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Sequence 1 Merge 3, Element’s Altered Marlot, Human “Sorry,” Marlot said to the woman he bumped into while running. Normally, he’d make sure she was okay—normally he wouldn’t be running in such a crowd—but this was where the thief he was chasing had gone, and he couldn’t lose him. He was pretty sure that was a guy. He had a good eye for guys, even if he only had eyes for one guy now. He wondered where the light of his life had gone to. They were supposed to join the others, but he’d made the…well, Jackal would say it was a mistake, while Marlot simply thought of checking for the green and black criminals to be wise. And his etching had revealed someone hiding. Someone up to no good. “Out of the way, please, Runner coming through.” He hadn’t been able to prevent the theft, so now, like the good dungeon rogue that he was, he’d retrieve the item and return it. He chuckled. His man was such a bad influence on him. Not too long ago, well, before he’d been caught and sentenced to the dungeon instead of rotting for the abyss knew how long in a cell, he would demand a cut of the money the theft brought in to let the thief go, otherwise, he’d sell the item himself and keep all the money. “Sorry! I’ll come back and help as soon as I’m done with this!” Marlot had always considered himself something of an ethical thief. Trembor hadn’t agreed. So now, he did his best to do his thievery according to his man’s code, well, his version of his light’s code. Trembor could be rather unbending at times. Which was funny, considering the ways he could bend when properly motivated. His man was amazingly flexible. The thief headed for an alley, and Marlot grinned. Those were his. “Sorry. Someone help her stand! Please get out of my way. I’m on important town protecting business.” With no one else in the alley, he whipped out his knife and traced the etching. Tibs told him he didn’t need it. Something about Marlot not realizing he could do more. And he believed his teammate; most of the etchings he’d discovered were because of his gentle encouragements and pointers. But while chasing a crook was not the time to try something new. The etching done, the shadows lit up to his sight, and his quarry was highlighted when he crossed one. Then the man, definitely a man, cute ass. Great thighs. No wonder he’d stayed ahead all this time. But that was over now. An etching and darkness impacted the man’s back. He staggered, panting hard, suddenly far more exhausted than he’d been before the impact. Then, Marlot was on his back, and they rolled on the ground. “Hand it over and I let you go.” Trembor would so have a talk with him about that; if he learned. “Fuck you.” He slapped the ass. Yep, nice and firm. “Not without my man here. We have an agreement.” “How about we fuck you up then?” a woman said, and people crossed shadows. Six of them. He sighed. “This was a trap. Wasn’t it?” At least he’d sprung it before the intended ambush site, since they’d had to come to them. The alley advantaged him, since they’d be crowded. He rolled to his feet, unsheathing his sword. He needed to learn to use less essence and keep more for situations like this. Tibs said he could pull more essence from the shadows than he did currently, but his talk of tilting tables didn’t make any sense. He parried, deflected, then kicked the knee out, and the woman screamed. He caught the blade on his and guided it away while stepping into the man’s space and punching him as hard as he could. He didn’t have Jackal’s, or his man’s strength, but his father had taught him how to hit so it would hurt. His father had been a slave driver of a teacher. Enough Marlot had snuck into the first large group he’d seen stepping onto a platform and left his home city forever. He missed his mother and sister, but not his father, for all the great things he’d taught him. Like to never limit himself to just what his weapon did. He was always surprised at how few people expected him to use the rest of his body in a fight, just because he was armed with a sword. A parry, a dodge, and a thrust had this man down, doubled over trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Good luck with that. He feinted with a raised fist, then slashed the woman’s chest open—he’d aimed for the throat, but, oh well. He kicked her in the knee, then in the head once she was on the ground. No more attacks? He counted his downed opponents. He had been confident there had been one— A flash of light, then an impact against a wall and a man’s scream. Marlot sighed, turning to look at the man with the glowing arrow in the shoulder holding him against the wall. “This is inconvenient,” Marlot grumbled, punching him in the face until he no longer moved. “I mean, I’m grateful for the save, as always.” He stepped to the still downed thief who’d brought him here and crouched. “But now I am not going to hear the end of not dragging the lot of you to the guards.” A quick search revealed the stolen item, a delicate cameo with an older woman’s face painted on it. Exquisite work, although it wouldn’t be worth all that much. Which was in line with the other theft. They were about demoralizing the town more than making riches. Which, if what he heard about the man in charge was true, made sense. That man ran crime in an entire city, so money wasn’t something he needed. Marlot was happy his father had never met Jackal’s. With him as a mentor, his father’s aspiration