Rhenor couldn't help but constantly look over his shoulder as they made their way up the secret tunnel, expecting an enemy to attack them from behind. The tunnel itself was surprisingly well made, with the walls and floor made of evenly stacked cobblestone. There were even hooks for torches, though there weren't any there, let alone lit ones.
That was one of the many reasons Rhen couldn't help but feel unnerved. There was absolute silence, save for their footsteps, and everything only a few feet away was pitch black. The only reason they could see at least the little they could was due to the glowing algae, which Elaya had brought with her. In other words, there could be a dragon waiting for them up ahead, and they wouldn't know.
And he could tell Elaya was having similar thoughts based on how she kept her hand on the dagger hanging from her belt. Rhenor had no idea how long they'd been walking through this corridor, but it felt like far too long.
He was paying so much attention to what was happening—or not happening—behind them that he almost flinched when they climbed a set of stairs and found themselves in front of a fake wall. Or at least he hoped it was fake because the escape tunnel ended there, and there was nowhere else to go.
Elaya gave him an unsure look, touching the wall. Rhenor did the same. It felt the same as all the other walls they'd walked past before, but he knew it was different. It had to be.
He put his shoulder against the stones, pushing at it with all of his strength, but it didn't budge. But he supposed that made sense. If these were escape tunnels, then surely if this was a door, it would open towards them. If there was no way of opening it from this side, Rhenor would get very angry.
He ran his hands over the whole wall, hoping to find something using touch that he couldn't with his eyes in the darkness. The vial of algae Elaya was now wearing as a necklace helped light up parts of the wall, but the light blocked out some other parts, which made it both beneficial and a problem. But Rhenor would take it over the complete darkness there would be otherwise.
Suddenly his hand came in contact with something colder than the stones making up the wall, all the way at the left edge of the wall. A metal handle, it had to be. He gripped it, smiling to himself a little. Now he just hoped they would be able to open it and it wasn't locked somehow. Though Rhenor had no idea how that would be possible with an actual wall, he wouldn't put it past the dragons to lock their escape routes.
He pulled on it, trying to get the wall to move, which it did with surprising ease. There must have been some kind of mechanism to make it easier to use. He immediately stopped, though, grimacing at the grinding noise of stone rubbing against stone moving the wall produced. They needed to be smart about this and not just open the door without thinking. At least there had been no one close enough to notice the wall moving because they surely would have already tried opening it to see what was going on, otherwise.
"We need to see if we can somehow make sure there's no one on the other side," Rhenor whispered to Elaya. That was easier said than done, however. There was no opening this door inconspicuously.
"Let's open it just a little," Elaya suggested. Though Rhen was sure she only said that to get things moving. They might as well pull the wall open the whole way since it would bring the same amount of attention.
But since Rhenor had no better idea, he did as he was told, grasping the handle again and pulling at it, bringing with it the rumbling of stone again. He sincerely hoped it wasn't as loud as it seemed to him due to how quiet the escape tunnel was.
He blinked as light blinded him for a second as a small gap appeared between the fake wall and the castle's interior. He held his breath as he pushed himself against the wall, trying to see as much as he could through the tiny crack.
There wasn't much to see aside from a painting he couldn't fully make out. There was no sign of movement, however. That was good, even though it would hardly make Rhenor lower his guard. They were about to infiltrate a castle. There would be no coming back from this if they failed.
He pushed the door open a bit more to give himself a better look, but still nothing happened, and nothing moved. He could now see the painting fully, noting that it was of a red dragon on top of a mountain, roaring. He wondered if that was just a tasteless decoration, or if this was the dragon who lived here, or perhaps a relative.
It also made Rhenor wonder about what Kaz really looked like. Imagining it made Rhen incredibly uncomfortable, and he was not prepared to see it, but still, he couldn't help but imagine it.
Finally deciding to take the leap, Rhenor pulled the fake wall open as much as he needed to for them to get inside the castle and squeezed through between the walls. He looked to the left and to the right, seeing a long corridor with a scarlet rug. The painting wasn't the only one either, with many more lining the walls.
