Tenthé pulled a few bundles from a Pocket.

“I happened to, uh… find a few uniforms. Here, these might fit.”

They were from House Gledhill! George and Nik glanced at each other.

“Go ahead, grab one. We have to get going!” Tenthé whispered forcefully, prompting the two to move.

They each took a uniform, then looked at each other, wondering what were they supposed to do with them.

Tenthé sighed, “Put them on over your armor and mix with the troops. Look for a chance to mess with things. You could… never mind. Just do what you can.”

George and Nik fumbled about, pulling on the clothing as best they could. The hood for George’s armor didn’t look anything like what the City troops had, so he draped it over his belt. That didn’t look too out of place, troopers didn’t always wear their helmets when they weren’t in battle.

Once Nik and George were ready, Tenthé drew close. “I’ll deal with the Horde, you guys to get in with the soldiers and when the shooting starts, stay out of the way unless you can think of something that might help.”

“Uh, okay,” they both agreed, for the lack of any idea of what else to answer.

After a moment of awkward silence, George asked, “What do you mean, shooting? And, do… what?” Nik nodded his agreement.

Tenthé's stare bored through them. After failing some evaluation, he exclaimed, “It’ll be a mess! You figure it out! Go! Now! The soldiers are getting close! They’re nowhere as sneaky as the Horde guy. If they see you, just act like you’re supposed to be there.”

With that, he disappeared. Literally.

George and Nik looked at each other.

“Ah… what do we do?” George whispered.

“You’re asking me? I never trained for this! Any of it!”

“Should we crawl?”

“I have no idea!”

“Let’s try… what? Sneaking? I guess. It’s too far to crawl.”

“Yeah, okay.”

At that point, someone rounded a boulder a few paces away. The boys dove under the overhang of another boulder and froze. The soldier peered around, muttering, “Anyone there? Pickle. Pickle! Can’t see a gods damn thing! What do they expect? Gods damn this god’s damn damned thing! Pickle!”

The soldier just stood, muttering and whispering, repeating “pickle”. A moment later, another soldier stumbled into view.

“Pickle,” the new soldier said.

“Turnip. That you John?”

“Yeah. This is so stupid. They won’t let us use a light and this moss is so dim that I can’t see anything.”

“Yeah, but you know how it is.”

The two whispered back and forth as they continued on into the gloom.

George and Nik waited a moment and started out again. Twice they had to use the passwords which the first pair had so conveniently revealed, then wander off like they were going in the same direction as the other soldiers until they were alone and could reverse track. It was nerve-racking, but they persisted.

Once it looked as if they were in the clear, the pair sped up. The light and noise as they neared the assembly of troops and warriors made things easier.

“So, what do you suppose Tenthé’s planning?” George asked.

“Planning? Yeah, right.” Nik scoffed.

“If I had to guess, he’s making to cause as much trouble as he can,” George opined. “You know, his usual ‘plan’. Maybe, more on purpose this time, instead of, I dunno… normal?”

“What should we do? I mean…”

They halted and stood aside as another soldier stumbled around a boulder. Once they turnip-ed him, the guy kept going without seeming to care what they were up to. After a suitable time, Nik continued, “We won’t fit in! Someone’ll figure it out the instant we do something wrong.”

“Yeah. I suppose. Hey! I have an idea! What if we march through the troops like we’re supposed to be going somewhere?”

“Not bad. We might not be noticed,” George agreed.

“Okay, let’s do that. This is so messed up.”

“Yeah. Uh… what do we do if we have to fight?”

This was met with a momentary silence, then Nik asked the big question, “Do think you could, like… kill someone? For real?”

“Uh… that might be tough.”

“Yeah.”

They kept moving. After a while, George ventured. “Who do you think Tenthé really is? Why is he doing all this?”

“Don’t know… I don’t think he’s a god or anything.”

Neither of them felt the need to point out that he sure as Hells wasn’t just a little kid.

After a moment, Nik suggested, “Could he be a Sage? He knows a lot about… well, a lot.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t feel right. From what I heard, he’s not supposed to be that strong. Tricky, yeah, but not strong. Although, what he did to clear the traps would have taken some serious power. I don’t know. Uh… do you suppose he thinks about getting hurt?”

“He’s heading to the middle of the Horde by himself. I don’t think he cares.”

“I suppose.”

A bit more silence.

“Where do you think he got these uniforms?” Nik asked.

“I was afraid to ask,” George replied. After a second, he added, “Should we have run when we had the chance?”

“Um… yep. Before now… all this didn’t seem real, but it just hit me. We could be hurt! Or even killed! That’s the real Horde there!”

Despite everything, they kept moving forward.

“Are we stupid?” George asked.

“Most definitely.”

They were getting close. Both of them were sweating buckets. From behind a boulder, they watched the House Gledhill troops maintain a relaxed order. The bulk of the men were in loose formation, with a few walking to and fro around the periphery.

