People could get used to anything. That's what humans liked to say, anyway. In some ways Tracou had adapted to his situation, but it constantly drained bits of him away like a leak in a cask. More than two weeks had crawled by and it felt like every second of that time weighed on him.
Things weren't all bad. He and Ina had grown to see more eye to eye than they had before. Pendaer, of course, was unable to do so—not only because he was nearly a foot taller than either Tracou or Ina was but because he was wholly disinterested. Tracou and Ina would chat now and then, though, which did make things more bearable for Tracou. Ina wasn't exactly his friend, but she wasn't an enemy either.
But that wasn't enough. Weeks of a diet where they ate whatever they could find that wasn't meat was not doing him any favors.
They hadn't seen a village since they had left when, surely, they should have seen at least one. The amount of random berries he had eaten had undoubtedly passed the hundreds by now. A village would have bread. They would have cultivated vegetables and fruit, too, not just berries or roots.
"How long does it take to get to Zeibr territory?" Tracou asked Ina as they sat around the fire one night.
Several yards away, Pendaer sat by himself in the darkness. Even now, instead of swallowing his elf pride long enough to sit with his 'lessers,' Pendaer staunchly refused to interact with them whenever possible.
"My answer won't change no matter how many times you ask me. It's been two weeks, so we should be there soon," Ina said.
Tracou held his head in his hands and groaned. Those few days with Mirthal had flown by like it was nothing, but every day he spent chained up and traveling with Pendaer and Ina felt like it took an entire year.
"Why haven't we seen any villages? When I make my way to Shalen from Dezmer, there are villages every few miles!"
"There should be villages this way, I think..." Ina shifted in her spot in the dirt. "Sometimes the Zeibr come up this way to steal things from us, so there has to be things for them to take. Maybe we're going around them?"
That would be infuriating. At least if they stopped in a village for the night they might be able to sleep inside someone's home. They might even get decent food. Maybe Pendaer wouldn't let Tracou stay in someone's house but surely he would be allowed to stay in a barn or something.
"Hey, Pendaer! Are you avoiding villages on purpose?" Tracou called.
"Lina, hit him."
And so Ina did, smacking the back of Tracou's head. Tracou was now old hat at this and embellished his "ow!" just enough for it to not be suspicious.
"I've told you, dezmek, that you'll call me sir."
Tracou said nothing. Calling Pendaer sir was a bridge too far and he wasn't going to do it unless he had no other choice.
"Hit him again."
Ina did as she was told, slightly harder this time. It actually stung and Tracou shot her a glare.
"Regardless, I am avoiding the villages. I'm certain the prince will do the same because he wants to move as quickly as possible. He probably thinks that, once he's crossed the border, he'll be safe. We can slow down then."
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to at least see if we can get some bread? And what if you're wrong? It wouldn't hurt to stop by one village and ask around to check if anyone has seen him."
"I'm not wrong and we'll continue as planned. You'll live without bread for a few weeks."
With a groan, Tracou pulled his knees up and rested his arms and head on his knees. Everything was awful.
Ina, eyes glued to the fire, sighed and patted Tracou on the back.
"Let's try fishing the next time we stop at a river."
"How are we going to catch fish?"
"You just need to be fast and have a sharp stick, right? I could sharpen a stick tomorrow."
"It would be easier if we had a net." Tracou pouted. Fish sounded excellent, though. Ergakan was near the coast, meaning that fish were plentiful in his normal diet.
"You could try using some cloth as a net if you want. I'm going to try the stick."
"All right."
They all went to sleep early that night. The trip was wearing on each of them, affecting them in different ways. Pendaer's already short temper had been cut in half. Ina had become hyper focused on food. Tracou's endurance was beginning to fail him.
As if to spite them, Pendaer didn't stop at a river for an extra day. He probably would have dragged it out longer if his blond hair hadn't started to show. His hair's integrity was paramount.
After bathing, Tracou and Ina gathered their fishing tools (a sharp stick and some cloth) and looked into the river. Tracou left his gloves in the wagon so they wouldn't get wet.
There were some fish in the water. Not many, but some. Most importantly there were a couple of trout, which would be large enough for Tracou and Ina to share one. Hopefully they would get more than one, but even one would be a blessing.
Ina gathered her skirt in one hand to keep it dry and held the spear with the other. Wading into the water, she stood, glaring at the fish until one came close enough for her to strike. She jabbed at a trout with her spear, but missed. Puzzled, she pushed the stick in and out of the river a few times.
"What are you doing?" Tracou asked.
"The water... makes it weird. The fish isn't where I'd normally think it would be. I'm trying to figure out the difference."
"Oh..."
That sounded complicated, so Tracou left her to it.
