Mind Your Step, Draft 1, CH 01

Tibs crouched next to the unconscious young woman. His copper haired pursuer. He’d never been in a position to take his time studying her. The best he’d managed being during a short conversation in a market.

She had the same leather armor, with the metal between the layers. He thought it had been repaired since then, some of the essences in patches was…fresher was the best word he could put to them. Maybe some of the metal had also been changed, but sensing the kinds of metal wasn’t something he’d bothered learning yet.

She wasn’t as scared as he expected someone chasing the characters he’d created to distract city guards would be, even with her young age. Bounty hunters were like adventurers, in that it wasn’t work that lent itself to the people performing it remaining healthy. He sensed a few scars, and a couple of broken bones, but either she had money to pay for clerics, or she’d only recently taken up the occupation.

Or she was that good of a fighter.

Money to pay clerics forced him to wonder why she bothered with bounty hunting. Although she had stolen bags of coins from him, so those could have gone toward that. But why? There had been enough coins in those bags for someone to set themselves up with a comfortable life. So why bother chasing anyone?

Being a recent bounty hunter was something of a given. She couldn’t be any older than he looked. When people assigned him a number of winters lived through, they placed it around twenty, when his estimation put his age well above twice that now.

All his traveling through kingdoms where the seasons didn’t entirely match, especially when he’d spent a while Nadir and they didn’t have a cold season, made counting them hard. Especially with not knowing how many of them he’d lived through before leaving Kragle Rock.

For her to have worked out they were the same person, and that he was them meant she was dangerously smart. Enough the smart thing he should do was leave and do all he could to ensure she couldn’t find him again.

But there was the situation with her eyes.

Silver was the color of the Force Element.

She’d had an audience where she lay. Where she’d landed after him and the dungeon had sent an etching at her. It to kill her, he to save her. The result had propelled her out of its influence, and as Tibs had feared, he’d found her without Life essence. Only that hadn’t lasted. It had returned. Her eyes had been silver, and after threatening her, she’d fallen unconscious.

That had never happened to him, but he remembered the strain of his first audiences. And he’d been ready for them. Or at least expected them. The shock to someone not prepared seemed to be more than could stand.

Maybe that was the reason for the runs as Omegas. For strengthening their channels. Her essence was thinner than Upsilon Runners in spite of its silvery tint.

Another thing the guild was wrong about. The runs weren’t needed to survive the audiences. He’d suspected it, from the few people he’d encountered with a tint to their essence, but so faint it didn’t color their eyes, while hers had changed.

Was the difference that she was a fighter, while they had been crafts people?

He shook himself

He didn’t have time for questions without answers. He needed to decide what to do about her before she woke and forced it on him. She wanted to capture him and bring him to the authorities. She’d said something about proving her worth.

Since he wasn’t leaving her, he needed to restrain her.

He found ropes in her pack, and used that. He then intertwined the wood essence in them to keep her from undoing the knots, if that was something she’d learned. He then went through her possessions and put them aside. Nothing of importance to him there. The closest being a letter from a Commander of the Forces, citing that she was one of their agents.

The letter looked authentic, as far as he could tell such things without knowing anything about that organization, but she didn’t look like someone belonging to a force, which had to be some military group. Had she stolen it, like she had stolen his coins? Why?

Clothing, weapons, patches of leather, thread, and needles. Travel foods. The only thing missing was camp supplies, and he couldn’t decide if it was because she’d setup camp before entering the dungeon, or because she roughed it more than he did.

He had his elements, and decades of experience in taking what the forests offered and making camps out of them. The only hidden weapon was the knife in her boot, and that barely qualified as hidden.

That done, he considered waking her. Attempting to form the Purity etching to do that, and having the essence pushed out of form reminded him of the stone. He took it out and turned it in his fingers. The green was matted, and if it had had edges at one time, they had been smoothed over. He only knew of one place these stones came from. The large block of it Sebastian had brought to Kragle Rock when he’d attempted to take it over, and which Tibs had shattered. It hadn’t stopped its effects against essence work, but reduced it enough they’d been able to chase him out.

The guild had taken all the pieces, as for as anyone knew. And nothing Tibs had read since leaving Kragle Rock had information on such rocks. He didn’t think it was, but anyone who knew about it seemed to consider it unique.

And now, there were who knew how many pieces like this floating the world? The guild liked money too much not to sell them to those offering the right amount.

He’d planned on studying it, looking for ways to counter its effect. But she made that impossible. She night not know enough to recognize the effects it had on her essence, but as soon as she saw it, she’d try to get it.

He could throw it as far as he could, which, because of it, wouldn’t be as far as he’d hoped. Or he could hide it, to get it back once he’d gotten what he needed out of her and sent her away.

