He took a small object in his hand, something like a flat ball, and turned to me.

“Wait a minute!” - he said - “If you could send a portal scroll to your friends in the cavern, could you send this device instead?”

As he drew it between his fingers, I saw that it had a hole, looking like a smaller deformed donut with a couple of emeralds on one side. I watched the device curiously while he continued.

“It is a ring, even if it looks a bit clumsy. It will adjust to your finger; therefore, it will become smaller. Is it small enough for you to send it?”

"I believe so. Scrolls are too big anyhow; I wanted to buy a ring and put the scroll inside. What is that ring for?”

He gave me a victorious smile:

“This is old Petra's cattle's stable.”

“Cattle's stable?”

His eyes became glassy as he started to explain:

“It is a wandering barn of some kind. Old Petra was a wandering cattle farmer who lived around these hills. As we are near the border, and as you know, neither the empire nor the kingdom was dwarf friendly, these hills have always been a dangerous zone, cattle thieves being only one of the many nuisances. This ring was Old Petra's solution to these problems. It is a device they had for generations in his family, and they used it to teleport cattle. You might eventually use it to help your friends; however, the problem is that he sold the crystals that were used to power the spell when his wife died."

"Teleport cattle? How does it work?"

"You see, it has a recall spell inscribed on it. You need really good eyes to see it and understand the spell, but I have a translation."

I refrained from mentioning that I've already seen it and understood it. He continued:

"He used it also in case of emergency. Once he would see a raider group that looked dangerous, he would send a whisper spell to his wife, open the portal and jump inside the ring with the cattle following. He would then close the portal from the inside. His wife only had to recall the ring, preferably before the raiders would find it, but the recall spell would still work even if they had found it. This rng had saved him a couple of times from precarious situations."

He sighed and furrowed his brows:

"As I said, the only problem is that I do not have the crystals used to power the spell. His wife needed weeks to recharge the crystals. She carried them all the time for this purpose. People say that this was what consumed her, why she died so young. Oh, well, I think it is baloney, but nobody has so much mana to teleport a ring full of cattle, not even an archmage. You would need to buy a lot of spell-crystals or pay a mage battery to power the spell if you want to use the recall function."

My eyes lightened. This seems like a solution; I'll need to find somebody powerful enough to say the spell. Maybe I can arrange for this with the gamers. It is just another step.

"Can one remotely open the portal?"

Whisper spells work only locally; the problem would be how do I make them get into the donut before I have it recalled.

"Yes, it has a small addition to the recall spell, but one still can close it from inside the ring."

“Would a dragon pass through the portal?”

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He watched me again with a new wonder:

“The two-story house is a dragon? Are we speaking of a real dragon? What kind of a dragon, if I may ask?”

“A black dragon...”

He took a deep breath before he spoke.

“A mature black dragon?”

It was my time to sigh:

“Well, yes, he is now mature.”

After another pause as he tried to digest what I said then, he confirmed:

“Please do not bring it here. I... I... I would not pardon myself if I brought such a terror to this city. I mean it!”

I smiled, thinking at Sid. Sid and terror?

“No, you are mistaken. He is very friendly and never killed a dwarf or a human, for that matter. Besides, I do not intend to bring it here.”

He watched me silently for a couple of seconds.

“The ring's portal might be able to accommodate a dragon. The ring is old. It has been in Old Petra's family for some time. In the old time, they had all kinds of cattle. Smaller and bigger specimens. The portal can be adjusted; one just needs to load more mana to it. I could imagine that a dragon would pass through the portal if the device is fully charged.”

“How do you charge it?”

“As long as you are a mage, you either hold it into your hand, wear it as a ring or simply keep it in contact with your skin; it charges automatically."

He shrugged, looking at me, and added: "But you need a lot of mana to open a portal big enough for a dragon, so you need to keep it longer on your finger before using it.”

"What do you mean longer?"

He shrugged:

"Days? Weeks? I don't know."

“How much does the device cost?”

He sighed.

“It would cost a fortune to make such a ring, and yet it is on sale, cheap. It is big but cumbersome to use as a spacial-ring because you need to open the portal, enter inside it and take the things that you need out. That's slow and a lot of mana consumption for just taking out one item. Now you need to charge it again to be able to take something else out or move in. I've just put a price tag of twenty gold for it because nobody wanted to have it for thirty gold. Well, it has to be cleaned first, but that's not such a problem.”

“Cleaned? Is it cursed?”

“Oh, no, not cursed. It has some manure that was left inside from a herd, you know? Old Petra did keep it clean, but still...”

“Could we open it?”

“Only outside; it might break the roof here.”

“Why would nobody want to buy it for thirty gold? That is really cheap for a big barn capable of hosting a dragon?”

I was asking myself if there was some other catch to it. We went outside in his yard.

“As I said, you need a lot of mana for single items, plus it has that damn recall spell. It could be used to transport cattle, but then you need to stop from time to time, let the cattle out and have a mage to blow fresh air inside. Recharge the ring again to use the portal. To use the spell, you need either an archmage or to buy a lot of very expensive spell-crystals. In addition, everybody is afraid that someone else could learn the spell and steal the ring with the cattle inside. You can bind it to you simply by putting it on your finger. This unbinds it from the previous owner. People want the spell removed, but I don't know how. I fear we will destroy the ring if we try to remove the spell."

I opened the portal and stepped inside. He followed me:

“There is an emergency button there,” - he pointed to one side - “from where you can open the portal from the inside. Old Petra always feared that he might remain blocked inside. It is a pity to sell this for only twenty gold, but I want it out.” - he shrugged - “Too many memories linked to it.”

I nodded. It was a spacious, big enough place to accommodate Sid and the rest. No need to waste more time. We got back out.

“How did it come into your possession?”

“Old Petra had no direct heir. When he died, his goods were divided between the people to whom he owed money, he had more outstanding debt than assets, and from his extended family, nobody wanted to take ownership for that debt.”

“I see. Well, I'll give you twenty gold for it.”