Over the next hour, Gurthka and the fwyn tore down a section of the ruins and formed a makeshift camp to house them while Verdan treated the wounded. They had seen no sign of any darjee since capturing the plaza, but it was best to be prepared.

Verdan had used a significant amount of Aether between the healing and the general combat, so he used this time to meditate and regain as much as he could. Gruthka had spoken to the captured fwyn and confirmed that this was everyone who had been taken, so they did not need to press any further.

Kai and his group arrived shortly after the fwyn finished shaping their defences, bringing a welcome boost to their strength. The fire sorcerer reported engaging a dozen or so darjee over several small skirmishes, but they had been dealt with easily enough.

Thankfully, none of Kai’s group had been injured in their fights. Kai had been able to meet the darjee and match their speed and strength, while Tom had been able to protect the casters.

It wasn’t quite the same as having properly trained backup, but it was more than Verdan had hoped for when he realised the state of civilisation. Especially now that Tom had become a sorcerer.

Verdan had been shocked when he realised that Tom was using Aether; he’d seen no signs of Tom having it until then. How exactly Tom went from not using it all to using it adeptly and in complex ways, Verdan had no idea. At this point, it was just one more piece of data for him to consider.

He’d been confident that sorcerers were inherently different from wizards before, but now, he was certain. What Tom demonstrated was nothing like what Verdan and his colleagues had gone through.

In some ways, Verdan was jealous of the other man. He’d spent years working his fingers to the bone in the academy, and that was just to be taught how to do it. A wizard’s potential was entirely self-dependent; no one could do the work for you.

This, however, was something else entirely. The potential of it all was astounding. Verdan had mistakenly assumed that sorcerers had to train for their powers. That lack of training, mixed with the sudden onset, nullified a few of his favoured theories on sorcerers.

Once they were back in Hobson’s Point, Verdan would have to speak with Tom and see if he would do some experiments or even just answer some questions that Verdan had.

‘Verdan, Tim is waking up,’ Gwen called out, breaking Verdan from his meditation and bringing him back to reality.

‘How is he?’ Verdan asked, rising to his feet wearily to follow Gwen over to where the wounded were sheltered.

‘Drained, but alive. Will you be able to do more?’ Gwen asked, giving Verdan a worried look. ‘You need to rest yourself.’

‘I’m fine, nothing that a few good nights of sleep will fix once we’re back at Hobson’s Point. I’ve been cutting into my downtime to work on my spiral, that’s all,’ Verdan said reassuringly. ‘Hyn. There, much better.’ Verdan perked up as the refreshing energy of the spell dispelled his physical and mental fatigue. He’d need to rest properly later, but he had patients to work on.

When they arrived, Tim was awake and in pain, Verdan moving to his side and giving him a small burst of healing to take the edge off.

‘Verdan, did we get everyone?’ Tim asked, grimacing as he shifted on the makeshift bed.

‘Yes, everyone is safe, don’t worry. You did well,’ Verdan said reassuringly, patting Tim on his good shoulder as he did.

‘The wolf?’ Tim asked, trying to crane his neck to look around.

‘Is fine, don’t worry, the fwyn are watching it,’ Verdan said, nodding over to where the wolf was still asleep. Tim woke before it, despite the greater physical injury, but that was due to the abyssal energy lingering in the wolf. It would be some time before it was truly on the path to recovery.

‘Alright, let me just close my eyes for a few minutes, then I’ll be good to go,’ Tim said, letting them settle him back down as his eyelids drooped shut.

‘How is he?’ Gwen whispered, following Verdan as he stepped away from the sleeping guard.

‘He lost a lot of blood before I got to him, but he’s replaced most of it now. With that extra little bit of healing, he’ll be on his feet within the hour. Healing spells tend to encourage sleep as the body focuses energy on repairing itself, so don’t worry about how he drifted off.’ Verdan explained, while moving over to the injured fwyn.

The fwyn were awake and resting on their dirt beds; their wounds were now little more than scars. They were fine to travel; it would just be the ones rescued from the cages who needed a little longer. Thankfully, as they fwyn hadn’t had a collar like the wolf, the corruptive energy in them was clearing out at a much higher pace. They were recovering nicely without further intervention from Verdan.

Another hour, and a touch more healing from Verdan, had everyone ready for travel, and he saw no reason to put it off. Even the wolf was up and about, though it was staying close to Tim and eyeing the rest of them warily.

Elliot had recovered quickly from his condition, surprisingly quickly, actually. Verdan couldn’t help but wonder if the large man was a sorcerer of some kind as well; that might explain his fast healing.

‘Ready to leave?’ Verdan asked Gruthka, coming over to where the fwyn was organising his folk.

‘As ready as we will be, some of my people had been here for weeks. It will take time for them to recover, but they’re fit for travel.’ Gruthka grimaced and shrugged in an oddly human motion. ‘There’s nothing more we can do for them right now.’

