Verdan spent the rest of the evening after the surgery on Sylvie meditating and alternating between working on his spiral and actively speeding up the rate at which he drew in Aether. In times like these, it was equally important to both lay the foundation for the future and gather as much Aether as he could for the upcoming fight.

“Hyn,” Verdan tapped himself with an energy spell after catching a few precious hours of sleep. Like burning flame through dry timber, the Aether tore through Verdan’s mind and body, wiping away his fatigue and exhaustion.

Verdan descended from his room in the mansion to find Henry already making breakfast in the kitchen, releasing delicious smells into the rest of the building. The draw of breakfast had brought a few of the others to the table in the kitchen. Verdan’s gaze was immediately drawn to Tim, who sat at the end, Sylvie curled at his feet.

“Morning, Boss,” Tim called out, the others echoing the sentiment a moment later.

“Morning, how’s Sylvie today?” Verdan asked, sitting next to Tim and casting his gaze across the resting wolf. Her neck was a mess of partially healed cuts and wounds, but she seemed to be doing well enough physically. Verdan had left Tim to look after her the evening before, instead spending his time meditating to recoup what he used during the surgery.

“Drowsy, but she's okay. I talked with her, well, at her,” Tim paused and struggled with his words for a moment before shaking his head and focusing back on Verdan. “Doesn’t matter. The point is, I explained the situation, and she decided to stay.”

“Excellent, I’m glad to hear it,” Verdan said, smiling at the two of them as he reached down to touch Sylvie. “Iacha.”

Sylvie looked up at him curiously as Verdan channelled positive Aether into her, gauging as he did the effect of the corruption that was lingering in her system. It seemed to be reducing nicely; he estimated a full recovery in a couple of days.

“Verdan, Mr Brock and his people are outside. He asked if you could come on out as soon as you can,” Adrienne said, stepping into the kitchen and giving them all a motherly smile. She signed something to her husband, who chuckled and walked over to kiss her on the cheek before returning to the stove and adding more bacon.

“Very well, I’m coming now,” Verdan called back before turning to look at the others at the table and motioning at their food. “Eat up and get ready. We leave within the hour.”

“Yes, Boss,” Tim and the guards chorused back as Verdan got up and started to head outside, pausing only for a moment when Henry pressed a breakfast sandwich into his hand.

Outside the mansion, the courtyard had become the gathering point for quite the group of people. There were half-a-dozen guards in their official capacity, several empty carts hitched to donkeys and two dozen armed and armoured mercenaries. At least, Verdan assumed that was what they were, given that there was no consistency among them in what they wore or how they were armed.

Tobias and Brent were also present, with Brent watching their surroundings while Tobias was arranging for various supplies to be loaded onto the empty carts and for last-minute preparations to be made.

Verdan made sure that Tobias knew he was awake before heading into the workshop and gathering the weaponry on which he’d placed the temporary enchantments. Kai’s decision to expand Verdan's guard and do more Aether sensitivity testing was already paying dividends.

Altogether there were around thirty people in this expedition, but Verdan knew that a lot of the pressure would be on him when they found the cyth that had raided the caravan. The normal Cyth Lai were corrupted by their worship but gained little power from it, unlike the magic-wielding Cyth Baynes. Aether forbid if they encountered anything stronger than that, like a Cyth Scerrd, or a Horror.

At least Verdan could rely on his guards, and Tim for that matter, to provide solid support. Their weapons would help equalise the field in case multiple stronger cyth were present. They wouldn't counter the strong cyth directly, but it would give the non-casters a few advantages of their own.

As he considered what to do in such situations, Verdan looked at a familiar dark-haired witch as she emerged from the mansion to join the group. Their eyes locked across the courtyard, and Verdan gave her a respectful nod. It was not easy to knowingly enter a fight when you were in her situation. Still, the large raven on her shoulder was living proof that her control would be all she could hope for soon enough.

Gwen’s decision to join them eased Verdan’s mind considerably. A storm witch was a powerful ally, even a partially competent one like Gwen. If nothing else, he wouldn’t be the only source of magic defending the mercenaries.

Eventually, all was in order, and they were underway. The clamour of their passage as they wound through the streets of Hobson’s Point drew more than one passerby’s attention, and Verdan saw the faintest flicker of hope and fear in the eyes of those that watched.

Hobson’s Point had been plagued by desertion, with people heading south to avoid the tribulations of living at the northernmost edge of civilisation. The whole place was only a few bad monster attacks from falling to pieces, which meant a well-funded and well-armed expedition like theirs was potentially a tipping point.

If they failed here, it might very well be the last straw for the city’s attempts to fight back against encroaching threats.

There was no way Verdan would allow this mission to fail. He would put everything he had on the line before he let innocent people be left in the clutches of a cyth raiding party.

Tobias and Verdan led the expedition from the front, Brent, Gwen and Tim a close second while Sylvie padded ahead of them. In truth, Verdan was somewhat surprised that Tobias was joining them on the expedition; it was good to see that Tobias was taking this just as personally as Verdan.

