Vanarr sighed and shook his head before waving his hand. “Very well. You all know what to do. We’ll reconvene in thirty minutes.”

  The surrounding Sorcerers nodded and moved away, breaking off into small groups that included the retainers and guards who’d been present. The Steel Custodian stood by Vanarr’s chair stayed where she was, however, and kept her hand on her blade.

  “Alright, Wizard,” Vanarr said in a tired voice. “Let’s get on with it.”

  Verdan nodded and moved over to the Elder. “I need to see the wound.”

  Vanarr nodded and began to laboriously remove the breastplate of his armour. His missing hand made the process awkward, however, and the other Sorcerer had to help him up and assist with the fastenings.

  Once the breastplate was free, Vanarr lifted the front of his tunic high enough to reveal his side, and the awful wound he’d taken. It looked like some sort of terrible mix between a bruise, a puncture wound and an infected cut.

  “The Elder has been taking healing potions daily,” the assisting Sorcerer said when she saw Verdan’s reaction. “They have helped heal part of it, but other areas have resisted their efforts. The end result has been unpleasant for him.”

  “Thank you, Ada,” Vanarr said dryly. “I’m sure he can see that for himself.”

  “Have you been assisting him in administering the potions?” Verdan asked, ignoring Vanarr.

  “I have, and I’ve tried to add more to the parts that have resisted the potions, but it hasn’t helped.”

  “Ada has become my new right hand in recent days,” Vanarr said, lifting his right arm to show the stump where the prosthetic had been. “She will be in control of the alliance forces here when I die.”

  “Let’s hold off on such grim proclamations for the moment,” Verdan said, reaching out to lay a hand on Vanarr’s side, next to the wound. “Please do your best not to resist my examination.”

  Vanarr grunted, which Verdan took as a sign of agreement and slowly began to project his Aether senses into the Elder. Theoretically, this was the same process he’d used for Natalia and for Kai when working on them.

  The difference, however, was that Natalia had no innate magic to resist him, and Kai had both trusted him and wanted to be healed. Vanarr, however, was resistant to what was happening and was only somewhat familiar with Verdan.

  Thankfully, while there was some resistance from the Elder’s Essence initially, it quickly faded and Verdan was able to assess the situation properly.

  Unsurprisingly, it was bad.

  “What exactly did it hit you with?" Verdan asked, feeling the edges of a hard core of Malfease within the Elder. “A weapon or a spell?”

  “A spell I think,” Vanarr said, wincing a little.

  “It was a spell, but incredibly concentrated and slow. It was only the Elder’s desire to protect our people that stopped him evading it,” Ada said with a mix of pride and worry.

  “I see,” Verdan said absently as he finished his examination. “Well, whatever it was, it would have killed anyone with less raw power than an Elder. That much I know for certain.”

  “Can you heal it?” Kai asked, rubbing absently at his arm. “Or is it soul damage like mine?”

  “No, this is more like what happened to Sylvie and Gwen, but yes, I think I can help,” Verdan said, removing his hand and meeting the Elder’s gaze. “You have a core of incredibly concentrated Malfease within you. It feels almost solid with how concentrated it is, and it is rapidly corrupting your body. Anyone struck by this who doesn’t immediately die would be swiftly corrupted to become a Cyth themselves.”

  “I admit, I had my suspicions about the effect, and have made arrangements for if it began to take hold of my mind,” Vanarr said, taking his seat once more with a grunt. “But you think you can help?”

  “I can stop the spread, and give your body time to fight back,” Verdan said softly. “If I had got here sooner, I could do more, but it has spread too far inside you for my magic. You need a Cleric now, only Exeon will be able to burn the corruption out from your body.”

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  “I understand,” Vanarr said, his voice momentarily regaining some of its previous strength. “Do what you can for now.”

  “Grym iacha nercreth,” Verdan said, reaching out to rest a hand on Vanarr as he cast the spell and infused the Elder with healing Aether.

  Having the opportunity to easily locate the source of the issue meant that Verdan could tweak his visualisation somewhat and focus the spell where it could do the most good. In this case, that meant providing a barrier between the Malfease and the Elder’s Essence.

  The more that Verdan could preserve the Elder’s strength, the better.

  While that protection and healing was the main goal of the spell, Verdan also made sure to split off some of the Aether to strengthen and heal the key parts of the Elder’s body.

  It was one of the more complex healing spells Verdan had attempted, but it went surprisingly smoothly. Almost immediately, Vanarr looked healthier, with colour in his cheeks and a more relaxed expression.

