The Prince's Mark

Chapter Twenty Five

After settling the bill with the innkeeper, who had accepted their elf currency despite his suspicion, Ina, Pendaer, and Tracou now sat inside the nearby stables. It was an ordinary, enclosed stable that smelled strongly of horses, hay, and hardship. Due to the increasing cold, each of the stalls were occupied which meant that Pendaer was either going to have to share one with a horse or sleep on some hay in the corner.

"Are you sure you don't want me to hide your ears with magic?" Tracou asked.

Pendaer, sitting cross-legged, balled his hands into fists and rested them on his thighs. "Absolutely not."

"Look at where you are! What if some stable boy finds you while you're sleeping?"

"Now is not the time to test me, dezmek."

Ina cleared her throat and waited for the other two to look at her before speaking. "Listen. We need to find out if that elf is the prince, right? I think Tracou and I should go to a pub to try and get more information."

"But what will Pendaer do?"

Pendaer glanced around the stables, frowning deeply. They all knew there was no way he was going to be of any use or even allowed inside a tavern. Even him walking around alone would be dangerous.

"If you could bring me the wagon cover, some water, soap, and a wash board, I could clean it. I saw a number of bird droppings on it earlier..."

This was bad. If Pendaer was volunteering to do something so simple, he must be utterly out of ideas. Tracou almost felt sorry for him.

Ina shook her head. "Don't bother. There are so many pigeons here that we might as well wait until we leave to clean it."

"Are there that many pigeons?" Tracou asked.

"You didn't notice? There were so many that they clog up the roads."

The corner of Tracou's lips pulled upward as an idea hit him. "If you'd like to be useful, Pendaer..." he paused, trying to create suspense. "You can go and catch one of those pigeons outside."

"What?" Pendaer asked through clenched teeth.

"If we have a pigeon, I can make it my familiar and we can search the skies. I'd need my wand back, of course."

Glaring at him, Pendaer didn't respond. He mumbled to himself instead.

That was fine; he could always do it himself once he had his wand. Tracou shrugged his shoulders and turned to Ina.

"Let's go find a tavern."

Pendaer was left to sulk in the hay.

Dorssur, while not a popular city like Shalen, was still sizable. It didn't have signs on the outside of its buildings depicting what the building was for, which was discouraging. But they found a tavern without it. The cacophony of a group of drunk humans was difficult to misunderstand.

As Ina and Tracou strolled inside the pub, Tracou was caught off guard by how bright the interior was. Not only did a fire roar in the fireplace, but there were candles on almost every surface. Unlike the dark muck of the pub in Shalen, this one felt welcoming and clean. The building was smaller, though, making it feel cramped. Tracou stuck close to Ina.

Some of the bar patrons' gazes lingered on Tracou, but otherwise they ignored him.

Tracou and Ina sat at a recently vacated table near the middle of the room. Gathering information like this was not something Tracou had ever had to do before. He watched Ina expectantly, but she wasn't doing anything.