As Tenthé walked, the path took on a feeling he hadn’t experienced before. He was finding it necessary to exert some effort to move forward. Layers were parting and brushing past, but, as with everything, it just was. Nothing to think about. Nothing, nothing at all. And still, the voices beckoned.
Idly, he mused that his intended destination was no longer possible. Not a problem. There was always somewhere else. The place he was meant to be. He kept on. Time passed, or didn’t pass. It wasn’t important.
He emerged into a small alley in the Old God’s District. The air was stale and dust covered everything. Nothing stirred. No spectres, skeletons, or anything.
Tenthé waited for the sparkles to drift out of his thinking. After a while, when it all became real, he climbed up and perched on an old skull, and thought about what he wanted to do.
He took an internal inventory. As far as he could tell, the results were good. He was still himself, both a kid and old, and all the others him-s that he shared his mind with were where they should be. He ran through the checks he’d learned in the mental Pool. They came back clean. He was supposed to have two arms, two legs, teeth, and smell kind of funky.
He pulled out Bear.
After shaking him gently with no result, he started bashing the toy’s head against the wall.
“Wake!” bash “Up!” bash.
A muddled voice complained, “Uh… what? Let me sleep. Are we there yet? Hey! Someone keeps slamming me into something! Stop it!”
He was back. Tenthé bashed him a few more times, just because, and then set the squirming toy on the skull beside him.
“Why didn’t you quit when I asked? That’s abuse! I shall report you!”
“Uh-huh? To who?”
“It’s to whom, and to the proper authorities! What you’re doing is torture of the highest order! I’ll write a stern letter and boy, you’ll be in trouble! Just see if I don’t!”
Then Bear stopped and peered around. “Hey! What’s all this? Where are we?”
“I think this is the Old God Temple district, but something’s wrong.”
“What?”
“I dunno. It’s too quiet.”
Bear tried brushing off the dust he’d acquired and whined, “Ahhh! Now I’m all yucky!” then scrambled up onto Tenthé’s shoulder, with only one foot in the eye as he got comfortable.
“Been a while since I’ve seen this part of the City,” Bear said.
“What about this?” Tenthé pointed to the button on his collar, which, surprisingly, had survived all the adventures so far.
“Not the same.”
Tenthé jumped down and trotted through the streets. Sooner than normal, he emerged in the open area next to the Forgotten Gods’ temple. Strangely enough, he hadn’t run across any wandering spirits, or anything.
“Let me check something,” he said to no-one in particular as he walked back the way he’d come. After less than a block, he was standing in front of a City wall.
“Hmmm, that’s too soon. There’s only a small strip of temples. Mostly everything’s gone. And the wall’s… just a wall, I guess. Can’t see through it, like before.”
Tenthé poked at it a bit, but he wasn’t able to walk through. Another thing: it was massively warded. He shrugged. A problem for later. He turned and made his way back to the open area around the old gods’ temple, then crossed over to the temple. It looked the same as ever, so he went around to the entrance he usually used. After wiggling inside, he stood on the vast plain.
A noise built up and the scattered Old Gods started their familiar stampede toward him. That was odd. They ought to know better. One massive god outpaced the others and leaped at him, roaring something incoherent.
Tenthé didn’t have time for this, and swiped him into oblivion. As the smoke and god particles dissipated, Tenthé could see the rest trying to stop, but those in the back forced the ones in front to keep moving forward. Shortly, though, they organized themselves enough to reverse course and disappear into the distance, leaving a few solitary gods behind. Most of the remaining gods were oblivious to what was going on, but a few appeared to have a purpose, eying him closely.
While the loiterers made up their minds about whatever they were deciding, Tenthé walked over to the fountain and checked it out. There was a murky sludge at the bottom, feeling faintly holy. He jumped in and sloshed around a bit. As far as he could tell, this was as good as it ever got with the loathing the Gods had for regular maintenance. He hopped back out and watched as a figure approached.
If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the witch. The problem was, she didn’t seem to be in top shape. Instead of old and powerful, she just looked old. She moved like it too, hardly able to walk, even with the use of a staff. Tenthé waited while she shuffled over.
Her robes were tattered and hung limply. Every other time he’d talked with her, they’d swirled and flowed as if there was a wind, but now, nothing.
“Do, do I know you?” she said so faintly he could barely make it out. For a moment he was wary of a sudden grab, but instead, he found it necessary to put out a hand and steady her when she almost teetered over.
She gasped, “You’re real! I can’t remember when I last saw an actual person! Will you worship me? Please?” she pleaded.
Then she looked at Bear. “Oh, look! Another one of us. Have you lost all your worshipers too? Welcome to the group. Do you play cards? You’ve got to watch it, though. Everyone cheats.”
