“Fighting a regular mage, you must close to him, regardless of the danger. To hold back is to give him enough time to alter the battlefield to his advantage. To prepare spells to overwhelm you; call fire that boils a man inside his armour, lighting that steals strength from limbs, curses that makes you a prisoner inside your own body.

Dodge. Steel your resolve and don’t give in to despair. His first spells might be deadly, but it won’t last long if you don’t allow him to control the flow of the battle. Force him to fight in a close distance, keep him reacting to you. Most of his hastily weaved spells would rarely hold the power comparable to a trained practitioner’s blade.

Wizards rarely wear heavy armours, their magic can shield them as effectively as our own plates. Force them to focus on using it for protection. Even if their spells prevent your sword from harming them, the sheer force of the strike might be enough to make them fumble. Bear your enemy to the ground, use his frail body against him, gag him and tangle his arms to prevent him from casting.”

- an excerpt from the Blade; teachings of Lăoshī Tauric

**Few hours earlier**

Sparrow’s chirp came to an abrupt halt as a door to a small building opened. Two figures, a man and a woman left it, heading towards the gates of the manor. The bird flew away from the tree only to land on the wall not far from the gatekeepers. It listened to the conversation between humans and seeing the pair heading further into the city, it followed them.

The sparrow kept tailing them for a while, but sounds of music spreading around the city were distracting it. After a while, it decided to head towards the noise. It spent a while twittering to the music played by a young bard, to delight of children gathered around the man. Afterwards, it flew in the direction of colourful lights rising towards skies. The sparrow noticed a woman directing them with waves of her fingers, drawing various patterns on the night skies. The bird sat on the roof of a nearby tavern, listening to a singer performing inside while it watched the show.

It would like to stay like this for longer, yet it felt something pulling it back towards the manor. Its master was calling it, and a familiar must obey.

The sparrow quickly flew back towards the manor, flying through an open window into a spacious room.

A man sitting inside turned towards the bird.

“Show me,” Melker ordered.

“You got distracted again,” the abjurer spoke annoyed, seeing that his familiar decided to leave the necromancer and his apprentice alone inside the city.

The bird chirped apologetically.

“But if they really left for the festival, as he has told those guards…” Melker mused, after taking time to sweep carefully through the memories of his familiar.

For a moment the abjurer wondered whether the necromancer was really involved with the mysterious cult that had appeared in the town. In most cases, he would have dismissed the thought as unreasonable. Why would a wizard profiting from the hospitality of one of the noble houses try to destabilise the city he was currently staying in? No reason at all… Unless one was a conjurer or a necromancer. Their rituals were known to benefit from such things. Melker disliked the unpredictability of those specialists.

“And it looks like they have left in a hurry, maybe he left something interesting inside his laboratory?”

Recently, the necromancer was spending there most of his time. Knowing that he received huge amounts of alchemical components from Silverfords, the abjurer wondered what kind of potions was Evans so busy preparing. Among the other things he was working on.

The abjurer already knew from his familiar that Evans was able to animate monsters – a feat not that rare among necromancers – but what really caught his attention was his apparent ability to immediately heal wounds suffered by one of his apprentices during the training, as witnessed through the eyes of his familiar.

From his short talks with Evans, he knew that the necromancer had a few really unorthodox approaches in his understanding of magic. Some of his offhand comments even allowed him to push forward his own researches, some that he has struggled with for years. Not that Melker would ever admit that to anyone.

“This might be a good opportunity. Evans left around three hours ago and hadn’t returned since then; if he is already taking that long, he won't return until a dawn.”

Melker already swept through Evans apartment one week ago but found nothing of interest. Although, it was only to be expected; no one would be stupid enough to leave anything of importance in a so poorly warded place.

What impressed Melker however, was the wizard’s ability to somehow detect traces of him breaking into his study. He was very careful to get rid of any magical disturbances he could have made. Yet Evans must have noticed something, as immediately after this event, his runic arrays became more adequate. Now, he might be actually using them to protect some secrets.

Yet it still wouldn’t be enough to stop someone who specialised in abjuration. More so Melker, as he was spending few hours every day secretly analysing Evans’ arrays, looking for their weak spots.

For those seriously studying the abjuration, breaking through the wards set up without using a Cor was simply a matter of time. Melker was sure that he could crack Evans wards again, even if they were now literarily brimming with mana, given enough time without a potential disturbance.

“With him doing something in the city, I should have a plenty of it.”

