Elishua called a halt, then stormed up to Tenthé and yelled, “What the Hells was that? You handled the Horde like they were nothing! That’s not possible! If it were that easy, they would have been wiped out long ago! You said you’re ‘tricky’. Not strong. That’s a complete and utter lie!”

Tenthé, to tell the truth, was confused. Why would someone give away anything they didn’t have to? He looked around to get a feel for what everybody was thinking. Elishua was in his face, the kids were pushing and shoving each other, and the Magister was sitting in a chair she’d conjured, eating a cookie and watching the show.

“I,” he began, but Elishua hadn’t finished.

“And where did you come from? There’s no way you should have been run over by Tomas’ carriage! Hells, you were barely touched by a full-blown warrior attack! You take away magic when you feel like it! No-one can do that! And then you act like a kid, but you end up making the Envoy and me dance around like fools, and you create traps we keep getting caught in, as if it were simple! You… you just can’t be!”

“Uh…”

“And you say you’re the Tenthé, but there aren’t any records to verify if that’s true or not, and you talk to the Guard, which even Tomas can’t do!”

At this point, she stopped to hyperventilate. Tenthé waited to see if she was going to go off again, but it was the Magister who spoke first.

“Excuse me. Elishua, I think you have made an incorrect assumption. What you’re trying to do is fit a puzzle piece into the wrong puzzle. Tenthé is what he says. He’s an old ten-year-old doing what a ten-year-old does. There’s no big plan or hidden plot. As for his life, he’s been chewed up by what he’s gone through, some horrible things, but he survived and, arguably, thrived.”

Tenthé tried to break in and correct her, but the Magister continued, “He sees something and reacts. He is the Tenthé, but that’s not like being a God. What we’ve been able to figure out is that the Tenthé is someone who’s put on a path and is left to develop on his own. Maybe a lot of people start out and one of the survivors gets the job. We don’t know.

“Our lack of knowledge stinks of the Dreamer, since something has erased the clues that should available. On the other hand, it’s possible the Dreamer is as much of a pawn as everyone else. Honestly, I can’t say.

“And, to accuse Tenthé of having some complex stratagem is an utter farce. He’s a child in all the ways that count: a bundle of energy without a clue, getting into trouble when he tries things he shouldn’t.

“The story of his beatings in the first Pool is just the tip of the Hells he has been through. It’s a wonder he is as normal as he is. I don’t doubt he could be as bad as the worst thing you could imagine if he wanted to be. And, Elishua, you haven’t got a fraction of the information you need to figure out why he acts the way he does, let alone understand his motivations.

“Something interesting we discovered in the picture book is that, as Tenthé’s go, he is unusual, even for them. He keeps it hidden, but I suspect he’s at a Sage level in at least one type of magic. And probably more than that. I’ve observed him doing things I have never seen and trust me, I’ve seen a lot.

“Have you watched him fight? If something’s attacking him, he doesn’t respond with a few classical counters. He’s flicking through choice after choice to come up with whatever he decides is best. I have no idea how he does it so fast, it’s like a different person is taking over every time he fights.

“But the good thing is that he cares about those around him. He isn’t really social, but he likes people. I know Magisters who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice any of us to further their own agenda. In his own way, he cares, but I will say that it would be a very bad idea to get between him and his goal.”

“If he’s so Gods damned powerful then, why doesn’t he wave his hand and make it all the way he wants?” Elishua argued.

“Uh, I…” Tenthé began.

Elishua whirled on him, “Alright, mister! Why don’t you just take over and run it all! Make everybody into your slaves! Have the Horde at your beck and call!”

“Do you know how you have to be, to do that?” Tenthé replied, in a quiet voice. “You have to be cold. So cold that people are nothing to you. Their lives are meaningless. I made a promise to myself that I’d never be like that, again.”

After waiting a moment for that to sink in, he continued, “And when you’re like that, you attract enemies. Powerful ones, Gods, Sages, and others just as bad. You fight all the time and when one is defeated, another one springs up. And for what? Just so nobody can order you around? Or so everybody agrees with you about everything? It’s stupid!

“It’s better to lay low and have real friends than be powerful. I was happy before the College. I didn’t have much, but then, I don’t need much. Sure, I knew it wasn’t going to last. We all knew the City was in trouble, but that was someone else’s problem. You asked, how come the carriage ran into me? I wasn’t paying attention at the wrong time. It happens. Maybe something took advantage of me, but everything turned out okay. I don’t let stuff like that bother me anymore.”

