"What do you mean a druid? Druids are a legend," Rhenor argued. Even he'd heard about them—human mages who were one with the forces of magic, more powerful than anyone else, capable of doing practically anything from bringing people back from the dead to turning worthless things to precious gems and metals. It always changed based on the tale that was being told, and that only served to support his theory that they were nothing more than a fantasy. They were too good to be true. It was just a story to make the dragons seem less impossible to defeat, to give humans hope. And that was all they were.

"All legends have a bit of truth to them," Kaz said quickly and impatiently. "Druids are the only beings I've read about that can turn into animals, and that panther's eyes looked far too intelligent for a simple beast." Then without warning he grabbed Rhenor's hand. "Now come on, we need to go after it, them, whoever."

Rhenor found himself being pulled along as Kaz started running. He would have pulled his hand out of Kaz's grip, but he also may have liked it, so he just let it be under the guise of forgetting himself during the perilous situation. And anyway, it was Kaz who'd grabbed his hand first.

"And what exactly are we going to do if we find the thing?" Rhenor asked, strengthening his hold on his bow.

"We try to reason with them, of course."

Oh, of course, yes, that made perfect sense. Reason with a huge, magical cat that had just almost killed Kaz, and was most definitely furious with Rhen for shooting its ear.

"If they are a druid, they must have some reason for breaking into these people's homes every night," Kaz continued, his voice getting far too excited after having almost died. "We can help them and put a stop to it."

Something told Rhenor that it wasn't going to be that easy, but he kept that to himself for now. It wouldn't deter Kaz from running headfirst into danger, anyway, so what was the point?

Soon they were outside the village and running towards the thick forest behind it, though Rhenor had no idea how Kaz could possibly know where to go. Rhen couldn't hear anything, nor could he see the cat anywhere. He was about to say as much and stop Kaz from going farther, but then Kaz himself came to halt.

He let go of Rhenor's hand, which was disappointing but definitely not what he should be focusing on right now. Rhen watched as Kaz grabbed at his hair and stared off at the forest.

"Dammit, I lost them."

He sounded so disappointed by that. As if the panther hadn't almost killed him a moment ago. Kaz seemed to lack a sense of self-preservation, and it was concerning.

"I suppose we'll have to stay until tomorrow," Kaz added, sighing. While Rhenor had no problem with staying, he also knew that Kaz most definitely did, so he felt a sudden urge to comfort him somehow.

"Well, maybe we don't have to take it upon ourselves to figure out whatever is going on here," he suggested, which made Kaz whirl around and stare at him with wide eyes.

"No, we can't do that!" Kaz then ducked his head as his face turned a shade darker. "Um, I mean that someone could get hurt."

Rhenor shook his head. "You want to find out if this really is a druid, don't you?"

He was not prepared for the huge, pleading eyes Kaz gave him then. Nor had he been expecting him to practically start vibrating with excitement. Rhenor rubbed his eyes, sighing. It was a good thing he didn't truly care about whether they stayed or continued on their journey because there was no way he could say no to Kaz when he was like this.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Kaz began raving as he once again started pacing around. He was gesturing wildly as he spoke, which made it almost enthralling to watch him. "I didn't even think druids were real, but now I'm thinking they might be, and I feel like I will forever regret it if I never find out for sure. But if we don't leave and stay another day, we might be too late to meet with Elaya."

Kaz was sounding almost panicked now, so clearly it was time to step in. Rhenor slung his bow over his shoulder and grabbed Kaz's arms, which at least stopped him from pacing, but he didn't look much calmer.

"Relax. We have plenty of time."

Rhenor wished he could come up with something more comforting during moments like this. Thankfully, Kaz didn't seem to mind as he took in a few deep breaths to calm down.

"Sorry. Rationally, I know that, but I just get worried over everything." Kaz looked down as he said this, his face full of remorse and embarrassment. Rhenor was pulling him into a hug before he even thought about it. Kaz seemed to appreciate it a lot, at least, as he hugged tightly back.

Kaz pulled away first, scratching the back of his neck and still looking anywhere but at Rhenor. His face was red, and Rhenor highly doubted it was from the cold.

"T-thank you." Rhenor smiled at him, which just made Kaz's face turn a shade darker. But at least now he was maintaining eye contact. "How are you always so calm?"

"I'm not. I just get nervous over different things."

Such as standing outside at night, near a forest, which a huge, magical panther had just disappeared into and could potentially attack them at any moment without either of them reacting in time.

