The Prince's Mark

Chapter Twenty Nine

Pendaer's eyebrows jumped up, but quickly settled down again. "Show me, then."

Restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Tracou nodded. He twirled his wand around in his fingers as he considered how to make himself look. A small change would, naturally, be easiest, but Pendaer might try to weasel out of having more done to him if Tracou did the minimum. He had to do something impressive.

Creating an illusion out of thin air, like making a giant cat appear in the center of the room, was easier than applying an illusion to a living creature. Tracou had to account for his own skeleton and how his movements would influence the disguise he would create, so in normal circumstances he couldn't make himself look too much bigger or smaller than he was. But if he wasn't going to move, he could do what he wanted.

A veil of magic settled on him. At most it felt a bit ticklish, so Pendaer shouldn't have anything to complain about. Like a real veil, it was delicate and if he moved too quickly it might get dislodged.

He fashioned the veil to look like Mirthal. Naturally. Mirthal looked quite a bit different from Tracou and it would give Ina a chance to see him.

When he was finished, Pendaer's mouth fell open. Ina eyed Tracou (Mirthal) and tilted her head.

"Is that the prince?"

"That's not what he looks like," Pendaer huffed.

Tracou pursed his lips. "Yes, it is," he said, doing his utmost to keep his mouth, which was significantly lower than the projected Mirthal's mouth, movements to a minimum.

"It's not. His hair doesn't shine like that."

"Ugh!" Tracou released the magic holding the veil in place, revealing his normal dezmek self. "No one asked you, Pendaer. Are you ready to try it yourself?"

Pendaer closed his eyes, his body tense despite the way he was leaning against the wall. He stayed like that for a while, his lips moving occasionally as he argued with himself. When he opened his eyes again, he focused them just above Tracou's head.

"Fine! Just do it! I'm not scared and I never have been!"

There was something wrong with Pendaer. Tracou was just as certain of that as he had been the night he had been drugged.

Tracou got up, held up his wand, approached Pendaer, which made him flinch again, and visualized how he wanted Pendaer to look.

First, he rounded Pendaer's ears and altered his facial features, making him look more Aodehsh. He also made Pendaer appear shorter. But... he could do more. If he was supposed to be a bodyguard, he should look intimidating. Pendaer's features were too elegant for him to be scary at a glance, so Tracou gave him a nose that had been broken several times and healed poorly after each break. Scars and pockmarks littered his face. As a final touch, Tracou gave Pendaer a chin that was a size too big for him. All in all, he was unrecognizable.

Finished, Tracou turned to Ina to see what she thought about it. She didn't notice him—all of her attention was on Pendaer's face. Slowly, she drifted over to him and gawked.

"What? Is it over?" Pendaer asked.

Wordlessly, she reached down and grabbed his nose. Pendaer spluttered, ripping her hand away from him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"It doesn't feel like what it looks like," Ina said.

Ignored, Pendaer took several steps away from Ina. "Tch. Do I look human now?"

"Yes, like an ugly one."

The word ugly seemed to overpower the area—even the horses went quiet after the word left Ina's mouth.

Pendaer dashed over to Tracou, his facade slipping from the speed. He briefly had two faces, the fake one having shifted sideways and trailed off the edge of his head.

"You made me ugly, dezmek?" Both of his mouths moved as he spoke, steadily merging into one after he stopped moving.

"The point is that you look human now," Tracou said, suppressing a shudder. "This is difficult magic, you know! You should be thankful!"

Pendaer gave him a dull look. Despite all of the other changes, the gray of his eyes remained, and that oppressive, distant color suited him perfectly.

Tracou scoffed. "Fine, whatever. But if you want it to work, you can't run around like that. I didn't actually change you. I just draped magic over you."

"So he can only walk?" Ina asked, still gawking at Pendaer's face.

"Right. And don't jerk around, either."

Pendaer rolled his eyes. "If things go poorly, dezmek, I'll be hindered by this disguise."

"If things go poorly enough that you need to run, your disguise won't matter," Ina said.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that point. If they ruined this chance, they might not get another. Their current plan was flimsy enough—any Plan B would be even worse.

Tracou cleared his throat, waiting until the other two turned to him before speaking. "Let's think through our plan a few more times. First of all, I think we may need new clothes..."

They spent the rest of the day hammering out the details of their vague plan. The more time they spent on it, the worse Tracou felt. Too many things could go wrong. What if the Winlean king didn't believe them? What if they refused to let a dezmek past their gate? While it was possible for Tracou to create another illusion for himself at the same time as keeping Pendaer's up, it would make the possibility of a mistake much higher. If he wasn't allowed in, then the magic around Pendaer would fade once he was far enough away. And even if all of that went smoothly, what if they couldn't find Mirthal?

But there was no other choice. They had no time and asking around Dorssur if anyone would help them free the elf that had attacked their king was a good way to get themselves, at best, locked in a dungeon.

They had to keep themselves safe long enough to rescue Mirthal.