Tenthé spent the next few days running around the City, delivering messages and seeing what the changes were. He had no luck finding the kids, but he wasn’t really trying that hard. He also tried to discover what the Sage was up to, but he had to admit, that august fellow knew his job. If Tenthé hadn’t known something was up, he never would have suspected. And, even with his knowledge he couldn’t find out much. There were a few homes that were vacant that shouldn’t be, some businesses that were unexpectedly shuttered, but these could be explained away as normal. The Sage was good. Or a complete fraud. But probably good.
One other thing that was considerably more noticeable: there were almost no non-humans to be found. Before, there had been a healthy representation. Certainly, the City was human more than not, but still, there had been a fair number of others.
Now, nothing. Well, except vermin. In some cases, there were quite a number, especially creatures that were eaten by some of the missing non-humans. With few predators, the City needed to use exterminators to contain them. It was another point that the Dreamer’s re-do had seemed to have missed. Not a big thing, but still, something.
By judicious distribution of most of his pay and tips, Tenthé had become friends with a number of Runners and soldiers. Both the soldiers and Runners were inveterate gossipers, with opinions about everything, making fairly easy for Tenthé to find out at least something about what he wanted to know.
Currently, he was eating with some of the soldiers, trying to get a clue as to where all the non-humans in the City had gotten to. The information he was getting wasn’t good, it appeared the Turtle was encouraging bigotry. One grizzled soldier was telling about his duties in the prison, a part of the fort Tenthé hadn’t visited yet.
“Yeah,” the soldier said, “The little ones cried, but it’s all fake. If I was stupid enough to turn my back, they’d jump me, phony tears and all. We ripped their clothes off; no idea where they stole them from, but no way they made ‘em themselves. The adults talked just like people, asking what we were doing, but you know, Turtle told us they ain’t nothing. He created the world for humans, and the others are trying to take it, but they worship false gods. We need to oust them and their pretenders, then the Horde will see we aren’t going to fold, and leave.” He went on, describing more about how they treated the non-humans they had imprisoned.
It wasn’t the most pleasant discussion, but the listening soldiers were sympathetic. It was one thing Tenthé’d noted over the years: most races, human and non-human, liked to assume that they were the top of the heap and all others weren’t really as good. Maybe they needed to be that way to compete, but his experience was more along the lines that the louder the argument, the less it matched reality. Many thought that the last person standing won, and assumed it would be them. A few times, Tenthé and his armies had demonstrated the error in their thinking.
Fortunately, it was quite easy to get these self-proclaimed experts going on any subject, which helped Tenthé find out whatever he wanted. He perked up as another soldier chimed in.
“What about those two we have now?” he said loudly, the only way to break into the first soldier’s monologue.
“They just laugh off anything we do. Quite a number of us have had to go and get fixed up. They aren’t too bright, but Gods, oops, I mean, God, they’re tough! Don’t seem to care what we do to them.
“But, ah, we’ll manage! Won’t we boys?” he finished with a yell.
At this, the entire table roared their agreement. “We got some Magisters working on it. They’ll find something, then those two will join the others!”
This was what Tenthé had been waiting for, it was one of the reasons he hung out here. Apparently, he had some scouting to do in the near future. There was no need to rush, even he would have trouble hurting the kids, not without destroying a good part of the City. Which… was looking like a better and better choice.
And truthfully, he had not ruled out taking it all down. The City Proper, as it was now, wasn’t his city anymore. He was still deciding, but was willing to keep his options open. There were certainly complications. He had no desire to hurt innocents and the Turtle God and his pantheon were probably more powerful than he was, in one way or another. But, they were knowns. He could figure something out if he really tried. And, if he could stay calm. Not a given, at this point.
Anyway, the next task was to rescue the kids. He couldn’t do much about the past… well, unless he had the Dreamer in a headlock. Even then, the Dreamer could probably find a way to screw up what he wanted.
Maybe he should drop by for a visit? Hmm. Something else to think about.
By now the table was roaring, with the soldiers congratulating themselves on being themselves, so Tenthé slipped away.