"I've never seen you get nervous," Kaz argued, sounding glum. As if the idea that Rhenor might not have felt nervous before upset him. Rhen knew that wasn't the actual reason, but it was amusing to see it that way.

"Magic makes me nervous." Rhenor had no problem admitting that because Kaz must have noticed that by now. And judging by the sad grimace Kaz was now wearing, Rhen had been right.

"Do you want me to get rid of the crystal?"

Rhenor blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. And his instinct was to say yes, but he also knew how mopey Kaz would get afterward. "No, keep it. It's useful."

It felt wrong to say it, but it was true enough, and Kaz looked relieved by his answer. They couldn't carry torches around all the time, and lighting fires also took time to do. The crystal glowed by itself at all times, which was why Kaz kept it in his satchel wrapped up in a cloth. Though when Rhen looked at the bag, in this dark he could see the outline of it glowing.

"So, what do we do now?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Rhenor was about to say that they would have to stay one more day at least when he saw the huge silhouette of a cat on a hill in front of the forest, far enough not to be an immediate threat, but somehow too close not to feel intimidated. Rhenor swallowed at the sight of its blazing eyes staring right at them and tried to push away the urge to take his bow back into his hand.

Rhenor's lack of a reply made Kaz turn around to look as well just in time to see the beast pounce, sprinting towards them with such a speed that neither of them could move in time to avoid it.

It pushed both of them to the ground and roared, before grabbing Kaz by the back of his shirt and cloak with its teeth and hauling him away. Rhenor scrambled to get up as Kaz let out a frightened cry, but even with how fast Rhen had managed to regain his footing, the panther and Kaz were far away now, already entering the forest.

Rhenor bolted, running as fast as he could to try and catch up. He wasn't going to let that cat do whatever it wanted with Kaz. It clearly didn't want to kill him, and the way it grabbed him in a way that wouldn't hurt him really did suggest this wasn't just some abnormally large creature, which could mean it had some plan in mind. Rhenor running after them was most likely a part of it, but that didn't stop him. If this was a trap, so be it—he wasn't going to just let this overgrown cat kidnap Kaz and get away with it.

As he ran inside the forest, he only barely still managed to spot the silhouette of the panther and pushed himself even harder to follow it, but eventually he lost sight of the creature. For a while he kept going in the same direction, calling Kaz's name in the hopes of him making some noise to give Rhenor a direction to go in, but there was no answer.

As he came to a stop, gasping for air and leaning onto a tree, he started to think about what he could possibly do now. He was not nearly ready to give up, but he also had no clues to follow. He strained to listen to the stillness of the forest through the sound of his heart beating rapidly in his ears. But there was nothing aside from an owl hooting.

It seemed there were only two things he could do. Either go deeper into the forest or go back and wait for the cat to reappear and risk it hurting Kaz in the meantime. That last thought made the decision very easy, and so once again Rhen started heading even deeper into the dark woods, this time walking fast instead of outright running. The plants that covered the forest floor made it difficult to run here, anyway.

He kept constantly looking around as he went, even though he couldn't see or hear anything suspicious. But there was magic at play here, and he couldn't let down his guard. If he was going to get attacked by that panther as well, he at least wanted to see it coming.

What he hadn't seen coming, though, was an invisible barrier he ended up walking into. He stumbled back with a surprised cry, holding his aching nose as he frowned at the space in front of him. What in Hermea's name was this?

He reached out, his palm coming in contact with a cold, hard surface that he couldn't see. He blinked, frowning at it harder, but his eyes kept telling him the same thing—there was nothing there. And yet he couldn't get through.

Rhenor tried reaching as low and as high as he could, but the barrier was the same everywhere, it seemed. There was nothing beyond it that looked out of the ordinary—just more of the same forest.

Keeping his hand on the barrier, despite how cold it was even in the icy temperature of the night, Rhen started walking alongside it, looking for where the invisible wall ended. Or if it even ended at any point.

He quickly found out that the barrier curved into a circle, and not a very large circle either. And it also seemed to go through trees and other plants without destroying them. So perhaps it was only keeping out humans? But keeping them out from what?

If they hadn't just gotten attacked by a massive panther, Rhenor wouldn't doubt this was more of the dragons' sorcery. But perhaps if the panther really was a druid, it was possible this was their doing instead.