But most importantly, there were no guards or anyone else in sight. He had to admit he was having trouble believing that this corridor was anywhere near the dungeons if it looked like this, but at least they had gotten inside the castle without any major problems.
He looked back when he heard Elaya pull the fake wall closed again, noting that on this side it was white and even, and it fit perfectly, aside from an incredibly thin line of the divide that most everyone would miss without knowing about this secret passageway.
Elaya shrugged at him after she also took a glance around, so Rhenor decided to go with his instinct and chose to go left. There was nothing to indicate that they were going the wrong way, which was unfortunate but nothing he would let daunt him.
Once they reached the end, he looked around, grateful that there was only one way to go so he walked around the corner, walking while trying to be as quiet as possible so he would hear anything and everything. He was glad that everything was silent, but he almost wished it wasn't. At least it would direct them somewhat.
Rhenor gritted his teeth, trying to calm down as being here was making him more than a little on edge. They just needed to keep going and pray to whichever god was still listening that they would manage to find the dungeons without being discovered.
And it seemed luck was on their side because a corridor later, he finally heard distant voices. Mocking, cruel voices, coming from down the corridor, where a set of stairs led the gods knew where.
Rhenor crept towards them, taking a closer look. The stairs seemed unassuming enough, and Rhen immediately grew doubtful that what he was hearing was going to help them, but then he heard a pained cry. And he knew it because he'd heard it more than once before.
What were those bastards doing to Kaz? Rhenor was rushing down the set of stairs before he even thought about it, but before he could reach the bottom, Elaya stopped him by grabbing his arm. He was about to snap at her, but then he came to his senses. Of course, they couldn't just run in. He nodded, trying to ignore what he was hearing. At least he couldn't make out what exactly they were saying. It would no doubt make him lose his head again.
They made their way down the stairs as fast as they could while also not being loud enough to betray their location. But it was hard to not speed up when Rhenor kept hearing Kaz make noises of pain, this time quieter, but somehow more enraging.
And now Rhenor could also hear the men mocking him.
"You dragons keep going on about how much better you are than us," one of the men sneered. "But with your wings clipped...."
Rhenor gritted his teeth as Kaz let out another cry, even while guilt spread through his heart. That almost sounded like something Rhen would think and say as well, but he couldn't let that distract him right now. He just knew one thing—those bastards weren't going to get away with this.
And he could tell Elaya was having similar thoughts if her angry scowl was anything to go by.
He was sure they were almost to the dungeons based on how close the voices were now, but before they could reach them, the guards spoke again.
"Come on, your lordship, move!" one of them barked at Kaz, laughing as he presumably started dragging him away, judging by the frantic jiggling of chains and the small grunt that followed. Rhenor felt his heart skip a beat as he froze mid-step, but then he realized they weren't leading Kaz towards them, but somewhere else.
Rhenor rushed down the remaining set of stairs, finally reaching the dungeon. The place was about as dark and unpleasant as he'd thought, but at least the cells were empty. Either because the people of Sigallah didn't tend to stir up trouble, or because one had to do something significantly illegal to end up here.
He quickly noticed that one of the cells was occupied. Nova, it had to be. She was unconscious, but she seemed to be alive.
Dammit. They couldn't leave her here, but they needed to get Kaz first.
"We'll come back for her," Elaya said with a steely tone. Rhenor hoped they would manage it.
They snuck through the other exit and did their best to catch up with the guards. Rhenor wasn't sure what he would do after they managed that—he didn't fancy the idea of killing them, though they would deserve it for tormenting Kaz like that—but a large part of it was just his need to see Kaz again.
Unfortunately, they weren't given enough time to catch up so they could attack because they couldn't walk as fast and still avoid being discovered. Rhenor only caught a brief glimpse of Kaz being dragged inside what seemed to be a throne room before they disappeared out of sight.
