“Get him!” A shouted order from one of the red-robed Sorcerers shook the rest of them from their momentary stupor and sent them charging toward Verdan.

Verdan gathered his Aether and conjured a simple shield to block the few attacks coming his way, biding his time until they were all nicely packed together.

“Grym aer gwth,” Verdan brought both hands together explosively as all the air in front of him surged forwards in a pressurised wall. Wind whipped past him as the air was drawn from his surroundings to fill the momentary void, but that only helped push his attack onwards.

Unlike his previous attack, Verdan wasn’t propelling the air directly, simply creating the strong initial blast that started it off. The whole thing was aimed slightly downwards to help it stay coherent, but the range was abysmal nonetheless.

A few of the Sorcerers tried to use their Essence to disrupt the spell, while others conjured shields of Essence, but everything they made targeted magical attacks.

A shield of rock or something solid would have worked perfectly, but as it was, all but a few of the group were thrown from their feet, knocking into each other as they went.

“Thanr laif,” Verdan threw a stream of swirling flames into one of the Defiant Flame Sorcerers that had kept his feet.

“Fool,” the Sorcerer barked as Essence battered against Verdan’s control of the spell, breaking it mere inches from impact. Flames swirled around the Sorcerer as he took control of the lance and reformed it into his hands.

“Durst,” Verdan waited until the flames were concentrated between the Sorcerer’s palms before casting his followup spell.

“My turn…” The Sorcerer looked up in time for Verdan’s spell to breach his control over the flames, his taunt dying partway as his eyes went wide.

The concentrated ball of flame exploded the moment it wasn’t being compressed, engulfing the unfortunate Sorcerer and several of the nearby retainers.

A red-robed figure charged through the flames, clutching a sword wreathed in flames and seemingly ignoring the heat of the explosion that had been unleashed.

Verdan could see two of the Weeping Death Sorcerers had also gained their feet and were moving forward, so he chose his spells carefully. “Garec drae. Garec durst.”

Fist-sized spikes of stone ripped up from the ground covering the whole area in front of Verdan, and though the Sorcerers tried to dodge, there were too many, and only one of the three managed to not impale his feet.

The secondary spell kicked in a moment later, the spikes around the two struggling Sorcerers rising up to stab into them before Verdan clenched his fist, and they shattered into shards of stone that ripped into the bleeding Sorcerers, shredding them from the inside out.

“Ast,” Verdan conjured a shield to block a series of poison-aspected projectiles that came from beyond the faltering flames of the explosion.

The projectiles were surprisingly strong, but Verdan’s shield was more than up to the task, allowing him to split his focus.

The Sorcerer who had evaded the stone spikes was dancing through the ones that were left with impressive speed, her angry gaze locked on Verdan and a dagger in each hand.

“Rew,” Verdan cast a simple spell, coating the floor around the Sorcerer with slick ice.

The inevitable slip was followed by the unfortunate woman falling face-first onto one of the spikes. An air slash to the neck made sure she was dealt with and let Verdan turn his attention to the remaining enemies.

There was one Weeping Death Sorcerer, and one Defiant Flame left, along with eight pale-faced retainers.

“Surrender, and you face judgement. Fight, and you face only death,” Verdan called out, holding his attacks for a moment as a fresh bolt of poisonous Essence struck his shield.

Striking a pure Aether shield with a purely magical attack was wasteful, and yet another example of the poor technique of these Sorcerers.

“You might kill us, but our Elders will burn and rot your little city,” the Weeping Death Sorcerer snarled, lifting their wand once more to conjure a fresh barrage of attacks.

“Fell tafell,” Verdan snapped, his eyes flashing as lightning tore through the air between them, striking the Sorcerer in the chest and blasting them from their feat as a small thunderclap deafened them all.

To the credit of the remaining Sorcerer, they didn’t hesitate as they dove for cover, ignoring their burns as they tried to get out of Verdan’s line of sight.

The surviving retainers were hesitant but eventually threw down their weapons and put their hands in the air.

Their hesitance was explained a moment later when a blast of flames swept over them.

Verdan started to cast something to save them, but a smaller firebolt came streaking out of a broken window, forcing him to shield instead.

It seemed that Verdan would have to deal with the Sorcerer first.

“Ceis rew tafell,” Verdan ground out the words with a pained grimace, taking a moment to craft something akin to an arrow of jagged ice that was tipped by an Aether-infused point.

Picturing the survivor in his mind’s eye, Verdan tossed the arrow into the air before extending his senses and walking towards those who had surrendered.

So many spells in such a short time was starting to tax his voice, he needed to end this.

