Stepping Wild (Dungeon Runner 04)

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Uzoma glared at him. The expression hadn't improved as Tibs explained what he'd done as Fleet Fingers and the role he could play in the job.

"Take it easy," Charlie said.

"I'm with him," Cynta said, to the fighter's annoyance. "How come this is the first we hear about you being Fleet Fingers?"

"That's what bothers you?" the archer asked. "Fleet Fingers already robbed the nobles. Story is that he took enough that Rastmyre's had to go to the city for help. How come we've been pulling jobs if Thibaud has all that gold?"

"It wasn't that much," Tibs said, and the look was disbelieving. "And it went back to the city folks." He buried his annoyance. "Or did you miss my recounting how I went about distributing it?" He'd expected to be questioned, not accused.

"There's no way those 'shows' of yours account for everything."

"Those shows were to distract everyone, so the rest I distributed to the city's needy wouldn't be noticed."

"I've heard stories," Charlie said, cutting off Uzoma's retort. "But I didn't know how true those whispers of finding money at the perfect time were. I'm used to those from bards, not common folk."

"And you believe that?" Uzoma demanded. "Why are we even doing this job if Thibaud can get all of it by himself?"

"The coins aren't for me, they're for you." Tibs rubbed his temple and fought with his temper. "The job was about getting access to the people who could make what I needed to get in the university and—"

"I thought the university came after you got us together," Cynta said, tone hardening.

Had he said that?

"Look, it doesn't matter when—"

"I think it does. As well as why this is the first time we hear you're Fleet fingers."

"Really?" he snapped. "You expected me to tell you from the start?"

"No," she replied calmly. "But our last conversation about trust would have been a good place to bring it up."

He closed his mouth on the justification. Why hadn't he brought it up then? Too tired, probably. Although. "I didn't know Fleet Fingers would come into play directly then. Right now he's to distract the guards and the Master. So they'll look to him instead of you for the jobs we do until then."

"The way you talked about him, you were always going to use him as part of the job," she said. "So it doesn't explain why you didn't tell us sooner."

"Fine," Tibs snapped. "I'm not great at this, okay?"

Charlie covered his surprise at the outburst quicker than the other two.

"I only make teams when I can't pull off my plan alone, and most of the time, I don't have to. Most libraries and universities will let any scholar with money in. And it's the rare city that has anything like the Master in it. Usually, if I need papers, I find a forger, pay them, and get them. With clothing, any tailor will do. It takes good coins, but I can always get that on my own. Here, I needed something completely different. So I needed people with information and who didn't care for the Master. That was you. I wasn't going to ask for your help and not give you something in return, so I set up the story for the job and I'm going to—"

"You tricked us into agreeing."

"No, I…." He trailed off under her glare.

He hadn't lied about any of it; simply not told them everything. Why couldn't they see that? He rubbed his temple and pushed his annoyance down. He wasn't going to resolve this by yelling or giving ultimatums. No matter how tempting it was to say. Do it, or I'm leaving.

He wasn't the one who needed the job. It was for them.

Well, if it was for them, there was a simple solution. "We don't have to go through with this, if you don't want to."

"Now, slow down here," Charlie said. "We didn't say anything about not wanting to do this."

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Uzoma snorted, and the fighter glared at him.

"I agree with Charlie," Cynta said. "This isn't about walking away. But do you see how difficult you've made this by not being upfront about everything?"

Not glaring at her in surprise was hard. As was not pointing out this was exactly how she went about getting every coin in her purse.

He shook his head to clear the building annoyance. "How about I leave you to talk it over? Tell me your decision tomorrow." He ignored Charlie's annoyed look as he turned and left.

* * * * *

He'd never considered this, but he was coming to realize there might be situations where reading letters nearly too small to be legible was relaxing; at least here.

His headache had cleared as soon as he'd left the others to dress appropriately for his research. The annoyance at their childish behavior has stuck around, only going away once he'd buried himself in reading.

Not that he got much of use.

There had been the oddity of the Kingdoms of Argonia, Kesril, Verticel, and Loinal, who were the only ones without dungeons. Reading about them revealed they were on the same landmass, months away by ship, if one couldn't afford a transportation platform. The books had seemed to agree that the reason was that the landmass had no mountains.