Rhenor quietly crept up to the large, wide-open door, trying to take a peek inside without being seen. The sight of the dark-haired, horned woman currently threatening Kaz with a knife was enough to unnerve him. At least she looked more like what Rhen had been expecting a dragon to look like.
"Are you feeling better, cousin?" the dragon sneered, making Rhenor swallow. She and Kaz were related? He wondered if that meant anything. Seeing that evil, mad spark in her eyes, he hoped it didn't.
"I won't tell you anything," Kaz replied. His voice was surprisingly composed and steady for who knew how much torture he'd gone through while imprisoned here. Rhen could see cuts on his arms from here. He ground his teeth. Kaz's cousin was going to pay for that.
As if sensing this, Elaya pulled him back so he couldn't see the scene anymore.
"We can't fight a dragon," she whispered sternly, giving him a serious look. On a rational level, Rhenor realized that, but he truly wanted to stab the dragon with her own knife. Elaya sighed, shaking her head. "We can either sit here and hope they'll bring Kaz back eventually, or I can use my magic again."
Hearing Kaz moan in pain right after Elaya said this made the decision very easy.
"Okay. I think I can control the metal to free him from here," Elaya whispered, moving closer to the door. "With that collar off he should be able to turn."
Rhenor didn't want to see Kaz like that. He wasn't ready to accept it and be forced to deal with it. But this seemed to be the easiest way of doing this, so he nodded at her. Hopefully, Kaz would manage it, even with the pain he had to be in.
With bated breath he waited for Elaya to do what she'd told him, unable to move as she reached out into the throne room with her arm in a way everyone must have seen. But before they could react to it, Rhenor heard the clanging of metal against the stone floor.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
When Elaya sprung to her feet so did Rhenor, unable not to look at what was about to transpire. Kaz was looking at them with utter shock, as was the other dragon and the guards. No one moved for a moment. It felt like time froze as Rhenor couldn't do anything except stare at Kaz, whose eyes were now filled with horror.
And then Kaz's body started shifting into his true form. It must have taken three seconds at most for the full transformation to happen, but for Rhenor, time slowed down, and he could see all of it with far too much clarity. The way Kaz's face became angled and his skin darkened, the horns that grew out of his head as his hair disappeared, the two huge wings that sprung from his back, the long tail that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and the sound of tearing fabric as his body became far too large and sharp for the clothes to withstand it.
Before Rhenor could even take the full image of Kaz as a dragon in he was being pulled along by Elaya, as behind them Kaz threw the guards and fellow dragon away with his tail and ran out of the room, making the ground shake with every step. Rhenor wanted to protest, even though technically being chased by a predator this large was triggering some primal fear within him, but he quickly realized why Elaya was running so fast as Kaz crashed through the wall, making rubble fall all around them.
No wonder he hadn't done this on that ship. He'd probably sink it just by changing into this.
"We need to save Nova!" Elaya cried as she continued running, clearly much less unnerved by Kaz's new form and the way he tended to damage the walls and ceiling. Kaz just nodded with his huge head as he continued running, apparently already knowing who Nova was.
When they reached the dungeons, Kaz couldn't get inside without destroying the entire room, so he waited outside, visibly nervous as he kept shifting his weight. As Elaya started unlocking the door to the cell, Rhenor finally took a better look at Kaz.
The dragon was very deliberately avoiding Rhen's gaze, but the thing that really stood out to Rhenor was how he was avoiding leaning on his front legs too much. He couldn't see any wounds through the black scales, but they must have been there, transferred to this form as well. Rhenor wished he could try to help him with them, if only just to clean and dress them, but they had no time.
Once Elaya managed to get Nova out of her cell, still unconscious, Rhenor helped carry her to Kaz who lied down to give them access to his back. There seemed to be a lot of space for him to carry all three of them, while at the same time they wouldn't have to worry about limiting his wings in any way. Rhen did his best not to stare at any part of Kaz as they put Nova on his back.
