Verdan was deep into his morning meditation on the morning of the third day since they'd left the camp when he felt a flicker of Aether approaching him in the form of a message spell.

Accepting the message, Verdan tried to keep the majority of his focus on the work he was doing on his second spiral. Once the latest layer was locked in place and his visualisation was secure, Verdan turned his attention to the message.

The construct left behind at the darjee camp had sent him a message stating that fourteen humanoids were within its detection range. Interesting. It looked like their quarry had finally arrived.

Of course, it could be a random wandering group of other humanoids, but the chances of that were slim. Maybe once this was dealt with, Verdan would spend some time examining the darjee and see if they had any identifying Aether signatures. If they truly had no magic of their own, then he doubted they would, but it would be worth a look.

Verdan had already questioned Gruthka on what else was in the area and whether they were humanoid in form, but the fwyn was evasive about the matter.

Given that Verdan was likely the first human that the fwyn had met in a long time that wasn't trying to kill him, that was understandable. With the state of the relationship between the fwyn and the humans being what it was, Verdan could only imagine what had happened to other members of the Imperium.

One of the perks of formal training as a Wizard was the mental discipline and self-control that was taught from day one. Despite years of practice, Verdan had to struggle to get his thoughts under control before they could spiral down into darker subjects. He could do nothing about what had happened. He was thousands of years too late.

Repeating that it was out of his control to himself like a mantra, Verdan got himself under control and his mind back in order. He was clearly overtired.

Taking a moment to gather himself, Verdan rose to his feet and winced at a flare of pain in his back. He'd not slept for the last two nights, instead spending the time in complete focus as he built his second spiral. The gains he'd made had been impressive, but there was a physical price to be paid.

‘Hyn,’ Verdan channelled his Aether into a spell of refreshment, sending the power through his body to revitalise him. He had to be careful not to get reliant on measures like this. They were highly addictive and exceedingly dangerous; an infusion of Aether couldn't replace everything the body needed. Still, it was enough to get him back into top form, and Verdan had walked the line with spells like this before. He knew what he was doing.

Feeling more awake now, Verdan started to collect his things before heading downstairs to find where everyone was.

Stepping outside, Verdan spotted Tim and Tom working together to spar with Kai. The brothers were losing, but not as badly as they would have been a few days ago. That was encouraging progress.

Moving around to the side of the cottage, Verdan saw Gwen and Gruthka were sitting together in the vegetable garden. Satisfied that he knew where they all were, Verdan headed over to the sparring trio.

‘I’ve had a pulse from the camp. Fourteen humanoid creatures have arrived.’ Verdan’s words cut through the general noise from their fighting, making all three of them turn to face him with mixed expressions. ‘We have time to get to them tonight if we leave straight away. What do you think?’

‘The sooner, the better, we need to attack before they realise things have changed,’ Kai answered immediately, Tom enthusiastically nodding along with him.

‘Tim?’ Verdan turned to the third man with a questioning look.

‘I’m concerned about camping out in the forest or trying to travel back here during the night, for that matter. It feels like we’re committing to an all or nothing attack. Wouldn’t it be better to wait for the morning?’

‘If we wait until morning some of them might head out hunting. That means trying to ambush two different groups, with a much higher chance of us being spotted and some of them escaping. If they've only arrived today, this is the best time to catch them all together,' Kai pointed out, gesturing in the rough direction of the camp.

'Yeah, I suppose that's true,' Tim said, nodding his grudging agreement.

‘All agreed?’ Verdan waited a moment before nodding, ‘right, let’s do this then, I’ll go get Gruthka.’ He turned to head towards Gwen and Gruthka, hearing the other three rush back to the cottage to grab everything they needed.

To his surprise, Gruthka was manipulating some of the soil with his magic, forming it into different shapes and naming it in Low Imperial. Gwen was then repeating the words back to him, with Gruthka correcting any mistakes. Her accent was, understandably, atrocious, but she seemed to be slowly picking up a few important words.

Low Imperial wasn’t a complicated language. It had been the most common language in the Imperium and was used primarily for informal conversations. With so many different species living alongside each other, it was a strange mix of words but was easy for everyone to speak.

‘Gruthka, the darjee are here,’ Verdan called out, naturally dropping into low imperial so the fwyn could understand him as he approached. Seeing Gruthka nod, Verdan waited as the fwyn nodded to Gwen and get to his feet.

As Verdan turned to leave, a large raven flew down to sit on Gwen’s shoulder, its black eyes staring at him with a surprising weight to its gaze. Frowning, Verdan reached out with his Aether senses and felt the reservoir of energy that sat, calm and controlled, within the bird. A slight connection ran between the raven and the witch, making a smile spread across Verdan's face. He’d hoped she’d be able to do it.

‘Congratulations, Gwen,’ he said, his smile turning into a grin as she realised what he was talking about and flashed him a huge grin of her own. There was an energy to her, a spark in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. It would be interesting to see if she now started to develop some of the more physical properties of her magic. It was a shame he'd not been there when she made that connection. He'd likely just been too caught up in his own progression.

‘Thank you. It turned out that it was the lack of connection to the goddess that was holding me back.’ Gwen told him, her grin faltering as she saw Gruthka stand up. Rising to her feet as well, Gwen looked between the fwyn and Verdan with a worried expression. ‘What’s happening?’

