Dungeon Runner

Stepping Up, Chapter 107

Tibs trudged into the inn and looked around for the sorcerer.

"Tibs," Kroseph called worriedly on seeing him.

"It's not mine," he told the server, heading for his table, where Mez and Carina were eating. "Where's Don?" He demanded.

Carina was exhausted and barely looked up for the stew she ate mechanically.

"I thought he was with you," Mez said. "When he didn't come down after me and Amelia, I figured he'd help you from a safe distance."

"His team left the inn maybe fifteen minutes before you got here," Kroseph said. "Tibs, you should wash up. You're rather gory."

He grabbed a tankard off the table and drained it. "I'm not going to get any cleaner today. If you see Don, tell him I—" Tibs put the tankard down, then shook his head at Kroseph's expectant expression. "Never mind. I'll tell him myself when I find him."

Now was not the time to start a fight with the sorcerer, no matter how badly he deserved it. He turned to head out and paused. "Oh, if anyone asks what happened to the block of houses by Edge Row, they did it."

* * * * *

Tibs ran after another group of Sebastian's thugs and watched as one threw a pouch at a building. Tibs deflected it so it landed on the ground ahead of it, but it burst and the Everburn it contained splashed as it ignited and the fire reached the house, anyway. He didn't waste time pulling at the fire. He'd have to let the thugs get away for how long it would take him to pull all that essence away. It was like Everburn simply made the essence appear.

Tibs had hoped the loss of the catapult would have broken Sebastian's people, if not the man himself. Instead, the raids had redoubled, with them now using the Everburn the way Tibs had just seen.

And there were other groups of thugs throughout the town, burning down homes and shops.

He tackled the slowest of the thug in green and black, planted his sword in her back while the others kept running, then picked up the chase.

Quigly felt this would be over quickly now.

Tibs wasn't so sure, but they didn't have the luxury of this stretching on. Kroseph's father had mentioned the people in the dungeon had no more than two day's food left, if they were careful how they ate. They had provisioned them, but once Sto closed his door, he couldn't open it again until the attack was over. Otherwise, it would seem too suspicious. Animals sensed danger, and Sto had been attacked already. Those Tibs could use to explain the dungeon's behavior if it came down to it. Anything else and he'd be in trouble.

So he needed to end this as fast as possible.

* * * * *

The scream came as Tibs dispatched another one of what felt like Sebastian's unending supply of thugs. He'd fought them through the night, as the sun rose, and it was just past the zenith now. He had no idea how many of them he killed, but it never seemed to be enough. The only part of the town free of damage and fighting was the noble's neighborhood, as they had adventurers blocking every alley leading there.

The scream came again, accompanied by mocking laughter, multiple people laughing.

He climbed the closest building and ran the roofs until he reached the courtyard, then dropped as he saw an archer scanning the roofs. He'd caught sight of two more, and heard one of them let loose an arrow ahead of the scream coming yet again.

"See anything?" a man asked.

"You really think this is going to draw him out?" a woman answered. An arrow was loosed, a man screamed. "This is a big town."