19 The Traveling Elf

Vulen followed silently behind crown prince Leo and the wolf. He kept studying the pair of them and wondering who the wolf was. His queen had ordered him to gather Intel and not to act rash and fight them, but if the situation arose he was prepared to take the chance. There was no way he would make a misjudgement and fight them without a proper opportunity, however. He was not the sort to jump unless he felt he could surely come out on top.

"I will do you proud my queen..." He mumbled to himself quietly to make sure neither of them could catch a word that he said.

"Did you say something?" Leo asked as he turned to catch a glimpse of Vulen from the corner of his eye.

"No, sir. Just enjoying the scenery." Vulen smiled brightly. The thought of making Lyra proud was all that he had on his mind and his emotions couldn't help but to show on his face in the form of a bright smile.

"You sure are enthusiastic about nature!" Leo laughed awkwardly at the smile on Vulen's face.

"I am an elf, sir! It is in my nature to enjoy nature to it's fullest!" Vulen shouted with pride.

The tension in the air was escalated again due to Vulen's awkward statement about being an elf. Leo did not mind that Vulen was an elf at all, in the realm of Validore there was a total of twelve Kingdoms all together living among the lands. The twelve Kingdoms of course had two that were made up of elves. Cadirade and Ethiadan were known as the two major power house Kingdoms out of them all. Due to the two of them holding such major power the other smaller Kingdoms were alligned to siding with either Cadirade or Ethiadan. Cadirade held a relationship with one elf Kingdom in the west that were known to be friendly and were powerful with magic. Ethidan, however, held a relationship with the elves in the east who were more underhanded and not as highly thought of by the other kingdoms. Of course Leo was well aware that there was three Kingdoms out the twelve who refused for thousands of years to ever choose an official side and would simply welcome either of the Kingdoms for trades, but would refuse to go to war.

The three that were known to not choose a side in war were accepted by both Ethiadan and Cadirade on friendly terms as they never got involved against either side so they were seen as pointless in terms of invading them when they were held so highly useful in the ways of trades. These three kingdoms were the Merfolk of the south, the Kingdom of Cista which was made up of dozens of types of creatures and half human breeds that was in the middle of all other kingdoms, and lastly the strongest of all twelve kingoms that that every kingdom held the honor to never go against because it could topple any war to who's ever side it chose to stand on if they were to get involved; Axania, the Kingdom of the dragons.

This was a history of the realm that every kingdom's royal families were raised in being aware of. Therefore, as Leo traveled with the wolf by his side and Vulen behind him there was a simple thought in his mind. The thought that he simply hoped the man behind them was from their own allied kingdom and not from the other one and was simply up to something. However, there was no way for him to verify anything so he simply kept himself on guard inside against Vulen. There was something about the man that gave him a chill down to his bones, but he felt the urge to leave it alone as long as nothing happened that verified the bad feeling he held in his bones.

"Did we really need to bring this guy along with us?" Vorbuk sighed in his mind as his ear twitched to listen to Vulen behind them.

Leo simply smiled wryly as he shook his head. There was nothing he felt he could say to the wolf right now. The man behind them was too close for him to speak to the wolf without giving away their ability to communicate. He wanted to keep that fact hidden in case something happened in the future. It was something he felt could come in handy in the worst of situations so the fewer who knew about it the better off they would be.

"What type of wolf is your companion?" Vulen asked nonchalantly as he pointed at Vorbuk.

"Just a regular magic wolf..." Prince Leo smiled innocently at the question, not willingly to give away anything unnecessary.

"Right... Looks like a shadow wolf breed. I heard those were extinct though."

"That's right, they went extinct a long time ago. This guy here is just a little extra special in his magic so he simply looks similar. That is all there is to it." Leo grit his teeth after replying as he wanted to push Vulen off the idea and not draw extra attention on the wolf.

"You never know, sometimes even lost things can be found in the most unexpected places..." Vulen smirked

Leo sighed to himself as he debated on how to respond to the man again. Thinking for a moment his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a merchant carriage heading in their direction. Losing his train of thought on the subject he decided to take the chance and wave the merchant down so they could get a ride with him on his cart.

Vorbuk did not feel like riding on the cart so he simply ran along the side with it. Vulen and Leo, however, rode on the cart. The quicker they could make the journey the sooner Leo felt they could loose their unwanted elf companion.

Vulen could tell at a glance that both of them were on guard against him, but he did not care. He was still able to gain information as he was use to people trying to hide things during missions where he would have to get Intel. Therefore, he could easily grasp that Leo was trying to hide the truth about the wolf being a Shadow Wolf. He could also tell that Leo was trying to hide who he was from him as well. It was something that Vulen could see all too well in his eyes.

As the merchant cart traveled along the road Vulen kept trying to pry information from Leo without making himself seem too nosy and suspicious, but it kept failing most of the time unless it was something that Leo felt he had no reason to hide regardless.