The Prince's Mark

Chapter Seven

Pendaer was walking as quickly as he could without breaking into a run. Keeping up with him took up the entirety of Tracou's focus. They had made their way to the outskirts of town, where there were hardly any people. Pendaer wavered and then finally sat down, right on the dirt. Tracou carefully sat down on a patch of grass next to him.

"What was that?" Tracou asked.

For a time, Pendaer said nothing. He flopped onto his back and closed his eyes.

Tracou clicked his tongue. "Well?"

With a groan, Pendaer covered his face with his hands. "He found me so quickly..."

That other elf did seem rather determined. Shalen was so big, yet he had managed to find Pendaer in a matter of days. Maybe he had already been onto them that first night, when he was at their inn. Could he have followed them? Tracou took in the scenery around them. They were in between the last buildings of Shalen and the meadows around it. As far as Tracou could see, there was no blue in the area aside from what was already in the sky. Still... Pendaer had said that elves had excellent hearing.

"Do you think he's listening to us?"

"If he isn't already, he will be soon. That's how he is."

Tracou didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Why is he following you?"

It seemed as though Pendaer wanted to delay this as much as he could, but there was no way around it now. So he heaved himself up, looking quite put out.

"I'm not supposed to be here. I left without permission."

That would explain why he had arrived so ill-prepared.

"Why do you need permission?"

"Well..." Pendaer looked away, an unhappy smile on his face.

That was a question he didn't want to answer. Tracou frowned. The kinds of people who needed permission were people like, for example, criminals. But Pendaer couldn't be a criminal. Could he? He was nice to him and he wore decent clothes. It was possible that he had stolen those clothes, but they fit him too well for it to be a coincidence. He could be someone important-perhaps a noble's son. In that case, why run away? He could have brought servants with him to make things easier on himself.

That other elf needed to bring Pendaer 'home.' That didn't sound like prison to him, but maybe that was a name for a particular prison. The talk about singing his praises didn't sound like what a prisoner would say to their keeper either. Being able to use force to bring Pendaer back wasn't how a noble would be treated, though.

Eyes narrowed, Tracou sat and stared at Pendaer. When the elf noticed this, he laughed nervously.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're not a criminal, are you?"

"You-" Pendaer cut himself off, stunned. Then he laughed again, this time in earnest. "No, nothing like that. If I was a criminal, the Elven Kingdom would be glad that I'd left."

"Then what is it? Are you going to tell me?"

Reluctance was clear from everything about Pendaer, from the look on his face to the way he was sitting. He sighed.

"All right. First of all... my name isn't Pendaer. The other elf, his name is Pendaer."

Tracou grimaced at the elf who he had called Pendaer. Maybe he really was some kind of criminal if he was using fake names.