Verdan got little sleep overnight. He instead spent most of the night focusing on pushing his spiral construction as much as he could. When first learning, novice Wizards were specifically told not to do this, mainly to stop them from overreaching or doing it wrong.

Given the situation, Verdan felt confident in flouting the rules like this. After all, it wasn’t like there was anyone left to gainsay him.

Staying up until the early hours of the morning, Verdan managed to add twelve more layers to his spiral, making it a total of fifty-two out of sixty. He was so close to finishing the spiral he could almost taste it. Another day or two of work, and it would be finished.

After the few hours of sleep that he did get, Verdan headed down to the kitchen to see if there was any food left. He’d skipped the evening meal for more meditation time, and his stomach was definitely telling him about it.

‘Morning, Boss,’ Tim greeted him as he walked in, the ex-guard munching happily on an apple. ‘I hear we’re heading out to help the loggers today and visit Gwen’s home to boot.’

‘Morning, Tim. Yes, the first will help with what we’re doing here, and the second should help Gwen control her powers,’ Verdan said, before gesturing toward one of the two extra apples Tim had with a questioning look.

‘That’ll be good. I’ve never had a bad experience with a witch myself, so I never put much stock in the stories you hear, but a lot of folks do. A bit of control might well go a long way to helping folks stop fearing them so,’ Tim said, shrugging and tossing Verdan an apple.

‘I hope so. Where I’m from, witches are respected and all but revered by the common folk. They’re seen as guardians of nature and the first line of defence against a lot of things that might slip by more traditional defences.’ Verdan bit into the apple eagerly as he spoke, explaining it all around mouthfuls.

‘So, they must have some better way of control where you’re from then, is there not a way to send a courier or someone to get a book on what to do for Gwen?’ Tim asked, frowning slightly as he considered the issue at hand.

‘Sadly not, there’s no way back now. The best way forward for her is to read her grandmother’s journal. I’ll try to do what I can to help her along as well,’ Verdan quickly moved the conversation on past where he was from.

‘Sounds good to me. Tom and I don’t know a lot about the whole magic thing. We’ll leave that to you three.’ Tim shrugged and went to grab the last apple before pausing, eyeing Verdan, and tossing it his way.

‘Ahh, thanks,’ Verdan said, biting into the new apple eagerly. ‘So, do you need any supplies for a trip out into the woods?’

‘Food, some general equipment maybe. Nothing too much though, maybe five silvers each to be fully prepared and with food enough for everyone.’

‘Here, there’s Tom’s amount as well.’ Verdan passed him ten silver without hesitation. ‘Let me know if you need anything else.’ If there was ever a time to spend his money, this was it.

‘Will do. We’ll go get it sorted now. Thanks, Boss,’ Tim threw him a lazy salute and headed upstairs to fetch his brother.

‘Tim,’ Verdan called after him, ‘make sure to stop by Samuel’s house and let him know that we’re taking care of it. If he could get someone to keep a watch on things here for me, I’d appreciate it.’ Tim waved a hand in acknowledgement, carrying on up the stairs.

-**-

Several hours passed, with both Kai and Gwen taking five silver each and going to get things they thought were essential for the expedition. The drain on his funds was already high for this. He was down to just one gold darn, eighty-eight silver darns and fifty copper darns. A considerable amount in itself, but considering how quickly he’d burnt through the rest of his funds, he was getting a little concerned.

Still, they had it all together by lunchtime and split it, mostly evenly, between five packs. Verdan saw that the brothers had brought everything from food, flint, bedrolls and whetstones through to replacement clothing, bandages and herbal remedies.

Everything they could think of was in those packs. They didn’t know what would be needed, so it was all in an effort to try and give them an option for any eventuality.

Verdan doubted that a lot of it would be needed, but it was better to be prepared and not needed than the other way around.

The only thing missing was alchemical support, antidotes, toxin neutralisers, healing potions, anything like that. They were like gold dust in the area currently, mostly bought up in advance by the sorcerers who still lived in the city. That would change once Verdan was set up, but for the moment, it limited them to more mundane equipment.

‘Everyone ready?’ Verdan asked, looking over the small group as they donned their packs and the equipment they’d bought. He got a slew of nods from the others, so wasting no more time, he led the way out.

