By the time they talked to the eighth person who told them their own theory about what was going on, which was some variation of everything they had already heard, Rhenor was about ready to either visit the local tavern or to kill himself. Kaz seemed to be having a good time, though. With how intimidated he had been by the idea of being seen publicly anywhere, it was nice to see him let down his guard a bit.

"It tried to get inside your house?" Kaz asked the woman. Rhenor hadn't been paying attention aside from noting that she was very pretty. And apparently she was the wife of the local village chief. Rhen already had cynical theories about why that was.

"Yes, almost broke the door," she said, sounding delighted for some reason. This village, called Frostrun as they'd found out a while ago, must have been a very quiet place. Or its inhabitants were just insane. "I can show you if you'd like. I think ours was the latest house to be attacked, but the beast didn't get inside. Our doors are well reinforced, you see."

Rhenor tried not to roll his eyes at that. He hadn't been listening and even with this little information he could tell this was a stuck-up person with money. They were all the same, although hearing one of them brag about how strong their doors were was a new level of absurd.

"Oh yes, please. We would like to see," Kaz said happily. It really didn't take much for Kaz to become fascinated. It was usually charming, but right now it made Rhenor just a bit irritated. And by a bit he meant a lot. But he kept quiet and just followed behind as the woman and Kaz walked to the other side of the village to gawk at the door.

And then he ended up gawking at it too as soon as he laid his eyes on it. The large, heavy-looking door had deep gashes in it. There were scratches all over the surface, and wood chips and large splinters stuck from the door in a way that touching it would no doubt hurt quite a bit.

To be honest, Rhenor hadn't truly believed there was something magical going on until now. They had seen one other break-in, and nothing about it suggested it couldn't have just been a thief. But this.... Well, this had made him far less skeptical.

"Amazing," Kaz muttered as he ran his finger down one of the deepest gashes. "The size of these...."

"Quite fearsome, aren't they?" the woman asked with something akin to excitement. Rhenor sighed.

"Yes, but this also suggests that the creature who had done this was much bigger than anything I know of living in these parts," Kaz said, turning around to look at Rhen. "I think we should stay the night and try to see the creature for ourselves."

As much as Rhenor wanted to argue that this wasn't their problem to deal with, it wasn't like they had anywhere they needed to be right at this moment, and so he just nodded. He had been expecting something like that to happen anyway, but now he was also cautious. If this creature truly was supernatural, he doubted his bow and arrows would do much to protect them.

But then again, perhaps it didn't want to hurt anyone. It hadn't yet, after all, and it easily could have, assuming the villagers' stories weren't exaggerated beyond recognition. And Rhenor didn't think they were, judging by the damage this door had taken.

"Would you be able to get rid of the cat?" the woman asked, now sounding somehow even more interested. "I mean, it is nice to have something interesting happen in Frostrun for once, but being awoken at night so often is getting a bit tiresome."

Kaz looked back at Rhenor, clearly wanting him to comment. But the woman spoke again before he could add anything.

"We could pay you, of course."

Rhenor sighed, looking up into the windows of the two-story house. A middle-aged man was watching them above with annoyance and suspicion. Probably the woman's husband, then. "We'll see what we can do."

He waved at Kaz to follow him and started walking away from the house. He was interested in the money, of course, but this was really starting to sound like it was far too beyond their abilities to handle.

"Do you have any ideas of what this could be?" Rhen asked quietly once they walked into an alley, leaning onto the wall of a house with forearm.

Kaz shook his head, his eyes full of excitement. "No. Isn't that great?"

Rhenor groaned, rubbing his eyes. Sometimes it was very hard not to snap at Kaz, but that wouldn't help anything, and Rhen would just end up feeling rightfully guilty for it. "I meant that we shouldn't agree to get involved unless we know we won't end up dead."

Kaz's face grew serious as he scratched the back of his neck. "Right, that is a good point." He thought for a moment before his eyes lit up again. "Oh, how about this? We can wait for the creature to appear and simply watch it and see what it does."

That sounded fairly rational, though Rhen really hoped Kaz would listen to his own advice and wouldn't try to chase after the creature for research purposes. He tended to forget that a lot of the things he was oh so fascinated by could easily kill him.

"And then you can tell me if it's safe to do something. You probably have a more objective viewpoint when it comes to that."

Kaz offered a bashful smile that made the corners of Rhenor's mouth twitch up.

"All right. Let's hope it doesn't kill us."

