Kai and Tim hurried into the warehouse to find Sylvie in a tense stand-off with some of the locals that had been defending the interior during the fight.

“What is it, Sylvie?” Kai asked, clutching his spear tightly as he took in the tense situation.

“Look over there,” Sylvie said, her eyes not leaving the group as she gestured to a pile of crates that was up against one wall.

Sharing a look with Tim, Kai followed her lead and went to investigate the crates. There were maybe a dozen in a loose pile, haphazardly stacked together in a somewhat disorganised manner.

Kai wasn’t sure exactly what he was meant to be looking for, so he moved one of the crates on the top, noticing how light it was as he did.

Looking among the pile for anything that might have caught Sylvie’s eye, Kai spotted a glint from a piece of glassware that had fallen at the back.

Leaning closer, Kai caught the scent of something herbal and bitter coming from what looked like a cracked bottle. There was a cork stopper in the top, but the side had been damaged, and there was a thick reddish liquid slowly oozing free.

Interestingly enough, there was no sign of the liquid on the ground around the bottle, which was enough to capture Kai’s interest somewhat.

“What do you see?” Tim asked, craning his head to try and spot what Kai was looking at.

“I’m not sure. Help me move these crates,” Kai said with a thoughtful frown. There was nothing else here that seemed of interest, so he could only assume this was what Sylvie had spotted.

Strangely, none of the crates seemed to have anything in, and the whole pile was easily moved a few feet away, letting the two of them take a closer look at the bottle.

“What sort of potion is that?” Tim asked, reaching down to pick it up.

“Don’t touch it!” Kai snapped, grabbing Tim’s arm to stop him before he could touch the bottle. “Something strange is happening here. Until we know more, don’t get any on you.”

“What do you think it is?” Tim did as Kai asked and backed away a little, though his eyes all but glowed with interest.

“I’m not sure,” Kai said, watching carefully as a thick drop of viscous red liquid fell out of the bottle to hit the stone floor of the warehouse.

As soon as the drop was completely out of the bottle, it began to shrink rapidly, and the pungent aroma Kai could smell was refreshed, making him grimace in distaste.

“This is suspicious at best, and something dangerous at worst. See if you can find a smaller box and something to pick it up with.” Kai moved away from the potion as he sent Tim away, not wanting to keep smelling it.

Tim murmured a quick agreement and hurried off to look through the rest of the warehouse, leaving Kai to return to where Sylvie was glaring at the workers.

“So, is it that potion that you wanted us to see?”

“Yes, did you recognise it?”

“No, did you?” Kai asked, his concern growing at the worried look Sylvie had.

“I’ve been catching it on the wind, but I smelled it most strongly at each of the areas where we’ve encountered the vespa,” Sylvie said quietly, glancing briefly over at Kai before focusing back on the workers.

“I see,” Kai said evenly, his mind racing as he considered what she was saying.

He’d already considered how out of character this attack was for the vespa, and it didn’t then seem too large a jump to think that they were being driven to it somehow.

Kai had considered that they were being coerced, but he’d never heard of anyone being able to negotiate with the vespa, let alone make them do anything.

A few of the workers shifted uncomfortably, but no protests were made under Sylvie’s watchful gaze. Not that he blamed them for that.

Glancing back at the potion, Kai tapped one finger on his spear in thought. If the scent was marking areas for the vespa, then as unlikely as it seemed, perhaps they really were being controlled.

There was only one group out there that had the means and the motive to use such a powerful ally on a fading enclave like Hobson’s Point.

The mere thought of such creatures being allied with the weeping death sent a shiver down Kai’s spine, but he could think of no other explanation.

“Damn,” Kai muttered, running a hand over his face as he considered what to do with this information. “We need to get that bottle contained, and back to Natalia. She’s the only one who can figure out what it is and how it works.”

“What about these?” Sylvie asked, gesturing subtly to the workers grouped ahead of them. “If this scent has been marked around the city, it must have come from somewhere, and someone must have carried it.”

“A good point,” Kai acknowledged with a slow nod. Focusing on the workers, Kai took a step forward and raised a hand to capture their attention before pointing to the stack of boxes behind him. “Can any of you tell me where those boxes came from?”

