AA3 36 - Expedition I

Benlen froze for a moment before nodding ever so slightly with a strained expression. “Thank you for your offer. I will be able to bring a dozen other thearns with me. When and where shall we meet you?”

“Come tomorrow, first thing in the morning,” Kai said, giving Benlen directions to the inn they were staying at. “We will begin training and assessing how to act then. Do you need equipment or anything in the meantime?”

Benlen frowned and straightened in his chair. “No, we still have our equipment. We are experienced thearns; you will not find us lacking.”

“Good, then we can discuss this further in the morning,” Verdan said quickly, wanting to bring this discussion to an end. He could tell that Benlen was uneasy with the idea, and now that Kai had proposed it, Verdan was eager to see it through.

Verdan didn’t doubt Barb’s ability to watch over Dirk, but adding a dozen trained Kranjir fighters to the mix would change things.

“Agreed,” Benlen said, pushing himself to his feet with a wince before giving both Dirk and his mother a respectful bow and leaving back the way he’d come.

“I know this isn’t quite the traditional way, but your father would be proud to know that you’ll have your own thearns. Even if it’s only temporary,” Ara said, resting a hand on Dirk’s shoulder and squeezing it gently before getting to her feet as well. “I’ll leave you to your discussion. I will pray to Govannon that he guide you through the trials you will face.”

The room was quiet for a few moments after Ara left, but eventually, Dirk turned to Verdan. “What now, Master?”

“We need to visit Sebastian to make sure he can accommodate the supplies Kai promised. After that, I think the best use of our time is some guided meditation,” Verdan said before looking over to Barb and Kai. “Unless you had a different idea for where to get those supplies?”

“No, that’s about what I had in mind,” Kai said with an unapologetic shrug. “The Keeper is keen for more people, and if you apply some temporary enchantments to their weaponry, they will be more than worth some support on his part.”

“I agree, but I dislike handing out support that we haven’t arranged yet,” Verdan said, frowning slightly.

“If he says no, we have more than enough options to get what we need elsewhere,” Kai said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. “Regardless, I’ll make sure they are up to standard tomorrow. It will be worth it.”

Verdan nodded reluctantly as he led the way out of the house. He understood what Kai was saying, but he didn’t like simply assuming that Sebastian would help them.

-**-

As it turned out, Kai was completely correct. Sebastian had been busy, but Ciaran had met with them and promptly agreed with their proposition. 

The exact details of what the Keeper would be providing would need to be worked out later, but Ciaran’s agreement was all they needed for now.

With that done, they spent the rest of the day away from any further political issues within the city and focused on working with Dirk to build his gathering spiral.

Dirk had two layers to his spiral now, but unlike Verdan, he wasn’t practised enough to be able to both add a new layer and compress the existing ones at the same time.

Instead, Verdan had Dirk working to add on four or five new layers, before then compressing them down and starting afresh. It was tiring work for the young Wizard, but he kept his focus going for far longer than Verdan had expected, completing ten full layers which were already compressed.

Dirk was exhausted after a long and mentally taxing day, so Verdan asked Barb to walk him home. She would also go and pick him up in the morning to save him from moving through the city on his own.

It was a mark of how tired he was that Dirk didn’t complain, simply nodding and trudging off with Barb. 

“Do you really think there would be a problem?” Kai asked as they watched the two head off.

“No, but I’m not risking it either. I’m going to make sure that all of Barb’s gear has protective enchantments tonight as well. Anyone who tries to take her on will get a nasty surprise.”

Kai’s lips curled into a tight smile that faded as he stared out at the distant walls of the city. “I was hoping that Gwen would be back before we leave. She would be invaluable against the Darjee.”

“Is that really the only reason?” Verdan asked, looking over to his friend with an arched brow.

Kai’s shoulders slumped slightly as he grimaced and looked away. “Am I so obvious?”

“You both are,” Verdan said, his initial amusement fading as he saw the sadness in Kai’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve tried to keep my feelings hidden, to not lead her on when there is no future between us. My failure will only make all this harder,” Kai said bitterly, his frustration evident.

