He tossed the key ring from the officer’s belt at the first miner to step forward, then left them to their own devices as he entered the mine. He was tired after the battle and would have to find somewhere to hole up and restore his magic nearby, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

Drazaria didn’t have to look far for explosives, taking them with him into the mine. He planted them at the bases of support beams, leaving swap stones behind with them - he would have to make new ones when he returned to his base after using up so many. After collecting a shielded bag of Scourge crystals, he swapped back to the furthest explosives. He lit the fuses and swapped again, all the way back out in time to avoid being caught in the collapse. He also collected one of the light crystals from the courtyard - it would be easier and faster to convert one into a power store than experimenting with the Scourge crystals, though it wouldn’t hold much since it had only been intended as a light. He also took some extra shielded bags - they were made from Scourgebeast leather and would be difficult to come by otherwise.

His work done, he set out from the mine. In a few hours, the soldiers in the barracks would wake to a collapsed mine and no miners, and the officer and Lera would make sure their boss knew who to thank for it.

He wasn’t expecting to run into Rot and his Unforgiving. He should have been, but he wasn’t.

“So this is the part where you kill me?” Drazaria asked, letting the sack of Scourge crystal hit the ground, “I see you brought more people this time.”

“Maybe,” Rot grinned, “Thanks for taking out the mine - really starting to doubt your reputation after seeing you leave everyone alive, though.”

“Which one?” the sorcerer asked, looking around and realizing he was surrounded. He’d been so convinced he was in the clear and used too much magic to use enhanced senses for the hell of it.

“What?” Rot chuckled, stalking forward carefully.

“Which reputation are you starting to doubt?” Drazaria asked, attack magic climbing back up his arms and legs, “I have several.”

Rot snorted, “The one about you being a heartless bastard.”

“Oh, that one,” the sorcerer rolled his eyes, “Well, fucking get on with it, and we’ll see for ourselves how true it is.”

“A question first,” Rot said, starting to slowly circle the human, “What the fuck were you doing at that inn?”

“Man can’t get a drink?” Drazaria asked, carefully turning to follow the woozhi’s path.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Rot said, “Not that I care about defending a traitor like Ked, but discreet didn’t seem like your style… until today.”

“What’s he have to do with anything?” the sorcerer asked, playing dumb - then smirked, “Aw, are you jealous?”

“Don’t insult me,” the woozhi replied, “You’re working an angle, and I want to know what it is.”

“What does it matter if you plan to kill me anyway?” Drazaria asked, “Unless you expect to fail - again.”

Rot growled, then said, “I don’t plan to kill you.”

“You’re useful,” a different Unforgiving said, stepping forward - the sorcerer noted that they and Rot both had the same gold insignia under the main Unforgiving symbol on their armor - perhaps a sign of rank. They had emerald green scales and purple eyes, and jerked their head at the sack, “Can you purify those?”

Drazaria paused, looking between Rot and the other woozhi, “If you have a Source, I know the process.”

“Go get more from the mines,” the green-scaled woozhi said to the others, “There a reason you left the soldiers alive?”

“… so they can tell the Royal Sorcerer who ruined his day,” the human replied.

“Leave them be then,” the green-scaled woozhi added, “No reason they’d think we’d work with a human, and no reason to think you have access to a Source. Gives us both some cover.”

Drazaria looked around again, then decided to release his attack magic. He put his hands in his pockets, “So you are?”

“Agae,” the green-scaled woozhi replied, “For the record, I don’t give a shit what you’re doing with Ked. I almost feel sorry for you.”

The sorcerer rolled his eyes, “So what exactly is happening now?”

“For today, you get to walk,” Rot said, coming to stand next to Agae with another growl, “We’ll contact you when you’ve had time to recover.”

“Nice of you,” Drazaria said sarcastically.

“You don’t trust us as much as we don’t trust you,” Agae said diplomatically, “We won’t drag you anywhere at less than full power. Consider it a sign of goodwill.”

“And which one of you masterminded this little plot?” the human asked, still carefully watching the others around him. He didn’t like the idea of working with them - collateral damage tended to be their main goal, and giving them powered crystals was handing them weapons. But he wasn’t sure he had the power to walk away from a fight, which left going along with their plans… for now.

“Good luck figuring that out,” Rot scoffed.

Agae said, “In two weeks, we’ll wait to meet you on the road between Ked’s inn and Faobrin.”

“And if I don’t show?” the sorcerer asked.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Agae asked.

“Because he’s a shitty asshole,” Rot muttered.

Definitely not his plan, then, Drazaria thought.

Agae rolled their eyes, “You need a Source to purify those crystals - we need someone who knows the process. Mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Your confidence doesn’t answer my question,” Drazaria replied.