Elishua was still on her rant. “What is wrong with you? Some of us are trying to protect the City and save our lives, and you could do so much! And I suppose you think it’s hilarious that the Envoy and me spent a lot of time helping what we thought was a little kid get along with all the others at the College.”

“Well, yeah. Kinda.”

That was too much for Elishua. She leaped and swung at Tenthé, who wasn’t there to receive it. The kids, in turn, piled on her, shrugging off the hits and spells she directed at them, all the while screaming incoherently.

Tenthé stood beside the Magister, nibbling on a cookie.

“She’s wound pretty tight,” the Magister observed.

“Yeah,” Tenthé responded.

“I can’t say that I don’t see her side of the story,” the Magister stated.

“Me too. But, it’s been a while since I let it all get to me. I’ve lost everyone I knew. A bunch o’ times. Most forget me, some die, some grow apart, some I have to kill. I’ve found ways to deal with it.”

“That’s sad. I mean, that you’ve had to learn that.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what do you want?” she asked.

“I want to go back to the City, find out how Isabell is, make sure that the kids meet up their mother, and hang out a bit. I think it would be fun to travel with the Sage for a while. He seemed lonely, but nice.”

“So. Aren’t you at all curious? About the Dreamer and all that?”

“No. It’s a something, and there are always lots of somethings going on.”

“So, what you said, is that all you’re going to do when we get back?”

“Nope. That is what I’d like to do, but… it won’t happen. I don’t know why, but I’ll end up having to do something else. Just how it always is.”

With that, they turned to watch the kids sitting on Elishua. She was still spitting and screaming, it was anyone’s guess when she would get tired. The Magister called over to set up a bet with the kids on how long she would last.

Eventually, Elishua calmed down and the kids let her up. As the Magister paid off the bet in cookies, Tenthé wandered over and offered her some water. She sat up and glared at him, but took the flask and swallowed most of the contents.

Out of nowhere, she asked, “What would happen if Leo and the Envoy were captured by the Horde? Do you think they’ll be converted?”

“Leo, maybe. They’d just kill the Envoy. But I’m pretty sure they’re ahead, somewhere, watching whatever is going on. We’ll meet up, but still have a ways to go.”

“Are we going have to battle the Horde the whole way?”

“Probably not. The last fight was fun, but we’ll sneak. I’ll go first, so no-one will step on any warriors or traps.”

“Why not let the kids lead, like we were doing?”

“I like to change things around. It keeps the enemy guessing.”

“Huh… you did that to the Envoy and me, didn’t you?”

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“Uh… maybe.”

“I sort of hate you.”

“That’s not very grown up.”

“Uh… maybe,” she said nasally, echoing his answer.

What the heck? He didn’t sound like that!

Tenthé figured she was back to normal, and started down the trail. He took a moment to throw a few more layers of stealth over everyone and continued on, checking near and far for things that didn’t fit in.

It was likely they’d run into more of the Horde once they got closer to the City. At that point, he’d have to be extremely careful. If their Mentor suspected anything, he might come up with something even a Tenthé couldn’t handle.

Good times!

For the next few days, they walked several paces to the side of the trail. Tenthé’s magic obliterated any footprints and odors, so their passing left no more impression than a gust of wind. He did find a few traps and showed everybody how to avoid them. Occasionally, the traps were layered. Trying to avoid one would trigger another. It was very well done, but Tenthé’d seen better. The Horde wasn’t particularity innovative, they liked to use tried-and-true techniques.

A couple of times, warriors ran past, sticking to the trail. While they were near, everyone held their breath, but there were no cries of discovery, and when it was safe, the group continued on.

Each night, they kept their camps minimal. No fires, wards, or tents. Being the best suited to deal with anything that came along, Tenthé stood watch, which meant he got very little sleep; but he could take it. Each morning, the others rolled out of wherever they’d been lying, ate their cold food, broke camp, and started walking. Tenthé gave them credit, nobody complained. It was a bit of a relief. There were times when he’d campaigned with army veterans who never stopped bitching and moaning about everything.

One thing he missed was the practical jokes experienced soldiers used to break up the boredom. But this was not the time for a joke war. He didn’t need a repeat of the incident when he found himself in the middle of an ambush with his pants magically stuck around his ankles.

