Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 58

"Tibs, you're a rogue. Rogues lie, along with stealing."

"I didn't want to risk him figuring out I'd cheated him and going to the guild."

"He's not that clever," Jackal stated.

Tibs shrugged again. Archer was much more clever than his friend gave him credit for, Tibs was sure of that. And there were the stacks of papers. They'd been kept with the coins and bars, so they had to be worth something. If Jackal knew his letters, he might know about them. As it was, once he had his talk with Don, he'd go see Darran. The merchant would definitely know what they were.

"Taking the coins won't be enough," Jackal said. "My father doesn't leave a lot to chance. There will be—"

"I burned the contracts."

Jackal stared, then looked at Tibs's armor.

"That's not how this happened."

"You're going to have to tell me how, then. And okay, if there are no contracts left, it's going to be hard for anyone to enforce it."

"You know about contracts?"

Jackal smirked. "I never looked at one, but my father was always talking about them, and how he needed his scribes to do it right, so they said what he wanted, instead of what the other people would read. Letters are way too complicated for me."

"Can anyone in you family have a copy of them?"

"Why would there be two copies of a contract?" Jackal asked, as if writing the same thing twice was offensive.

"It's what Darran did with the contract between the sorcerers and Don for the corruption pool. So that they couldn't make changes to it. The sorcerer acted like that was normal." He'd done the same with the contract between Tibs and Don for how the coins would be distributed for the same reason. Even if Tibs assured him, there was no need. He trusted Don, but Darran hadn't budged, and Don hadn't been bothered either.

He'd trusted Don to keep his word on that, yet distrusted him at the first falsehood. Then thought he'd go to the guild because Tibs had kept things from him. Well, a lot of things.

"Tibs?" Jackal asked, and Tibs realized he'd said some things he hadn't caught.

"Sorry."

"I was saying that even if there's another one of that contract, I don't think anyone other than the scribe who inked it will know. And they're probably long gone at this point, either scared by the infighting for who will become the new family head, or they were clever enough to write themselves a few writs of payment and will retire off that."

"So your family isn't going to continue Sebastian's revenge?"

Jackal let out a bark of laughter. "They'll never think to avenge him. If one of them worked out you did it, they'll be showing up to thank you. My father held his position through fear, intimidation, and removing those who got close before they could threaten his position."

"Your father has people in his family killed?" Tibs asked, horrified.

"Or killed them himself." Jackal shrugged. "He never saw our family as more than a means to maintain his status. Like I told you; Wells either lead or follow. He was never going to follow, so if someone thought they could replace him, they weren't family. Just some obstacle that had to be removed. Anyone left who, somehow, still has an inkling of leadership is fighting with the others like him for who'll take over. Considering my father, and what you did. The winner isn't going to have much to work with once the chaos settles. They aren't going to be a problem. That archer, on the other hand..."