Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 57

Zackaria returned with a crystal container and crystal goblets, placing them on a low table while Peolo studied Tibs. They filled the goblets with red wine and handed them over. They smiled as they looked at them in appreciation, and Tibs thought they were seeing them as a painting to be admired.

Peolo glanced at them and his expression turned pained. "I'm afraid we're going to need privacy, Dear." He smiled at Zackaria. "I'll make sure we all spend time together, but for now, you can't stay. This is going to be...Order business."

"Of course." They kissed the top of Peolo's head. "I'll be working in my studio. I look forward to hearing stories of your adventures in the dungeon," they told Tibs and Carina before heading out of the house.

"Carina," the cleric said, shifting his focus to the two of them again, "there are rules."

"You were the one who told me that obeying rules without questions led to chaos."

"That was when you were a child and didn't question anything you were told."

She smiled. "You never said anything about no longer questioning them once I grew older."

"I know you were beyond my advice the day you stole your first book." He ran a finger along his goblet. "I doubt I'm the reason you kept on questioning everything, but saw how little success everyone else demanding you obey blindly had." He smiled at her fondly. "I preferred that we remain friends."

Peolo looked at Tibs. "This isn't me agreeing to help, but tell me why you want Purity when there are so many other elements who would suit you better."

"Because I have to."

And Tibs realized that Jackal's words about lying without actually lying were something he'd heard before.

* * * * *

Never lie," Old Grangston had said, his voice shaking from age, pain, and probably tainted ale. "Especially when you lie to a mark."

The old man wasn't talking to Tibs. He hadn't known Tibs was present. If he had, his three apprentices would beat Tibs up instead of listening to a lesson.

Tibs has sneaked to the back of the shack the old man claimed at his home and listened through a broken plank. He had watched Grangston twist a noble around his tongue, and Tibs wanted to learn from him, no matter how many times the old man told him no.

"The truth is the best lie to tell. You twist it, you bend it. You mold it until it suits your needs, but never, ever, break it."

Tibs had never gotten good at it, and with each attempt ending in a beating, he'd given up on using his tongue to steal. His hands were better at it.

* * * * * *

But now, his tongue was all he had.

"That is a rather bold claim to make." Peolo's tone didn't hold accusation, but there was an expectation of needing more in it."

And Tibs wasn't stealing with it this time.

Not really.

The elements were there for any who could get an audience, after all.

"Maybe I don't have to," he admitted, "but I've watched the others with their elements. I've watched what they do, how they talk about it, and I came to the conclusion that Purity is who I want."

"Conclusion?" Peolo said, sounding amused.

"Carina taught me the word. It means that I think over what I want, what's available, and what I can do, then pick something."

"And Carina explained about Purity?" now there was a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"No, well, a little. I spoke mostly to the clerics who came to Kragle Rock when the dungeon graduated. There was an... accident that created a pool of corruption, and one of them tried to remove it by herself. When I asked her why she tried it when it had to seem impossible, she said that it wasn't the success that was important. It was that she did the work as best as she could that mattered."