One of the city guards that had joined them was familiar with where the caravan had been attacked and took charge of getting them there, which would take several hours.

This close to Hobson’s Point, there were unlikely to be any monsters or problems, but Verdan kept a weather eye out as they travelled. There were undercurrents at play here, Commander Griffon was confident that the Weeping Death was manipulating events, and Verdan wasn’t in mind to disagree.

The road from Hobson’s Point to Dresk went almost directly east, cutting through several small areas of woodland before reaching what the locals referred to as the Imperial Line. Apparently, a main highway ran the length of the continent, a relic of an earlier age.

The Grym Imperium had constructed roads throughout the continent, some of which were quite grand in design but nothing that matched what they were describing.

Sadly, their destination was a few hours short of the line, which in itself was interesting. It was hard to tell without seeing it all on a map, but it sounded as though the caravan was attacked halfway between the Imperial Line and Hobson’s Point. A coincidence, perhaps, but with their other concerns in mind, perhaps not.

Once they passed the halfway mark to their destination, Verdan created an Aether construct and bound it to his staff, creating a sixty-foot radius ward that stretched around them. The ward would scan the surroundings once every minute, and if it detected any cyth, it would notify him.

Once a minute gave the cyth plenty of time to close in, but it was still a layer of security, and Verdan didn’t want to commit too much Aether just yet. For now, he’d rely mainly on the sharp eyes of the men and women that Tobias had hired.

Their surroundings began to grow more heavily wooded, some areas becoming thick with trees that stood old and proud alongside the road. The whole area had a sense of quiet antiquity that Verdan appreciated greatly.

“Sirs, the site is just up ahead, on this side of the ford,” the guard said, his fingers tightening on the spear he held. “We didn’t see any cyth presence when we were last here, but perhaps we should be cautious.”

“I’ll leave this to you, Verdan. What do you think?” Tobias said, stepping back and looking at Verdan expectantly.

“I’ll head forward with Tim, two of my guards and two of your hirelings, Tobias. We’ll scout the site, and I’ll try to detect any cyth nearby. If it’s clear, I’ll send your men back to bring the rest of you in,” Verdan said, part of his mind accessing the ward he’d created and altering it to ping the surroundings twice as often, just in case.

“I’ll come as well, I know what it should look like, so I can tell if it’s been disturbed,” the city guard said, trying in vain to control the relief on his face when Tobias had handed control over this part to Verdan.

“Well, my people are at your disposal,” Tobias said with a gesture for two of the nearby mercenaries to approach. “You’ll be scouting ahead with Verdan. Make sure to follow his orders.”

The two mercenaries nodded and gave Verdan a once over, tensing a little as they took in his lack of armour and weaponry but relaxing at the staff he was carrying.

Their reaction intrigued Verdan; he couldn’t imagine that a staff would have the same use for a sorcerer as a wizard. For him, it provided an easy object to attach Aether constructs to, like the ward he'd just created. Still, they seemed to recognise him as a magic user, or perhaps they thought he was some form of quarterstaff-wielding mystical fighter. Personally, Verdan hoped it was the latter. He’d loved stories of staff-wielding heroes who could access mystical energies as a child.

Lips twitching with a hidden smile, Verdan motioned for Tim to pick two guards and approach. The five of them were close enough to have heard what they were going into, and the four guards immediately had a whispered argument over who was best equipped to go.

“Verdan, why aren’t I coming with you?” Gwen asked quietly as the guards argued.

“If I’m gone, the rest of the expedition is vulnerable to some of the stronger cyth. I need you here to make sure someone can stand up to any cyth that might attack,” Verdan said, holding a hand up to forestall her argument. “I know full well that it’s unlikely to happen, but it’s about planning for the worst-case scenarios.”

Gwen looked as though she might argue further but grimaced and gave him a short nod. One hand reached up to absently stroke the feathers of her raven as she joined him in watching the debating guards.

The argument had gone on long enough by that point, so Verdan cleared his throat meaningfully, prompting it to end rather abruptly. After a final few whispered insults, Tim and two of the guards came to join them, completing their scouting group.

Tobias went to speak with the rest of the expedition, bringing everyone to a halt and setting perimeter guards while they waited. In the few moments they had before they set off, Verdan turned to the two of his guards who had come with Tim.

“I’m sorry, we’ve not had much chance to speak yet. Could you tell me your names?” Verdan grimaced internally; he should know their names by now, but so much had been happening recently that he just hadn’t had the chance.

“No problem, Boss, you’re a busy man. The name’s Pawel. Pleased to meet ya,” the first guard said, holding a hand out for Verdan to shake. Pawel was about five and a half feet tall, with a slender frame, but he moved with the kind of controlled grace that spoke of years of training. Pawel had a sword sheathed on his belt and a shield on his arm, but Verdan noticed daggers tucked into his belt as well.