"I'll...." Kaz's voice rumbled and reverberated off the walls, almost making Rhen flinch. But it still sounded like him. That was a relief at least. "I'll need to make a hole in the wall to get us out."
Elaya just patted his back, which was much more than Rhen could manage right now, and without another comment Kaz approached the wall at the end of the hallway, crashing his head into it after a moment of hesitation.
To Rhenor's shock, it managed to produce a large hole in the wall of the castle, letting sunlight through. He and Elaya ran after Kaz as the dragon continued breaking through the thick castle wall, the large pieces of sandstone falling to the ground with loud crashes.
With a little more scratching with his mighty claws, Kaz finally produced a hole large enough for him to get through and he lowered himself to the ground again, looking a little woozy. Rhenor wasn't surprised—Kaz had smashed his head into a wall.
Despite his instincts telling him to run, Rhenor climbed onto Kaz's scaly back, trying not to wince at how sharp the scales were as he pulled Nova up and grabbed onto her waist, so she didn't fall off. Elaya quickly joined him, sitting behind him.
From here Rhen could easily see the alarming number of guards and soldiers marching towards the castle. He hadn't been expecting that, but it didn't matter now. They needed to go.
Kaz threw a quick look at all of them, though he was still avoiding looking Rhen in the eye, and then squeezed himself through the new exit he'd created, jumping out as he stretched out his massive wings, beating them with clear effort. Rhenor truly thought they were going to crash for a second, the grassy ground getting closer and closer, but at the last moment, Kaz managed to get himself airborne and was flying away with such force that Rhen thought he'd fall off.
Rhen looked down at the soldiers, though doing so was making him queasy, his eyes widening. A group of archers was preparing to shoot at them. Rhen tried to warn Kaz, but before he could say anything, the arrows were already flying.
Kaz had apparently noticed them as well, though, and just about avoided them, flying even faster. They were almost out of range when another arrow flew past them. But unfortunately, this one found its mark.
There was a short but loud cry from Kaz as it pierced his wing. Rhenor stared at it in horror, seeing the vibrant red blood start flowing out of the hole in the bronze, rough membrane stretched between Kaz's wing bones.
Rhen heard Elaya call Kaz's name in concern, but Kaz just shook his head, continuing to fly them to safety. As they escaped the castle and the vicinity of Sigallah, Rhenor found himself running his hand over the sharp scales of Kaz's neck. He didn't know if Kaz could feel it, but it was somehow helping him cope with the insane reality he had found himself in.
Kaz didn't fly too far before landing on a mountain range, though it had been very far if it had been traversed on foot. Dragons seemed to be much faster than Rhenor had thought.
Had Kaz been unbelievably bored when traveling to Sigallah? He'd never seemed that way, but it must have been awful for him. Rhen sighed. They had a lot to talk about, but he would need to get the most obvious problem out of the way—convincing Kaz that he didn't hate him.
When Kaz lowered himself to the ground again Elaya immediately rushed to take care of the arrow while Rhenor jumped off and pulled Nova down, propping her up against a tree. Hopefully, she would wake up soon, though she seemed to be in a bad state.
He immediately turned around when he heard Kaz whimper. His enormous eyes were squeezed shut and he was partly covering himself with his uninjured wing.
"Just a little bit more, Kaz," Elaya whispered to him loudly enough that Rhen could hear it too. His heart clenched as Kaz curled in on himself more. A dragon's wings must have been very sensitive.
Rhenor finally had the time to fully look at Kaz. When he managed to force himself to separate Kaz from the other dragons when he looked like this, he couldn't help but describe him as magnificent, though still slightly terrifying. His scales shone like obsidian mixed with gold, his head horns, while fearsome, looked almost elegant the way they curled around his head, and the long, pointed ears looked almost cute if Rhen was a person who could say that word sincerely.
Without really meaning to, Rhenor found himself walking closer to Kaz and putting a hand on his forehead, touching the line of relatively small, hard nubs that slowly became larger and larger until they turned into proper horns behind Kaz's head.