  “Thank you, Verdan,” Vanarr said, leaning back into his chair with a sigh. “Just alleviating the pain for a little while will be nice, but I can tell you did more than that.”

  “Yes, but don’t forget what I said,” Verdan was quick to remind the Elder. “This is a temporary solution. You need healing from a Cleric.”

  Truthfully, Verdan felt he had a decent chance of managing it himself if he tried, but dealing with this much Malfease would be difficult. Slowing it down was one thing, but destroying it was another, and Verdan didn’t want to risk it.

  If no help came, then things would be different, but for now, he’d leave it to the Clerics.

  “Your warning is heard and understood,” Vanarr said with an absent wave of his hand. “Now, however, we need to discuss more important matters. Give me a rundown of what has happened since we last spoke.”

  Verdan nodded and went to do just that before pausing as he realised just how much had happened since he last saw Vanarr.

  Not the least of which was Brenn’s betrayal. Verdan had no idea how Vanarr was going to take that.

  “Tawel gward,” Verdan said quietly as he cast a silencing ward and bound it to his staff.

  “Relax Ada,” Vanarr said, holding up a hand as the other Sorcerer tensed. “I believe the Wizard is simply making sure we aren’t overheard.”

  “That’s right,” Verdan said with a nod. “Sorry, I should have warned you.”

  “All is forgiven,” Vanarr said before leaning forward with an intent look. “Now, what exactly has happened?”

  Sharing a worried look with Kai, Verdan launched into his explanation, starting with Gwen and the others riding forward to secure the river.

  Gwen chimed in with details as needed, filling in the blanks for Vanarr when he asked questions.

  From there, they spoke of the ridge, of their initial defence and their retreat through the pass.

  Verdan hesitated only briefly when they reached Brenn’s betrayal, doing his best to give the Elder only the facts as they had been witnessed.

  To Verdan’s surprise, Vanarr asked no questions about that, and they forged on, detailing the final battle with the Host and the Cyth Scerrd controlling it.

  “Should I stop for questions?” Verdan asked, unsure of what to do, but Vanarr simply waved for him to continue.

  “Let us go through to the end, and then I will ask questions.”

  Verdan nodded and carried on, detailing their encounter with the Brotherhood and what they’d learned from it.

  He was careful to watch Vanarr’s reaction for that particular part of his report, and sure enough, Verdan saw a flicker of recognition when he mentioned the name.

  From what Verdan had seen of the Steel Custodian Elder, Vanarr was far from a member of this Brotherhood. In his position within one of the more active Sects, however, Vanarr likely had access to a lot of information that the others didn’t.

  Making a mental note to come back to that with the Elder at a later time, Verdan carried on to their arrival in the city and their rescue of the scouting group.

  “Well,” Vanarr said once Verdan had finally reached the end of his summary. “You’ve set one of my biggest worries at ease. After seeing the size of this Host, I’d worried that the same thing had happened to you. Thankfully, you managed to deal with it better than we did.”

  Kai frowned at the bitter note in the Elder’s voice and tapped the base of his spear onto the stone floor. “We were lucky with the terrain and chokepoints we could establish. You had the larger force and the harder objective, don’t diminish what your people have achieved here.”

  Ada bristled, but Vanarr cut off whatever she was about to say. “You’re right. My people have performed beyond my expectations. I just wish that such heroics had been enough.”

  A heavy silence fell over them for a long few moments before Vanarr cleared his throat. “Well, let us focus on what is important. We have reinforcements coming, but we are on the brink of discovery. There is only so much we can do to keep the Cyth distracted, and soon they’ll realise where we are. When they do, we’ll have a hard fight ahead of us.”

  “Commander Silver is only hours away from entering the city,” Gwen said, moving closer now that Verdan had brought the Elder up to speed. “Will that not be enough?”

  “I hope it is, but we’ve had two close calls within the last day,” Vanarr said, gesturing to the map on the table. “I was going over our response plan for the next one when you arrived. Now that I know more, let’s bring back my people and update it.”

  Verdan nodded and dispelled the silence ward as Ada stepped away to call back those who’d been at the briefing.

  “Oh, and Verdan,” Vanarr said, turning to meet Verdan’s gaze with a grim expression. “We should continue our conversation after this meeting. I have some more questions about your report.”

  “Of course, I’m happy to help,” Verdan said, taking a step back as the Sorcerers began to filter back into the room.