Chapter 99: Chapter 32

Papers rustled in Carina’s hands as Tibs tried to see any differences in the room. Five Whippers and a dozen rats, same as the last time.

Carina shook her head. “This says there are eight golems, or maybe that’s seven?” she sighed. “We need to use ink. The charcoal’s always getting smudged.” She peered at the page. “Maybe it is a five. It sort of looks like this in Kartian, and Olive is from there.”

“Maybe you should stop referring to them until you transcribe them with ink?” Mez said.

She shook the stack in the archer’s face. “Do you have any idea how expensive ink is? Let alone paper? This was supposed to make it easier!” she cried out in frustration.

“Pounding on those Whippers will make you feel better,” Jackal said, grinning.

She glared at him, carefully folding the pages. “Pounding things is a you thing.” She placed them in a pocket in her robe and straightened it. When she raised a hand, grinning as a small whirlwind formed around it. “I much prefer blasting them apart.”

Tibs watched the essence move then tried to replicate it; but his reserve was empty before it did more than whip the air a time or two. Another essence to train in pulling in while using it. He so wished that what he learned using water essence worked for every other one.

“Then,” Jackal said, giving her a bow, “my lady is welcome to the first strike.” He motioned to the room with a grand sweep of the arm as he straightened.

Carina stepped into it, causing the Whippers to activate.

It didn’t have the same effect as in the first-floor boss-room, since this was already lit, as they turned to face the entrance. She rolled her hand, pulling essence from around her into the whirlwind; ripping apart Tibs’s attempt at making his grow in the process. She pushed her hand at the center Whipper and the funnel hit it, lifting it off the ground and sending it flying against the far wall, shattering into pieces.

“Wow,” Tibs said, at the same time as Sto.

“Someone’s been Training,” Jackal said with a grin. “I doubt the dungeon’s seen anything like that before.”

“I certainly haven’t,” Sto confirmed.

“My teacher’s finally started teaching me the theories behind what each shape I put the essence in does. So yes, I have been practicing.”

“May I point out that they are not attacking,” Khumdar said, “although Carina is in the room.”

“I need a moment to take it in,” Sto said.

“He’s impressed,” Tibs translated.

“And I’m realizing I’m going to have to make this floor more difficult. Your team’s gotten much stronger since the last time.”

“Good to know,” Jackal said, running into the room. He turned to stone as he arrived before a Whipper, and the last step resounded. Then his fist connected with the golem, staggering it back.

“Sto, stop gawking!” Ganny yelled. “Get things going or they’re just going to walk through them.”

“Right.”

The rats moved, as Tibs stepped into the room with Mez and Khumdar, running up Jackal’s legs.

The fighter tried to dislodge them by shaking a leg. “Mez, get them off me!”

“I’m going to hit you,” the archer replied, pulling on his bow’s string. Tibs traced the ‘x’ for his attack, putting only a little essence in it.

“Just don’t make them explode and I’ll be fine.” Jackal walked toward the stunned golem, as Tibs targeted another, chipping some stone away.

Tibs etched more ‘x’s adjusting how much essence he let flow into it as arrow after arrow hit the rats still trying to bite and claw Jackal. Khumdar stepped forward, staff whirling in his hands, darkness trailing it, and him.

That was new.

Tibs kept his attacks going, getting into the flow, pulling the essence into him as the attack built, not needing to tap the amulet. Each hit damaged his target, but still not enough to bring it down.

Carina was sending air blades at the last golem. After her first big attack, she seemed to conserve her energy.

Tibs cursed as Khumdar staggered under a hit on his shoulder from the golem. The darkness surrounding him flew back further, as if it had taken most of the strength from the impact.

Tibs shifted his aim for his next attack, only for it to break apart as he had to move to avoid his previous target’s whip. It grazed him painfully and Tibs made an ice armor to strengthen his leather one. Khumdar had regained his footing, so Tibs refocused on the golem trying to kill him again.

He tried for an ‘x’ attack, but this time the golem immediately went on the offensive and Tibs kept having to move out of the way, breaking the etching. Fine, so range was out of the question now.

