Stepping Wild (Dungeon Runner 04)

Tibs was stopped by guards only hours from leaving the city, and questioned. The way they asked them, he worked out they were on the lookout for criminals who had escaped their punishments.

He affected a Urynian accent so thick as to be nearly incomprehensible and told them he was traveling the kingdoms, searching for the place that called to him, the place that would be home not just because it was where he'd build it, but because the land would recognize who he was.

He didn't remember if Urynia was where he'd heard of that belief, but he doubted guards would be familiar with people from so far away. They debated bringing him back anyway, since they didn't have descriptions for the escapees, but decided that he couldn't be one of them since he barely spoke the language.

It happened twice more before the sun set, and again the next day, not long after the sun reached its zenith. Each time to the same result, although the last guards barely listened to his answers before sending him on his way. Later that day, the road turned Sunsetward.

It was two days before he encountered guards again, more alert than the previous ones, but to help his story, he hadn't washed since leaving the city, or gotten out of his clothing. He'd also pushed fever essence into his beard and hair, which caused them to grow faster.

He didn't reek as much as if he'd been trekking for the weeks he claimed, but for people used to staying clean, it was enough. Nearly as soon as he spoke, the send him on his way.

Three days later, another set of guards took one look at him and they argued over which would question him. They were the last guards he encountered.

*

Twelve days after leaving the city, Tibs found a village.

If not for his sense, he would have walked by without pausing.

It was well away from the road, among the trees, and he only found the trail leading to it because he'd sensed the people there and knew there had to be one. They had gone to great lengths to hide it. The amount of life essence there made him suspect why.

He made himself presentable, made himself a wary traveler, instead of a nearly bestial one.

He was met with suspicion by those who noticed him approaching, but they didn't stop him. Part of the wall sunsetward was being taken down while buildings were being constructed.

Even this close, the life essence within the village was so tight he had trouble telling people apart. The mix confirmed that if not everyone the quiet rebellion had helped escape the city was here, this had to be where most of them were. People in worn city folks' clothing huddled together between buildings, with oiled tarp strung to keep the rain of them and rough beddings by the walls, planks on the ground for tables.

With the amount of jostling he was subjected to, he was unable to keep his fingers out of pockets, but they came away with nothing.

He found the tavern by the sense of the ale in their butts and headed toward that one because the dining room wasn't crowded.

A massive man leaned against the door, and people gave the building a wide berth. He became alert as Tibs approached.

"Tavern's closed," he said.

Tibs glanced at the open window and the man and woman he could see there.

"It doesn't seem to be." He kept his Urynian accent, but lightened it enough communicating wouldn't be a problem.

"It's closed to the likes of you," the man replied, crossing his muscled arms over his chest.

Tibs looked around at the city folks making the best of the outdoor accommodations they had. "The village's generosity doesn't extend to travelers needing to parch their throats?"

"Drink out of the rain barrels."

"I prefer ale over water."

The man stepped forward, his expression darkening. "I don't fucking care. You can go drink piss for all I care. We didn't ask for the lot of you to come here and eat our food."

"I can pay for my ale."

The man snorted. "Like any of you ran off with more than the clothes on your back."

Tibs produced three coppers.

The man's expression barely changed, with only hints of thoughtfulness being added. "Don't move." He opened the door, looked in, and then motioned to someone. A woman nearly as muscular as the man stepped to the doorway and listened to what he said.

She looked at Tibs. "You can pay?"

He showed the coppers.

"Fine, but the moment you're out, I'm throwing you out. I don't need useless city folks crowding my tavern."

The dining room could sit fifty, and not even a quarter of that filled it. They all watched him. Their clothing was mostly leather, from the animals in the forest, he expected. A few were hunters, one was making arrows, with metal points.

They were damaged and worn, so had seen use. The quiver was out of sight and had eight arrows in it. A pouch at the woman's belt had more. A handful at least, by the size of the mass of essence. He didn't sense a blacksmith in the village. Had she traveled to buy them, or were they something that had been in her family for a time? They felt in good enough condition to be recent, but Tibs hadn't studied how essence behaved when metal weapons were well cared for.