As usual, he didn’t have much of a plan. More of an intent. He had found that the City had many fewer back passages and dark alleys than it used to, but that might not mean they weren’t there, just that they were harder to find. Very likely the fort had some, because it was always good to have options and the military mind liked options.
Why would the jails have these hidden access points? Well, from what he’d heard from the soldiers, not all of those captured received due process.
Tenthé was pretty sure that a back way existed, so now he just had to find it. The prison butted up against the City wall and if he wanted to sneak someone in and out, he would have built a tunnel that followed the wall until it exited the fort. Seemed reasonable enough, and it gave him an area to search.
He jogged over to the Runner’s hall and up to the desk. The person manning it greeted him warmly. Tenthé had been generous to the Dispatchers with what he shared.
“Have you anything outside, today, sir?” he asked. The privates in charge always liked to be called sir.
“Hey there, Tenthé,” the man responded. “Got something that has to go to the armorers, the leather they used wasn’t too good. No one wants the job since it’s so heavy. You up to it?”
“No problem. I’m pretty strong.” He flexed his scrawny arms.
“I see. Very impressive! Good thing it’s only half a kilopace. Try not to die. Ha-ha.”
“Well, okay, but I can’t promise anything.” A standard give-and-take.
“Yeah, right! Go to stores and get the package. I won’t expect you to finish up any too soon,” he winked.
“Alright, sure,”
Tenthé ran to the main depot. The package was fairly large and, as described, quite heavy. He made a show about how awkward it was to carry. The private behind the desk took pity and gave him a backpack, which helped. Reality was that Tenthé found the weight trivial, but he was only a kid, so you know? He had to make it look good.
The backpack was quite decent, not just a bag with straps, and once properly adjusted, it was reasonably comfortable to wear while jogging. He trotted out of the fort and into the City. It didn’t take long to get the package to its destination, where he generously let the armorers keep the backpack. It was military issue and probably worth a fair amount. This sort of thing was what made Tenthé a favorite.
Now that he had some free time, he made his way to an establishment that catered to the crowd from the fort and bought some tea with the few pennies he had left over. He sat in a lone chair by himself, greeting a number of people he recognized. After carefully checking that nobody was paying him any attention, he faded into stealth and left. It wasn’t likely that anyone was watching him, but it paid to be careful. Even though they’d said he was too easy-going to ever be one of them, this was something the assassins had stressed: always establish an alibi. For Tenthé, it was more of a sometimes than an always, but at least he tried.
Under stealth, he jogged to the south-west side of the City where the fort met the City wall, automatically avoiding people and other traffic. The area wasn’t a slum, nor was it affluent. It was a typical neighborhood where the families of those who worked in the fort lived. The street level consisted mostly of stores with residences above. The buildings were typically three stories tall, which was a number that Tenthé could kind of understand.
He started snooping around, working hard to avoid the kids who were everywhere and would pop up randomly when he wasn’t expecting them. Not an impossible task, but a bit of a pain. Eventually, he found it best to crouch on a bin or box when he was scanning. Even so, the occasional ball and, once, some poor rat, bounced off his shields.
His scans were very interesting. Most of the buildings had been dug out underneath, creating crude basements. Quite a number of these basements were being used for manufacturing of everything from clothing and shoes to magical artifacts. Tenthé was surprised to note that many of the artisans were some of the missing non-humans and that most of the rooms were connected, forming a warren. The exact definition of an underground economy.
The issue was, though, that these businesses would be in the way of a tunnel, unless it was buried really deep. It was possible that it was inside the City wall, but Tenthé wasn’t ready to brave the wards to find out. At least not until he’d checked out the more likely places.
Tenthé jumped down from the box he was on, leaped aside to avoid a pack of kids, and weaved his way through the bedlam until he had a relatively clear path. He took off and ran completely around the outside of the fort to the south-east side.
This area looked more promising. It consisted of larger houses, nearly estates, situated in a quiet neighborhood. This was likely where the officers resided when away from their family homes. It would be perfect for clandestine operations, a few extra carriages going into any of these properties every now and again wouldn’t be noticed.
