The remaining guards all but stormed the mansion, with Commander Griffon knocking loudly and then bulling straight through when a butler opened them.

Verdan and Kai had their own responsibilities, so they were unable to see what happened past that point, but they could hear the cries of indignation from the mansion.

“Anything?” Kai asked as he methodically swept his gaze over their surroundings, keeping watch for any mundane threats.

“Nothing yet,” Verdan said in an almost absent tone, his focus completely on his Aether senses and the ward he’d established. If a Sorcerer did anything nearby, he wanted to feel it.

The seconds dragged by slowly, each moment feeling like it was stretched out to the maximum. The tension in the air was palpable, but there was no sign of any resistance or reinforcements.

A few minutes passed before Griffon reemerged from the mansion, a pair of guards escorting out a struggling Lieutenant Michaels a moment later.

“Let go of me!” Michaels shouted as the two guards all but dragged him forward.

“Lieutenant, if you do not comply, I will be forced to take additional measures, understood?” Griffon barked over his shoulder before catching Verdan’s eyes with a questioning look.

Verdan shook his head to indicate that they’d seen no sign of any Sorcerers, but the quick exchange drew Michaels’s attention to Verdan.

“It’s the Wizard. He’s behind this!” Michaels roared, taking a step towards Verdan before being pulled back by the two guards. “Commander, please, ignore whatever that man has told you. It’s all lies!”

“Silence!” Griffon bellowed, turning on his heel and staring down the treacherous Lieutenant. “You will remain silent until we are back at the headquarters, or I will have you gagged, do you understand?”

“Yes, Commander,” Michaels muttered, shooting hateful looks in Verdan’s direction at the same time.

Griffon gave the Lieutenant a final, fulminating look before giving out orders and heading to Verdan. “I’m leaving four guards behind to secure the mansion, and I’ll get Sergeant Falk over here to look through the records. In the meantime, we’re heading straight back to headquarters if that works for you?”

“No sign of any Sorcerers or anything else that might be an issue, so I think moving quickly is our best defence,” Verdan said, noting the growing activity in the surrounding buildings as the raid was noted.

“Agreed, let’s move out!” Griffon motioned to his guards, and they set off at a fast pace, hauling the Lieutenant out through the gate.

There was a growing number of people on the street now, but they quickly moved out of the way as Griffon ordered a pair of guards forward to clear them a path.

The tension Verdan had been feeling only continued to rise as they carried on through the city, but they saw no signs of anything untoward.

Michaels kept quiet for the most part, but Verdan still heard a few muttered comments about how he’d make Verdan pay once he was free or that this was all an attempt to make them turn against each other.

Part of Verdan did consider that maybe the man was innocent, and this was something else, but Verdan couldn’t think of what else could explain the way Michaels had worked against him since day one, let alone the new evidence that had come to light.

Verdan’s train of thought broke off as a distant sound caught his ear, odd enough to draw his attention but faint enough that he wasn’t sure exactly what he’d heard. “Did you hear that?”

“No, what?” Kai asked, instinctively raising his spear and surveying their surroundings carefully.

“I’m not sure. Something caught my ear,” Verdan said, frowning a little as he strained to hear what had happened. “It might be nothing.”

“But it might not either,” Kai said evenly, nodding in the direction they were heading. “We’re only a minute or two away from the headquarters. This will be the last opportunity to stop us from taking the Lieutenant in.”

“I’m going to see what I can sense, but I’ll lose track of what’s going on around me, so just push me if something happens,” Verdan said, waiting for Kai to acknowledge him before tuning out his physical senses and focusing on his Aether senses exclusively.

There was no trace of Aether or Essence in the immediate area beyond the normal flow, so Verdan pushed his awareness out, spreading it through the ambient Aether to cover as much of the city as he could.

Thankfully, his ability to sense through the ambient Aether was improved by exposure and use of Aether, not the current strength of his spiral, so Verdan had much more range than his magical strength would suggest.

There, he could feel lingering Aether in several places around the city, an older amount to their west and a much fresher and more substantial residue to the east.

The residual Aether was aspected towards poison from what Verdan could sense, which made Weeping Death involvement likely. He couldn’t tell the actual locations, but he knew they were a good distance away, so whatever was happening, it wasn’t to do with Michaels.

