AA3 40 - Flyby

The expedition set out smoothly after breakfast, making their way down the pass between the mountains. Unlike many of the other paths they’d taken so far, this one was marked with boundary stones and well cared for.

That precaution made sense when they got partway through, and Verdan saw that the pass was not the deepest point. There were quite a few deeper areas that would be easy to fall into, as well as shadowed paths that led down out of the light that made it past the mountains.

The atmosphere grew tense each time they reached a section with these offshoots and pits. Some of which were almost like abandoned mine shafts in their size.

“What lies down there?” Verdan softly, looking over to Magnus, who had come to walk with them for the day.

“The top layer of the Druinn,” Magnus said equally softly, giving Verdan a meaningful look as he did. “All sorts of creatures live within the Druinn, which is why both exits are watched and the path is marked. Even so, we keep quiet as we move to be safe.”

“I see,” Verdan said, eyeing a nearby slope that ran off into the darkness under the mountain. After their encounter with the Gormagyr, such warnings had far more weight.

“Such encounters are rare, though,” Magnus said, keeping his voice to little more than a whisper. “The creatures in the Druinn prefer to keep to their darkness as a general rule.”

“Then why such worry and fear if they don’t come to the surface?”

“Because when they finally do emerge, they come in great numbers and leave a trail of destruction behind them. Our Chosen always drive them back, but it is never without loss.”

Magnus’s words lingered in the air as the expedition moved on until, eventually, they were through the area with the paths down to the Druinn.

They weren’t completely out of the pass, but the tense atmosphere faded, and the focus of the Kranjir returned to the Darjee.

 -**-

The far end of the pass was much the same setup as the one they’d camped in, with an inn and a watchtower occupied by a detachment of shieldguards.

Verdan took the chance to ask some further questions of Magnus, learning that shieldguards were equivalent to thearns, but they served the Thane first and foremost.

Where thearns supported individual Chosen as their personal warband, shieldguard were instead stationed at towns, cities and fortifications.

Dunkirn would have a garrison of shieldguard, but Magnus was unsure how many, especially with the increase in Darjee activity.

They already had a reasonable-sized force, but without solid numbers on how many Darjee they would be fighting, it was hard to know if they had enough.

They had a number of powerful warriors and advantages, as well as everything that Verdan could do. 

It would have to be enough.

-**-

The expedition camped atop a hill that evening, giving them a good view of the surrounding landscape. 

Thick forests and craggy hills dominated the landscape, with the Steps of Govannon looming behind them and the Bristaen standing tall on the horizon.

Despite everything, it was a beautiful place, and Verdan took a few minutes to enjoy it before creating the firepit and seating for their part of the camp.

That done, he went to work on a crate of arrows that Sebastian had sent over. The piercing enchantment would be invaluable in helping the mundane Kranjir fight back against the beasts that the Darjee apparently used.

It was a simple enchantment, and one that Verdan had done many times before, letting him speed through them until he reached the amount of Aether he was willing to expend.

With that done, he settled into the nightly meditation practice that he’d begun with Dirk and Kai, splitting his focus between working on his gathering spiral and keeping a spell conjured.

It was still difficult, but the challenge made the process more interesting, not to mention the fact that it helped Kai with his own meditation.

Verdan did feel a little bad that working together like this all but excluded Barb from the group, but she seemed content enough to join some a sparring tournament that was being run by Maeve and Ciaran for the thearns.

A high-pitched whistle sounded from one of the Kranjir on watch, cutting through the general noise of the camp and making everyone freeze in place. A moment later, it came again in a complicated signal, which caused everyone to rush and arm themselves.

The abrupt sound and movement broke Verdan from his meditation, and he got to his feet with a shielding spell on his lips, looking for the source of the threat.

“That signal is for ‘threat above’,” Dirk said worriedly, getting to his feet and peering up at the sky.

They’d camped late in the afternoon, so it was dark by this point, but Verdan could just make out the group of winged shapes passing by overhead.

“Verdan!” Ciaran called out across the general chaos of the camp as everyone prepared for a fight. “We need your light!”

