Everyone was quiet for the rest of the day, being extra watchful now that they’d had a taste of how bad the Wilds could get. When they made camp, An still hadn’t shown up. But the next morning he was back, looking the same as ever and complaining that the clothes he had been wearing had been wrecked, forcing him to run the entire way naked. More than anything, he sounded proud of himself.
At breakfast, Elishua approached Tenthé. He noticed she’d been picking at her food and suspected she was building up the courage to say something.
“Okay,” she started. “You have to tell me… are you really some kind of Sage, God, or what? The things you’ve done in the past few days are not normal. We have a right to know if you’re using us for some scheme we haven’t signed up for.”
This did not reflect Tenthé’s experience with super powerful beings. Some cared, and some didn’t. The ones that didn’t, did whatever they felt like doing.
But that wasn’t him. “I dunno. I’m no Sage. I’m not sure what they are, exactly. Yeah, I can do more than I showed, but so what? I found out the hard way that I had to keep things to myself.
“What I can do are spells no-one in the City has ever seen. It makes me look super strong, but it’s just different. You remember that I see magic? Well, that let me know the blat spell would go right through the hill creature’s shields.
“And I learned most of what I know somewhere else. In the Pools. It’s the kind of stuff that the Magister’s College doesn’t teach. Because of that, I have lots of good spells that you’ve never heard of. You should spend time there. You’d pick up a lot.”
“So, you’re not some super wizard, using us for some scheme we’ll never understand?”
At this, the kids snickered. They were completely unfazed by Elishua’s glare. After a moment, she relented and chuckled.
“Yeah, that sounds stupid to me too,” she admitted.
Then she rounded on Tenthé. “Look kid,” she said. “It’s important that we know what each of us can do. Sure, we started rough, but, as a group, we’ve improved. And, I would bet anything that it’s only going to get harder from now on. The more we trust each other, the better off we will be.”
She paused and ran her hand through her hair, a nervous gesture that even Tenthé could recognize.
“And, I admit, we probably need you. A lot more than you need us.”
Tenthé thought about what she’d said. Nothing surprising, but at least she wasn’t yelling.
As to trust, he might be a kid, but he’d been betrayed before. He could guess Elishua had orders from the College, and who knew the motivations of the Envoy? Magister Grenville was the pawn of forces bigger than her. Even the kids would have secrets. He liked the Lady, but she was faerie, everything they did had layers and layers. And Leo was a dick.
Still, it was one of the best groups he’d been with. They reacted well, even though they had next to no training together. Nobody ran and most of their screaming was aimed at him. Not entirely undeserved.
“Okay,” he said. “I get you. It would bug me too if someone I knew was keeping secrets.”
At this, he was sure a shadow crossed Elishua’s face. Fleeting, but he saw it.
“Yeah,” he stated. “I know Tomas and Magister Graf gave you some kind of secret orders. All of you have them, one way or another.
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. To be honest, I won’t tell you all that I can do. That would be stupid. But, I will say that, so far, I haven’t seen anything in the Wildlands I couldn’t handle. On the other hand, I don’t want to go against the Horde by myself, or even with all of you. I’m not sure we could deal with someone like their Mentor, someone who can change the rules.
“And, if Angel City is a stronger version of our city, I’d have problems with the defenses. I could get through them, but it would take a lot. If the City was attacking me at the same time, I would probably fail.
“I told you before, I’m tricky, more than strong. I am strong, but not as much as you think.”
Not a lie, but… yeah, it was a lie. Tenthé was very strong. The problem was that he wasn’t always in control, and that was bad. It was best to keep all of that a secret.
Plus, a lot of what he knew came from fighting tough opponents. If he scared away all the challengers, he wouldn’t learn anything new.
Bear’s opinion was that he studied at the school of hard knocks, because that was what it took to get anything into his head. Kind of true.
In this case, what he had said was having the right effect. Elishua was looking less hostile, and some tension had left the Envoy, who’d been eavesdropping. Leo was probably listening in, too. Magister Grenville was off talking to herself.
Just then, one of the kids hooted from somewhere, and the Envoy leapt into the grass to find what they’d scared up for her breakfast. Elishua returned to eating, this time with more appetite.
Apparently, that was it, because shortly afterward they were breaking camp and hitting the trail.
The group was still circumnavigating the hills, but with everyone on edge, the next few days were hard on the local fauna. Anything coming close was shredded. And, although the landscape in the Wilds could change, markers scribed with how far it was to Angel City had begun to show up. This was still the Wilds, but they agreed fairly well with Leo’s map.