Tibs grinned, running at the golem. He could do close-quarter. He threw water at the golem’s feet. He had tricks to use.

The golem jumped out of the way as Tibs iced the water, and he was so surprised by the action he stepped on the ice and nearly slid off, mentally latching onto the essence under his feet. The sudden stop sent him to the floor.

Cursing, Tibs rolled out from under the descending foot, absorbing the water in the process. He slashed at the leg as it hit the ground, only to realize he’d lost his knife. He pulled an air knife with another curse. He’d have to come up with a way to ensure he didn’t lose his knives in a fight. A blast of air threw him out of the way of another foot coming down.

“Thanks!”

He got to his feet, gathering essence for another etching, only to have to jump out of the way of the coming whip. He glared at the golem. This was getting tiresome.

He threw the knife and guided it so it would hit. At the same time, he pulled his other knife and flicked a water jet at the golem. Neither did noticeable damage, but it took the golem’s attention off Tibs as he blocked the knife.

He etched the ‘x’, this time pouring essence into it until the golem looked at him. When he released it, keeping the jet from continuing to pull at his essence was difficult. He didn’t know why the more essence he used, the harder it was to control, but it had been noticed during his test.

Like everything else out of the ordinary about how he used essence, it was chalked up to his young age.

The golem shattered under the powerful jet.

As useful as the excuse was, Tibs was getting tired of it. It meant he couldn’t ask for the answers he really needed and kept having to guess his way through what he thought he could do.

“This was fun,” Jackal said, standing in the center of rubble, shifting it with a foot. Looking for his well-deserved loot.

Tibs smiled and pulled essence to him, refilling his reserve and the amulet. Carina and Khumdar also stood, recharging, while Mez joined Jackal in looking for the loot.

Tibs was getting better at pulling the essence in; it only took a few minutes before the amulet was full. He was still slower than Carina. As he opened his eyes, she stood, pulling an amulet from the rubble.

“That’s two amulets,” She said. “You think we can let Tibs have them this time?”

“Won’t that depend on if there’s something one of us needs more?” Mez answered.

“She’s right,” Jackal said, picking up silver coins. “Tibs can’t fight at full efficiency with only the little essence he has. And now he needs five amulets.”

“With them—” Tibs started.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Sto said, but didn’t elaborate.

“With them what?” Mez asked.

“With more essence,” he continued, trying not to let the mysterious tone Sto had used bother him, “you can finally start teaching me how to use your essences.”

“Tibs,” the archer said. “I told you before, I don’t know if anything I can do will work for you. I’m an archer and—”

“A rogue, yeah, I know. But you’re the only ones I can ask for training. And you’re supposed to learn how to do more with your essence now that you’re Rho, so you can show me that, right? I am Rho too, after all.”

“I fear that until you gain darkness as an essence, I will have little to teach you.”

“But you can tell me how I can get my audience.”

Khumdar didn’t answer.

“Anyway,” Tibs said. “Let’s wait until we’ve cleared the floor before deciding if I’m getting the amulets. Whoever they’ll have at the table will probably be able to tell what kind of essence is in it, and they might question why anyone needs more than one amulet of their essence. And I’ll be fine with just water.”

“Someone’s getting cocky,” Sto said with a chuckle.

“Khumdar,” Carina called, “that dark aura, it’s new. I didn’t know a cleric could use essence that way for defense.”

The cleric inclined his head. “Without anyone to guide my training, I find I am not limited to the preconceived ideas of what is possible. I have spent time studying the two fighters who have darkness as their element. They use it to make a shell that diminishes the strength of the impacts. Unfortunately, I have yet to understand how they make it so tight against their bodies.”

“Mindset,” Tibs said, icing the floor at his feet. “Alistair said that how we think affects what we can do.” He slid his foot on it. “It’s why I can’t do fire arrows even if Mez told me how he does it. He thinks like an archer, I think like a rogue.” What had he done to stop sliding?

“We’re all about strength and hardness,” Jackal said.

“While I am not.” Khumdar nodded.

Tibs had shoved his essence into the ice, not wanting to fall from how slick it was. Unfortunately, he’d been busy trying not to fall and be killed, so hadn’t paid attention to what he’d done. “Just ask questions. Most people will answer them.”