She waved her arm toward the inside of the temple and nearly fell over. Tenthé had to catch her again.
She seemed to lose focus and drifted away, mumbling to herself. But after a moment, she halted and stood erect, then turned around and walked back, showing more energy than she had been, until now.
“Wait!” she exclaimed as she approached. “I know you! I can’t recall your name, but… I feel I owe you a debt? How can that be?”
She peered at him with a sneer. More like normal.
“Yeah, you do,” Tenthé replied. “I’m Tenthé. I fixed your fountain, and we made a deal. You said you owed me a favor, as long as it was worthy.”
Comprehension dawned.
“Yeah… Yeah! I remember now!”
With that, she took a step back. “Wait! You’re Tenthé. The Tenthé! Something’s wrong. What’s going on?”
Tenthé stared at the witch. Whatever the Dreamer had done, obviously, it had spilled over to the old gods. From what he’d heard, the Dreamer shouldn’t be able to affect them like that. Maybe that wasn’t true if they were weak, but he didn’t know. Another mystery.
“Not sure,” he admitted. “I just got here. Actually, I came here to see if you knew something. I guess not.”
As he watched, though, Hchhabbahorchkkt appeared to be coming more… herself. Her robes started to move on their own, and she came more alive. Thumping her staff on the floor, she threw back her head and screamed! All around, the Gods shook themselves as if waking up, becoming less washed out. Almost together, they began roaring as a flood of color spread to more of them and off into the distance.
Tenthé found the witch staring at him, fury written on every line of her aspect.
“Boy!” she said menacingly. “A pact has been broken! I owe you. I promise if you ask, we shall be there for you. None of us are that strong anymore, but this place goes on forever and we fill all of it. Just say the word and we’ll do… what we can!”
With that, she strode off, the other gods clustering around her and flowing after as she disappeared into the depths of the Temple. Tenthé watched, then shrugged and made his way to the outside.
“Well. That is kind of sad,” Bear said. “Although she was right about me being a god.”
Tenthé kept walking. “What do you suppose is going on?” he asked.
“Don’t know. The changes in this district could be the Dreamer, but he shouldn’t be able to affect the Gods. That’s one of the rules. But then, I have no idea who actually wrote the rules. Maybe there is a way. But, whatever, some scheme is underway. I think we ought’a keep a low profile until we learn more.”
“Yeah. Probably.”
“You realize that when we find out more, it’s going to suck.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Bear looked at the wall. “Look at that thing!” he exclaimed. “How can we get through it without alerting everyone? Actually, why are we here? What happened?”
Tenthé gave a short summary of the trip and what they’d found. For once the toy didn’t interrupt.
Tenthé finished with, “And, when we got back, the path near the Heart was weird. I had to push really hard to get anywhere. Like I was wading through layers of mud. Wasn’t normal. Then I came out here in the old god’s district, which wasn’t where I wanted to go.”
Bear was silent. After a moment he spoke quietly, “I’ve never heard about the Heart diverting anyone to another destination. And, usually, with things like that, if you don’t hear about something, that’s because no-one has ever returned to tell their story.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” he suddenly yelled. “I could have died! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!”
And off he went. Tenthé tuned him out. After a few moments, he cut the tirade off by grabbing Bear by the throat. Bear struggled, but it was of no consequence to Tenthé.
Magically, he looked around. Below, he could see that the catacombs were missing, so that was out. Still, some of the temples should have lower levels. If worse came to worst, he could root through them for some sort of artifact that might help him get into the City. Another trip through the Heart was a bad idea until he had time to figure out what had changed.
He found the wall to be as formidable a barrier as he expected. He walked along, searching for any change or flaw he could use.
Suddenly, he stopped. Looking down through the street, he used his vision to investigate a bit of an anomaly. There was something connecting one of the nearby temples to the wall. Perhaps a tunnel, or channel of some sort, but he couldn’t make out enough detail to figure out what it was.
He walked up to the temple in question and examined the ruins. All that was left standing were the remains of four walls, with the center filled with debris. After leaping into the middle, he started heaving the bricks and stones out. Quickly, he cleared an area to reveal rotting floorboards, which he kicked through. He looked down the hole, then dropped through, landing on the floor of small cellar.
After orienting himself, Tenthé walked over to a pile of trash and shoved it aside. Underneath was a stone plug that he lifted, revealing a tunnel. Tenthé hopped in and fell to the bottom. Looking around, he found his way completely blocked on the temple side, but toward the City, there was some rubble partially blocking a channel from which fetid water dripped. The opening was much too small for him, but on the other hand…
He held up Bear. “Okay, I need you to do something. Stop whining. I didn’t even die. Look here.”
