Chapter 3
Meeting and Travel
Derek blinked a few times at the sunlight hitting his face. The room he was in didn't look like his own, but before he could ponder the question of where am I more a side-door opened and someone entered.
A tall youth with short, blond hair and wide blue eyes met Derek's gaze and grinned at him.
"Hello," the boy greeted. "Marilyn–my sister–will be pleased to see you awake. My name is Carter."
Derek smiled back at him. "Hello Carter. If your sister is the one who attended to me last night she has my thanks."
"Your thanks are accepted."
Both of them turned to see Marilyn standing in the doorway. Derek took in the short, blonde hair–so like her brother's–and deep blue eyes. Wearing a simple tunic and pants complimented her practical nature.
She smiled at them, then asked for the stranger's name.
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Derek panicked slightly when Marilyn asked to know his name. He was still haunted by some of the things he had done before accepting the Prince, and his name was just as well-known as his father's.
After searching for a while he had an answer. "Call me Doran."
A puzzled look crossed both Carter and Marilyn's faces, but it quickly passed. After they had eaten Marilyn asked Doran if his injury troubled him any. He said it didn't, but Marilyn wanted him to take it easy for a few days.
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Marilyn was intrigued by this stranger who told her to call him "Doran". She could guess easily enough that it wasn't his real name, but it was what he told her to call him. Another intriguing thing was that he wouldn't say what brought him to Denrith. But that wasn't too much of a bother for her. Let him keep his secrets, she thought.
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Derek stayed at the inn for as long as he thought was necessary, then he prepared to leave. The attack days before had told him that–true to his father's last words before turning him out–he was being hunted. And he couldn't bear the thought of his new friends getting hurt because of him.
With a last look around, he rode out of the stableyard and set his face toward the southern parts of the kingdom of Arrethtrae.