“That would be a you thing, Tibs,” Khumdar said. “I have found that people are more likely to try to take advantage of my lack of knowledge than fill it.”

“Yeah,” Carina said. “Even now that she’s teaching me how essence works, my teacher’s always going on about how finding out the answer by myself is as important as knowing what the answer is.”

“She is not wrong,” Khumdar said.

“And sorcerers are all about the research, right?”Jackal asked. “Everyone able to go on? Good. Onto the next room.” He had his back to Carina and missed the glare she gave him.

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“Does anyone need healing?” Tibs asked, then added. “There’s no corruption in it anymore.”

“I’m good,” Jackal replied. “The benefits of a stone body. Hardness is useful for more than pleasing my man.”

“I have bruises,” Khumdar said, as Tibs rolled his eyes at the fighter, “but they will not impede my fighting, and I believe that it is good I learn to do battle when I am not at my best. You will not always be nearby to heal me.”

Carina and Mez were uninjured, having stayed out of range for the entire fight.

From the entrance, the Ratling camp looked no different than before.

“Okay,” Carina said, putting the papers away. “I no longer know how accurate anything I make out is, but I am confident that when the others mentioned this room, they said the population doubled.”

Jackal rubbed his hand and grinned. “So we’re getting a big reward. Same as usual? You and Tibs clear the tents while the three of us take on the bulk?”

“Go left,” Sto said.

“No,” Ganny countered.

“Yes, go left, Tibs.”

“We talked about this, Sto,” She snapped.

“You talked, I listened. You were wrong, I’m right.”

“You go right and I take the left?” Tibs asked Carina. He didn’t know what it was about, but Sto hadn’t led him into any traps yet. Carina nodded, and he headed to the closest tent as Sto and Ganny’s voices faded. He figured that once they were done arguing, Sto would explain.

The first three tents were empty but looked like they were lived in, instead of the usual lack of anything when Ratlings weren’t present. One was messy, with furs strewn about on the floor and seats. The other had a collection of carved skulls on a table and the third had bowls with pigments in them.

Either Sto was using his skill at drawing to make them seem more alive or, despite what the dungeon said, the Ratling had lives and did stuff when not fighting Runners. Tibs wasn’t sure which made him more uncomfortable. He preferred it when the creatures were clearly there to test them.

The fourth and fifth tents had Ratlings, which he dispatched easily, collecting the silver.

“Ninth tent,” Sto said. Ganny didn’t argue, so Tibs figured she hadn’t returned. Clearly, as the dungeon, Sto was the one with the power. She could affect the floors since she was making the third one, but the final decisions were Sto’s.

He ignored Sto’s prodding to hurry and cleared each tent. One tent was a repeat of the cooking tent from his first time in the camp, but with five Ratlings. This fight didn’t give him any problems.

The ninth tent was empty, except for the chest in the middle. He crouched and searched it for traps.

“It’s safe,” Sto said in exasperation.

Tibs believed him, but he didn’t rush. Only once he confirmed there were not traps did he open it. The inside was the right size for the outside this time; it contained a set of worn, scuffed bracers. Tibs frowned. They were no different from the ones he wore, down to the lack of essence. They look too normal to belong on the second floor, let alone justify Sto’s insistence he come to this tent.

He picked one up and nearly dropped it as he felt the essence. It appeared to him the moment he touched it.

“You like?” Sto asked, with pride.

Tibs placed it down, and once his hand moved away, it was a regular bracer again, just like the one next to it. “This is like the pouch you gave me to keep Walter’s amulet hidden.”

“I’m going to say yes and wait to see what happens.”

Tibs wondered what that meant, but sensed the weave instead of asking. Sto wouldn’t answer.

It was tight and complex; it would have to be, to do what it did. It had all five of the essences he had, and what he couldn’t tell apart had to contain many more. Once he stopped focusing on the weave, he felt what else it contained.

Reserves.

He turned the bracer over, looking for the stones. Amulets didn’t have to be something worn around the neck. Like Mez’s bow, the crystal that contained the essence could be attached to anything. Well, Tibs didn’t know about anything, but it could be on other things. Only he wasn’t seeing any on the outside or the inside.

