Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 54

Tibs cracked an eye open.

"You okay?" Jackal asked, crouched next to him and no longer shaking him by the shoulder. Offering a healing potion.

Tibs's attempt at snorting came out as a pained groan.

"This'll make you feel better." Jackal pressed the bottle to Tibs's lips.

The pain vanished as he drank. The sensation of the muscles wriggling as the potion repaired them, his wounds closing, was odd, but short-lived.

"Next time," Tibs said, offering his hand to the fighter, "you do it."

Jackal pulled him up with a laugh. "Sure, then you can take over fighting the boss."

Tibs rolled his eyes. "Even half-dead you won't let anyone else have that fight." He stretched to work out the stiffness left by the healing potion.

"This is why we get along so well. I know you, you know me. It's like we're meant for one another."

"I'm telling Kroseph you're putting the moves on another guy," Mez said as he walked by.

Jackal closed his mouth on the reply. "Did he just make a joke?"

"Are you putting the moves on me?" Tibs asked.

Jackal made a face. "You're like my little brother, Tibs. That'd be weird."

"Then he's making a joke."

"I didn't think he knew how. He's been so serious since coming back."

Tibs watched the archer's back. "He has serious stuff to deal with."

"That's no way to live."

"Some people don't get to choose."

They caught up to Mez and Jackal patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you remember to have fun."

Mez let out a pained breath. "I have a bow. I'll shoot you before you're close enough for it."

"There you go." Jackal grinned. "You're remembering to make funny quips at me."

"He's not joking," Carina said.

"That's what makes it funny."

"I believe we have more important matters to deal with." Khumdar pointed to the room they approached. Bigger Brute and the two Big Brutes were still at the back, but the number of rats, bunnies, Ratlings, and Bunnylings had increased.

"That is a lot of them," Carina said.

"We can handle the flood," Mez replied. "It's that the boss has changed that worries me."

Bigger Brute no longer looked like a mass of stones stuck together in the shape of a person. It looked more like a person, dressed in a stone version of leather cuirass and skirt Tibs had seen the occasional fighter wear. The exposed arms and legs had a blockiness to them, but looked like muscles.

"This is going to be fun," Jackal said, grinning.

"Before you comment," Ganny said. "We got some strange reactions before Sto put the armor on. Something about not wanting to fight someone naked."

"I don't think Jackal cares about it," Tibs replied. He looked the form over trying to determine if it looked more like a man or a woman and couldn't. "But Kroseph might." He didn't elaborate when Jackal looked at him. There was no point in distracting the fighter with possibilities.

"Me, Tibs, and Khumdar rush it," Jackal said. "We clear the room until only the brutes are left. If they join the fight, we deal with them, but last time, they let the horde soften us up. So let's stay away, in case being close also triggers them."