The Prince's Mark

Chapter Twenty Seven

Frowning, he found a pile of hay and started to sift through it.

"No, no. Try over there."

Tracou looked up to see Ina pointing to the other end of the stable. There wasn't much there—just some tools and an overturned basket.

"Are you sure?"

"You'll regret it if you don't."

If this was part of some riddle Tracou was not going to be pleased. But he wandered over to the basket, regardless. As he approached he noticed there was something on top of the basket—something thin and silver that glinted in the small sunbeam coming through a slit in the wall. Tracou dashed over to it.

His wand lay on top of the basket, free for him to take, which Tracou did, holding it close to his chest. Finally! Now he wouldn't be helpless! Not only that, but they wouldn't have to worry about being cold, at least while he was awake. Holding his wand in his hand was enough to wash away his frustrations. He was in Winlea, but he had his wand! Ergakan had gone weeks without him, but he had his wand! Mirthal was imprisoned, but—... That one was still terrible, but Tracou could save him, now!

Holding his wand tightly, he vowed to himself to never let anyone take it from him ever again.

It had been in Pendaer's possession for a long time, though. Who knew what his horrible presence might have done to it?

Tracou channeled a small amount of magic through his wand, making the air shift about. It worked just fine. Using it felt amazing after weeks and weeks without it!

Beaming, Tracou made to turn around and rejoin Ina, but he stopped. Something squeaked underneath the basket. Tracou knelt down beside it and peered in.

Not only had Pendaer given him his wand back, but he had caught a rat for him, too. The rat had begun gnawing on the basket to free himself, quite displeased with his predicament.

Whatever Ina had said to Pendaer must have been serious. How did she do it? He would have to ask her later, but he got the feeling that she wouldn't give him a satisfactory answer.

Tracou moved the tip of his wand near to the rat. The process of making an animal one's familiar depended on someone's affinity to the animal in question. It was possible to make any small to medium sized animal one's familiar, of course. All dezmek had an affinity with snakes, but they usually had one or, in rare cases, two other animals that suited them. Tracou only had one: cats. As far as infiltrating a castle went, a cat would be too large and most snakes would have a poor time in this weather.

A familiar could be used for several purposes. The most common one was to help with magic because having a second living creature to draw energy from added to the amount of magic a dezmek could use at one time. Again, snakes were best suited for this task. Tracou's purpose for this rat was to use it to explore places he couldn't. Sailors would use seagulls or sometimes fish to do the same.

Concentrating on this rat, Tracou's magic engulfed it in a pale purple glow. Essentially, he was portioning off a section of the rat's mind and making it his own. He didn't control the rat, not completely. It was like riding a horse—he held the reins, but a horse could always bolt if the rider wasn't careful.

He pulled back when he had finished, letting out a small puff of air. It was hard for him to deal with a rat; both snakes and cats were predators. But he had done it and he felt a level of pride he hadn't felt since he was learning magic from a tutor.

Freeing the rat from its makeshift cage, Tracou held his hand out to it. The rat gingerly stepped onto his hand and was quite patient with him when he stood up and returned to Ina.