“I don’t understand. Why is there no future between you?” Verdan asked carefully. Kai’s display of raw emotion had caught him by surprise, and the last thing he wanted was to make things worse.

“Because the things I’ve done can never be forgiven,” Kai said, turning back to Verdan with a fierce countenance, his voice raw. “The blood on my hands stains my soul. I will spend the rest of my life fighting things like that Gormagyr in the vain hope that I can atone.”

The words racing through Verdan’s mind felt pale against Kai’s confession, so he kept silent. Simply reaching out to grip his friend’s shoulder, letting him know he was there. 

“I am sorry. I should not have burdened you with this,” Kai said, taking a deep breath and calming himself before continuing. “I thought my penance was at an end when the Cyth took me prisoner, but you saved me. I welcome the chance to fight alongside you, but how could I ask a woman as passionate and fierce as Gwen to settle for a hollow thing like me.”

Silence spread in the wake of Kai’s statement, with the two of them eventually heading back to their rooms.

Kai’s words resonated with Verdan’s guilt over the events that had led to his curse. 

The death of his friends still weighed on him, but Natalia had been helping him process and deal with it all.

There was a chance that Gwen could do the same for Kai, but Verdan knew better than to try and meddle directly.

Leaning his staff against the wall next to his bed, Verdan started to lie down before hesitating. Kai’s point about Gwen being able to help them had been true, so perhaps there was something he could do without meddling too much.

It took mere moments to craft a message spell letting Gwen know they were leaving in the morning with Sebastian. 

The reply came a few moments later in a hazy acknowledgement with an undercurrent of haste. Gwen’s control of the spell was insufficient to send actual words, but the intent was clear enough.

It seemed that she was on the way back and would try to reach them in time.

That was all Verdan could do, for now. The rest would be down to the two of them.

-**-

Barb left early the next morning to fetch Dirk, returning just as Benlen and eleven other battle-scarred Kranjir arrived at the inn.

Interestingly, each of the Clan Mhorgain fighters was wielding a polearm similar to the one that Maeve had carried. 

Verdan also noticed that the fighters all bore the same emblem on their clothing, that of a black staff crossed with a black polearm of the same design as what they were carrying. 

All of Ciaran and Jarn’s thearns had used axes and hammers, as did the majority of the guards that Verdan had seen.

“Thearn Benlen, a moment?” Verdan called out, drawing the other man off to one side out of earshot. “I have a delicate question for you.”

The Kranjir hesitated for a moment before following Verdan off to one side. “What do you need?”

“I would like to add enchantments to the weapons and armour that your people are using. They will work without your interaction and are temporary in nature. Will that be an issue?”

Benlen hesitated before giving a slight shake of his head. “No, we can deal with that. Would you be able to demonstrate, though?”

“Of course, here, let me apply a similar effect to what your Chosen use,” Verdan said, motioning for Benlen to pass over his weapon.

Benlen’s eyes went wide as Verdan cast the spell, and he took his polearm back gingerly, staring up at its half-moon blade as though expecting it to burst into flames.

“This will cut the life from those it touches?” Benlen asked in a hushed tone.

“What?” Verdan blinked, caught by surprise by the question. He’d given the same enchantment to Benlen as he had to Padraig from when they fought the Gormagyr. “No, it will increase the force of your strike, making it hit much harder.”

Understanding flashed over Benlen’s face as he looked back to Verdan. “That is the Chosen of Clan Thrain. The Chosen of Clan Mhorgain drain the very life of their foes with each cut of their blades.”

“Oh, I didn’t realise it varied. Interesting.” Verdan fell silent as he considered why and how the enchantments the different Clans used would be different.

Verdan’s working theory was that the Chosen used runes to achieve the effects he’d seen, and Aether should activate one rune as easy as the next. 

Perhaps the title of Keeper was a bit more literal than Verdan had been thinking. If each Clan had its own runes that were used just for its Chosen, were the Keepers the protectors of that knowledge?