Dungeon Runner
The Tiger Writes
sciencefiction
sciencefiction
31K5
Tibs survived by picking pockets; until he's caught.
Instead of losing a hand, he's sent away and told he must now survive a dungeon.
How is a kid who knew nothing more than his ...Bottom Rung, Chapter 45
Not sensing anything odd with the stone floor close to him, Tibs looked at the clear liquid in the pool.
"Water?" Carina asked.
Tibs reached out with his sense. "Yeah, with some earth in it, and air," he added, surprised. "I don't know why that one's there, but it reminds me of the water when we walked up the mountain."
She looked to Khumdar and Mez, and Tibs realized that if they'd been paying attention to him, instead of standing on the other side of the platform with Jackal, they could have overheard his comments. The fighter was carefully putting his weight on the part of the ledge that moved away from the path.
He shrugged. They were part of the team; he would not keep it a secret from them. He'd tell them after the run. He had to ask Mez about his audience, anyway.
Carina still lowered her voice when she asked, "you can sense those essences too?"
"I have reserves," he whispered, "so I know what they feel like. I can feel the other elements too, but they're all mixed into a confusing mess."
"So you could tell them apart if someone explained to you what they felt like?"
Tibs smiled to himself. "Tell me what air feels like."
"Well, it's..." she trailed off, becoming pensive. "Airy?"
"But that's not the right description, is it? It's just the best word you can find for it."
She nodded.
"I don't think Mez telling me fire is 'hot' would be enough for me to make it out in there."
"So," Jackal called, approaching. "Are we walking or swimming?"
Tibs looked into the pool. "I can't tell how deep it is, and I've never swum before."
"I have nearly drowned once," Khumdar said. "I would prefer walking."
"I can swim," Mez said, "but I don't see how I could get back up on the other side. The top of the water is too low to reach the edge of the ledge."
"Best I can do is float," Carina said. Which earned her a raised eyebrow from the cleric.
"It doesn't matter," Tibs said. "If we can't all do it, it isn't the solution." He had his own thought on how it might cross. But if it worked, only he and Carina could use it, and he suspected she wouldn't manage it until she could sense essence and he didn't have enough of a reserve to make it to the other side.
He went to where the ledge continued along the wall; where Jackal had put his weight and studied it. Every few paces a new stone was anchored to the wall and were narrow enough it would be easy for a foot to slip off.
They looked to touch the ones on each side, but there was enough of a gap Tibs could move water between them. He could also make the water flow into the gap where the stone attached to the wall and there was open space behind it. He felt no mechanism through his water, but there was more space than it could reach without tapping the amulet.
He studied the pathway again. One seemingly solid block of stone, wide enough for three people to walk side by side from this side of the room to the other, reaching to the bottom of the pool. It looked to be the safest way, which was why Tibs didn't trust it any more than he did the ledge.
"We're going to take the path," he said, "walking in a line in the center of it. I don't think the dungeon can just drop the edges since they go all the way down, but we're not taking chances. I'll be in the lead."
"Would it not be safer if you went alone and tested the whole way?" Khumdar asked.
Tibs shrugged and looked at Jackal. "Your call." He placed a hand on the ground before him and spread water, feeling the cracks through it, but more so if he found something through the other essences, he still could explain how he found it. He didn't enjoy keeping this from Mez and Khumdar, but he hadn't thought to tell them, and here wasn't the time.