A couple hours before the Mayor was finally put in his place (his place being behind bars), Liliane and Lazar passed by the stables where Bramaboxa and Dulcicloxia were resting.

“We’ll be out for a bit, beings!” the old woman stated, smiling, “We won’t be long, though, and tomorrow we will get on the road for our next destination. I swear, this time we will tell you everything about our… little fun adventure.”

“Don’t betray our trust again, mortals” replied dulci, a bit of a scowl on its face, or whatever a scowl can look on an ox “we’re a bit tired of getting pulled left and right without knowing where we’re going, and our patience is not neverending. Oh, and tell the two rats they’re welcome to come whenever for a chat, I miss the two furballs.”

“We will tell them”, said Lazar, “ and I swear we’ll bring you up to speed as soon as possible. It’s not fun to be in the dark when getting pulled along for shenanigans. That can create a lot of tension we don’t really want with those who’re making this trip possible.”

“You’d better. Mooo. Farewell, old mortals.” stated Brama, huffing a bit “May the Numens protect your asses.”

The old couple chuckled, and started walking away, towards the house of Partoce.

“What do you think they are going to do?”

The brown ox was munching on some hay, and looked intently at its brother.

“With a magic stone that big?” answered the black one, “Probably create a stone construct and raze the city to the ground.”

“Do mortals still know how to do that?” Brama asked, slightly concerned.

“I don’t know. Maybe? When did the last stone carver die, again?”

“Too long ago.”

“I liked his works. They were very innovative”, said Dulci, melancholically,

“the sandworm especially. Nice species. I don’t want to know how long it took him to bind all those grains of sand together.”

Brama chuckled, mockingly.

“Do you really think he did it individually? Are you an idiot? He obviously used a macro.”

“He did not! He said so himself! That is why it’s so groundbreaking!”

Dulci seemed really upset by its brother’s words.

“He can say whatever he wants to, something like that just is not done. You’re just wasting time. Now, multifaceted enchanting in six parallel dimensions,that's where the real fun is.”

“And what do you know, that you managed to hurt one of your faces when cutting an onion!”

They kept bickering, mooing and fighting until they exausted their mortal body. They stopped when they got too tired to keep talking.

The two oxen twins were huddled together, half asleep, when they heard a loud explosion.

“What in the night? What’s going on? Are we under attack?” bellowed Bramaboxa,visibly shaken. “Are we back on the frontier?”

“No brother, shh, breathe, remember you have a physical body now, and breathe.” Dulci took deep breaths to help its twin do the same. “It seems like a mundane explosion, nothing magical about it.”

“It came from the direction the old coots went. Do you think that they…”

“I don’t, brother.” The dots on its forehead lighted up for a couple seconds, then they dimmed again. “It’s probably part of one of their shenanigans. Nothing to be worried about. They’ll come back.”

“I hope so. I don’t want to be sold to the best buyer in a country fair.” it mooed, still upset by the sound of the blast.

“You wouldn’t fetch a high prize. Your right horn is a bit twisted.”

“We’re twins. We both have perfect horns.”

“Yours is more twisted.”

________

“What are you going to do with the puppy upstairs, and the ones assigned to the guards?” asked Liliane, accosting the taxman who was speaking with his entourage about their next destination.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“What kind of puppy are we talking about?”

Denny adjusted his monocle and regarded the old woman, a bit taken aback.

“She means the big, mean mastiffs that did the rounds with the town guard”, cut in Lazar, pinching his brows, “and an orthrus called Lyre that is currently sleeping inside the room of the Mayor. Well. Ex-Mayor, now.”

‘The guy had an orthrus? Weren’t they a protected species or something like that?”

“They are, that’s one of the reasons I'm so concerned with his destiny,” said the old woman, seemingly apprehensive.

“It would be under the special animal division of our taxmen, since it was its property. You see them around less since they usually come by night. Still, they will * se ne occuperanno. They’ll probably find a family and a job for him in the capital or in one of the secure locations around the empire. He’ll have good company.”

“Please remember not to overstress him! Orthruses tend to have little fiery problems if they are not receiving enough enrichment. They should at least have someplace to run and stuff to burn.”

“That can be arranged. After all, the two headed dog and all the other mastiffs are now property of his majesty the illustrious Emperor Primus Unicus, and all his property must be handled with utmost care. They’ll have good lives.”

The taxman answered firmly, as he had no doubt whatsoever.

“We’ll leave the matter in your hand,then, revered taxman.”

“Please, ma’am, a good elder of the empire like you may call me Danny. No need to be so on edge. You helped a lot in this case. I hope you won’t get involved in stuff like this in the future, you took a big risk entering alone.”