"You going to drink?" the barkeep demanded. "Or you plan on paying to ogle the people here?"

He sat at the bar and placed a copper on the counter.

She filled a tankard, placed it down, and considered him. "Tell you what. You tell me how it's going in the city, and that'll pay for this one."

"Hasn't any of them updated you?"

"They don't get into my tavern. So what'll it'll be? The copper, or a story?"

"They've had a troublemaker," he said, putting his finger off the copper, but not pocketing it. Asking his question would take more than one of them. "Someone in bright colors harassing the guards. Heard they threw silvers around."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Heard about him. Some Roamer fellow," she said. "Pissing off the city bosses pretty badly, from what I hear."

He shrugged. "Didn't hear about any of that while I was in the city." He affected a thoughtful expression. "Heard about the guards getting into fights with one another. Something about favoritism, I think. Oh, as I left, I heard criers proclaim that roamer's been caught."

"Don't believe one thing the city tells you," a man said, stepping to the bar and leaning on it. "They'll say anything to keep control." He raised his tankard. "Darna, may I?" He winked at Tibs.

He kept looking at him while she filled it, and didn't touch it once she put it on the counter. "Tell me, just where are you from? That accent is so charming." The smile and look he gave Tibs gave him a sense of what he was after.

"Lian, don't you have enough already?"

He looked at her, offended. "Darna, I will never have enough. You should know that by now."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't let my brother talk you into anything you don't actually want to do."

Tibs looked from one to the other trying to find resemblances.

"Don't hurt your pretty brown eyes trying. We both take after our respective fathers."

"You take after mom when is comes to you bed," Darna countered with a bit of heat.

"If you'd listened to what she taught us, instead of gallivanting in to forest for adventure, and big muscles, you would too."

She gave Lian a worried look, then focused on filling tankards.

"You're not taking me to bed," Tibs said. "But I'm from Urynia."

"Why not? I'm very—"

"Lian." Tibs put as much severity in his tone as he could without sounding angry. "I don't care how good you are. It isn't happening."

"Oh. You just don't? Or you only do it with women? For all that she'll protest, my big sister does enjoy herself a good-looking man."

"Lian," she said in exasperation.

"I just don't."

"Okay." He sat. "So, what's Urynia like? Where is it? And why would you come here?"

The easy acceptance put Tibs momentarily off balance. Nearly every time his lack of interest in sex came up, the other person had trouble understanding it. The more they liked the sex, the harder they tried to convince him he should, too. He couldn't remember one time, before now, when him simply saying it was enough.

"I don't know where it is in relation to here. I've been traveling for a long time, and I didn't make maps. As for what it's like?" He doubted it mattered, but he tried to remember something of his time there. "Cold. The cold season's long, the hot one short, houses are made of thick stone. The folks there are warm-hearted. Friendly and always willing to help someone out."

"I think he just accused us of being cold-hearted," a woman said, settling at the bar on Tibs's other side. She placed the quiver on the counter. "Darna, what's your brother preparing for us tonight?"

Tibs glanced at Lian.

"Other brother," he said. "From a different father, so don't try to see a resemblance."

"Also, don't try to count how many siblings they have," the hunter said. "I don't think Orina was ever not pregnant."

"I am so glad that is something I don't have to worry about," Lian said.

"But how many little ones out there are actually yours, Lian?" Darna asked.

"How should I know? None of them have come calling me papa." He grinned at Tibs's raised eyebrow. "I can never have enough. Men or women, doesn't matter to me."

"And it seems like they never have enough of you," Darna said, giving the hunter a reproachful look.

She laughed. "Trust me, if you two weren't related, you be enjoying him too."

"I am very enjoyable," Lian said, then raised his voice. "Aren't I?" A lot of 'ay!' responded, and he beamed with pride.

"As for what Chuck will have for you lot, that's the stew made of the deer meat you brought in with some of the root vegetables I have left."

"What's the forest like?" Tibs asked, and Darna and the hunter tensed.

"What's your interest in it?" the hunter asked.

He shrugged. "Some forests have more root vegetables than others. Maybe I can find some and help."

"You don't look like a forest dweller," she said.

He chuckled. "That's because I went through a city. I've spent a lot of time traveling alone and living off I found in forests."