He tried not to flinch when one of the huge eyes opened, staring directly at him. And he couldn't look away. It was larger than his palm combined, and incredibly reptilian, with its thin, long pupil. But the color was the same optimistic brown he'd come to know.
Suddenly Kaz looked away, down at the ground, clear sadness in his eyes as Elaya finally pulled out the arrow. Rhenor watched her come up to Kaz's head and hug him around the neck tightly, not letting go for several seconds. As if they'd done this many times before. Maybe they had. Maybe they'd gone on flights every once in a while or gone on trips together with Kaz flying them somewhere much farther than they could ever get on foot or horseback.
He felt jealousy stir within him, but he quickly shook it off given how ridiculous it was and went to hug Kaz too. He was too relieved that they were all okay and safe for the moment that Rhen didn't truly care that Kaz was bigger than usual, to say the least.
Kaz made a confused sound, blinking at Rhen before separating himself and backing away a little, covering as much of himself as he could with his wings. "What were you thinking coming to Zriannis' castle to rescue me?"
Rhenor would feel offended, if not for the miserable tone and the way Kaz kept his head and gaze down.
"It was too dangerous. A-and an awful idea. And—"
"Kaz," Elaya stopped him, folding her arms in a firm, yet still gentle way. "You didn't truly think we'd leave you behind, did you?"
Kaz's eyes drifted to Rhen, who swallowed. Kaz didn't say anything, but the implication was very clear. Rhenor rubbed his eyes. By Hermea, had Kaz truly thought he'd leave him there?
"Of course, we couldn't leave you," Rhenor finally said, taking a few steps towards Kaz. The dragon didn't move, but he was still doing his best to avoid Rhen's gaze.
"I know you may think I...have issues with you being a dragon." Rhenor was already regretting saying this, and he knew the whole discussion was going to be awful, but this needed to be said, so he needed to keep going. "It will certainly take some getting used to, but I.... I understand why you didn't tell me."
Kaz looked like he wanted to argue, most likely to blame himself, but Rhenor didn't let him say it. "I'm not angry with you. I'm just glad you're okay."
Rhenor put his hands on the sides of Kaz's massive head, which was thankfully enough to look him in the eye because Rhenor wasn't strong enough to move Kaz's head in any way. It was a bit ridiculous in general given that if he wanted to, Kaz could swat him away like a fly, but he was glad that wasn't happening. The longer they stared at each other, though, the more it looked like Kaz was going to cry as his eyes turned glassy.
"I'm sorry."
Despite his size, Kaz looked about the saddest and most vulnerable Rhen had ever seen him. He wished he could hug him properly, but Kaz was just far too large for that right now, so Rhen settled on putting his hand on the dragon's forehead again. Kaz hummed, closing his eyes, but this time not in a miserable way, so that was at least something.
"I forgive you." He'd said it mostly because Kaz wanted to hear it, not because Rhenor thought he had anything to apologize for, but it did seem to make Kaz happier judging by how he put his wings away, just a little.
"It's...regretful that you have to see me this way," Kaz continued, sitting down and curling his long tail around a nearby tree. Rhenor wondered if that was a nervous instinct. "But I can't change. They'll find us if I do, since it's magic use, technically."
Yes, that was something Rhen wasn't exactly comfortable with still. But he would have to put up with it until he did get used to it. Even after Kaz changed back, this wouldn't go away. This just was who Kaz was. If he couldn't handle it, Rhen would have to leave. And that sounded like the much worse option.
He wasn't sure how to express this in words, so he just did what Elaya had done earlier and wrapped his arms around the dragon's thick neck. Kaz made another noise of surprise, which was much louder than usual when he was like this. It was strangely endearing to see such a great, massive beast behave like the awkward yet charming scholar he'd come to know.
"So.... You really don't hate me?" Kaz whispered to him, sounding like he couldn't believe it. Rhenor swallowed thickly as his stomach twisted and just held onto his neck tighter, ignoring how the sharp scales pressed into his arms.
