Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 18

So, again, the guild could do whatever it wanted.

* * * * *

"What do you know about the Magistrate of Law?" Tibs asked Jackal as the team ate.

The fighter snorted. "Nealy impossible to buy, and the one the king employs can't be bribed."

"That's your king?" Tibs ask for clarification. "Or are they all like that?" What he wanted to find out needed the information to apply to whatever kingdom they were in.

"They're not," Don said, then looked at his plate.

Then, the question was how many coins it would take. "Could a king decide to assign one to a dungeon town?"

Don stared at him. "Of course not. The guild is in charge here."

"But they're taking advantage of the kingdom's citizens," Tibs pointed out.

"They are not," Khumdar said.

"We're in the kingdom," Tibs stated.

"No officially," Don said, then sunk in under Tibs's, Jackal's and Mez's stares. He took a breath and straightened. "Dungeon towns are considered to be part of the Guild's kingdom, regardless of where they're located."

"The guild has a kingdom?" Tibs asked in disbelief.

"Technically..."

Tibs glared.

"Not in the same sense as what the kingdoms are," the sorcerer said. "But because they're all governed the same way, by a central organization, they are considered a kingdom. In actuality, each is more like the city states that existed before the guild came to be. Where each was able to hold the kings around them at bay through a variety of alliances or access to things that couldn't be obtained anywhere else. When we came here, we agreed to become a citizen of the guild's kingdom."

"I never agreed to something like that," Mez said.

Don shook his head. "We're different. We came here as part of a transaction."

"They can't sell my citizenship," the archer stated.

"You weren't a citizen when it happened," Don replied. "You were a criminal. We all were, and we lost our citizenships when we were thrown into cells." He hesitated. "With a possible exception of Tibs."

"I was in a cell."

"But you're Street. They always show up when a town becomes a city, no matter what's done to keep them from happening. But no one wants them there. So many kingdoms simply don't acknowledge them, going so far as to not accept the people living there as their citizens and granting them the base rights citizens get."

"Like making sure the guards keep them safe from abuse by the nobility?" Mez asked.

Don snorted. "Guards need money like everyone else, and when it suits them, nobles have no problem giving it to them." He took a breath to calm himself. "All I'm saying, as it applies here, is that it's possible Tibs wasn't even a citizen of his kingdom."

"And how did being prisoners lead to all of you becoming citizen of the guild without your approval being needed?" Khumdar asked.

"The same way any commodity changes ownership," Don replied. "We were sold."

"The urchins?" Tibs asked.

"War makes things... different," the sorcerer said. "The winner makes the laws, and not every kingdom is kind to the loser. Some will punish even those who didn't take part in the fighting. As bad as them being here is, it could have been worse."