Bear had little choice, Tenthé still had him by the neck. “See that hole? Crawl in and tell me what you find.” He put Bear down.
Before he could start complaining, Tenthé continued, “Yeah. I know it’s dirty. Just do it. We’ll clean you up later. I’ve got water.”
Bear was reluctant, so Tenthé stuffed him into the opening.
“Dark,” came a muffled voice.
Tenthé enchanted a rock and pushed the glowing stone into the pipe.
“The light’s behind me. I can’t get it,” Bear complained.
“Sure you can. You’re soft. Quit bitching or I’ll shove a stick up there to help.”
There was some rustling, and the glow disappeared.
“Okay. It goes on a ways. Oh, yechhh!”
A break, then, “Um, yeah. It opens up here. I think the channel follows the wall. Don’t know what happens after that. It’s still pretty squishy. Like it’s been warped, or something. You can get through. It’s plenty wide, just not very high.”
Tenthé could work with that. He debated a moment and decided to send a magical probe down the hole and expand it. With a loud crunch and a lot of dust, the section opened barely enough to let him squeeze in. He wriggled through until he got to where it widened. Bear had left out the part where he needed to contort himself to make the transition. Fortunately, he was quite bendy.
Once he scraped through, he relaxed his probe. Behind him, the passage collapsed. After the dust had settled, Tenthé began worming his way toward Bear and the glow of the stone. All around him, in the wall, wards flashed by but, as he expected, they ignored anything in the channel. It was very likely the Dreamer didn’t know that he had to include it in his plans. His experience was that the super powerful tended to have blind spots like this. Besides, if there had been a problem, that was why Bear had gone first.
When he reached the toy, there wasn’t much to say, so the two of them kept going. Occasionally, Tenthé sent out a quiet burst of magic to help him see. The channel wandered back and forth between both sides of the wall, but refused to get as close to the City side as he wanted.
“Oh-oh,” Bear said. “Looks like the roof has collapsed in the next part.”
This was actually a good thing. As Tenthé expected, the wards avoided the weakened areas where the stones weren’t packed tight. He created a spark, sent it ahead, then made it go sideways through the wall. It melted the rock for less than a pace before breaking through. The wards carried on as normal. He dismissed the spark, and after everything had cooled, wriggled forward to the hole and peered out.
After the stone tube, there was a lighted space, and then another wall. What was most promising was that no-one walked by while he watched. He pulled back and began digging. For some reason, he often found it necessary to dig himself out of tight places, so he had refined the process to a fine art. In almost no time, he had enlarged the tube so Bear could climb through. Or, to be truthful, be forced through.
“Yeah, it’s clear. No one out here,” Bear said in a loud voice once he’d popped out. Tenthé’d momentarily forgotten that Bear was… well, himself. He cast a shield to mask the noise and hide the hole, then worked to widen the passage so he could get through. Just as he poked his head out, there was a sound from above. He twisted around to find someone leaning out of a window in the facing wall.
The man looked up and down the alley, then yelled over his shoulder, “I thought I heard talking out here, but there isn’t anything.” Another voice mumbled something, then the man pulled his head back, and the window closed. After waiting a reasonable time, Tenthé squeezed out onto the cobblestone, did a half-assed job of filling the hole with the rock he had knocked loose, picked up Bear, and walked off.
The area was not how he remembered. Instead of the many little temples that used to be here, there was only a wall that went on for blocks without a break. It might even be a single huge building. Tenthé was debating breaking through one of the few doors he had passed, when suddenly, the wall ended. He peeked around the corner, then held Bear so he could take a look too.
“Well, that’s different,” the toy exclaimed.
What they saw was an extensive plaza. In the middle was a monstrous fountain, with a giant turtle spewing water from his mouth and under its shell into an even larger pond. Plants abounded, being watered by the spray.
The plaza was quite crowded with strolling groups and individuals, plus a large number of priests who were exchanging blessings for cash. On top of all that, vendor carts abounded.
Tenthé joined the crowd. It was unlikely he would be noticed, although he did observe that the men were dressed in some kind of uniform: dark pants and white shirts with badges at various places. The women were less formal, wearing white blouses with a long skirts of somber colors. His cloak was out of place, as was his general lack of grooming. He garnered a few looks, but for once, his apparent age worked in his favor. Around him, he could see the younger kids were allowed more variation in what they wore than the adults. Although, to tell the truth, he was a good deal dirtier than anyone else.
He decided to throw a glamor over himself, but was surprised when it didn’t take. Something was suppressing the use of magic. It was not a strong spell, so he enabled his full stealth, which worked fine. People might wonder where the smell was coming from, but they wouldn’t be able to see him. He had to make sure nobody crashed into him, but that wasn’t too difficult if he stayed out of the main throng.
