Verdan gave them all the morning off to recover from the events of the night before, it wasn’t really enough, but it would have to do.

Thankfully, Ruan took it upon himself to deal with organising the burial and contacting Declan’s family. The mercenaries were a realistic and practical group; they’d seen their share of death and knew how to take it in stride.

Kai, meanwhile, went to go speak with Samuel about the potential for Weeping Death agents watching the estate, leaving Verdan to catch up with the Witches on their trip.

Gwen and the others were sitting with an unveiled Natalia in the canteen when Verdan found them. Natalia looked a little awkward and unsure of herself, but the Witches were doing their best to include her.

“Verdan,” Gwen called out as he came into the room, waving him over to sit with them. “I’m sorry to hear about what’s happened, but I’m glad the two of you weren’t hurt.” Gwen motioned to include Verdan and Natalia together.

“Thank you, it’s been tough on everyone. All we can do now is push on, though.”

“Sadly true,” Gwen said, shaking her head a little before continuing. “You were right about the forest, though, it was easy to commune with, and once we’d done it, we were able to notice other spirits much more easily.”

“Good, I’m glad that some use came of it.”

“There’s more,” Gwen said, a little hesitantly, sharing a few looks with the other Witches.

“What is it?”

“There were a few spirits similar to the one at my family home, and Feli was able to communicate with them the best. Apparently, there’s a lot of people out there, far more than normal.”

“How many?”

“We don’t know, but I think we might not get the full thirty days,” Gwen said with a worried expression.

“I can almost guarantee that we won’t,” Verdan said with a tight smile. “There’s no reason for Garveth to have been honest with us and every reason for him to have lied. They wouldn’t be trying these attacks if they were in position, so we have time yet, but it’s running out.”

“We’re not ready, though. The city isn’t ready.”

“Which is why we’re pushing on as quickly as we can; that’s all we can do,” Verdan said, trying not to let his own worries colour his tone. It wasn’t like he disagreed with Gwen. It was just that he didn’t know what else he could do.

“I see,” Gwen said, leaning back in her chair with a thoughtful expression. “What do you plan to do next?”

“Kai and I will head over to test the guards this afternoon. That should show if we have any additional help to draw on.”

“Test them for what?”

“Well,” Verdan said, hesitating as he considered whether or not he should explain what he’d made. It wasn’t a hard choice to make, though; he was already committing to the guard learning about the tester. Telling Gwen and the others was hardly going to change anything. “It’s a tester to show if someone has the capability to become a Sorcerer or not.”

“That’s incredible,” Gwen said, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “I knew you’d been doing something about testing recently, but I thought it was like the last batch you did. Are you going to let this out into the city?”

“In a controlled manner, yes,” Verdan said, wincing internally at the thought of just letting the tester lose in the city for anyone to use. They didn’t need that kind of chaos right now, though it might yet come to that.

“Will you allow it to leave the city?” Hedda asked, making more than one of the others perk up and look to Verdan.

“Perhaps eventually, I am still concerned with letting it lose without supervision.”

“The Sects will not take kindly to you keeping it to yourself; your best defence is to spread the knowledge. The northern tribes would pay a great deal for such a device as well. I can guarantee it.” Hedda had an intent look in her eye that made Verdan consider her words more carefully.

“Are there not Sects in the north?” Verdan asked eventually, thinking about all the references to them that he’d heard. He knew that the Sects were stronger in the south, but he’d assumed they were present further north as well.

“The Steel Custodians and the Defiant Flame are the only two. They both have a presence on either side of the mountains, though the Defiant Flame no longer works with my people.”

“The Defiant Flame, why do I know that name?” Verdan asked, more to himself than anything.

“They’re one of the Sects who have always been pushing to have a stake in Hobson’s Point. Kurgane Skarv, the man who crippled my father’s hand, was one of them,” Natalia said angrily, all but spitting out the Sorcerer’s name.

“They would not like you or your affairs, Wizard,” Hedda added in a grim tone. “They dislike non-humans and hate those that traffic with them even more. They say that working with other species hinders their mission to retake the north.”

“Yes, well, I can’t see meeting them going too well then,” Verdan said with a slight chuckle, mentally adding the Defiant Flame to the list of potential enemies.