He hit paydirt on an estate next to the City wall, one property removed from the the fort. In addition to the manor, there was a carriage house, nearly as large. Alternating his eyes to search the area revealed a tunnel coming from under the carriage house.
As far as he could tell, the manor itself wasn’t inhabited and the curtains were drawn on all the windows. On the other hand, he could see tracks where vehicles had gone through the wrought iron gate and into the carriage house. It was easy to spot if you knew what to look for.
The carriage house did have a few people inside it, living in an apartment above the garage. He debated his options and decided to try the simplest.
Walking up to the gate, he pushed the alarm glyph. A few moments later a door opened in the carriage house and a large, very soldier-y looking individual in nondescript clothes stepped out and all but marched over to glare at him from the other side of the gate.
“Waddya want?” he demanded.
“I was sent to check on something.”
“Yeah, what?”
“I’m supposed to wait until the prisoner arrives and then let the gen… I mean, somebody, know they’re here.”
There were certain advantages to being a ten-year-old. And the Runner’s uniform helped.
After a moment, the trust-me-I-am-definitely-not-a-soldier ventured, “I suppose you can wait out here until the carriage comes.”
“Uh, it’d be better if I didn’t. Someone might wonder. And I’m supposed to watch when they’re booked in. Well, not booked, but you know what I mean.”
“Can’t do that. You need to be cleared to get by the wards.”
“No problem, that’s been done.”
“You sure? They’re pretty rough if you’re not cleared.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“All right, then, but walk where I walk. Don’t stray.”
“Okay.”
Tenthé followed the man into the carriage house. He noted the path they followed wended through a number of fairly ordinary wards. Even if triggered, the alert was only local and wouldn’t go to the fort. Inside the carriage house, the lower floor was set up with stables and an area to store and maintain the carriages. It would also be good for quietly unloading unwilling passengers without anyone being any the wiser.
There was a false passageway in one of the pits used for working under the carriages. Anyone going down there would regret the decision. The real access was in a blank section of the back wall and was much harder to detect.
“To be sure you are who you say you are, go stand by the door to the tunnel.” The soldier ordered.
Just for fun, Tenthé headed toward the pit. At the last moment, he veered off and stood beside the wall.
“Ha-ha,” the man chortled. “Had me going there, didn’t you? I hope you’re not lying about being okay to go in there, the wards in the tunnel aren’t a joke. Come on upstairs. You can have some tea while we wait.”
Tenthé had to admit, the next little while was a tad stressful. The soldiers, or rather, caretakers, quizzed him on what he’d been doing, and he answered honestly. They appeared to take him at face value. It was obvious that he was a Runner which, of course meant he had to have the overlays, plus they knew some of the same soldiers.
Tenthé diverted some attention to analyze the wards in the tunnel. The caretaker had been understating how powerful they were. Someone caught would have a very painful last few moments of life. His initial analysis had been wrong, these ones were subtly tied into the fort. It took Tenthé a little time to come up with an approach to get past them using a mix of misdirection and disabling. He also left himself a way to invalidate all the clearances that the soldiers, um… caretakers, had. You know, just in case.
It was quite late when a bell rang, pulling Tenthé out of a doze. The others had been sitting, quietly talking and reading, but at the alarm they unhurriedly got up to prepare. Tenthé followed them downstairs and waited by the access to the tunnel as the large door to the courtyard slid open and a carriage entered, pulled by two horses. Once inside, it halted and one of the caretakers slid the door shut.
The first thing Tenthé noticed was the blacked out windows, making it impossible to see inside. The driver stayed in place while the caretakers came around to the side of the carriage. One opened the passenger door and the other leaned in to talk with someone Tenthé couldn’t see.
The was a short exchange and a little laughter, then the caretaker reached in and hauled out a small figure encased in a heavy anti-magic bag. The only things showing were the feet, which, although hobbled, appeared different. Furred, with claws. The figure was struggling and making muted growling and yowling noises. Obviously bound and gagged under the bag.
If Tenthé wasn’t mistaken, he’d found the Envoy.