Overhead, numerous colorful banners flew, offsetting the drabness of the crowd.
“What do they say?” he asked Bear.
“The big one over the fountain says, ‘Hail to the Great and Wise Turtle’, and that one… oh! That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“It says ‘Strength in Turtle and the Dreamer, every Sixday’.”
“Hmph. Guess we know who had the missing Dreamer.”
“Yeah. Always thought there was something wiggly about the Turtle, but I have to admit, it doesn’t make much sense. The Turtle’s all about business and profit. This whole deal with the Horde can’t be good for either.”
“Yeah, whatever. I want to find out where Isabell is. We can look into everything else later.”
“Oh-oh.”
“What?”
“The priests, they’re pointing at us.”
Tenthé looked around. Bear was right. A number of priests were walking in his direction and getting closer. From their motions, they couldn’t see him exactly, but definitely knew something was here.
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“Maybe it’s time to scram,” Bear suggested.
Tenthé dove into the crowd. He dropped his stealth and changed direction. The priests began moving randomly as their search lost focus. In the confusion, he made his getaway.
The road around the City Center was the same, so Tenthé crossed it, making sure there weren’t any coaches about to run him over. Once he reached the parkland, he noted that he stood out even more, here. It was all adults, and everyone wore the uniform he’d seen in the crowd by the temple.
“Duck into the bushes,” Bear ordered. “We need to get one of those uniforms. At the moment, we stand out like an honest politician.”
“Do you think stealth will work? I can try different types if I have to.”
“Maybe. I don’t see any priests. Give it a try.”
Tenthé re-enabled his regular stealth and stepped out onto the path. Nobody paid him any attention.
“What now?” Bear asked. “Check out the College?”
“Ah, no. Later. First, I want to look around, mostly to figure out where Isabell and the Lady are. Let’s head over to the Mission. We might be able to find a uniform along the way and get cleaned up. Maybe talk to some people and see what they have to say.”
Tenthé placed Bear on his shoulder. After a bit of time, Tenthé asked, “So, what do you think? Have you figured out what’s going on?”
“Hah!” Bear laughed. “Someone made a play. Used the Dreamer to put themselves in charge. The Turtle’s part of it, but there’s probably more. He’s all about commerce, not armies and everyone in uniforms like this.”
“Any idea if Elishua and the others are okay?”
“Um, now that they’re where the Dreamer can change things? Don’t know. If they’re in his plans, then no. If they’ve been left out, then I still don’t know. This is all new to me, too.”
After thinking for a moment, Tenthé asked, “So, where are all the other gods? I thought the Dreamer couldn’t affect them.”
“Uh, good question. Not sure what would happen if he took away all their worshipers. Would they become old gods? That would be some kind of a loophole if it worked.”
“We’ll check it out. Maybe we can get some help from them too, if that’s what Turtle did.”
“I bet it’s going to be more complicated than that.”
“Yeah. It always is.”
Tenthé was finding it harder to move through the City than he’d expected. Sometimes, when he neared other people, especially the ones with lots of badges, he found the anti-magic became stronger. Really strong. He ended up taking a very meandering path to avoid getting close to anyone, just in case.
Eventually, he made it to streets that were familiar, except even here, everyone: men, women, and even the children, were wearing uniforms. Fortunately, he was finding a lot fewer suppression fields, although there were a surprising number of Turtle God priests acting like the City guard. Which, now that he thought of it, underlined the absence of both the Guard and Guardians. Another thing to look into.
Tenthé cut through some alleys with clothing drying on lines. He climbed up, liberated a uniform, stripped down, and changed. The shirt and pants fit reasonably well, but he didn’t want to pack away his cloak and its useful pockets. So far, he hadn’t seen anyone else wearing one, but they did have book-bag sort of thing, so he tied and re-tied his cloak until he had something that might pass. It would have to do for now. He tucked Bear into it and left the top open for easy access.
Dropping his stealth, he exited the alley. Now, he wouldn’t have to worry about the anti-magic, but even his desensitized nose told him he had to find a bath or he would stand out on smell alone. Maybe not so much, if people with the dirtier jobs wore uniforms too, but it would be best to reduce his… aura. There were several bathhouses in the area which he could use. He’d have to come up with a penny, or get a chit from the Mission, which he wanted to check out, anyway.
As he crossed the street that was an unofficial boundary of the Mission District, he stopped dead. Someone ran into him and pushed past.
“Whoa!” Bear exclaimed. “It’s clean!”
“Yeah, that’s not good. And another thing. No gangs.”