“Then we both end up with useless crystals,” Agae snorted, “You already took down the mine - and took the blame to boot. You gain nothing if you don’t show.”

Neither do you, the sorcerer thought, noting that Agae still wasn’t actually answering the question. Which meant he’d have one more group after him - one that knew two of the locations he frequented.

Rot grinned - like he knew exactly what the human was thinking. Not that it was hard to figure out.

“Guess we’ll see what happens in two weeks then,” Drazaria said, picking up his sack of Scourge crystals.

“See you then,” Agae said, generously stepping to the side - likely also knowing the sorcerer had picked up on the implied threat.

Drazaria gave them all a wide berth as he walked around them, feeling more tired as he realized he’d have to walk longer to find a safe spot to hole up. He definitely didn’t trust Agae’s agreeableness or Rot’s restraint.

He took the risk of magically enhancing his speed so that he reached the forested part of Vaseridan proper in a few hours, knowing it would provide better cover than the Frontier scrubland. He found a small cave, covered the entrance with greenery, and took his much needed rest. 

It took him another week to return to his base, where he found Vasskr waiting.

“Why did you attack a Ballatsa mine?” his brother asked, standing next to the door.

“Shouldn’t you be mentoring Jax instead of lecturing me?” Drazaria replied, opening the door and tossing the sack of Scourge crystals inside.

“Zawn, you’re making yourself a bigger target,” Vasskr sighed, “How do you expect to clear your name when-”

Drazaria laughed, then signed, <<You thought that was still an option?>>

“The truth is always an option,” the kradreen frowned.

<<I think we both learned firsthand how much the truth doesn’t matter,>> Drazaria scoffed.

Vasskr sighed, “Ballatsa isn’t Oralie, Zawn. Don’t you want to meet your-”

Drazaria closed his eyes and signed, <<Don’t finish that sentence.>>

His brother sighed again, “Fine. But why did you attack the mine?”

“To piss off the Royal Sorcerer, what else?” Drazaria replied, opening his eyes again.

Vasskr rolled his eyes, “That I believe.”

“You’re back!” Heline said, running out of the cottage. She stopped next to them, clasping her hands behind her back as she asked, “So did you… do what you went out to do?”

“Yeah,” Drazaria rolled his eyes.

“Klamra agreed to teach Tedi, by the way,” Vasskr said, “But only because it was your idea.”

“Who’s Klamra?” Owal asked, strolling out behind Heline.

“A kradreen magic teacher,” Drazaria said.

Heline gasped in indignation, “What? You helped get Tedi a teacher? But! But that means he’ll be harder to fight!”

“Then I guess you better train harder,” Drazaria drawled.

“I mean, he’s still pretty hopeless, though,” Owal shrugged, grinning, “I doubt he’ll catch up to even you anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” Heline nodded, then flinched in realization, “Wait, hey!”

Owal danced away as she attacked thon with vines, and Heline gave chase.

“By the way, how did you find out about the mine?” Vasskr asked with a suspiciously forced casualness.

“I have my ways,” Drazaria replied. He was sure his brother didn’t know this particular way was the Unforgiving, but the kradreen was both smart and knew him well. It was likely why he suspected there was something… dangerous afoot.

Vasskr hummed, “And that wasn’t a sack of Scourge crystal, was it?”

“What would I do with a sack of Scourge crystal?” Drazaria evaded.

“If you’re in trouble-”

“When was the last time I wasn’t in trouble?” the human interrupted, keeping his eyes on his, for lack of a better word, charges.

Vasskr sighed, “I wish you would let me help you, Zawn.”

Where has that gotten either of us? Drazaria thought and bit his lip to keep from saying it out loud - his brother didn’t deserve that. Instead, he scratched at his arm and said, “I don’t remember stopping you from setting my broken arm.”

“I meant before you break yourself,” his brother replied flatly - then reached out and cautiously clasped Drazaria’s shoulder, “But I will always be here - even if I… I’m never on time.”

“Why are you always so hung up on that?” the human asked but didn’t shake off the contact.

Vasskr took that as consent enough to give Drazaria’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze before letting go, “Because you shouldn’t have to face everything alone.”

“You call this alone?” his brother asked, holding an arm out towards the sparring teens.

“You didn’t take them with you,” Vasskr replied, arching his left brows.

Drazaria rolled his eyes, “There was no reason to - this was… personal.”

“Just… please refrain from doing anything stupid,” Vasskr sighed.

“No promises,” Drazaria replied with a half-grin.

His brother shook his head, turning away, “I do need to be getting back - at least… keep yourself alive, would you?”

“That I can do,” Drazaria snorted. Once Vasskr had left, he called Heline over to recount Lera’s use of illusion magic.