The sun was halfway toward the horizon when they reached the first landmark that the brothers recognised. Tom had taken over carrying the witch from Kai, letting the sorcerer rest a little, just in case they encountered something nasty.

With a better understanding of where they were, the group’s pace picked up despite the dimming light, and after only another hour of travel, they reached their destination.

Hobson’s point was a walled city that sat atop a natural rise in the ground. Only one clear trail led up to it, with rocky terrain preventing a more direct path up to the city. The gates for Hobson’s Point sat across that trail, giving them a good view of the area and making it a defensible point.

Considering the surroundings, Verdan hazily remembered a fishing village being in the area, but not a weathered city that looked twice as old as him. The masonry of the walls was old and scarred, some battle damage lingering in the form of chipped battlements and scorch marks.

‘Hobson’s Point is one of the oldest enclaves and one of the few that isn’t run by a clan. Old and battered, but still going,’ Tim announced as they started up the trail to the open gates of the city. The brothers had become steadily more relaxed around Verdan as the day wore on, no longer fearing a bad reaction for speaking out of turn.

‘Clan?’ Verdan queried in an absent tone as he took in the city. Realising he’d spoken out loud, Verdan grimaced and glanced at the others to see their reaction. Kai was giving him a searching look. His head cocked slightly to one side as he considered Verdan.

‘You know, one of the sorcerer clans, they rule over most of the enclaves these days from what I’ve heard,’ Tim said, too caught up in his joy of being back to notice.

Sighing a little, Verdan realised that he would have to explain things a bit more to Kai. The warrior might have sworn himself to Verdan for now, but they barely knew each other.

The gates to the city were guarded by four men in leather armour that had small metal pieces protecting key areas. Each guard was armed with a long spear and had easy access to a small iron basket with javelins in, ready for throwing if needed. The guards nodded to them as they passed through, their gaze turning back to the dark forest that the group had come from.

The city’s interior was a letdown for Verdan. He’d seen the old, tall walls that protected Hobson’s Point and had been expecting something similar to what he was used to. Instead, he found a ramshackle mix of stone and wood buildings with dirt paths weaving off from a central stone causeway. To say he was disappointed was somewhat of an understatement, but the group had paused while he looked over the city and now looked expectantly at him for direction.

‘Are there any taverns we can stay in?’ He asked the brothers, guessing from their awkward shuffling that they were waiting to follow his lead.

‘Yes, but we don’t have any money, you see,’ Tim said, cheeks flushing red as he trailed off. Everything made a bit more sense to Verdan then. They assumed that he would have the funds to buy them all somewhere to stay as he’d not been captured. A great idea, if not for the possible issue with his currency.

‘The coins I have are odd, not local currency. What do you think you can get for them?’ He pulled out two imperial marks and handed them over, the silver coins glinting in the soft light as the brothers took them.

‘These are solid silver. I bet we could get five silver darn for each of them,’ Tim whispered, eyes wide as he looked at the coins. ‘We’ll need to find a money-changer. Hopefully, there’s one around here.’

‘Wait,’ Kai said, holding up a hand before turning and walking back to the gate guards to speak with them. The guard closest to them listened to Kai’s request and pointed off to the centre of the city, giving directions. Coming back to them, he nodded down the main causeway and motioned for them to follow, setting off at a brisk walk.

The walk through the city was illuminating for Verdan. He saw a wide range of people in various situations, everything from poor and bedraggled to armed and armoured in polished, gleaming steel. There seemed to be many people lingering aimlessly, the blank look in their eyes showing how they had lost the hope that they could improve their situation.

The money changer’s building was a solid looking two-storey business with thick walls and a pair of guards out front, their scowls keeping the majority of the locals well away. ‘Kai, come with me,’ Verdan said, waving for the brothers to wait outside as he headed into the building.

‘Welcome, Sirs. Do you have an appointment, or if not, how can I help?’ The first room was a reception of sorts with a young man manning the desk, his manner warm but his eyes calculating as he eyed the two of them.

‘I have coins and a few gems that need converting,’ Verdan said, pulling out an emerald and flashing it at the man, trusting to greed to get the right reaction.

‘Of course, please take a seat. I will fetch the owner at once.’ The man said, already out of his chair. Verdan nodded, but the receptionist was already walking away, heading through a door in the rear and leaving them to it.

Verdan took the opportunity to examine the room a little further, noting the quality of the decorations and furniture. Clearly, a lot of business passed through here, which was a good sign.

‘Gentlemen, a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Gregory Devro, owner of this establishment and local money changer.’ A well-dressed man came out from the rear with the receptionist, walking forward to shake their hands with a wide smile. ‘Please, follow me.’

Verdan smiled internally at how little things like this changed. He’d never really been to places like this that often, but so far, this was all the same.

‘Now, I believe you have some items that need converting. Could you display them and give me some context to their acquisition?’ Gregory said as he led them into a small room with a large table, taking a seat on one side and gesturing them to the other.

‘Yes, I have coins and gems both. I found them in an old tomb south of here,’ Verdan kept his explanation short and sweet. Fewer details meant less chance of him slipping up later. As he spoke, he pulled out what he had, thirty imperial marks and a small assortment of gems that ranged in size and clarity.

