[h3]Jaelnec, Freagon, Irah, Lhirin, Nabi, Yanin, Jordan and Madara – Forest north of Borstown, south of Bandit Farm[/h3]
“Unless the angels Deo'irah is associated with are atypical then no, iriai and swaigh cannot communicate telepathically,” Caleb corrected Yanin's observations. “But if that is a concern I can maintain connection once I am in place, which will allow you to send thoughts to me just as you receive mine, and I can act as an intermediary.”
“Won't that cause divine taint?” Vela asked.
“Not much, but some taint is inevitable,” Caleb conceded. “Even you being close to me right now is causing a small amount of taint; though I have learned to condense divine energy around me better than most thalks, my control is not perfect. But if taint is a concern, I can create and maintain telepathic communication with Deo'irah's angels instead.”
“That is probably fine for the iriao, but not the swaigh,” Freagon pointed out. “A wraith can speak out loud and tell the rest of us immediately, but during passive possession the swaigh would have to first tell Deo'irah, and then she could tell the rest of us. That's too much delay. Deo'irah says she's resistant, so target her directly.”

It took another several minutes for Caleb to accumulate enough energy to do what they had planned, and he started with summoning Kinder into Irah and Lhirin's improvised construct. Irah would note that this process was quite different from how she usually summoned the angels, as Caleb did not appear to invoke any incantations; he merely gestured toward the scarecrow-like frame they had built, produced a faint whitish flash at Caleb's hand and the vessel, and suddenly the newly created wraith started moving on its own.
“What is this?” it said, speaking in the voice Irah knew to be Kinder's. She seemed momentarily agitated until she spotted Irah. “Deo'irah? This is quite different, but as always I am happy to help.”
Finally they had to split into their two groupings, with only Irah, Freagon and Lhirin staying while everyone else – along with Kinder – moved to be outside the range of the aura of fear native to swaigh. Again Caleb merely made a gesture without an incantation, this time producing a faint purplish flash, and Irah would feel the familiar experience of Weriz coming to co-inhabit her body.
[I]“Oh! Deo'irah?”[/I] the small, perpetually nervous and weirdly childish voice of the Angel of Fear said in her mind. [I]“Uh... Why do I get the feeling that you are doing something scary? I hate this... but if you insist, you know I will help. Just... please be careful?”[/I]

With that, Caleb waved his hand one last time and spent what energy he had left to turn himself temporarily invisible, and the fallen angel went to assume the position he had been told. After about another five minutes, Irah would suddenly hear Caleb's voice in her head: [I]“I am in position. I sense a total of sixty-five mundanes in the area, of which thirty-three are sapients and only one feels like a mage. It seems likely that the mage is the healer we are here for. They are in the farmstead with six others.”[/I]
Similarly, Kinder reported to the other group: “The thalk reports that they are in position and there are thirty-three sapients, and the healer seems to be in the farmstead with six others. None of the others feel like mages.”

And with that, the time had come for them to attack.