Making a decision Melker channelled mana through his arcane focus. Within a few minutes his face and body changed, taking the appearance of Evans. He followed with another spell, weaving an illusion over his robe, making it look like the one the necromancer wore.

“Stay on the wall near the gate. If you see Evans or his apprentice returning, immediately inform me,” he ordered his familiar.

“And don’t fly anywhere else otherwise!”

Melker added, hoping that it will prevent the sparrow from getting distracted again.

Not for the first time he wondered whether he should create another familiar. By now, he should achieve better results enhancing the intelligence of a chosen animal... yet doing so would reveal to anyone who knew him that his current familiar wasn't as good as he boasted.

The bird flew out of the room.

The abjurer also left his apartment. He went downstairs, passing the guards protecting the building’s main door. They reached for weapons hearing someone approaching, yet upon recognising the wizard put their hands away from the swords. They looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear yet knew better than to voice any of it.

Unmolested, he walked around the building to the backyard. Standing outside of the laboratory he chanted an incantation allowing him to better perceive movements of the mana.

“Hah, sheer power over precision,” the wizard mused. “Let him make wards like this for a week or two longer and this whole building would crumble, unable to bear that mana,” he looked at the structure more thoughtfully. “Assuming that those wards could withstand that long.”

The array was very strained; he spent a few minutes pondering how to approach it without accidentally collapsing it, which would immediately release the mana and cause an explosion.

Time passed, as he was targeted various parts of the array slowly dissipating the mana contained within.

“It is more taxing than I have thought it would be,” Melker was delighted, “With so many new defences, he must have left something worth investigating inside.”

Finally, he finished adjusting the remaining part of the array so that it wouldn't consider him hostile. He was just about to enter inside the laboratory when he heard approaching footsteps.

Turning around, he saw two Silverfords’ guards walking from the barracks in his direction.

“Master Evans, have you already returned?” One of the men asked. “Was the festival not to your liking? I’ve was told that you’ve left the residence.”

Melker stared at him coldly.

“My plans are none of your business.”

“Of course, sorry for my insolence, wizard.”

“It’s ‘Master Wizard’ for you.”

The man apologised again, yet there was something in his face that Melker didn’t like. He wanted to punish the guard, yet excited about the prospect of exploring the laboratory decided to let the matter go, for now at least.

“Just make sure that I won’t be disturbed by anyone.”

“Of course, Master Wizard.”

****

After Evans entered his laboratory, the guards headed toward the main building.

“Wizards can really be like murlock’s asses,” the first man said.

“Haha, sure. He probably needs to compel his apprentice to even stay with him.”

“They are probably both into corpses. And to think that he’s still better than that Melker guy.”

They waved to the guards protecting the main property and headed towards the estate gates. Everything seemed to be in order.

“So guys, how was your shift?”

“We’re good, Arthur,” one of the gatekeepers answered. “Especially Paul. Cecile finally asked him out.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” Arthur laughed, seeing an angry gaze Paul was sending towards his fellow companion.

“We will see if you will be still in a mood for jokes after freezing your asses out there for a few hours,” Paul finally answered. “I will think about you while drinking ale in barracks.”

“Just don’t be left for a shift… again!”

“Of course, we will be punctual, as always!”

Paul and his friend left laughing, leaving the new arrivals to keep watch.

Few minutes passed after the guards changed.

“Have you seen this, Arthur?” the man asked suddenly.

“Yeah, those dancing lights are really impressive,” Arthur answered. “You know, I never thought about this earlier, but listening to the music while standing on the post feels pretty good. They should have done more festivals when we have a duty at the gate…”

“Not that, in the alley. Look there!” the other guard pointed.

“Are you afraid of rats, Dane? Chill.”

“Again! And on this side too, someone is sneaking here! I will sound the alarm!”

Dane reached for a whistle and was about to blow it when he felt something piercing through his windpipe.

Arthur removed his dagger from the man’s throat. Dane fell on the ground. The blood was dripping from between his fingers as he tried to keep his neck from bleeding. With another hand he reached for a healing potion that he kept at his waist, only to find out Arthur’s foot pinning his hand to the ground.

Even if Dane’s stare was losing its clarity, he still managed to look at Arthur with an accusation.

The man shrugged and answered the unspoken question.

“For money.”

*****

Ignatius waited until the guard gave a signal. Following him, a group of twelve people gathered just outside the gate, still keeping to the shadows. While they looked like a ragtag gathering, they were all in fact, trusted retainers of Houses Faranger and Boeward, Lawketts and even Uther’s Church.

