The last leaves of Autumn had fallen, and lay wet and brown on the damp earth. The skies were grey, and a perpetual mist fell, that in another month would gradually turn to snow. It was on such a day that a lone rider came, bearing messages from afar. The man wouldn't stay long, but did accept a hot meal and a bath gratefully. When he left a short while later, he rode away at a gallop, intending to reach the Bridge Fortress on the White River by the following morning.
It wasn't until the man had left that Belloc opened his correspondence. The rider had left a leather riding-pouch, and Belloc could barely conceal his excitement at opening it.
"Ha!" he crowed as he turned the pouch upside-down, spilling letters and scrolls over the dining-room table. But it was a heavy, cloth-bound bundle that had his sole attention. "This is what I have been waiting for."
"What is it?" asked Anest as the wizard unwrapped the bundle.
It was a large chunk of very ordinary-looking rough brown stone.
Seeing Anest's chagrin, and Lily's unmistakeable look of disappointment, the old wizard chuckled merrily. "Come, my young friends. I have something to show you."
He led then to a room in the east turret that contained his artifacts of theurgy, going directly to a tall desk that was backed with many small drawers. Sitting on the front of the desk was a strange-looking apparatus with many clamps and rings of metal fitted with screws that faced the center of each circle. He fitted the stone into one of these, clamping it tightly into place. Then, going into one of the drawers, he took out an eyepiece fitted with a lens, a locking clamp, and a