Seeing the wagon eased some of the tension in Tracou's body, but it opened up space in his head for the pain in his ankle to make itself known. It hurt like blazes. When he had fallen, his ankle had bent at a strange angle leading him to crumple. Now his ankle throbbed. Riding didn't help matters—it forced him to hold his leg away from the horse which he could only manage for so long.
Behind him, Tracou felt Mirthal slump forward every so often, only for him to jerk back when their bodies made contact. Now that they had come to a stop, Mirthal sat fully awake. The sun had yet to rise.
"Do you hear anyone coming after us, Pendaer?" Ina asked.
Pendaer frowned. "No."
"They won't send anyone," Sakshi said, getting off of her horse. "Not for a while yet. They have to decide on a way to deal with any other giant animals your dezmek friend creates."
Hearing that made Tracou sit up a little straighter. His creation may have been hollow, but it had served its purpose.
Ina had gotten off of her horse as well. She approached Tracou's. "We're safe for now, but Tracou's hurt. Mirthal, I'll help you off the horse and then you'll help Tracou."
"Oh! All right."
"Ina! You have to address him as Prince Mirthal," Pendaer said through gritted teeth.
"No, she doesn't."
Sakshi froze. "Prince Mirthal?"
Pendaer grumbled harshly in Elvish, but Mirthal didn't bat an eyelash at either reaction.
It took some effort on Mirthal's part to get off of the horse safely, even with Ina's help. Tracou watched him, tense. He looked exhausted at best.
Mirthal brushed himself off once on the ground and let out a short sigh. Then he stood up straight, determined.
"Tracou, can you sit sideways on the horse? You can slide down a little and I'll grab you and carry you to the wagon."
"You don't need to carry me," Tracou protested, swinging his left leg over the horse so he could do as Mirthal suggested.
Holding out his arms to Tracou, Mirthal smiled. "It's the least I can do."
Carefully, Tracou moved towards Mirthal enough for the elf to grab him. Mirthal really must have been tired because Tracou and Mirthal's arms lurched downward before he caught himself and heaved Tracou up. The near drop made Tracou shriek in terror and cling to Mirthal.
"Don't drop me, please don't drop me!"
"I won't, I promise."
Had the wagon been any farther away, though, Mirthal would have broken his promise.
Mirthal set Tracou down in the back of the wagon. Ina moved to stand beside him.
"Did you break something?" she asked.
"I don't know... It hurts a lot."
Ina turned to Sakshi. "Hey, um... ma'am."
"My name is Sakshi," she said, glaring at Ina.
"Okay, Sakshi. Do you know anything about, you know... healing people?"
"No."
Ina sighed. "Tracou, can you use magic to fix it?"
"Not on myself... it's difficult to handle the feeling of magic inside your body like that and direct it properly at the same time. I might make it worse."
This could be bad. If his ankle was broken and left unset by another dezmek, Tracou might end up with a limp for the rest of his life. It wouldn't interfere with his life back in Ergakan, not in a significant way, but he didn't want to walk with a limp. Tracou grimaced down at his leg.
"Pendaer," Mirthal called, not looking at him.
The other elf appeared next to him. Looking at them together like this made it clear that Pendaer stood inch or two shorter than Mirthal. This fact pleased Tracou immensely, as though he himself had suddenly grown taller than Pendaer.
"Tracou, do you know why Pendaer was chosen to be my retainer?"
Blinking at Mirthal, Tracou shook his head. He had assumed that it had something to do with Pendaer being from a so-called distinguished noble family.
"My mother has always been concerned that I might injure myself. More than the other candidates to be my retainer, Pendaer was the best at tending to wounds. His father is a royal physician."
The words coming out of Mirthal's mouth made sense individually, but Tracou could not see Pendaer healing people when he had, just weeks ago, been telling Ina to hurt him for fun.
"What?"
"Surprising, isn't it? You couldn't tell by looking at him."
Pendaer, who had been soaking up the praise, drooped at that last sentence.
"So, Pendaer, make yourself useful."
Both Tracou and Pendaer shared a look. Reluctance dominated Pendaer's face and Tracou had a difficult time keeping himself from glowering back at him.
