Dungeon Runner

Bottom Rung, Chapter 59

"Okay," Tibs cornered Jackal. "How did you know to have the guards there?" Tibs had waited a day, mainly to let himself cool down, but he wanted to know how the fighter had pulled it off.

"How about we go—"

"No, we're not going to the inn or a tavern." He indicated that there was no one around. "You don't have to worry about anyone hearing whatever secret you have that lets you know everything that goes on in the town."

"I don't know everything," Jackal said. He leaned against the wall. "And I know you, Tibs. I know that look you get when you think it's your job to fix a problem. The look you got as you finished explaining why that asshole was innocent."

"Did you know where he was hiding?"

"No, he did a good job of vanishing."

"Then how did you know where I was?"

"Tibs, I wasn't keeping tabs on you. You're too good at using the roofs to go places, I'd need another rogue and I don't trust any of them."

"You can trust Tandy."

The fighter sighed. "I don't want to bring anyone else into our problems. It's just someone else who can talk."

"Okay. If you didn't know where I was. How did you get there with the guards?"

"Arruh. He's who I've been keeping track of. He started getting his team together, so I knew something was about to happen, and considering Don was all he could talk about. It wasn't tough to figure it involved everyone's favorite sorcerer, and the odds were good that by now, you'd found him, so you'd get caught in the middle."

"And the guards? Harry isn't happy you got them to help you with it."

"Well, Knuckles' a hard-ass even to his own people. I've gotten to know a few of them since they got here. Accumulated favors. So I called some in and you were there for the rest."

Tibs watched the fighter and waited.

"I don't know what else you want, Tibs."

Tibs sighed. "I thought you were ready to tell me the truth."

"I have," Jackal replied. "There's nothing more to it than that."

Tibs doubted that, but he'd promised himself he'd let his friends open up in their own times. "Alright. I'll get you a tankard for forcing you to explain yourself."

Jackal smiled. "You know you don't have to do that Tibs, I'm happy to answer your questions."

"Okay," Tibs said smiling, "then I won't—"

"Now, Tibs, I didn't say I wouldn't take your tankard."

"I thought so."

* * * * *

That end of Merchant's Row had been closed off. The stench of the corruption had settled on an area three-building wide around the pool, and only the people with the strongest stomach ventured there anymore. Which made the cleric kneeling by the pool an anomaly Tibs couldn't ignore.

He'd decided the clerics weren't particularly brave. They were dedicated, he gave them that. They healed everyone as they entered and then exited the dungeon, regardless of how they felt about them, but anytime there was violence, if the clerics were close by, they moved away, instead of closer. A reasonable reaction in most people, but since it was their job to heal, Tibs found it interesting they never stuck around to help afterward. They had a house by the guild building where they retired to.

He climbed down from the building and covered his mouth with a cloth before stepping into the zone of stink. Carina had bought it for them, and the essence woven through it made the stench more bearable.