Next to the soldiers, she was quite small, and, without having to worry about her claws and magic, they had little problem hauling her along, administering the occasional swat when she got particularly ornery.
A door in the back wall swung open when the caretaker tossed a spell in its direction. Tenthé noted what he’d done for future reference, then followed as the caretaker dragged his struggling captive down the newly revealed stairs.
The stairs led to a tunnel, well constructed from stone blocks, and dimly lit by the occasional glowing light. As they travelled, Tenthé picked up a fairly strong smell of soot and ashes, along with an undertone of barbecue. An odor he was familiar with: a charnel pit. Another hint was the large number of spirits lurking nearby.
The corridor began fading back on one side, revealing the pit, along with various other things: chairs and tables with restraints along with an assortment of tools and instruments. Even manacles on the walls.
The silly thing was, though, that information could be gathered much more reliably by magic, with the subject left unharmed by the process. The only practical reason for torture would be to scare others into compliance. But, if it were carried out in secret, like here, then it was being done just to be cruel.
As Tenthé gazed across the pit, the spirits of quite a number of non-humans, and a few humans, surged back and forth, obviously not happy with the afterlife. If he had time, he might return later and teach them how to extend their reach into normal reality. It wasn’t exactly easy, but he figured most of them had the motivation.
They continued on until a well-lit barrier of iron bars guarded by a small number of soldiers, came into view.
One of the guards hailed the caretaker, “So Tom, what have we here?”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“No idea. Looks like a cat thing. Makes a hell of a ruckus. Might want to watch out for those claws.”
“Ah won’t be a problem. Those kind get pretty quiet when we take out their teeth and claws.”
At that point he noticed Tenthé.
“Hey, what’s with the kid?”
“Showed up. Said he had to see the prisoner delivered and report to someone. A general or something.”
“What! That’s not how it works.”
“Yeah, but he got past the wards and, well, he’s just a kid.”
The guard yelled, “You! Come here!”
Tenthé did so.
“You’re not supposed to be here. Who are you?”
“Oh, nobody. I came to get my friends out. You know, the round ones you can’t hurt.”
The guards and caretakers laughed at this absurd statement until they slid into slices. The only remaining guard had an extra-strong shield, which wasn’t much help. He died after tossing a fireball at Tenthé without realizing another shield had encased his own. One that didn’t pass fireballs.
When Tenthé’d spoken, the Envoy had gone silent. He walked over, snapped the chain holding the body bag closed and pulled it off her. He then removed the other chains and the second bag from her head, plus the wires keeping her mouth from opening. There were quite a number of flashes and poofs as he ripped through wards.
The Envoy stood quiet as he freed her, although he could sense her gathering her magic.
“Keep that, for now,” he told her. “We still need to find the kids.”
“What? They’re here too?” she asked, impressing him with her quick recovery.
“You think they’d be any good at hiding?”
“Well, no, but the Lady…”
“Yeah, the Sage’s got her.”
“He hasn’t left, yet? That’s a bad sign.”
“Depends. Anyway, how’d they catch you?”
“Elishua turned me in.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.”
“Thought you’d be more upset.”
“Why did she turn you in?”
“Oh, you’re no fun. We were trapped and figured it’d best if only one of us were caught. She ‘captured’ me, and was going to see if she could get me released. I guess she doesn’t have to, now.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, although I could use a little healing.”
Tenthé looked her over. She definitely wasn’t okay, not after her captors had found she was somewhat human-compatible.
“Really, you’re pretty torn up.”
“Ha, this? Remember I’m a cat. This was just a normal date for me.”
“Sure.” Tenthé healed her. Then he decided to go for it and added more. He increased her tiny energy store, changed her entire structure to be much tougher and stronger, and straightened and cleaned out what he could of her paths.
“Thanks,” she said, once he was done. “I feel good. In fact, really good! Like, bite through these bars good!”
“Well, try it.”
“What? Ha, right. If that worked, then I could do this,” she joked, then made a half-assed swipe with her claws at the bars, and turned to Tenthé, snickering. An instant later she spun back to watch as the rest of the coin sized pieces of the bars followed the first few, making a plink, plink, plink sound as they hit the ground.