“It’s a normal setup, with the mages and supplies at the rear,” Nik observed. “Let’s get back there and see if we can grab a spell caster, or something.”

Like George, not everyone had battle magic, so there were weapons to make up for that lack. They were fussy and had limited charge, but it was better than nothing.

“So, what’s going on over there?” George asked, indicating the region in front of the Horde and the House troops.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Let me see,” Nik responded. “It looks like they’re making a stage. I bet you someone wants to give a speech.”

“Yeah. Can’t have a war without telling everyone how important you are.”

This wasn’t an unusual situation. House troops were trained to react to speeches. The sergeants would have a copy of the script and would use hand signs to indicate when everyone should salute, cheer, gasp, clap, and so on.

“Let’s wait until the stage is ready. Everybody should be watching then.” Nik suggested.

Not only should be, would be. It wasn’t smart for a trooper to be caught not paying attention during a speech.

They waited, and when the stage was nearly complete, snuck through the ever narrowing boulder field until they reached the area behind the House Gledhill troops. Once there, they scaled a pile of rocks, which allowed them to see across the assembly.

The command post was nearby, but was sparsely populated since the higher ranked officers were required to be on the stage with the heads of the Houses. Nearby, the Battle Mages languished in another section. There, it was busy, with people laughing and talking. The Mages thought quite highly of themselves and kept a fairly lax discipline.

Although the House troops were always men, occasionally women of exceptional ability were allowed to participate and were assigned to the Battle Mages. If Isabell were present, this is where she would have been, but there was no sign of her.

Behind everything were the supply carts. These could be pulled by donkeys or horses, but, most likely, they’d been hauled by the troopers themselves. Both of the boys’d had that opportunity during their training, since it was supposed to help “build character”.

The carts held food, water, weapons, and emergency medical supplies. Things to supplement magic in the chaos of battle.

Nik and George were interested in the weapons. There were several short swords and a box for the spell-casters. Nik scurried over and looked at the box for a moment, pulled on the lid a few times, then returned.

“We didn’t think this through very well, did we?” he whispered. “The caster box is locked, and I couldn’t open it.”

“Oh well. Looks like we’ll have to go without. You’ve got your magic. I’ll make do.” George said. “I guess it’s time we joined in.”

“Yeah. I suppose.”

It took a moment for them to generate the courage to come out of hiding. They checked each other over. Everything appeared to be as good as it was going to get.

“Hey, you two!” rang out.

They froze for a second before looking at the lieutenant who’d addressed them. Both of them snapped to attention, barked, “Yes, sir!”, and saluted.

“What were you doing back there?”

“Just re-adjusting the local water table, sir!” Nik replied.

The officer ignored this standard reply. “I need two men to assist the senior officers up at the stage. Do you think you can handle that?”

Even an idiot knew there was only one answer.

“Yes sir! Sergeant sent us here to help, sir!”

“Good. Now go. I’m sure the brass has little tidbits of wisdom they feel the urge to share with you two.”

Nik and George had learned to wait a bit, to ensure the officer was done before they acknowledged his orders.

So, after a suitable pause, they both barked another, “Sir! Yes sir!” almost together, then double-timed off, aiming for the gap between the House soldiers and the Horde.

Once they were out of sight, the pair slowed to a walk, started breathing again, then took the opportunity to examine the badges of the troops they were passing. Gledhill, House Redman, and Lee. That was significant. Lee and Redman were Houses that made their fortune importing specialty items. Mostly drugs. It had been rumored that one of the larger Houses sponsored them, the fact that they were here with House Gledhill implied the rumor was true.

House Gledhill was probably the third largest in the City, maybe even the second. It looked like they were vying to be first, the old-fashioned way. It wasn’t unheard of for Houses to band together to overthrow a bigger House.

In this case, though, House LePoiterice was so much larger that it could easily withstand a few of their competitors operating together. Adding the Horde into the mix changed that dynamic entirely.

It was very likely that the idea was to attack House LePoiterice first, then work their way through the smaller affiliated houses. As bloody as this might be, it was a viable approach if the Horde played their role. A very big if.

Soon they neared the front and turned to march past the stage toward an open-sided tent where numerous people were milling about.

The differences between the House troops and Horde were obvious. The warriors wore full armor, including a helm. Plus, they were huge! Each one carried multiple weapons. There didn’t seem to be much of a hierarchy, which would make it difficult to target the commanders. The warriors were quieter than their counterparts from the Houses and looked ready to go at any time. Against non-magical troops, the Horde would win, hands down.

On the other hand, the House troops were standing easy but would come to full attention during the speeches. Their uniforms were quite colorful and smart looking. Most were dressed as the boys were, with a uniform over light armor. The concept was to hide behind cast shields while firing off offensive spells. If things got too hot, then the lighter armor would let the troops reposition quickly.