“Right. Huh.”
They traveled on. Something was really off. There wasn’t any garbage spilling out of the alleys and nobody was digging through it for treasure the previous gazillion hunters had missed. In fact, there were no street people at all. Also different, only a few pedestrians were about. Usually, it was more crowded here than near the City Center.
Tenthé and Bear continued on. They came to the small plaza outside the Mission and slowly walked across. There should have been a line for mealtime, but there was almost no-one here. The only person present was a priest sitting on a chair next to a single open door. Above the door was a banner.
Bear and Tenthé kept going. Once they were past, Tenthé ducked into an alley.
“What did the banner say?” he asked Bear.
“It said: Join the Army and Make a Difference.” Bear replied.
“We have an army?”
“Guess so. I bet you this is where the conscripts come from. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that signing up isn’t a choice for some people. We’d best be careful. I expect there are sweeps to catch the next generation of recruits.”
“Come to think of it, I hear marching,” Tenthé said.
“Yeah. Might explain why the streets are so empty. What do you want to do?”
“They’ll probably let us go. I’m only a kid.”
“Yeah, but you’ll need papers or something. An excuse, at least. You’re probably supposed to be in school. Learning useful stuff, like how to stand at attention.”
On his own, as he was, Tenthé had no shortage of options, but what he needed was information. Maybe it was time to get caught.
Tenthé put down his cloak-bag, fished inside for a moment and brought out a strip of cloth. Then he lifted his shirt and wrapped it around his middle. After fumbling for a few moments, he found the right place and pulled the cloth apart to reveal a slit. In it, he stuffed his cloak. This was his best Pocket for hiding things.
Once he was done, he snapped the slit shut and the whole thing faded into invisibility. To anyone searching him, it would look and feel like his normal skin. For once, Bear went in without complaining. The toy knew when it was necessary to sacrifice for the mission. At least, until later, when he’d brag about how brave he had been.
Tenthé walked out of the alley into the plaza, aiming for the recruiting office. He noted that there were now men in light armor standing at all the roads around the plaza. Probably there to catch runners.
He strode up to the priest and said, “I want to sign up, sir!” He’d salute, but he had no clue as to which one of the myriad of options was proper.
The priest looked at him. “So, you do, do you?” he replied, dryly.
“Yeah, I’m tired of running and hiding. Can’t get a bath or nothing. Hungry too.” The priest didn’t say anything about him being too young. That was information, in itself.
The priest yawned. “Well…” he began. “You’re doing the right thing. The Turtle God would be proud of you. We need people of your caliber to keep things operating smoothly.”
It sounded like a canned speech. The priest went on, “So. What’s your name?”
“Tenthé, sir.”
“What? Another one? I swear, every second kid is named Tenthé. Well, it happens to be your lucky day! We have a recruiting drive going on, as we speak.”
The priest looked at the guards standing around the plaza.
“I don’t suppose you have papers? …Yeah, I thought not. And boy, do you need a bath! You made the right decision, coming to us. No parents, I assume?” At Tenthé’s nod, he went on. “Let me see your hands. No tattoos, not gang, then. Not that it matters. Okay, we’ll get you signed up and something to eat. Sound good? Well then, follow me.”
Tenthé trailed the priest through the door and into the large hall of the Mission. It was mostly empty, except for a few chairs and a table with some breakfast buns, fruit, and a pitcher of water with a single cup.
Two of the chairs already had people in them. The men looked worse for wear, with cuts and bruises, a black eye or two, plus a bit of blood here and there. They were also tied to the chairs and were under a spell to keep them unconscious.
“Grab some food and anything else you want and join the other volunteers. Your timing’s good, the recruitment drive’s nearly over.”
Tenthé took a breakfast bun and a glass of water to one of the seats and looked at his fellow recruits. He could smell the odor of some of the more popular drugs, and mused over the fates of these two when they came down from their highs over the next little while. It might be amusing to watch.
When the priest went back outside, Tenthé quickly frisked the men, but he wasn’t the first, they didn’t have anything on them, at all.
There was a commotion at the door and a soldier walked in. Tenthé would have to figure out what the rankings before his ignorance became obvious.
“Recruits! Stand at attention!” the soldier barked. Tenthé leaped up and came to attention. The others did what they could, which was remain passed out in their chairs.
“Private! Help everyone onto their feet!”
Tenthé wasn’t sure if that meant him, but before he could move, another huge soldier walked in, grabbed the two men by their collars, hoisted them up, chairs and all, and held them there. It was pretty impressive.
Tenthé was no stranger to standing at attention. He observed all this out of the corner of his eye.