Finally, the hills ended. Ahead of them, in the distance, was the skyline of Angel City towering over the surrounding lands. At that point, the group halted and quickly made their way back behind the last hill, checking to see if they’d been seen.
Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, so they stopped for lunch. Afterward, they drew straws to figure out who would stay with the animals and who would spy on the City. The Envoy was the loser, so the rest climbed up the nearest hill. After it had been verified that the hill was a hill.
As they approached the top, everyone slowed and crawled the last few paces to where they could see. Tenthé was impressed, the group was doing a credible job of sneaking.
The view they had was quite good. In the far distance, the walls of Angel City stood proudly. Unlike the City Proper, these were respectably high and massive. Enough to be a significant challenge for any attacker. The city itself was surrounded by farmland, with the occasional orchards and forests where magical herbs and other plants would be grown. The layout was very similar to their own city. There weren’t any mines to be seen, but likely, these were on the other side, out of sight.
One thing that was unusual was the pall of smoke hanging around the city walls. It wasn’t obvious why, since there didn’t seem to be any single source. What it did not look like, though, was a battlefield. The walls of the City were clean; no indication of anything being dumped or poured on attackers, and no magical fire. Nothing really. There weren’t any siege engines, nor were there any signs of a mustering area, or any other signs of an ongoing military campaign. Had the City already fallen? Or had the Horde left?
What they saw generated more questions than it answered.
Tenthé opened up, “Anyone have any ideas what we’re looking at?”
Yu replied, “Angel City?” then he and An giggled. Tenthé thought it was kind of funny, too.
Elishua spoke up, “Yeah, well. I’m no expert, but it doesn’t look like what I’ve been taught a siege by the Horde should look like. I think I even see people working the fields.”
That was something Tenthé hadn’t thought of. He turned and peered closer. The distance was enough that it wasn’t clear, but Elishua was right. There did seem to be people and equipment in the fields. He’d never heard of the Horde doing that. From what he’d learned, they’d take everything not nailed down and convert everyone they hadn’t killed. One thing they didn’t do was any sort of large-scale farming.
It would probably be smart if they did farm, especially for a long siege. But, as far as he knew, they never had.
“Hmmm, you’re right. What else?”
Leo chimed in, “When I look carefully, I see lots more people near the gates. They aren’t fighting or anything. I think it’s a market. And, I’m pretty sure that the small portals in their city gates are open. There are a lot of people going in and out.
Over the next hour, they watched and discussed what they were seeing, but other than concluding that it didn’t look like a siege, no one had much of an idea about what was happening.
“Hey, what’s that over there!” the Envoy stage whispered as she pointed. The kids had gotten bored and had gone back down the hill to give her a chance to come up and see.
At the edge of a forested section, a caravan came into view, leaving the City. It was the same as any ordinary caravan, with wagons and outriders. Nothing like the descriptions of the Horde on the move.
“Okay, I’m officially confused,” Leo admitted. “Is the Horde here, or not?”
No-one had an answer.
Tenthé sighed. “I think we’re going to have to get closer, but I have a question. If we run into Horde, do we kill them? There certainly doesn’t appear to be a war going on down there.
After watching the city for a short while further, he answered the question himself. “I guess… we’ll just have to sneak around and see what we can find out.”
He and the others crawled backward, and when they were far enough, got up and descended to where the burros were waiting. If the Horde was really camped here, then what were they doing? And if they’d left, how could they have hidden so well that he couldn’t detect them? Had they farted off to somewhere else? That didn’t make any sense! The City Proper was just prime for the taking!
Whatever. His usual way of dealing with mysterious things was to keep poking at them until even an idiot like him could figure out what was going on. The next step would be to wait for night, sneak into the City, and gather information. He sat down and pulled out Bear.
“Are we there, yet?” the toy asked sleepily.
“Yeah, sorta,” Tenthé answered. “We can see the city from up on the hill.”
“So, how bad is it?”
“Uh… not sure. There’s a bunch of people outside the walls, but it doesn’t look like a siege. We have to get closer.”
“So, no hacking, slashing, and setting things on fire?”
“Nope.”
“Poor baby! So, you made this trip for nothing?”
“Don’t know.”
Bear looked around. “Well… this is boring. I’m going back to sleep. I don’t do camping. Fresh air? Exercise and healthy food? Blech!”
Later, Tenthé sat watching the burros watch him. He then joined in the ongoing discussions. All afternoon, they went over what they’d observed, but came up with no new insights. There was some discussion about everyone simply walking into the city, but it wasn’t taken seriously.
