“Do you think they'll be long?”

Brama looked at its brother. It was the second time they were left alone with the cart, though this time, by their own volition.

“I really hope they won't, it's a bit chilly here. I want a shed”

“We could move towards the flank of the mountain to be less exposed” Dulci suggested, looking at the entrance of the mine “or nearer that warehouse”.

“I don't really want to.” the brown ox shuddered. It looked around uncomfortably. “... Yeah, I don't know, It gives me the creeps, too. Better stay here and wait”.

“Is it just me or are you sensing the earth trembling a bit, too?”

“Brama. Did you fart again and are trying to get away with it?”

“Well. Yes”, it chuckled, “But I really felt the ground tremble.”

“I hope they are alright. I want to get to a warm place soon” Dulci looked stressed. It's twin huddled against him.

“Come on, what is the worst that could happen?”

- - - - - - - - - -

“Oh Nu-

Lazar was starting a swear, frozen in place in front of the gigantic mole sniffing the air in front of him. Liliane was looking at him from behind a side passage in the mine tunnel.

“Shhh! Come here!” she said, trying to keep her volume as low as possible.

“Here, where?

“Here here!”

The old woman pointed behind her, and started walking a bit forward slowly. “Mask your scent, snuff the light and take my hand”

“What if it sees us?” said Lazar, unconvinced of the plan.

“It won't, dummy! It's a mole, it should be blind. Come!”

The old man sniffed the lantern, twirled his left hand in the air, and circled the big mole. It lowered itself on four legs, and seemed to go the other way. Lazar was relieved, and took some other steps toward Liliane, catching her hand. While doing so, though… He hit a pebble. It rolled away, and the mole turned again towards them. It made an unholy screech.

“Run!”

They both screamed in unison, and started dashing almost blindly in the tunnels of the mine, with the help of a small mage light conjured by Lazar. They took a lot of turns, until they felt the mole wasn't on their tail anymore.

They stopped, and leaned their backs on the wall. Lazar, then, slid down, exhausted.

“Did we lose it?

“I can't hear its sniffing anymore”, Liliane stated, looking at her husband with a worried look. “I think it should be safe here. Why did we leave the lance and our weapons in the cart, again?"

"Because you said they would have encumber us too much!"

"Yes, and I still think so, but you agreed! We should at least have kept the knives, though..."

“Where is ‘here’?”

"What?"

"You said here shoulf be safe', where are we?"

“Wait, let me just…” Liliane started rummaging through her purse. Lazar got up and passed her the map he had put in his pants while running, then conjured another small orb of light, making the tunnel brighter.

“Let's check the map. We took three lefts, a right, and went through a corridor” he stated.

Liliane took a piece of carbon, and started trying to draw a path.

“I believe we are in a part of the mines that does not appear in the map. But not that far from our goal.”

“Well now. That is… Less than ideal, methinks.”

“And methinks you should trust your wife's guts. We'll find our way back.” Liliane sighed, and took in their surroundings “eventually”.

The two, after a couple minutes to catch their breath, started walking again, trying to find their way back to the path on the map.

“Didn't we take this turn already?” said Lazar, dubious.

“It's a mine, not a maze. This can't be the same place.”

“I think it is, see! There! I left a booger that was bugging me there!”

“First thing first, ehw”, said Liliane, scowling, “second, could you give me the carbon?”

“To make a sign where we already passed? It does sound like a good idea. The path drawn by the lad on the map is pretty straightforward, if we keep searching for a bit we should be able to get back to it. Here, see?” Liliane pointed to an intersection in the shape of a T “he wrote something about an archway. It should be there. If we find that, we'll know where to go.”

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“Good. Let's keep looking then.”

They got back to walking, and after a few turns, they finally found the intersection, from where a dim light was coming .

“Here it is! The archway! And it seems illuminated, too. There's a lit lamp hanging.

“Do you think someone could be here?” asked Liliane.

“Perhaps, but I wouldn't bet on it. These lamps can burn for a full day, and they probably just left it lit up to avoid bringing it down.”

“Good for us then. Now, we came from there, so, since the wall in front of us is a dead end…

Right?

“Yes,right, then right again, then straight until the ladder to the third level.”

Following the map, they traversed the rest of the way without any problems, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they were on the third level.

“Well, that took less than I thought.”

“I told you, mine, not maze” replied Liliane, mockingly.

“Oh! Mazes! Do you remember that time that-

“Yes, love, yes, the rose labyrinth with the scantily dressed dryads that you talked about in your thirtieth book.”

“They were such nice plant people” he said, with a longing look in his face.

“They tried to use you as fertilizer for their children” muttered the old woman, hitting the man on the back of his head.

“And such doting parents, too!”

“You just liked their attention, you old coot. You always did like being adored.”

“What can I say? I like being the sun in a room.

That's why I was so smitten by your moon my love.”

Lazar shot her a loving look, and took one of her hands.

“Cheesy!” she laughed, and took the hand away. “But I can forgive you. I chose you, after all”.

They started searching the level, looking inside each tunnel they traversed. After looking around for a while, they finally came to a big chunk of rock, firmly stuck in the ground. It had a mild brown color, as if it was covered with soil.

“Do you think it's this one?”

“It doesn't seem that magical. Let me check…” Liliane got on the ground, knocked on the rock. Then licked it. She then got up.