The main entrance to Hobson’s point was on the southern side, where they’d entered not so long ago, but there was a second entrance on the north-eastern side. The second entrance led straight into a narrow pass through the mountain range and to the forests beyond. Fortified and guarded to a much higher degree, the second entrance was a gateway to the more dangerous lands north of the mountains.

Tim and Tom had spent some time with Samuel, discussing the logging operation and the area in general. From what they told him, normally, the area closest to the pass was actually safer than that to the south.

To the east of Hobson’s Point, a city had been destroyed in the last Rising. A powerful cyth force overwhelmed them before scattering into the area. No doubt that event was the cause of the cyth settlement that Verdan had come across, the impact of such a loss for humanity causing problems even years later.

In contrast, the northern territories were stable and more predictable in where the dangers would lie. The exception was when something new moved into the area like they were seeing now.

There were a large number of guards at the gateway to the pass, as well as two looming towers with ballista in case something large came through, but they did little more than nod in the group’s direction as they passed through. It made sense, really. They were only there to protect the city, not the people who wanted to head north.

A certain weight settled onto them as they passed through, mainly from the knowledge that they were leaving the implied safety of the city behind. Anything could happen now. Everything Verdan had heard so far told him that the wilderness to the north was nothing like the area he’d known in the past.

-**-

It took a whole afternoon of walking to make it through the pass, the rocky terrain worn away by countless previous travellers to provide a passable trail they could follow.

The land before them was slowly revealed as they reached the end of the pass, a large forest covering the land for as far as he could see. A series of switchbacks brought them down a short way to the level of the forest and a large clearing that sat at the base of the path to Hobson’s Point.

The clearing would have once been completely void of plant life, that much was easy to tell, but there were shoots of green appearing here and there now. A permanent fire pit had been built in the centre of the area, long cold and disused but still serviceable enough.

A path had been carved through the undergrowth at the far side of the clearing. From what they’d been told, following that path would bring them to the trail to the logging camp in short order.

Their first destination was Gwen’s family home, but thankfully, it was the same direction as the camp, initially at least.

‘Do we stop here?’ Verdan asked Gwen, gesturing to the fading light as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

‘We can, but the cottage is just a few hours from here. If we hurry, we can be there before dark and sleep with the wards in between us and any monsters,’ Gwen said with a shrug, leaving the decision to him.

Verdan thought about the options for a moment before nodding and gesturing to the trail, ‘let’s push on now. The possibility of the wards is worth the risk of travelling so late. Gwen, you take the lead with Kai.’

‘No problem, let’s get going then,’ Gwen set off immediately, her excitement showing with the extra spring in her step as she started down the trail. Kai followed a few steps behind her, spear at the ready for any creatures they might encounter.

‘You go next, Boss. We’ll take the rear and make sure nothing sneaks up on you,’ Tim said with a firm nod, his smile strained as he looked around them at the darkening light and the looming trees.

‘Shout if you see anything,’ Verdan told them as he followed after the other two. Splitting his attention, he focused on the concept of a bright bolt of fire, one that would illuminate as well as burn. It wasn’t his normal spell, but one that would be worth the extra drain on his reserves to cast. Carefully constructing the concept of what he wanted, Verdan took a second to commit it to his short term memory before letting it fade away.

Making new and unfamiliar spells on the go was a complicated matter, but the less familiar with the spell he was, the more he needed to compensate with either raw power or more specific wording, which in turn was mentally fatiguing. This did cause a tendency for wizards to rely on a set group of spells that they were most familiar with, a dangerous habit in Verdan’s opinion.

Keeping an eye on the shadowy undergrowth to either side of the path, Verdan quickened his pace to match the two ahead of him. Every other step, his staff would thud into the ground, measuring out their pace.

The dim light cast eerie shadows that shifted and changed as they moved past. Each and every shadow could, and many probably did, conceal something that would kill them if given a chance.

Minutes passed uncomfortably slowly at first, the threat of the unknown keeping them on edge and dragging out the travel. They passed the turn off for the logging camp early on, Gwen taking the right-hand fork to take them toward her home instead.

A few more turn-offs came and went as they hiked on, the disused path growing more and more dilapidated as they travelled on.

-**-

Kai rubbed his thumb down the smooth grain of his spear, appreciating its fine make once more as he walked a few paces behind Gwen. It had been more than he’d expected from Verdan to get him such a weapon, but then, what had Verdan done that wasn’t more than he expected.

