Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 72

"Tibs," Ganny whispered hurriedly as he and his team walked among stalls on their way to the stairs. He froze at the furtiveness in the tone. "You can't talk to Sto. There's.... We're not.... Just don't talk to us."

"Ganny?" he whispered back, to avoid drawing attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Is everything okay?" Jackal asked.

"I don't know." When she didn't answer him, he motioned for his team to follow and they went back the way they'd come until he was sure they were out of Sto's range. That put him much closer to the town than he'd expected.

"We are doing the run, right?" Jackal asked as Tibs stepped off the path and out of the way of people. "I'm not letting Quigly be the first to explore the floor."

The warrior and his team were scheduled for the next morning.

"Ganny warned me not to speak to Sto," Tibs said.

"Why would they do that?" Don asked.

"I don't know, but she sounded..." We're not.... There's.... "Scared." How did she expect him to help if he couldn't ask them what the problem was?

"We can't talk to him," he finally said, deciding the best he could do was trust one of them would tell him when they could. "We can't talk about him like we know he's a person either." There's.... "Whatever's going on, I got the impression that showing we know that will make things worse."

"How can talking like that inside the dungeon cause problem?" Mez asked. "It's not like there's anyone to overhear us, is there?" He looked at Don.

"I don't know," the sorcerer answered, thinking. "The guild could have something that lets them do that, like whatever it is they used to know when one of us makes it to a new floor."

"I believe our team leader's face was more than ample evidence for the guard to report it," Khumdar said.

"But if they had," Don continued. "They would have heard us talk about them before, and I don't think they would simply ignore Tibs having one-sided conversations. As for anything else that might cause that to be a problem.... At this point, Tibs is the only expert I can refer to."

"Until one of them tells me more, it's all I have," Tibs said.

"Okay." Jackal headed for the cliff wall. "Then it's the run as usual, just without you talking. Come on," he called to them. "I know I saw Quig there, probably waiting for us to be declared late so he can go in today."

* * * * *

Tibs fought the urge to look up as they walked toward the doorways. He wanted to give Sto a sign he was listening, ready to help.

"Stop!" he called as soon as the section of the wall Jackal had opened shimmered. Then he had to work out why, as the fighter looked at him questioningly.

"There's something different about the doorway." But what?

"I did it the same as before," Jackal said, then. "Oh."

"You need to see this, Tibs," Don sounded puzzled.

Instead of the alcove's walls and the bottom of the stairs that Tibs should see, he looked into darkness.

"You must have done something wrong," Mez said.

"If Jackal had," Khumdar replied, "nothing would have happened." He sent strands of essence at the doorway, but stopped before they touched it. "We would be observing stone."

"It changed things?" Jackal asked, surprised.

"He wouldn't—"

"It's a dungeon," Don cut Tibs off. "Of course it changed something. It exists to trick us into dying." He fixed his gaze on Tibs, who nodded. He'd told them to be careful, and he was the one who'd almost said too much. "Mez, Khumdar, test the other doorways."