A step toward the dungeon’s entrance reminded him of something else. He had a companion he wasn’t sure he could take there. It might mean its repentance, but that had been before it had been outside of its influence. Before its world became only it and Tibs.

No one fought harder to get something than someone who had that taken from them. Tibs knew this firsthand.

He headed for the trees, climbed a tall one and lodged the core in a branch.

“What are you doing?” it asked. “What is this? It’s Mostly Wood, but I can’t do anything to it.”

“I need to do something, so I’m putting you here until I get back. I won’t be long.”

“What? No, don’t—” the word cut off as soon as Tibs let go.

She was still unconscious as he walked to the dungeon’s entrance.

He didn’t go in far. He didn’t have to. Without the core’s influence over the essence here, he molded stone out of the way and put the green one in the hole, covering it again. The odds were low anyone would come in with this not being visible from the smuggler’s path, and there no longer being lights or a compulsion, or creatures, to pull those on the path to it, were low. And if someone wandered in, without an element, they wouldn’t sense the stone’s effect.

With it hidden, he returned to his pursuer, awake and struggling against her bonds.

“Let me out of these, you abyss cursed miscreant!”

He ignored her orders, heading for the forest and up the tree.

“Don’t you ever do that again!” the core yelled the moment he touched it. “How dare you leave to this nothing for so long!”

“It wasn’t long.”

“How would you know! You weren’t here! There was nothing!”

“There was the tree, and stop yelling.”

“I’ll yell if I want!”

“I’ll let go if you do.”

The silence stretched.

“Look,” Tibs said. “I’m sorry it felt so long. I forgot you don’t understand time the way I do. I’ll keep you with me from now on, but you need to promise not to talk over me if I’m speaking with someone else.”

“Who else would you be speaking with?” it asked defiantly.

“The woman we almost killed, for one.”

“I thought we had killed her. You said you were going to pyre her.”

“Make a pyre for her. But she wasn’t dead. She was having an audience with an element. And I need to talk with her.” He dropped to the ground. He’d wanted that conversation to be about the audience, but he didn’t know if he could manage it without revealing things about himself she had no business learning about.

“Fine,” it said, and Tibs returned to his captive.

“Oh, done relieving yourself?” she asked mockingly.

He sat facing her and said nothing.

She glared at him.

He watched impassively.

“Isn’t she there?” the core asked. “You said you wanted to talk to her.”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“You know who I am,” the core said.

“I’m the woman who’s going to bring you in to the authorities for all the crimes you committed.”

“So they’ll know you’re worthy?” he asked.

“Worthy of what?” the core asked. “Oh, you’re not talking to me.”

Hopefully that meant it wouldn’t try to participate anymore.

She narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Before you went flying,”

“You mean before you used some item to try to kill me, you mean?”

“I didn’t—” Could he explain any of what she’d experienced there without revealing anything about himself, or where she’d been? There was one thing he could use. “It wasn’t me. It was the dungeon made creature I was chasing.”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t see any creature.”

“It was in the darkness.”

“Then how did it throw me?”

“Dungeon Made Creature,” he repeated slowly. “Those can use magic.”

She didn’t dismiss his statement out of hand.

“So, who are you?”

“What do you care?”

He sighed. “I don’t like calling someone something they might not like unless they pissed me off. Somehow, you haven’t done that yet. So I’d like to call you by a name you like.”

“Heather,” she said after the silence stretched.

“Alright, Heather. How are you feeling? That audience seemed to have left weakened.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked defensively.

“Your eyes are silver. They weren’t before.”

“How do you know?”

“I saw them before.”

“There’s no way you saw their color with the light at my back.”

“Before that,” he replied. At this point, it didn’t matter if he revealed this bit. “In a market in Torleris. You were buying fabric to have a new shirt made. Your eyes were brown, by the way.”

“How can you….” She sighed. “You were there. You knew about me and you…. What? Stalked me?”

“You were the one doing the stalking. I just noticed you were there and was curious.”

“That guy…. There was that guy who struck up a conversation while we bought stuff. He had kids. Young for so many and…. You have got to be fucking kidding me. That was you?”

He smiled. “What did you do with my money?”

“What money?”

“The bags of coins you found in the chimney. That you made sure the guards didn’t find. You left the city with them, instead of returning them to their owner. What did you do with them?”

“What’s it to you? Pissed?”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t have asked for a name if I was. I’m curious, because I know how much there was in there, and yet, you’re here, hounding me. You could have bought all the respect you want with them.”

She snorted. “Bought respect isn’t any kind of respect.”

“So, what did you do with them?”