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Finally, Tenthé decreed that the infiltration would be done by himself, the Envoy, and Leo. The kids were as sneaky as a slap to the face. Elishua was fairly good, but had the problem of being huge. And Magister Grenville said she didn’t sneak. Which, arguably, was not exactly correct. Somehow, she would often end up in places she wasn’t supposed to be. It was a moot point since she declined to go.
Once it grew dark, the trio headed toward the city. They decided to make their way overland, staying away from the roads and trails.
Tenthé took it slowly, at their current speed, it would take half the night to reach the wards, which were placed where the farms began. In addition to his current version of stealth, Tenthé kept his weight low so he wouldn’t leave any sign of his passage. Leo’s armor had spells to help hide where he’d been, and the Envoy’s footprints resembled those of a large cat. Everyone crouched, trying to present as small a profile as possible. Of course, that made them look like they were guilty of something, but the whole idea was not to be spotted in the first place.
Rather than taking a direct route, they meandered a bit to make their trail less obvious. Tenthé didn’t sense much until they neared the farmland. At that point, he stopped the other so he could examine the wards. Not surprisingly, they were extremely powerful. Most people would need serious magic to pass. Fortunately, they were very similar to the ones used by the City Proper, which Tenthé had studied. You know… just in case.
As strong as they were, these wards were primarily meant to keep out threats from the Wildlands. Creatures not known for their subtlety. As for bandits, smugglers, and other criminals, since almost everything was legal-ish in the Cities, there was no need to avoid the main routes. But, as with most things, there were always exceptions, so patrols would occasionally haul in the charred remains of some unlucky soul.
After a quick examination, Tenthé concluded that fooling these wards wasn’t going to be much of a problem. A slight variant of the spells he’d come up with for the City Proper seemed appropriate. He cast one and they walked in.
Once through, Tenthé dismissed the spell. The three of them immediately crouched and verified that their various versions of stealth were operating normally. After crawling to the opposite edge of the field, they found that, like most Cities, the fields were bounded by roads to help with the movement of crops and resources. Remaining on high alert, the trio climbed a slight rise to reach the road, checked for any issues, then began jogging toward the City. It would take most of what was left of the night to get close. The plan was to hide in one of the forested areas and figure out their next move.
As they ran along, the lack of Horde was increasingly obvious. No sentries. No patrols. No anything.
After a few hours, the smell of smoke became noticeable. Not the distinctive smell of burning structures, but that of cooking. After a quiet discussion, they decided that if the smoky pall they’d seen from the hill came from campfires, there had to be a lot of them.
Just then, Tenthé ran around a corner and immediately had to leap sideways to avoid running into a warrior! The others following him did the same, much more gracefully. Then they all stopped to stare as the warrior totally ignored them and continued down the road, navigated another corner, then went out of sight. Not the hyper-vigilant, uncannily aware, Horde warrior everyone had expected. In fact, if Tenthé’s nose wasn’t deceiving him, in the warrior’s wake was a distinct smell of weed!
No-one felt the need to discuss… whatever they had just witnessed. After a moment, Tenthé resumed walking, with the others following.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when they reached the small forested area that was their goal. The trio pushed through the dense undergrowth to the center of the copse. Around them was a mix of pungent plants, which might be a problem. It was hard to hide in stealth when you smelled like an herb garden.
“So, what now?” the Envoy asked.
“Um, on the other side of these trees we should be able to see the City gates, Tenthé stated. “Maybe whatever is going on will be clearer, then. Pretty sure there isn’t a war. But, obviously, the Horde is here. At least, some of them.”
“Yeah, here it smells even stronger of cooking. And outhouses. Not battle.”
“No need to speculate. Let’s look around, then come back here,” the Envoy suggested. No-one had any better ideas, so they crept over to the edge of the grove and peered out.
“Um,” the Envoy tugged at Tenthé’s arm. When she had his attention, she pointed beside them, further down the tree line. He looked closely and saw a couple of feet sticking out from behind some bushes. They were naked, very big, and quite hairy. The feet moved slightly.
The Envoy whispered, “The guy… I assume it’s a guy… is awake. I think he heard us.”
“How would you know?” Tenthé asked.
“I can just tell,” she replied.
“Really,” Leo said skeptically. “I have to admit, figuring out if someone heard you by looking at their feet isn’t something I’ve ever… heard of. Ha-ha.” One thing they’d learned on the trip was that Leo was the greatest fan of his own jokes.
No help for it. Tenthé emerged from the brush and walked over to the feet. The Envoy followed closely, while Leo held back.
Not terribly surprisingly, the big feet belonged to a warrior. A nearly naked warrior with just a blanket thrown over him. He had his hand over his eyes, blocking the rising sun. Behind him was small lean-to made from some rope and a tarp. Just in front of it was a an older girl, who had fallen asleep in the middle of preparing something. She was wearing a bright blue dress, the sort that would be worn for fancy occasions in the City Proper. Tenthé assumed it was much the same here. She was snoring slightly.
