There wasn’t much else Verdan could say on the matter, and he left soon afterwards. Silver had given several orders and made a few promises regarding what the city guards would do, which was as good a result as Verdan had hoped for. Less than he would have liked, of course, but more than he feared.

  Verdan kept an affable smile plastered to his face as they made their way back out, and made sure to greet the guards he knew as they went. He didn’t want the tension between him and the council to spill over and affect his relationship with the guards.

  “Where to now, Boss?” Barb asked once they were back outside, her watchful gaze sweeping the surrounding area despite the relatively high number of guardsmen. “Back to the estate?”

  “I think so.” Verdan had a long list of things to do, but one of the most pressing was to find out how Natalia’s meeting with Tobias had gone. If the merchant turned councillor could help them, then their money troubles would be dealt with in the short term. If not, Verdan had a few ideas regarding healing, but he wasn’t sure how well that would work.

  After all, there were multiple Clerics in the city now, and he’d worked with Dirk to place healing spells over the main clinics. Over time, Dirk had replaced the initial ones with his own, allowing him to take over the replenishment of their Aether. Dirk’s constructs weren’t quite as efficient or effective, but they did the job, and it was good practice for the younger Wizard.

  Verdan was far from what he would deem a proficient healer, but knowing the basics could be quite literally the difference between life and death.

  Barb was trailing slightly behind him, so Verdan caught sight of the problem first. Her soft curse came a moment later as she too laid eyes on the growing crowd up ahead. Verdan had walked this path quite a few times by this point, and he knew the shop the people were clustered around. It was a small, family bakery.

  He’d stopped in once or twice, either for one of the cheese buns they made as a snack, or to pick up something for Henry. The family who ran it were happy, cheerful people who had deep ties to the city. Thankfully, the bakery had withstood everything that had happened to the city, being far enough towards the centre that the worst of the Cyth attack hadn’t reached it.

  Now, there was a crowd gathering around it and the echo of raised voices just about reached them.

  “We should go around,” Barb said, her hand dropping to rest next to her weapon. “I don’t know what’s happening, but it isn’t worth it.”

  “No, I want to see.” Verdan was tempted to ignore it, but it felt like whatever was happening was only just starting. He had a chance to stop things from escalating, and if he was being honest with himself, he just didn’t want to see the bakery harmed.

  It had been nice seeing something standing strong, and he didn’t want to lose that.

  Barb nodded and hurried forward to lead the way, her hand now firmly planted on the hilt of her sword. She was always carrying her shield, to save any awkwardness in grabbing it with her prosthetic in an emergency, but it was higher than usual now. If things went wrong, Barb was primed to act.

  It was sad that she even felt that need when within the city, but Verdan knew that his hopes aside, the reality was that anything could happen if the crowd became a mob. Already, he could make out meaning in the shouts. Accusations were going back and forth, alongside demands for stolen food to be turned over and denials of having done anything wrong.

  He’d known it was likely about food, what with it being right outside the bakery, but the confirmation helped underline that things could turn nasty.

  A few of the people on the edge of the group saw the pair of them approaching, and he could almost feel the calculation as their eyes went from Barb’s weapon to his staff. A few of the more cautious moved away, the rest shifting as Barb reached the outer edge of the crowd.

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  The shouting from the centre had only grown louder, and now that he was moving through the crowd, Verdan could see the source of it all. A young man, about the age Dirk had been when Verdan first met him, was stood protectively in front of what Verdan assumed was his mother, who was holding a covered basket that was no doubt full of bread.

  Two older men were opposite them, both accusing the young man and his mother of stealing the bread, saying that they were taking more than their share when everyone was struggling to make ends meet.

  The baker stood in the doorway of the shop, wringing his hands and looking distraught about the whole situation.

  One of the two men saw Verdan out of the corner of his eye and seemed to raise his voice further, even taking an aggressive step forward. The subject of his ire curled his fists and looked to be about ready to fight when Verdan slammed the base of his staff down on the stone.

  The sharp retort rang out, drawing the younger man’s attention and stopping him throwing the punch that would put this whole mess beyond saving. The one who’d stepped in close and provoked him shot Verdan an irritated look and hesitated before throwing a punch at his would-be opponent.

  “Ast!” Verdan snapped out the Word as he flicked his fingers and conjured a thin blue shield between the two, blocking the initial punch and the startled swing that came from the younger man. “Enough! Whatever is happening here, violence is not the answer!”

  The man who struck the shielding spell rounded on Verdan with something close to a snarl. “Easy for you to say, what am I supposed to take home for food? Can you magic up something to eat with that staff of yours?”

  Verdan blinked, caught somewhat off guard by the immediately belligerent demeanour of the angry man. “Calm down, let’s discuss what’s happening and what we can do. Is the store out of bread?”

  The baker nodded uncomfortably as the whole crowd focused on him. “We weren’t expecting so much to be bought. I’m out of what we made today, but I’ve got some older loaves I can sell. I’ll make a larger batch tomorrow as well.”

  “Could you please go do a count of what you have so we can make sure everyone can buy some?” Verdan asked politely, giving the man the excuse to leave that he so clearly wanted.

  “And that’s your solution, that we get stale bread while they get to take the last of the good stuff and hoard it?”

  Verdan turned a withering look on the posturing man before addressing the pair in question. “I can see that you’ve bought quite a bit. Is there a reason for that beyond worrying about having enough?”

  “What business is that of yours?” The young man moved to stand between Verdan and his mother, his gaze flicking from the Wizard to the man who’d tried to hit him.

  “It’s okay, Coll.” the mother stepped forward and put her hand on her son’s shoulder to urge him aside. “The Wizard has done right by us in the past. The reason we want the bread is because my husband is ill. I need the bread to feed my family and to make sure he recovers. I saw how fast it was selling out, I can’t risk there not being enough tomorrow.”

  Verdan saw the baker setting out loaves inside the shop, it looked like there would be almost enough for everyone to get something. A little bit more would help, though. “Is anyone else here to do the same?”

  One or two others raised their hand, so Verdan nodded to himself and raised his voice. “Those here for extra food for the ill, I’d appreciate it if you would step aside and let others have the first chance at what bread is left for today. In return, I will personally heal your families.”

  The clatter of metal came on the heels of Verdan’s offer as a trio of guardsmen arrived. Two of them were unknown to him, but their leader was a familiar, hawkish man with pale blue eyes and closely cut brown hair. More importantly, he was the head of the city’s special division. The guards who had become Sorcerers.

  “Wizard Blacke,” Sergeant Auger said, nodding respectfully to Verdan. “We got told there might be an issue here, do you have everything in hand?”

  Verdan met the gaze of the mother he’d been speaking to and nodded. “I think I do, Sergeant.”

  “Glad to hear it.” Auger swept his piercing gaze over the assembled crowd, who shifted uneasily. Raising his voice, he spoke to Verdan, but ensured his words would carry to all present. “The Commander has issued orders that anyone instigating a crowd regarding the food situation is to be brought in. We must all work together to ensure that the city remains safe and secure. Did you see anything that needs reporting?”

  Verdan locked eyes with the man who seemed to be at the core of the problem. There was a stubbornness in his features that worried the Wizard for a moment, but eventually he looked away. Hopefully, he realised that what he’d done here had been wrong.

  “No, Sergeant. Just a misunderstanding.”

  “Good. We’ll take over from here, then. There’s no need to keep you from your work.” Auger gave a few soft orders and the two guards with him quickly organised a queue and started to help the baker distribute what loaves were left. Money still changed hands, but simply having the guards there to ensure that no one took too much was enough to calm the crowd.