Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 38

It wasn't the crowd that made Tibs hesitate starting down the paved path toward the mountain; it was that he didn't know where Sto's influence extended. It had always been a nebulous line of 'somewhere among the shops and buildings in the valley', but until now, it hadn't mattered to him. Until now, Tibs could be confident Sto wouldn't speak to him while he was among other people unless it was important.

Now? Tibs found he wasn't confident of much these days.

Would Sto talk with him? Would he scream? Refuse to even acknowledge Tibs was there? He let out the breath and started down the hill. He deserved whatever Sto gave him. And after that...

Tibs would accept what came afterward.

Merchants waved and called to him from their booths. They were glad he was okay. They'd held out hope while he was sick. One even cursed the clerics for letting the Hero of Kragle Rock linger in illness for so long.

He did his best to ignore them. Of course, they'd seen how he was when Jackal carried him out of the dungeon, and the stories had spread, like they always did, when no one corrected them. And even then. Stories sometimes felt like an element of their own, moving about the world out of control of anyone but those who had it as their element.

Bards were who wielded stories.

Fortunately, Kragle Rock hadn't drawn many of them at this point. Tibs had seen one at the inn, dressed in bright colors and a tarrs at his back, speaking with Russel, and Kroseph and the other servers. Asking about what happened in the town, they informed Tibs afterward. Gathering pieces they would etch into a story that would become the truth, as far as the rest of the world knew.

Maybe they'd one day make it into one of the books Don read, and it would officially be what had happened. No matter how distorted the stories became by then.

He reached the steps without a word from Sto, and turned left, walking through the stalls, then buildings. Until he exited the Gathering Grounds.

He waited until the sounds were faint, then stepped to the cliff face and sat.

"I'm sorry," he said when the silence stretched. "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you, Sto, Ganny," he added when there were no responses.

"It wasn't you," Sto said softly.

"It was," Tibs replied, as Ganny scoffed. "I decided to ice myself. I decided to keep myself iced anytime something cracked it. Maybe it changed how I thought, but it's still my fault I kept it there, and what I did and said because of it."

"It's okay," Sto said.

"No, it isn't." Tibs took a breath, reigned in his anger. Too many people were excusing what he did. As if the element had taken him over and acted without his consent. He'd always been himself through it all. Just a version of himself devoid of the things that made him different from the elements.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ganny demanded.

"Ganny," Sto snapped.

"She's right, Sto," Tibs said. "I hurt you."

Sto snorted. "It wasn't that hard to fix what you damaged."

"I'm not talking about unleashing fire inside you." Tibs had trouble continuing. "I treated you like... a thing. Like you were just there to do what I told you. You should have listened to Ganny and sent me off."

"That's not how friends treat each other," Sto replied.

"I didn't deserve your friendship."

"That's not how it works. Unless I got that wrong too. I'm the one who decides who my friends are, and what I'll do for them."