Alatar strode confidently toward the royal palace.
Near the pavilion, Garrett and Halbarad settled in, one leaning against the side, the other sitting on the steps, waiting patiently.
"This blue-robed wizard... perhaps he really does have some special abilities."
"Well, he is one of the Istari after all."
The two of them placed considerable trust in the blue wizard.
But even by mealtime, there was still no sign of his return.
Seeing that their hunger bars had dropped a notch, Garrett suddenly pulled out a basket of lembas topped with cream and honey, took out two pieces, ate one himself, and handed the other to Halbarad.
"A specialty from Rivendell. You won't find this stuff here. Want to try it?"
Halbarad took a bite.
"Sweet and tasty. Whoever created this must have put in a lot of work."
"I think so too. A shop owner gave them to me. I've been carrying them with me this whole time, barely touched them."
Under the warm sunlight, the two chatted casually, as if on holiday.
The scene looked peaceful and harmonious. Until a gust of wind swept past.
Whoosh,
A sea-blue blur flashed in front of them. Moments later, the same blue blur darted back again.
"Run!!"
He shouted this, then continued sprinting into the distance.
"What?"
Halbarad, still chewing on the lembas, hadn't quite processed it.
Garrett glanced in the opposite direction, swallowed his bread, and calmly took a bite of dried meat.
From the direction the blue robe had come running, a golden army of several hundred soldiers was rapidly advancing toward them.
Yes, golden, literally.
Every soldier was strong and stern-faced, wearing finely crafted gold-plated armor with helmets adorned in ornate decoration. Clearly, this was an elite force. And they were charging straight toward them.
"Should we run too?" Halbarad's legs were trembling at the sight of that army.
Gulp.
The jerky went down.
Without turning his head, Garrett said, "It's fine. They're not chasing us. As long as we don't panic, they probably won't suspect a thing. After all, the only one who's been running from the start is the blue robe, and they're chasing just him. We're just two ordinary travelers. We don't even know him."
"Fair point."
Halbarad nodded.
The most dangerous place was often the safest. So Garrett's reasoning did have some logic to it.
Just as the two were calmly enjoying their meal in the pavilion, the blue-robed man suddenly returned and shouted, loud enough for an echo to bounce faintly off the distance.
"What are you still doing here?! They're almost upon you! RUN!!"
Garrett looked up at the blue-robed wizard's face, full of "I'm doing this for your own good," then turned to see the army changing direction toward them.
Finally, he exchanged a glance with Halbarad.
"Now it's time to run."
"Agreed."
Whoosh!
The two shot up without warning and took off running, leaving Alatar in the dust.
"Wait for me!!"
The blue-robed wizard panted as he chased after them.
"Garrett, come up with something, I know you must have a plan!"
After a short distance, the encirclement of troops was closing in from all directions. Halbarad was dodging left, then right, sweat pouring down his face.
Inside the city was swarming with enemy troops, and outside? Even worse, tens of thousands of orcs and a horde of war-beasts were stationed out there.
No matter how you looked at it, choosing to start a fight here wasn't exactly wise.
"Huff... huff..."
At that moment, Alatar came running over, panting and leaning on his staff.
Two not-so-friendly gazes landed squarely on him.
"Ahaha..."
The old wizard gave an awkward chuckle.
"You'd better come up with a good plan," Garrett said. "Because once I draw my sword, I won't have time to care about you."
By now, he was convinced, this fellow had done it on purpose.
The sound of heavy footsteps grew closer and closer.
Suddenly, Alatar struck his staff against the ground, clang, a flash of white light burst forth, and in an instant, the three of them vanished from sight.
The royal city guards, who arrived moments later, were left staring blankly at an empty patch of ground.
"I swear I heard voices just now."
"..."
Silence.
---
Thud!
Not far from the city gate, inside the city walls, the three of them reappeared.
"So this is the power of the Istari?"
Halbarad looked around in amazement. There was no longer any sign of pursuit. And it wasn't just him, even the blue-robed wizard himself seemed surprised.
Since when did I have access to something like this?
"The danger's not over. The city gate is crawling with orcs. We'll have to find another way out."
"I remember someone saying we could leave everything to him," Halbarad said, staring hard at the blue-robed wizard.
"Trust me, this was an accident. For many reasons, even after I temporarily purged the darkness from the heart of the king on the throne, he still chose to side with Sauron."
"The good news is, the king has regained some clarity, he's no longer blindly obeying the commands of the Enemy."
"The bad news is, he's still our enemy."
"If you're here for the same reason I am, to fight the Enemy, then I'm afraid you'll have to face the Easterlings as well."
Hearing this, Halbarad looked... conflicted.
After briefly summarizing the current situation, Alatar glanced around and asked, "Where's Garrett?"
Halbarad pointed toward the city wall.
Over there, a two-meter-wide hole had been opened up.
"Oh, breaking through a city wall like this... not exactly the act of a law-abiding citizen. But then again, this place isn't exactly governed by just law..."
Alatar walked through casually.
"Block magic..."
Watching Garrett continue digging through the wall, he remarked, "No wall can withstand this technique, it's as fragile as paper in the face of such power."
"Unfortunately, we're always stuck playing defense."
Clack, clack.
The wall sealed itself back up.
Alatar stood stunned in place.
"Remarkable. Truly amazing. Now I finally understand what the title 'Master of the Mysterious Block Arts' really means."
"Don't be curious about me just yet."
Outside the wall, Garrett asked, "I'm more interested in you, and the army you mentioned. What's going on with all of you?"
"That's a long tale."
Alatar placed one hand on the rough surface of the wall beside him and said, "The Enemy's tyrannical rule has plagued this land for ages, ever since I arrived, it's been thus."
"Except for the end of the Second Age, the final battle of the Last Alliance, when the Enemy was defeated. After that, the people here were briefly freed from his oppression."
"However, even though the Enemy vanished for a time, his influence lingered. The shadow he left behind in people's hearts took ages to even partially dispel."
As he spoke, he suddenly staggered, almost falling to the ground.
"What's wrong? Did the teleportation take too much out of you?"
"No..."
Alatar steadied himself and looked up. A pair of enormous eyes was staring down at him from above.