An awkward silence answered Kai as the workers shifted and glanced at each other, none of them wanting to be the person to answer him.

“I won’t harm any of you. I just want information,” Kai said, trying to adopt a relaxed posture despite the aching pain from what would be a series of large bruises and perhaps a fractured rib.

“They were delivered yesterday, marked as a special delivery and were put aside. Some guys came this morning with a manifest and unloaded them. That’s all we know,” one of the workers spoke up, stepping reluctantly forward, so he was at the front of the small group.

“What was in them?” Kai’s asked more sharply than he intended. He knew that these people likely had no real involvement in this; it was just a stressful situation.

“I don’t know,” the worker replied with a shake of his head, but one of the others hesitantly spoke up.

“They were filled with bottles of this red stuff, one of them dropped a bottle, and the others cursed him up before they rushed to pack the rest and leave.”

“I see,” Kai said, sharing a look with Sylvie before turning back to them. “Could you identify them if you saw them again?” Kai bit back a sigh as the workers immediately shook their heads and shrugged. It had been a long shot, so he wasn’t too surprised by that.

At least they had an idea of how all this was happening, now.

“I got the bottle, Kai,” Tim said, appearing next to them with a small box that had a closed lid.

“Did you get any on you?” Kai asked, eyeing the box warily.

“Not even a little,” Tim said with a small smile. “I used a rag to grab it by the top where the seal was intact and dropped it straight in before shutting the lid. Why, do you know what it is yet?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Kai murmured, giving Tim a look before turning back to the workers. “Last question, who owns this place or would control what comes in?”

“Mr Brock owns the warehouses round here. His people are the ones who order the stuff in and manage it all,” the original worker said, a hint of defiance in his eyes as he met Kai’s gaze with his own.

“Very well, I advise you to take shelter nearby and wait for the guard to finish securing the area. The Hammered Smith seemed well-defended when we went past it earlier,” Kai said, motioning for Sylvie and Tim to follow him out of the warehouse.

He doubted there was more to learn here, and he wanted to get the bottle back to Natalia as soon as he could.

Thankfully, the area around the warehouse was quiet, and there was no sign of any further vespa, so Kai was left with a choice. He could either head back directly to the estate, or they could take a longer route back and cover more of the city.

“Sylvie, could you run the box back to Natalia and explain the situation?” Kai asked, thinking back to how fast Sylvie was when she moved with purpose.

“I’ll get it back quickly,” Sylvie said, moving to take the box from Tim. As she did, the shapeshifter murmured something into Tim’s ear that made him go red and shift somewhat uncomfortably.

From the mischievous look in Sylvie’s eyes, Kai had no doubt that was exactly her intention, and he watched with hidden amusement as Tim gathered himself once Sylvie had left.

“Come, let’s make sure there are no more of those things in the area,” Kai said, turning their path toward the mountains. He’d head toward the northern side of the city and then swing around to Verdan’s estate.

With what they had found about the potions, Kai was leaning toward this being a far more targeted attack than they had first thought, but it cost him nothing to make certain of that.

Vespa were a terror to unarmed people, and Kai had no doubt that they would rip through the general populace of the city if allowed.

If there was some sort of guiding hand behind this attack, he was going to take pleasure in ensuring that the damage they had wrought was visited back on them and whatever their plan was.

The workers had said that Tobias Brock was the owner of the warehouse, which was concerning. Tobias had been quite active as a supporter of theirs, but he had the influence and power within the city to cause them quite a problem if he tried.

Kai wasn’t politically minded at the best of times, but he was familiar enough with being betrayed by those he thought were on his side.

Kai felt old anger seethe within him at the thought of such a betrayal. If that potion turned out to be a marker of some kind, then the merchant was going to have to answer some very pointed questions.

Kai pushed it all from his mind for the moment, Natalia would be able to tell them more, and until then, he would deal with the vespa directly.

Moving into a quick jog, Kai felt the wind brushing against him as he moved, the sensation somehow richer than it had been in the past.

The encounter with the elder vespa seemed to have finally bridged the gap he needed to properly cultivate the Essential Essence of wind.

Even with what they had discovered, Kai couldn’t help but feel a swell of hope. Gaining a second element was no small feat, and he itched to start cultivating it.