Tibs exited the shop, annoyed at the clothier.

She’d been ecstatic about his and Don’s patronage. She promised, and delivered, according to the sorcerer, a reasonable price for the clothes she’d make them, but how she swooned as she measured them, along as the crowd that formed to watch the Heroes of Kragle Rock quickly turned grating to the point he found he was filling cracks in the ice.

Even Don seemed to grow annoyed at the assembly and the stories of their exploits being told to any within listening range.

Don kept grumbling well away from the shop, through Market place, and Tibs ignored him in favor of thinking about the upcoming function, and ways he could use it to get information on Marger and how to draw him to the town. Maybe he’d be there, and Tibs would get his opportunity. Don said this was about impressing someone, and who better could she impress than the guild leader? Why else have him and Don—

He froze as corruption entered his senses. A lot of corruption and far too close… the problem with wanting details over the general sense of where everyone was. One person, Delta, possibly Gamma. They stopped moving, so Tibs changed direction.

“Tibs?” Don called.

He kept booths between him and them, and when he finally saw the person, she wasn’t what he’d expected.

Her robe was a blue slightly darker than the sky, with a trim the orange of sunset. The belt was the dark purple of corruption and had pouches attached to it. They contained essence, a lot of them. Each he could identify, as well as many he couldn’t. Some were concentrated in the way amulet did, while others had the sense of ‘normal’ essence contained in objects, but with there being almost only one of it.

She laughed, and he realized she was speaking with a shopkeeper. He handed her roasted meats on a skewer, and Tibs’s stomach rumbled. When had he eaten last? This morning? He had run roofs after going over too many papers, then, after zenith had gone to his room to change before returning to the papers, and the guard had arrived.

She ate, said something, and the food seller beamed.

“What is it?” Don whispered, concerned, as she bought a tankard from the woman in the booth next to the food seller.

Of course, he didn’t notice her.

Her gaze passed over them as she looked around, eating. They were far enough she, like Don, shouldn’t—her head snapped back in their direction and she smiled, approaching.

“Are you Don Arabis?” she called. “Corruption sorcerer in training?” She had an accent the way those who didn’t use essence to be understood had, but it was slight.

Don frowned, but straightened. “I am. Who are you?”

She bowed. “I am Anuja Kasaju; here on behalf of Tine Lemaire.”

Don stiffened. “What does the head of the Derbinor Academy want with me?”

“Word of the pool that formed in this town reached us, and I was sent to confirm its existence, which I did, and to negotiate its purchase from its owner.”

Tibs didn’t react when Don looked at him. No one should know how he—

“That’s you, Mister Arabis,” she said.

“Me?” Don asked in surprise, and Tibs filled the cracks.

She smiled. “No need for circumspection. The amount of work required to work that out is a testament to your capabilities.”

“But you still found out,” he said cautiously.

She finished her tankard and placed it on the display, where the fabrics left a space. “I inquired with those within the town who know those things. They pointed me to a merchant. While he proved adeptly terse, I was able to… gather enough to conclude he acted as an agent for one of the Runners. That was clever of you. If you’d attempted to take ownership directly, the guild would have taken it from you the moment they realized what it is.”

“And you think this merchant is acting for me?”

“You are the only Runner with corruption as an element. Who else would it be? The guild clearly doesn’t understand; not that they ever do. All they care about are dungeons. They’d never see the long-term potential of that pool.”

“I see.” He considered. “And what are you offering me for it?”

“To start with; in exchange for ownership of the pool. Once you reach Epsilon, the Academy will pay what you owe to the guild and you will be granted full membership as an apprentice and access to our research.”

Tibs couldn’t tell if she was lying. She wove corruption, light, and darkness among the words. This confirmed she did more than dress and wear things Sorcerer did. As Don listened, the essences sunk into him, dispersing and mixing with his essence, but Tibs couldn’t tell their effect.

“What else?” Don asked.

Her smile was sweet. “What more could you want?”

“I could use a trainer now who—”

“What’s the catch?” Tibs asked, and she startled.

“Tibs, I don’t think you should be involved in this,” Don said, not looking away from her. “This isn’t like negotiating with the merchants.”

“Street Rules,” Tibs stated. “No one is that generous for some pool. What’s the catch?”

