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Okay I remember a lot about this book actually but cannot remember the name or find the title from typing the description online anywhere.

I believe it was a green softcover book with illustration on the front. Definitely fantasy.

So in the beginning we see a village boy who is out hunting for small animals. After a long day he starts to walk back to his home along the trail and as he turns the corner he sees the Kings son and his friends on the trail. He freezes in his tracks and wants to hide but they spot him before he can do anything. He continues to walk and tries to ignore the Kings son and his friends but they start to tease the boy. The boy had traces of elf in his blood so the Kings son and the Friends tease him about being an elf to the point where they hold him down and say something along the lines of, since you have elf blood you might as well look like one too. The Kings son start to cut the boys ear into a point and just as he starts cutting the boy stabs the Kings son with a blade. The Kings son falls and the boy runs back to his home.

He tells his guardian what has happened and they decide the boy must run away, so the boy runs into the forest and the Kings men are on his trail, keeps running and they get closer, some gaps in my memory but he escapes.

The boy ends up meeting an elder who is a wizard and the wizard teaches the boy over the years how to learn magic and inscribe spells onto rocks or runes or something.

I can't remember much else but I believe after some time the boy tries to go back to the village and castle and face his past.

Does anyone know this story?

I almost want to say the word rune or quest or saga is in the title but I could be totally wrong.

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Could it be The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks?

The Sword of Shannara Book Cover
The Sword of Shannara Book Cover

  • Green softcover book - No
  • Illustration on the front - Yes
  • Village boy - Yes
  • Hunting small animals - ?I don't remember?
  • he sees the Kings son and his friends on the trail - No
  • boy had traces of elf in his blood - Yes - Shea is half-elven
  • The Kings son start to cut the boys ear - No
  • they decide the boy must run away - Yes
  • runs into the forest and the Kings men are on his trail - Yes but not the King's men
  • meeting an elder who is a wizard - Yes (except he's a druid)
  • the wizard teaches the boy - Yes
  • over the years - No the events in The Sword of Shannara move considerably faster than this
  • go back to the village and castle and face his past - Yes? it's been 20 years or so since I read this book, I think Shea goes back to his starting village.

From Shady Vale to Paranor

About five centuries later, the Ohmsford family of Shady Vale in the Southland took in the half-Elven child Shea. He took the name Ohmsford and was raised as a brother to the family's son Flick. Becoming inseparable, the brothers helped to run the family inn.

The novel begins with Shea as a young man and the mysterious Allanon arriving in the Vale. Tall and dark, his face perpetually shadowed under his hood, he was the last of the Druids. Allanon warned the Ohmsford brothers that the Warlock Lord had returned to the Skull Kingdom in the Northland and was already coming for Shea, as he was the last descendant of Jerle Shannara—and therefore the only one capable of wielding the Sword of Shannara against the Warlock Lord.

Allanon departed, leaving Shea three Blue Elfstones for protection. He told Shea to flee at the sign of the Skull. A few weeks later, a creature bearing a symbol of a skull showed up: a Skull Bearer, one of the Warlock Lord's "winged black destroyers",[3] had arrived in town to search for Shea. The brothers were forced to flee with the Skull Bearer on their heels. They eventually took refuge in the nearby city of Leah where they found Shea's friend Menion, the son of the city's lord. Menion decided to accompany the two, and he traveled with them to Culhaven, to meet with Allanon and also encountering various monsters like the creature from the Mist Marsh and the Sirens. While at Culhaven, they are joined by a prince of Callahorn, Balinor Buckhannah, two elven brothers, Durin and Dayel Elessedil, and the dwarf Hendel.

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    It's possible, but I doubt it. The Kings son start to cut the boys ear is one of the few really distinct parts of the OP, and this is missing it.
    – Bobson
    Jul 8, 2015 at 17:01
  • 2
    This answer seems to ignore many of the distinctive elements of the OP's remembered narrative.
    – Lexible
    Jul 8, 2015 at 18:00
  • Which is why I asked. Despite missing some of the elements of the story he remembered, I posted this in case he was accidentally combining two stories in one. If anyone has a better match, by all means post it!
    – Jim2B
    Jul 8, 2015 at 19:30
  • Nah, that's not it. Good looking out and attempt though. The cover is similar to that in style of illustration from what I remember though. And yes, the story starts off with the boy coming back from hunting and has a run in with the Kings son and his friends. King son is snooty like, trouble maker, bully. Also the boy lives with a man and his daughter. They aren't his parents but foster type parents... And the whole spell thing I remember from the book is scribing spells on runes or rocks. Once you use it it's done and you have to learn it and scribe it onto a stone all over again.
    – Percy
    Jul 9, 2015 at 4:25

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