She had just enough time to scream when Tenthé stuck her with a knife.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! … Wait, uh… I’m okay! Why… why don’t I have a hole in me?”
“Well, I could have healed you, but it was no extra effort to make it so you do it for yourself.”
“So, really? How long is the spell going to last? When will it wear off?”
“Uh, never. I made it part of you.”
“What! Without asking?”
“I can take it back.”
“No, no, no! Let’s not be hasty! Is this for real? You’re not joking?” she asked.
At his nod, she laughed and began dancing around. “Ha-ha-ha! Stick this in your starry bung-holes, you arrogant dingle-berries!”
She stopped and turned to Tenthé. “You do know being an Envoy isn’t really an honor to our people. Neither is having magic.”
“Well, someone might not find it so smart to say that to your face, with what you can do, now.”
“Yeah. Ha. Ha. Ha.” The epitome of an evil chuckle. After a moment, she added, “Wait. Shouldn’t we be moving? What if there’s an alarm? It has to happen sometime. With the wards and everything, someone’s going to figure out we’re here!”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Why?”
“They can’t stop me. Probably not you, either, now. And the kids aren’t in any danger. They may not be able to escape, but there’s no way they could be hurt by these clowns.”
The Envoy stared at him. After a moment, she asked, “What are you? You said you’re not a god. But maybe you’re a… something?”
“Uh, yeah. I like that. I’m a something.”
The Envoy sighed, then added, “Are we going to go in there and destroy everything?”
“No. We’ll use only enough force to get the job done. Every now and again it’s best to have a surprise or two hidden away. No need showing any more than we have to. Besides, it’s more fun, this way.”
“You’re strange.”
“I suppose,” Tenthé said. “But, I’m just me.”
Then he continued, “Before we start, I even have a plan. The idea is to free everyone and come back through here. Once we are safely past, I’ll turn on the wards so they’ll attack the people chasing us. If we do it right, we should be able get away without anyone knowing who was here.”
The Envoy stared at him. “You know? That isn’t half bad.” she reluctantly admitted.
“Yeah. Don’t act so surprised. Let’s go.”
“Any idea where the kids are?”
“A little. The prison’s all underground, under the fort. It’s really military, with everything laid out in a grid. I couldn’t make out what’s in all the rooms, there are too many wards in place. I figured I’d stealth around and find out more about what’s here. I was going let the prisoners out, but if there are some who can’t walk, then the guards might kill them. I guess I could kill all the guards, instead. Let’s look around, first.”
The Envoy stared at him. He couldn’t really tell what she was thinking through the fur on her face. When she didn’t say anything, he added, “Okay, then. Give me a moment to get rid of the bodies.”
She yowled a bit when he made a spark to burn everything. It even melted the bars so nothing was left except rivulets of metal. Let whoever investigated try to figure out what had happened.
He and the Envoy went onto stealth and proceeded toward the prison area. There wasn’t anyone else around, and after a short distance, the corridor ended in a metal door. Tenthé jimmied the lock and wards, and both of them winced as the door squealed open. They slipped through and Tenthé fixed it so everything looked normal, but only he or the Envoy would be able to open the door. Tenthé’s experience was that the regular soldiers would balk at damaging anything they might get yelled at for, and any delay would only help their escape.
“Hey,” the Envoy hissed. “something’s weird. My stealth is taking a lot less power than before!”
“Yeah, I fixed that too. You have more power and it works smoother. You’re welcome.”
“What’s going to happen when I cast a spell?”
“I don’t know, like… stand back farther?”
The Envoy started saying things in her caterwauling language. Tenthé wasn’t sure whether it was a compliment or not. He decided to go with it being a compliment.
She hushed and they crept on. They were in a large passageway with reinforced doors along one side. Opening one of the doors revealed a smaller hallway lined by rows of cells.
“So, is this whole area is like a big square with cells in the middle?” the Envoy asked.
“Guess so,” Tenthé replied. “Let’s find out what’s locked up here. Mind the wards on the latches. See if your claws can cut through the doors.”
“Really? They’re a lot thicker than the bars.”