“That you think of it as just a pool,” she said, her words laces with the same element as when she spoke to Don, “shows that you aren’t qualified to be involved in this discussion. You should run along and play with your toys.”

He studied the essence woven through the words, then felt how they moved about within him. The corruption slipped through the channels where the water he suffused himself with flowed, while light and darkness moved to his head. And then he found that her statement made sense. This was beyond anything he knew about. He was just Street. These were matters for folks who knew stuff, and he could play with his puzzles, like she said. It had been a while since he had asked Cross for a new one, and she’d—

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He absorbed the essences, sorted them into their appropriate reserves.

“Maybe I don’t understand much,” he said, walking the line between what she wanted and leaving Don alone with her. “But I do understand that no one who dresses the way you do plays fair with people like us. We’ve both been at the receiving end of those kinds of deals before.”

Don frowned. “He’s right.” He sounded like the words were difficult. “You’re being too generous. You either know something I don’t about the pool,” he confidence built, “and yes, I know it’s special. I can feel how deep the essence is. It’s deeper than where my trainer took me for my audience.”

She focused on Don. “You indeed know much. But I don’t think you understand what it means to—”

“The ability to ask for exorbitant amount of money.” He raised a finger, then a second. “A place where you can pull on the essence without fear of ever running dry. Access to a dungeon for anyone you need to push through training. It’s too low right now, but in three or four decades, it should have a fifth floor, and that will put it on par with most dungeons. The only way this is better is if the dungeon used corruption in its structure, because that would push those you send in harder.” He smiled and raised a fourth finger. “Which you’ll have learned it’s done ever since the attack that nearly destroyed it.”

Don looked at his finger, a frown forming. “Did you orchestrate the attack?”

“No.” There was no essence in the word, and no light. She was telling the truth.

As she knew it, Tibs reminded himself. “Could someone else in your group have planned it?” Harry hadn’t found everyone involved in what Bardik had done, and it was possible he had been manipulated into it.

“If they did, they didn’t have the approval of Academy Head Lemaire.”

“Let’s get back to the pool itself,” Don said. “That you’ll pay the guild what I owe is generous enough. Being made an automatic apprentice, and given access to the research, feels like you’re making sure I can’t say no. Tibs’s right. What’s the catch?”

“It isn’t a catch,” she said, her words again laced with the essences. “It is no more than what is expected of any who apprentice to the academy. You will attend to the masters, learn at their feet until you can be trusted with research of your own.”

Tibs wanted to pull the essence out from the words, but even if he had the strength to overcome her will, she’d know. She might not be able to tell it was him, but she’d be suspicious. He didn’t know enough about sorcerers to know what she sensed of the other essences she used, or how tightly wound around them her will might be.

“What if he doesn’t want that?” Tibs asked

“Why wouldn’t he want it?” she replied. “The academy is prestigious. Our scholars and sorcerers have pushed the boundaries of what is known of corruption and the way the world reacts to it.”

He absorbed the essence. “What if Don wants to explore the world?” There had to be something he could say that would help the sorcerer snap out of it. Only earlier he’d talked about no longer being sure just knowing stuff was enough.

“That’s for adventurers,” she scoffed. “Whatever he’d want to know of the world, once he has qualified for his own research, he will pay one of them to investigate it.”

Don watched him instead of her. Tibs was tempted to pull the essence she’d put into the sorcerer, but was she still aware of it? Would she know it wasn’t Don doing it?

“What if he decides to leave?” Tibs asked. He was already indentured to the guild and didn’t like it.

“Why would he ever want to leave?” she asked in bewilderment.

“To be with his family,” he stated.

“After they left him here to rot?”

Don’s expression hardened.

“Maybe they couldn’t get the coins,” Tibs said. “Maybe they’re trying to get him out, but the guild won’t let them.”

“What class have they given you?” she asked, eyes narrowing. “You’re too small for a fighter, and you wouldn’t be asking stupid questions like that if you knew anything about sorcery and the importance of research. You’re either a rogue or an archer,” she said dismissively. “Either way, you don’t understand that to those like I and Don, there is only our research. If it doesn’t advance that, what use it to us?”

“So, you don’t care about the rest of us,” Tibs said, smiling.

“How can I care about something so small when I can change the entire world?” She turned her gaze to Don, and the sorcerer made his expression attentively neutral just in time. “You understand, don’t you, Don Arabis?”

