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'You failed again.'

Not just the tone, but the screechy sound of his superior's voice irritated Tarrence immensely as well. He thought it was a good thing they spoke via a simple and small portal drawn on stone, otherwise he'd be looking for ways to kill the other party on purpose, instead of unconsciously. 'The means at my disposal aren't enough to get the job done. That wolf and his party are too strong for the resources I can put together here. I need specialists. A dedicated team.'

The other side kept quiet for a while. 'All right. Tell me who you want on it.'

***

Conchim watched Ulric engage in mock combat with a few members of the new guard under the supervision of Elzbieta, when Iphigenia stepped up next to her. 'Decided yet?'

Conchim looked puzzled at her. 'Decided what?'

Iphigenia chuckled. 'Whether or not to accept Wolfie as your mate?'

Conchim looked at Ulric again and blushed while her wings fluttered once. 'Who says I was thinking about that?'

Iphigenia smirked. 'You, glancing often at him.'

Conchim sighed. 'I want a strong mate, and he was the only one that captured my attention, so I have to be sure he is what I expect of him. I don't even know if a harpy and bloodwolf works out. Especially since he has all of you.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'I guess you noticed.'

Conchim chuckled once. 'Hard not to, when each of you attended him at the pond.'

Iphigenia raised an eyebrow and one corner of her mouth. 'You saw that?'

'Ah!' said Conchim and looked away. 'I thought you two were up to something suspicious, and then I couldn't leave without you noticing.'

Iphigenia giggled. 'So, how was the show?' Conchim blushed more and Iphigenia smirked. 'All right, I see.' She nudged Conchim. 'Seems to me there's nothing standing in the way to becoming a full member of Quaint.'

Conchim looked at her. 'I just don't know yet. Will it really be all right? What if he doesn't like me in that way?' She lifted one foot. 'I have talons and not pretty feet like you.'

Iphigenia laughed. 'Then you haven't watched him close enough. But don't wait too long because we'll be leaving soon and then we'll want to recharge ourselves.'

Conchim watched her go back to a small group of guards she was going to train, and looked back at Ulric again. She actually knew she'd chosen him when she left home and flew towards the party, but as sure as she was about her own strengths as a harpy, when it came to confronting him, she choked. She sighed, and took to the sky for another flight around the area, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, and to clear her mind.

***

Ulric and Susi almost bumped into Isazea and her golem at the side of the castle later that day. 'New project?' he asked when he looked at her golem carrying a stack of planks. She nodded quickly and looked away when a couple of the villagers passed at a distance and cast a suspicious glance at her. He frowned slightly. 'How're you holding up? If anyone tries to do something to you, let me know.'

She looked up at him, and nodded again. 'Thank you.'

He gave her a warm smile. 'No problem.' he said and stroked Susi's head. 'We have to go help out on a hunt now, so good luck on your project.'

'Ah, please wait a moment.' she said and fumbled in a pocket of her robe, and pulled out two larger, elongated, black stones. 'Could you charge these with your mana?'

'You mean, like we did the golems?'

She nodded and held out the stones. He took the stones and she laid her hands upon his paws. 'Please focus on these.' she said, and Ulric imagined his energy flowing into the stones while she made sure it went well.

'This is enough.' she said after a moment, and the stones seemed to radiate invisibly in Ulric's paws. She took them and returned them to her pocket. 'Thank you.'

'If you need more, you know where to find me.' he said with another smile, and left with Susi.

Isazea watched his back for a moment when they continued down the path, then went on her own way with her golem.

'Love, how long do you expect we'll stay here?' asked Valdys over the link.

Ulric pondered Iphigenia and Elzbieta's work with the guard. 'Maybe two or three days, my dear, why?'

'Helping out someone, but two days should be enough time.'

'All right, good luck with that then.'

***

'Girls, love, can you all follow me?' asked Valdys after a meal almost two days later. 'There's something you need to see.'

Ulric and the girls looked a little in curious amusement at her. 'Sure thing.' he said. 'The thing you worked on these last days?'

'Yes.' she said and stood up from the table. 'We'll explain it all when you see it.'

The party followed her to the shed behind the castle, where she had them wait at a short distance from the large doors. She opened them and stepped back when a large wooden construct moved outside.

Everyone gazed at it with wonder when it moved in front of them. Ulric recognised the three carriage train for what it was. It was as high and wide as a regular horse wagon and about six times the length, but instead of wheeled bogies, it featured two pairs of large stone limbs at the front and end of each carriage. Each carriage was connected with a black harmonica tunnel, and the tapered front and end of the train were slanted slightly forward with a three part window. The sides bulged a little in the lower half and had two windows at each front and end of the carriages, and a wide door at the bottom in the middle. The door of the first carriage popped outward, slid back, and Isazea stepped out.