“And I’m Pania,” the other guard said, reaching out to shake Verdan’s hand next. “Pawel and I are the only ones with daggers and the know-how to use them. Barb moves better in the country, but we’re better sneaks if you follow my drift.” Pania winked at him with a smirk as she produced a throwing knife in one hand as a demonstration. Pania was a little taller than Pawel but shared the same build and graceful move, likely from the sneaking she mentioned.

“I see; I’ll leave the sneaking to you then. I’m better at direct fighting, really,” Verdan said with a shrug. He’d never really tried to be that stealthy, others specialised in that sort of thing, but his skills were more focused elsewhere.

“You got it, Boss,” Pania said, her smirk gaining a malicious edge as she nudged Pawel and started off in the direction they’d been heading. “We’ll scout forward, but not too far. We’ll shout if we find anything.”

“Sounds good, the rest of you, with me,” Verdan said, motioning for the guard to lead the way and the others to follow him as they started down the path the guard had pointed out.

Pania and Pawel had already disappeared into the woods on either side of the rough path they were using, so Verdan manually triggered an Aether pulse of his construct, reassuring him that there were no cyth within sixty feet.

One of the weaknesses of such a spell was that the cyth could have been sixty-one feet away when the pulse went out and could even now be charging Verdan to try and kill him, unnoticed by the construct.

Situations like that were exactly why wizards tended to form a retinue that travelled with them. Verdan was confident that with Tim and Sylvie watching his back, there was no chance that anything was going to sneak up on him.

True to the guard’s words, the remnants of the caravan were only a few hundred metres away, and Verdan could immediately sense the lingering corruption in the air.

“There was a Cyth Bayne here, maybe two of them,” Verdan muttered in a dark tone as he surveyed the scene. The caravan had been hit right on the road, with multiple scorch marks around the broken carts and on nearby trees to show where corrupt magics had bombarded them.

Blood and gore had been spilt around the wreckage, but there were no bodies to see, only drag marks where their attackers had taken them.

“Why does this feel worse than the darjee?” Tim asked, more to himself than anything, as he walked beside Verdan, helping check the wreckage.

“Wait for a moment,” Verdan said, holding up a hand to motion for Tim to hold that thought. “Canfo.” Verdan sent out a larger pulse of Aether, extending it up to several hundred feet from where he stood, looking for any cyth nearby.

If there were bayne involved, then this became a whole lot more dangerous for everyone. Normal cyth activity told Verdan that a bayne would only join a raid like this if at least one or two more were at their camp. That meant he was potentially fighting up to four or five of them, and that was if they didn’t have anything else. Thankfully, the pulse picked up no cyth, so Verdan was able to relax a little for the moment.

“It feels worse because the darjee were slavers and horrid creatures, but they are a prosaic kind of evil. The uneasy feeling you have now is from the Cyth Bayne that the raiders had with them; it must have thrown around quite a bit of magic to leave this much ambient corruption. Without anyone doing something, the vegetation here will grow sick and wither.”

“Can you stop it?” Tim asked, looking at some of the blackened scorch marks on the trees with a level of empathy that Verdan found surprising until he realised that Tim had actually seen two cases of corruption. First, the state of Gwen when Verdan rescued them, and then, more recently, with Sylvie’s collar.

“Yes, but I won’t,” Verdan said, shaking his head as Tim turned with a questioning look on his face. Motioning for Tim to wait, Verdan turned to the two mercenaries that Tobias had sent them, “both of you head back and give the all-clear, but tell Tobias that we need to move quickly.”

The two men moved off at a jog, leaving Tim and Verdan alone among the wreckage. Pawel and Pania were no longer sneaking through the undergrowth but were instead studying the tracks that the cyth raiding group had left behind.

“Why won’t you heal them?” Tim asked softly, picking up on Verdan’s unease.

“There’s going to be maybe as many as half-a-dozen magic users in the cyth camp. They’re not at my level, but they’re not weak enough that I can walk all over them, and I only have Gwen as my backup,” Verdan said, his voice little more than a whisper. He wanted to make sure that Tim went into this with his eyes open.

“Are you saying we shouldn’t go?” Tim asked, his brow furrowing as he looked at the devastation around them with fresh eyes.

“I’m saying that I need to save my Aether; who knows how bad this will be. As much as I want to save the trees here, realistically, they can wait.” Verdan explained, gesturing to the mostly-healthy plant life around them.

“Boss, Pawel has gone to track the cyth a short way and see if there’s an issue, but they’re leaving a fairly clear trail; should be no problem following them home,” Pania called out as she joined them, her eyes flicking between their worried expressions. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, just be aware that there will definitely be cyth magic-users at their camp. Make sure you use the weapons I enhanced for you,” Verdan said, gesturing to the sword at Pania’s hip.

“Got it, Boss. I’ll go make sure Pawel’s okay and that he doesn’t go too far,” Pania said, giving them a rough salute before setting off into the woods.

“So, what now?” Tim asked.

“Now, we wait for Tobias, and then we track these bastards down and wipe them out, all of them.”