The Prince's Mark

The Road to Dezmer - Four

Tracou still had his wand held tightly in his hand. Periodically, he forced magic through it. The farther away they got from the waterfall and what remained of that dust cloud, the more magic he could use. The soot left on their clothes and the wagon itself remained a problem, however.

Even hours later, what had happened at the waterfall had shaken each and every one of them. So many different thoughts swirled in Tracou's head about magic and his sudden helplessness that he didn't notice time trickle by.

"Is your magic working now?" Mirthal asked him at length, making him jump in surprise.

"Kind of." Tracou conjured up a snake made of red light and had it slither forth from his wand. It moved to Tracou himself, inching from one shoulder to the other and steadily disintegrating as it went. Before it reached the other side, it had disappeared completely. Normally, Tracou would have tried to get the mess off of him, but he couldn't do it with magic.

Mirthal hummed thoughtfully as he dragged his finger along his arm to gather some of the powder. "This stuff is powerful."

"Powerful enough to have the same effect on a dezmek as taking its wand away," Pendaer commented, glancing back into the wagon. "Imagine what would have happened if you had sent me off with that woman! I told you that the dezmek can't protect you the way I can, your highness."

Beside him, Mirthal bristled. "Don't say that!"

"But he's right," Tracou said, voice like lead. "If it had just been you and me, those humans would have killed us both."

Like it or not, Pendaer could hold his own in a fight. He had dealt with two humans at the same time! Without magic, Tracou could never hope to manage something like that and Mirthal had struggled against a human without a weapon.

Hearing that had made Pendaer turn his body just to gawk at Tracou. That stupid, open mouthed expression rapidly transformed into a haughty smirk.

"That's the first time you've made sense, dezmek. I suppose even a lesser creature like you can recognize your betters once your life has been on the line!"

Tracou shot Pendaer a hateful, acidic look, but otherwise didn't respond.

"If you could have used magic, we would have been perfectly fine," Mirthal said, trying and failing to comfort Tracou.

"But I couldn't. I still had my wand, but it was useless." Tracou slouched, eyes on his injured ankle. "It was just like the bars in the dungeon. That had to be on purpose. The Winleans have something that consumes magic and they used it in the dungeon knowing that it consumes magic. They know this, even though they're humans and can't use magic themselves."

"Sakshi didn't know it."

Pendaer scoffed. "She's a human! She could have lied to you."

"Well," Mirthal began, frowning. "When I suggested using magic to break the bars, she eagerly told me to try and was disappointed when it didn't work."

"How could she not know about it?" Tracou asked, the words tumbling over each other in his haste to get them out of his mouth. "She was the Royal Scholar, wasn't she? If anyone would know, it would be her!"

"I don't think she knew. She... doesn't seem like she's good at hiding anything."

"Either way, it's not good," Pendaer said, facing straight ahead. "A country like Winlea having something that can render magic useless is a disaster waiting to happen for the dezmek. I suppose we know what the current Royal Scholar wants, now."

Tracou groaned as though someone had hit him in the stomach.

If the Winleans had enough of that rock to use on a village or, even worse, Terel, then they could swoop in and do whatever they pleased. Dezmek, who relied so heavily on magic, would be at the mercy of the Winleans.