True to her word, Sylvie arrived about forty minutes later, leading the Sorcerers straight to the ruined entrance of the Brotherhood stronghold. There was no sign of Blane, which Verdan assumed meant that he was watching from a hidden vantage point somewhere, ready to intervene.

  Cullan was back in his bed by now, having tired himself out with the exertion of moving around on his barely-healed legs. That left Barb to come and join the welcoming party that Verdan had arranged.

  It was important that they seemed to be in good shape, just in case there was a threat here, so Verdan had Barb, Magnus and Rocky by his side, while Vaijon stood a little distance away with Ruthin.

  Magnus was the more recent of Verdan’s apprentices, a dark-haired Kranjir from Clan Thrain who had been assigned to Verdan when he’d spent some time with the Clan. Magnus had longed to be a Chosen, but lacked the Aether reserves to do so, and when Verdan had provided an alternate path to power, Magnus had pushed to join him.

  At the time, Verdan had been reluctant to take Magnus on, but knowing now how hard-working and determined the younger man was, it had been the right choice. Magnus had lost his right arm to the elbow when fighting against the Brotherhood, and Verdan had created a prosthetic for him, much like with Barb.

  Verdan dearly wished that he could develop the magic to fully heal someone, to restore lost limbs to them, but it was beyond his reach. All he could do was give them something close to what they had once had.

  “Some of them are listening already,” Ruthin said, his voice a whisper that was carried to their ears by a subtle breeze. Ruthin was a thin man with a gaunt face and shoulder-length fair hair that seemed to float upon an invisible breeze. Ruthin was another Disciple of Adamar who wielded the Essence of wind with particular skill. The twist to his magic seemed to be a far stronger connection to the wind than any other Sorcerer Verdan had seen.

  Verdan didn’t reply to the warning, simply inclining his head slightly and waiting as the other group approached. Lucil was part of the Raging River Sect, which emphasised water Essence, but if there were wind or air Essence users, there might be some of the Raging Tempest Sect as well. Hopefully, that was a good thing, but with how much trouble they’d had with these Sects, Verdan wasn’t holding his breath.

  As they came close enough for Verdan to get a better view of the group, he realised it was indeed both Sects working together. As best he could tell there were a handful of Sorcerers from each Sect and roughly two dozen Sect retainers backing them up, for a total of around sixty people. Not enough to take this place when it had been fully manned, but perhaps enough to conquer it when already weakened.

  “Elder Lucil, good to see you,” Verdan said, pitching his voice to carry to the newcomers as they came to a loose stop.

  “And you, though I’m sorry to see that you suffered some injuries claiming this place,” Lucil said, leaving her people behind as she walked over to him. Only one other Sorcerer followed her, and Verdan’s smile turned brittle as he recognised Selem.

  Val’s old partner had been instrumental in them reaching this point, but he’d destroyed any goodwill with them when he’d betrayed their trust. Verdan could understand why Elder Notai, Lucil’s counterpart in the Raging Tempest, had sent Selem, but he didn’t like it.

  Ignoring the Sorcerer’s presence for the moment, Verdan focused on Lucil. “I’m afraid you’re a little late for the attack, as you can see.”

  “We are, and I’m sorry for that.” Lucil grimaced slightly and sighed. “We’re still dealing with some internal issues within the Sects, but things have calmed down enough that we felt that a small group could be sent out. I’m sorry we couldn’t arrive sooner, though. Is the area secure?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I’m glad to hear that your Sects are finding some common ground, and yes, the stronghold has been secured.”

  “Was it less of a presence than you expected then?” Lucil asked, seemingly oblivious to the casual disregard for the strength of his companions that it revealed.

  “No, if anything they were more fortified than expected. I believe the final count was just over ten Sorcerers, several dozen Adherents and almost a hundred Acolytes, as well as the Disciple leading them. That doesn’t account for the Draks, the two Elemental Bears, Grugnyn and the hybrid monster we fought, either.”

  With each new part of the list, Lucil’s easy expression faded, and by the end she looked incredulously between Verdan and Vaijon. “You can’t expect me to believe that you dealt with all that with just a handful of people.”

  “Maybe you’d be more likely to understand if you’d actually been here to help,” Vaijon said, scoffing at her frown. “Why are you here, Lucil?”

  “We are here to reinforce you if needed…” Lucil began before trailing off as Vaijon laughed mockingly.

  “Please. Five days afterwards?” The Elder shook his head and laughed again. “You’ve come all this way, you might as well be honest.”

  “We were able to capture another Brotherhood agent who tried to enter the hideout you had found. The Elders extracted information from them detailing the location and defences of this place. The Sects believed you must have failed and sent this group to finish the job.” Selem spoke up in a calm, clear voice that stopped whatever else Lucil might have said.

  “Thank you, Selem,” Verdan said, meeting the other man’s eyes. Selem looked away first. “So, now that you are here and you realise that we’ve taken it, what next?”

  Lucil sighed, glared at Selem and then shrugged. “Ideally, we’d set up in there with you and take over when you leave, but if not, we’ll camp out here.”

  The rest of the Sorcerers who had come with Lucil were within earshot, and Verdan noticed a few subtle reactions at her response. He really shouldn’t be surprised at this point that there was a lack of unity among them. Knowing how they’d acted so far, Verdan was sure that one of them would try to break through and steal something. Keeping the Sorcerers nearby was asking for trouble.

  That didn’t even account for any potential issues with the Vespa either, and that was a problem waiting to happen.

  “Thank you for your honesty,” Verdan said eventually, coming to a decision on it all. “If you would camp at the edge of the clearing, I’d appreciate it. I doubt we’ll be here more than a few days.”

  Lucil nodded reluctantly and turned away, calling out some orders as she got her group turned around. Surprisingly, though, Selem lingered behind and took a few steps closer to Verdan.

  The Wizard watched him approach impassively. Normally, Selem’s honesty in explaining their purpose would have bought him some goodwill, but it wasn’t like Selem had betrayed them at the first moment. No, he’d done it at one of the worst possible times. Things had worked out in the end, but they’d come very close to starting a conflict that would have stained every street in Iranda with blood.

  “I wanted to explain,” Selem said hesitantly, stumbling over his words a little. The handsome Sorcerer had rarely seemed anything less than fully in control during their brief association, which meant this was either superb acting, or he was genuine in his emotion.

  “Then talk.” Verdan leaned on his staff and motioned for Selem to continue. If the Sorcerer thought he’d be given any preferential treatment, he was sorely mistaken.

  “Our Sects have been fighting for such a long time, and I’ve seen countless signs of aggression from then, above and beyond what my own Sect has done. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I think what I was seeing was Lorric’s doing. In the moment, though, I knew I couldn’t risk the Raging River having unfettered access to that safehouse. Elder Notai agreed with me, and the rest you know.”

  “You don’t need to explain to me,” Verdan said, shaking his head. “I understood from the moment you arrived what choice you’d made. You picked the road that would give your Sect the advantage, to the detriment of the other Sect, and to me and mine. I can’t judge you for that, not truly, but I can choose not to deal with you any further.”

  Selem’s nodded wearily. “I understand, and I’m sorry that things played out the way they did.”

  A brief spark of anger set fire to the frustration welling inside him and Verdan bit back an angry retort before replying in as calm a voice as he could. “If you were truly sorry, you would at least have warned me of what you were doing. Surprising me gave you no edge over the Sect, only over us.”

  Selem frowned, but said nothing, simply turning and walking away to join Lucil.