What Pendaer had put him through was unforgivable. He had been almost neutral ever since they had left for Winlea, but that didn't erase what he had done before. Tracou would likely never get anything like an apology from him. Part of him wanted to tell Mirthal exactly what had happened right then and there—he had been itching to do so for weeks.
But he didn't do it. They were all tired and if Pendaer could help his ankle then he would stay quiet. For now.
Pendaer took Tracou's shoe off and pushed his hose up to his calf. Nothing he did hurt, of course, because Pendaer couldn't hurt him.
A bump swelled on the side of his ankle. Seeing it made Mirthal turn away with a wince, but both Pendaer and Ina frowned down at it. Sakshi watched the goings on from afar.
"Ina, press down here for me," Pendaer said, placing a finger on Tracou's ankle.
"I don't want to hurt him."
"I need to know where it hurts. His ankle could be broken or it could be injured."
"It hurts where the swelling is," Tracou protested. He was ignored.
Gritting her teeth, Ina did as instructed. She pressed down on one of the bony parts of Tracou's ankle and it didn't especially hurt.
Pendaer started pointing to a few places and Ina dutifully tested each one. Lastly, they tried the spongy area of his ankle and it made Tracou audibly cringe.
"I don't think it's broken," Pendaer concluded. "If you stay off of it for a while, it will heal by itself."
That was good news. He would have liked it if his ankle wasn't swollen, but it was better than it being broken.
"How long is a while?" Tracou asked.
"A week or so would be enough for an elf to walk again without much pain. How long do dezmek normally take to heal?"
"I don't know... We don't let injuries heal by themselves, normally."
Mirthal gave Tracou a sad smile. "Don't worry. If you need to go anywhere, I'll carry you."
"You need to get your strength up before you do that."
"There's food in the wagon," Ina said. "I got everything ready for us."
"Really? I'm glad you were on the outside—Pendaer never would have bought enough food for everyone."
Ina laughed and, a moment later, grimaced. "Well, we have a ways to go before we leave Winlea..."
Sakshi put her hands on her hips. "Where are you going, anyway?"
"We're returning to the Elven Kingdom," Pendaer declared.
"We're going to Dezmer," Tracou said, his voice overlapping with Pendaer's.
Pendaer and Tracou glared at each other, shoulders hunching.
"I've retrieved the Prince and I have to bring him home!"
"I've had enough of being dragged all over the continent! We're going to Dezmer, to Ergakan!"
"There's no reason for us to visit that backwater you call a country."
"As if I'd want you to stain Dezmer with your presence, anyway!"
"A place full of mud people can't be stained!"
"Even if it couldn't, you'd manage it. You leave blue slime wherever you go!"
Pendaer and Tracou were too absorbed in yelling at each other to notice, but Mirthal watched them argue in utter disbelief.
"I want to go to Dezmer," Ina said in an attempt to end the argument. "And I bet Mirthal wants to go to Dezmer, too."
All eyes turned to Mirthal, who nodded. "I want to see Tracou's home."
With Mirthal on his side, Tracou was victorious. He grinned up at Pendaer as if daring him to object.
Pendaer balled his hands into fists, but went silent.
"I think it would be better to go to the Elven Kingdom. There aren't any mountains in Dezmer," Sakshi said.
Tracou's eyes darted to her and then to Mirthal. He was just in time to see Mirthal roll his eyes.
"If you insist on that, we can do it later. It's a long way to the Elven Kingdom from here and it'll be winter in a month or so."
Sakshi sighed. "Maybe I'll go to the Elven Kingdom by myself."
"You can't," Pendaer said, eager to shut someone down after it had happened to him. "You aren't an elf."
"She could if an elf went with her," Mirthal said slowly.
Sakshi's eyebrows lifted. "Then would this elf come with me?" she asked inclining her head toward Pendaer.
"Absolutely not!" he snapped. "Your highness, I can't in good conscience leave you alone again. Look at what happened to you in my absence!"
"I wouldn't be alone; I would have Tracou with me."
