Let's find messengers among our close circle, people we can trust to deliver the artifact to the cave of Silus (a dragon familiar with the archmage, who fought alongside him in the Dragon Mountains during the First Demon War). That's my opinion.
But still, thank you for the new idea, colleague. I wish you further creative success.
I hope you received the message on ICQ?
Added 5 hours 44 minutes later
And also, colleague. I just read your revised version of the Council scene and ask you to double-check it against the original. For example: "in his hand, his carved Staff. With a shuffling gait towards the door of the Council Chamber, the archmage casually waved his staff." The reader will wonder why the word "staff" is capitalized in the first case and not in the second. In the original, it's the Staff of the Highest Initiation, which indicates that the mage has reached very high levels and been initiated into many of the world's secrets. In your version, it seems like the staff is just a walking stick. And please, double-check the rest. Understand, colleague, I am not infallible, but I carefully formulate the text before typing it.