“If it’s that important to you, I gave them to people who could make better use of them than you with paying for your next scheme.” She said it with a mix of defiance and pride, and Tibs smiled. No light on the words meant she’d actually done it.

They’d gone to help, and that complicated his situation even more. It would be easier to use her for information if he didn’t respect her.

Her narrowed eyes were the only hint to go along with the essence Tibs felt gathering before it. He formed an Etching of Air, concentric circles and unconnected lines moving away from the center to disperse it. He added Arcanus in case she managed something unexpected.

The raw essence came at him, thin enough he doubted he needed the etching, but it sent it in all directions and he didn’t have to find out.

She was panting hard.

“Are you okay?”

She glared at him.

“Essence work is tiring.”

She glared harder.

“You’ve followed me long enough to know I like to read. Books have a lot of knowledge in them.”

“Nothing beats learning from the real world.”

“/But books help prepare for it.”

She sighed. “What do you want?” She raised her bound hands. “You could have left. I really doubt knowing who I am was that important if you were going to leave me here to starve to death, or for that dungeon creature to come and kill me.”

“It’s dead,” he said, and she raised an eyebrow. “If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be alive.”

“I guess. So, what do you want?”

“To be left alone would be nice.”

She snorted. “With all the crimes you’ve committed?”

“I’ve only stolen from nobles.”

“And cities.”

“They were using the money to oppress the cityfolks. They were no better than nobles.”

“So crimes against nobles are what? Honorable? You really think you’re some honor-thief helping the poor?” she said in a mocking tone, and Tibs chuckled.

“I didn’t take anything from anyone who couldn’t do without.”

“That’s still crimes. And every kingdom has laws and rules about what happens when crimes are committed.”

“You ever been at the mercy of a noble?” he asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You haven’t. If you had. You’d know the answer to your question.”

“So you expect me to just let you go because you had it rough at their hands?”

His laugh was bitter. Who the fuck did she think she was to judge what he’d lived through on his Street? That attitude would make leaving her behind easy. Figure something for the ropes to come undone after a day, and make sure she never found him again.

But he didn’t get what he wanted that way. Not that he’d tell her that.

“I don’t want you dead,” he said. “I think that’s obvious. But if you aren’t going to leave me be, maybe we can reach an agreement.”

“Oh, that’s going to be good,” she mocked.

“How do you plan to deal with your element?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how do you plan on learning to use it? I advise against walking up to the guild and expecting—”

Her snort stopped him.

“Oh, I am not going to those assholes.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve had experiences with them?”

“No, but my dad does.”

“They abused him?”

“What? No. He’s pretty happy with where he ended up. Runs things for them. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get how dangerous and merciless they have to be to protect people. And a lot of them are just self-entitled assholes.”

He smiled. “Met a few like that.”

“So I don’t plan on walking up to them and letting them throw me in one of their dungeons on the hopes I’ll survive and get strong so they can turn me into one of their adventurers. I like my freedom.”

“Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“What are your alternatives?”

Her mouth opened and remained so for a while. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Let me guess. You?” She laughed. “You expect me to believe that you know how….”

Tibs didn’t care for her speculative expression.

“That would explain a lot, though. Except your eyes are brown. So my theory still stands.”

“Which is?”

“You have access to magical items. Not a lot of them, and not all that powerful, but they’re what lets you pull off the more impressive feats people have described.”

“If you can trust what they say,” he countered.

“When enough people tell a similar story, like that of a cloaked man jumping from a rooftop to a flag pole too far for anyone to reach, let along hold on to it, then there are going to be elements of truth to them. That rooftop and that flag poles are too far for anyone but the best trained jumper to make.”

“And you don’t believe I can be one of them?”

“Do you have any idea the kind of training it takes to pull off feats like that? I mean, without resorting to magic. For ordinary people to do one thing that is nearly beyond the possible? It’s lifetime of training. It’s discovering the passion young and never losing it, no matter how hard it gets, how worthless those who don’t get you make you feel.”

“You’re one of them,” Tibs said, awed, but she snorted.

“I’m nothing like them. I like too many things.”

“You’re curious.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“I mean, you are someone who’s driven by their curiosity. I know how that goes. It’s why I read so much.”

“Yeah, well. I like to learn by doing.”

“You like puzzles?”

“What’s it to you?”

“I’m a fan of them. Sliding types, rebuilding, spinning.” He smiled. “Locking.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I like puzzles. Grew up around them. Broke a few trying to figure out how they worked.”

He winced. “That must have made someone angry.”

She chuckled. “It did. But she understood why I did it. So after the first time, she bought me my own to do what I wanted with.”

“Your mother,” he risked, and she nodded. “Does she know you do this? Hunt me for respect?”

