Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 13

He looked the crowd over. "I have been where you are. What I am warning you about is what I experienced, because no one warned me. Caring leads to pain. Caring leads to death, and only if you are lucky will that death be yours." The pause stretched. "Many times, it is those you care about who die."

The ice cracked and Tibs swallowed the pain; the anger at that man reminding him of Carina's death. Had he looked at Tibs as he said that? Was this Irdian's way of pointing out how Tibs had failed?

He filled the cracks, hardened the ice. What Irdian tried to do didn't matter. He wouldn't shake Tibs's resolve.

"Trainers will come and take you to be tested. Do not fight them. Their methods will be harsh, but they serve to ensure some of you can survive what is to come. You are no longer children, you are Runners. One day, some of you will be adventurers. It is a hard path, but a rewarding one. This will sound hollow; it did when I heard these words. Embrace the path, for it will make you strong. It will give you purpose, and it may give you life."

"What a load of bullshit," another Runner said.

New cracks appeared in the ice, and instead of anger, hope bubbled through them. Hope that maybe this group would be spared being thrown into the dungeon unprepared, have the tools needed to survive. That this was what the guild intended new Runners to start like, and not how Tirania had forced them to suffer. Was it possible some good could come from what the guild did?

"I've got a silver that says not even half of them come back from their first run," someone offered as Tibs filled those cracks. There was no hope to be had here.

"I've got one that said not a quarter will—"

"No," Jackal stated.

The guild didn't offer hope. It offered nothing anyone should want.

"We aren't putting coins on who'll survive or won't," the fighter continued. "They aren't here for our amusement."

"I'm just—"

"I said no." Jackal glared at her.

The guild offered only misery wrapped in broken promise.

"Did he tell the truth?" Quigly asked, and Tibs turn to point out it wasn't something he could know, but the warrior was speaking to a woman whose eyes glowed.

"I don't know," she answered nervously. "I'm not good at telling when someone lies, and my trainer—" her voice hitched "—he's gone. I don't know if anyone else is going to help me now. We're just too far for me to tell anything."

Her trainer was gone. Had it been Harry? Tibs hadn't known the old guard leader had trained anyone. If he had, he could have gotten her to ask question on his behalf. So long as Tibs worded it in a way she'd believed it would benefit her, Harry wouldn't have picked up on the fact it would also help Tibs.

"Jackal's right," Tibs told the Runners, as older men and women walked through the crowd. "We aren't here to bet on who will live." They looked enough like the teachers Tibs had dealt with while Omega he was sure whatever hope had bubbled up would have died now. "We're going to make sure as many of them do." He motioned as the teachers made small groups of children and led them through the tents. "Do you trust them to have Omega's best interest in mind?" none of the children protested. It reminded Tibs of the time he'd watched a herd master leading his herd through the streets until they'd entered the slaughterhouse.

"If it serves the guild, sure," a woman said. Fighter, Tibs thought.

"And what served the guild more? Having as many of them survive to gain the strength to stand up to them?" Tibs asked. How many would he need at his back when he took on the guild? How strong would he need them to be? How much of a distraction would he need them to cause so he could make it to the one responsible?