Or he wanted to, anyway. He was connected to the wagon, again, and while Pendaer had allowed them to move the wagon upriver some he wasn't about to let it out of Ina's sight. Not only that, but Tracou still couldn't get in the water very far. He would just have to leave this up to Ina.
If nothing else, Ina was getting a lot of practice. She would stand stock still, watching a particular fish for minutes on end before launching her attack. After her fifteenth try, she got a trout right through the middle. She pulled it out of the river, gaping at it as it wiggled furiously to try to escape.
"You did it!"
Turning around, Ina beamed at Tracou. "I did it! Hold open the cloth!"
Tracou did as he was told, not comprehending why she wanted him to do that until she pushed the fish off of her stick and into his cloth covered hands. Startled, Tracou wrapped the cloth around the fish.
"I'm gonna get another one!" she declared.
And, after some misses, she did. Ina approached Tracou, radiating triumph. Now they had a fish for each of them. Tracou stared at the dying fish in his hands and felt wonderfully secure in his dinner that night. He hadn't felt that way since Pendaer had him knocked out.
"Should I get one more?" Ina asked, bouncing on her heels.
"Do you want another one? Pendaer won't eat it; he's an elf."
"I think I can eat two."
"Okay."
She went back to it and Tracou was content to watch her.
The sun, high in the sky, was beating down on them with abandon. Summer would come to a close in a few more weeks, so the sun was unleashing as much heat as it could before the seasons changed. The river water was cool, though, and the way it rushed along its track created enough spray to make sitting around the banks of the river worthwhile. Aside from the water and Ina's grunts of effort, things were quiet. Pendaer was downstream, out of sight. It was peaceful. It was almost enough to make Tracou forget about the chain around his neck.
Until he felt something wiggling the length of his chain. Expecting Pendaer, Tracou whirled around, only to find that a little boy was trying to untie the chain from the wagon. He was pale, looked to be around ten years old, and was wearing strange clothes. Tracou stared at him. The boy, likely feeling eyes on him, stopped momentarily to make eye contact with Tracou. He gave him a single nod and started back on the chain.
Several emotions surged within Tracou at once.
A stranger was helping him. This boy wanted to help him, wanted to free him. He had to be one of the Zeibr. Tracou had never met a Zeibr before and yet, this one wanted to help him. It was overwhelming.
But, truthfully, Tracou could take the chain off at any time if he wanted to do so. The chain, after all, wasn't secured to his neck. It was more of a symbol than anything else. What actually kept him with Pendaer and Ina was the fact that Pendaer had his wand, but he couldn't communicate that to the boy. How would he react when Tracou didn't run away?
Just when the boy managed to untangle the chain, Pendaer appeared, advancing towards him. The boy jumped in surprise and dashed off. Pendaer glowered after him, bearing his teeth. Then he stomped over to Tracou and grabbed one of his arms.
"What was that?" he spat.
"I don't know! He just appeared!"
"A likely story. Lina?"
Ina, who had stopped trying to jab at fish when Pendaer first spoke, made her way to the shore.
"Yes?"
"Use that stick of yours to give him a lashing."
"What?!"
Pendaer dragged Tracou over to the wagon, making him drop the fish. Ina was left standing, wide eyed, and turning the stick over in her hands.
"Palms against the wagon, dezmek. I'll let you off with one hit this time if you're obedient."
Glaring up at Pendaer, Tracou weighed his options. He could do as he was told and take the hit. That would get things over with faster, but nothing would change. After two weeks of being chained and dealing with Pendaer's restrictions, Tracou was sick of it.
His wand had to be in Pendaer's sleeve. Where else would he keep it? If he could just get a hold of it...
"Well?" Pendaer prompted, looking down his nose at Tracou.
Tracou launched himself at Pendaer, knocking them both down to the ground. While Pendaer was stunned, Tracou shoved a hand down one of Pendaer's sleeves to grab his wand. It wasn't there. It wasn't there! He reached for Pendaer's other arm, but Pendaer had recovered. The elf rolled the two of them over, pinning Tracou underneath him. He might not have been able to hurt Tracou, but he could still touch him and hold him down.
Using one of his hands to hold both of Tracou's wrists, Pendaer covered Tracou's mouth with his free hand.
"You need to learn your place, dezmek. What made you think you could possibly overpower me? You're nothing but a little mud creature. Once the prince realizes this, he'll take his mark off of you and I'll give you the beating you deserve."
Tracou bit what he could of Pendaer's hand. He didn't grab hold of much with his teeth, but it was enough to make Pendaer yelp and tear his hand away.
"You rat!"
Pendaer heaved himself up, pulling Tracou along with him. He forced Tracou's hands against the wagon.
