The carriage of the mayor was one of the strangest contraptions you may see outside of some deeply entrenched warfront. Its chassis was steel - reinforced, its wheels were spiked for maximum traction on rough terrain (and maximum destruction of the pavements of the city), it did not have any windows, but arrow slits, and it had a small ballista mounted on the rooftop, along with a guardsman on the lookout. It may seem a bit excessive, but the Mayor knew that someone was out to get him and steal his money. He just knew.

Just like the man who stole his wife and his titles. Just like his wife. Just like his sons and daughters. Thieves, all of them! Only his dogs were loyal and could be trusted around money. No one else could. No one.

The carriage was at the head of a small contingent of guards, armed to the teeth, and slowly made its way toward the eastern part of the town. Mayor Merripenny had decided to make a show of his visit to the son of the cartographer. He wanted to show how little choice he had, in case he thought of running away with his stone before he could get to it. But the boy was only a dumb debtor, who was still paying for the debts of his dumber father. What could he ever do?

He did not knock at the door when he arrived. He motioned towards Mutt, who came near him. He did not even get off the carriage, instead looking outside from one of the doors.

“Kick the door in, Mutt. I believe we are expected inside.”

The guard, wearing his signature full plate armor, went to the door, lifted a leg and gave it a heel kick. The door broke in twain, and fell making a terrible noise. Some people got out of their house to see what all that ruckus was about, but barricaded themselves inside the moment they saw that it was the Mayor and his henchmen. Better having nothing to do with the man, ever.

Klavus Merripenny slowly descended from his carriage, and spoke aloud.

“Partoce! Where is my gift? Do you have what was asked of you?”

“I'm deeply sorry, Mayor!” replied a voice from inside” something is wrong with the stone!”

“What could be wrong with a stone, you stupid bag of debts?”

“It's… it's encased in stone, sir.”

The mayor run into the house as fast as he could, and indeed, the stone was peeking out of the floor, where it had broken some planks, and seemed to have root-like protusions coming out of it, anchoring it to the ground.

“This is a joke.” he looked at the stone, seemingly distraught. “Are you joking?”

“I’m sorry sir, when I woke up, it was like this. It did not do anything!” the yong man held his hands joined together in front of him, like he was praying.

“You think I’m stupid? Are you trying to trick me to keep the stone for yourself?”

The Mayor gave a disdainful look to the young man. “Come on, Mutt, take out the stone from this mess and let’s go back. And you, insolent worm, you will be whipped for this slight.”

The big *nome specie guard walked to the stone, and put his hands to the sides of it. He bent his knees, got in position and started trying to lift it from the ground. He grunted, as he strained his body to move the stone, but it just did not want to leave the ground. It seemed to be anchored in place, like it was glued to the surroundings. He tried, again and again, to na avail. He gave up and looked at his employer.

“it doesn't seem to budge, sir.” he stated, serious.

“What do you mean ‘It doesn't seem to budge?' It's a chunk of rock. Won’ t weigh more than 40 pounds. Are you that weak?” mocked the Mayor.

“It just doesn't, sir. It's stuck in place. Glued to the floor or something.”

“Then break it! Break the damn floor”

The guard gestured for two other colleagues to come and try to lift it with him. Then, seeing as their efforts were useless, they started hitting the base with the pommels of their swords.

“What are you doing, you damnable mass of imbeciles! Don't you dare break my magic stone! You're going to make it lose power like this! You only have to hit the floor!”

“We’re trying, sir!” said one of the guards helping the Deginish man “We can’t do it with our equipment. We need something else!”

“You lot are really testing my patience. Mutt! I want this stone out, and I want it now!”

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“I’ll call the others and tell them to bring pickaxes and awls, we may be able to do it together.” commented the armored guard, trying to think of a solution.

“Call whoever you want! Call all the guards and the miners! I want this stone out! I want it out now!” Klavus Merripenny was almost frothing at the mouth, enraged by the frustrating situation.” “This incompetence won’t remain unpunished!”

“As you wish sir, I’ll give the order for a full rally here.” Mutt said, nervous.

“And you!” he pointed to Partoce, who was trembling in a corner “Were you the one to make it like this? Did you think it would be funny? Do you think it’s funny? Do you? Answer, peasant!”

“No sir no!” the young man cried “I already told you! I just left it on the ground and it grew the rocky roots you see! It’s a magical stone, I don’t know anything about magic! I’m the son of a cartographer!”

“You’re the son of a debtor! And you’d do well to remember it! Now, get off your ass and help them move the stone!”

He kicked the poor guy, making him raise up, and then got back at looking at his stone. His stone.

A group of guards had tied a rope to the base of the stone, and had started pulling as hard as they could.

“Heave, ho!" they huffed and puffed, trying their best to move it.

“Does it move? Is it moving?” called one of the first in line.

“It’s not budging an inch” answered one in the back, near the stone.