‘The darjee have arrived, or so I believe. I originally intended to leave you here, but if your magic is under control, you’re welcome to come with us,’ Verdan said with a gesture to the raven on her shoulder, drawing her eyes to her new familiar.

In any sort of normal circumstance, he would never take a novice spellcaster into a fight, but this was Gwen’s home. She deserved the opportunity to defend it. Besides, witches were some of the most natural spellcasters out there. Now she had her familiar, Gwen would get everything under control in no time at all.

‘I don't...’ Gwen stopped mid-word, her gaze rising to the clear sky above as though searching for an answer. A few moments passed before she nodded, her expression firming as she looked back down to Verdan. ‘Yes, I will come. I’ll get my things now.’ Nodding to herself, the witch ran back toward the cottage, leaving Verdan to finish explaining the situation to Gruthka.

-**-

They all gathered at the edge of the glade a few minutes later, armed and armoured as best they could be. Kai was impassive, his quiet confidence doing a lot to reassure the others. Tim and Tom looked apprehensive but had an element of resolve in their posture that Verdan approved of. He had high hopes for the brothers in the future.

Gruthka was difficult to read, Verdan hadn’t known many fwyn, and the few he had known were only acquaintances at best. That being said, Gruthka’s already large eyes seemed to be even wider than usual as he observed them all, giving off an air of eagerness and excitement.

‘Okay, everyone ready?’ Verdan gave them one last opportunity to back out or grab anything else they needed, but a tense silence was all that answered him. ‘Okay, let’s move out. We’ll follow Gruthka as he’s the most familiar with the local area. He knows a more direct route to the camp than what we used before, and every minute counts.’ Verdan saw Kai frown unhappily, but the sorcerer made no move to argue or contradict him. He clearly understood how important it was that they make good time.

Giving a final nod, Verdan motioned for Gruthka to lead the way and fell in behind him, the others following along as they stepped out of the safety of the glade and started towards the confrontation with the darjee.

Memories from the war flashed through Verdan’s mind, stabbing their way deep into him as he remembered other expeditions, other sorties and other friends and comrades. Smiling faces that became twisted into expressions of torment and agony. Death. So much death. Sometimes it felt like a reaper dogged his every step, lovingly running their scythe across the throats of those he cared the moment he looked away.

‘Verdan, are you okay?’ Gwen asked, her worried voice dragging him out of his memories and back to the present. The others had all overtaken him. He must have fallen behind a little in his dazed state, and Gwen had slowed to check on him. ‘You’ve gone pale, and your hand is shaking.’

Verdan looked down at his free hand, noticing how it trembled against his side. He felt unbalanced, as though his mind teetered on the edge of some unknowable abyss. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Verdan partitioned his mind and thrust all of the memories into the new section. His old master had taught him a method to segregate painful memories, and Verdan quickly followed his teachings. He did not need this right now.

‘I’m fine, thank you,’ Verdan said, smiling wanly at Gwen in a pathetic attempt at reassuring her. He’d had a few nightmares and bad moments since he’d awoken, nothing that he couldn't handle. This, though, was something else entirely.

The atmosphere was similar enough to a few of the missions he’d been on to trigger his memories. He could keep it separate and out of mind for now, but his master had been very clear on the potential for long term problems if he relied on this too much.

Keeping up the smile until Gwen seemed reassured enough to quicken her pace and catch up to the others, Verdan rubbed his face and took a few shaky breaths. He needed to keep it together right now.

Verdan strengthened the partitions in his mind using the techniques he had been taught. He couldn't afford any issues during the fight.

With the memories safely locked away, Verdan gripped his staff firmly and quickened his own pace to rejoin the group, ignoring the curious glances he got from the others.

-**-

With Grutka leading them, they made good time through the woods, the fwyn avoiding the natural obstacles that lay in their way and taking what shortcuts they could to speed their path onward.

No matter the skill of their guide, the journey itself still took time, and from the position of the sun, they were halfway through the afternoon when Gruthka came to a halt at a small stream.

‘Follow this upstream, and it will lead you to the darjee camp,’ Gruthka told him, pointing a claw at the winding path of the water. ‘I will fetch the others and return as soon as I can, begin your attack in one hour.’

‘We will, good luck,’ Verdan gave the fwyn a firm nod, his composure fully restored after the hike through the woods.

The Fwyn returned the nod and scampered off into the undergrowth, swiftly fading from view as he darted between patches of heavier undergrowth.

‘Now we wait.’ Verdan took a seat against a tree, crossing his legs and laying his staff across his lap.

Sadly, the Aether construct in the camp had run out of power an hour or two ago. Still, the last pulse he’d had from it had confirmed the same number of creatures in the camp as before. Hopefully, that wouldn’t change in the next hour.

The others chose their own spaces to rest, taking advantage of the few minutes they had yet not relaxing enough to lower their guard. This was dangerous territory, and their surprise attack on the darjee could easily be turned around on them if they weren’t careful.

Silence stretched on between them as they waited, the sun ever so slowly making its way through the sky.

Eventually, Kai looked up at the sky and frowned before meeting Verdan’s gaze and raising an eyebrow in silent question. The wizard was confident that the hour mark was approaching as well, so he simply nodded and rose to his feet. It was time.