‘I’ll do another round of infusing the worst with a cleansing concept tomorrow. Hopefully, that will help,’ Verdan offered, and Gruthka inclined his head in thanks.

With everyone ready, they set off out of the ruins, heading first to the makeshift fort that had been set up previously. While it hadn’t been as key a defensive emplacement as Verdan had hoped, that was mainly due to the lack of support the darjee had brought.

Someone must have made these bone charms for them, so they clearly had some magical contacts, but Verdan hadn’t seen any here. One possibility was that the darjee were trading with some other group that created the bone charms, which was why they weren’t in the hunting group. Alternatively, it could be a question of status, with the magic users being much higher in the ranks of the darjee than regular hunters.

Still, from what Kai had told him originally, no one was aware of the magical capabilities of these darjee. He’d have to speak with him further about the bone charms, find out if they were something new or not. It wasn’t a priority for the moment, though.

Verdan’s musings didn’t keep him from watching their surroundings carefully as they moved through the ruins. They hadn’t seen any further signs of darjee, but that didn’t mean anything.

Thankfully, they exited the ruins without issue, their enlarged group moving out past the fort and into the wilderness. From here, it was down to Gruthka and the fwyn to guide them back to Gwen’s family home.

Kai made his way over to Verdan once they were a few hours out from the ruins without any sign of darjee pursuit.

‘So, what are your plans now? Are we heading straight for Hobson’s Point?’ Kai asked, glancing over at Verdan with a questioning expression.

‘Yes, I think so. Everything I ordered must be close to arriving by now, if not there already. Besides, after buying that property, I do want to spend some time there,’ Verdan said with a shrug. This jaunt out from the city had already been so much more than he had planned for. He was fine now, but he knew he’d be dreaming of the war tonight. The screams of the darjee had been hard to hear.

No, what Verdan needed now was some time away from everything. They could settle into their new home, and he could focus on his alchemy. The loggers could get back to work, and in turn, the glassblowers could make him some glassware for his new lab. It would all come together nicely.

‘Very well, do you intend to be adventuring like this often? If so, I will look into hiring additional guards to watch over the estate in our absence.’

‘No, no need for that at all. I will be settling in and leaving the rest of this to the professionals. Next time I’ll just hire some adventurers to go out and deal with it.’ Verdan told Kai firmly. He had no intent to do this again any time soon.

Kai grunted noncommittally and said no more, giving Verdan a long look before dropping back to speak to Gwen.

Ignoring Kai’s lack of faith in his ability to remain in the city, Verdan started to consider his plans for his first alchemy project. Alchemy had long been the province of witches and not something that wizards had dabbled in. It would be a breath of fresh air to do some experimenting and see what he could achieve.

They followed the same rough path back the way they had come, the different groups keeping to themselves as they travelled. They had been lucky not to take any losses, but a fair number of them were nursing various injuries.

They had a thirty-minute stop after around three hours of travel, pausing so that Verdan could cast a few minor healing spells and help things along. The injured fwyn were all but completely healed; their connection with the earth helped them heal quickly, even without Verdan’s help.

Tim was also making good progress, though his brother was hovering over him protectively. Tom hadn’t taken the news of his brother being injured very well. Verdan doubted that the two of them spent that much time apart, let alone get into trouble without the other.

The wolf was also hovering around Tim and was Verdan’s hardest patient. He knew he’d need a more stable setting to look at removing the collar safely, but every time he saw the cursed thing, he wanted to remove it then and there.

The sun was dipping below the horizon when they stopped for the healing top-up. Thankfully, it took only a few minutes for Verdan to work through his patients, so they were able to push on afterwards. Conscious of the dimming light, Verdan conjured several pale lights to help guide the way for the non-fwyn, knowing that the small creatures didn’t need any help.

Between creating the fort, fighting the darjee, and the days travel, the fwyn were too tired to create a temporary shelter when they stopped for the day. Instead, they raised an area of compacted loam for everyone to sleep on, saving the rest of their energy in case they were called on during the night.

Verdan meditated for an hour or two after the watches were set, and everyone tried to get some sleep, splitting his time between adding to his spiral and actively circulating it to speed up his recovery.

With all the healing and combat spells, Verdan was running low on Aether, far too low for his liking. Normally, Verdan liked to maintain a healthy reserve of Aether, but his recovery rate was still so slow. Thankfully, he was almost ready to complete his second spiral and start working on his third. He just needed another hour or two of meditation to get it finished.

The change of watch told Verdan that the time he’d allocated for his meditation had passed, and he reluctantly stopped working on his spiral. Part of him wanted to infuse himself with some Aether and just keep going, but he knew that putting off his sleep would do more harm than good at this point.

Sighing heavily, Verdan stretched out on the soft ground and let his eyes rest on the stars above. The weariness Verdan had been fighting off quickly caught up with him, making his eyelids turn heavy and pulling him down into sleep.