Tim watched as Kai and his group headed off for the left side of the ruins, leaving Tim, Verdan and all the fwyn. Well, all of them bar Dru, which was a shame. Tim had watched the small fwyn use his magic to great effect in the fight; Tim would have liked to keep him with them.

Still, it made more sense for Dru and Gwen to go and support the others. There was no need for them in this group when they had Verdan. Tim had ever met a sorcerer that came close to matching the sheer range of abilities that Verdan demonstrated. The list was endless, fire, protection, warding, fog, light, even healing. When they had time, Tim was going to ask how to learn to be like Verdan, but he had no doubt it would involve years of training.

Tim had been on the fence about asking Verdan before, but today had changed everything. He’d always known that Tom had a love of stone and earth; he had been fascinated with the mountains when they’d been younger, and it had only grown since then. That was understandable, but what Tim saw today was on another level entirely.

Tom was a sorcerer. It was an easy statement that was simple enough to back up. One look at the stone-covered mace he’d been using would be enough. Sadly, that didn’t make it any easier for Tim to understand.

Tom was just taking it in stride like he always did, but Tim was going to need time to deal with this. He’d have to ask Verdan and Kai if it meant he could become a sorcerer as well. Now, that was a scary question to ask.

Tim sighed and pushed it all out of his mind. He had a job to do right now. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by silly hopes like that.

Verdan had been speaking to Gruthka in the fwyn's language while Tim was deep in thought. With a final nod, Gruthka beckoned to the other fwyn and headed off toward the ruins at a jog.

‘Follow me, Tim. We’ll be supporting the fwyn while they search for their kin,’ Verdan said, taking off after the fwyn at an easy pace. With their much longer legs, it wasn’t hard for Verdan and Tim to pace the short fwyn.

‘Verdan, I don’t want to question your choices, but why have we split up?’ Tim asked, his eyes on their surroundings as he spoke, just in case.

‘I am concerned that the darjee will realise their position is untenable and flee, taking prisoners with them. To limit this, we need to seem like less of a threat and cover more ground at the same time.’ Verdan explained as they crested the hill that the darjee had come over. 'It's about keeping the momentum and stopping them from reacting with any real thought.'

‘But, what if there are too many for us to deal with in smaller groups?’ Tim asked with concern, looking out at the large area of ruins and thinking how many darjee could be hidden inside.

‘Its a risk, I’ll grant you that, but a calculated one. From what Gruthka told me, that was the majority of them that we fought. Some survivors ran, and there will be more that didn't join the attack, but not enough to overwhelm us. Their lack of magic and ranged weapons gives us a distinct advantage here.’ Verdan told him as he started to descend to the closest area of the ruins. A thick stone wall had once surrounded this section, but Tim could see several areas where the stone had crumbled over time.

The fwyn stayed close behind them as they approached, and Tim kept the rest of his concerns to himself. Verdan knew what he was doing, and Tim’s job here was to protect him, not second-guess him.

As they drew closer to the ruins, Tim began to see signs of habitation, marks that showed how long the darjee had been squatting here. Some of it was easy to see, like how a path had been cleared through a section of crumbled wall, which was obvious even to Tim’s untrained eye.

Verdan paused and focused on something for a moment as he muttered under his breath. Seemingly satisfied, the wizard stepped forward and led the way through the closest damaged section of the wall. ‘Be careful; there’s two of them nearby.’

As if summoned by the wizard’s words, two darjee leapt out of hiding as Tim followed Verdan inside. The closest one went straight for Verdan, while the other went for Tim, rushing forward with frightening speed.

Tim reflexively lifted his shield as the darjee leapt on him, its claws digging deep into the wood even as Tim twisted and drove his sword up and under its ribs. Thankfully, darjee anatomy was reasonably similar to that of a human, so Tim’s strike caught several essential organs.

Twisting the blade before drawing it back out, Tim knocked the corpse to one side and looked over at Verdan. The wizard’s opponent was also dead; some sort of strike had cut away a generous portion of its neck.

‘Onward,’ Verdan said, giving Tim a nod as he carried on into the ruins.

If the looming walls and mounds of crumbling stonework gave Verdan pause, Tim didn’t see it. As far as he could tell, the wizard was just as comfortable here as he had been in Hobson’s Point.

Twice more, Verdan alerted Tim to darjee ambushes as they continued into the ruins, and each time they dealt with the ambush quickly and without issue. The second ambush was the largest yet, with five darjee hidden in a ruined house.

Thankfully, Verdan was able to deal with two of the darjee on his own, and the fwyn used their magic to obstruct and bind the others while Tim killed them. Part of him wondered if Verdan could have done it all himself, but he had no idea what purpose the wizard would have for letting Tim fight more. Every sorcerer Tim had met, even Kai to a certain extent, relished in fighting as much as possible. They took pride in dealing with the majority of the enemy, in demonstrating their ability.