Currently, Verdan had an Idrisyr, two Fwyn and a handful of Airta working alongside him; no doubt reason enough for these Sorcerers to outright try and kill him as it was.

“We’ll come with you this afternoon,” Gwen said abruptly, bringing Verdan’s attention back to her. “We need to work more with the guard on fighting together, and I want to make sure they’re accounting for us properly in the plans they’re making.”

“That’s a good idea,” Verdan said, tapping his fingers on the table in thought before nodding firmly. “That’s a very good idea. If the Weeping Death is starting to mass in force, then we need to get some more practical preparations done.”

“Exactly. I want to take a trip back out in the next few days so Feli can commune with the spirits again, though. Maybe we can see if there’s anything else they can do to help?”

“I don’t know much about nature spirits,” Verdan said, drawing on some half-remembered conversations from Witches in the past. “But I do know that the older, the better when it comes to them interacting with you. Wards, ongoing spells or blessings, a lot is possible, but younger spirits will struggle to maintain anything too powerful.”

“The ones I met were quite young; they were barely able to speak with me,” Feli said sadly, looking disappointed that she couldn’t do more.

“What about some sort of way to tell you when they feel that many people again?” Carla asked, idly stroking the feathers of her familiar as she spoke.

“Maybe, I’ll have to talk to them again,” Feli said uncertainly.

“They’ll get more comfortable with you the more they interact with you. It comes back to the idea of covens again,” Verdan said, reaching the end of his usable knowledge about spirits.

“It’s worth a try, anyway,” Gwen said, the other Witches nodding as they moved on to discuss things they’d discovered about their familiar bond. This time, Hope was the expert, her deeper connection with her familiar, Winifred, giving her an advantage.

Verdan smiled slightly as he leaned back in his chair and let the conversation carry on without him. He remembered how worried Gwen had been that the Witches would be looking up to her, how worried she was that she’d let them down.

Looking over the fledgling coven, Verdan could see how they deferred to Gwen, giving her the role of leader whether it had been made official or not.

Verdan marvelled at the fact that he’d done this. He’d brought the knowledge that allowed Witches to reclaim their heritage.

If only the rest of the knowledge he held would be as beneficial.

-**-

Kai returned from his meeting with Samuel a few hours later, informing Verdan that the locals would be watching for anyone out of the ordinary, but he’d ensured that they knew not to confront anyone directly.

“I’ve told Samuel to go to Ruan if he finds anything, and Ruan will let me know,” Kai said, eyeing their surroundings warily as the two of them left the estate to head back to the city centre.

“Good, we know the Weeping Death have agents in the city, so removing them has to be a high priority,” Verdan said, wondering if there was a way he could identify them somehow.

“Agreed, they will only become more of a problem as the conflict draws near. No doubt they are already reporting back out efforts at making the city ready for the battle.”

“We’d be fools to expect otherwise, though I doubt they’ve understood quite everything we’ve done,” Verdan said, thinking of his wards and the enchanting machine to help them churn out the shieldbreaker bolts.

“Perhaps, it depends on how deeply they have infiltrated the city,” Kai said, sharing a grim look with Verdan. “Samuel and those living around Elliot’s forge will be aware of your most recent project, for instance. They might not know what it does, but they know that you’ve made it.”

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as they contemplated how their preparations were potentially compromised, neither of them liking the answers that revealed themselves.

The guard headquarters was a hive of activity when they arrived, which wasn’t too surprising given the events of the day before. What was surprising, however, was the line of civilians that stretched out the front of the building.

Exchanging confused looks, Verdan and Kai approached the entrance and were waved through by the guards on duty.

The interior of the headquarters had an area where crimes could be reported and a front desk which provided the public face of the guard, a desk that currently had four guards manning it, not just one.

“What’s going on?” Verdan asked a tired-looking guard who was stationed at one of the doors that led further into the building.

“With everything going on, apparently, folks have decided they want to get involved. I think the councillors made a few speeches yesterday and got people riled up. I’m just glad we’re getting some extra bodies.”

“Any idea where Lieutenant Silver or Commander Griffon might be?” Kai asked, glancing around at the organised chaos with a thoughtful expression.

“I believe the Lieutenant is speaking with Sergeant Falk; I can send a runner to check if you like?”

“Please,” Verdan nodded, tapping the testing device under his cloak absently and wondering how many of these new guards might be able to become Sorcerers.