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 58
"Where is Don?" the Runner demanded, and Tibs looked up from the bowl of stew he was enjoying. The man was a fighter with metal as his element. Tibs was getting better at identifying the tint in the essence flowing through them.
"Now," Jackal replied, "why would anyone at this table know where the asshole is?"
"Jackal," the man glared at the team leader, "everyone knows he hates Tibs and you are going to keep tabs on anyone that can put your rogue in danger. You also have an annoying habit of knowing too much about the people in this town."
Khumdar looked at Jackal, who shrugged.
"I like talking with people, and they open up to me. It's not my fault if you piss off everyone who just looked at you, Arruh."
"This isn't about me being jealous of anything. That sorcerer is involved in what happened at the Caravan Garden a few days ago."
"How do you figure?" Mez asked.
"Who else in this town has corruption as their essence?"
"I have air," Carina said, "are you going to come to blame me when a strong wind makes a pole fall?"
"You aren't an asshole who'll poison you with it just because you got a better steak than he did."
"Considering the way he behaves," Jackal said, "I'm surprised there's anyone left willing to serve him."
"Jackal, where is he? You know it's just a question of time before the guards start looking for him, and they aren't going to care how many of us get raked over in the process. Me and a few others are going to find him first and make sure he pays for what he did."
"For what you think he did," Khumdar said. "You have no evidence he has anything to do with that."
"He's corruption," Arruh stated.
"No, he has corruption as his essence. Believe me when I say that is not the same thing."
"Are you going to help us, or are you going to protect that asshole?"
"I'd like to help you," Jackal replied. "I'd love to, in fact, but I don't know where he is. No one's seen or heard of him since the building fell."
Arruh cursed and stormed off.
"Would you have handed him over to be beaten if you'd known where he was?" Mez asked Jackal.
The fighter shrugged. "I'm surprised you aren't out there looking for him, considering you were under his tender care for a while."
"I would love to see that sorcerer punished for the things he did, to me and others," Mez replied, "but does anyone here believe he had something to do with that corruption?"
"No," Tibs said between bites, then felt the stares on him.
"Tibs," Jackal said, "That man threatened you, tried to feed you to the dungeon. Are you defending him?"
Tibs sighed. "Don isn't an idiot. If he was, he'd have tried to hurt me already because he thinks it's my fault his rogue's in a cell and might cost him his turn in the dungeon. There's one person in the entire town who has corruption as his essence. He'd know he'd be the first person suspected. If he wanted to destroy that shop, he'd have used something else." He thought about it. "He'd get someone else to do it, that way if they get caught he can claim not to have anything to do with it."
"Until Harry asks him," Jackal said.
"I don't think Harry is going to get to ask anything," Carina said. "Arruh isn't going to stop looking, and the town isn't so big Don can hide in it for always. Someone is going to find him, and considering how angry everyone is about the destruction, I suspect they aren't going to stop at just a beating."