Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 78

"Let me get this straight," Stick said. "You want us to take on the guards. The guild backed guards. And give our pay to good-for-nothing Omegas?"

"We're not taking on the guards," Tibs replied.

Stick was a rogue and thin enough, Carina had asked if he was sick, which had earned her an annoyed roll of the eyes. Quigly had brought him to the planning after Tibs had told him, Jackal, and Carina what Darran had offered. Carina had brought in Josaca, and Samuel had simply showed up, saying Khumdar had suggested he come. How the cleric knew what Tibs was up to, he put to his obsessive search for secrets, not that Tibs would have kept it for him if he'd asked.

Stick motioned to a server with his tankard before draining it. "Keep telling yourself that when Knuckles throws you in a cell, and us along for helping you with his insane idea."

Tibs knew the man as one of the recruits. He had stickier fingers than Tibs and they had had a few arguments over him being too free about which pockets he slipped his fingers into and how empty he left them.

Samuel was an archer, one of the few survivors from the first arrivals, who Tibs had rarely interacted with him despite that. Josaca was a sorcerer, and Tibs knew nothing about her, other than Carina knew her.

They were at Tibs's team's table, enjoying the ale that was back to its good standards.

"Knuckles isn't going to do that," Jackal said. "He likes Tibs too much."

Tibs snorted.

"I am with Stick," Josaca replied, looking at them cautiously. "The guild has an interest in making sure they are in control."

"Of the dungeon," Jackal replied. "They've demonstrated how little they care about the town when they responded to my father's attacks."

"Barricading themselves in a building, behind adventurers and all that magical protection wasn't much of a response," Quigly said.

"My exact point." Jackal grinned.

The warrior shook his head in annoyance. "But, unless the merchants stop paying their taxes to pay Tibs, I don't think we have to worry about the guild."

They all look at him. "I didn't think to ask Darran about that."

"You should have," Josaca replied, "if you're—"

"Lay off, Joss," Carina said. "Darran approached Tibs without saying what it was about. He didn't have the time to find out what kind of questions he should ask."

The sorceress looked around, some of her bluster melting away. "I'm simply saying that Tibs has a history of getting in over his head. Now he's pulling us in with him."

"No," Carina said. "He's coming to us for help. To find out the best way to go about it, because he knows he doesn't have the experience needed to do it alone. Would you ask for help?"

"Of course, I'd asked you."

Carina motioned to the others around the table, and Josaca's expression became guarded.

"Tibs isn't smart the way you and I are, or in the ways Jackal, Quigly, and Samuel are." She glared the fighter's attempted protest down. "But he is smart when it comes to asking questions and getting others to help him. He didn't tell Darran he was doing it. He said he'd see if he could. This is what we are here to decide. All of us."

"What's your problem with the Omegas, Stick?" Quigly asked as the thin man gave the server a sweet smile and almost reached for her hip, but he noticed Tibs's eyes on him and pulled his hand away.

"Kind of obvious, ain't it?" He sipped his tankard. "If I'm doing the work, I don't see why they should be the ones benefiting."

"So they survive," Tibs said.