“One, she’s dead,” she replied flatly. The way someone who had come to terms with it for a while did. “Two, I’m not hunting you for respect. I hunt criminals. You just happen to be the one no one’s even figured is around. So when I bring you in I’ll—”

“If you bring me in. You’re the one captive.”

“I’m going to get out of this and—”

“Show your silver eyes to your father?”

She closed her mouth.

“You think he’s going to protect you from the guild?”

The worry in her eyes gave him the leverage he needed.

“What if you showed skill with your element when you saw him again? Do you think that would make him less likely to turn you over to the guild?”

“He wouldn’t turn me over. He wouldn’t treat me like some escaped Runner who’d fled their sentence.”

“Is that—” He closed his mouth. Of course, it was how some guild trained adventurer who liked what he did would think. “But he would still hand you over to them. You’d still have to run a dungeon. If you were skilled, do you think you could convince him that you already found a dungeon? That you don’t need to the guild?”

“I couldn’t lie and say I’ve done runs. I wouldn’t know how to talk about that. He’s done runs. And if I was at a dungeon, he’d know about it. Records are kept, every guild office has access to them, and someone he knows would have seen my name and asked if that was his daughter. He’d know I was lying before I said anything else.”

“But?”

“But…if I show I’ve learned. That I can handle having my element, I might be able to convince him that what I’ve been doing is enough. Like I said, he knows are dangerous going through the guild is, and if he has an excuse to keep me out, he’d use it.”

“I can help with that.”

She laughed. “You and what element?”

“The element of reading,” he replied, grinning. She rolled her eyes. “I read a lot, and there are a lot in books. Even about the elements, essences and how some of the training goes.” She narrowed her eyes. He counted on her admitting she didn’t care to read about anything that should be exclusive to the guild to be unquestioned. “For example. Because of all the reading I did, I know that silver eyes mean your element is Force. Force is the element of motion.”

She snorted. “Motion is me moving.”

“If you throw yourself off a roof. What keeps you moving?”

“Me, jumping.”

“But your feet aren’t touching anything. How can you be doing it?”

“Because at the end of the roof I leaped, and that’s what keeps me going?”

He shook his head. “All the elements are part of us, and of everything around us. When you run, you interact with all of them, and you feel them in their own way. The air against your face, the hardness of what you’re running against. Force is why, when you run fast, if you stop, something pushes you to continue forward. While you run, it gathers against you, in you, and Force is something that continues. So when you stop, it keeps going, and until it lets go of you, it tries to carry you along.”

“And you’re saying that when I jump off a roof, that’s what keeps me going because I can’t stop myself in the air? And then it pulls me down?”

“That’s Binding, but yes, Force keeps you moving, and if there’s enough of it on you, you reach the next roof before Binding brings you too low. Then you just fall.”

“What does binding have to do with falling?”

“Binding, the element. Qu. Do you know your Arcanus?”

“I know how to read. I’m not stupid.”

“I’ve known a lot of stupid people who knew how to read. The Arcanus for Force is Eif.”

“Whatever. Why would an element want me to fall?”

“The elements don’t want anything.”

“You said that the element of Binding is why we fall. Why would it do that?”

“Because it’s what it is. Binding is the element that ties each of us to everything else.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Okay. Why do you fall down when you jump up?”

“You said because of the element.”

“But you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t believe we’re tied to everything else.” She rolled away. “Why can I do that, then?”

“Because the element isn’t tying you the way I did. It’s more like a connection to everything, and the more of the element are connected between them, the harder the pull. The ground as the most, for some reason.”

“You don’t know?” There was a hint of mocking in her tone.

He chuckles. “I’m not a scholar. I just read their work. And they don’t agree with why the elements do what they do. A lot of them are like you and think they have a reason. That they do it because they want to. Others say they just are, and things happen as they do because it’s just how they happen.”

“What do you think?” she asked after a few heartbeats of silence.

“I think that if the elements wanted something, we’d know. They’re the elements. They are part of everything. I think it would be cruel for them not to tell us what they want of us. And I don’t think they’re cruel like that.”

“Plenty of people say what the elements want.”

“Don’t you mean one? Purity’s clerics can be really annoying about how they’re there to protect us from the other elements, aren’t they?”

She chucked.

“But that’s people talking. Why would the elements need someone to talk for them when they are part of us already? So I chose to believe that they don’t want anything. They exist. They are there. And what we do with them is on us. Not them.”

“That’s pretty profound,” she said. “For someone as young as you are.”

“Says the girl, no older them me, who worked out something I tried very hard to make sure no one ever would.”

She was silent, and he let it stretch.

“You really think the stuff you read can help me figure out what to do with this element?”

“If you promise to leave me be once we part ways.”

“I promise.”