“I wondered how long I would have to wait for you,” Arthur spoke. “You should know that the necromancer entered his laboratory not even an hour ago, he should still be there.”

“Uther smiled upon us,” a cleric mumbled silently.

“There should be around thirty guards currently in the manor. Well, twenty-nine now,” Arthur kicked the body lying close to him. “Most of them is patrolling the inner side of the wall. Someone will probably check this place in less than ten minutes. Two guards are stationed just outside the main building. Two more at the vault; they should shift in around twenty minutes.”

“With the necromancer inside, we will need to adjust our plans. Both of you,” Ignatius pointed at one of the clerics and a paladin, “Shadow, Spike, Bear and I would head for him. We have a chance to neutralize the necromancer, so that would be our priority. The rest of you will split into three groups; three of you will head into the vault, remaining twos will remove patrols. Any objections?”

He picked people he knew the best to his squad. They knew that facing the necromancer would be a dangerous task, yet none objected.

Seeing all members of the group nodding, Ignatius muttered an incantation and thought ‘We are entering.’

With Sending spell, he noticed Belith.

Even if they could exchange only short messages over a distance lesser than a half of city’s radius, it was still a very useful spell.

‘Confirmed. Silverfords still unaware of anything,’ the heir of House Faranger answered.

Ignatius hoped it stays that way. Hopefully, Darius’ man would be as good with breaking wards as advertised.

‘Going silent.’

The reason for breaking the connection was that he wasn’t sure if using it inside the warded area wouldn’t be detected by Silverfords’

“Have you finished?” Arthur ushered them, “Quickly, stun me so I can pretend to have no idea what happened after someone finds me.”

Ignatius chanted and his last words disappeared in a magical silence that descended over the area. They quickly passed through the gate’s ward, without it ringing any sound. Spike approached Arthur reaching for a club when Shadow’s shortsword pierced through the guard’s chest from behind.

Ignatius dispelled the spell as soon as the corpse fell to the ground.

“What are you doing?” the paladin said with hostility, pointing his longsword against Shadow, “He was our ally!”

“He was betraying Silverfords blinded by our gold,” Ignatius explained. “If left alive, someone would have bought his loyalty soon later.”

The cleric whispered something to the paladin, which seemingly helped in calming him down.

“Gods, I hate working with paladins,” Shadow cursed silently.

They split into three groups and sneaked through the garden. True to Arthur’s words, the two guardians were protecting the entrance to the main building.

The clerics silently blessed the crossbows wielded by the rogues and two guided bolts swiftly killed unsuspecting guardians.

The group heading for the vault split and entered inside the building, leaving Ignatius only with his squad. They headed towards the laboratory.

Suddenly, far behind them, a flash of light appeared, followed by a loud rumbling noise.

“What was that?” Bear asked.

“More fireworks at the festival?” Spike guessed.

There were few surprised shouts coming from around the garden, yet nobody tried to raise an alarm so far.

“Hopefully guards would think the same, yet it seemed more like a ward to me,” Ignatius furrowed his brows. ”Our intel failed to mention Silverfords placing traps in the garden. Tread carefully.”

They laid in wait using hedges as a natural cover. With the laboratory in a sight, Ignatius casted Invisibility on Shadow. Even if the rogue was proficient with few spells and would manage with casting Invisibility on his own, it was better to let him enter the combat with full reserves of his fairly limited mana.

Hidden by the spell, Shadow moved forward to inspect wards of the laboratory.

Ignatius sustained the illusion for a few minutes, with nothing happening. Suddenly, the door to the laboratory opened and a black-robed figure emerged. It immediately turned towards the area in which Ignatius felt his mana distorting the reality.

The necromancer pointed with his hand and an arc of lightning shot forward. Even if his aim was slightly off, the arc bent and a short scream followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground was an indication that their companion was hit.

Ignatius continued to upkeep the spell, hoping that the hit wasn’t fatal. Everyone carried healing potions, if Shadow manages to drink some of his he could recover from his wounds soon.

“Eat this!” Spike mumbled, shooting with her crossbow, yet the bolt harmlessly bounced off the shimmering barrier covering the wizard.

Getting the necromancer hit by her was vital for their plan; she had bolts covered with a Magebane, a rare plant found only deep within lands of Daimon Sídhe. The poison should greatly limit his spellcasting proficiency.

“Is this all you’ve got?” the enemy taunted them, beginning to weave another spell.