“Hey! You there!”
Turning around, the boys saw a weird, scary man stagger in their direction. His eyes darted around maniacally.
“Have you seen a boy from Diroge come this way? Unruly mop of black hair, wearing a grey hemp tunic.”
Mika and Tobias looked at each other and shrugged. “What’s his name?” Ander asked.
“Darb…” the man started to say, but was drowned out by the sound of thundering hooves. A fist-sized stone whizzed past, narrowing missing Mika.
“Mounted slingers! GET DOWN!” Tobias yelled as the boys scattered for cover. A hail of stones pelted at the man as he yelped in pain and collapsed to the ground. As Tobias and Mika peered out from behind their hiding place, they saw a pair of women in aquamarine robes pointing their staffs at the man. “Warrior acolytes.” Tobias whispered.
“Please, I didn’t mean to change her. T’was an accident, it was all her brother’s fault…”
“You can save your pitiful excuses for the Priestess.” one of the women replied sternly as they bound him up, flung him onto one of the horses and galloped off.
As the boys cautiously emerged, Mika noticed a tattered leather pouch on the ground. “Look! He must have dropped that.” Tobias ran over and emptied out its contents. There were a few copper coins, a moldy crust of bread and… a strange glowing stone. Tobias picked it up excitedly.
“This looks just like the stone the innkeeper used to change us into little boys.”
“Are you sure? Can there be more than one?”
“Well, I did overhear my mistress saying there were several scattered around the realm.”
“So you can use it to change me back?” Mika asked hopefully.
“I don’t think I can. I don’t even remember what I was before. Maybe I used to be a wizard too, but in any case I don’t recall any of my spells. But you… the one spell you remember is transformation magic. If any one of us can hope to use the stone’s power, it’s you.” Tobias handed the stone over to Mika, who clutched it uncertainly while the other boys surrounded him.