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Stepping Wild
Chapter 1
He laughed as he ran along the roofs; the wind catching in the black cloak, covering the black clothing he’d worn for this excursion, but the hood remained in place due to the thick leather edge giving it weight and stiffness.
“In the name of the king,” a woman yelled behind him, panting, “I order you to stop!”
He laughed harder, pushing it to the edge of deranged. “The Night Runner stops for neither Kings nor Nobles!” He easily jumped over the alley and continued running.
One of the reasons he’d planned his direction to run in, for this time, when the guards and those with her would see him, was because it was mostly alleys instead of streets.
He sensed the etching one of the two adventures keeping up with her made. The one who had lightning as his element. The other had earth. Both were barely past their Epsilon examination, by the density of the essence coursing through their channels, and he didn’t know if they had been assigned to this hunt by the guild, or they were looking to make extra coins.
The reason didn’t matter to him. He just laughed, ran and made an etching of his own, using metal.
The second reason was that the roofs went up as the side of the mountain did. That didn’t give him an advantage, but because this city always had lightning when it stormed, and people had learned that lightning liked metal, there were metal spires stretching high above them to catch the lightning before it struck. They’s also learned lightning needed a place to go, otherwise it overwhelmed metal, and that explosion could cause more damage than the lightning itself. So strips of metal ran down the building and into the ground, the stone having been broken until it reached deep enough to be wet.
Lightning also liked water, it turned out. And water was better at pulling it away, but getting it high enough to catch the lightning first was troublesome.
He’d been--
The adventurer released the etching, and the Night Runner released his as well.
The adventurer was experienced enough to take into account the lightning rods peppered over the roofs; it was why Maur was part of the filigree within the etching. The Arcanus could be used to make an element not listen to the pull of the element it was attracted to.
But that only worked when that element didn’t have an etching of its own added to it, bridging the distance, like the one he send from the closest metal rod to where the lightning etching jumped in his direction.
“Adventurers?” he yelled, then laughed. “Has the Night Runner been so successful, the king doesn’t trust her guards to catch me? I am honored.”
“What you will be,” the other adventurer yelled, “is without a hand!”
“Without both,” her companion added, “after we turn you over to the guards.”
He sped up, using a little air to help him. He couldn’t afford to go so fast the adventurers would notice, but he needed distance for this last part.
The third reason was approaching. The end of the roofs, and a drop alongside the city wall, to the long cliff, and into the ocean water that beat against it at the bottom.
When he came to a stop, he made it a surprised one, spinning to come back the way he’d come, but his pursuers stopped three and zero paces away, blocking his escape. The hood fell, covering half his face and casting shadows that rendered the darker tone of his skin unseeable.
“There’s nowhere for you to run to, thief,” the guard announced. The adventurers with her were
“Now,” the Night Runner replied, his tone offended. “The Night Runner is no mere thief. He is a master of the craft. You will not see the Night Runner water the market picking pockets, he will only go against—Now, now,” he protested as lightning danced on the adventurer’s fingers. The other’s hands and arms were turning brown as earth covered them. “There’s no need for that. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement that will satisfy everyone.” He’d be even more offended at how lightly they were taking him, if he hadn’t gone out of his way to not reveal he was more than an ordinary, if expert, thief.
“The only arrangement that will satisfy the king,” the guard stated, “is you in a cell.”
“After we’ve collected the bounty,” the earth adventurer said.
So the extra coin was why they were here.
“Surely, if money is what drives you,” he said, “the Night Runner is more than capable of giving you more.” He grinned, even if it couldn’t be seen. “After all, it has taken a long time before the King’s guard kept me from the coffer of my choosing. The Night Runner will be happy to make your purse heavier than even that bounty can.”
“Don’t even—” the guard started, but the lightning adventurer stepped forward, arms outstretched.
The essence coursing lightning between the fingers didn’t shift, but the gesture was enough of a threat he used it and stepped back, hands going up. Before he could voice a protest, his foot came down on nothing, then his arms were pin-wheeling as he fell back, screaming.
