The tension in the inn was thick enough to cut with a knife, and one of the Witches had gasped at Bob’s words, but they left Verdan at a loss. He didn’t recognise the name as either a type of monster or one of the non-human races.

“What are we dealing with?” Verdan asked Ruan quietly as the rest of the patrons in the Plucky Wanderer got to their feet and armed themselves.

“Big humanoid bat monsters, some of which I’ve heard have wind and blood magic. They’re known to hunt lone travellers, and they establish nests in the mountains. They’d usually leave a city alone, though.” Ruan explained quickly as he secured his shield and readied himself for a fight.

Something about the description sounded familiar and yet somehow wrong at the same time. It was confusing, and Verdan couldn’t quite think of where he’d come across the name before.

“What do we do?” One of the patrons asked in a hushed whisper.

A scream came from outside the inn before being abruptly cut off by a heavy impact that made Verdan flinch even as he moved to the door. He couldn’t stand idle while people were suffering.

“Let me go first, Boss,” Ruan said, reaching out to stop Verdan before he could open the door.

“Very well, but we need to move quickly,” Verdan said, stepping back a pace and mentally preparing a shield and an offensive spell.

Ruan waited until Verdan was clearly behind him before pulling the door open and stepping in to fill the opening, hunkering slightly behind his shield as he did.

With the door open, they could hear the distant sound of panic and fighting, which was only highlighted by the occasional flying through the air above the city. However, any problems elsewhere in the city were a secondary issue, as Verdan saw the two hulking creatures outside the building.

To Verdan’s horror, the creatures were almost familiar looking, and as one turned to face them, he realised why. The Grym Imperium had been the creation of three races. The Humans, the lizard-like Neisar and the bat-like Vesperai.

When Verdan had first gotten information from Kai, he’d wondered where the other races had gone, and now he wished he didn’t know.

The vesperai were winged humanoid creatures with slight animalistic features, large eyes and elongated ears. As a rule, they were naturally slender but hardy and with surprising strength. Like the other two founding races of the imperium, they had no natural magics and made fine wizards.

The ‘Vespa’ creatures that Verdan saw devouring their victim were an exaggerated and monstrous version of the elegant species Verdan remembered. Rippling and oversized muscles bulged amid an overtly bestial appearance dominated by the large blood-stained fangs being bared at them. Both creatures were easily eight or nine feet tall, though they seemed permanently hunched and almost deformed from how bulky and muscular they were.

Verdan froze in shock as the first vespa threw itself toward Ruan, its vast wings snapping out to propel it off the ground and toward them.

Thunder rolled in the distance as a gust of wind slammed into the vespa while it was airborne, knocking it off to one side slightly. The creature was surprisingly ungainly in the air for its size and hit the floor heavily, clawed feet digging into the ground as it slid to one side.

“Please, stop!” Verdan called out in high imperial, the language of the wizard-capable races. His words seemed to visibly shake the two vespas, and they looked uncertain for a moment before screeching loudly and charging at him.

“Aer gwth!” Verdan shouted, throwing a hand out toward each of the incoming creatures and hitting them with a wave of pressurised air. It lacked the strength of the gale that had hit them earlier, but it was more precise. Verdan hurried through the door and stepped to one side, maintaining his focus on the spell as he did.

The Witches joined the fight with a barrage of spells that left the Aether around them momentarily unsettled. Lightning flashed as two bolts ripped down from a darkening sky, one striking each vespa in the chest and knocking them back as their left legs buckled from the strike.

Verdan could feel the Aether wrapped around the creatures and recognised the effect as a hex that concentrated all the pain and injuries a creature took onto a specific area or limb. It was a complex hex, and Verdan was impressed despite his lingering discomfort at being near a hex Witch once more.

Rapidly growing vines broke through the ground as the vespas were knocked back, wrapping around their joints and binding them to the floor.

Verdan released his air spell and began to channel an empowered air blade when a deep snarl came from behind him, and a white tiger the size of Blane in his wolf form swept past him in a blur. The tiger pounced with deadly precision, jaws locking onto the throat of one vespa and crunching down as it dug its claws in. The twisted creature tried to fight back, but the vines, broken leg and awkward position left it unable to quite shake the tiger free.

The second vespa had an extra few seconds to rip away the vines binding it, but that was more than enough time for Verdan to launch his spell, the highly pressurised air slicing deep into the creature with a messy spray of blood.

The tiger-restrained Vespa continued to struggle but was unable to stop Ruan from getting close enough to finish it, bringing a few moments of silence to the area once more.

Verdan wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the twisted versions of a vesperai that lay in front of him or the tiger that was now grooming itself next to their corpses.

“There’s more of them around the city,” Ruan called out, pointing up at the shapes that occasionally rose into the sky around the city. Here and there, Verdan could see a few of the shapes moving evasively and dodging, likely where they had encountered a group of city guards.

“Right, we need to get back to the estate and figure out what’s going on,” Verdan said, turning to the Witches, who were now all outside the building. “I’m assuming that the tiger is one of yours?”