Firmen's existence meant those kingdoms might be the perfect places for him to find what he was looking for.

He couldn't stop the shudder at the idea of stepping on a boat for that trip.

Only if he found nothing anywhere he could reach by land would he consider them. Maybe he could trick his way to one of those kingdoms through the transportation platforms by hiding himself in a crate. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten where he wanted that way.

* * * * *

He bent his neck left and right to remove the remaining kinks being bent over books all day had left in it. He was back in common clothing and headed for a shop he'd come across while searching for markets for Fleet Fingers to appear in. Candies were a good reward for keeping his temper under control when accused as he had been. The team might not exist come tomorrow, but it wouldn't be because he'd chased them away.

He paused on exiting the candy the shop, enjoying the Sea Breeze she sold, and frowned. He located what bothered him in the woman speaking with an artisan outside the leathersmith shop. Her leathers were good quality, but it was the strips of metal he sensed under it that caught his attention. There were enough of them she had to be feeling it. If she had an element, he'd see that as the explanation, but she didn't. Her hair was copper so bright that it could be fire in the vanishing light.

She pointed to the roof, posture insisting, and curiosity made him etch Air to bring the conversation to him.

"…nothing," the artisan said. "I was working. I heard the commotion. By the time I stepped outside, everyone was running, chasing coins on the ground." He sounded unimpressed by their actions.

"Then what did the others say about him? How did they describe him?" she asked.

He lowered his estimation of her age. She might be no more than a girl, in spite of the training she'd clearly received.

"I do not traffic in gossip," the man replied, annoyed. "A man, dressed in green is what I hear. Find the guards and ask them, if that Fingers character is of interest to you." He headed inside and Tibs etched darkness around him as the girl turned, looking exasperated. She headed for the next shop, and Tibs headed in the opposite direction, pocketing the small box with the rest of the candies he'd bought.

She'd be some would be adventurer looking to make a name for herself with the capture of Fleet Fingers. With every one of the characters he created like this, someone came looking. It was the danger with making them so visible. Anyone trying to become known thought this was the way.

He had been surprised at how many people without an element, and sometime barely any training, were willing to risk the dangers of attempting to capture such a criminal brought.

Tibs didn't care for Adventurers, but at least with them, he didn't have to worry about hurting them while escaping capture.

And guards were paid for the danger they put themselves in.

Would be adventurers were a complication he never needed. At least, he was basically done with Fleet Fingers. She wouldn't be one of them.

* * * * *

Charlie waited for him as Tibs stepped out of his rooming house and escorted him to the tavern at the corner in silence. The other two were seated at a table. The fighter pulled a chair for Tibs before sitting opposite him.

"We're still doing it," Charlie said, and Tibs looked at Uzoma. Of the three, he'd expected him to outright walk away.

The archer looked uncomfortable. "Look, I overreacted. But you gave me reasons. You lied about why you brought us together. You lost me after I said I was staying by you and then revealed you'd lied about something else just because it was convenient. Maybe dealing with lies is normal for you and them, but—" He snapped his mouth shut.

Tibs was surprised at the thoughts Uzoma put in it. From what he'd seen of the archer, he'd expected him to be the kind to act and never think too deeply about the whys. Charlie acted like he didn't think, but the archer had seemed to actually be like that.

"We do have conditions," Cynta said, and Tibs nodded. "Whatever happens with the job, you fulfill your promises to the theater and Nariss. Even if that means you have to go and rob some other noble to make it happen. We agreed that we stepped into this of our own volition, but they didn't ask for the trouble it's going to cause for them if we're caught."

"We won't be caught." He was surprised they were willing to accept his word after making a point of how unreliable it was. "But you have my word that your friends won't have to worry."

"Just in case you aren't taking us seriously," Charlie said in a dark tone Tibs hadn't heard from the man before. "I am going to make sure you keep your word. I don't care if you think you are so much better than me. You screw Nariss over, and the Abyss isn't deep enough for you to hide in from me. Do we understand each other?"

Tibs nodded.

With the job still on, there was work that needed to be done.