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 51
"Alright everyone," Jackal said with a grin and satisfied rubbing of the hands. "Here's how this is going to go." He looked at the people assembled in the archery field, and Tibs had trouble not being impressed. There had only been eight names on the paper Tandy gave him; he hadn't realized they were the names of the team leaders, and not just the people interested. Jackal had scratched two of the names, and now six teams were assembled, every one a Runner.
"This is a fight to the last person," he continued. "You can make alliances, but there aren't any teams. Pyan reassures me you've all been training as teams so this isn't needed today, and this is more for the fun of it, and anything else, right?"
"Only a fighter would consider a free-for-all fun," the archer next to Tibs said with a chuckle. She was tall and lanky; Melody, if Tibs remembered right. He hadn't done any runs with her, but Mez knew her. His archer was standing with Tandy.
"If you end up on your back, you are out," Jackal said. "I trust you to honor that. Again, this is for fun. There aren't going to be any winners or losers unless some of you decide to ruin it for the rest of us."
"There's always a winner," Anahita commented with a roll of her eyes. She was an earth sorceress Tibs had done a run with, but he didn't know her beyond that.
"If you draw blood, you're out," Jackal said. "I hate to say it again, but this is to have fun, not hurt others. And before you ask, you break someone's limbs, I will personally break two of yours. Better be damned sure it's worth it because we don't get healed until we're about to enter the dungeon. So it can be a lot of time in pain, not to say what the others will do to you while you're weakened. Remember, we're a vindictive bunch."
"You know," the man behind Tibs said, a fighter who was on Melody's team. "I'd heard the Jackal took over anything he was involved in, but I thought Pyan could stand up to him. She'd the one behind this, after all."
Tibs snorted. She was only partially responsible. If Jackal hadn't offered for the two teams to train together, Tibs didn't think this would have happened.
"Now, does anyone have questions before we start this?" Jackal asked and immediately hands went up. He looked around in dismay. "Anyone have questions I can answer?" Half the hands dropped. There were soft conversations, and more went down.
"Vol," Jackal said, nodding toward a bulky man in leather armor.
"How did you pull this off?" the man indicated around him. "This is the archery field. They're only supposed to be used under the supervision of a teacher, and I'm not seeing any of them here."
"Like they'd let us bash one another." A woman said, and laugher erupted around her.
"I cashed in a favor," Jackal said, "and when that wasn't enough I pointed out that since the guild wants us strong for when the dungeon is going to eat us, fighting among ourselves served them too."
Tibs wondered how Jackal had convinced Harry to agree; because there was no way this would happen without the guard leader's approval. Not when he had a strict no-fighting rule.
"Oh, before I forget, if this training exercise spills out of the archery field, you're on your own dealing with the guards. I got Hard Knuckle to agree a training field is a place where training can happen and that the training looks like fighting to someone who isn't initiated, but he made it clear that if we dare take this off the field, there are enough cells to throw each of us in one."
"Doesn't the no bleeding rule render us archers useless?" someone asked. "Even a blunt tip is going to rip through someone."
"Then consider this training to fight without arrows," Geoff said. "Trust me, you're going to need that on the second floor, there this—"