Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Jackal stepped back with a surprised curse when the dogs growled at him. Serba let out a series of whistles, and the dogs' ears straightened, a few ending their growling.

"I said settle down!" she snapped, and they all had their rump on the ground, three still glaring at the fighter while the other four looked at Serba. Tibs laughed at the disbelieving expression on their face, which mirrored Jackal's.

"Serba?" The fighter asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied dismissively. "It's too tight, and too hot and too..." She shook her head. "How do you deal with all this?"

"Sto?" Tibs asked.

"Of course," she replied. "Who else would I be?"

"Serba, what happened to you?" Jackal motioned to her cut and bloody armor.

She looked down and tentatively touched the healed injury, almost fearfully. "They hurt me," she said, her voice growing distant. "I tried to fight them, but I couldn't bring anything to protect me. It hurt." She looked at Tibs. "It hurt so much. More than what Bardik did. It hurt me..." She searched for words, then tapped her chest. "Here. I didn't know if you'd heard me. They broke me. I was losing—"

"What are you—"

She spoke over Jackal as if she didn't hear him. "Then we were here, running and fighting." Her expression darkened. "You had the gall to tell me to stay out of the fight, and I thought you were just going to let that thing kill you." She chuckled. "But it was just you being clever, as usual. I'd have never thought to lure them where there was no essence. I ran after you because I wasn't going to let my first worthy leader just go to his death. I didn't know what to do when the wall came up, then that thing stabbed you, so I sent my dogs to help, but all it did was make it notice me and..."

She touched her stomach again, thoughtfully this time. "You were helping, then you had to go. Then you were holding me and I knew I'd be okay. I hurt, then you were being stupid and telling me my dogs were worth less than I was, so I took matter in my hands and did I didn't let my one chance to do something good pass. What did it matter if I wasn't going to be me after. It's not like I..." she looked at Tibs and Jackal. "Wait. How am I still me?"

"But you're Sto," Tibs said, trying to breathe his worry down.

"Of course." She grinned. "Stone Mountain Crevice. That's me."

"So..." Jackal eyed the dogs. "You aren't Serba?"

"Don't be an idiot, Jackie. Of course I'm your sister." She paused. "Okay, that is odd."

"Both Sto and Serba are in you?" Tibs tried.

"Which one is in control?" Jackal asked, hope and fear in his voice.

"That's not how this works." She rolled her eyes. "Why did I do that? How come I don't have to think about everything I do? Why does it just happen? Ganny? How does any of this work?"

"I have no idea," she replied with a laugh.

Serba looked up, then around. "Where are you?"

"Right here," Ganny replied, her voice cracking with worry. "Can't you see me?"

Serba rubbed her face, and the elements shifted inside her. Tibs tried to make sense of how they moved as she stared at her hand in surprise, turning it over. He'd thought some would move where he figured the node of sight was, but none concentrated in that area. She looked around again, then stopped on her left. "There you are," she said, relieved. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"Okay, what in the abyss is going on?" Jackal asked.

"I told you," Serba said, sounding annoyed. "I was—"