Everything the man did, from the way he conjured his essence through to where he spoke, was different, foreign. One of the southern Clans might be tempted to beat his secrets free, but Kai held himself to the old code of conduct and respected his privacy. No matter how frustrating it was.

Things had moved so quickly since he’d awoken in the cyth dungeon, weaponless and certain that he would face impending death with no salvation. His whole world view had been turned on its head by Verdan’s explanations, not the least of which was the “Aether” he’d mentioned a few times.

At first, Kai had thought it was essential essence. However, he soon realised that wasn’t the case, as no mere sorcerer would be able to use so many different elements with ease, nor need to speak aloud in that strange language. The very air had seemed to reverberate when Verdan had conjured his fireball at the cyth settlement, a terrifying and awe-inspiring sight.

Gwen side-stepped a pothole, drawing his eyes to her and his mind to another of Verdan’s revelations. Witches were dangerous, chaotic, and the source of many small evils. That was the general opinion of anyone he’d ever met. To say that witches were something else entirely was disturbing at best, downright dangerous at worst.

Kai had always wondered about witches, but he’d trusted in what he’d been taught. Now, with Verdan arriving and bringing such strange knowledge with him, Kai wasn’t so sure. He wanted to doubt Verdan, but with everything else he said being demonstrated to be accurate, what was Kai meant to think.

It didn’t help that Gwen had an admirable passion in her soul, a passion that had been ignited by Verdan’s comments on how she might control her magic. Kai found himself looking at her in the same light as he would an inadequately trained sorcerer, not as a potential disaster.

‘Kai,’ Verdan called to him, his voice soft but carrying an undercurrent of concern that set Kai on guard immediately. Gripping his spear a little tighter, Kai slowed down so that Verdan caught up with him, watching their surroundings as he did.

‘What’s wrong?’ He kept his voice soft and didn’t turn to face Verdan. Keeping his focus on their surroundings, he looked for what might have caused Verdan to speak up.

‘Something has noticed us and is stalking us. I’m not sure for how long. I caught a flicker of Aether a few minutes ago, and when I started searching for more of it, I sensed at least three sources.’ Verdan told him equally softly, not sounding worried, just wary.

‘I’ve not seen anything,’ Kai said, frowning in concentration as he recalled their journey so far. He’d not noticed anything particularly worrying or indicative of anything too bad, which was now quite a bad sign in itself. Years of hunting monsters meant that Kai had a strong awareness of his surroundings. Not just anything could hide from him.

‘Trust me. It’s there. Whatever it is used Aether, or essential essence as you would call it. Whatever they are, they’re being difficult to pin down and locate. They’re likely some form of shadow creature, one that naturally hides by using Aether. That would explain it evading my detection.’

‘Can you give me any more specifics?’ Kai was becoming steadily more worried. Shadow creatures were known to be dangerous, not necessarily for their fighting ability but for their skill in ambush. That Verdan was able to sense them at all was impressive. Of course, that was assuming this actually was a group of shadow creatures.

‘They feel coordinated and fast. I can’t get anything more specific than that with the way they fade in and out of my senses,’ Verdan said with a frown of displeasure.

‘That’s not good. How close are they?’ Kai kept a lid on his emotions, not letting anything show that might give anything away. Body language could be sensed by even brutish creatures, after all.

‘Thirty feet out into the undergrowth, sometimes further away, sometimes a little up ahead. I get the feeling they’re waiting for something.’

Kai stopped himself from grimacing. That sounded like they were walking into an ambush. Exactly what he’d expect from something that was infused with the essence of shadow.

The only question now was what to do, push on and stay aware, try to change direction or try to fight their stalkers. A hard choice, but thankfully one that sat with Verdan, not with him. Glancing up at the tall Wizard, Kai could see that he was also considering their options.

‘I could try to chase one of them down and see what’s out there,’ Kai offered with an open palm. He disliked being on the defensive like this. He’d rather take the fight to them.

‘No, it’s getting too dark for that. It would be too easy for them to evade you and ruin our chances. We’ll stick to the path for now. Stay up at the front with Gwen and keep your eyes peeled.’

‘Alright, send me a signal if you see anything. They might just be waiting to catch one of us off guard after all,’ Kai said before quickening his pace once more.

‘Everything okay?’ Gwen asked as he caught up with her once more.

‘There might be trouble. Just carry on as normal for now and let me know if you see anything suspicious.’ Kai considered not telling her at all, but that would bring its own risks, and he didn’t feel comfortable lying to her.