“Commander,” Verdan called out, his eyes focusing as his awareness snapped back into himself.

“Wizard Blacke, is there a problem?” Griffon asked calmly, though there was an apprehensive look in his eyes.

“Perhaps, I’ve sensed Aether usage both to the east and west of us, not nearby but most likely within the city. It felt poison-based as well, so I believe it’s likely to be something to do with the Weeping Death.”

“Damn it,” Griffon cursed, grimacing as he glanced between Verdan and Michaels. “Right, we’ll get him back to the headquarters as fast as we can. Are you able to track down the usage and see what’s happening?”

“I should be able to,” Verdan said with a nod before looking over to Kai. “Do you want to stay with the group? This might be a trick to lure us away, after all.”

“No, we’re close enough now that I believe they’d attack directly if this was for the Lieutenant. Besides, I don’t believe they have a firm grasp of your capabilities yet, so it’s unlikely that this was aimed at you.”

“Alright then, I’ll organise some patrols and get everyone on high alert once we’re back at headquarters. In the meantime, good luck,” Griffon said, calling out an order for double time as he took off at a quick jog.

“Which way, east or west?” Verdan asked as the guards hurried out of sight, torn between which issue to respond to.

“East was the largest usage, correct?”

“That’s right, by a fair size as well.”

“Then that should be our focus,” Kai said firmly, a look of anticipation in his eyes as Verdan nodded and started in the direction that he’d sensed the Aether.

-**-

Verdan homed in on the location of the Aether he’d sensed earlier, moving as quickly through the city as he could while trying to track the location at the same time.

The poison-aspected Aether wasn’t fading, which meant that whatever they were approaching, it was a persistent effect, which would be the first of its kind that Verdan had seen from a Sorcerer.

It became easier to sense the Aether the closer they got, which let Verdan devote less focus to his metaphysical senses, which then helped him make sure that he wasn’t running towards a wall or any other obstacles.

“Down this alley and then a hard right,” Verdan called over his shoulder as they came to what he hoped would be the last turning.

Cornering at the end of the alley, they found themselves emerging onto the main thoroughfare that led from the eastern gate into the heart of the city.

Tracking the Aether was easy now they were this close, and Verdan caught Kai’s gaze before nodding to the gates, which stood open and unguarded. The Aether residue felt like it was right outside the gates.

The lack of guards around the gates left Verdan with an uneasy feeling, but there was still a good amount of foot traffic within the city, which was a good sign.

Somehow, he doubted the atmosphere around here would be quite so relaxed if the gates had been openly attacked.

“You check the guardhouse. I’m going to take a look at the other side,” Verdan said, splitting off from Kai as he made his way through the gates, a shielding spell on his lips, just in case.

To Verdan’s surprise, the first person he saw as he came outside the gates was Tim, followed by Tom, Sylvie and all the other Airta who’d come to visit them. “What’s going on?”

“Boss, I’m glad you’re here!” Tim called back in obvious relief. “Can you help Zhalia cleanse the path?” Tim gestured down the path that wound down from the embankment that Hobson’s Point was built on.

Following Tim’s gesture, Verdan found the source of the Aether he’d sensed. He’d been right to assume that this was a persistent effect of some kind, as the path leading up to the city was soaked in poison-aspected Aether.

There were other ways down, but none as safe as the path, which made Verdan wonder if this was a delaying action of some sort.

Zhalia was currently kneeling at the edge of the poisonous effect, which took the form of a sickly green aura that had latched onto the ground.

The cleric was clearly praying to Dassdarth, as Verdan could sense the effect being slowly weakened, and if he focused in, he could feel the slight amounts of Exeon that she was producing.

“Durst,” Verdan conjured the image of magical coherence being broken to mind and threw a formless ball of Aether at the poisonous field before looking back to Tim. “What’s going on?”

“Damn, I thought you knew already,” Tim said, wincing a little as he spoke before hesitating.

“Knew what?” Verdan asked, starting to worry as he saw the look on Tim’s face.

“He hesitates because we all failed as guards and protectors today,” Delia called out, stepping forward to face Verdan. “One of the new Sorcerers was killed, and the testing device you made was stolen.”