Don didn’t react as the essence in her words seeped into him, spread about.

Then something happened. Don’s corruption erupted from deep within, filled the channels, spread out of that and into the rest of his body. Anywhere it encountered essence that wasn’t him, it melted away.

Don smiled, and the Ice cracked as Tibd remembered wearing a smile very much like that. Only Tibs’s had felt more vile, more self-serving.

“You make such wonderful points,” Don said in a slick tone, and her expression hardened with unhappiness. “How could I ever refuse? With that in mind, surely you have no issue with giving me time to think it over? Give me the impression I reach the conclusion of my own volition?”

“I was hoping to return to the academy with good news,” she said tersely.

“You can stay for a few days,” the sorcerer replied, stepping to her. “I know of some exquisite chambers you could stay in.”

She slapped away the hand reaching for her cheek. “I am due back today.”

“How… unfortunate. I…” He smiled as he looked her up and down. “Kragle Rock has so much to offer you.”

She shook her head, and Don sighed.

“Then I’m afraid you won’t have an answer for your so important superiors. I’m just too busy at the moment to bother thinking it over. And we both know what the answer will be, don’t we? I’m sure you can be patient. Find me at the inn in a few days.” He turned. “Come Tibs, we are done here.”

“Which inn?” she asked as the sorcerer walked away.

“This isn’t a city, my lovely. There is only one inn. Tibs,” he ordered.

“I’ll be back in three days,” she said.

“Four,” Don replied in bored tone. “I am being honored by the guild, and it won’t do to cancel that for the likes of you.”

“Four days,” she said, her tone dark, “and I’ll expect you to hand over ownership of the pool.”

“Four days,” he replied. “And we both know what the answer will be, so there is no point in sounding worried.” Don looked at his side. “Tibs!” he snapped.

Tibs joined the sorcerer, filling the cracks in the ice. She was leaving anyway, so there was nothing to be gained by staying.

Don smiled as he walked, back straight and nodding condescendingly to the townsfolk who stepped out of his way in surprise. He reminded Tibs of a noble. The entire conversation, once Don suffused himself with his element, was that of a noble with more coins than a king and someone who’s belief in their power amused him.

Gazes followed them as they exited Market Place; more were perplexed than angry.

Instead of continuing along the road, Don turned between houses and sagged against the wall, panting, as soon as they were out of sight, his essence retreating within him.

“The bitch tried to manipulate me,” he snarled. “You have no idea how close I came to giving her everything she wanted. If you hadn’t distracted her with your questions, I wouldn’t have realized what she was doing, and I fucking should have!” he breathed in silence, and was calmer when he continued. “I guess she didn’t think enough of you to use essence to manipulate you.” There was a bit of smugness in his tone. The way the old Don would take pride in being targeted because the act proved he was the more important of them.

Tibs shrugged. “How did you stop her?” he asked, because he was certain he shouldn’t know.

“I suffused myself.” He stared at Tibs, eyes growing wide with worry. “That wasn’t me, Tibs, it was my element. I know it made it look like everything I told you about wanting to be better is a lie, but it was just to protect myself.” He chuckled. “I never managed it quite this long before. How are you not falling unconscious?”

“Corruption makes you resistant to being manipulated? The way water makes me slippery?”

Don gave him another curious look. “It’s more that once I’m suffused, there’s so much corruption that little else can last. If she’s the second to the Head of the academy, she must have decided not to push, otherwise, she would have been able to force me to agree with her.” He snorted. “One time being thought little of works in our favor.”

“And do you own—”

“Look Tibs.” Don pushed away from the wall and faced him, “that, back there. It wasn’t me. I mean, it isn’t who I want to be.”

“I—”

“No, you don’t understand. Corruption is about things being easy, and back there, I knew it was all going my way. I was owed everything, because it’s easy to just take it. It was comfortable, and I’m sorry for ordering you. I wasn’t thinking. I was just… it was just easy.”

Tibs waited to be sure he was done. “I understand. And I appreciate doing what you have to do to get out of a bad situation. I’ve done that often enough on the street. I do have one question.”

Don shook his head, sagging. “No. I don’t own the pool.”

Tibs smiled, thinking of the possibilities. “Would you like to?”