They went to the tavern after that, Rhenor having used the excuse to get a beer after Kaz complained that his legs were aching after so much walking. It wasn't yet evening, and so the tavern was mostly empty, but Rhenor liked it that way. He always preferred to drink at home, but unfortunately he didn't have a home right now.

He wondered about that sometimes—when and how would he find a new one? Surely, he wouldn't just keep on traveling until he died. Though with the current rate of stumbling upon magical problems, perhaps he might die soon.

Well, fate could try, but he wasn't just going to let it.

"You never talk about yourself," said Kaz out of nowhere. He had been giddy until now, likely helped by the beer. Kaz apparently not only liked beer a lot but was also easily affected by it. But now his voice was glum and his eyes sad.

"You don't either." Rhenor very well knew that wasn't true for Kaz as much as it was for him, but he still had a point.

"I do, actually. I just don't talk about my family, and where I come from because.... Well, because I always get the feeling you'd rather not even think about it," he replied, and Rhenor could do nothing but stare at him dumbly for a moment. He felt like he'd just been punched in the stomach.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"No, Kaz, it's—"

"It's okay, I understand why."

If anything, hearing him say that made it worse. How was any of this okay? Rhenor really needed to get over his prejudice in this case. Kaz had done nothing, nothing at. In fact, he was helpful and kind to the common folk, and how much more proof did Rhenor need to convince him? Rhenor had thought he was getting better at ignoring his automatic reactions, but clearly not better enough.

"I'm truly sorry for what the dragons did to you."

Oh, for the gods' sake.

"You shouldn't have to apologize for what they did, dammit, no matter where you come from."

If anything, now Rhenor was even angrier with those oversized lizards. He wondered how long Kaz had been agonizing over this silently, and he had no doubts that the only reason he was bringing it up now was because of the beer.

"Someone should," Kaz mumbled, avoiding Rhen's eyes as he took another sip.

If possible, Rhenor now felt even worse. But he had no idea what to say to that. Nothing that would make it better, anyway. Thankfully, as usual, Kaz broke the silence for him as he cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that if you ever wanted to say something about yourself, I'd like to hear it."

Rhenor gave him a tired smile. "I'm not interesting."

Apparently saying things like this was an easy way to make Kaz annoyed, judging by the unimpressed look he was giving him. "You are far too subjective to judge this."

What a nice way of telling him to shut up. It made Rhen chuckle. "Whatever you say, Kaz."

The other man didn't seem to want to let this go just yet, however. "I'm serious. I think I'm boring. Everyone I've known agrees. Even Elaya's made fun of me for spending so much time in libraries."

Rhenor was now gripping his tankard's handle a bit too tightly, but he could tell Kaz was going to make a point of some kind, so he managed to stay silent for now.

"But would you spend time with me if you thought the same thing?"

Right, of course that was his point. Rhenor would have predicted that if he hadn't gotten angry over the clearly terrible people Kaz had been surrounded by for most of his life. He'd already suspected the worst, of course, but hearing this helped solidify it.

He wasn't going to just let him win this, though. "What if the objective truth is that I am, in fact, uninteresting, and you are just very biased?"

"What does that matter, then?"

Damn, he'd thought that would take Kaz by surprise, but he'd destroyed his argument without even thinking about it. And now he was wearing a victorious grin. Rhenor shook his head, smiling to himself. Clearly everyone Kaz had known was an idiot to think he was boring.

"Fine, I won't let this hold me back from sharing things about my unbelievably fascinating self," Rhenor joked. The soft smile Kaz gave him in reply really made Rhen want to kiss him. It actually left him a bit lightheaded with how overwhelming the urge was all of a sudden.

He wondered with disdain if this was one of those things Kaz would find interesting. Though knowing him, he would probably pull out his journal and ask him a hundred personal questions.

It was concerning that Rhenor found that mental image endearing.

"I...also enjoyed reading when I still had access to books," Rhenor said, deciding to humor Kaz. Not surprisingly, Kaz's eyes were now as wide as they could be with delight. Maybe it was a good thing they didn't have that much in common—so much emotional expression might kill even him.

Rhenor was expecting Kaz to follow this up with many, many questions, but instead he just smiled gratefully.

Once the sun finally went they once again stepped into the cold air outside, looking around. There were still people here and there, but not many of them. If the beast was going to appear tonight, it most likely wouldn't for a few more hours from what they'd heard about its behavior so far, but it wasn't worth risking missing it just on that assumption.

