The Stormlord stared at Verdan in horror, his mouth working soundlessly until Verdan made the hand holding him tighten its grip.
“Stop, please!” The Sorcerer cried out hoarsely. “I’ll tell you everything, just don’t kill me.”
“You fool, you’ll die either way, try to have some dignity,” the woman snapped at him, having given up on breaking out of the shield Verdan had placed over her.
“I swear on my magic that I will let you live if you speak truthfully and honestly,” Verdan said calmly, letting the hand loosen its grip on the man slightly. “That goes for both of you.”
“Save your pity, Wizard,” the woman said with a sneer. “Your whole world is burning around you, and you don’t even know it yet.”
Verdan turned to silence her before cursing as she dropped a small, empty vial to the ground and grinned savagely at him. “Too slow, you’ll get nothing from me.”
Verdan released his shield as he raced toward her, but whatever she had taken was as quick as it was lethal, and she was dead before he’d taken his third step.
Grimacing, Verdan turned back to the pale-faced Sorcerer that he had captive. “If I release you, are you going to be stupid?”
“No, no, I’ve seen what you can do,” the Sorcerer said, his eyes flicking between Verdan, Cullan and the Airta.
“Alright then,” Verdan said, releasing the man before withdrawing his spell and letting the hand crumble away. “Start talking. I know you were with Nathir, so how did you get here?”
The man stammered for a moment before getting himself under control. “It began about a year ago. Nathir recruited me a branch of the Sect that focused on controlling the area around the city. He and a few others had been approached by the Brotherhood and had been taking bribes.”
“The Brotherhood?” Verdan asked, arching one brow.
“The Brotherhood of Indagnum,” the Sorcerer said hesitantly. “They wanted us turn a blind eye to some areas, and we did. We took their money, their potions, and we did as we were told. You have to believe me that I didn’t know all of this would happen, though!”
“You deliberately turned your back on your responsibilities,” Verdan said coldly. “Your intent was and is irrelevant. What matters is your actions. At some point, you realised what was happening, and you went along with it.”
“We were already in so deep,” the Sorcerer pleaded for Verdan to understand. “We were just ignoring an area, and then the Cyth were there and Nathir got us out of the way. The Brotherhood took care of us, and they gave us the information to pass on as scouts. I realised they were downplaying the threat to slow the response, but what could I do about it?”
“You could have faced up to your duty,” Verdan said, shaking his head. “You could have escaped and warned people. You could have done anything, but you didn’t. Now, where is Nathir?”
“I don’t know, they split us up and mixed us in with other Sorcerers. When we left to come here I saw at least three other groups this size, as well as a larger one being readied. I don’t know any more than that.”
“I believe you,” Verdan said reluctantly. “However, I can’t just let you roam free or warn the Brotherhood that we know about them. You’ll be coming back with me as my prisoner. Silver will want to question you.”
“No, please, just let me go. You’ll never see me again. I’ll just disappear. Please don’t take me with you. They’ll find out and take me.” The Sorcerer shuddered, his eyes wide with fear. “You don’t know what they do to people who betray them!”
Verdan’s expression hardened, and he went to cast a restraining spell, but the Sorcerer saw the look in his eyes and acted first. A gale of wind and lightning spewed forth from the Sorcerer, crashing into Verdan’s shield.
The fear and anger filling the Sorcerer had given him enough strength to endanger those around them. Verdan could contain it, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to do so and attack at the same time.
A flash of steel cut through the wild attack as Cullan charged in and a moment later, the Sorcerer fell limply to the ground.
“Are you okay, Cullan?” Verdan asked, moving over with a healing spell at the ready, just in case some of that spell had hit the big man.
“I’m okay,” Cullan said, waving off his concern. “A shame about it ending like this, though. I was hoping we could bring him with us.”
“Yes, but if he was so scared of this Brotherhood, then it would never have worked. It takes precision and preparation to imprison hostile magic users, neither of which we could manage on the fly.”
“Agreed,” Cullan said before casting his eyes over the windswept and scorched entrance to the cave. “You certainly didn’t pull your punches, which isn’t your usual style.”
“I might not have known what they were called, but I knew what this Brotherhood was. Traitors. Far beyond anything else we’ve seen, they have betrayed everything and everyone they know.”
“A strong stance to take,” Cullan said neutrally. “Most people would focus on their betrayal of the alliance and the Sects as a whole.”
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“Then they would be wrong,” Verdan said, running a hand through his hair before turning to face the Idrisyr. “They are clearly working with the Darjee, and the Gormagyr. I’d say they were working with the Cyth as well, but I’m not sure that is entirely possible. They are certainly taking advantage of them, though. They are actively working with Annwae-worshipping monsters, if they don’t worship the dark gods themselves. You know this, and I know it.”
“Branwen told me you were more aware of the greater stakes than most, but I hadn’t really taken that in,” Cullan said, giving Verdan a slow nod. “It is good to know that you see the scope of the problem. We should inform Lukas, though.”
“I’ve already sent two riders back with news,” the Pathfinder said, joining them alongside Sylvie and Blane.
“I’ve released most of my pack back to their scouting duties as well,” Sylvie said, eyeing the boxes with interest. “What exactly were they trying to take?”
Walking over, Verdan righted one of the crates that had been knocked over and poked through the contents before shrugging. “It looks like they were taking everything they could. There’s reports, broken artifacts, chunks of metal. Nothing I’d say was worth this effort, but then I know what I’m looking for.”