“We were just two very concerned citizens, we couldn’t help but rush in. It’s unbeliavable that that mayor was an evil man all along.”

“Never judge by words alone, but by deeds and debts.”

“Truer words were never spoken”

Once they were back in their room at the inn, Lazar and Liliane sat at the small table that was inside, and started taking stock of the books they had ‘borrowed’ and the weird letter they found hidden inside the wall.

“To whoever may find this,” started reading Lazar, taking the letter in his hands while Liliane fidgeted with the vial and the emblem, “in the future, know that no man should ever be in possession of what I guarded for so long. A great evil, on par with the oldest spawns of the night who still live, is sealed.” The old man got up, and started pacing through the room, a look of concern on his face. “It gets worse. ‘Unfortunately, my body is failing me, and I believe my final resting place will be the manor of my dear friend. I can’t bear to pass this charge on him, though: it’s too much of a burden for anyone to bear. The key, the key is the door, the door is the key, the key is the key and the door. Every new moon, it will ask to be opened. It will never stop asking, it will corrupt everyone who wields it and promise endless riches, endless power, endless love, if you go to the other side. Nothing awaits on the other side, and a swift death is the best outcome you could get by crossing the doorstep. Many guardians before me have tried and failed to contain it. Many more have tried to destroy it. No one survived. So I beg you to forgive me, poor soul whose destiny brought in possession of the Key, and to bear with it until you can and then pass it on so that no one could free whatever lurks in the deepest reaches of the other place. The small vial is something my master’s grandmaster found on the other side, while trying to seal the key. It’s the only thing that remains of him, now. Again, forgive me for placing this burden on your shoulders. It’s the only way. Best wishes.’ Best wishes? You gifted us a timed explosive and you end the letter with best wishes?”

“At least he was polite.” replied Liliane,sarcastically.

“Or she was. Still, these seem like the ramblings of a fool.”

“I guess we’ll see next week. New moon is upon us.”

“You are really going to bring that with us instead of burying it and forget it exists?”

“Someone may find it. Someone less… wise than us, and more prone to fall for the promises of wealth and power.” said Liliane, firmly. She knew what this kind of thing usually did to people.

“I wouldn’t dislike some wealth and a bit of power right now.”

“You wouldn’t have left the position you were in years ago, if you truly did.”

“Should we take a look at that other book you stole?”

“Borrowed. It was a library, so I borrowed books. Which one? The one about the scrolls, you mean? Hum, what was its name?”

“The complete list of Prophetic scrolls and where they belong, written by Teconomew! It’s one of his most famous works!”

“Never heard of him.” she replied, deadpan.

“Principles of librarianship? The thousand uses of a bookmark? Dead language and undead lingo? Do you mean to say I’m married to someone who did not read The explanations of the enumeration of the shelves in the Burned Capital Library?” he blurted out, slightly incensed.

“I can’t believe I am married to such a nerd.” she laughed, and made a face to her husband.

“You own more books than me, and don’t talk back to your betters!” he replied, laughing a bit.

“I will when I meet one. Now, here’s your book.” She took the volume from a pile that they left in the room. “Dig in.”

Lazar started skimming the book, and his wife peeked at it from behind his shoulder.

“Look, this one is pretty funny.” He pointed to an illustrated page, where you could see a scroll with a weird outline drawn on it. “There’s this famous prophecy, stored in the capital’s archive, where if someone were to pull out a shield from a stone in Winregurg, they would become the next illustrious Emperor.”

“Wasn’t that proven wrong when emperor Unicus Primus made the stone disappear completely, along with the shield and half a mile of land, with a swing of his sword?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“I mean, if he still is emperor after that, then he technically qualifies as the next one, too, doesn’t he?”

They kept going through the pages,jumping back and forth,until they found what they were looking for.

“Here,” said Lazar, “Read. The scroll of Riveira, famously written by saint Gervaise the Unseemly, the half blind prophet of the Midrai’s sect, is one of the most obscure scrolls in existence. Written in a weird language that no one can recognize, it’s said to contain the map to another world, or a great treasure. Many linguists tried to understand what it signifies, but no one was able to.”

Liliane continued the paragraph, “It became a holy relic after the canonization of Gervaise, who people affirm to have been able to make animals capable of human speech, and was divided in seven different pieces, Preserved in the reliquiaries of the biggest Numen’s temple along with the relics of the other ten saints of our faith. This is our lead, Lazar! The first big temple that I can think of is three days from here, in the city of Gargenta!”

“Didn’t our eldest set up shop there?” he asked, beaming.

“That he did.”

“I think it’s time for asmall family reunion, then. I really want to pinch my grandchildren’s cheeks.”