that gave him reasons to think that what’s he’d do? The sneering and insulting he’d slung at Tibs and his team while angry? Tibs had returned just as vicious.

He shook himself and took the bracelet, but before he stood, he needed to know something. “What are those about?” he nodded to the papers. “You didn’t look happy to read them.”

“Guild business,” she replied with a tired sigh. “Things I’m trying very hard not to have cause problems.” No light, but also not something that told him anything.

“I thought it was about me,” he risked, and she chuckled.

“I’m sorry Tibs, but as impressive as your are. You don’t warrant so much paperwork. But there is a report in there about you breaking into the Repository.” Her expression turned serious. “What were you thinking?”

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

She stared at him, then looked through the papers still on the desk, taking one and reading it. “How were you going to take six crates out by yourself?”

“That was just to find out where my stuff was.” Six crates? Had he had that much stuff there? It had been spread about, armors, weapons, and tools on any surfaces, divided by what could be used and what needed to be repaired.

She put the page on the desk with a nod.

“You’re not telling me to stay out of there?”

“Tibs,” she said with a smile. “I’m impressed you made your way in. If you can also figure out how to take even one item out of the repository, it’s going to speak to a flaw in our security so large it would bring experts from Citadel itself. That would warrant a stack of papers about you.”

“I guess Marger would have to come too.” Could he use that to get him here? Maybe he’d want to speak with Tibs directly.

“It wouldn’t have to come to that.” She glanced at the papers and worry crossed her face. “He has enough to do without needing to come here.”

He was tempted to ask what worried her about the papers. Maybe he could offer to help her resolve them, ingratiate himself in deeper? Use that to make sure Marger came.

Only he was just Water Runner, weaker than everyone else she had access to.

He stood, turning the bracelet in his fingers. “Is Don going anywhere?” He had to catch him before he left. This felt like he needed to apologize to the sorcerer again, and he wasn’t delaying it this time.

“He didn’t say.”

Then he needed to hurry. “Thank you.” He left and hurried out of the guild, placing the bracelet in his regular pouch. He sensed as far as he could, but no corruption sorcerer. There was the pool, but that was in the opposite direction than he’d sensed Don walking when he left the guild.

He hurried in that direction. He just needed to sense him. Then he’d be able to run. Why was his town so abyss large now?

There, just at the edge. He turned and ran. Wasn’t there an artisan market around there? That would mean a tavern where they could sit and talk. At least, now that he sensed him, nothing would keep Tibs from making his apology.

“And where are you heading to in such a hurry?”

Tibs ducked under the hand that reached for him and turned, forming a sword. He didn’t have time for this.

The other man also stopped. “You don’t want to do that.”

He had no elements, and only his black boots had a weave through them, something dense, but it would be for stealth and speed, right? And a small item in his coin pouch. That weave was much thinner, but Tibs didn’t take it for granted. Weaker didn’t mean less dangerous. He had knives hidden, along with the one at his belt.

“No, I don’t.” He had something more important to take care of.

“Don’t run,” The man said as Tibs tensed to do that. “You do, and I’m not chasing you. Instead, I’m going to the guild and telling them everything you can do.”

Tibs froze. Maybe he didn’t have a choice but to deal with him. His running had taken them to the alleys, and there was no one close by. He formed a shield. With this many knifes, the man had to be good with them. Metal might not be able to hurt Tibs, but after the bone sword, he wasn’t taking for granted someone threatening him might not have something unusual enough, he couldn’t sense it.

“Before you decide that killing me and burning my body is your only recourse, I wrote everything I know down and left the letter in the hands of someone I trust. If I don’t take it back from him, he will deliver it to the guild leader.”

No lights on the words, so that part was true.

“And before you deny everything,” he continued as Tibs was about to protest he was just a water rogue, “the last time we interacted, I was on a roof shooting arrows at you while you flew. You gestured in my direction, and a gale sent me tumbling down. I broke my arm, leg, and my favorite bow. That was someone using air essence, but your eyes are blue, which is water. If you were a sorcerer, you could justify using two elements, but you’re a rogue. So that’s something the guild will like to know.” No light.

Being shot at while flying. He’d only flown while chasing Sebastian after the Siege. That time wasn’t clear, since he’d been so busy having fun, but he remembered arrows, being annoyed they were interrupting his game. There had been an archer dressed in black and Tibs had sent wind at him.

“What do you want?” So he’d deal with this, then reach Don. The sorcerer hadn’t moved.

“Your help.”