“Hey,” Tenthé said to the warrior.
“Hey, yourself,” he replied slowly, in slightly accented common.
“I suppose you overheard us.”
“Couldn’t help it, with you yelling so loudly,” he replied.
“Yeah, we’re here from the City Proper, trying to see what’s going on. Not exactly what we expected.”
“So I gath… uh, wait a sec,” he said as he held up a finger, paused, then rolled over and puked. It took a moment.
“Ah, that’s better. Ahem, yes, much better. Yeah, we’re supposed to tell anyone new to go see the Mentor. He wants to talk to you. But I warn you…”
He broke off as he sensed something coming from Tenthé. “Wait! Nothing bad! Let me finish. Um, yeah, Mentor was drinking more than me last night and you won’t get anything out of him ‘till noon or so. There is no chance he will be in any shape for talking before then. Certainly, if his head hurts as much as mine.”
He cringed as a beam of sunlight made it past his hands. “Yeiii, that smarts! As I was saying, give him some time, then I’m sure he’ll want to see you. By the way, if you have any spark of good in you, just kill me.”
Then he groaned and turned to puke again.
Choosing not to take advantage of such a severely disabled enemy, Tenthé and the Envoy watched him for a moment, then returned to where Leo was standing, probably ready to help if everything fell apart. Or run.
“This is getting weirder and weirder,” Leo said. “This certainly isn’t what we were expecting. I’m sort of sorry. I thought there’d be a big battle or at least something! How can I commission a ballad if nothing happens? So far, all I have is a long ride in which I did not die, and how much bigger than me a Horde warrior is.”
“You could see that from over here? Even under his blanket?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to miss.”
He suddenly realized what he’d said, turned red, and spluttered, “I didn’t mean… Um, ah… Hells! Never mind!”
After giving Leo enough time to regret his choice of words, the Envoy indicated the City gates and suggested, “Why don’t we take a stroll over there and see what we can find out. Maybe where the Mentor’s tent, or whatever he lives in, is. I suspect this won’t to tax us too much.”
Leo pushed to the front, trying to make up for his recent mis-statement. As he walked, the Envoy supplied a bit of commentary.
“And, as the fearless warrior took step after step, his mighty thews quivering, he fearlessly approached the market, where he planned to fearlessly bargain with the old woman for his breakfast bun, which he intended to fearlessly gnaw on until it was vanquished, fearlessly washing it down with completely untested water, all the while fearlessly braving the likelihood of a mild digestive upset! All fearlessly!”
Leo studiously ignored her.
Tenthé, on the other hand, was quite impressed. He’d heard worse done seriously.
“Do you think I captured the moment?” The Envoy asked, “Maybe I wasn’t clear on how fearless he was.”
“No, it feels about right to me,” Tenthé responded.
The armor didn’t hide how red Leo’s neck was turning. While they had been traveling, he’d been getting better and wasn’t a jerk all the time, but he might not be quite ready to handle too much needling, yet. Which meant that was exactly what they should do.
“Remember, we’re still on a mission,” Tenthé warned. “The ballad is good, but maybe we ought to keep watch for anything strange and see if we can figure out where the Mentor is.”
Not subtle, but he preferred when his people avoided fighting with each other when they were in enemy territory.
Dammit! He didn’t mean that! He wasn’t the leader!
They approached the market, which was in the process of being set up. The vendors were uncovering their wares and piling them to make the displays as attractive as possible. The goods were a mixture of the commonplace and strange.
Commonplace were the city vendors with their fruit, herbs, handicrafts, clothing, household items, and so on. Strange were the Horde vendors displaying worked leather, rare plants and animals, uncommon meat, unique beadwork, and embroidery. For some reason, every one of the Horde stalls carried numerous stuffed mice with, literally, beady eyes.
The breakfast bun vendors were doing a brisk business, with city folk and Horde warriors waiting in line. Since the Envoy had money, she joined the longest line, with the expectation that the longer the line, the better the food. Everybody next to her treated the presence of a Trachteur much the same as in the City Proper. Some whispering and finger-pointing, but nothing sinister.
Leo and Tenthé kept watch. For all intents and purposes, the crowd appeared normal. No signs of anything untoward. When the Envoy returned with breakfast, everyone dug in, and, although the flavoring was a bit different from what they were used to, the buns were good. They bought some flasks of water from a vendor who guaranteed the freshness, and, by all indications, was actually telling the truth.