It was cold, though, so cold in fact that in less than an hour of patrolling Rhenor couldn't continue watching Kaz shiver and stopped by the tavern again to get something to warm them up that wouldn't get Kaz drunk. He was offered either tea or crystal wine. Seeing the openly curious look on Kaz's face when the latter was mentioned, Rhenor decided to spend a little more and bought two cups of that.

"What is this?" Kaz asked, sounding absolutely delighted as they left the tavern once more. He sniffed the steaming drink in his hand and hummed. "I think I vaguely remember hearing about something like this, but I don't remember anything concrete."

Rhenor opened his mouth to answer, only to realize he also didn't know much. They didn't get much of this drink in Arlow due to the kind of berries it was made of not growing near it. "It's made of some berries, honey, and a few herbs. But I have no idea what those are."

"Amazing!" Kaz took a sip, immediately gasping. "And very, very hot."

Rhenor chuckled quietly, grinning at Kaz. "Just let it warm your hands for now."

Kaz nodded energetically, staring down into the dark drink. "This is so novel. I've never tried regional foods."

Rhenor seemed to lack appreciation for these things, so he just stayed silent. There was no need to ruin it for Kaz.

They spent the next two hours just walking around aimlessly, drinking their beverages as the village around them slowly fell asleep, which was a relief. Rhenor was tired of all the looks they'd gotten today.

Kaz had just been in the process of telling him about some cold drinks they had in the Capital when Rhenor heard something moving behind them. He came to a halt, turning around and listening, putting his index finger to his mouth when he saw Kaz was about to speak.

There was only silence for a moment, and he was just about to relax, assuming that he had just been hearing things, but then there it was again. Gentle crunching of snow, it had to be. He knew that sound well from his years of hunting and listening to animals make this sound over and over.

He waved at Kaz to follow him as he set off in the direction he'd heard the sounds coming from, making sure to keep his step light and as soundless as possible. Though he doubted that would be enough to make a predator not notice them. Rhenor was hoping whatever it was doing would distract it enough, though.

They quietly creeped along the house walls, heading towards the center of the village. Every time Kaz took a louder step Rhenor winced, but he wouldn't berate him for not knowing how to sneak with no training.

Rhenor kept following the louder and louder sounds of crunching snow and thumping against the ground, though they were still barely audible. And suddenly, right in front of them, a huge dark shape leapt across the main road and disappeared in a nearby, narrow alley with a flash of an impossibly long black tail.

Rhenor was stuck staring at the now empty space between two houses, completely shocked. When the villagers had described the beast, he'd really thought they'd been exaggerating. But the cat had easily looked much bigger than a horse. This wasn't natural, nothing about it was.

"Did you see that?" Kaz breathed next to him, an awe-filled look on his face. "Come on, we need to follow it!"

He didn't wait for Rhenor to reply and was already running into the alley, disappearing into it. Rhenor cursed under his breath, dashing after him, hoping that Kaz wouldn't get killed before he caught up. That thought just made his heart beat harder as he pushed himself to run faster, already taking his bow into his hand.

And then he finally got to the end of the alley, finding himself in front of the house of the richest resident. But Rhenor barely noticed that. All he could see was a massive panther, taller than Rhenor, backing Kaz against the wall of a nearby house.

Kaz himself was just staring at the cat, looking terrified as he held his arms in front of his face as if that would protect him from the deadly claws and teeth. And Rhenor didn't even think about it. He was already aiming an arrow at the beast's head.

"No, don't!" Kaz yelled at him, but it was already too late. The arrow was flying right at its mark, and it would have hit the cat directly in its brain if not for Kaz's yelling. At the last moment, the panther moved its head, making the arrow only pierce its ear instead, and with a pained cry, the panther jumped away and vanished in the darkness of another alley.

Rhenor didn't care about that, though. He ran right to Kaz, grabbing his shoulders to steady him and checking him over. Aside from being a shaking mess from the fear of almost being eaten by an insanely large cat, the other man seemed unscathed.

"What in Andor's name were you thinking, Kaz?" he snapped at him.

Kaz grimaced guiltily. "Sorry. I didn't think they would be so...unfriendly towards me."

Rhen blinked at him, his anger dissipating somewhat to be replaced by confused. "What do you mean 'they'? Who is 'they'?"

"The panther!" Kaz made some vague, flailing gestures with his arms. "I...I think I might have an idea of what it is now."

Kaz swallowed, staying silent for far too long for Rhen to stay patient.

"Well? What is it?"

"I don't think it's a beastat all." Kaz looked Rhen straight in the eye, somewhere between scared andutterly fascinated. "I think.... I think it's a druid."