'Girls, love, our new transport vehicle.' said Valdys.

Ulric raised his eyebrows. 'For real?'

Valdys nodded and laid her hands on Isazea's shoulders. 'If you like it.' She gestured at the door. 'Come have a look and be surprised at the interior.'

The inside of the doorway turned dark fast, but at the first step inside, a roomy corridor spanning from front to back came into view. Ulric turned around to see the outside through the doorway. 'Just like the mausoleum.' he said. 'Val, you did this?'

She giggled. 'Yes. Isa asked if I could cast dimensional magic on her creation. Check out the compartments.'

The doors in the sides of the corridor all led to large compartments with windows looking out both sides of the train. 'Incredible.' said Iphigenia when they looked into one with Isazea's tools and some furniture, along with her golem.

'That's not all.' said Valdys with some pride. 'Have a look up on the roof.'

Stairs in the corridor led up to a half enclosed area, and a wide roof with a wooden cover overhead. Ulric gazed around at the area with open muzzle. 'How? I didn't see anything of this from the ground.'

Valdys giggled again. 'Another dimensional spell. It's invisible from the outside because it doesn't exist there. But you can throw an object from inside that space to the outside.'

'How did you manage to set up all this?' asked Iphigenia as she looked over the side and down on the ground.

'Our wolf's incredible amount of mana. Isa built a stack of mana stones to power the part golem vehicle, which he can charge occasionally.'

Ulric looked at Val and Isazea standing outside. 'Ah, so that's why she asked me to charge two stones.' he said and went down and back outside, moving up to Valdys and Isazea. 'You really made this for us?'

Isazea looked up at him and nodded quickly.

'Then I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we gratefully accept.'

'There's just one request.' said Valdys.

Ulric watched Isazea fiddle with her robe as she looked down. 'I think I know what it is, and of course we wouldn't mind you coming along with us.'

Isazea's eyes grew big as she looked up at his warm smile again. 'Thank you.'

'I was already contemplating escorting you if you wanted to leave this place.'

She nodded and smiled.

He turned back to look at the golem train. 'Does it have a name?'

Isazea shook her head. 'You can name it.'

Ulric hummed for a moment. 'It reminds me of a caterpillar with all those limbs. I'd simply like to name it Cat.'

'Cat it is, then.' said Valdys and squeezed Isazea's shoulders. 'Let's settle in.'

***

The party left after a feast and rest, and with most villagers attending to wave them goodbye. Royle and his family presented them with two large basket filled with snacks and baked goods, and Vitro presented a salute by the new guard.

Ulric sat down behind the controls, which he had learned to use from Isazea, and set Cat in motion, heading down the main road leading to the other side of the pass between the mountains.

***

It took a while for everyone to get used to the spatial dimension effects of the spells on Cat as they revealed themselves during the journey. The train could tilt sideways, but it didn't affect the direction of gravity. Ulric and the girls had to suppress the urge to lean sideways while they looked at the angled ground in front. They were also impressed at how nimble Cat was while crossing the various terrain types around the base of the mountains, and the speed it displayed on suitable ground. 'You thought up something extraordinary, Isazea.' Ulric said as they followed a path through a group of trees, which was narrower than Cat looked like, yet was able to squeeze through like a mouse through a crack in the wall.

She smiled with shy pride. 'Now that you're acquainted with Cat, and named it as well, you should be able to grow a bond with it and control it remotely in due time.'

He looked at her in surprise. 'Really? Like, communicating with a pet dog or something?'

She nodded. 'Something like that. You feed it your mana, so it links automatically with you, just like Oono and I.'

'Ah, that's your golem's name?'

She nodded again. 'I can call upon him from anywhere now.'

Ulric nodded. 'That would be very useful, for when we have to leave Cat or need it when it's not around.'

'I can also sense what's happening around him.'

'That's even better.' said Ulric. 'I'll know if it's safe or not if we're not around.'

'Darling, we're almost upon the country's border wall.' said Elzbieta from atop the roof.

'Thanks, my dear. Let's take a break and get our new bearing there.'

***

The two guards at the border gate greeted them with joy, and were happy to have them join them in their meal and tell them about the area. 'You'll come across an old tower.' said one of them when Valdys pointed out the direction they'd take. 'There used to live a wizard or alchemist or someone like that there generations ago, according to the old tales. We have no idea if it's dangerous around there since hardly anyone left the country as you know, and those who did had no interest in it.'

