The next morning, the Mentor and Tenthé emerged from the tent to watch the Horde rousing and getting ready to do whatever they did in-between fighting. The Mentor went over to a large cauldron, grabbed a metal cup from a pile and scooped out a quantity of whatever was being cooked, which he handed to Tenthé and then did the same for himself.
Tenthé slurped a little and found it to be something someone had killed, boiled up with something someone had picked. It wasn’t too bad, but then, his palate had been set by rooting through garbage. He downed the entire cup, then took a second scoop and walked over to one of the Words standing nearby.
“So, how did you enjoy being me?” Tenthé asked.
The Word shuddered and gulped down his breakfast sludge. “It was horrible! I never, ever want to do that again!”
“What do you mean?”
“You are all wrong!” he replied, then started pointing at himself. “Inside me, I have my magic here, my power here, my skills here, and my brothers all around me. But, being you is like falling through a door into an infinitely deep pit. It’s filled with wild energy and eldritch abilities swirling about, with horrible and fearsome creatures lurking in the distance, ready to pounce! There is no order, no plan! At any second, something could break loose and end all of everything! No thanks, never again!”
By this point, the Word was quite worked up, and began flailing his arms. “I… we, had no idea!” he yelled. “You’re probably the… well, just… Argh! Never again!” As words failed him, the Word stalked off.
Tenthé watched him go. He wasn’t wrong, but… you got used to it after a while.
He and the Mentor cleaned their cups by swishing water around and drinking it, then put the cups back on the original pile.
Neither of them had slept, but for Tenthé, that was nothing. Now that the Mentor was done eating, the other warriors were also done, whether they’d had anything or not.
The Words had gathered in front of the command tent for a briefing. This would be a prime time for the City to bombard them, but with the Mentor and Words sitting so they didn’t loom above the regular warriors, and the large number of anti-scrying amulets scattered about, it would be hard to pick this group out of all the others.
Even so, both sides were taking the occasional potshot at each other, just for fun. As far as Tenthé could see, there wasn’t any significant damage done to anything near, and he knew no shots from the Horde had ever made it past the City walls.
The plan they’d come up with was fairly simple, so, in short order, the warriors were briefed and Tenthé found himself in a group running around the outside of the City to reach the other side. Everyone was spread out to disguise how many there were, plus quite a few more were rushing back and forth to further confuse any watchers.
When they reached a hole in the ground fairly close to the City wall, Tenthé and a bunch of the nearest warriors ducked in.
In their talks, when the Mentor explained that the Horde had dug quite a number of tunnels and passages next to the walls to see if there were any weaknesses they could exploit, Tenthé had asked about a specific spot. The Mentor had brought out surprisingly detailed maps, and Tenthé was gratified to see that the Horde had exactly what he needed.
They had excavated a passage directly across from the tunnel inside, the one that he’d explored the night before last. If they could find a way through the wall, it was a prime location to enter the city since there weren’t any wards in the tunnel or the cavern, and it would give them easy access to multiple points in the city.
Tenthé regretted he hadn’t asked Mach-Anot for details about how he’d managed to get the Horde into the City, but that was before the re-do. And it didn’t matter, because he had an idea.
After a quick run through a reasonably roomy tunnel, the passage opened up. The warriors had dug up to the wall and then from side to side and down, clearing the dirt and gravel away from a large area. Tenthé sat on the ledge where the tunnel ended and examined the wall a pace in front of him.
Here, he could see wards were so strong that they glimmered in his sight, easily shining through the dim lights that illuminated the area. Tenthé hadn’t been sure, but in their discussions, the Mentor had explained that the warriors couldn’t see in absolute dark, but did have excellent night vision.
Tenthé stared across at the wall. Here, the wards were near the surface, allowing him the opportunity to find out how they worked. Inside the City, the wards stayed buried in the wall so ordinary citizens wouldn’t be mangled, but underground it was assumed that only enemies would be this close.
These wards were truly vicious. They swirled and chewed at him as he watched. Every so often, a massive one would speed past, ready to annihilate anything in its way. He reached across to touch the wall and his hand sizzled and smoked when one of the big wards paused to investigate. As this was happening, the smaller ones circled closer like hungry wolves, snapping and growling.
Tenthé pulled back and then drew out a tiny thread of spinning darkness which he plunged into the wall between two of the wards. The thread was small enough that the jinking and jogging of the wards bumped it around rather than ate it. He pushed it a little deeper, and watched as it was shoved back and forth, until it shattered, with parts going everywhere. All of a sudden, one of the massive wards passed through and most of the pieces were swept away, with the few remaining specks snatched up and carried off by the smaller wards.
This was going to take a while. He plunged threads into the wall time after time, but the results were always the same. Tenthé would get his thread a distance into the wall, then a big ward would shred it, but he was getting better. Once or twice he’d even managed to push through to the other side, but not for long enough to send any warriors through.
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He could try to push multiple threads through at once, but doing so might set off an alarm. Why did the Wall Magisters have to be so competent? Mostly, City wards were feeble, but these were on a completely different level. Tenthé sat back and kicked his feet as he thought.
After a time, he leaned forward and examined the wards again. They were all linked, with signals going both ways. If he removed one, the system would know it almost immediately and send more to investigate.
In frustration, he pulled a spear from his pocket and hammered it into the wall. Instantly, a smaller ward ate through it and then a big ward flashed into view, and the next instant Tenthé was picking himself up from where the explosion had tossed him down the tunnel. Even with his shields, it took a moment until he could see more than one big bright dot.