The first soldier strode over and loomed over Tenthé. “Enlighten me,” he yelled at the top of Tenthé’s head. “How did you know not to look?”
“You told me to stand at attention, sir.” Sir seemed safe.
“Did I tell you to speak!”
“Yessir!”
This took the soldier back a bit, but he was a professional.
“A comedian, eh? See how much you’re laughing at the end of the day. Fall in!”
He spun around and marched out, followed by Tenthé and the big soldier dragging the others. Outside there was a squad of soldiers surrounding a group of sorry looking recruits, all men and boys. Most looked fairly worse for wear, likely not used to being up this early. Or late, depending.
“Fall in,” the sergeant yelled. Tenthé didn’t want to call him sergeant to his face, in case he was wrong, but that was the job he was doing. Best to use sir and let someone else figure it out for him.
Tenthé waited until most of the recruits had passed before joining in. He wasn’t last, there was also a wagon trailing behind which was for the non-ambulatory volunteers, something Tenthé figured out when the other two guys from his recruiting station were roughly tossed onto the pile in the back. In short order, they were marching through the streets. Really, not marching, but at least, moving.
It didn’t take long before Tenthé decided they were heading for the South Side. He hoped it had been changed. He had no desire to march through toxic waste.
When they cleared the last building, the expanse of the South Side came into view. Fortunately, it had been transformed, along with everything else. There was a large wooden palisade separated by a stretch of packed earth from the buildings surrounding the area. Before them, a number of troops were marching back and forth.
Tenthé’s sorry group of recruits and minders continued onto the dirt and marched toward a good-sized gate. It wasn’t closed, but little could be seen of the interior, although evidence was that it was huge, big enough to be a small town. As they stumbled along, many of the recruits were coughing from the pall of dust. Hopefully, the inside was paved with something better than semi-packed earth.
Next to him, one of the other boys was having problems. Tenthé could see blood on his bare feet and he was leaving smudges where he stepped. If he read the situation right, obviously helping would bring the wrath of the sergeant down on him, so he surreptitiously cast a small heal on the boy, who spun around and searched the group for a moment, then stopped and resumed marching. Smart kid, he might do okay in whatever was coming.
Once they’d entered the fortified area, the sorry parade kept moving for quite a while, passing many more troops. Mostly, these men were training or marching, accompanied by the yelling that seemed to be a part of military life everywhere.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a wooden building with a big banner on it. The sergeant turned.
“This is Incoming! You will be evaluated, cured, assigned, and equipped! Welcome to the Army of the City Proper Under the Benign Guidance of the All-Seeing Turtle God and His Pantheon!” he yelled.
At this, he spun around and left. Most of the recruits dropped to lie where they were; this having been the most exercise many of them had had in years.
Out of the building stepped another soldier who could have been a twin of the sergeant.
“First, I will administer the Oath! Repeat after me. I commit to serving the City Proper and the Turtle God to and beyond the best of my abilities, for all time, or until both parties agree. To obey any command from a superior without question and comment and to allow the legitimate authorities to dictate my training and deployment, so help me Turtle.”
There was a not-so-subtle push forcing the recruits to follow along. It pretty much went, “I commit… mumble, mumble, mumble… so help me Turtle.”
On top of this, Tenthé noted an agreement shoved on everyone, which he accepted, but stored where it couldn’t do any harm. He examined the spell and noted that it was one level down from something a Dominator would do, if you didn’t reject it, then you committed to being “employed” by the army until the end of time. Most people, and especially the recruits here, wouldn’t have any idea how to reject the spell.
If that weren’t enough, there were also several mental overlays that included basic tasks: marching, tactics, organization, and so on. It wasn’t all bad, having these would drastically reduce the effort needed to adapt to military life, but it would still be necessary to train to be capable of doing what the mind asked of the body.
All in all, the setup was pretty standard, but now he knew how to identify officers and what salutes to use. Of course, he didn’t allow any of the spells to actually install themselves, but with his memory, that wasn’t a problem.
Tenthé took a moment to look at his fellow recruits. Mostly, they were standing straighter and in better rows than before. Even some of the semi-conscious were trying to fall into line. Failing, but at least making an effort.
“Welcome to the army! You’ve made an excellent choice! Now that you have a basic understanding, I want you to line up, get your kit, be cured of what ails you, and receive your assignments. Attention! Form up!” and he pointed to a place just outside the door he’d come out of.
The overlays were fairly well done, the men lined up in short order. Tenthé was near the back of the line, but it moved quickly. Once inside, a private directed each person to a small booth, where a priest cast a strong cure-all, then another spell that checked if the overlays were working, and then yet another to discover any sort of magical ability. After that, the recruit was sent through a curtain, on to whatever came next.