'But the rest of the area around here is peaceful? No monster packs or anything?' asked Iphigenia.

'It's pretty quiet, luckily. that's why I guess the tower might be safe enough to explore as long as the stones hold.'

Valdys looked at Ulric. 'Looks like we might find the next piece with little trouble.' she said over the link.

'I hope so, but I'll wait with feeling at ease until we actually have it in our hands.'

***

The party looked up and down the wide, stone tower covered with vines, while Isazea stayed inside Cat with Susi and Trixy in case something dangerous did pop up. The window blinds and door were still in a decent shape for their age, and only creaked and rattled lightly at a gust of wind. Conchim flew around the tower and up to the roof, and returned. 'Nothing to see.' she said. 'No great damage or signs of recent use. There must still be some magical protection, or everything's enhanced by rare alchemy skills.'

'I think it's a little of both, Master.' said Kaui while she inspected the door.

'I agree.' said Valdys next to her. 'I sense magic embedded in the wood.'

'Anything possibly dangerous?' Ulric asked.

'Doesn't seem so. Only spells to slow down the ageing of the materials. Not even traps against intruders.'

'All right, I'll go in first then to be sure.' he said, and tried the door handle. It moved with a little grating but the door was unlocked, and he carefully opened it all the way as he stepped inside. The interior looked like a regular place to live in, with a table, chairs, drawers and shelves at the wall, and a cooking area with stone oven in the back. His nose tickled slightly. 'Looks normal. Just dusty.'

The girls followed him inside and spread out, exploring the ground floor.

Valdys checked the ring piece in her hand and watched it rotate left and right. 'It's somewhere around here for sure. I just can't say in how large a radius.'

Ulric looked at the narrow stairs leading to the next floor. 'We'll just have to search floor by floor then. And hope they're still sturdy enough to walk on.'

The six went over the three upper floors with Iphigenia and Kaui examining the floor with mostly alchemy equipment, Valdys creating and pulling the spirits of all books in the tower before taking a closer look at the magical equipment on another floor with Elzbieta, and Conchim and Ulric searching the bedroom and storage rooms filled with discarded items.

'Anything?' Ulric asked when he sat down on a chair after their fruitless effort to find the piece.

'Only that whoever lived here was well versed in alchemy and biology, Master.' said Kaui while she flipped through a stack of sketches on a myriad of plants and creatures.

'And magic, my love.' said Valdys. 'I recognise some ancient spells from the mausoleum's library.'

'There are some Elvish tools and books here, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'The one or ones that lived here didn't limit themselves to just one source of knowledge.'

'The lack of weapons suggest they also weren't worried about their own safety, Wolfie.' said Iphigenia. 'They might have been fearsome by reputation when they were alive.'

'All right.' said Ulric. 'Then they were very clever in hiding the ring piece. We'll have to think very carefully about any possible hiding locations.'

The six went downstairs and sat down at the large table while Susi came over to check on them. 'Any ideas, or shall we try again after rest?' Ulric said while he stroked Susi's head.

'They might have found a way to hide it through alchemy or magic?' said Iphigenia.

'We'll have to go through all the books and notes to see if there's anything in them to make that possible, Master.' said Kaui, and Valdys nodded.

Susi pricked up her ears at a scratching sound, and noticed a mouse scurrying along the wall. Curious about it, she moved silently towards it.

'Another option is that it's buried somewhere outside, or below us, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'But there doesn't seem to be a basement here, so it's more likely outside.'

'I didn't notice anything other than normal plants when I flew around the tower.' said Conchim. 'No stone markers or a fence or anything. We have no specific place to start the search outside.'

Susi watched the mouse enter an open cabinet against the wall, and slip into a crack in a corner at the back. Puzzled as to how it could disappear there, she scratched the back panel.

'You didn't see anything on the roof either?' asked Ulric. 'Something like a small container?'

Conchim shook her head. 'I can take another look though. Try the tiles to see if there's one that might have something hidden underneath.'

Ulric nodded when Susi called out to him. 'Daddy? There's something strange here.'

'What is it, honey?' he said as he moved over to her.

She scratched the back panel again and Ulric noticed the unusual hollow sound. He probed the panel and it moved slightly. 'We might have something here.' he said, cleared the shelves, and pulled them out. When he pulled on a short peg near the middle at the side, they all watched in surprise when the panel opened up to a crude stairwell inside the wall, going down.