Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 04

"Alright. How do you want to divide the patrols?" Quigly asked.

* * * * *

Tibs watched the workers laying down the paving stone along the end of Dungeon Way, which cut most of Kragle Rock in half on this side of the transportation platform, and over the dirt patch continuing to the steps leading up to Sto's door.

The townsfolk were crowding into the few surviving buildings, and this was what the guild spent resources on? Turning a dirt path into a paved one? They should build housing, restoring the shops, seeing to the people who kept the town going, instead of... this. Why would Runners care if they walked on dirt or stone when going to do their Runs?

Amelia, Mez's noble friend, was doing the work of the guild, bringing in workers to rebuild the town, while the rest of the nobles were taking advantage of the destruction to separate themselves from the rest. Mere days after Sebastian died, the rubble around the noble's quarters had been cleared, including houses that had been untouched by the destruction. They planned to erect a wall to protect them from the rest of the rabble.

Tibs didn't know who had owned those buildings, or if they'd survived the raids and had left using the coins the nobles paid for their houses, and he didn't care. They weren't townsfolk anymore, and this was simply more of what nobles did; which was whatever they wanted.

More workers leveled the ground by the bottom of the steps. Not where the path would be, but on the side. These were dressed in aprons and leather chaps to protect them from the sharp tools they used. They were townsfolk, working with whatever they could find.

He noticed Cross among them and headed there.

The people cheered on seeing him. Slapped his shoulder when he was in reach, thanked him for saving them. Hero of the Town, they called him, Killer of Raiders, and other names he didn't care for. He wished Don had played his usual games and claimed all the fame, but the sorcerer was nowhere to be found.

He was still in the town. He had to be since he, like everyone brought here from a cell, wasn't allowed to leave.

"Tibs," Cross called, pausing in pulling a larger stone out of the ground with a few other workers, and wiping sweat from her brow. "Lowering yourself to our level and offering to help?"

"Don't make me larger than I am," he replied flatly. He didn't care that she was making a joke, he didn't like being made into something he wasn't.

She looked at him with an odd expression. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He motioned to her leather armor, with the metal weights attached to it. "Wouldn't it be easier to work without all that?"

"That's the point," she replied. She kept watching him for a few seconds, then went back to the stone. Around them, the others leveled an area large enough for a house. None of the area facing the dungeon was flat, even if this wasn't as bad as where it turned into the hill going up to the town.

"Have you asked Runners to help?" Tibs asked. "This would be easier with Earth essence."

"They've done enough making sure we lived," a woman said, her accent thick, and smiling at him. "They deserve a rest before getting back to this." She motioned to the door with the old shovel in her hands.

"We aren't asking heroes to work like this," a man said, using a spear to stab around a stone.

"We aren't heroes," Tibs said, and got amused looks in return. "You did as much as us," he told Cross, "so why are you letting the guild force you to work here?"

"The guild's not making us do this," an overweight man said, his clothing sticking to him from the sweat. "This is where my new shop will be."

"Mine's going to be next to it," a woman said, covered in dirt. She pointed to the other half of the area being cleared.