The group gathered together and started moving upstream, Kai going first, followed by Tim, then Verdan and Gwen, with Tom taking the rearmost position. Kai had been instructing the others as best he could on moving quietly, but even so, Verdan winced at what Tom considered stealth.

The stream continued for a short distance before showing itself to be linked to the previous body of water they’d come across. They were but a stone's throw away from the camp from here. Kai seemed to recognise where they were as well, leading them around until they were coming toward the edge of the treeline that surrounded the camp. Peering through the undergrowth, Verdan got his first real look at the darjee.

Fourteen darjee were present throughout the camp, some walking, some talking, some tending a firepit or other camp chores. The darjee were muscular and large dog-faced humanoids, with a slight hunch and long coarse black hair. Each darjee was clad in leather and fur, with tanned hide and bone accessories dangling from them.

One particularly robust specimen of a darjee wore a thick fur pelt around its shoulders and seemed to have some sort of status among the others. Verdan watched with interest as the fur-clad leader ordered the others around and took charge of the camp's operation.

There was a clear social structure at play here, Verdan was reluctant to make too many assumptions, but it seemed to be based on the quality and number of pelts, furs and hide they wore. While that might not be the most useful information right now, it was worth noting. The sight of so much fur on display made him feel sick. Kai's words on how the darjee only hunted sentient creatures for their pelts lingered in his mind.

‘After you,’ Kai whispered as softly as he could, glancing in Verdan’s direction from where he was crouched behind a tree.

Verdan eyed the encampment carefully, calming his mind and noting distances between the various targets. The darjee were too spread out for him to hit them all with a single spell. Well, not unless he used something big and Aether-intensive. It was an option, but not a good one.

It was frustrating to work with such limitations, but his progress was steady, and even a fraction of his power was better than nothing. Verdan just wished that he could support his companions more.

A group of five darjee were clustered off to one side of the camp, a tempting target for an opening attack. Alternatively, the leader he'd spotted earlier was in plain view in the centre of the camp with another darjee. Both were good, but Verdan didn’t have time to mull over the choices. Going with his gut, Verdan decided to even the numbers a little.

‘Thanr bel!’ Verdan barked out the words, packing as much emphasis into them as he could to strengthen the empowering portion of the spell concept.

A bead of red flame flew out from his hand, slowly swelling as it sailed into the camp, growing to around two feet across before impacting one of the darjee. The sphere audibly cracked as it hit the unfortunate creature, blooming out in an expanding ball of fire that swept over the cluster of darjee and sent out a ripple of heat across the whole camp.

The screams of the heavily burnt darjee rent the air as Kai raced forwards, Tim and Tom trying to keep up but almost immediately falling behind as the fire sorcerer channelled his Aether. The darjee reacted quickly, shaking off the shock of the abrupt attack like seasoned fighters and moving to meet the charging humans.

Low walls of packed earth reared up in front of the darjee as they tried to converge, blocking their path and separating them from each other. More than one darjee ran straight into a wall as it reared up in front of them, crashing through and falling heavily to the ground in a shower of dirt and stone, dazed from the impact.

Stretching out his senses, Verdan could feel a concentration of Aether on the far side of the camp. It looked like the fwyn had arrived.

The darjee that avoided the walls were able to close in on the charging sorcerer, flexing their hands to extend seven-inch long claws. To Verdan’s surprise, their claws didn’t look like the normal ones seen on predatory animals. Instead, they were black with swirling lines of white running through them, looking more like black marble than anything else. For all that they didn’t use Aether, these creatures were certainly altered by it somehow.

The darjee had reacted quickly, and the slowest of them moved with surprising speed given their size, but Kai was still quicker.

The first darjee that Kai came to swiped at his face with its claws, but the sorcerer slid to one side, his spear following him in an almost lazy arc that dragged its leaf-bladed tip across the belly of the darjee. Blood sprayed out from the deep cut, and the darjee yelped in pain, flinching away from the attack.

Skidding to a stop, Kai changed the grip on his spear and reversed its movement, skewering the darjee before it could recover with the spike at the base of his spear.

Nearby darjee were quick to try to capitalise on Kai's spear being occupied and redoubled their efforts to reach him through the impromptu maze forming around them.

‘Aer!’ Verdan barked out three times in quick succession, using a motion of his hands to guide the spell as he sent out blasts of pressurised air that knocked back charging darjee, staggering their arrival and giving Kai time to face them one or two at a time rather than all at once. He would do more, but the empowered fireball had been a heavy drain on his reserves, and he might need another one before the end.

Two darjee managed to make it through Verdan's interference, rushing for Kai with eager growls. The extra time that Verdan had bought the sorcerer meant that their prey was ready for them, however, and they were forced to hold back by the flashing steel of Kai's spear.

Tim and Tom arrived as Kai held back the two darjee, the two brothers flanking one to each side of the sorcerer as they pressured the darjee.

Satisfied that they had the matter in hand, Verdan turned his attention to the rest of the darjee. The earthen walls were still erupting from the ground to confound the darjee, but now they had less of an impact. The dog-faced warriors were now moving carefully and not charging forward, slowing them down but stopping any injuries from running into a wall.

Still, Verdan saw at least a few darjee had been bound by thick stone restraints where they'd fallen after hitting a wall, effectively removing them from the fight. It seemed that the fwyn had thought up a few ways to manage the darjee attacks.

Changing his attacks from the darjee nearest his companions, Verdan started to work in concert with the fwyn. Rapid blasts of pressurised air would knock over a darjee, with the fwyn binding them in earth and stone once they were down. Half of the darjee were dead or bound now; it was only a matter of time.

