Using the boulders as cover, Tenthé crept toward the assembled warriors and troops. Maybe he was being overly cautious, but he hadn’t survived this long without learning to be careful when it counted.

As he neared the Horde, Tenthé could feel the heaviness of the anti-magic fields and even spotted a lone sentry hiding in the boulders. For him, the suppression fields were a minor annoyance, and as for the warriors and sentry, he skirted any problem areas, making his path look like a drunk walking home.

Quickly enough, he found himself next to the cavern wall, looking into the formation of warriors who, for the most part, were squatting while they waited. There were a lot of them. He took a step, intending to thread his way between the warriors, but stopped abruptly.

As he watched, a few of them reached into bags tied to their waist and pulled out a handful of powder that they threw into the air, where it hung in clouds. It took a moment to figure out why. They weren’t performing some strange ritual, but were employing a defense against someone invisible! Walking through those clouds or stepping on the powder accumulating on the ground would reveal his presence.

Sneaky enemies! The worst kind. He could lighten himself and jump, but they probably had some way to deal with that, too. Fortunately, his plans were fluid, which meant he really didn’t have any, other than a general goal to disrupt their plans. The Horde was turning out to be more disciplined than he expected, so trying to get them to fight each other wasn’t looking too likely. On the other hand, the House troops were acting like privileged idiots. Maybe he could convince them to attack the Horde?

It was early yet, so he decided to look around for inspiration. He moved up to the wall, lightened himself, and started climbing. He was in no rush. By going slowly, he could check for traps and surprises. This was his first time dealing with the Horde, and it was always good to be careful when you met something new.

From what he had heard, the Horde was formed by taking captives and making them into warriors or slaves. How they did it was a bit of a mystery, but current thought held that it was done by their Mentor; he would enter a captured town and shortly afterward everyone left alive became Horde. The newly converted realized they had been changed, but just didn’t care.

The Horde would loot all they could carry and move on, leaving just enough so that those who’d fled could rebuild. After a few years, once the city recovered, they would return for another round. This is why Dreamers were so important. Good ones could break the cycle and keep the city out of the Horde’s hands.

A typical warrior had no magical powers of his own, and although they were known to use artifacts, they mostly depended on their physical prowess. There was a class of magic users called Words, but they were rare and Tenthé didn’t know how they fit in. It was very possible he’d get the chance to remedy this lack of knowledge in the very near future.

Most in the City Proper thought the Horde to be unwashed barbarians, but, so far, he was finding they were well trained and quite smart. Even with a decent Dreamer, it was his guess that winning against the Horde would be difficult.

This time, it looked as if they were here to support a rebellion. Once the City was in chaos, he expected the warriors planned to attack the winners and open the gates for the real invasion. The Horde thought nothing about sacrificing fighters for a plan like this.

It wouldn’t be much of a shock to find that the families involved believed they had a scheme to deal with the aftermath of their insurrection, but comparing the two forces here today, he’d bet on the Horde.

There was no need to reason all this out, to Tenthé, it was obvious. Bear had told him that although he thought it was normal, life in the Pools had been harsh. But, without that experience, he wouldn’t know what to do at times like this.

As a result, his best and most favorite solution was to mess up everyone’s plans before it got to the point where nothing was left and everybody was dead.

So, arguably, he did have a plan. Just a very basic one.

By now, he was behind the Horde. They had positioned their logistical support here, along with heavy weapons, such as they were. Identifying what the weapons did was a bit of a problem, since they were no more than glyph covered boxes on wheels.

Tenthé hadn’t ever thought of the Horde as being literate, but there wasn’t any reason he could think of why they shouldn’t be able to read and write. Not like him.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He looked around for a good opportunity. Other than ripping into the warriors, there didn’t seem to be much to work with. He could fire at the House soldiers and try to start a mini-war, but the Horde would dogpile him immediately. They were annoyingly alert.

As he observed things, something snagged his attention. Although there wasn’t any obvious command structure, it did appear that of the few warriors walking around, one was a bit more… arrogant than the others. Not easy to pick out, but everyone was getting out of his way.