It seemed that risking his life by trying untested water was not going to be part of Leo’s ballad. At least not in the honest version, which, typically, would be usually far less popular than the embellished ones.
With no intent to buy anything else, the market was not as appealing as usual, so the trio wandered further, searching for the Horde’s main camp. There wasn’t much in the cleared land near the City walls. Likely, the City didn’t entirely trust the Horde to be that close, so that left the large forested areas further out as the next best place to look.
In support of that supposition, there did appear to be a lot of activity in the closest grove. In addition to a number of warriors wandering about, there was smoke from many small fires.
As the trio approached, they could see a quite a few large cylindrical tents the Horde appeared to favor. They looked to be placed randomly, but Tenthé noted clear lines of sight for the warriors to use if they had to move quickly to defend the camp or muster for offense.
Overall, the camp was well laid out and had a military air to it. A few warriors were obviously patrolling, but no-one seemed on edge. Scattered among the warriors were people from the City; a lot of women and a few men. It was generally assumed the Horde expanded by conquest and conversion, but there was mounting evidence they also enjoyed more typical relationships. This aspect of the Horde hadn’t been taught in the College. Perhaps the idea of warriors being like real people wasn’t something the Magisters were comfortable teaching.
The trio whispered amongst themselves.
“I don’t understand!” Leo exclaimed. “The Horde’s just sitting around as if it’s normal! Why haven’t we heard anything about this? What happened to everyone we sent? The Hill creatures couldn’t have got them all! And we saw a convoy leaving. Sure, it would take a while for a message to make it to the City Proper that way, but it looks like the Horde’s been here for quite a long time. What the Hells is going on!”
“Let’s see,” the Envoy started. “One, all our spies are being imprisoned in Angel City. Two, all the reports are being changed when they get back to our city. Three… oh I don’t know; the Dreamers in both cities are colluding to stop any information from getting out. Four, uh, something else, maybe a super god is involved.”
Tenthé stared at her. It took a moment then she clarified, “Colluding means working together.”
“How can that be?” Leo demanded. “If we can’t find our Dreamer, how could the Horde, here?”
“I don’t know!” the Envoy admitted. “But, if the Dreamer who lives here changes what everyone thinks, and our Dreamer does the same, then that would hide what the Horde is doing. I don’t know how it could be arranged, but it could work.”
“There’s a big flaw in all of your theories,” Leo decreed. “Why would the City send us out, if they knew all of this? At best, one of the Dreamers will make us forget, and at worst they’ll kill us off. Even so, why do it at all? We’re not that important!”
Leo and the Envoy stopped and looked at each other. As one, they turned to look at Tenthé.
“What?” he asked.
The Envoy stated, “My guess is that someone wanted you out of the City.”
“Why? I’m not important.”
“I don’t know,” the Envoy answered. “But it makes sense. You are the piece that doesn’t fit. Maybe Magister Grenville too, but I’d bet on you.”
The trio discussed options a little more, but didn’t come up with anything reasonable, other than getting into Angel City to talk to the companies that Leo’s family worked with. They’d have to be careful, if the local Dreamer was altering memories, then they might be affected too.
By now, the sun was high overhead. Perhaps the Mentor would be recovered enough to see them. The Envoy approached one of the warriors and informed him they were a group from the City Proper and would like to talk to the Mentor.
The warrior looked at the group for a moment, came to some conclusion, and called to another warrior lounging nearby. After a brief discussion, the sentry motioned them to follow the other warrior, so they trailed after as he led them deeper into the camp.
All the indications were that everything had been here for a while. The paths between the tents were well worn and the pens and fences had the look of long use.
One thing Tenthé noted: even though the Horde had apparently been here for some time, the soldiers weren’t slacking off. There was no trash blocking the paths, and the warriors they met were alert, eyeing them cautiously. If he had to sneak in here, Tenthé was pretty sure it would be a challenge. He wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating the Horde.
It took quite a while to wend their way along the paths into the heart of the camp. Tenthé wondered if the others were thinking what he was: there were a lot of warriors here. Assuming there were other camps around the city the same size as this one, he was pretty sure this was the whole tribe, and none of them had snuck off to attack the City Proper.
And, from how comfortable everything was, it didn’t seem that they were planning on going anywhere anytime soon.
According to the College, the various tribes that made up the Horde were quite territorial and the banners on the tents showed these were the ones that occasionally attacked the City Proper. This brought up the question: just who were the warriors who had taken part in the failed coup back in the City Proper?
The idea that this tribe going to mount a surprise attack on the City Proper was looking weaker and weaker.
Tenthé was somewhat dismayed. Why wasn’t anything ever easy?