Nik wasn’t sure who would win if the two groups had to fight. There were a lot more House soldiers than warriors, but, while the Horde didn’t use as much magic as the City troops did, if their suppression fields were working, then it would be a slaughter. He hoped the leaders of this uprising knew what they were doing, even if the whole idea was stupid.

The two of them marched smartly into the completely superfluous tent and past groups of dignitaries and upper echelon military, some standing and some seated.

If this went the way it usually did, there would be a series of more and more important people extolling the virtues of the next person, until the main speakers took the stage. With three families represented, it would take a while. Quite a number of the people under the tent were reading through their prepared notes. They didn’t know it, but given that Tenthé was involved, this whole thing was more of a complete waste of time than usual.

Finding a Major in charge, they marched up to him and saluted. After a disdainful glance, he ordered them to make themselves available to whoever needed assistance, otherwise to stay out of the way.

They saluted again, turned, and stood at what was arguably the back of the tent, observing the proceedings. After a moment, George nudged Nik and indicated a House Lee General who was sitting at a small table near the front of the tent, where he could see everything. The general was having issues, being burdened by a plethora of oversized medals and awards on his uniform while trying to deal with a large spell caster he’d strapped to his side. He kept shifting around in his seat, attempting to find some position where he and the weapon could exist in harmony. George marched up to the General, came to attention, and saluted.

“Sir, if I may be of help, I can hold your weapon while you are waiting.”

The General looked up at George, “Hmm, House Gledhill, eh? I suppose it can’t hurt.”

He struggled to a stand and drew the caster. It was truly massive and quite elaborate, a custom job. Once he’d handed it to George, the General sat back down.

“Ah! Much better. Should have thought of that myself.”

He took a sip from a glass filled with ice and some fluid. “Oh, that’s horrible. But, there won’t be anything good until this is all over. We have to be in tip-top shape for the festivities, you know.”

George shifted the caster to another uncomfortable position.

“So, soldier, what do you think of Dragon, here? Quite the weapon, eh?”

“Well, sir, I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“No, you wouldn’t have! Designed it myself. I’m handy with a wind spell, but I wanted choices. What you see there is the next generation. Soon everyone will have one.”

George wasn’t sure. The thing weighed a ton. In the short time he’d been holding it, its apparent weight had increased and his arms were beginning to complain.

The general continued, with great enthusiasm, “Yes! This version combines spell spheres with a wind propellant I designed myself. You see the cartridge in the front, here? It holds the spheres that contain the spells. They feed down into this chamber here, and the second cartridge back here has wind and flame married together to propel the sphere out.

“The fiddly-faddly bits synchronize it all. Still a work in progress, but it gets around the problems of putting spells on arrows.”

Contrary to lore, it was very hard to stick magic on an arrow and keep it aerodynamic. Even with crossbows, it would be easier to stab a magic arrow into an opponent by hand, rather than shoot them. The General’s approach was actually not too stupid, but would need a lot of work to be practical.

“This is really a good idea, sir! How accurate is it?”

“Not sure, son. This is a prototype. It took a little longer than I hoped to get it ready, so it hasn’t been fired, yet. Well, not successfully. Still have issues with the mechanics, but I’m sure this version has everything tidied up and solved.”

That was disconcerting, he was holding an unproven spell thrower. Great.

“Excuse me sir, is there a safety for this weapon?”

“Nope. Haven’t gotten that far. Keep your fingers away from the triggers!”

That would have been good to know before he’d taken it. He strained to hoist the caster up so he could examine the mechanisms more closely. Amongst the dials were multiple plungers, which would be easy to depress by mistake. He immediately pointed the caster out into the gloom of the cavern. Just in case.

“So, sir, can you explain how everything works?”

For the next while, the General waxed poetic about his baby. Mostly, George learned what it was supposed to do. His opinion was that it was overly complex for the field, but it was probably okay as a proof of concept.

By this time, the speeches had begun. The voice of the latest… George peered over, Captain, boomed out over the massed troops. The Horde was silent, but the House troops cheered and clapped at all the appropriate places.

George noticed that Nik was being sent on various errands while he was stuck standing behind the General. He was sore and thirsty, but with the typical disregard or lower ranks, the General hadn’t offered to relieve him or allow him anything to drink.

Finally, they got to the point where the upper echelons of the Houses took to the stage. The current speaker was the head of House Lee, the lowest ranked House present.

With the echoing of the cave, it was hard to hear what was being said, but there were lots of repeats of “Auspicious days”, “City direction”, and “New order”.

While the current speech droned on, George was distracted by a commotion taking place behind the Horde. The yelling was loud enough that the speaker paused and glanced over, frowning in annoyance. The noise grew quickly, along with noticeable spell activity, then there came a deafening whoosh, and a sparkly star arched up over the Horde. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was going to come down on the stage.

Where there was some consternation. Which, in a less august group, might be termed panic.