Tim knew intellectually that Verdan was different, but those differences only seemed to be growing as time went on.

‘Tim, there’s something up ahead,’ Verdan said as they passed through a broken archway. ‘I'm detecting several darjee and a variety of other creatures. I think we may have found our prisoners.’ A familiar expression of concentration settled onto Verdan’s face as he spoke, muttering a few more words under his breath that Tim didn’t catch.

‘What do you want me to do,’ Tim asked, holding his sword at the ready as he looked to Verdan for guidance. Part of him was remembering his own time as a prisoner of the cyth, the fear and anticipation built every day.

Determination flowed through Tim as he vowed to protect the captives from the darjee. He would save them as Verdan had once saved him.

‘Take half the fwyn and circle to the right. Wait for my signal, then move in and secure the captives. The fwyn will support you from a distance, but the up-close fighting will be down to you. Understood?’ Verdan said, smiling slightly as Tim nodded. ‘Good, I’ll tell the fwyn to follow your lead.’

Tim took a steadying breath as Verdan spoke to the fwyn in their language. He could feel the pressure of the situation bearing down on him, reminding him that he was only a guard, not even that good of one.

Verdan finished translating his instructions and moved off to the left, half of the fwyn following behind him like large-eyed earless ducklings.

‘Right, we can do this,’ Tim said, forcing a confident smile as he saw the blank expressions on the fwyn that were with him. He wished he could speak whatever language the fwyn used; it would make this so much easier. For now, he would just have to trust that they would follow his lead, as Verdan had said.

The archway they had come through led to a two-way intersection, lined with houses in various states of ruin. Verdan had headed down the left-hand path, so Tim led his group down the right, keeping a wary eye out for more darjee as he went.

Without Verdan to spot ambushes in advance, the ruins became a lot more menacing than when Tim had first entered them. Shadowy corners and half-ruined walls created perfect hiding spots, and the darjee were already faster and stronger than Tim.

Thankfully, the training with Kai was showing its worth against the darjee. Without the practice against someone stronger and faster than him, Tim doubted he would have survived this long. Verdan might have been able to keep him alive, but he wouldn’t have been able to send Tim off on his own like this.

Tim banished his worried thoughts and focused on his surroundings as they came to a ruined house on their left. At least, he assumed it had been a house at some point. The building was little more than two walls and a pile of rubble, but it let Tim see into a large plaza beyond this row of buildings.

At least a dozen darjee were grouped up in the plaza, watching over a number of cages that contained one or more creatures. Tim had to grab the nearest fwyn and calm them down when they saw the cage which held their brethren.

Tim understood their urgency, but the fwyn in the cages were alive. Injured and malnourished, but alive. If they went charging in, who knew what the darjee would do. They would do the captives the most good by following Verdan’s plan.

The cages were on the right edge of the plaza, backed up against a large building that looked almost sturdy in comparison to the rest of the ruins. Tim noticed a round tower extending up from one corner of the building, or what was left of one anyway.

Motioning for the fwyn to move back, Tim retreated to the road and looked for the distant tower, spotting its tip over the ruined buildings. That would be his guide.

Tim didn’t know how long they had until Verdan would act, so he picked up the pace as they wove through the ruins. Fortunately, it seemed that the darjee had set their ambushes at the exterior of the ruins as Tim saw no sign of any foes as they hurried along.

Using the tower as his landmark, Tim managed to get close to the large building without too much issue. Tim gripped his sword tightly and slowed down as he drew closer, his heart pounding in his chest.

The darjee were just on the other side of this building, hardly any distance at all and more than close enough to swarm Tim and his companions before they could react.

Thankfully, the building they were approaching was fairly solid around the exterior. It was the interior that had crumbled away over the years. The entrance where the doors would have sat at the front was empty and open, letting Tim creep inside unopposed.

Broken walls and piles of rubble filled the ground floor of the building, with a crumbled stairway leading up to a half-destroyed area up above him. The outer walls were still mostly intact, as he’d seen from his vantage point earlier.

Motioning for the fwyn to follow him, Tim picked his way over to the rear wall. Turning to the closest fwyn, Tim gestured to the wall, making motions to try and communicate what he wanted them to do.

It took a minute for the fwyn to understand what Tim was after, but once they did, they moved with purpose up to the wall and worked together to weave their magic into the old stone.

Tim couldn’t see what the fwyn did or how it worked, but the end result was precisely what he was hoping for. A hole had formed in the wall, smaller than his fist and perfectly circular.

Leaning up against the wall, Tim peered through the hole and grinned in triumph. They were right behind the cages. It took another minute of gesturing to the fwyn to communicate the next step, but Tim was confident that they’d understood him in the end.

All that was left now was to wait for Verdan’s signal.