A flicker of fire Essence to Verdan’s right gave the Sorcerer’s position away as they stepped out of cover with a growing ball of flame at the ready.

The ice arrow shot down and into the Sorcerer’s chest piercing deep enough to nick the heart and bring silence back to the area.

Turning away from the burnt corpses, Verdan took a few moments to ensure every enemy was truly dead before finally walking away.

Kai and the others would ensure that everything was taken care of. Right now, Verdan needed a moment alone.

Verdan could see the Airta moving forward from where they’d concealed themselves in preparation for the original plan, the one that he’d completely ignored.

Verdan caught sight of Sylvie’s face and saw her concern, but just behind her, he could see the calculating look in Delia’s eye as she reassessed him.

A wave of tiredness swept through Verdan as the rapid spellcasting caught up with him. Thankfully he’d only used a few three-word spells, so he hadn’t stressed or damaged his throat too badly, but he still felt drained.

It wasn’t just the spells. The whole thing had been cathartic, but it left him feeling somehow empty.

Delia’s clear reappraisal of him made it all the worse. What he’d just done was simple, any fool could kill someone, but it was that which impressed her, not the pseudo-enchantments he’d developed.

Verdan laughed bitterly to himself as he pushed open the door to the tavern. Some things never changed.

Albin and the others were long gone, from the tavern if not from the village, so Verdan took a seat and leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed.

A few precious minutes of silence went by before the door opened once more, Verdan cracking an eye open to see Kai grab a seat and sit opposite him.

“So, the plan to taunt the leader to buy time before pulling back so we could attack from both sides didn’t go that well,” Kai said in a neutral tone, resting his spear against one shoulder as he met Verdan’s gaze.

“Yeah, I don’t suppose it did,” Verdan said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth despite everything. “I’m sorry to go off script like that. I think that’s been building for a while.”

“It’s alright,” Kai said, his gaze distant for a moment before he seemed to shake it off. “I’d be lying if I said I’d never done anything similar myself. I’m more concerned about you than anything.”

“I’m fine,” Verdan said, shrugging a little at the look Kai gave him. “No, really, I’ll be fine. There’s been a lot of pressure recently, and I’ve been struggling with some things, but after letting some of that out, I feel much better. I won’t be genuinely okay for a while, but I feel no guilt in killing these scum. It was surprisingly easy, though.”

“It’s been far too long since someone stood up to them. You can tell in the way they tried to fight you,” Kai said, shaking his head with professional disdain. “Only the one at the end made a real attempt at using cover. They’ve grown complacent, too used to having enough of an advantage from their magic that no one will stand up to them.”

“Arrogance and pride pave the path to your own downfall, an adage that these idiots clearly ignored.” The Sorcerers had been clearly unused to fighting someone else with magic, or at least someone else with magic unlike their own.

“In their defence, fighting you seems to be like fighting a whole strike team rolled into one. The only thing you don’t do is fight in close combat.”

“True, but that’s why I have you and the others,” Verdan said with a shrug, his mind still dwelling on their fight. “I’ve been basing my assumptions of Sorcerers on what I see you do, but that’s not accurate, is it?”

“Most Sorcerers work in groups,” Kai said, shifting in his seat slightly as he answered.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Verdan said, his thoughts turning to the upcoming group that was going to arrive the next day. “You know, we have an opportunity here, a chance to do something a lot more to hurt the Weeping Death and their new allies.”

Kai was quiet for a moment as he thought over Verdan’s words, but eventually, he took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, I’m listening.”

“So am I,” a voice came from off to one side as a huge, bare-chested man came into the room, an enormous sword in one hand and a wary look in his eyes. “Where’s Gerald? Who are you, and is the fight already over?”

Verdan and Kai stared in shock at the newcomer, who must have been close to seven feet tall with a broad and powerful physique. A thick but sculpted red beard hung down to his chest, while his equally red hair hung down to his mid-back in a large braid.

“The villagers have run from the Sorcerers. I’m Verdan, and this is Kai, and yes, it’s over for now.”

“From what I heard, there’s a big fight tomorrow with some nasty Sorcerers, right?” The man asked, a grin spreading across his face as they nodded. “Good, count me in. The name’s Cullan.”

“Well, if you wield that as easily as you carry it, you’re more than welcome to join us,” Verdan said, inwardly marvelling at the monstrous strength the man was casually showing off.

“You just wait and see. I can handle all sorts with ease,” Cullan said, throwing Verdan a wink as he flexed a set of damn impressive muscles. “Now, I’m sure there was more booze around here somewhere. Just wake me up when it’s fighting time.”

Verdan exchanged a baffled look with Kai before shrugging. Another fighter would be more than welcome tomorrow.