Verdan went straight back to his wagon once they were done for the evening, which meant he missed any gathering that was held in Kurgane’s honour.

  Not that he’d want to have been there, and he’d be shocked if many people went. After all, the Sorcerer had burnt more than a few bridges at the end with his accusations.

  There was also the fact that they’d only just left Gerann, which meant that Elder Vanarr’s tacit endorsement of Silver remaining in charge was still fresh.

  When the next day dawned and they got back on the road, Verdan could tell that the news of what had happened had fully circulated through those present.

  The atmosphere within the alliance had changed. It was a subtle thing, something that was felt more than saw, but it was there.

  Kurgane’s death had brought the unwieldy nature of so many different groups working together to the fore. It had shone a light over the cracks in their unity, and Verdan wasn’t sure they’d get back to where they’d once been.

  It was tempting to take his usual position of thanking any benevolent deity that he wasn’t in charge, but this issue was more serious. They needed to be unified and acting as one when the fight came. That was as much a part of how they would win as anything else.

  The Cyth acted as one, they were ruthless, pragmatic and relentless. If the alliance arrived as anything other than a dauntless coalition, they would struggle to overcome that.

  If the issue were with one of Verdan’s allies, he would be in more of a position to act, to do something. As it was, though, the Sorcerers seemed to be the root of the new tension.

  When they stopped that evening, Silver held a brief meeting to update everyone on the scouting reports. Galstar’s people had finally reached the fork in the path ahead, and they’d confirmed that Verdan had been right.

  All the signs showed that a large group had turned west, heading on the long road that lead to Hobson’s Point and Miyaka Forest.

  Relief swept through Verdan at the confirmation, but there was an immediate awkward moment when the Defiant Flame representative knew nothing of what they were discussing.

  Kurgane’s replacement was a young-looking man with a somewhat wide-eyed and nervous disposition. He also seemed to be completely unaware of any of the longer term plans.

  Verdan cursed Kurgane’s memory as they tried to catch up the young Disciple. It was clear that without their Elder, Kurgane had been their next best leader.

  With him gone, they had a problem.

  It also didn’t help matters that the Defiant Flame were avoiding Kai in an obvious way. They seemed terrified of him, but Verdan couldn’t blame them. They’d watched Kai take control of the flames of one of their most powerful Disciples.

  If he could do that to them, he could do worse to the average Sorcerer.

  Once the meeting finally ended, Verdan immediately sought out his apprentices and went to continue their work on the horses.

  With his previous work checked and approved, Magnus got straight to work, while Dirk had his first attempt at creating the Sigils directly.

  To Verdan’s amusement, Dirk’s attempt was passably average, whereas Magnus was still improving. It seemed he’d found something where his ever impressive apprentice would struggle after all.

  Despite that, the three of them together finally finished the last of the Sigils, and Verdan was able to sigh in relief as he considered his Aether usage compared to what it had been when they first left.

  “Alright, both of you can head off. Keep practicing, though, I’ve got some plans we need to work on before we catch up with the Cyth.” Verdan waved off the two young Kranjir before heading back to his wagon.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  -**-

  The next day, they reached the fork in the road. The path they’d been following went north-east, and followed the original trail of destruction of corruption that the Cyth had left in their wake.

  The western path, however, now bore a much fresher version of that same devestation. It wasn’t quite as wide, though, which Verdan put down to their losses.

  After all, the Cyth must have taken some serious losses against Vanarr before even reaching the city, let alone breaking into it or the several thousand that were left behind.

  Some of those left behind were likely newly transformed Cyth, but in such a comparatively short amount of time, there couldn’t have been too many.

  “He really did die for nothing, didn’t he,” Natalia said softly as they turned to follow the western road.

  Verdan realised who she was talking about and shook his head. “I doubt he really cared. This was just an excuse to take control. That it would damn thousands to a horrifying doom was never a consideration.”

  “May the Annwae feast on his soul,” Natalia said angrily. Verdan said nothing, leaving her to work through her anger, until she finally spoke up a few minutes later. “Do you think we’ll catch them?”