That afternoon, as they were getting close enough they should see the City soon, Elishua broke the silence.

“Psssst.”

Tenthé chuckled. Nobody really ever said psssst.

“What?” he responded.

“A sign.”

She was pointing at a small pile of rocks. As far as Tenthé knew, that was all they were.

“It’s something we use,” Elishua explained. “It indicates we need to go a kilopace that way,” and she pointed across the plain. They were close enough to the City that this part of the Wilds should be fairly stable. He squinted in the direction she was indicating and made out a small rocky outcropping. Its slight elevation made it a good place to watch what was happening around the City Proper.

With no reason to doubt her, Tenthé had everyone wait while he went ahead. As he approached the outcropping, he dropped and crawled. The closer he got, the more convinced he was that it was Leo’s butt he could see poking out of a small gap in the rocks.

“Psssst!” Tenthé whispered and then laughed to himself.

The butt was replaced by a head.

“What?” Leo responded. “Don’t talk or make any kind of noise unless you’re hidden from the Horde. Even this far out, we had to move a few times before we figured that out. Oh, and hi. Good to see you made it.”

Tenthé wriggled ahead. Once concealed behind a rock, he took a stone from a pocket and edged it up on top of the rock. The stone was enspelled to act as a mirror, of sorts. It allowed him to watch what was happening without exposing himself.

“Hey, what’s that?” Leo asked.

“If you stare hard at the stone, you can see without having to poke your head out.”

Once Leo figured it out, Tenthé took control and zoomed in on various activities. What he saw was a city under siege. What he didn’t see was the City Proper. At least, not as he expected it to look.

Sure, the walls were mostly where they should be, but they were huge. Much higher than they should be. The gate was in the right place too, but now it was a monstrous affair of metal banded wood. Probably reinforced by magic. It looked like the Horde had surrounded the City and were tossing tons of rocks and magical bolts at the walls. Occasionally, a blue ball would detonate, and even this far away, he could hear the sound a short time after the ball exploded. Tenthé could see that much of what the Horde shot at the City should have gone up and over the top, but instead, everything was forced down to impact against the walls, doing little or no damage.

The City he knew didn’t have the magical defenses like that. It was difficult to comprehend. Tenthé left his sensor rock where it was, informed Leo he was going to get the others, and crept away.

“So, is there anything remaining?” Elishua nervously asked as he neared. “Is everyone Horde? Can you see what happened to the farms?”

“Um…” Tenthé started.

“Nooooo!” Elishua wailed.

“Quiet! But no. It’s nothing like that. The City is still there and is doing quite well. Uh, I assume it’s the City… but everything’s wrong. I really don’t know what’s going on.”

Elishua paused her crying. “What?” she asked.

“Oh, the City’s fine. But that’s not the problem. Leo’s hiding over there, in those rocks. He’s been watching. The Horde has the City under siege, but they aren’t getting anywhere. I don’t know why, I thought... ah, it doesn’t matter, you can see for yourself. Follow me, but when we get close, we’ll have to crawl. And keep the noise down. Leo says they have some way of picking up the smallest sound.”

As they crawled up to the rocks, Leo wasn’t immediately obvious. Tenthé was sure he hadn’t gone far, since there wasn’t much of a far to go. In the meantime, he showed everyone how to focus on the sensor rock. It wasn’t long until they were all able to watch as the Horde attempted to get into the City.

“I see what you mean, that doesn’t look right,” An whispered.

“Yeah,” Tenthé replied. “The walls are too high and there are even battlements. Plus, there are defensive spells deflecting the incoming, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t have those when we left. Defenses like that take a lot of magic, and I would have known.”

Elishua agreed. “Yeah, and those walls are huge! It would cost more power than the City has to put those up. You have to construct footings, reinforce the ground, etch glyphs, and so on. And, it’s a long process, takes a few years, usually. I agree with Tenthé, it doesn’t make sense! We need to get inside and find out what’s happened!”

“I don’t know much about constructing walls,” Tenthé responded. “I’m more of a de-constructor. But I believe you. I’m not sure that’s even the City Proper. If you look here and here,” he indicated some spots. “The walls aren’t supposed to go there. This one would cut through the old temple region and it doesn’t look new. But, from the wear, I would say that they have been here for a while. Years, or more.”

There really wasn’t anything to say to that, so instead, everybody watched the quiet determination of the Horde as it lay siege to the city.