The idea of Pendaer leaving pleased Tracou more than words could ever hope to describe. He didn't even bother trying to hide his pleasure, smiling openly.
Naturally, Pendaer glared at him.
"A weak dezmek can't protect you like I can. If you take his wand away, he's helpless!"
Tracou bristled, gripping his wand tightly. "I would do much better than you because Mirthal wouldn't run away from me!"
"Stop shouting," Ina hissed at them.
Both Pendaer and Tracou went quiet. Tracou wanted to ignore her, but... he could always yell at Pendaer later.
Mirthal nodded to Ina, apparently thankful that she had put a stop to the fighting.
"I could write a letter for Sakshi that would ask her to be let into the country."
"I'd rather not travel there by myself," Sakshi said, glancing back toward Dorssur.
The corners of Mirthal's lips twitched downward at that, but oddly Pendaer spoke.
"Take Ina with you, then."
Ina's eyebrows raised. "What?"
"You're the only one we can spare. Obviously wherever the prince goes, I go, and the dezmek certainly won't agree to go. You're still under my employ, anyway."
"I am? We found the prince."
Pendaer frowned deeply, his eyes narrowing. But Ina stared straight at him, not the least bit intimidated.
"I'm not going to pay you extra for this," he said, tense.
Ina clicked her tongue. "You'll have to pay me in advance, then. For the whole winter plus an allowance—if we're going to travel by ourselves we'll need our own set of supplies. But we can talk about that tomorrow. Let's move until the morning, then we'll split apart."
"You won't come with us until the border?" Tracou asked.
"It wouldn't make sense. Dezmer is to the East and the Elven Kingdom is to the West."
Tracou hadn't imagined that Ina might leave them.
If Sakshi didn't want to travel with them, then that should have been her problem. Mirthal wanted to see Ergakan, so that meant he would stay with Tracou. Unfortunately, it also meant that Pendaer would come along. He would be essentially trading Ina for Mirthal. This wasn't the worst trade, but Tracou had grown comfortable with Ina during their time together. Ina could also fish, which helped a lot. As far as usefulness went Mirthal didn't bring anything to the table, but Tracou at least liked him. If only he could trade Pendaer for Mirthal instead.
After giving Ina a thorough look over, Sakshi gave her a single nod.
"I suppose you'll do. You're at least a human."
Ina's eyes slid over to Sakshi and impassively slid off of her again. "That's true."
"Are you okay with this?" Tracou asked.
"I'll get paid for it and we can stop by Shalen on the way," Ina said, shrugging her shoulders.
"She certainly has no right to complain," Pendaer cut in. "Regardless, we should get going. There's no point in staying here."
With that, Pendaer and Ina set about hitching the horses to the wagon, leaving Mirthal, Tracou, and Sakshi with nothing to do.
Mirthal sat next to Tracou on the wagon's edge, smiling gently. Even after their hectic escape, Mirthal looked better now than he had in the dungeon.
"How long has that girl been with you?"
"You mean Ina? Since the day after you left."
"That soon?"
"It's a long story," Tracou said bitterly.
Mirthal jumped just slightly, surprised by the tone of Tracou's voice. "Oh."
Soon after that, Ina reappeared. "We're ready to go. You three can stay in the wagon and Pendaer and I will ride alongside. Is that okay?"
Both Mirthal and Sakshi had been weakened from their time in the dungeon and obviously Tracou was injured. It only made sense for the three of them to stay in the wagon.
"All right."
With their supplies and three people in the wagon, it had become rather cramped. Because he was hurt, Tracou had the privilege to choose his position in the wagon. He ended up sitting with his back against the left side of the wagon and his legs out in front of him. The wagon wasn't wide enough to lie down crosswise, but it did allow him to sit up and have his legs lie flat. Sakshi sat on the right side, also with her legs stretched out. This meant that she was farther down than Tracou was. Mirthal sat on the left side, next to Sakshi's feet. He kept his legs crossed underneath him, though.
Mere minutes after they began moving, Mirthal and Sakshi both had fallen asleep. The sun crept over the horizon and Tracou was certain that he would be doomed to consciousness throughout the rest of the day. But his eyelids began to droop and he slept, too.