Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 104

The crate jostled again, and something slid along his leg until its pointed end pressed far too close to Tibs's sensitive parts for his liking, but he had to keep his hands against the side to keep from being thrown about the, he hoped, sheathed weapons.

Actually, he should have unsheathed them before getting into the crate. Then, all he'd have to worry about was sliced up clothing, and not bruised and painful body parts. He couldn't suffuse himself with purity since he was concern letting go of darkness would have the guards carrying the crate notice something was amiss.

Unfortunately, he'd reached the hideout ahead of the guard with only enough time to use metal to pull the nails out of a crate's cover large enough he'd fit, and then bring it back down, pulling the nails in place until it was secured. He hadn't had time to shift about to make himself comfortable, that the door slammed against the wall.

"Take everything," A woman ordered. "Brom, go get me more people. Our informant didn't say anything about there being so many crates."

Tibs now had confirmation one of his rogues had squealed. He'd figure out how to deal with them once the chaos around Marger's death had quieted.

The crate he was in had been close to the door, so in no time, it was picked up, to complaints of how heavy it was, and he was being shaken about with that something now pressing where he didn't want it hard enough he had to let go of the side to grab it, only for the crate to shift with yet more cursing form the guard.

"Abyss," one of them complained. "What is in this thing, a body?" Tibs held back the pain of something heavy hitting his chest as the crate righted.

"It's just going to be badly stored equipment," the other replied. "Way I heard it, that's a weapon's stash for a bunch of troublemakers. So it's not like they're going to have any idea how to properly store weapons and armors."

It was lack of time, Tibs mentally complained as he grabbed the sides again. Not lack of knowledge. Training all the Omegas, making sure the equipment was repaired and maintained, and keeping the tally of what was loaned out and missing didn't leave much time to keep everything in order.

He sensed the guild building's weave and breathed his worry down. He was only suffused with darkness, something he'd done before without it reacting to. He would be fine. It wasn't like it could tell he was doing it while being hidden inside a crate with intentions of committing violence on someone inside.

Right?

Even Mind wasn't that powerful of an element.

Right?

They crossed the threshold to a lack of alarms, and Tibs breathed again.

The guards' steps echoed, which they wouldn't do in the main hallway. Carefully extending his sense, the walls were closer, and he realized they had entered through a different entrance. One he hadn't known about. He'd been certain he had explored the entirety of the building.

The stairs arrived quicker than he'd expected and he was shaken about as the guards complained and adjusted how they held onto the crate. Then more adjusting as they reached the bottom and the sound of their steps changed again. Walking on packed dirt instead of wooden floors.

Tibs had explored all the above ground guild building. But with only one entrance to the basement, he had never had the chance to explore that part. He'd thought all there was were the cells and where the confiscated goods were stored, but there seemed to be more.

They stopped and answered questions from a bored sounding woman. Letters and numbers, the case file, he realized. The clerk stepped to the crate and Tibs readied himself as fire essence pooled to her hand, but before he worked out what had given him away, she ran the hand over the side of the crate, and in the essence left behind with the smell of burned wood, he made out the letters and numbers the guard had recited. She did the same with the top of the crate.