  Verdan could hear the worry in her voice, but he knew she deserved a real answer. “I don’t know. I hope so, but the Cyth move quickly. If they slow down for some reason, though, we will close the gap.”

  “So for our home to be saved, we have to hope that they encounter some poor village and get distracted slaughtering its inhabitants.” Natalia’s voice was bitter, but Verdan had no words of consolation.

  After all, she was right.

  They sat in silence for a time, each lost in their own thoughts, before Verdan shook himself. He couldn’t afford to dwell on anything right now. This was his last opportunity to prepare for what was coming.

  The Cyth Scerrd they’d fought so far had been powerful, but young. The one they were chasing was much older, which meant it would have grown into its power.

  To make matters worse, the potential power of a corrupted Maevir was far beyond that of an Elder Sorcerer. Verdan’s only hope right now was that the monster hadn’t been able to grow into all that potential.

  If it had, he wasn’t sure they could kill it.

  -**-

  When they stopped for the evening, Verdan got to work on the next stage of his plan. The draw from the horses wasn’t that much now that they had the Sigils carved into them, which had led him to his new idea.

  Finding his apprentices and the Fwyn, Verdan got to work creating a new warrior construct. It would be the same size as last time, but this time he wanted to give it more functionality.

  The key part of the idea was to create a working humanoid construct that would be covered in Aether-gathering Sigils. They could then arm and armour the construct separately, and use different Sigils for the equipment.

  Verdan would have liked to say the idea was his own, but he’d simply spent a lot of time thinking on how the Automaton was constructed. What he was doing was still a long way from such a beautiful and complex piece of Wizardry, but it was a start.

  “Well, Wizard, I didn’t know you cared,” Cullan said, strolling up as Verdan and the other shaped the construct’s base form. “I go for a simple stroll and I find you building an effigy in my honour.”

  Verdan rolled his eyes at the big Idrisyr. “Oh yes, I’ll be sure to dedicate it in your name. I don’t suppose you’ve seen Disciple Morag anywhere?”

  “I think I saw her around somewhere,” Cullan said, gesturing in the vague direction he’d come from. “What do you need her for? I imagine you have enough help here as it is.”

  “Well, she helped us with the horses,” Verdan said, taking a step back and letting the others take over. “She created joints for them to move with, which seems to have lowered the cost of having them move around. I was hoping she’d do the same here.”

  “I see, so this is another labour construct?”

  “Actually, no, this is an attempt at something better,” Verdan said, explaining the principle of what he was trying to do to the Idrisyr.

  “I see, and what will you use for the armour?” Cullan asked with an unusually thoughtful look.

  “For now, rock,” Verdan said with a slight shrug. “We don’t really have anything else that would work. I’d prefer metal, but we’ll need a smith for that.”

  “Hmm, there is an alternative I can offer. It would be too heavy for a normal person, but perhaps workable for your creation,” Cullan said, running his eyes over what they were making.

  “And what would that be?” Verdan asked, some of his tiredness fading as he realised Cullan was here to offer more than light-hearted mockery.

  “Ceramic armour. Thick and heavy enough to resist powerful blows, and made with a special recipe to enhance it even further. It would be expensive, and perhaps you would still need some metal, but I could arrange a test.”

  “Special how?” Cullan had Verdan’s full attention now, the Wizard’s mind racing as he considered the implications.

  Ceramic armour would be heavy, very heavy. Still, if it was further fortified with magic, it could very well give Verdan’s construct the protection needed to go toe-to-toe with a Cyth Dregg.

  “I won’t give out trade secrets quite yet. Once this is all done, we’ll talk more. For now, why don’t I go find Morag for you?”

  Verdan nodded, his eyes narrowing as he watched Cullan walk away. He definitely wanted to try out that armour, but there was something off about the way Cullan had spoken about it.

  Shaking his head, Verdan pushed it all aside and got back to work. If they could get Morag to work on the joints, they’d at least have the fundamental work done by the end of the day.