Fortunately, the Horde had built well, so not much of the underground chamber had collapsed. The warriors were digging themselves out of the dirt and helping a few who had been completely buried.
“Oops. Sorry,” he apologized to everyone around him.
They just laughed. In fact, some of them clapped him on the back, which didn’t get past the minimal shields he had enabled, but he felt less guilty.
He sat down on what remained of the ledge and thought some more.
The thread he’d been using was from one of the pools, and ordinarily, would be something the wards wouldn’t be able to see. Unfortunately, here, the wards were so massively overpowered that even if they couldn’t detect the thread, they were ripping it apart anyway.
Tenthé had another idea.
He turned to the warriors. “I need someone. It’s dangerous…”
He halted as they all volunteered.
“No, really, I’m not sure if this will work. You might end up, well… I don’t know what will happen, but it might be bad.”
One of the Words standing beside him spoke. “You don’t understand. WE ARE HORDE!”
With that, every other warrior chuffed.
Obviously, he wasn’t in the city any more. He addressed the nearest warrior.
“So, I guess you’re the guy. Whatever happens, when you get through, I want you to dig out next to the wall, like you’ve done here. Clear out as much as you can, then shine a light on as much of the wall as you can. I think it will let me see if there are places where the wards don’t cover as well as everywhere else.”
Then he addressed the group. “You guys all understand? It might take a few tries to get someone through. I don’t know what’ll happen if you’re going through and a ward hits.”
The warriors didn’t care. In fact, they lined up.
Tenthé anchored one end of a thread in front of the line of warriors and made the part outside the wall grow larger. The open end resembled a whirlpool. He pulled a thread out of the back of the whirlpool and held it over the wall.
“When I say go, jump in! No hesitation! Go when I say! Don’t stop!”
The warrior seemed to understand, so Tenthé turned back to the wall.
As before, it took some tries, but eventually, he managed to get the thread through to the other side.
“Go!” He yelled.
The warrior dove into the expanded end and was almost through when a big ward shredded the thread. One of the warrior’s feet fell to the ground. The next warrior threw it to the side and waited for his turn.
But, after this promising start, luck wasn’t with him. Despite his best efforts, Tenthé couldn’t get a thread to go through another time. He got really close once, but the thread was shredded before the next warrior in line could make it into the opening.
Suddenly, to his vision, a dim light appeared on the other side of the wall! Everyone cheered when he told them that the first warrior had made it through.
Over the next little while, the light from the other side slowly grew to cover a large area. Evidentially, the toughness of the Horde made them excellent diggers. Even better, having the light behind the wall did highlight a few spots that the wards didn’t cover as well as everywhere else. He pushed separate threads through these points and started sending warriors through.
In spite of everything, occasionally the big wards charged past and shredded a thread. When this happened, the warriors would switch to another tunnel through and the transfer would continue. After a few warriors lost extremities, one of them tried curling into a ball as he jumped in. This resulted in fewer dangling bits and the rate of body parts being left behind was reduced significantly.
It took quite a while, but eventually, he ran out of warriors. Tenthé then leaped into the closest whirlpool and appeared on the other side. There, the warriors were pounding on the shoulders of a very dirty one of them who had his cudgel lashed to his leg to replace his missing foot.
The mob parted as Tenthé walked over.
“Congratulations,” he said to the dirty Word. “Without you, this might not have worked. You are a hero.”
“No!” he exclaimed. “I AM HORDE!”
With this, the entire cavern rang with cheers.
Tenthé examined the warrior’s bloody stump. While he wasn’t the best healer and couldn’t regrow a hand or foot, he could reattach them, so he pulled out the various limbs he’d brought with him in the hope that the warriors who’d lost them were still alive.
Due to the mangling caused by the wards, it was not obvious which foot matched up with the warrior in front of him. On a whim, he grabbed one that was close enough, and was a bit surprised when the attachment worked, even though the match wasn’t perfect. The warrior didn’t care, and proudly showed off his nasty new scar as he limped in a circle.
A little more experimentation showed that the Horde were different from humans. Any foot could go with any warrior who needed one. This worked for the few hands, as well. The exception was the butt cheeks, but that was because there was only one set of them, making it obvious who they belonged to.
Unfortunately, hands, feet, and butts weren’t the only body parts left behind. The warriors were tough, but losing a head, or being cut in half was a serious matter, even for them. Obviously, though, the few deaths did not discourage the surviving warriors. If anything, they were more energized and wanted to make the sacrifices count.
A command rang out, and the warriors fell in, with the Words lined up at the front. From what Tenthé saw, as a fighting force, the Horde put the City’s army to shame. While the army had the tools, it lacked enthusiasm, and, although war was a dirty business, the side that worked the hardest had a very real advantage.
As he watched, the Words took command. They had already sent scouts out to explore the tunnels and now ordered the warriors to head toward the cavern. The plan was fundamentally simple: while Tenthé created havoc and the Horde outside the walls distracted the City army, the warriors inside would be isolating the fort and converting citizens. Although the actual implementation was complicated, the warriors were capable and would adapt as necessary.
The warriors jogged off, heading toward the big cavern. There, they would split up to attack multiple points within the City while Tenthé did his part. Nothing much different than usual, sowing confusion and tying up resources.
As he trotted along, Tenthé found he wasn’t apprehensive, nervous, or scared. Instead, he was calm, aware of his goal, and determined. The path to the near future was set. Now all he had to do was follow it and discover where it led.