Tenthé looked with his green eye and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. On the other hand, his brown eye revealed a sort of glassiness to the warrior, indicating some type of power. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was one of the Words!

Maybe there was a lot more going on here than simply sacrificing a bunch of Horde warriors to weaken the City. Tenthé hadn’t ever heard it was possible, but if the Word could make citizens into warriors, then they might have a bigger plan. If there was a way to convert people in secret, like the South Side, then no-one would notice for days!

The speeches had begun; he was running out of time. After a little internal debate, he hauled Bear out.

“Well, kid, I can’t say you ever over-think anything.”

The toy had been following along as Tenthé mulled over his options.

“Can you do it?” he asked Bear.

“Let me get a better look at those boxes.”

Tenthé crept lower. Bear leaned out to examine them, then chuckled.

“Yep, those are heavy casters, all right. The glyphs are quite basic. This says “Point toward enemy”, and those warn not to shoot straight up or straight down. Um… yeah, I see how to fire it. That one has a picture of a star and that one shows a bunch of stick figures being burned by a beam of something. Not exactly sure what the star means, but I suspect there will be a big boom of some sort. Oddly enough, at the moment, they’re all pointed at the House troops.”

“Do you think you can handle these? Aim and fire?”

“I can fire them, but as to aiming, not a chance. I’m buff, but I weigh squat. You’ll have to do it.”

Tenthé crawled along the back wall, closer to the casters. He pulled a handful of gravel out of one of his Pockets. Over time, he’d attached practical jokes to these stones, and he wondered which ones would work best, here. Once he set them off, the Horde would know something was up, so it had better be good.

The heck with it! Might as well use them all. With a little enhancement, he threw the entire load over the back half of the Horde. As they flew, he cast the release spell.

The stones burst apart and clouds of itching and sneezing powder, bugs of multiple sorts, snakes, spiders, grease, will-o’-the-wisps, gremlins, faeries, screamers, hallucinogens, and hundreds of enraged rats, mice, and other vermin spewed forth.

Bear and Tenthé paused to watch the results. It was glorious! The spiders were a particular success. Possibly something in the conversion process caused serious arachnophobia. That was worth knowing.

The members of the Horde who had been hit were spinning, flailing, and screaming. Some had received a good dose of the hallucinogens and were fighting imaginary things, becoming a hazard to everyone near.

“I am in awe. You have outdone yourself!” Bear said in wonder.

Dropping to the floor, Tenthé rushed to the caster boxes. He manhandled the star one around; they were meant to be used by the massive warriors and even with his enhanced strength, they were a challenge to move.

“That’s all the time we have!” Bear yelled through their connection. “Give me a barrier!”

Tenthé pulled another rock from somewhere and handed it over.

“Get going, he’s starting to clue in!”

The Word had been near the House side, but he was alert and peering around. Any moment now, he would notice the caster out of position. Tenthé started running in his direction. Behind him he heard, out loud, “Come to momma, baby!” and then a huge whoosh!

The area was lit up by a big sparkly star climbing toward the roof of the cavern. The Word looked away from the star and stared directly at Tenthé with reddish eyes. Obviously, some kind of magic that allowed him to break Tenthé’s invisibility. As they closed, the Word threw a battle spell at him, which he ate.

Tenthé cast. A semi-opaque dome materialized, crackling as it interacted with the smaller shield the Word had erected over himself.

Locked together, the two eyed each other.

Outside, Bear scurried over to the second caster and triggered the shield just as a couple of warriors ran up. Late, but, well, just late. When they spotted him, he was amused to witness the most classic double take ever. He waved. They didn’t return the gesture.

One of the warriors drew a massive sword, the other a cudgel, and they commenced pounding on the shield, which would hold for the moment. He sat on the box, kicking his legs. Whatever the weapon did, he wouldn’t fire it yet, since it was pointed at the shield Tenthé had erected.

Bear pondered his options. He could polish his nails, not that he had any, but anything for his audience. He debated standing up and taunting them, perhaps a nyaa-nyaa and butt wave. So many great choices!

But why choose? Like Tenthé and the practical jokes, he’d go through everything and see which ones were the most appreciated.

He got up, stretched, and started working the crowd.