The look the two exchanged made Tibs wonder what he'd accidentally stepped in.

"Don't let them scare you off," Lian said. "They're all 'everything a secret the city folks can't know about'." He rolled his eyes. "I say that if he can help, we let him. Never thought I'd say that, but I am getting tired of eating mostly meat these days."

"That is the biggest load of bullshit you've ever said, Lee," a man said, wrapping his arms around Lian and nuzzling his neck. "You never get enough of meat."

Lian patted the man's head. "Different kind of meat, Korl. But you're sweet for saying that."

"And who might you be?" Korl asked. "I've been hearing you talk with them for a while, but not one of them seems to have asked for your name."

"Tylian," he replied.

"Don't you even think about it, Korl." Lian said as the man grinned.

Tibs looked from one to the other.

"You said to tie Lian," Darna said.

"No, I just gave my name, which is Ty…. Oh. I guess if it's easier, you can just call me Ty."

"And I'm Rachel," the hunter said. "I'm somewhat curious. Why do you want to help us?"

"I'd like to take a break from traveling for a time, and I figure you'll be more likely to let me stay if I'm useful to have around." This village was as good of a place as anywhere else for him to return to when he wasn't searching for the dungeon.

Darna and Rachel exchange a look again.

"I don't think you should wander in the forest alone," the hunter said, hesitatingly. "But I could take you along when I go hunting tomorrow."

"Is the forest dangerous?"

"It's a forest," she replied. "They're all dangerous to those who aren't ready for it."

"If I help, what can we arrange for lodgings?"

"I'd offer you my bed," Lian said. "But you already said no."

"If you aren't difficult," Darna said, "there's the attic. Not all that much to store there at the moment."

"I'm good with an attic."

*

Rachel was at the tavern before the sun was more than hinted at by the lighter color of the sky, and she was surprised Tibs was already up. The village was quiet, the spaces between buildings packed with sleeping people, as they headed to the Nadir gate.

Past the wall, the field was recent, with the earth freshly turned. Further, they came to fresh stumps, then felled trees, then equipment ready to use to fell more of them.

"You've been here longer than there's been trouble in the city," he said. "Why hide the village?"

"What makes you think we're hiding?"

"The path from the road isn't easy to find. And the new fields are only on the side of the village away from the road."

"Those are because of the current trouble. If we could have avoided getting the initial refugees, I expect more people here would have been happier about it than not. Story is that, way back when, the family that founded Rokania was on the run from the king. Something about disagreeing with how she ran things, trying to make things better, and that not going in their favor. No idea if it's true, but that's the story I've been told. No matter what it is, we like being out of the way. Having only ourselves to depend on and provide for. And not having to deal with city politics."

"But you're still making space for the city folks."

"That was a hard fight. Darna's on the side of not wanting them around. Lian, well, more people means more of them to take to bed, so he'd all for them being here. Chuck just wants to be left alone in his kitchen. But it gives you a sense of how split we are. In the end, those of us who think we should help those in need regardless of where they come from prevailed."

"But you regret the decision now."

She stared at him.

"I saw the look you exchanged with Darna when I asked about staying."

She sighed. "I just didn't realize how having all of them around would be so disruptive to my peace and quiet."

Tibs noted the faint glow on the words, but couldn't work out what parts weren't entirely true. It seemed odd to him that a hunter who could walk into the forest anytime she wanted would complain about losing her peace and quiet, but he figured it wasn't his problem.

He brought his sense in, to gain precision, and sensed for Wood essence in the ground. He'd worked out a while back what to sense for when it came to tuber-like foods in the forest and had learned the hard way the kind of Wood essence structure within them made them bad to eat. His lack of immunity to the element served him well now, since he didn't have to worry about if what he dug out would be poisonous to anyone else.

He stayed where she told him when she picked up a trail, and he sensed her as she hunted. He used the time to extend his sense, searching for anything out of the ordinary in it, but had nothing by the time she brought down one of the area's many deer.

She ignored the carcass, instead searching for the arrow that missed its target, then retrieving the broken off metal tip before returning to the carcass. She got him, and he went back to gathering tubers while she finished preparing it to carry back.