Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 63

"Tibs," Don said, "three squares diagonally on your right."

"I think he's got you," Sto said.

Tibs looked at everyone's positions, but didn't see how it was. He certainly didn't have a line on the Lord.

Ganny's sorcerer moved, ending before the Lord. Only there was no one on that line either.

"Khumdar, forward by two. Feel free to blast the sorcerer out of the way so you can threaten the dungeon's Lord."

The cleric spun his staff as he moved, darkness trailing the tips, as the sorcerer etched a crystal barrier between them.

"Go ahead, Cleric," Ganny taunted. "See what I've learned of what you're capable."

Khumdar turned, letting his staff slip until he held it at the three-quarter point instead of the center, and as the tip of the long side scraped over the floor, something happened that had Tibs staring.

With each spin and scraping, the burst of darkness that flew at the sorcerer contained clumps of earth essence. The crystal shield deflected the darkness, but the earth stuck within the etching, deforming it, pulling it down until it shattered and a series of burst tore the sorcerer apart.

"You are now in danger of losing your Lord," Don announced.

"How did he get earth mixed in?" Ganny demanded. "Even the sorcerers can't do stuff like that yet."

"That's new," Jackal stated, while Tibs tried to figure out what had happened.

He'd been so surprised he hadn't thought to sense details, but he was confident that if there had been an etching or filigree, he'd have sensed them. "How could you do that?" he finally asked. "I'm with Ganny. I thought only sorcerers could pull essence out of stuff."

"And they can't do that yet," she repeated.

Don had the smile of when he knew something no one else did.

"I shall start by establishing that is it the guild who claims only sorcerer can do so," The cleric said.

"In their defense," Don interrupted. "I've yet to come across a book contradicting them, the mindset required—"

"Then," Khumdar continued, sounding slightly annoyed, "I shall continue pointing out I am a Cleric of Darkness. As such, I have access to a wealth of secrets that even the guild wishes it knew. And I shall end with—"

"You are so full of it," Jackal said, grinning. "Do you think I haven't noticed you hanging around the fighter's field? Or speaking with some of us there?" He looked at Don. "How did you know he'd pull that off?"

"I fail to understand your surprise," the cleric said, smiling back. "I was, after all, simply following your example."

Tibs stared at the fighter. "You've been... asking questions?"

"What can I say, Tibs," Jackal replied. "You're a bad influence on me."

"Wait, so that's where you keep vanishing to?" Mez asked. "Going around prying secrets out of other Runners?"

The cleric smirked. "I am not required to answer you."

"Does that mean anyone can use the essence from more than one element?" the archer asked.

"No," Don said. "As I was going to say, the mindset to allow that is difficult to reach even for us, and we start with a more open way of thinking about the world than anyone else. But we need to take that up later, since I'd like to know if the dungeon has a way out of my trap, or it wants to abdicate."