The Prince's Mark

Chapter Thirty Three

Thanks to the light, Mirthal didn't miss the way Tracou glanced down at their hands with an expression he had never seen on Tracou before. He could watch Tracou for days, maybe even weeks, but something blue tugged at his attention.

The faint glow on the back of Tracou's hand couldn't stand up to the sphere Tracou had created, but it persisted nonetheless. 'This dezmek, the only living being out of all others on the continent, has the Elven Prince's favor,' it declared.

"Are you okay? You look..." Tracou winced. "You look not okay."

"I'm okay now that you're here." He paused, his smile drooping. "Unless this is a dream."

"It's not." Tracou squeezed Mirthal's hand. "I'm going to help you escape."

This little dezmek had, somehow, learned that he had needed help and had come to save him. Mirthal hadn't dared hope for this to happen. A string of bad luck had hit him after he had left Aodehn, but everything would be okay if Tracou was with him.

"Ahh, Tracou, I really am helpless without you."

Tracou's expression became pained. "I'm sorry. I should have gone with you."

"Don't make that face. If anything, I should have gone with you."

What a fool he had been for going alone. Instead of sitting in front of some mountains for weeks, he could have been living with Tracou in Dezmer. He could have spent his days watching tiny people toddle along, doing whatever it was dezmek did, and all with someone familiar there to help him.

If only the situation had been flipped, with Mirthal coming to Tracou's rescue. Then Tracou would look up at him in admiration, thinking of him as someone who could protect him, someone he could rely on. The thought had only just occurred to him but now that it had, he found that he desperately wanted a chance to prove himself in that way. Especially if it was to Tracou. But here he sat, as helpless as a maiden in a fairy tale.

"I wish you weren't seeing me like this. I'd rather be the one rescuing you..."

"You missed your chance," Tracou huffed.

"What?"

"Mm, listen, I can't get you out tonight. Can you hold on for another day?"

"I can hold on forever as long as you're here. ...Well, not forever. I've only had bread for... days? Maybe weeks? I'm not sure."

Tracou gave Mirthal's hand a soft pat and let go of him. Before Mirthal could complain, Tracou dragged a bag over to him and brought a pie out of it.

A pie! After bread for who knew how long!

"I brought food for you. I was lobbing fruit at you earlier, but you didn't wake up," he said, passing the pie vertically through the bars."

"You mean there's more?"

"Yes. There's enough that I gave some to... that woman."

"Sakshi?"

"That's right," Sakshi chirped from behind them. "So what's this about waiting another day? You told me you didn't have a plan."

"I don't, but I'm a dezmek. I'll get rid of these bars tomorrow night and we can sneak out of the castle together then."

Mirthal deflated. "Oh... Tracou, that won't work. I tried to do something to the bars myself, but my magic did nothing."

"Are you serious?" Tracou reached out and touched one of the bars, his wand in his other hand, glaring at them. Time oozed by and Tracou didn't move—his focus entirely on Mirthal's cage. Then he clicked his tongue and put his hand on a single bar, running his fingers along it. Just a moment ago it had been stick straight, but now it bent slightly as though someone had taken a hammer to it. "It's eating up my magic before it can do anything."