“Yep. This is the one. Strong earth alignment. Good for solidity and grounding. Worth a pretty penny in the right hands.”

“Well, mission accomplished!” said Lazar, happily.

“Wait a minute now. How do you think we will move it?”

“Magic.”

He took the walking cane that was floating next to him, hidden from sight, inserted it under the rock, took another, smaller one to act as a fulcrum, and jumped on the cane.

The rock rolled over, now out of the ground

“The magic of levers!”

“You could have fallen very badly there, you know, right?” Liliane gave him the side eye.

“It was a perfectly secure maneuver!” answered her husband, crossing his arms.

“It was really unhetical of you to use little old me as a fulcrum tho.”

“Well, I could not have found - did the pebble talk?”

The old couple looked on the ground at the source of the voice. It really seemed like the pebble spoke.

“Pebble my rocky exterior”, he said, upset. “ I'm a rock. Whittled down by the passage of time”.

“An old rock elemental… Sorry, elder, we couldn't have known” murmured Liliane, taking a bow.

“Why didn't you reveal yourself sooner?”

Lazar was very curious of the being, that now seemed to vibrate.

“Can't a rock have his beauty sleep now? Oh, the youths… Always so eager and full of energies”.

Liliane pointed to the magic stone.

“Is it a problem if we take this, elder?”

“The magic stone chunk, you mean? Nope, that's just a byproduct of my presence here. Time grinds me away, and the magic scatter and deposits in the surroundings. Sometimes a clump of it solidifies. So. That's something that was once me, but it's not anymore”.

“Does this magic give birth to monsters, too?”

“No, why do you ask? Is something around?”

“There was a… Mole, I think?” said Lazar, hoping to get some answer about the monster. “A big one.”

“Oh, that's just Veronica.” stated the rock, chuckling. It sounded like pebbles grinding on each other. “It's a nice mole, nothing to worry about. There are worse things that sometimes come out from the belly of the mountain, especially if you delve too deep. But it's weird. She must have sensed something, if she was in the upper levels”.

“We'll keep that in mind, but we will probably just go toward the exit now, so don't worry about us.It's getting a bit late. Goodbye, elder!”

“Be safe, younglings! Don't give too much confidence to strangers and don't accept sweets from them!”

Liliane and Lazar scooped up the stone with the woman's purse. Then, they lit up their lamps again, and started going back, trying to get out of these mines.

“He seemed pretty nice,” said the woman.

“How old do you think he was?”

“Older than me, that's for sure. I was probably not even born when he was half his age.”

“How old are you again?” asked Lazar, a bit of mirth in his voice.

“Do you really want to die so much?”

Liliane looked him straight in the eye, completely serious.

“I'll just keep in mind your birthdate, my ladybug”.

“See that you do, love, see that you do.”

“The twen… tyth-”

“Can it.”

“I swear I do rememb-”

“No Lazar, shut up! Something is moving towards us!”

“What? Where?

They started looking around. The ground started trembling, and dust started falling from the roof.

“The wall! Down, Lazar!”

They ducked, and the wall exploded in a shower of rocks and dust. From it, jumped out some sort of giant worm, with layers of teeth in a round mouth. No eyes could be seen on the beast, but it had a weird black sheen, and seemed streaked in silver.

The old illusionist screamed.

“What the hell is that!”

“It's got an awful smell!”

“And teeth!”

“Too many teeth. Oh Numens, it's a landprey.”

“A what?

“A land locked lamprey. It hunts inside mountains, but I thought they were all killed after the last culling years ago!”

“That doesn't make sense! How can a dish swim through the rocks?”

“You just talked with a rock! And it does not swim, it eats the rocks. Guess what it'll do with our bones.”

The landprey started trying to jump on them, and bite, but they managed to outmaneuver it. They retreated back into the tunnels, coming to the intersection they passed before, running away.

“Do something! talk to it!” bellowed Lazar.

“I can’t! it’s a night spawn, not an animal! It won't listen!”

“It’s a giant fish worm!”

“A night spawned giant fish worm!”

“What can we do?”

“The ring! Lazar, use the ring on the wood!” Liliane shouted, a confident look now on her face.

The landprey was gaining ground on them.

“What ring and what wood!

“The pylon! Turn the ring I gifted you one time and touch the pylon!”

Lazar did as he was told, turned the ring, which became a deep, moldy black, and touched the pylon. All the wood connected to the pylon, and the pylon itself, seemed to rot in an instant. The ground started to shake, and when the landprey tried to pass underneath the intersection, the woof caved in on it, killing it instantly.

The couple stood there, transfixed, while the beast started smoking, before being reduced to ashes.

“Well, getting this stone was harder than I thought it would be.”

“I mean, we’re both alive. That matters, doesn’t it?

“And we have the thing for the young lad.

“We just have to plan the heist on that stupid mayor.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Everything hurts. I just want to sleep.”

Lazar seemed completely spent.

“No rest for the wicked dear.” equipped Liliane. “The appointment with the mayor is tomorrow and we can't afford to be late. We still have a lot of stuff to buy. We have to go back to the city first, and find a tavern. Then, we'll sleep.”

“I will probably pass out on the cart while getting back. Wake me up when we arrive, please.”

Liliane smiled, and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

“Will do, love. Will do.”