Rhenor could stare as one of the guards barked at them to surrender. The crew people had all woken up by now and were now in a rush to get weapons, but they didn't need them. Rhen and the others only had the blowgun, and that was it. And there were far too many people against them here to utilize it. Arion probably wouldn't even manage to use a single dart before the guards reached them.

The leader of the guards yelled something else at them, but Rhenor could barely hear him. Dread and defeat spread through his heart as it truly sunk in that they had failed, and that they would be executed now.

They'd done everything right. Right before the guards had been summoned, he could swear he'd heard the guard and sailor still talking, so they clearly hadn't noticed that one of their people had been knocked unconscious.

Had this been a trap all along after all? But then why even let them almost get away with it? They had been so close to making it. With the sailors, there were nine people against them. Maybe if they somehow managed to strike all at once, they could surprise the guards and push past them. They couldn't swim in the heavy armor they wore.

But at the same time, Rhenor realized that they were more than likely to meet their ends at the tip of the guards' swords instead of getting back up on board the ship and jumping into the ocean.

"Take off those backpacks and put your hands where I can see them," the leader commanded, but no one moved. Rhenor wasn't even doing it on purpose. He was simply too stunned for the moment to comply.

The leader's sword, now drawn and pointed towards him, did help him get over that, however. The bag felt heavy on his back as he reached for the straps, about to do as he was told simply out of survival instinct, even though he knew he was more than likely to be killed for this.

But before he could even begin to pull the straps off his shoulders, there was the sound of an exaggerated cough behind the guards, who automatically turned around in surprise. And once again Rhenor could only stare in shock, his mouth hanging open as his eyes fell on the newcomer.

"Kaz?" Rhenor couldn't help but whisper, completely flabbergasted. What was he doing here? He would get killed along with them.

However, be Rhenor could yell at him to run, no matter how pointless it would now, Rhenor noticed a change in Kaz. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, drawn to his full height, his head held high in an almost arrogant stance, which Rhen had never seen from him before. And the leather cord he wore around his head was gone, his hair tucked behind his ears instead.

"I see the security in Sigallah is in as sorry a state as the King feared," Kaz said, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked from one guard to the next. He sounded so painfully superior with every word he uttered that it was making Rhen uncomfortable.

But most of all he felt incredibly confused by whatever was going on.

"Who are you? Speak before I have you dragged to the dungeons!" the leader snapped at him, turning his full attention to Kaz. Rhenor expected Kaz to panic, as he normally would have, but Kaz just put on a sneer, walking up to the leader.

"Lord Kazterrak lir Aztranno."

Rhenor heard his heart beating in his ears, somehow much more intensely than when they'd been caught in the act by the guards. Now that Kaz was closer, Rhenor could see his ears well enough to notice their pointed shape.

So that was why he'd always kept them hidden. Rhen hadn't even thought to question it, and now he felt like an utter fool. Kaz was a dragon. And not just a dragon—a Lord.

Rhenor felt like he was going to be sick.

"O-oh." The leader sounded horrified. "I.... I apologize, my Lord. I didn't recognize...."

"I needed to blend in to see for myself how easily thieves operate right under your noses." Kaz glared at him. "Are you suggesting dragons don't have perfect control over their physical forms?"

The leader quickly shook his head, keeping it down. "No, of course not."

Rhenor couldn't watch this, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from it either. It was too awful not to gawk at. Not for one second did he think that Kaz wasn't lying about all of this because none of it was making any sense. But he wasn't lying about what he truly was. Not anymore, anyway.

A dragon. It explained so many things Rhenor hadn't stopped to think about, but he hadn't even come close to suspecting it. Partly because he'd always heard about dragons in their humanoid forms having horns, scales, unnaturally colored eyes, and long, pointed ears, and from Rhenor's point of view, Kaz had had none of that until now. But the thing that made this hard to accept was just who Kaz was.

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Because Kaz wasn't this lordly persona, thinking he was above everyone and everything. His heart was good—until now Rhenor had known that with absolute certainty. And even now, that remained mostly unscathed. Though it was shaken, much like Rhenor was.

He watched, unable to say or do anything as Kaz pushed past the guards and stepped towards the four of them, giving Rhen a quick, but incredibly guilty grimace. His eyes were so pained and regretful, and it shook Rhenor to his core, even more than the revelation about Kaz's true nature.

That look was gone almost immediately though as Kaz turned to the guards again. "I was sent here because the King was concerned his taxes might be in danger of getting stolen, and he didn't trust a human to take care of this. Clearly, that concern was well-founded."

Kaz was now standing between them and the guards, which he'd clearly done on purpose, but Rhenor had no idea what he wanted to do here.