The adventurers were already running when he lost sight of them, so he had little time. He tapered his yell to nothing as he fell past opening into the city wall and ledges left over from old repairs or changes to the construction. He sent air to catch onto the rope he’d set in place nights before and bring it to him. Wrapping his hands and arms in hearth for the solid grasp and as a protection against the sudden stop he was about to experience.
The rope went taut in his hands, then it jerked down as his weight dislodged what it had been wrapped around and as he collided against the wall, using earth gain to hold himself against it, a form dressed in a black cloak and clothing fell past him.
He pressed himself against the wall, wrapping darkness around him to help him blend in with the light shadows. He etched air and sent that up for it to bring down his pursuers’ words, then glanced down at the barely visible body.
“Couldn’t you catch him?” the earth adventurer demanded.
“My lightning whip would have killed him,” her comrade replied. “Why didn’t you use that earth tendril? It worked when we went up against assassin.”
“That worked,” she replied, bitting the words, “because he was standing in place. That etching doesn’t move quickly.”
“Well, at least he won’t be a problem anymore,” The guard said, sighing tiredly. “That’ll please her majesty.”
“But it’s not getting us our bounty,” the earth adventurer replied. “The nobles are going to want to see a body first. I should throw you off the edge to go get it for what you pulled.”
“How was I to know he was so easily scared? The guy’s given the guards here the runaround. Fought half a dozen of them at least once, fully armed and armored ones too.”
“You had lighting crackling. That scares everyone and you know it.”
“Why don’t you jump down, turn to stone and get it, then? You’ll go down faster and you’ll be where it is.”
“I doubt that,” the guard said. “The waves and currents have probably moved the body halfway along the cliff already, the way the water’s churning today.”
“We’re going to have to pay for a boat,” the earth adventurer exclaimed.
The guard snorted. “I doubt you’re going to find one willing to brave this. But this is no longer my problem. Once you’ve come with me to witness my report, you can go about getting your bounty paid however you see fit, so long as it doesn’t disturb the city’s peace.”
“This is your fault,” the earth adventurer said again, her voice growing faint.
“You’re always blaming…” the rest was lost as he let the etching unravel.
It had worked.
When he’d found out about the pair of adventurers, he hadn’t been certain it would. Even if neither had water nor air as their element, the right etching could do anything. He wouldn’t have been able to disrupt one without them realizing there was more going on than they thought.
Adventurers didn’t dismiss what they didn’t understand, the way the guards had a habit of doing. Still, his part of the plan had worked.
He lowered himself until he was level with the opening in the wall. Sensing inside confirmed there was no one, and he slipped in among the barrels and crates. Maybe of the rooms at this level of the wall that followed the cliff were used by merchants to store merchandise destined for the ships and lands beyond the ocean.
One day, he’d travel to them.
Once he could use the transportation platform and not had over his life to a pile of wood and pitch that broke at the first high wave of a storm.
He shuddered at the memory as it removed the black cloak and clothing. He had never been at risk, but so many of the others had died in spite of his attempt at saving them that he never wanted to experience such a thing.
Telling himself he was older now, more experienced, and had regained a great deal of his strength in the decades since that incident didn’t help.
While water was one of his element, the ocean would never be something he was comfortable on.
He pulled the bundles wrapped in oiled cloth out from behind the crate and dressed himself in a green doublet with darker pants and a muted red overcoat. They were worn, as was appropriate for one of the city folk who earned his coin through hard work.
The time of the Night Runner was done with. For today and ever. The bounty and the involvement of the adventurers meant the Night Runner had become too infamous to continue.
He had planned on leaving the week before, as soon as he heard about the bounty, but then had come the bragging noble, and he hadn’t been able to let that be. But only a few more steps and he’d be ready to leave everything this city had come to mean over this last year behind.
Fire essence etched the proper way caused a flash of light and heat that reduced the black cloak and clothing to ash without leaving other traces it had existed. Air scattered that over the dirty stone floor, and then Tibs exited the storeroom, simply another of the city folks going about his business.