“Hey guys! What’re we doing? Can I watch too?” the Envoy appeared from nowhere and pushed into the group. She looked at the sensor rock, figuring out how it worked almost immediately.

“Oh, yeah. I was just there. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

After watching for a moment, she continued, “We haven’t found a good way to get close. They have all sorts of detectors deployed, which makes it tough to move around. Plus, the City has some huge weapon that can blast a big area. It takes out a lot of the Horde when it’s fired, which doesn’t happen very often. Like, once a day. The Mentor has the bodies dragged to some spot and does something to bring them back. I can’t see how he does it, but the effort tires him out. What is means for us is that we can’t even try to get close until the big weapon’s been fired or we might get caught in its kill zone.

“Usually, right after it fires, the City opens its gates and troops sally forth. There’s a lot of fighting and then they retreat. It looks pretty much like no-one actually wins, but some of the first soldiers out the gate get hacked up ‘cause they aren’t very good. They have the look of conscripts, but the ones behind them are top-notch and can hold their own.

“Those backup troops are real hard cases. They push the conscripts to the front and won’t let them retreat. There wasn’t anything like them in the city before we left. Maybe they’re mercenaries, but… it doesn’t seem like it. Honestly, I don’t know where they came from.

“All in all, I would say it’s a stalemate. That’s a lot better than we expected, but it creates its own problems. Not the best news, nor the worst.

Tenthé looked over to watch Leo creeping nearer, using fairly decent stealth. To wreck whatever stupid thing he was trying to do, Tenthé cast a small spell to let everyone see him.

“Oh, there he is. Obviously, you two didn’t kill each other,” Elishua observed, as Leo glared at Tenthé.

“No,” the Envoy responded. “There’s something different about him. He’s not always the jackass he used to be. I actually like it. Only rarely do I want to rip his head off.” She snickered.

At that point, Tenthé decreed, “This is all great, but we need to figure out our next move. Looks like getting into the City won’t be easy. Let’s fall back, we’re too exposed here.”

Quietly, everyone crept away from the outcropping, and once they reached to road, retreated another kilopace to a small copse of normal-ish looking trees. With the fronds rustling in the gentle breeze to help mask their conversation, everyone gathered together.

“Let me summarize what we’ve seen,” The Envoy began. “Obviously, the Horde has invested the City Proper. We saw them grab a convoy that was stupid enough to try to get through to the City. I don’t know what the idiots expected, but they’re all Horde now. The lumber they were carrying was made it into several siege engines and ladders. Not sure why, the defenders have been one hundred percent successful at burning anything wooden that the Horde sends at them.

“And that’s the other thing. Where did all this come from? The walls, the competent troops, the magical defenses? They’re all top-notch. The City we left wouldn’t have lasted a day.”

Before anyone could answer, she continued. “Leo and I think the long-lost Dreamer finally showed up. Our guess is that he made the changes. It’s the only thing that makes sense. But why? And why now? How did he go from such blandness to such competence? Lots of questions.

“We’ve tried to find some way into the City, but both sides have set traps and detectors which are impossible to avoid. Plus, the Horde has random patrols. Very effective. So far, we’ve been stymied.

“They have these mat things that are laid out to cover a lot of ground like a field of dried wheat. It’s almost impossible to walk through them without making noise. On top of that, there’s also a powder, or something like it, floating for a few paces above the ground. It sticks to everything that gets near and builds up in almost no time until you can see anything invisible. Also, both sides shoot spells and arrows at whatever flies near, and often they fire up into the air for no real reason at all, to stop anyone from trying to float or fly in.

“It’s tough. Sure, if we had a year or an army, maybe we could come up with something, but with only the two of us? No way! A few times, I got close enough to get a taste what the Horde has deployed, and as good as I am, I couldn’t get through.

“And the warriors are always alert! They don’t get tired or bored, or anything. And they aren’t stupid, either. At one point, we convinced some of the wildlife to run toward the City, but only a few patrols were pulled to deal with the commotion. The rest kept patrolling, leaving us no opening.

“I have to admit, they’re good. I can give you more detail, but that about sums it up.”

With the day waning, the group reached a mutual agreement to stay where they were for the night, since Leo and the Envoy hadn’t found anywhere better. Everyone exchanged stories about what they encountered and then retired early. Tomorrow would be the time to attack their problems. Maybe even literally.