Stepping Wild (Dungeon Runner 04)

Setting the groundwork for the nobles' arrival started with finding out when a caravan from the appropriate city would arrive. As a city close to the kingdom's border, Brokentia's roads connected to seven other cities, months away as caravan traveled, and more villages than Tibs could count along those routes. Only one road led outside the kingdom from the city, to Arteron.

Because of the routes Cynta had decided they would have traveled to reach Brokentia, they needed to come zenithward. That meant their caravan came from either Shimmercross or Valenmur.

Since Thibaud knew names of caravan masters as reference, Tibs went to the office dealing with them, inquiring which caravans were on their way, and where they headed. As an afterthought, he asked where they came from. This way, he found out that Elanor Malet would arrive three weeks hence, with the last city before Brokentia having been Valenmur.

With that information, Nariss crafted letters that informed the city's nobles of the pending arrival of Lady Rabiria Hollomeir and her man, Lord Tieran. Not all nobles would receive letters, and that would cause them to wonder at the reasons behind which was chosen. The letter wouldn't explain why they would be in the city.

Cynta had reversed their role when Tibs couldn't keep his temper under control as part of an exchange with one of the actors pretending to be a noble. He'd known that going in. That this was nothing more than practice for dealing with the city's high nobles, but the sneering and barely veiled insults had brought back memories of dealing with the nobles of Kragle Rock, and older ones of watching them use the people in his Street.

It hadn't come to blows, but only because the actor had realized Tibs was no longer playing and backed off.

So now, he would be the meek man to the fierce Lady Hollomeir. He would still be on the receiving end of noble's barbs, but they would reserve their worse for someone with the potential to threaten them.

As part of preparing for their arrival, the team pulled two jobs to gather the needed money to lease a home worthy of the nobles he and Cynta would pretend to be. He'd wanted to go smaller, and at the edge of the nobles' neighborhood. He'd explained that as nobles no longer flush with coins, it would be the reasonable decision. She'd insisted that nobles in their situation survived on the impression they made. So they'd risk ruin to do their stay right. If it worked, other nobles would rally to their help in hope of building future connections.

He'd relented because, ultimately, cons were her field, and this was clearly one of those to him.

On top of the coins for the house, they had to furnish it, then hire servants for it, then came having to bribe the bureaucrat to add the noble's names to the arrival records of the caravan, and they'd have to pay the caravan master to state the same, if asked.

Tibs had been on enough caravan over the years to know that so long as enough coins were provided and it didn't endanger the caravan, its master didn't mind lying to the authorities.

They had exhausted the coins from those two jobs well before they were done paying those that needed to be paid.

Uzoma provided the target this time. A merchant who sold food to the poorer neighborhoods of the city.

Tibs had refused. He wouldn't go after someone helping the poor.

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Only, Uzoma had explained, she wasn't. The woman used her money to keep other merchants from establishing themselves there. Without them to compete, she charged however much she wanted for the meager food she made available.

Tibs had to verify the archer's claims. Once he did, he was eager for the job.

To ensure she wouldn't simply gouge the community harder to make up what they'd take, they split the job into two parts, which became three once the time lined up with her sending the payoff to the city officials.

He didn't like that they had to split off, but each part of the job needed to happen on the same day. And as close to each other as possible to ensure the merchant didn't realize what was happening and take steps to minimize the damage.

Tibs, as the thief, had the job of breaking into the merchant's coffers. Uzoma would intercept the payoff, but because the timing was such, it might have reached the official's office by then, Cynta would be with him. She was the only one who could move about the building and not be noticed. It left Charlie to burn down the merchant's food stock.

Tibs had wanted to take that and give it to the neighborhoods instead, but as the fighter pointed out. They didn't have the time or resources.

Without food to sell, a bribe from the official, and coins in her coffer, she shouldn't be able to stop other merchants from taking advantage of the situation, and, he had to hope, do a better job of providing for the poor.

* * * * *

The merchant kept her safe in the house she shared with her man and three adult children. As with many of the successful merchants' homes, it was close to the nobles' neighborhood.

He wished there was a way to keep her family from suffering alongside her, but mitigated that guilt by telling himself that they benefited from crimes, that they could have stopped her, encouraged her to change her ways, if they were better people.

The office was on the ground floor, between the sitting and eating room. The doors and window only had mechanical locks, so he easily entered through the window. The safe had simple magic within the lock. A weave almost entirely of Metal essence. From what he sensed, all that he'd need was the key with the matching weave. Without the time to confirm it, he forced his will on the essence and opened it.

The coins were in neat stacks on one side, with three electrum bars beside them and three promises for a thousand silver next to that. They all went into the bag. To maximize how long it took her to find out she'd been robbed, he distorted the lock so the key wouldn't fit.

* * * * *

The bells for the water brigade sounded as he was halfway to the room they'd meet in.

* * * * *

He sensed them before the agreed upon knock came.

"How did it go?" he asked, locking the door behind them.

She placed four promises on the table next to Tibs's haul. "Perfectly. We caught up to the messenger within the offices and convinced him there was an investigation going on, so we'd been sent to receive the payment because nether side wanted to be caught holding promises of this value if they were questioned by the guards."

Uzoma snorted. "She's simplifying it. She had me convinced the building was about to bar its doors to keep any criminals from escaping. By the time she was done, he was begging her to take the promises. He ran like the abyss was after him as soon as he wasn't holding them anymore.

She shrugged demurely when Tibs raised an eyebrow at her. "Charlie isn't here yet? The water brigade was called as we left the office."

"The brigade brings crowds on top of the fire," he said, looking over what they'd gathered. "He isn't going to want to be noticed, and that means going far around all of that. Can we use the promises to pay the admission clerk? Caravan leaders prefer coins or gems."

She looked the promises over. "Five hundred silver is too much for what we're asking."

"Won't we be noticed?" Uzoma asked. "That's six thousand silvers."

"We don't have to convert all of them," she replied. "Those left over will be what's left of our traveling funds. Nobles like to travel with those. They aren't subject to the devaluation taking coins across borders are."

"We'll go deal with the clerk," Tibs said. "Uzoma, you wait for Charlie."

* * * * *

Tibs's presence was in case something went wrong, so he stayed back, wishing he could use an etching to ensure he wasn't noticed.

Cynta charmed the clerk, then the exchange happened.

He remained alert the entire walk to the room and felt justified when Uzoma waited outside the building, partially hidden in an alley.

"We have a problem," the archer said when they reached him. "Charlie's been caught by the guards."