“Try.”
She made a slice and giggled, then a few more, and a square fell out of the door, hitting the floor with a loud clang. The two of them looked around, but no-one appeared to check out the noise.
“I suppose we ought to be a bit more careful, next time,” the Envoy suggested. She tossed a small light into the cell. Rather, she meant to, but instead, the light was more like a flash grenade. One of Tenthé’s armor spells protected him and he noted that the Envoy had a second eyelid that closed over each eye.
“Maybe we don’t want to blind any prisoners,” he suggested.
“Sorry! But, it’s all your fault.”
It didn’t matter, the cell was empty. To speed things up, Tenthé used his sight to look in the cells as they walked down the hallway.
“No-one’s here and it doesn’t look as if these have been used for quite a while,” he said.
“What do you see if you look further?” The Envoy suggested. Then she looked at Tenthé. “You didn’t think of that, did you?”
“Uh, I would have,” he answered, a little petulantly.
“Ah, yeah. I keep forgetting you’re you,” she said, to no-one in particular.
After looking, Tenthé reported, “I thought it might be like this, when I saw the charnel pit and all the spirits. The only things alive down here are the kids and a few guards. The kids are being kept in one of the central cells. Those are bigger. The guards are there, too. There isn’t anyone else anywhere, at least not down here. Let’s go.”
Neither of them were terribly affected by the news. Tenthé had seen much worse, and the Envoy was a Trachteur; not known for their empathy. They ran to the end of the row of cells, into the passageway, entered the most central door, then made their way down the hallway until stopping in front of a very substantial pair of doors. Tenthé gave them a pull. They appeared to be locked, or barred.
“Wow! These are huge,” the Envoy exclaimed. “I wonder what they kept here, before?”
“Don’t care. Why don’t you open them for us?” Tenthé suggested.
“Me?” the Envoy asked. She pounded on the door. “These are too thick for me to cut through, and the hinges are hidden.”
“Try hooking it with your claws and pull.”
“Are you nuts? These doors are twice as big as me!”
“So?”
She was dubious, but Tenthé’d been right about the other doors, so she decided to try.
It was second nature for her to slice through the wood and hook her claws in the metal, but when she pulled, all that happened was she slide toward the door.
She looked over at Tenthé, who was lying on the floor, laughing so hard that tears were coming down his cheeks. The Envoy was not impressed.
“Leverage. Right,” she said, after thinking for a moment. She re-hooked her claws and jumped up to put her feet on the wall next to the latch. This time when she pulled, something pinged off into the distance, and the door slammed open, flinging her around like a rag doll.
Trying to look as if that was what she intended all along, the Envoy unhooked her claws and walked over to Tenthé, who was getting up, still chortling. They entered the cell, where an odd sight met their eyes.
On the left side of the room, the kids were manacled to the wall, while on the right, a number of soldiers surrounded an old-style cannon that shot stone balls. There were a number of dents in the wall around the kids, with bits of stone all over the floor.
One of the kids, maybe Yu, slipped his hand out of his manacle and waved.
“Hey, look,” he called to his brother, “It’s Tenthé and Gyri! Hey An! Wake up!”
“You!” a soldiers shouted. “Put your manacle back on! We’ve told you not to do that!” Then he turned to Tenthé and the Envoy. “And you two! What are you doing here? Get down on your bellies, if you know what’s good for you!”
At this point, Yu tore the other manacle out of the wall and walked over to An, who was hanging from his chains. After ripping him down, Yu slammed his brother onto the floor. “Wake up! We’re being rescued!”
With this, An stirred, mostly yawning and stretching.
By this time, the soldiers were throwing spells at both groups, with equal results. The Envoy was bouncing up and down, “Can I? Let me! Please!” she was pleading of Tenthé.
“Okay,” he answered, “but be caref…”
The Envoy cast a spell and a beam of light, or something similar, sprang into existence between her and the soldiers. It looked like a steel rod, except, as she played it back and forth, everything exploded; the cannon, the wall, and especially the soldiers.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the beam blinked out, leaving the sound of falling debris.