“Grym disir!” Verdan called out, pushing his staff up into the air and releasing an orb of intense light that shot up in a high arc over the camp.

A familiar screech of surprise came from the winged creatures above, and Verdan’s eyes went wide as the light illuminated them and he realised it was a group of Vespa.

Fortunately, the Vespa didn’t seem to be interested in the camp, doubly so now that a source of light had appeared, and flew on past them with a few warning screeches that sounded more irritated than anything.

Silence stretched tight over the camp for another minute or two before a descending whistle came out, and all the Kranjir relaxed.

“That one means that the threat is over,” Dirk said with a sigh of relief, giving Verdan a shaky smile. “That scared me half to death.”

“It was certainly dramatic,” Verdan said, his gaze still on the distant smudges that the Vespa had become. They didn’t seem to be heading back to the mountain. Instead, they were curving to follow around the foothills. “Why are they flying so low?”

Kai looked up sharply, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it, they were quite low. I wonder where they are going?"

“Wish I knew,” Verdan said, grimacing as he lost track of where the Vespa were in the dark sky. If it were still daylight, he’d be tempted to try and follow them, but it was just too dark. Besides, he was committed to helping the Kranjir; he couldn’t just run off at the drop of a hat.

The camp slowly returned to normal over the next hour, though, unsurprisingly, things weren’t quite as relaxed as before. 

-**-

Sebastian approached Verdan the next morning as the camp was being taken down. “I’ve never seen Vespa flying out like that. Normally, I’d think nothing of it, but after our previous conversation, it’s somewhat concerning. Did you learn anything from Keeper Barkstar?”

“Nothing of substance,” Verdan said, somewhat surprised by Sebastian’s blunt question. “She’s looking into a few matters for me.”

Sebastian nodded before cocking his head to one side and giving Verdan a considering look. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me what you did to gain her favour?” 

“I’d rather you got the story from Maeve or the Keeper directly,” Verdan said apologetically. He didn’t want to keep secrets from Sebastian, but it felt wrong to explain what had happened without Bronagh’s permission.

“That’s reasonable,” Sebastian said, rubbing his face before taking a breath and gesturing to where the wagons were almost packed up. “Time to get underway; we should arrive late tonight or early tomorrow, weather-dependent.”

“Glad to hear it,” Verdan said before pointing over to the small crate of arrows he’d been working on the night before. “I started work on those arrows for you. Not too many just yet, but I’ll do more tonight.”

“Ah, perfect.” Sebastian picked up one of the arrows and examined it intently before placing it back down. “I’ll make sure these get distributed to the best shots among the trackers and scouts. This will save lives, thank you.”

“I’m glad I can assist,” Verdan said, watching silently as Sebastian called over a few nearby thearns and had the arrows taken away.

Verdan had come a long way from his initial hand-wringing over how to use his knowledge. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have some lingering concerns about his equipment being misused, but he had come to terms with it.

In the face of things like the Gormagyr, the Darjee and the Cyth, how could he refuse to give his allies the means to fight back?

Besides, the enchanting machine was still active back in Hobson’s Point, and there was no doubt in Verdan’s mind that some of those had been stolen and sold by this point.

Roughly half of what Verdan had enchanted so far was taken out and handed to the expedition scouts, who looked surprisingly uncomfortable about the situation. Verdan would have expected them to welcome the new arrows with open arms.

“Barb, why do they seem so unsure?” Verdan asked softly, not wanting to draw attention to what was happening.

“You’re not Kranjir, and the only other types of magic we see up here is either uncontrolled from Witches or is used against us. I got used to it; they will, too,” Barb said, lifting her prosthetic and giving Verdan a meaningful look.

“Ah, I understand, thank you.” Verdan let Barb get back to what she was doing and instead watched as Sebastian had one of the scouts test an arrow.

The demonstration went well, and the Kranjir seemed to warm to the idea, but Verdan noted that Osran had taken an interest in what was happening and was watching carefully.

Seemingly sensing Verdan’s gaze, Osran turned and met Verdan’s eyes for a moment before looking back to his thearns and giving out some orders.

Something was amiss with Osran’s presence, but Verdan hoped it was nothing more than an effort to learn more about his capabilities.