rock-hammer. Humming softly to himself, he put on the eyepiece and began examining the stone, turning it over and over as if looking for something.
Muttering "Ah-ha!" he attached the smaller clamp to the stone. Then, with the wedge-shaped end of the rock-hammer, he began tapping the stone, lightly. Eventually, a large flake of the featureless brown stone came away, revealing what was underneath. Clearly, there was a shiny metal artifact imbedded in the stone.
"Unless I miss my guess," said Belloc, removing his eyepiece, "this is the Vhurd-aq, an ancient periapt that was thought to have been lost in the depths of antiquity."
Lily betrayed no comprehension, but Anest's eyes went wide. "The crown of the staff of Bellandor, who was the head of the Council of Wizards during the First age! But how has it come to be here? Belloc, this is no small thing!"
"Indeed," replied the wizard, leaning back in his chair. "I scarcely dared to hope that this periapt would fall into my hands. Prince Valen of Angorain it was who found the thing buried in the ruins of an ancient city in the Wide Plain, a city whose very name has been lost. He long felt its power in his dreams, and has spent much time searching for it. There was no way to authenticate the thing available to him, unless his father, the King, wished to remove it from the stone. But he is no wizard, and wisely knows his limitations. It would have been a great danger to them."