“Where are the amulets? I can sense the reserves, but this is just leather.” A thought occurred to him. “Can leather be turned into an amulet?” Had he taken for granted they had to be crystals?

“No, that can’t be done as far as Ganny knows,” Sto replied. “There’s something about a crystalline structure that’s required.”

“Tibs,” Ganny said, “please put them back.”

“It’s his loot,” Sto stated, tone borderline harsh.

“What’s going on?” Tibs asked. Clearly, the argument hadn’t been resolved.

“Sto’s breaking the rules again.” Instead of her usual annoyance, she sounded worried.

“Who cares?” Sto said in exasperation.

“They’re going to notice.”

“Who? Don’t bother, because I don’t care. Tibs saved my life. He deserves a reward.”

“I think you’ve done enough already,” she replied.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Tibs said, distracted by the size of the reserves contained in the bracer. He picked up the other one.

Eight in total. Deeper than his amulet, or the one Carina had, which was better. He’d thought it was because it was slightly larger. Five out of them were filled with his elements. He couldn’t tell what the other three were, but he could guess.

“You aren’t,” Sto replied. “Ganny’s just trying to scare me into doing things her way. She doesn’t even know who those ‘them’ are, so how can they be real?”

“They are,” she stated.

Dungeon stuff was so beyond Tibs, but Sto was the dungeon, and it was his decision as to what happened. Now that he wasn’t focused on the essence, he noticed that the bracer had a sheath for a knife, like his, and the other could hold picks.

“How did you copy my bracers?”

Sto snorted. “I didn’t copy yours. I absorbed a lot of armor from Runners who died. A lot of the rogues had those same kinds of bracers.”

Runners he’d sent to Darran. Tibs fought to keep the weight of more people he’d know being dead from pulling him down. It was the risk they lived with.

He focused on his questions to distract himself. “How did you hide the amulets? Is it like with the chest and there’s a larger space, in it where they are?”

“That’s an idea,” Sto said, “but no. The amulet in your pouch is large because it’s made using a poor gem, and the weave to contain the essence isn’t great either. The one Carina has is only a little better, and the larger size compensates, giving her a larger reserve from it. The ones in your bracers, on top of being shaped to fit them without being noticed, are much purer.”

“There’s eight reserves. Four on each.”

“You’re going to have more audiences, so I planned ahead.”

Tibs swallowed. “you only found out about this when I entered. You can’t have made this in that short of a time.”

“Tibs, you saw how quickly I reformed the puzzle. Sure, coming up with how to make the bracers. That took me a while, but I’ve been working on the idea basically since your last run. This was just adding the four other reserves, and that’s just a question of me having enough essence for it.”

And a lot of Runners had died.

Pyan, Fedora.

“Tibs, please,” Ganny said. “I know you like having loot, and I know this is going to help, but—”

“I’m sorry, Ganny,” he whispered. He knew that Pyan and Fedora weren’t in the bracers. They’d died. But there might be some of their essences in how they had been made. To give them up felt like their death would have been for nothing. With them, he could honor their sacrifice.

He took off his old ones.

He could honor them by beating Sto. By surviving everything the dungeon threw at him.

Ganny’s sigh was more tired than angry.

With them on, the wear and damage on them pretty much matched that of his armor. Enough, Tibs expected that only Garran would be able to tell they weren’t the original ones, and only if he’d seen them recently, which he hadn’t.

“Why did you make them look used?” He liked that they didn’t look out of place, they wouldn’t attract attention.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sto asked. “It’s so you don’t have to run them by the guild, of course.”

“But they’ll think they’re ordinary leathers,” Tibs replied. Well, unless the person looking over the loot touched them, but they never bothered with anything that didn’t have essence in them.

“Do you really want to give even one copper to them if you don’t have to?” Sto asked, sounding miffed. “I’d make all your loot like this, but even with how things have been, I’d run out of essence.”

“And the guild would get suspicious if the only thing you handed out was normal stuff.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. But now, no one needs to know about them. Not even your team.”

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