Tenthé allowed the priest to see what he wanted him to, and passed through the curtain. On the other side, a private ordered everyone to strip and toss their clothes and then pointed the recruits toward the showers. Tenthé stripped and cast a do-not-notice on his tattoo, since the overlays had strangely detailed instructions to report any to the nearest officer. The overlay urged a short but thorough shower, so Tenthé did so and emerged cold but clean, into the next room, where a bundle was tossed at him. Unwrapping it revealed a uniform that fit adequately and a pouch that contained a mess kit. He supposed the army would have whatever else they needed stocked wherever they would bunk.
Once dressed, he passed into yet another room where a few boys about his age were scattered among many more chairs than necessary. The overlays didn’t have any instructions on where he should sit, so he picked a random seat and waited while more kids trickled in. At the front was a lectern, and once the last kid, who was the one he’d cured, now looking much better, was seated, a lieutenant entered. Everyone sprung to attention, with Tenthé lagging the others, just a tad. The officer took his position behind the lectern.
“Take your seat,” he began. “Welcome to the army. I’m sure life here will beat what you had on the outside. The seven of you will be designated as Runners. These are the heart of the army. We need to keep information moving. You will find yourselves traveling all over the City, and, as you know, there are special bunks for you, as you will be called to deliver messages at any time, night or day. After we’re done here, you will make your way to Command Central, and after that, who knows. Good-day and Honor to the Turtle.”
With that, he left. In this army, training was short and sweet. The overlays meant there was no need to hammer things into the recruit, and so, off they went. The conditioning made sure everyone kept on track, there wasn’t any of the usual talking, pushing, or shoving that would be normal for boys around this age.
Tenthé mentally congratulated himself. His spur-of-the-moment scheme had worked out quite well. He’d been fairly confident that this would be where he would be assigned, since Runners were almost always kids. Now he would have a reason to be out in the City, and his uniform was probably nearly as good as stealth. Everyone ignored Runners.
A slightly older kid showed up and directed everyone to follow him out a door and back outside. As they marched, Tenthé noted that most of the buildings in the fort were single-story wooden structures, some fancier than others. Central Command was the only multi-story building. It was still made of wood, but instead of planks, it used massive beams reinforced with iron. The main defense, though, came from the wards laced through its structure.
Tenthé followed his group into this building, using the Runner’s entrance, a small door around the side. A short passage led to a common room containing curtained off bunks and a table piled high with food. At one side was a commissary for changes of clothes and other items the Runners might need. The overlays showed they were paid five pennies every Sixday, which seemed like a lot to Tenthé. Five was more than one.
A good-sized desk overlooking the area was manned by a grizzled veteran, a senior private. It was his job to hand out assignments. The new recruits lined up in front of the desk and saluted, which consisted of a bow while touching a finger to your forehead. Fortunately, Runners didn’t have to salute when they were working, since it was more important to keep the information flowing.
The senior private greeted them, “Welcome to the Runners. This first day, grab some food and catch some sleep. Until you get into shape, your runs will be short. Can’t have you keeling over. Dismissed!”
He pointed at Tenthé, “Except you. You seem in better condition than the others. You up to working now?
“Sir, yes sir!” Tenthé yelled. You weren’t supposed to address a private as sir, but it never hurt.
“Damn overlays,” the man mumbled to himself as he rubbed his temples. “Not so loud. We don’t need it, and my head hurts. Seems your overlays have taken well, but just to remind you, you’ll carry messages, verbal and written. Do you think you can remember something if I tell it to you, and get it right?”
“Yes, sir! I have a good memory, sir!”
“Stop yelling! Anyway, you know you’re not supposed to read any missives you are given?”
“Sir, yes, sir! Not a problem. Can’t read.”
“What? You can’t?”
“Sir, no sir! The glyphs get all mixed up. I can remember it if someone reads it to me.”
“Really? That’s actually good. We need people to carry a lot of important stuff, off the record. In this, it’s an advantage if you can’t read.”
“First time someone’s been happy that I can’t read, sir!”
“Hah, yeah. I suppose. For the time being, though, I’ll keep you on the simple jobs. Let’s start you on the main room. There’s a big conference there about the Horde. Your job is to stand with the other Runners at the back and do what you’re told.”
He paused before adding, “Another thing. Sometimes the sender or receiver may give you some money, for a tip. You know what to do with it?”
“Sir, yes, sir! I’m to turn it in to you for proper handling, sir!”
“Yes… yes. Right. I think you’re going to work out fine.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Okay. Go out this door, turn left, up the first set of stairs, then across the hallway to the big room. It’ll be the one with everyone yelling at each other. Stand against the wall and take any messages you’re given. Generally, the overlays will tell you what to do. If you can, return here when you’re done. If you find yourself stuck in the ass end of no-where, try to get back here tomorrow. Understand?”