"Come here, Lina!"
Sluggishly, Ina moved over to Tracou. She stood behind him, adjusting her grip on her spear several times.
"Hit him! I won't pay you if you don't hit him!"
Ina shifted, grimacing. "With the stick? But that's—"
"Hit. Him," Pendaer snarled.
No matter what, Pendaer wasn't going to drop this. Regardless of what Ina wanted, she still had to hit him with enough force that Pendaer would believe he was hurt. She tested her swing, biting her lip. Once, twice, thrice, then she pulled back and hit Tracou across the back.
She had miscalculated. Maybe it was exhaustion, adrenaline, or both, but she hit Tracou hard. Pain exploded in his skin, making Tracou scream. Tears welled in his eyes.
"Good. Again."
Ina swung again. It was lighter this time. Too light.
"Again. I want him bruised, Lina."
Cringing, Ina put some weight into her swing. Pendaer had her do it a total of five times. Each time tore a scream from Tracou's mouth. By the time she was finished, tears and snot dribbled down Tracou's face. Taking shallow breaths, Tracou slumped onto his knees.
Pendaer watched this impassively and gave Ina a nod. "Good work. Get your things and let's go."
There was a moment of hesitation on Ina's part before she untied Tracou from the wagon. She had put the fish cloth and her stick back into the wagon before Tracou felt like he had collected himself enough to move around. Shakily, he stood.
When he got his hands on his wand, Pendaer was going to pay.
Tracou slunk into the wagon, Ina coming in after him. Neither of them spoke.
The wagon didn't start moving. For the moment, it didn't matter to Tracou. He was going to have a bruise on his back for who knew how many days and it could happen again. Two weeks had already gone by—could he put up with this for that much longer? The chain was one thing, the poor treatment another, but getting an actual lashing was above and beyond. Was he bleeding? Maybe he would die of an infection out here.
All of this and for what? Mirthal had no idea what he was going through and he may never know.
They still weren't moving. Clicking her tongue, Ina checked outside. She tensed and then hopped out of the wagon. Tracou watched her, stunned. It then occurred to him to look outside.
There were about ten humans forming a semi-circle around Pendaer's horse. Pendaer was staring them down, or trying to. One lone elf was not going to intimidate an entire band of humans.
That boy from earlier was there, clinging to a woman. He quickly noticed Tracou's head and shouted something. Suddenly many more eyes turned towards Tracou, who could only blink back at them.
The boy made a gesture to him Tracou didn't understand. He held his hand out, palm down, and moved his hand up and down.
A man left the group, walking past Pendaer without so much as looking at him. Tracou watched his shadow through the cloth covering the wagon and turned around to meet him at the back. The man smiled pleasantly at Tracou.
The man was stout and wide. He looked like he could pick up a tree and throw it. A black mustache sprouted under the man's nose and trailed just past his chin. He was wearing a thick, red shirt that was held around him by a belt at his waist. On the man's head stood a tall, cylindrical hat. His face, weathered with age, nonetheless was welcoming toward Tracou. Like the boy, and like the others in their group, the man had fair skin.
"Dezmek," he said.
Tracou nodded several times.
The man held his hand out to him. Tracou took it.
After helping Tracou out of the wagon, the man took the chain off of him and began to walk. When Tracou didn't immediately follow him, he paused and made the same gesture the boy did. Still confused, Tracou took some steps towards the man, which satisfied him. He continued walking and, this time, Tracou followed.
As they passed Pendaer, he began shouting at them.
"Dezmek! What do you think you're doing?! Get back here!"
Tracou jolted, turning to look at the elf. He was furious and his hand kept twitching towards the bow he kept with him.
He still had his wand. Tracou wilted, stopping in his tracks. The man stopped as well, eyeing Tracou before facing Pendaer. He then patted Tracou's shoulder.
"Dezmek," he said again.
Tracou nodded again, less certain this time.
The man then pointed to the south. "Dezmek."
Utterly bewildered, Tracou's could only watch him.
Sighing heavily, the man took a moment to think. Then he held up one finger and said dezmek once again.
Yes, one dezmek. This much Tracou understood. He was one dezmek. The last time he had seen another dezmek was weeks ago.
Two fingers this time. The man pointed south.
Tracou's eyebrows shot up his forehead.
If this meant what he thought it meant, then there was another dezmek nearby. That dezmek would have to know Dezmerian, he had never heard of a dezmek who couldn't speak Dezmerian, and then they could help him. With this many people, they could probably get his wand back from Pendaer.
Feeling lighter than he had since Mirthal left, Tracou eagerly trotted over to his saviors. The man, left in the dust, laughed and followed him.
Pendaer watched them go, grinding his teeth.