"But, Sire, we captured them," the leader of the guards argued, narrowing his eyes at Kaz. He must have gotten over his fear of being executed for disrespecting him.

"Yes, at the last possible moment," Kaz replied darkly, taking a step forward, to which everyone responded by flinching. "Do you think that is a satisfying performance? If it hadn't been for one drunken sailor returning to the ship, these thieves would have been gone by now, never to be seen again!"

So their failure was simply a case of terrible luck. That was somehow worse than simply being betrayed or led into a trap.

"I will take these thieves prisoner and bring them to Reighir, where they will face the wrath of the Dragon King."

Oh, so that was Kaz's plan. He was going to pretend to capture them, get them out of the city, and then free them. But Rhen couldn't be sure this was the actual plan. As much as it hurt to think about it, Rhenor couldn't be sure about anything concerning Kaz anymore.

"Sire, I must protest," the guard argued.

"You dare question me?" Either Rhen was hearing things or Kaz's voice turned nervous for a split second.

"Yes, because I am ordered to," the leader said, sighing. "The King requires it. I need to verify your claims before I can allow you to do something as serious as taking our prisoners."

Kaz took another step towards him, presumably glaring at him, though Rhen couldn't see it from his field of vision. What he could see was the overdramatic way Kaz pointed at his ears. "Is this not proof enough for you, guard?"

"We've been notified about dragons betraying the King. So no, it is not enough."

For the first time, Rhen looked away from Kaz, only to stare in shock at the guard. Some dragons have betrayed their King? This was news to him.

Neither the crew nor the guards moved, though they raised their weapons a little, clearly unsure of what they should do but unwilling to just let Kaz get what he wanted without their leader's permission.

"I'm sorry about this, then," Kaz said in his usual, much more sincere tone. Rhenor almost expected Kaz to turn into a dragon, then. But he didn't. Instead, he yelled a few words Rhenor couldn't understand. Immediately, Rhenor flinched as the lanterns closest to them exploded, a line of fire spreading across the floor of the cargo hold, putting a wall between them and the guards.

Kaz swirled around, muttering something else as his pupils took on a horrible, thin, reptilian shape, his eyes glowing with red-brown light. He stretched his arm out towards the wooden wall behind them, making flame consume it in a deliberate, unnatural way.

In an instant, not even the metal lining the inside of the ship's hull managed to withstand the heat and melted away, letting the flames carve out a path out of the ship.

Rhenor quickly looked back at Kaz, barely able to see more than his silhouette through the smoke and flame. The heat was getting difficult to bear, and the air burned in his lungs as he coughed.

"Go! Run!" Kaz yelled at them, falling onto one knee. Rhenor didn't move, not until he knew for sure Kaz would escape as well, but before he could, Elaya grabbed his arm and forced him out of the ship. Rhenor gasped as he found himself submerged in the cold waters of the ocean once more, only giving himself a second to take a deep breath before looking back. But he couldn't see anything through the smoke coming from the large hole in the ship.

He did know one thing, though—Kaz wasn't joining them. He looked towards the pier when he heard voices, spotting a group of guards about to climb onto the ship.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!" Elaya shouted at him over all the surrounding noise.

"But Kaz—"

"He gave us a chance to save ourselves. Let's not waste it. We'll return the favor, but we can't help him right now. We're outnumbered."

Rhenor wanted to argue, but when he saw the heartbroken look in Elaya's eyes, a stark contrast against her composed tone of voice, he gave in, swimming faster than he ever had in his life to get to the cave before the guards could spot them. She was right, there wasn't anything they could do.

His lungs burned as he struggled to find the opening in the rock wall, coughing hard when he finally made it to the cave and took in deep and long breaths. For a second all he did was hold onto the rock floor of the cave after successfully crawling on top of it, trying to get his breathing under control and not lose his mind over what had just happened. And he could tell Arion, Serina, and Elaya weren't in a much better shape after all of this, either.

They just stayed silent for a moment, aside from their loud breathing—too loud in the small cave—trying to recover while the city guard no doubt looked for them.

Rhenor had no idea what to do with any of the information he'd learned a moment ago, but none of it truly mattered to him at the moment. Kaz may have been a dragon, he may have been one of the Lords, but by Hermea they were going to rescue him from whatever prison or dungeon the guards were dragging him to right now.

What happened after that was up for debate, given that whenever Rhen thought about it for even a second, he was overtaken with an overwhelming sense of betrayal, hurt, and anger. But that didn't matter until they found and rescued Kaz.

"We'll get him back," Elaya told him as she offered him a hand and helped him sit up. Rhenor gave a determined nod, gritting his teeth.

Yes. Yes, they would. And Rhenor didn't care what it took to do so.