“Sir! Yes, sir!”
“Stop yelling!”
Tenthé saluted and turned to the table, where he grabbed some fruit. He wasn’t hungry, but this was the army, who knew when he’d get another chance to eat? After quickly scarfing it down, he washed in the sink conveniently placed beside the table, and headed out. This casualness was allowed by the Overlays, even if his were active, Runners had some leeway over how strictly some orders had to be followed. He followed the directions, and after a few false starts, finally found the main conference room.
The private had been right, it was filled with many officers talking loudly about everything from securing supplies to how to defeat the Horde. Tenthé carefully checked the crowd, he didn’t see anybody he recognized. No-one from the Guardians, or anyone from the College. Neither Tomas, nor the Lord Mayor. There were, though, quite a few Turtle God priests scattered about, arguing as much as the uniformed officers.
Tenthé had learned a lot in a very short time. The Turtle had taken over and was running things. Against all expectations, he’d set up a pretty strict government, very militaristic, and the streets had been cleaned up by pressing the undesirables into the army. He didn’t know if that was good or bad, but it did mean the people he knew at the Mission were probably somewhere here, now. Or dead, if the Envoy’s observations of the skirmishes were accurate.
Tenthé edged around the room, doing a little work passing messages until he found a conversation that sounded interesting. A priest was arguing with one of the generals.
“The God wants this Horde dealt with! With our markets blocked, anything except military production has ground to a halt! He will support what you need, but it has to end with the Horde being gone!”
“I have nothing against that,” the general replied, “but we’re at a stalemate. My House is fully committed, we have as much to lose as anyone. I had hoped our original contract would have avoided this whole problem, but they weaseled out by allowing another tribe to take their place. We couldn’t have predicted that they’d be that underhanded and now we’ve been under siege for over a year!
“If your God, on the other hand, could take the field, then we would have the strength to push them away. Although, if they have a weapon like what we saw the other day, we might be in real trouble, even with the direct help from a god.
“That’s true,” the priest replied. “I don’t know what that big explosion was. It seemed to hit them as hard as us. But whatever, our God can’t get involved directly. If he did, they can bring in their own gods. The stories say no-one usually survives that sort of conflict, and I believe it. We have to beat them the old-fashioned way, by bashing their heads in. That’s your job. How many times do we have to go over this?”
As far a Tenthé could tell, the two weren’t actually arguing, just doing that thing that adults did: saying what everyone already knew, over and over. At that point, the General turned to him. “Boy!” he yelled. “Come here!”
“Yes, sir?”
“Take a message to my wife. Tell her I’m going to be late… again.”
“Certainly, sir. No problem.”
“Good. Here’s a coin for your trouble.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The two went back to their ongoing argument. Tenthé ran to the door and paused. There was a minor problem.
“Hey!” he hissed to another Runner.
“What?”
“I’m new. Who’s that general?”
“Oh him. He’s General Gledhill. Biggest family in the City. You doing a run for him? Lucky bastard.”
“I suppose.” Tenthé said before he flipped him the coin. “Here take this. I got enough.”
The boy looked at it and goggled a bit. It was probably a lot, but Tenthé didn’t care.
“Uh, thanks,” was all the boy said before he pocketed the coin and turned back to look for someone to call him. Just like the streets… don’t let on what things are worth.
Tenthé knew where the Gledhill properties were. Isabell’s house! Time for a little snooping.
He left through the Runner’s door and, true to his title, ran across the base to the main entrance and on into the Mission district. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been in the meeting, it was starting to get dark.
As he jogged, he thought about what he’d overheard. Apparently the Turtle God wasn’t in complete control. It also appeared that the Horde had pulled a fast one on the god. And, something had happened to the timeline. People here believed the Horde had besieged the City for a year. His little expedition probably hadn’t taken that much time, even if he didn’t know exactly how long a year was.
That meant the Dreamer had reset things to before he’d gone to the College, which was before when Isabell went all cube-y. Even before the House uprising. And, another thing. He hadn’t seen any non-humans in the City, at all. That might mean a lot more had been altered. It wouldn’t have been easy, the Dreamer could only directly change humans. But, as he shoveled reality around, maybe he found a way to push everyone else out of the City, or made them into slaves, or something like that.
Well, first, he’d see if he could find Isabell. It was possible she wouldn’t know him now. Although, dealing with her would have been tricky. The cubes would have complicated things and perhaps they saved her from whatever the Dreamer tried.
Thoughts spinning, Tenthé ran a little faster.