Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Tibs felt the weave throughout the guildhall's walls, as he headed for his destination, but could only make out a small part of what it was made of, and he didn't know enough to be sure what those might even do, although he could hazard a guess at the basics.

There was a lot of Earth, and that would be to reinforce the building. Water and Air could be to deflect attacks. Darkness would....what would it do? Wouldn't it weaken the other essences within the weave? If it didn't, then did it weaken the attacks? Serve to make the building harder to find? I was the largest structure in the town; all an attacker had to do was look, and they saw it.

He simply didn't know enough about weaves and essence and the elements.

But he was hoping to fix that now.

He stepped into the training room, where Alistair waited for him.

"I'm glad I didn't have to send a reminder this time," the man said.

"I don't have a lot keeping me busy, now that Sebastian's dead," he replied flatly.

"Now that you killed him, you mean?" his teacher accused him.

"He killed Carina," Tibs snapped hotly, the ice cracking. "And I didn't hide that I'm the one who avenged her."

The man snorted. "Avenged?" He took a breath and his expression softened. "I am sorry that she was killed, Tibs. I truly am. But what you did, it goes beyond avenging her. What you did means you lied to me."

Tibs studied his teacher, trying to determine what he could have discovered. Had he left something behind of what he'd used to free himself from the sorcerers? Was there a residue showing more than one element had been used?

He had the excuses of having used his bracers; Alistair knew about them. If it came down to it, he could blame whatever his teacher had sensed on Sebastian. The man had covered himself in enchanted items; anything could be blamed on them.

"You aren't at the edge of Lambda," Alistair stated. "That's why you didn't want to be tested. Somehow, you've advanced beyond what you should know and you want to keep that from the guild; keep it from me." The pained expression was marred with anger. "Why, Tibs? I've been helping you. I postponed your test so your team would remain intact. Why didn't you trust me with this?"

There was no light on the words, so Alistair hadn't lied. But he'd also stated little of worth. Even if the pain was real, Tibs no longer trusted him. He was guild first and foremost, and like all of them, the only thing he cared about was the guild.

"Where were you when Sebastian raided the town?"

"I was away," Alistair replied confidently, but the words were bright.

"If you'd been here," Tibs continued in spite of knowing the lie, "would you have disobeyed the guild? Come to help us?"

"I..." the light built as Alistair hesitated, then he closed his mouth on the words he'd been about to speak and sighed. "Tibs. It isn't that simple." No light this time. Not that it mattered.

"No, of course it isn't," Tibs stated. "I'm sure it took the guild a long time to decide guarding the dungeon was more important than protecting the town that stood between it and Sebastian. That it was our job to protect it, that taking the noble's coins and protecting them was worth the sacrifice to the guilds so important principles... or does taking coins come before anything else for you? The way the gang leaders from my Street did? How long did it take them to decide protecting the guild mean letting the Everburn splash onto the town, when there were other ways to stop that? Well, you were away," he said mockingly, "so you didn't have to watch as your guild threw us and the townsfolk away." His expression hardened. "So don't ask me to be nice to them. To temper my word for yours and they comfort. I'm here to be trained, nothing else. So teach me about weaving essence."