The Envoy stared. “What the hells was that?” she exclaimed.
“Oh yeah…” Tenthé started, but just then they were tackled by the kids. Tenthé allowed them to pile on, but the Envoy remained upright as the kids failed to do more than push her back a small amount.
“You got stronger,” Yu said. “Good. We thought you were too weak and were going to die. Before.”
At that moment, an alarm began hooting and various wall panels flashed red. The room was also making some ominous sounds, signaling that the ceiling might be about to collapse.
“Um, everyone! Time to go!” the Envoy yelled. “Tenthé, I think your exit plan’s good! Go! Go! Go!” She ran out with the others following. They rushed past the cells, through the door to the main passageway, and back to the tunnel they’d used to enter. The Envoy slammed the gate open and everyone piled through, with Tenthé closing it behind. They kept going until reaching the carriage house, where the Envoy made swift work of the soldiers waiting around the carriage and in the apartment.
Yu and An managed to convince the horses to back the carriage out of the garage, and once they were in the open, the brothers dragged the carriage in a circle until it and the horses faced the correct direction. One of them pulled the gate open, causing bits of metal from the latch to fly everywhere. Along the way, the kids walked through a number of wards, ignoring the effects. The Envoy climbed into the carriage, while Tenthé drove. Fortunately, the horses were well broken, giving Tenthé no trouble. As expected, the remaining wards weren’t triggered by the passage of the carriage.
When they’d exited the gate, the kids shut it, bent the metal to hold it in place, and clambered into the carriage, pushing the Envoy into one corner. She understood the need and tolerated the indignity.
As they moved along, Tenthé was quite pleased with their good fortune; the carriage made it easy to get the kids and Envoy to the City Center.
It might be a bit strange to see a Runner driving a carriage, but not strange enough that they would be stopped. Once they made it to the Center, Tenthé drew the carriage to a halt in a pullover meant for that purpose. He got down and opened the door to let no-one out. At least that was how it looked to the few passers-by. He then walked into the parkland, talking to himself.
Anyone listening would have heard, “Yep, he said to get them here and then he’d take it from there. Nope, I don’t know any more, except even I couldn’t find where he had everyone. And yeah, I trust him.”
He paused as if listening, then said, “No, I don’t want to burn the City to the ground. I’m waiting for the right time. No, not to burn it down. I know it’s hard to believe, but I do have an idea about what I’m going to do. Mostly, I don’t need plans, but in this case, I have one. Well… maybe not, a ‘plan’, but I have a lot of things going on and when it’s time, I’ll use what’s ready. And no, I’m still not burning the City to the ground.”
As the predominantly invisible group walked along, it became apparent there was some sort of celebration going on around them. This wasn’t uncommon. The area was often where mini-circuses and other entertainments were held to distract the populace from their ordinary lives, or from other things. Like the Horde camped outside the gates.
As the group approached the area where the festivities were taking place, they found it to be some sort of costume ball. To all appearances, everyone was dressed up as something they hated. There were all sorts of Faery represented, and, with the use of magic, the costumes were extremely realistic.
Tenthé admired the simplicity of the idea. This would be a great way to allow non-humans to congregate so the Sage could save them. Seemingly, someone else was worried about the same thing, because a number of priests were present, checking that the fake beings were actually fake. Still, it would be relatively easy to confuse their tests.
An sidled up to Tenthé. “Hey! We could get up close to someone,” he suggested. “Then if a priest tests for realness, they’d fail and get into trouble.” Yu was all for it and even Tenthé thought it would be fun.
The Envoy was the spoilsport. “Yeah. What if that someone is one of the Sage’s people? Like, say, your Mama. How do you think that would go? Let’s keep looking, but stay away from the priests. And remember, we’re invisible so don’t let anyone run into you.”
After walking through the throngs of revelers a number of times, they still hadn’t been contacted. Tenthé figured that this celebration was a little too obvious. Maybe they should try somewhere less populated? As he led everyone away from the main crowd, a priest approached, walking purposefully.