to greatness might have actually amounted to something, and getting out from under that man would have been just has hard, if not harder, than it had been for Jackal. “Hey, handsome,” he greeted the tall, muscular man, who now walked at his side. “Thanks for the save.” Trembor’s golden skin was a contrast to his dark red hair, or Marlot’s nearly black skin. Marlot loved their contrast. “We should bring them to the guards.” “Really? And which guards can we trust to take them to a cell, instead of letting them run back to their master?” “The guard leader,” his man replied without hesitation. “Oh, and when did he start liking you? The two of you sharing an element didn’t seem to keep him from screaming it wasn’t your—” “Our.” “—job to keep this town safe. And I’m not doing any of this to keep the town safe, and you know it.” Marlot took his man’s arm in his, leaning against the strong body. “I’m doing this purely to impress you.” His man’s usually stoic expression cracked a smile. “I am impressed.” There was a but coming. “But I’d be more impressed if you took the time to hand them over to the guards.” “And be even more late to join the team? You know what Jackal is going to say.” “He’s just jealous.” “We could—” “Not within the team. And not with the team leader. He might get ideas that one of us is his, and that’s more problems than I want to deal with.” “Good point. Just wait here.” “Marlot,” his man called in a disappointed voice while he ran to the alley, then the house, where, instead of breaking in and surreptitiously returning the item, he knocked on the door. His man was such a bad influence. He smiled at the older man who answered. “I believe this is yours.” He handed the cameo over. The man hugged him. “Thank you. You are so good to us.” Yeah. That was why he preferred acting without being seen. He was okay with helping the townsfolk instead of filling his pockets, but this hugging and thanking he could do without. And the man was going to tell everyone what he’d done. Then, Marlot would feel bad for breaking into a house as part of his training and not take anything. It was all his man’s fault. If he didn’t love him so much…. “I didn’t steal anything,” he told Trembor on returning. “I know.” Marlot narrowed his eyes. “No, you don’t.” His man smiled. “I do. You are a good man, Marlot.” “Take that back.” “Never.” He kissed Marlot’s protest silent. Marlot gazed in his man’s glowing eyes. “You are such a bad influence on me.” “Good influence is that you mean.” “No. Bad. I used to be this careless thief who stole from everyone and didn’t feel bad about it. Do you have any idea how fun that was? And then, you drop into my life and give me all those—” he shuddered “—moral things. I used to have fun, you know.” Trembor squeezed his ass. “You still do.” Marlot kissed him. “We are so making Jackal jealous.” “Speaking of, he and Tibs are waiting for us.” “How about we keep them waiting longer?” “How about we don’t?” “You are no fun.” Trembor nuzzled his ear and whispered. “Oh, I am so much fun, and you know it. Just later fun.” * * * * * “And look who finally decided to join us,” Jackal called as they brought their tankard and plate of food to their table. “Finally done fucking?” “Jealous?” Trembor asked. “No, I’m not,” their team leader replied in a tone that told Marlot that he was, a little. For all the fun Jackal had with his element and the men he fucked. He suspected he wanted someone special, like he and Trembor were special. He’d expected him and Tibs to be it when first meeting them, but Tibs had a lack of interest in others, in that way, that surprised him. And that was before finding out how different his relationship to his element was from the rest of them. “Stopped one of your father’s thief,” Marlot said, digging into his food. The tavern didn’t have great food, but it was cheap, which, now that he no longer stole with abandon, was important. He hoped someone opened a new inn to replace the one that burned down. They had had good food at reasonable prices for the Runners. The men working it had also been nice to look at. That the fire had killed everyone there was such a shame. Jackal looked at Trembor, who shook his head. “Left the thief drained. The others injured. Some might die from their wounds. He refused to bring them to the guards.” “Letting them live just means they’ll steal again. Or worse,” their leader said. “I’m going to tell you what Tibs always says. While someone lives, they have the potential to change.” Jackal snorted. “My father’s never going to let that happen. Me, running off and ending here only resulted in him coming here and trying to have me killed. Over and over. You’d think he’d have strangled me in my mother’s arm and spared himself the trouble of losing so many people doing it now.” “Why did you want us to gather?” Trembor asked. “Right. Either of you have ideas for a sorcerer to replace Walter?” Marlot looked at Tibs, who’d been the closest of them to the Water sorcerer. He also missed the man, but Marlot had grown up with people dying around him all the time, so had grown mostly immune. “There’s Chom,” Trembor said. “His element is Metal.” “That’s going to make him stubborn,” Jackal replied. “I’m not spending my time arguing with someone about how the run should go.” “Then I have no one.” Marlot shrugged, eating. He hadn’t bothered looking for a sorcerer. He’d been too busy thinking of what he and his man would get up to once they were done eating.