“Winifred is my familiar,” Hope said with a small smile as the cat in question walked past Verdan to rub against the Witch’s legs. “My bloodline is more based in familiar magic than most other types of Witch.”

“Winifred, of course,” Verdan muttered, rubbing his face with a repressed sigh before taking a breath and putting together the basics of a plan. “Ruan and I will head back to the estate, but you five are well-equipped to deal with this directly. You need some guards to protect you and provide some physical power, though.” Verdan paused and eyed them, checking to make sure none were arguing the point. These were reasonably fresh Witches, and the only one he knew for certain could handle herself was Gwen. The last thing he wanted was to send them off to get killed.

“Don’t worry about us. We can take care of ourselves,” Gwen said, lifting her chin high as she pointed at the two fallen vespas. “We’ll head to the guard headquarters and work out the best way to help out from there.”

“Okay, good, I’m counting on you all to support the guard, they’ve got a whole city to look after and not enough people to do it with,” Verdan said, considering the slaughter that could be happening even as they discussed things. “Time is against us. Let’s get moving!”

“He’s right; let’s go,” Gwen said, taking charge of the impromptu coven as they headed toward the city’s centre.

“Ready when you are, Boss,” Ruan said, coming to stand next to Verdan as he eyed the sky with a grim expression.

“Here, hold out your shield,” Verdan said, his eyes lingering on the bulk of the vespa and how fragile Ruan’s shield looked. Clearing his mind, Verdan pulled together a hasty Aether construct and bound it to the shield. “Nercreth gward. There, that should let it take a few hits without breaking. Try to avoid magic where you can, but if you can’t, use your shield.”

“Understood, thanks, Boss,” Ruan said, his lisp somewhat more pronounced than usual as he stared at his shield.

“Right, let’s go,” Verdan said, splitting part of his attention off to actively start regathering the Aether he’d just expended on Ruan’s shield. It had been an inefficient and wasteful spell, but it would be worth it if it helped keep his companion alive. Verdan was the only reason Ruan was out here in this mess, after all.

Setting off quickly, Verdan kept one eye on the sky as they made their way toward the estate, an attack spell on his lips in case it was needed.

There seemed to be quite a few vespa throughout the city, but they were moving constantly and mostly flew from building to building. Here and there, Verdan saw evidence of them having killed someone, but there was no rampage of death that he’d expect from true monsters. Perhaps something of the vesperai lived on in these creatures if they truly were related.

Screams up ahead hastened their steps, and the two of them raced into a small market area to find a vespa ripping apart a market stall to try and get to something.

“Aer torr!” Verdan cried out, throwing a blade of compressed air at the creature. With surprising agility, the vespa spun at the sound, causing the spell to miss its body and slice through the membrane of its wings. The vespa screeched in pain and charged them, its prey forgotten as it threw a cart aside and clawed down at Ruan as he interposed himself between it and Verdan.

Thick claws that could gouge stone thundered down to smash into Ruan’s shield, and Verdan heard a crunch and a cry of pain as Ruan was thrown aside. The shield was intact, but it sounded like Ruan’s arm was broken.

“Thanr laif!” Verdan cast a flaming lance of Aether directly into the creature as it loomed over him, scorching its flesh and melting through the tough hide to ravage its insides. Even as it burned, the vespa tried to claw at Verdan, but he quickly retreated to Ruan and cast a simple healing spell to help set the break. With it being such a recent injury, Verdan could force it to heal at least partially by simply applying more power. It wouldn’t stand up to much, but it was better than simply binding it.

“Sorry, Boss, I shouldn’t have taken the hit like that,” Ruan said through gritted teeth as he clambered to his feet.

“No, it’s my fault. I should have put something on the construct to absorb the impact,” Verdan said, chastising himself for such an obvious oversight. It was obvious that the vespas were unnaturally strong; he should have taken that into consideration.

“Done is done, Boss. We can’t afford to stand around blaming ourselves,” Ruan said as he moved his arm gingerly.

“You’re right; we need to keep going,” Verdan said, shaking himself and starting forward before pausing and nodding to Ruan’s injured arm. “Take another blow on that, and it’ll break even worse than before. Other than that, it should work as you need.”

“Got it, Boss. Did you see what the vespa was trying to get to?” Ruan asked, nodding to the other side of the market.

“No, that’s a good point,” Verdan said, keeping one eye on their surroundings as they crossed the ruined market to the stall the vespa had been attacking. The stall was all but completely destroyed, and at the centre was a box of bottles and vials that had been thoroughly smashed. Liquids of all colours pooled on the ground, filling the air with a caustic herbal scent that drove Verdan and Ruan back.

“Must have been someone hiding there, and they ran when we distracted it,” Ruan said, eyeing the remnants of the stall and its contents before shrugging and focusing on their surroundings.

“Perhaps,” Verdan said, though he wasn’t convinced. He was sure he’d have seen or heard someone running away during their fight, brief as it had been. Regardless, there was nothing here now.