“So you think they were going for quantity over quality,” Sylvie asked, looking over some of the other crates. “There isn’t that much here. Should we check what else is inside?”
Verdan went to nod before pausing as he realised he hadn’t cleared the interior to check for other enemies. Seeing his expression, Sylvie chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t worry, I had two of mine sweep the insides carefully while you were talking to Cullan. We got them all.”
“Thanks, Sylvie,” Verdan said, a little embarrassed by the slip up on his part. “Let’s head in and see what we find. Let me just check the woman first, though.”
Stepping over to the dead woman who’d apparently been in charge of this little expedition, he patted her down and searched for whatever she might have been carrying on her.
As he’d seen with the man in the north, the rings, pendant and wand she’d been using had all broken on her death. The activation wand was still intact, however, and Verdan quickly stashed it away on his person.
The small amount of Aethite it held would be most useful for one of his projects. Exactly which, he didn’t know, but the possibility of experimenting more with the new Sigils was exciting.
“Alright, let’s head inside,” Verdan said, stepping away from the body and starting into the cave mouth as he conjured a light and attached it to the top of his staff.
The interior began as natural rock, but quickly shifted into the familiar worked stone of the other ancient ruins that Verdan had been inside. A few holes in the wall showed where light crystals had been kept in the past, and Verdan was about to walk past when he frowned.
The crystals used for the lights were common, but he hadn’t really given them any thought since he learned more about how this all worked. They must work on the same system of Sigils that he’d learned from the other ancient remnants that he’d found.
That meant they were channelling a large amount of Aether with little apparent issue. They also, if he remembered right, were mostly clear with small traces of blue and white in their core. Which also fit the description of Aethite.
Verdan had asked the Brecan about finding Aethite, but they had no access to places like this, so of course it wouldn’t have come up. Cursing himself for a fool, Verdan hurried on, quickly finding himself in front of what he recognsied as an exterior door.
The door was already open and wooden wedges had been driven in to keep it that way, so Verdan stepped inside, glancing around as he did to work out what this ruin had once been.
Long storage racks sat against each wall, though most of them stood empty, with only a few damaged metal crates remaining. Those crates had been grouped together in the centre and seemed to have been what the Brotherhood was looting.
Frowning, Verdan moved on into the ruin, finding several doors that led out into a larger storage area, a residence and an office. The office and residence had scattered belongings here and there, but the storage area was empty.
With how uneven the looting had been, Verdan was fairly sure that the storage part had been taken before the ruin was closed up for the last time.
“Hardly a treasure trove,” Cullan remarked, eyeing the small pile of loot in the centre of the main room. “Some of this might be useful, I suppose, but it seems a lot of effort.”
Verdan nodded absently as he returned to the office area. There was no light in here, but there were five settings on the ceiling that still held their crystals. “Cullan, could you come grab these for me?”
The Idrisyr was tall enough that he struggled in areas like this, so reaching up to take the crystals from their setting was hardly an imposition. Taking the first one from him as it was passed over, Verdan ran some Aether through the crystal and grinned as it lit up.
Looking carefully, he could see Sigils were carved into the top and bottom of the crystal, right in the sections that would be concealed by the setting. The surface area of the item taken by the Sigils helped determine the strength of the effect, so Verdan wasn’t surprised to see that each of the five crystals looked essentially identical.
Interestingly, that extended to the colouration of the crystals, though they were slightly different to the one that he’d used for Magnus’s arm.
What mattered, though, was that they were in working order, and were clearly Aethite. Unfortunately, that meant that the tower outside of Hobson’s Point had enough Aethite on hand to keep him in material for some time. It was right there, and he’d not realised.
Closing his eyes, Verdan stifled the urge to break something and resolved to gather as much of the valuable material as he could from this point on.
“So, what was the point of gathering all this, do you think?” Sylvie asked as they regrouped outside. “They seem to know as much about these artifacts as you do, and you weren’t particularly excited by them. So why send a group here?”
Verdan considered the question for a few moments. She did have a point. This was a risky trip for a collection of artifacts that could be useful, but might well be nothing but old scrap.
“Did you say there was a wagon nearby?” Verdan asked, eyeing the crates that had been set out. “Were there crates in it already?”
“Yes, but all empty. Another half-dozen I think.”
“Then I know why,” Verdan said, turning back to the others. “The Sorcerer mentioned other groups, so they must be hitting as many of these places as they can in a short space of time.”
“But why?” The Pathfinder asked, cocking her head to one side. “Surely this will only make their actions easier to see.”
“Not in the middle of a Cyth invasion, and not when they’ve undermined it all,” Cullan said with clear disgust. “They’re sweeping in now before the Cyth corrupt it all and taking what they can. No one has the resources or time to try and stop some looters right now.”
“Exactly, but it’ll still be noticeable. That means that whatever they’re doing, they’re not as concerned about hiding anymore. Which is concerning.”
Cullan nodded before glancing up at the position of the sun and gesturing back up the hill. “We should head back. Pathfinder, can you arrange for the wagon to be brought back to the caravan?”
Galstar nodded and set about her work while Sylvie and Blane volunteered to guide Verdan and Cullan back. This had ended up being a lot more than expected, and Silver needed to be warned.