‘Oh, very interesting indeed, was there anything further or did you search the whole place?’ Gregory asked as he took a close look at the goods on display, picking up one of the coins to examine it further.

‘It was only small. This was everything that was of value.’

‘Such a shame, they’re so very odd, you see. Given my business here, I deal with many local adventurers and the loot they find, but I’ve not seen coins like this before. They almost look like the coins of the Third Empire, but they’re not quite the same, and they certainly don’t look thousands of years old!’ He chuckled at his own words, not noticing that Verdan had gone pale at his words.

‘Thousands?’ The word tore itself from Verdan’s mouth before he could stop himself, the implications making his veins run with ice-water.

‘Oh yes,’ Gregory said without looking up from the coin. ‘The Third Empire is the oldest civilisation that we have records of at two thousand years old. We know that there were others preceding it but not what they were called or any real details outside of some fantastical stories. Their society still shapes life today. It is such a shame that a particularly bad Rising destroyed them. Still, life goes on, and we struggle forward.’

Verdan said nothing, simply taking in the information and keeping his expression as neutral as possible. He doubted he’d ever know just how long he’d been asleep, but he knew now that it was measured in thousands, not hundreds. It sounded like that ‘Third Empire’ had been a distant successor to the one he’d lived in, though long enough apart that wizards were only tall tales. If that was true, it also meant that whatever had happened to abolish wizardry had happened in between him going to sleep and that empire.

‘More to the point, I can offer five gold darns for everything here,’ Gregory said with an expectant smile, holding a hand out for Verdan to shake.

‘Seven, those coins are older than the Third Empire. A collector would pay through the nose for them,’ Kai said, leaning forward to negotiate when he saw that Verdan wasn’t responding.

Verdan tuned out their arguing as he processed it all, eventually pushing it all to one side as Gregory and Kai shook hands, and the money changer went to fetch their coins. Kai gave him an odd look, but Verdan shook his head before he could speak. This wasn’t the time or place to discuss things.

‘Here we are, six gold darns and fifty silver darns as agreed. Please do come back if you have any further items like this,’ Gregory handed the pouch of coins over to Verdan, who thanked him before rising and heading outside.

The two brothers and the witch were where he left them, the witch still unconscious but looking far more healthy than earlier. As they walked out, both of the brothers turned to Verdan with an expectant expression once more.

Having the others relying on him to judge what to do next was a welcome relief. After all, Verdan just now needed to decide what to do with his life after finding out that everyone and everything he knew was gone. Even the very land itself had changed from what he remembered.

‘There’s a tavern we’ve stayed at before when visiting, nothing fancy, but it would do while we get our bearings. Do you have enough for us all?’ Tim asked hesitantly, seeing the clouded expression on Verdan’s face.

‘Yes, it’ll be fine, please lead on,’ Verdan said shortly. He needed to sleep on all this and get something to eat. He’d figure it out tomorrow.

Exchanging a look, the brothers led the way through the streets of Hobson’s point, a little unsteadily at first but gaining in confidence the further they went.

The tavern they came to was a sombre place, mostly empty with a half-abandoned look that didn’t inspire any confidence. Tim seemed confident this was the place, however, and led them inside.

The interior was in far better shape than the outside suggested, a warm fire in the corner giving it a homely feel. The innkeeper was a middle-aged man with short hair and a warm smile, a smile that only grew as Tim spoke to him.

‘My friend here tells me you need rooms?’ The innkeeper said as Verdan walked over to join them.

‘Yes, please, four in total, with food, for at least two nights,’ Verdan said. He doubted the prices would be high here, given the state of the place.

‘Very good. That will be fifteen copper darns per room per night plus ten copper darns per meal. That’s a total of two hundred and fifty copper for two nights and two meals each for five people. I’d settle for two silver, though and forget about the last half-darn. If you want longer, we can call it four silver and make it four nights.’ The innkeeper rattled off the prices with practised ease. As he spoke, Verdan watched Tim from the corner of his eye, using his reaction to judge the prices. They seemed very low to his mind, a hundred copper darns was one silver, and one gold darn was one hundred silvers in turn. A half-darn was a fifty copper piece, so it was well, well within his budget.

‘Here, four silver darn for four nights, which rooms should we take?’ Verdan produced some of the new coins he’d received and passed them over.

‘Thank you kindly, and welcome to the Plucky Wanderer. The stairs on the right lead up to a group of four rooms. I’ll mark the whole group down for yourselves. My name is Bob Davenport. If you need anything, just holler. Oh, and dinner is in about an hour,’ Bob said with a friendly smile, gesturing to the relevant staircase as he reached below the counter and produced four keys after a short period of rummaging around.

‘Thank you, we’ll get settled in as soon as possible,’ Verdan said with a nod, motioning everyone upstairs so that they could divide rooms accordingly. Tim and Tom got one, Verdan got one, Kai got the third, and the witch was given the fourth.

Verdan expected the witch to wake up either this evening or overnight. Obviously, she would be disoriented at first, so he left her on the bed with the door unlocked, no need to make her feel like she was being kept in there against her will.

Dinner was a meagre affair, but Bob promised that much better fare would be provided tomorrow. Given the day’s events, Verdan didn’t even notice, simply eating the last of the slightly stale bread he’d been given and turning in for the evening, he had a lot to think about.