Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 23

"Let me see if I got this right." Don looked from Tibs to the merchant suspiciously. "You, Tibs, found out there was something special about the pool when you tried to hire an adventurer to remove it."

"One of the adventurers the guild brought in to clean up what was left of Sebastian's house after we attacked it."

"They brought in a number of corruption adventurers because what I did to bring the it down left so much behind," he said, not sounding entirely certain, but there was no light on the words, so he did believe he'd been responsible. "And you came to this merchant for that."

"Darran," Darran said, smiling.

"Right. So you bought the pool for Tibs."

"After finding out who the official owner of the land the Garden Palace had stood on was since the owner and family died in that incident. It was the guild, by the way."

Tibs shrugged, while Don stared at the merchant.

"Why?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

Darran started back, not looking certain. "Because if Tibs had gone to the guild directly, he, rightfully, worried they would have questioned his motives and realized the profits they could make from it."

"Not that." Don pointed to Tibs. "Why buy it for him and not for yourself?"

"Tibs asked me to buy it for him." The merchant sounded perplexed.

"He's a Runner. You're a merchant. Money drives you, and it isn't like he'd have any recourses to take it away."

"Tibs isn't a Runner," Darran stated. "He's a customer, and I happen to think of him as a friend."

"Of Course," Don scoffed, "since he made sure you and the other merchants were protected from that criminal."

"I considered Tibs a friend well before then. And while money is indeed something I chase; too hard at times. I also value relationships. Any serious merchant will value them."

"Really?" Don mocked, and motioned to the rest of the row. "Then why the fuck am I not entitled to the same treatment everyone here seems to give Tibs?"

Darran studied the sorcerer before answering. "Because of that word."

Don looked at the merchant confused, then at Tibs, who shrugged.

"Entitled," Darran said with a sigh. "You stepped into our shops and demand that we treat you 'right'. That we give you the best we have to offer."

"I pay for what I ask for," Don replied, offended.

"Indeed. That, and your well-known taste for getting back at those you feel have wronged you, is why I expect no one has attempted to swindle you. You may be disagreeable, but you are honest."

"I'm not dis—" he closed his mouth on the faintly glowing retort. "I just—" there was no light this time as he closed his mouth and deflated. "I'm not like—" He whispered, "Fuck," as he ran a hand over his face. "Why is it so fucking hard to be treated like a person in this place?"

"Act like one," Tibs said, and Don glared at him. "Instead of a noble." The sorcerer's expression darkened, but he stayed silent.

"It can be difficult not to start acting like those you hate," Darran said, and Tibs raised an eyebrow. He hated nobles much more than Don ever would, and he'd never acted like them.

"What... do you know?" Don asked uncertainly.

"Nothing of you and your history, other than what I saw when you all arrived."