Mika decided, "We might as well trust him and see where this goes. It's not like we can't fight him off, after all." Audrey looked suspicious but nodded.
"Yes! Thank you" the boy exclaimed, "Follow me!" He ran off through the unpaved streets and Mika and Audrey followed behind, eventually coming to a small shack on the outskirts of the village. "In here, there's a wizard who can help us."
Audrey grabbed her sword, just in case, and she and Mika entered the shack. It was dimly-lit but seemed to have all the features one might expect in a peasant dwelling--a hearth with a cauldron, a bed, a few chairs, a table. In one of the chairs, by the table, there sat a young man or a boy, a few years younger than Mika, maybe fourteen or fifteen. Like the younger boy he was homely and red-headed (they looked like they could be related), but he was clothed and much cleaner. He was reading through a tome by candlelight and scowling.
He was clearly too young to be the wizard, but he could read, so at least he wasn't some random peasant. Mika stepped forward. "I didn't know Lavenguard had a wizard. Are you his apprentice?"
The "apprentice" hopped up and turned his scowl on the older magic-user. "I am the wizard, damnit," he asserted sourly. "And I'm not this accursed hamlet's wizard, I'm my own wizard. Curse this curse." He had all the manner of a cantankerous old man. Or a cranky adolescent. It was hard to tell the difference. Mika looked at him with suspicion and Audrey with confusion, so he sighed and impatiently explained, "Ander and I came here in search of the Stones some years ago, and to keep us from finding any the innkeeper changed us both into these stupid young street kids. Twin brothers, in fact, though we weren't related before. I was able to use my magic to break the curse, partially. I was still young and ugly, but I got my mind back and I started aging. But I wasn't able to save Ander, so he has been stuck as a kid, and his mind is... well, not in good shape. I knew when you came to town, you have something with you."
They did. Mika took out the dull iron ring that the seer had given them. The apparent wizard nodded. "That's it. The Ring of Sharn. Powerless by itself, of course, but it has power over the Stones. To an extent, at least. Ander seems to have gotten his mind back, despite still acting like a stupid little boy." This time it was Ander's turn to scowl, but the wizard ignored him and continued, "We are, as far as I know, the last people to have been changed into humans. I doubt that the animals have gotten their mind back, and after a while with only one Stone for the Ring to influence I assume that even the humans and humanoids would be too far gone, but it may be that some others have had their minds restored. What do you know about the Stones?" the wizard asked suddenly, changing the subject.
Audrey said, "That idiot seer told us that they were in this province and that the ring would help us find them."
Mika said, "My master sent us to collect them. He told us that they were of mostly academic importance, that he wanted to study runic bindings from before the First Empire."
The wizard shook his head in disappointment. "Is that all they're telling you kids these days? No wonder each generation of wizards is worse than the last." The insult seemed incongruous coming from the mouth of someone even younger than Mika. "Each Stone by itself is very powerful. More powerful than that accursed innkeeper realizes, that is for sure. He is only concerned about changing travelers into children or wenches, or pigs or horses, so that he can make a quick profit. Gods only know how he even came by the accursed thing. But if used properly, with the Ring, a single Stone could defeat armies, and all seven together--kingdoms! Even the world! A single Stone has limitations--it cannot create or destroy life, it cannot change the past--but the more Stones you have, the fewer limits you have. You could turn an enemy army into a flock of sheep, or helpless babies or old men, or statues, or turn your own peasant levies into a horde of rampaging orcs. You could change history so that you have been the emperor of the world for a thousand years!"
Mika listened with rapt attention, but Audrey just stared blankly at him. "And your point is...?"
The wizard huffed with frustration. "We have to get the Stones into the right hands so that they can be kept safely. For far too long, they have been left simply lying around the wilderness for any idiot to come along and find them, and if someone with knowledge and evil intention truly wanted to find them, it would be a trifle for them to do so. Certainly we must at least get the Stone out of the hands of that damn innkeeper so we can restore our true forms and stop him from abusing all the travelers that come by. And to stop him from changing you two, as he will surely attempt to do now that he knows, or suspects, that you are after his precious Stone."
That certainly got Mika and Audrey's attention, and the latter proposed, "So why don't we just go in there and take it? I have a sword and Mika has magic."
"Not the brightest one is she?" asked the wizard sarcastically, and Audrey scowled. "No, the innkeeper would use the Stone on you before you could even get near him. The townspeople are in league with him as well, and not all of them are as they seem. No, we will need to be more subtle. Now, trapped in this accursed town for so many years, I have learned some things, and I believe I know just how we can get the Stone."