Tenthé scanned him and found he was exactly what he appeared to be, an acolyte with a low-level connection to the god. Probably a zealot trying to rise in the temple hierarchy. He probably wasn’t aware he had a death wish.
“Hey, you! Stop! I want to talk to you!” the priest ordered. Tenthé halted and the others moved a small distance away. The priest confronted Tenthé and, leaning close, said quietly “Hey, Tenthé. Any luck with the Lady’s kids? Do you need help?”
Tenthé warily peered at the priest. He couldn’t see any indication that the priest was anything other than what he appeared to be.
“Do I know you?” he asked.
“Yeah! It’s me. The Sage. I guess this is the first time you’ve seen me using one of my main powers.”
Tenthé was truly impressed. There was no way he could tell that this wasn’t a priest. But still, it paid to be cautious.
“So… tell me, where did we first meet?” he probed.
Without hesitation, the priest answered, “On the street when I had just entered the City.”
“What is the name of our over-stuffed friend?”
“Uh… Percy.”
“Okay,” Tenthé said, reluctantly. “I guess you’re him. You. Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“So, what’s going on with the kids?”
“They’re over there with the Envoy.”
“The Envoy? Oh, great! I wasn’t sure what had happened to her. That’s a bonus! We don’t want the Trachteur mad at us, or, at least, not any madder than they usually are.”
“We? Who’s we?”
“Um… never mind, I’ll tell you later. Anyway, great stealth! I can barely tell there’s something there, at all! We should get together and exchange techniques when we’ve got more time.”
“Yeah. Sure. More time. You know that’s never going to happen.”
“It might.”
“Uh-huh. And another thing,” Tenthé added, “I wouldn’t be sure about the Envoy going with you. She has her own mind.”
“I’ll talk to her and see for myself, if that’s okay with you.”
Tenthé snorted. That was something people did: asking for permission before going ahead and doing what they were going to do, anyway. He waved the kids over. The Envoy had disappeared into her own stealth, which, after the changes he’d made, was even better than before. It wasn’t easy, but managed to track her as she snuck around to the other side of the Sage. She was probably skeptical of his abilities, which was something he could respect since, in spite of his best efforts, he still couldn’t tell that the priest wasn’t real.
The Sage glanced over his shoulder at the Envoy, then stage whispered to Tenthé, “Do you think she believes me? From the look of her, I’m not so sure.”
“You might as well give it up. He can see you,” Tenthé told the Envoy.
“Dang it! I thought I had him,” she responded.
“Yeah. I can’t hide from him, either. My stealth is good enough to fool most of the gods, but he sees right thorough it. That’s the biggest clue we have that he is what he says. ”
“So, what now?” the Envoy asked the Sage.
“I’ll take the boys, and maybe you, to somewhere safe. It’s your choice. If you decide to come with me, you can’t leave until I say so. Security, you know.”
The Envoy stood for a moment, thinking over her choices.
“Um,” she said, eventually. “This City isn’t any fun, anymore. I’d have to keep hidden and I’m worn out. It would be good to take some time to get back in touch with myself and to work on my, uh… recent changes.
“Do you mind?” she asked Tenthé.
Tenthé simply shrugged.
“I have no idea what you mean by that,” the Envoy responded, then added, “Don’t you want a break too? We’ve been at it nearly a year, but I admit, you look like you’ve been on vacation the whole time. How do you do that?”
Tenthé shrugged again.
Realizing that was all she was going to get, the Envoy turned to the Sage. “I guess it’s your turn. What now?”
“Just follow me. And Tenthé, try to leave something standing. Not everyone has the options you do.”
Then he chortled. “You know what I mean, do what you can, then stop. People still need you the way you are. When this is all over, track down the Guard. His involvement is more complicated than it appears.”
After serving up this ambiguous advice, the Sage gathered everyone together and guided them away, through the scattered trees and bushes. After they failed to emerge from behind one clump, Tenthé wandered over to check it out. They were gone. He really had to talk with the Sage, his abilities were amazing!
Tenthé realized his meandering had brought him near the College. He’d been putting it off, but maybe it was time to find out what had happened there. Whatever he uncovered would be a big factor in helping him decide what to do next.