Verdan kept an eye on the fighting and was pleased to see that the brothers were working in harmony with Kai. Tim and Tom were fighting defensively, protecting Kai as he took down the darjee that reached them one at a time.

With no need to deal with multiple opponents at once, Kai was reaping a bloody toll on the darjee. The sorcerer's spear was already glistening crimson and dripping with the blood of his fallen foes.

Despite their teamwork, any normal human would have been overrun by the darjee. Only Kai's "essence" allowed him to be quick enough to outpace the darjee so easily.

A portion of Verdan’s awareness studied Kai as he slew another darjee, watching how the Aether was drawn into him and how it behaved around him. There was something familiar about it. Verdan pushed the idle musing to one side, now wasn't the time.

‘Aer Tor!’ Verdan used the two-word spell in conjunction with a slice of his hand, sending out an arc of pressurised air toward a pair of darjee that was trying to outflank Kai.

Some wizards looked down on those who used motions to help form their spells, but Verdan’s experience was that it helped shape the spell and reduced the mental effort of forming it. Plus, there was a visceral satisfaction to feeling like he’d thrown the air that ripped through the monster.

One of the two darjee he’d targeted saw the attack coming and rolled underneath it, losing some fur and flesh in the process, while the other caught the brunt of the spell, the blade of air ripping through him messily in a shower of blood and gore. The darjee that had ducked the attack rose from its roll at a dead sprint, going straight for Verdan, aiming to reach him before he could cast again.

A crack and a flash of light seared Verdan’s retinas as a bolt of blue-white lightning burst into being, striking the darjee in the side and throwing it off its feet with explosive force. The acrid odour of burnt fur and flesh warred with the strong ozone smell of the lightning as Verdan blinked rapidly to help his vision recover. The lightning bolt was still slightly superimposed on his vision, clearly coming from his left, from Gwen.

Glancing over, Verdan saw the weather witch leaning against a tree, pale and sweating as she panted and tried to catch her breath. Magic for witches was a lot more physical than for wizards. She must have used everything she had in that one strike to be in this state already.

Turning back to the fight, Verdan surveyed the others to see where he was needed, but it looked like it was all but over. Tom was pulping the brains of a darjee with his mace, Kai was impaling his latest opponent on his spear, and the fwyn had secured the few darjee yet to reach the fight with stone restraints. In barely a few minutes the whole fight had been decided.

None of the darjee that had fought Kai and the brothers had survived, and those bound in restraints were slowly swallowed by the earth, disappearing into impromptu graves. Verdan had seen such a tactic in the past, but it still sent a chill down his spine. Being buried alive was a bad way to go, but nothing the darjee didn't deserve.

‘You both did well. The training is paying off,’ Kai said, his voice cutting through the silence that followed the fight as he gave the brothers a slight smile. Both Tim and Tom were breathing heavily from the short and intense battle, but they still perked up at Kai’s words.

‘You all did well,’ Verdan said, nodding approvingly first at Gwen, then at the brothers, proud of how well they’d all performed.

‘Is it always this tiring?’ Gwen came over to him, still breathing heavily and a little flushed from the sudden exertion.

‘Well, what have you done with your magic prior to this?’ Verdan kept half an eye on everyone else as he answered Gwen, just in case there was a hidden threat.

‘Something similar to those air blasts I saw you were doing, that’s it really,’ Gwen said after a moment of thought.

‘Consider the power of a lightning bolt compared to that,’ Verdan said, nodding as he saw the realisation in her eyes. ‘All that energy had to come from somewhere, and more importantly, your body had to cope with it moving through it.’

‘So, I should stick to air blasts for now?’ Gwen asked with a frown and a slight grimace.

‘No, you should push yourself where you can, both in the strength of what you are casting and the variety of effects you create. Just don’t overdo it. You never know when you need to be in top shape.’ Verdan drew on the little witch knowledge he had to guide her. It was very different to being a wizard, after all.

‘I think I get it,’ Gwen said, nodding with a thoughtful expression as he spoke. A flutter of wings heralded the arrival of her raven, the large bird gently setting down on her shoulder. Verdan hadn’t seen it leave, but that wasn’t surprising given how stealthy familiars could be.

‘Good, it’s important to explore the breadth of what you can do with your magic, don’t simply rest on a few tricks that work, one day, that might not be enough,’ Verdan said, mixing his cautionary words with a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ‘Now, I need to speak with Gruthka. Take a few minutes to rest.’

Leaving Gwen to sit down and recover, Verdan walked around the perimeter of the darjee camp to where the fwyn were hidden in the trees. It was easy enough for him to locate them; all the Aether they’d been using had caused something akin to turbulence in their local area, highlighting their position to those with the ability to notice.

There were four more fwyn with Gruthka, though the newcomers backed away as Verdan approached, watching him warily. In contrast, Gruthka stepped out of the treeline to greet Verdan, his gaze lingering on the darjee camp.

Ignoring the four sets of large black eyes watching him from the undergrowth, Verdan nodded to Gruthka and gestured to the darjee camp. ‘Thank you for the help; those stone restraints were very useful.’

‘It is our traditional way of dealing with the darjee. They are too quick to dodge if we try projectiles. Fighting like this is how we’ve survived this long,’ Gruthka said with a hint of pride that twisted into bitterness at the end.

‘I promised to help, and I will. We’ll get your people back,’ Verdan said, his soft voice belying the steel in his eyes and the rage that burned within him. Seeing the furs and leathers the darjee wore and knowing they mainly came from sentient creatures had filled him with a cold fury.

He was no hero. That was what he told himself. It was almost a mantra that he was using to cope with this new world at this point. He’d promised Gurthka that he’d help him, and he would; Verdan's oath would be fulfilled, and in this little corner of the world, the empire’s values would stand. He could do no less and still honour the fallen.