“In the name of the king,” a woman yelled behind him, panting, “I order you to stop!”
He laughed harder, pushing it to the edge of deranged. “The Night Runner stops for neither Kings nor Nobles!” He easily jumped over the alley and continued running.
One of the reasons he’d planned his direction to run in, for this time, when the guards and those with her would see him, was because it was mostly alleys instead of streets.
He sensed the etching one of the two adventures keeping up with her made. The one who had lightning as his element. The other had earth. Both were barely past their Epsilon examination, by the density of the essence coursing through their channels, and he didn’t know if they had been assigned to this hunt by the guild, or they were looking to make extra coins.
The reason didn’t matter to him. He just laughed, ran and made an etching of his own, using metal.
The second reason was that the roofs went up as the side of the mountain did. That didn’t give him an advantage, but because this city always had lightning when it stormed, and people had learned that lightning liked metal, there were metal spires stretching high above them to catch the lightning before it struck. They’s also learned lightning needed a place to go, otherwise it overwhelmed metal, and that explosion could cause more damage than the lightning itself. So strips of metal ran down the building and into the ground, the stone having been broken until it reached deep enough to be wet.
Lightning also liked water, it turned out. And water was better at pulling it away, but getting it high enough to catch the lightning first was troublesome.
He’d been--
The adventurer released the etching, and the Night Runner released his as well.
The adventurer was experienced enough to take into account the lightning rods peppered over the roofs; it was why Maur was part of the filigree within the etching. The Arcanus could be used to make an element not listen to the pull of the element it was attracted to.
But that only worked when that element didn’t have an etching of its own added to it, bridging the distance, like the one he send from the closest metal rod to where the lightning etching jumped in his direction.
“Adventurers?” he yelled, then laughed. “Has the Night Runner been so successful, the king doesn’t trust her guards to catch me? I am honored.”
“What you will be,” the other adventurer yelled, “is without a hand!”
“Without both,” her companion added, “after we turn you over to the guards.”
He sped up, using a little air to help him. He couldn’t afford to go so fast the adventurers would notice, but he needed distance for this last part.
The third reason was approaching. The end of the roofs, and a drop alongside the city wall, to the long cliff, and into the ocean water that beat against it at the bottom.
When he came to a stop, he made it a surprised one, spinning to come back the way he’d come, but his pursuers stopped three and zero paces away, blocking his escape. The hood fell, covering half his face and casting shadows that rendered the darker tone of his skin unseeable.
“There’s nowhere for you to run to, thief,” the guard announced. The adventurers with her were
“Now,” the Night Runner replied, his tone offended. “The Night Runner is no mere thief. He is a master of the craft. You will not see the Night Runner water the market picking pockets, he will only go against—Now, now,” he protested as lightning danced on the adventurer’s fingers. The other’s hands and arms were turning brown as earth covered them. “There’s no need for that. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement that will satisfy everyone.” He’d be even more offended at how lightly they were taking him, if he hadn’t gone out of his way to not reveal he was more than an ordinary, if expert, thief.
“The only arrangement that will satisfy the king,” the guard stated, “is you in a cell.”
“After we’ve collected the bounty,” the earth adventurer said.
So the extra coin was why they were here.
“Surely, if money is what drives you,” he said, “the Night Runner is more than capable of giving you more.” He grinned, even if it couldn’t be seen. “After all, it has taken a long time before the King’s guard kept me from the coffer of my choosing. The Night Runner will be happy to make your purse heavier than even that bounty can.”
“Don’t even—” the guard started, but the lightning adventurer stepped forward, arms outstretched.
The essence coursing lightning between the fingers didn’t shift, but the gesture was enough of a threat he used it and stepped back, hands going up. Before he could voice a protest, his foot came down on nothing, then his arms were pin-wheeling as he fell back, screaming.