He jumped when next to him a woman suddenly walked out of the barrier. He hadn't seen her behind the wall at any point, so the part of the forest contained behind it must have been an illusion of some kind.

Rhenor took a few steps back, an arrow already in his hand. The woman didn't look that threatening, though he didn't like how she was hiding her face with her cloak. With how dark it was, Rhenor doubted he would be able to identify her if he saw her during the day, if not for the thin dark lines on her face, which Rhenor assumed were tattoos. But even like this, he could tell she was glaring at him.

He didn't like the look of her staff, either. It didn't look magical, but if it was, he wouldn't be surprised.

"Your friend is in there," she said, pointing at where the barrier was. "And I am not going to let him go until you help me with my task."

Rhenor glared back at her, scoffing. "That was what we wanted to do in the first place."

"You shot me." She touched her ear through her cowl as she said that, grimacing.

So she really was the panther. That was just wonderful. There was no telling what else she could do at all. He wished Kaz was here—he'd probably have a better idea of what a druid was capable of than Rhenor, assuming this really was a druid and not just sort of shapeshifter Kaz hadn't heard of.

"Yes, well, you were about to kill Kaz." Rhenor knew arguing back was not the smartest choice, but he couldn't keep it to himself. He wasn't just going to bow down to this person and not question her.

"I still might if you refuse to help me," she snapped, bringing them back where they started. Perhaps just hearing her out and doing whatever it was she wanted him to do was the best way to go about this since it would hopefully get Kaz out of this faster.

"Fine. What is it you want?"

Clearly pleased with this, the woman relaxed her pose. "There is a magical stone in Frostrun. I have been trying to find it but haven't been successful."

"You don't say."

The woman glared. "It's difficult to look for something while in the form of a giant panther, and I can't risk anyone seeing me."

"And why is that?" Rhenor already had a few theories, from her not wanting the dragons to find her to continuing pretending that druids weren't real. Though now that he thought about it, it was odd that she had managed to use magic without the dragons noticing. Maybe druids knew how to bypass the detection system.

"There is no reason for you to know anything aside from what you're going to do for me."

Rhenor huffed. Of course there wasn't. This kind of attitude was one of the reasons he loathed dragons. Always acting so superior....

"So you want me to go to town and find out who has a magic stone?"

Rhenor really wondered just what the stone was. It had to be important if this woman had gone into so much trouble to try and find it. But she wasn't going to tell him, so there was no point in asking her.

"Yes," she confirmed. "You don't need to know more than that. But you need to hurry. Sooner or later, the dragons will come to take it, I'm sure of that."

This was getting better and better. Thank the gods that Frostrun was a small town because if he were supposed to do something like this in a city like Sigallah, he would never manage it in time.

Rhenor tried not to question this person's original plan to find this stone out loud, though, now that he had been told what had been going on here. However, it was still quite amusing to think about since she had been randomly breaking into houses in the hopes of finding a stone. Rhenor hoped that she could at least somehow find magical objects because if not, this was completely ludicrous.

"Let Kaz go. He can help me find it," Rhenor said instead. This was what Kaz had wanted to do in the first place. Rhen would have been fine with just leaving. Kaz should be taking part.

The woman shook her head. "No, I don't trust you not to leave the moment I release him."

Rhenor sighed. He hadn't done anything to make her distrustful of him. Sure, he'd shot at her, but it was only to defend Kaz, who she'd attacked for no reason. Logically, she had a point, but she was the one being unreasonable here.

"You have my word we won't leave. Kaz is the one who wanted to help you."

"Your word means nothing to me," she replied coldly. Rhenor glared at her. He had never been too preoccupied with his honor, but this was harsh enough to offend even him. "Do what I asked, and I will let him go. If you don't, he will remain trapped here forever."

Rhenor barely managed to keep himself from yelling at her then. Casually threatening him with Kaz's life was far too much for him to not get angry over, but he managed to keep it all in. If she was this unconcerned with Kaz dying, she could also hurt him as revenge for Rhenor disrespecting her, even though she would deserve it.

"Tomorrow night, come to the edge of the forest. With or without the stone," the woman said, turning away and walking towards the barrier. "I want to hear of your progress."

And with that she walked into the invisible wall, disappearing right in front of Rhenor's eyes. And presumably into the place where Kaz was currently held captive. Rhen scowled at the empty space, gritting his teeth.

He'd better get this overwith as soon as possible. And then never get involved in other people's magicalproblems ever again.