Verdan enjoyed Vaijon’s confused expression for the few moments it took for Silver to join them.

  “I’ve checked with our quartermasters, and space is what they need. Bulk is the issue rather than the weight of what we’re taking on,” Silver said, glancing between Verdan and Vaijon with a curious expression. “What is it?”

  “Elder Vaijon just gave me an excellent suggestion for how to resolve the issue,” Verdan said, giving Vaijon a pleasant smile. “He really does have a great knowledge base. You should have him advise you more often.”

  The bald Elder made a choking sound and shot Verdan a betrayed look, while Silver simply arched one brow questioningly. “Is that so?”

  “Oh yes,” Verdan said, ignoring the sputtering Elder as he focused on the Commander. “I imagine that any livestock in the city are long gone, one way or another, but are there any wagons we could commandeer?”

  “That was raised earlier, and we’ve sent some locals to find out, but how would we pull them?” Silver asked, shaking his head slightly. “I did consider asking the Pathfinder for the use of her mounts, but losing her scouts would be dangerous. I don’t think that would be enough, anyway.”

  “I very much agree on that front,” Verdan said firmly. “This is not the time to be losing scouts at all. For the rest, though, how many more wagons do we actually need?”

  Silver was quiet for a few moments as he mulled over the question. “From everything they’ve said, we could manage with six, but it would limit our range. Eight would be better and ten would give us enough to manage all the essentials.”

  “Understood. Hopefully, there is enough in the city that we can get all ten. I’ll work to that goal anyway, and we can adjust from there.”

  “I’ll see what news has been brought back from the city,” Silver said, nodding to them both before heading off, Auger following along behind him.

  Verdan realised that he hadn’t actually explained what he was going to do, and the Commander hadn’t asked. He’d simply trusted that Verdan knew what he was about.

  “Well, now you’ve had your fun, do you need any help?” Vaijon asked, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

  “Do you know where Gruthka and the other Fwyn are?”

  “Last I saw, they weren’t far from here. I can lead you that way?”

  “If you don’t mind,” Verdan said, his focus already drifting to the upcoming project. “Hmm, that earth Sorcerer from before, is he any good at shaping?”

  “As good as any Sorcerer,” Vaijon said with a shrug. “His focus is more on fighting other earth users, but I can send for him if that would help?”

  “Actually, could you ask Morag if she has any particularly good shapers?” Verdan asked, realising that he hadn’t even considered the Eternal Wardens. “I need talent in shaping, rather than brute force. This will be about precision more than anything.”

  “Alright, I’ll ask,” Vaijon said, pointing off toward the Airta section of the camp. “The Fwyn were over there last I saw, so I’ll leave that to you.”

  Verdan thanked him before splitting off and heading for the Airta. On the face of it, it seemed odd for the Fwyn to be with the Airta.

  On a fundamental level, the Fwyn were a prey species, while the Airta were predators to their core.

  Verdan knew why they were there, though. The Airta weren’t human, and with so many new faces joining the army, the Fwyn wanted somewhere safe.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Anyone who had fought the Host in the north likely had a good opinion of the Fwyn, or at least had some respect for them. Verdan hoped that was true, because if it wasn’t, he despaired for ever bringing them all back together.

  Shaking off the dark thoughts, Verdan raised a hand in greeting to the first Airta he came across and asked where the Fwyn were.

  The Airta gave him some rough directions before carrying on lounging against a piece of rubble, leaving Verdan to head on alone.

  Thankfully, the directions were easy enough to follow, and in short order, Verdan found Gruthka and the other Fwyn.

  “Verdan, do you need us?” Gruthka asked in low imperial as Verdan approached them.

  “Potentially, yes,” Verdan said with a slight shrug. “Perhaps the Brecan as well, but what I’m asking for might be too complex. I know they don’t fully understand spoken languages.”

  “We can help translate,” Gruthka said, mirroring Verdan’s shrug. “Shall I call them?”

  “Yeah, please do,” Verdan said, gesturing off to one side at an open stretch of ground. “I’ll get started over there, come join me when you can.”

  Gruthka nodded, and Verdan could feel the Fwyn sending out pulses of Aether into the ground as he walked away.

  His plan was deceptively simple at first glance. If they could get wagons from the city, but not the horses to pull them, then they needed a replacement for the horses.

  Vaijon’s comment about his construct had given Verdan the idea, but he’d already been thinking about something similar when he saw his apprentices.

  The construct he’d made had been simple, but had been far more effective than if Verdan had cast a few more spells instead.

  The prospect of what he could do with better materials and more time was enthralling, and Verdan itched to do just that.

  For now, though, he was going to see just what his limits were with this magic.

  “Garreg sia,” Verdan intoned, calling up stone from the ground, shaping it as he did. The stone slowly formed into a horse-like shape, but it was far from perfect.

  The spell he used normally was imbued with the concept of a warrior, but Verdan lacked the right Word to do the same for a draught animal.

  Instead, he was going to shape it himself, and then animate it once it was complete.

  “Garreg sia,” Verdan said, recasting the spell as he called up more stone, fleshing out the construct and improving it somewhat.

  “Is that a horse?” Gruthka asked as he walked over to join Verdan, Dru and Aeva trailing along behind him.

  “It’s meant to be, but I’ve not done quite as good a job as I’d hoped,” Verdan said, eyeing the crude attempt with a frown.

  “It does have four legs,” Gruthka offered with a high-pitched laugh that made Verdan roll his eyes with a smile.

  “Could you improve it?” Verdan asked, glancing over at the Fwyn questioningly.

  “Of course,” Gruthka said, looking offended that Verdan even asked the question. “Is this what you wanted the Brecan for?”

  “Yes, I thought their skill with earth would be useful,” Verdan said, realising even as he spoke the words aloud that it wasn’t the case. “But they won’t be, will they?”

  “Not for this,” Gruthka said with a shake of his head. “Not enough straight lines and edges for them. They can provide the stone for it, though.”

  Relieved that he hadn’t asked them to call on the Brecan for nothing, Verdan stepped back while Gruthka and Aeva got to work.

  Finishing the first horse didn’t take long, and once Verdan explained that they needed at least a dozen, they began work on the second.

  A pair of Brecan arrived to assist them not long after the second horse was started, and Dru acted as the middle man for the two groups.

  Dru’s rot magic wouldn’t be of any use here, so instead, he helped by guiding the Brecan to prepare large boulders for the other two Fwyn.

  They were just finishing up the third horse when Vaijon returned with Morag in tow. The Eternal Warden looked over the stone horses with a critical eye as Verdan explained what they were doing.

  “This level of detail is unacceptable, these joints will rub and cause damage over time. They need to be smoother,” Morag said, picking apart Verdan’s design as she looked over the first one they’d made.

  “Can you fix it?” Verdan asked, getting the same look in return that he’d had from Gruthka.

  Holding his hands up in surrender, Verdan went back to his own task as they settled into a rhythm of sorts.

  Verdan created the base shape, then the Fwyn refined and improved it, adding in details and making it more lifelike. Once they were done, Morag would go over each one with a surprisingly light and deft touch, turning statues into potential constructs.

  A runner from Commander Silver came to inform them that nine wagons had been claimed, and to ask how his task was progressing.

  Verdan upped the number they were trying for to eighteen and sent back word to the Commander that they should be ready by noon.

  A delayed start was better than leaving everything behind, but Verdan could feel the pressure building.

  Finishing the final horse, Verdan took a moment to regret his self-enforced ban on energy spells before sending Dru to find Magnus and Dirk.

  Hopefully, they’d put the last hour or so to good use.