As it turned out, Pendaer was fine. He could hear someone approach from a ways away, giving him plenty of time to dive into a pile of hay and hope for the best. When Ina and Tracou returned to the barn, they didn't see him until they called out to him, at which point his greenish head popped out of some straw.
"If you would just speak on your way here, I wouldn't have to hide," he hissed, brushing hay off of him as he left his pitiful hiding place.
The three of them sat on the floor as Tracou regurgitated his findings to Pendaer. Mirthal was trapped in the castle and they had to save him. For the next few hours, Tracou, Ina, and Pendaer sat in the barn, trying to come up with a plan to save Mirthal. As a minor landowner whose primary concern for years had been clothes and magic, Tracou was utterly out of his element. He spent most of the time listening to the others. Ina suggested several plans, all of which Pendaer shot down for some reason or another. They couldn't use Pendaer as a distraction because another elf sighting would lock down the castle. They couldn't sneak into the castle and rescue Mirthal all in one night because the castle was teeming with guards. They couldn't have Ina pose as a cook or something else because she was obviously Aodehsh. What kind of Aodehsh person would travel to Winlea to take work in the far poorer country of Dorssur, much less in the royal castle? It was too suspicious.
"I think all three of us would have to go," Tracou said, his arms folded over his chest. He kept his wand in his hand, eager to hold it whenever he could. "Even if you could get in, Ina, you'd be by yourself."
Pendaer scoffed. "Don't be stupid! They wouldn't let you in, let alone me."
"They might let me in if I was important... and they would definitely let you in if you'd let me use magic on you!"
Grimacing, Pendaer made a reluctant sound in the back of his throat. He was quiet for so long that Tracou considered using his magic on him anyway, so Pendaer wouldn't have any excuse that Tracou was somehow going to maim him or whatever it was he thought would happen. Tracou glanced at Ina, who shrugged her shoulders.
"Will... will it hurt?" Pendaer eyes had locked onto Tracou's wand as though it might suddenly leap at him and spear him through the throat.
What a question! He sounded like a child that had just been gifted his first wand.
"You're an elf, aren't you? Does elf magic hurt?"
Pendaer flinched. He mumbled to himself and at first Tracou thought it was Elvish, like normal, but he caught a 'use' in among the other words.
Tracou eyed Pendaer. Come to think of it, while he had seen Mirthal use magic, he had never seen Pendaer do the same. Surely he could have done so by now.
"Pendaer... do you know how magic works?"
Such a question should have prompted a sneer or some kind of disgusted look, but Pendaer blanched. Blinking rapidly, he shrugged his shoulders.
"Magic is below me. If dezmek study it, then why should I?" he muttered, the words crawling out of his throat.
"Mirthal uses it. Why not you? Are you bad at it?"
"It's below me!"
"But Mirthal is the prince! How could it be below you and not him? I bet you can't use it at all!"
Color gone from his face, Pendaer's mouth opened and closed like a fish. His eyes darted around the room as he tried to materialize a response, but none came, so he settled for balling his fists and glaring at Tracou.
Perfect. Tracou smirked at Pendaer, feeling as though he had grown three feet taller. Pendaer couldn't use magic! Tracou was, without a doubt, far superior to Pendaer in the most important aspect: magical ability. As long as Tracou had his wand, Pendaer was powerless before him. He sat up, puffing his chest out with pride.
"Magic won't hurt you, Pendaer," Tracou cooed, each word as pointed as a needle. "I know it must be frightening for a pointy-eared human like you.... But you don't have to be scared—I'll be gentle."
In one movement, Pendaer stood up. "Don't you talk to me like that, dezmek!" He forced a breath through his nose like a bull and stomped to the other side of the barn, opening and closing his fists. "I won't do it!"
Tracou's smirk left his face. Oops. He was supposed to get Pendaer to agree, not bully him. It had felt good, though, and he would do it again if given a chance.
Beside him, Ina had a glassy look in her eyes. Tracou had expected her to chide him about how he treated Pendaer, but she must not have absorbed any of what had just happened.
"Ina?" he asked.
She glanced at him. "Yes? Did you come up with an idea?"
"No..."
"I think I did."
"What is it?"
"Remember how I posed as a merchant when we entered the city? We might be able to get in the castle that way. Aodehn trades with every other country on the continent, aside from the Zeibr. But Winlea only trades with Aodehn. They need us, especially when it comes to food they can't grow here."
Leaning against a wall, far from the other two, Pendaer huffed. "Why would they accept a foreign trader into their castle?"
"We could pose as one of the merchants on the Council."
"Ahh, that's right... Aodehn doesn't have a king—they have that ridiculous 'council' that barely functions."
"The Council works just fine!"
Pendaer shook his head. "That's not what I heard. Even dezmek have a king, making them an almost halfway civilized society."
"Dezmer is more than halfway civilized!" Tracou spat.
"Two-thirds civilized, then."
Ina placed a hand on Tracou's shoulder, but focused her attention on Pendaer. "Look: I think this could work. If I pose as one of the merchants on the Council, someone who could offer them a better trade deal by undercutting others, maybe they'll let us into the castle."
On its face, that idea didn't seem terrible. Dorssur was a relatively well off city from the looks of it, but the villages had been depressing. Even if the king wasn't interested in helping his people, he should be interested in lining his pockets or just gaining prestige. Increasing his people's standard of living would ensure that he would be remembered fondly.
But there was an issue: what if the king already knew the merchants on the Aodehsh council personally?
"I think posing as directly as one of the merchants might be a problem," Tracou said. "Maybe you could be a relative? A daughter of one of them? Then Pendaer could pretend to be your body guard."
"No magic," Pendaer said through his teeth.
Ina stood up, brushing straw off of her skirt. "Yes, magic. You have to help us, Pendaer. You worked in a castle, didn't you? You know the most about them out of the three of us. Plus... I doubt the prince would be happy to hear that you moped around with some horses while a human he's never met and his dezmek friend did all of the work to get him free."
There was a lot Tracou would have liked to add. He could have yelled at Pendaer for weeks, possibly even months. But it would have to wait.
"You'll hardly feel it," Tracou said. "I can do it on myself first if you want to see."
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.