Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 59

"Sit down," Don instructed, indicating the chair Tibs had sat on the last time they'd spoken.

The conversation had gone on long in the night and consisted mostly of Tibs not knowing answers to the sorcerer's questions. He could tell and show what he could do, but when asked about how he did most of them, or why he couldn't do certain things, Tibs only shrugged. Then Don had asked about the elements themselves, and how it was they could change how Tibs thought, and that Tibs hadn't had answers for. Almost as soon as he'd said that, Don had brought it to an end by saying there were things he needed to read up on.

That had been four days ago. Long enough for him to go to Darran's shop and find out the merchant had left Kragle Rock for a few days.

Long enough for Jackal to comment on how, if Don was part of the team again, he should be eating at their table. Tibs only had a suspicion for why the sorcerer wasn't with them. He didn't think there were books in Kragle Rock that covered whatever it was Don thought he needed to read about at this point.

"I don't think we should do this here," Tibs said.

Then Don has showed up at the inn and told Tibs he was ready to help him with his control problem. He'd been eager to find out what the sorcerer had learned, but knowing how his training in that usually went, the room Don stayed in was not where Tibs had expected to be led to.

"Just sit down, Tibs."

"I told you how destructive I get when I'm channeling a new element, and lightning can destroy buildings."

"Which is why you aren't channeling it today."

"I thought this was going to be training."

Don looked at him. "You've been thinking about this wrong." He pointed to the chair. "From the start."

Tibs narrowed his eyes, but sat. "Don, I think I've been dealing with this long enough to know more about it than you do."

The sorcerer smirked. "You know more about throwing yourself out of windows; doesn't mean it's the best way to reach the ground."

"I wish I hadn't told you about that if all you were going to do with it was mock me."

Don chuckled. "Sorry. It's just amusing to me how you seem to cause the problem first, and then deal with finding a way to handle it."

"And how should I go about dealing with something I had no idea would happen?" he asked in exasperation.

"But now, you do know what will happen."

"No, I don't," Tibs snapped. "When I channel Lightning, I'm going to need to move, go places, do everything. I don't know what I'm going to do with my essence, but I know I'm going to end up destroying something." He motioned to the bedroom around them. "I turned the inside of a warehouse into kindling because I thought Air would be an element that wasn't destructive. What?" he demanded at Don's smile.

"You laid out everything you need to deal with, yet, you're still waiting until after the problem starts to deal with it. And why a warehouse? Seems like the dungeon is a better place to practice it that way."

"I'll...explain that during the next run. It's going to be easier there." Among all the questions, Don hadn't brought up his mention of Sto, so Tibs wasn't sure it was something he could explain without having Sto there to help. "But even if I wanted to do it there, it's not like I can go in anytime I want. The runs are once a week now. They weren't as often before."

Except that Sto had offered to let Tibs in when he wanted, make a door just for him. Why hadn't he—

"And that shows you aren't going at it the right way."