Tibs narrowed his eyes. “You don’t come asking for help by threatening blackmail.”

“You’d be surprised how often that’s the only way to get someone harboring secrets to help.”

“Everyone has secrets.”

“True, but few people have the kinds of secrets you do.”

This wasn’t going to be dealt with quick. “Fine, I’ll meet you are the Broken Tankard after I’ve—”

“I’m afraid this isn’t waiting, Tibs. You leave and the guild finds out enough about you, I’m sure they’ll then start looking for more.”

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

The man smirked. “I don’t care if you want to help me. I just need you to understand that I respect the threat you represent enough to have taken precautions. I know enough about you to know better than threaten your friends, so whatever happens here, it stays between us.” He chuckled. “Not that I’d think to hurt Jackal. There’s still too much riding on that kid.”

Tibs couldn’t think of a way to not have to do this, so his best option was to hurry it along. “Fine. I’m listening.” He absorbed the sword and shield.

“Let’s go somewhere more conductive to a conversation.”

Tibs followed the man out of the alley and onto streets in one of the poorer areas by how the buildings weren’t well maintained. All that was left of the sign over the door they entered were a few chain links.

Inside, it was dark, with smells of ale and variety of smokes wafting in the air. The woman behind the counter eyed them suspiciously until the man handed her a copper for two tankards. Then they headed for a table in the corner.

The man sat facing the door, and Tibs sat next to him. He wasn’t putting his back to the people in the room, even if he could sense them. It would invite trouble.

“I used to have a good thing,” 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 what he did to my employer.”

It had the air of familiarity, but Tibs couldn’t place where he might have heard it. One sip of the ale and he put the tankard down. He didn’t sense corruption in it, but he closed his eyes and suffused himself with purity for a second, just in case the atrocious taste hid poison.

“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 the job. And before you ask. I’m not as bad as some Sebastian employed. My employer understood that I’d have to break his laws as part of the job, but there were 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 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?” He seemed amused. “The thing about working for kings is that they look at someone like me as a long-term agent. With this job over, since Sebastian’s dead. He’s going to find me someone else to spy on. Probably whoever is poised to take over for Sebastian.”

“So? It’s what you do.”

“It’s what I did,” he corrected, looking in his tankard, then putting it down. “I worked for Sebastian for a long time, and it didn’t take him long to figure out the king had put me there. So he made it a game of seeing how far he could push me. What he could get me to do against the king and the city as part of maintaining my cover.”

“Doesn’t it make the whole thing worthless if Sebastian knew the truth?”

The man smiled. “Here’s the thing about people like Sebastian. Even when they know the truth, their ego is such you can keep playing them. And I did. Sebastian played me. I played him. The king was probably playing us both. I was getting paid handsomely, and that was all that mattered to me, then.”

“But not anymore.”

The man nodded.

“So, go.”

He chuckled. “I guess it looks that easy to someone like you.”

Tibs shrugged. “Take what’s important and leave.”

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

“You want coins,” Tibs said, understanding what this was heading for and not liking it.

“I want coins,” the man confirmed.

Tibs stood. “Get someone else.” Don hadn’t moved.

“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,” the man said. “I’m not suicidal. And this is going to help you, too.”

“I don’t need coins.” Like everyone, he could use more of them. Considering everything he had going on, a lot more. But he wasn’t agreeing to anything this man was offering.

“But you need those attacks on you and your city to end, don’t you?”

Tibs narrowed his eyes. What was he playing at?

“I want the coins Sebastian is using to pay those people that keep causing you problems.”

“There’s been a lot of people,” Tibs said. “That’s going to be a lot of jobs.”

“It’s going to be one job.”

Nothing the man said had been a lie. But it wasn’t like the attacks were that much of a problem anymore. The closest one of the would be assassins had come to killing him had resulted in him gaining Metal as an element. It had made the following attempts more of a bother than anything else.

And for all his complaining about Irdian, he had the guards on top of nearly all attempts to cause trouble in his town. What they missed, his rogues caught.

In the distance, he sensed Don move away.

There was the problem of this man telling the guild. Could he convince Tirania it wasn’t true if it came from a stranger she didn’t know?

Did she know him? The man worked for a king, had been in the town among the guards to undermine them. Kings feared the guild. Would he have risked Tirania’s anger if she found out one of his people was causing trouble?

She probably wouldn’t have cared, but would the king know that?

Don wasn’t heading for the transportation platform, so he had time.

He sat. “I’m listening.”