Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 30

"Why didn't you tell us?" Carina demanded of Jackal.

Tibs hadn't intended to start an argument when he'd told Jackal about what he'd heard in his father's house. He'd just returned to their room, and the fighter had been there, along with the others, including Mez.

"What would you have done?" Jackal replied. "You're all already on my father's bad side. There's no point in making it worse for any of you."

Carina was the only one angry. Mez was distracted, and Khumdar mulling over the information. Probably looking for what fit with the secrets he'd already found out. Tibs needed to talk with the cleric about those, see if he knew anything that would help him keep Sebastian from causing trouble like the fire.

Tibs was certain that was the man's work.

"We can help," Carina said, then dropped onto her bed. "We can take whatever your father sends. We've survived the dungeon."

"My father isn't a dungeon. He doesn't play by any rules."

"What do you make your father's claim that only you can save your family?" Khumdar asked. "That he said 'it was read' implies a prophecy. Do you have an idea who this 'she' be, that it could have changed your behavior if he had told you?"

Jackal rolled his eyes. "There is no 'she'. There is no prophecy. It's just a story he made up to try to control me."

"He was talking to himself," Carina said. "Why say that if it's not real?"

"How do I know?" Jackal said in exasperation. "Maybe he said it so often he believes it now."

"What is the story," Khumdar asked, "if you do not mind telling us?"

Jackal sighed. "Supposedly when I was born, there was a seer there, and she claimed that I would one day rule the family, that because I would be there, our family would achieve the dreams those before me have had. That without me there, our name would be forgotten to time and the abyss."

"Is that a thing?" Mez asked, looking up. "I thought seers were just in stories."

Carina and Khumdar exchanged a look.

"It's..." Carina hesitated. "Adventurers with Void as an element will something know things out of sequence. There have been tests done, and those who participated have been able to predict the result of Kartelon with enough accuracy that the Sorcerers in Amstirden have an arrangement with the transportation group so that any attendants who show inclinations to prediction will go for testing."

"What's Kartelon?" Mez asked before Tibs could. "Sounds like a game, but I've never heard the name."

Carina rubbed her face. "It is a game of chance. A wheel with numbers on it is spun with a die in it. The more faces on the die, the harder the game is and the more the players can make from their bets."

"Oh, Run Dice?" Jackal said, sitting up. "My father owns a few of those tables. Utterly rigged."

"No, a properly set up one will give you a random result within the range determined by the dice. One with six faces is the simplest game and will give you one of nearly four hundred results. Then it goes up from there. The Amstirden Sorcerers use one with a one-hundred-faced die, so the odds of anyone guessing the result are low enough that anyone able to do it reliably has something special. The only ones to have done it have Void as their element." She looked about to add something.

"But," Khumdar took over, "while I do not benefit from having read what sorcerers have done to study it, I have heard stories. If those are to be believed, anyone with a talent for predicting what will happen does not live very long."