"Of course I don't, Kaz," he whispered back to him, directly in his large, pointy ear. It was scaly too, though the scales on it were small and delicate. Rhenor resisted the urge to run a finger over them. "In fact I.... I have a great fondness for you."
Kaz pulled away to stare him straight in the eye, something like a tearful smile on his face. It was strange how expressive he was even like this. And then he pressed his snout to Rhen's chest, humming and closing his eyes. His wings were now easily folded on his back, his whole stance much less rigid, which also made Rhenor relax. He finally seemed to have convinced Kaz at least a little.
"I also have a great fondness for you," Kaz muttered. Even though it wasn't visible due to having black scales over his face now, Rhenor could tell he was blushing.
He ran a hand over Kaz's neck carefully, smiling slightly at the rumbling in his throat. His heart finally felt a little lighter, even though they were not nearly done talking things through. But this was a start.
He frowned when he heard soft talking from behind him and turned around. He blinked when he saw Elaya crouched next to Nova, who was now drinking eagerly from a waterskin Elaya must have given her.
Kaz gave him a look before walking over to her carefully to avoid shaking the ground, and so Rhenor joined him, watching the sun dance over his shiny scales. It was strangely mesmerizing.
Nova coughed when they approached her, giving Kaz an amused look. "Somehow you still look incredibly unthreatening for a dragon, even like this."
Rhenor scowled. He knew this was meant as a joke, but there was no need to mock Kaz. He had a feeling Kaz had been told similar things without the humor many times before.
"Thank you for freeing me from Grrikari's clutches," she continued, looking at all of them. She dragged herself up to her feet, which Rhenor found impressive. He'd not expected that with how thin and exhausted she looked. Nothing a few weeks of proper food and rest wouldn't fix, though. "I truly thought I would die in that cell. Though now I'm not sure what to do next."
Rhenor, Kaz, and Elaya exchanged looks before Elaya spoke. "Um, perhaps you could come with us?"
Rhenor didn't like that idea. There were only so many people he could handle being around him for longer periods of time, but given how selfish that was, he wasn't going to say anything. Although, where were they going to go, now that it had been brought up? Was there any place in the kingdom that would be safe for them right now?
"We need to leave Istamid," Kaz said, lowering his head sadly. "There is no safe place that I know of for me to transform back without luring the King's army to us."
"I agree." Elaya grimaced as she said this, clearly unhappy with the development. Rhenor wasn't sure what to think. It made sense, but he'd never been outside of the kingdom. Not even outside of this region. The idea of leaving the borders was intimidating to him. "We can then get back by ship, but we can't be around here with Kaz like this. He's too noticeable."
Kaz sighed quietly, though given his size it was relatively loud anyway.
"Thank you for the offer," Nova said before Rhen got the opportunity to comfort Kaz. "But I don't think I have to go quite that far. And I am not done doing my part to undermine the dragons' rule. I simply meant that I'm not sure where exactly to go."
There was silence for a moment. Rhenor certainly had no idea what to suggest given his very limited knowledge. Thankfully Elaya spoke again.
"Well, there is a group in Reighir who could use your talents."
Rhenor frowned at her. There was a group of rebels in the Capital itself? How would that even work? It did give him hope to hear that, however. Rhenor would stay away from directly fighting the dragons for a while, given what had happened, especially because he'd done it partly just to spite Kaz, which in hindsight had been incredibly petty and idiotic, but Rhen wasn't done. Not by a long shot.
"Truly?" Nova smiled a little, running a hand through her hair. "Intriguing. Then perhaps I should come see them." Her eyes widened as she stumbled a little in place and put a hand on her forehead. "Um, and perhaps if I could ask for transportation closer to the city?"
Kaz looked a bit unsure, most likely unhappy with the idea of flying anywhere close to Reighir, but then gave a nod. As long as it wasn't too close, Rhen supposed there would hopefully be no problems.
Hopefully.