The adventurers were already running when he lost sight of them, so he had little time. He tapered his yell to nothing as he fell past opening into the city wall and ledges left over from old repairs or changes to the construction. He sent air to catch onto the rope he’d set in place nights before and bring it to him. Wrapping his hands and arms in hearth for the solid grasp and as a protection against the sudden stop he was about to experience.
The rope went taut in his hands, then it jerked down as his weight dislodged what it had been wrapped around and as he collided against the wall, using earth gain to hold himself against it, a form dressed in a black cloak and clothing fell past him.
He pressed himself against the wall, wrapping darkness around him to help him blend in with the light shadows. He etched air and sent that up for it to bring down his pursuers’ words, then glanced down at the barely visible body.
“Couldn’t you catch him?” the earth adventurer demanded.
“My lightning whip would have killed him,” her comrade replied. “Why didn’t you use that earth tendril? It worked when we went up against assassin.”
“That worked,” she replied, bitting the words, “because he was standing in place. That etching doesn’t move quickly.”
“Well, at least he won’t be a problem anymore,” The guard said, sighing tiredly. “That’ll please her majesty.”
“But it’s not getting us our bounty,” the earth adventurer replied. “The nobles are going to want to see a body first. I should throw you off the edge to go get it for what you pulled.”
“How was I to know he was so easily scared? The guy’s given the guards here the runaround. Fought half a dozen of them at least once, fully armed and armored ones too.”
“You had lighting crackling. That scares everyone and you know it.”
“Why don’t you jump down, turn to stone and get it, then? You’ll go down faster and you’ll be where it is.”
“I doubt that,” the guard said. “The waves and currents have probably moved the body halfway along the cliff already, the way the water’s churning today.”
“We’re going to have to pay for a boat,” the earth adventurer exclaimed.
The guard snorted. “I doubt you’re going to find one willing to brave this. But this is no longer my problem. Once you’ve come with me to witness my report, you can go about getting your bounty paid however you see fit, so long as it doesn’t disturb the city’s peace.”
“This is your fault,” the earth adventurer said again, her voice growing faint.
“You’re always blaming…” the rest was lost as he let the etching unravel.
It had worked.
When he’d found out about the pair of adventurers, he hadn’t been certain it would. Even if neither had water nor air as their element, the right etching could do anything. He wouldn’t have been able to disrupt one without them realizing there was more going on than they thought.
Adventurers didn’t dismiss what they didn’t understand, the way the guards had a habit of doing. Still, his part of the plan had worked.
He lowered himself until he was level with the opening in the wall. Sensing inside confirmed there was no one, and he slipped in among the barrels and crates. Maybe of the rooms at this level of the wall that followed the cliff were used by merchants to store merchandise destined for the ships and lands beyond the ocean.
One day, he’d travel to them.
Once he could use the transportation platform and not had over his life to a pile of wood and pitch that broke at the first high wave of a storm.
He shuddered at the memory as it removed the black cloak and clothing. He had never been at risk, but so many of the others had died in spite of his attempt at saving them that he never wanted to experience such a thing.
Telling himself he was older now, more experienced, and had regained a great deal of his strength in the decades since that incident didn’t help.
While water was one of his element, the ocean would never be something he was comfortable on.
He pulled the bundles wrapped in oiled cloth out from behind the crate and dressed himself in a green doublet with darker pants and a muted red overcoat. They were worn, as was appropriate for one of the city folk who earned his coin through hard work.
The time of the Night Runner was done with. For today and ever. The bounty and the involvement of the adventurers meant the Night Runner had become too infamous to continue.
He had planned on leaving the week before, as soon as he heard about the bounty, but then had come the bragging noble, and he hadn’t been able to let that be. But only a few more steps and he’d be ready to leave everything this city had come to mean over this last year behind.
Fire essence etched the proper way caused a flash of light and heat that reduced the black cloak and clothing to ash without leaving other traces it had existed. Air scattered that over the dirty stone floor, and then Tibs exited the storeroom, simply another of the city folks going about his business.