Two guards were just watching their collegues work, chatting while feigning themselves busy with organizing the tools on the ground.

“What’s betting the pool?“

“One on ten that we manage within an hour.”

“Oh, look, they brought a couple miners with pickaxe, too”

A small stream of people entered the house, and started uprooting planks from the floor, to have a bigger space from where to dig.

“Strong blows, little bitches, strong blows! Hit the base, not the stone, or the Mayor will have your hide!”

One of the pickaxe hit the stone near the base of the magical one. It broke in half.

“What the night? What’s that stone made of? I've never seen anything like that.”

“Eh, it must be some magical effect. I don't really know, I hate magic. It's like cheating.

“We would need an expert on stuff like this… but the last two run away.”

“We may need to bring out the explosives, then. Could be a way to do it.”

“Don’t we risk damaging the stone and the city?”

“The mayor will have no stone if we don’t”, one guard said, looking at Mayor Merripenny, intent on watching the workers and eating his nails “I don’t think we have that much of a choice, here.”

“Do you think the decoy will work for long?” asked Lazar to his wife, looking around for signs of guards or dogs.

“If the Mayor is half the miser we think he is, it will. He won’t leave without his stone. Especially after such a show of force, it would enfeeble his untouchable aura.”

“Using the proprieties of the stone was genius, by the way, Liliane. How did you manage it?”

The old woman smiled, looking at him, while keeping Thyme and Spyce, who were following the two, in the corner of her eye.

“It’s actually quite simple. The magic stone we found was earth-aligned, and shifting its purpose to that of self propagation was a non-issue. So now you’ve got a stone within the stone. It will use some of its magic power, and some of mine, but it will keep it stuck there until it’s broken or I go to sleep. Theoretically.”

Lazar looked legitimately impressed. There weren't that many people alive capable of bringing out the effect of an unpolished magic stone.

“That’s so fascinating. I should pick up magic stone working sometimes in the future.

“Let's try to see this future, first!”

“And let's do it together, right?”

“Oh, you! That was so cheesy!”

“Now, we really need to hurry and get to the back entrance Thyme and Spyce found. They are such resourceful rodents.”

“Very fluffy too,” Lazar replied, chuckling.

Liliane looked towards the two small rats, who had stopped and were trying to smell something in the air.

“Very. We have to stop, someone is coming. Then, we turn left.”

They positioned themselves against a wall, and Lazar started muttering a spell while twirling his pinky.

A guard passed in front of them with a dog in tow. The big grey mastiff turned his head towards them, gave the air two big sniffs, and then kept walking alongside the guard.

The old man stopped his muttering when they were out of sight.

“Can’t we keep using your invisibility trick?

“You forgot It doesn’t work on moving targets, only on selected areas of space. And we're not invisible, we just stop emitting anything.”

“Well, that's a bummer.”

“We can still be alert and avoid them without much issue, Liliane.”

“According to the rats, they pass more or less once every ten minutes, so now the coast should be clear.

“Let’s go then.”

They started walking again, trying to be as circumspect as possible, until they reached a back alley directly behind the Mayor's mansion. It was scarcely illuminated, and had an old door peeking from its center. No guards were in sight.

“Do you have something for the dogs?”

“Leave the dogs to me, but please check if there are any magical tripwires when we get in.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for hidden compartments, too. He seems the kind of paranoid that keeps stuff under wraps even in his own house.”

The couple and the two rats reached the door, and Liliane put her hand to its handle. Pulled, then pushed. Nothing.

“This door is stuck”

“Oh. Can we, I don't know, unstuck it?”

“We can try. I’ll talk to it.”

“Do you think a door would be… agreeable?”

“Depends on how they treated her. Doors have feelings too, you know.”

“You only say this because it’s a wooden one.

“Well, duh, I’m no construct to try and talk some sense into metal. And iron doors are famously grumpy.”

“Fair, my love. Hurry up, tho, I can hear some distant sounds of armor moving.”

“I’ll be as quick as I can. Hello miss door, how was your day?” She paused, listening, with her ear on the door. “What? no one uses you anymore since that brute of a Mayor became the chief? He even thought of bricking you? What a monster. Dear, listen, we’d really need to pass.” she paused again. “Yes, I know you shouldn’t, but we swear, we’ll help you rid yourself of your unwanted occupant. What did you just say? You have to convene with the main entrance? Sure, but be quick please.”

The old woman looked at Lazar, who now had Thyme and Spyce on his shoulders. They were trying to bite his hat. It was a pretty awkward sight. A knock came from inside the door, and Liliane went back to it. “Ok, Main entrance says that since we were not seen or heard, she’ll make an exception since all the guards that come and go from the manor are straining her hinges and do not oil them at all. What gall.” The door unlocked with a loud click, that sounded almost like a thank you, revealing a dark, dusty storage room. “After you, my dear.”