It had been a few days, and Kaz was slowly starting to get used to Embertide. Being around so many humans still made him a little nervous, but for the most part, that anxiety was overshadowed by his excitement to see everything the city had to offer. And the fact that nothing bad had happened so far only fueled that desire.

He, Rhen, and Elaya had already tried plenty of the strange, local foods, including but not limited to smoked octopus meat, large, fried beetles whose name Kaz had not managed to catch, and a very spicy stew called flamepot. And all of it had been delicious, including the dishes with no meat, which had come as a surprise to Kaz since he, like all dragons, preferred it over everything else.

He would feel a little guilty for using the money Rhenor had made to buy food they didn't strictly need, but to his delight, Rhen was actually very into trying almost everything. He'd refused to even sample the beetles, but Kaz couldn't blame him for that. Even Elaya had been wary of those, and she was usually the first to try new things between the two of them.

Kaz put a card on the pile on the table, hoping that it had been the right move. They'd discovered a card game the day prior, and Rhen and Elaya had really taken a liking to it, already having bought a deck for themselves. Kaz was mostly confused by the whole thing, having not been exposed to practically any card game before now, but he didn't really care about that. It was fun to spend time with his friends, and it was nice to see them getting along.

Elaya had been a bit frustrated with her unsuccessful attempts to find out if there were any advanced users of magic here, but, among other things, playing the card game—which was called Thunderclap for reasons Kaz understood about as well as he understood its rules—distracted her from it.

And he was very glad about that. While it was hard to completely let down his guard, it was nice to just exist in this place and take in the atmosphere, not being worried about someone or something killing him at every step.

"Yes!" Elaya suddenly exclaimed, bringing Kaz from his thoughts. She was grinning at Rhen, pointing at him. "I win."

Rhenor kept his face perfectly neutral, but there was a spark of amusement in his eyes. Kaz tried not to grin. The whole exchange was making him want to laugh.

"This time, yes," Rhen replied, now a small smirk tugging on his lips. "And if I recall, I won the two games before this one."

"Yeah, and Kaz won four, which is the most so far."

Kaz frowned, looking down at the cards remaining in his hand. He had? That couldn't be right. He barely understood what was happening. He'd mostly just joined in to humor them, so this was very strange.

"Your point being? I've still won more times than you did."

Kaz couldn't help but laugh that time. He'd not seen Rhenor playfully teasing anyone before because he was usually serious all the time, so this was a very amusing change. Kaz liked it.

"For now," Elaya said, an eyebrow raised in challenge as she took the cards from Rhenor and Kaz and started shuffling them. She was surprisingly good at that, Kaz noted, given that he didn't think he'd ever seen her even hold cards before.

As she started handing the cards out, though, he stopped her with a smile. "I think I'll go out for a little bit."

Unsurprisingly, this made Elaya frown. She didn't look concerned, though, not exactly. "You've been a bit quiet tonight. Is everything okay?"

Kaz held in a sigh as he got up. He supposed he had been quiet, but he'd just been thinking a lot, that was all. Elaya had no reason to worry. "Yes, of course. I just want to stretch my legs."

And also see the city at night. He'd wanted to do that practically since they'd arrived since in the evening the streets emptied out, and all the lampposts around town were lit, but he hadn't gotten a chance until now. Today had been relatively slow, as they'd decided to mostly stay in their room at the tavern and relax, so Kaz had been hopeful, but they'd always somehow found something else to do or talk about that had distracted him, so it was now or never.

"Want us to go with you?" Rhen offered, already looking like he was about to leave his seat.

Kaz wanted to say yes, but he wouldn't. Rhen and Elaya had been having fun, and he didn't want to interrupt that, so he shook his head. "No, that's all right. I will be right back, anyway."

Confusingly, Rhenor got up despite of what Kaz had said, but before the dragon could ask what he was doing, he leaned in and kissed his cheek. Kaz felt his whole face heat up as a no-doubt dopey grin appeared on his face and his heart gave a stutter.

"Be careful."

"Of course," he forced out, unable to stop smiling as he slipped out of the room.

He wasn't even sure why he'd felt the need to escape so quickly. In fact, he wanted to really kiss Rhen right now, but he supposed he'd have to do that later. Preferably when they and Elaya weren't together. He would hate to make her uncomfortable, though if he thought about it, she was probably much less likely to get uncomfortable in comparison to him. Either way, someone might be made uncomfortable, and that wasn't something Kaz wanted to cause.

He walked down the short flight of stairs and into the main area of the tavern, which was made up of ten tables with chairs, and a kitchen in the corner. It was now surprisingly full, more so than he'd seen so far, with all of the tables having at least one person sitting at them, eating or drinking.

Kaz didn't stay around long enough to look at anyone, though, and he was immediately heading for the door, breathing in the evening air as soon as he was standing outside on the street. The smell of salt was much more noticeable now that the people selling food had packed everything up and left for today. It was so warm, even now that the sun had set and the stars were beginning to peek out. Kaz wondered just how warm it got here during the summer.

Maybe he'd get to find out. Summer wasn't too far away, and Rhen seemed to like being here so far. It wasn't as though they had anywhere else to be, though Kaz was sure Rhen would miss his home eventually. Kaz himself missed it already, though he felt strangely okay with the idea of never returning. He missed a time rather than a place, he supposed. And there was no returning there.

Kaz shook his head, trying to push these thoughts away as he began strolling down the half-empty street. A few vendors were still in the process of packing up their goods, but most of the humans around him, of which there were not many, were normal citizens of the city, most likely heading home or perhaps a tavern. It was very dark now, with heavy clouds covering up the sky above, only the occasional glimpse of stars seen through a tear in them, but with all the lamps, torches, and lanterns around, everything around Kaz was clearly visible.

He scanned the roofs of the tall, surrounding buildings making up the street, wondering if it would be worth it to try to get up to one to properly see the city. He'd always found something about heights intriguing, though he assumed that was the case for most dragons given the fact that they could fly. But in this form, he'd probably just succeed at spraining his ankle. It was better to not try. Besides, he'd had enough flying for a few weeks at least.

Since he'd not seen the harbor yet, Kaz decided to head that way. He liked looking at the sea, even if it unnerved him a little, having spent his entire life in Reighir. The closest thing to a sea there was a river, which had very little in common with the sea aside from them both being bodies of water. But a harbor offered the bonus of allowing him to watch humans go about their business there. Reighir had no harbor, and so the first time he'd visited one was in Sigallah, which he'd not had much of a chance to enjoy before everything had gone wrong.

He huffed, pushing that thought away, too. He wanted to relax, and thinking about bad things that had happened was certainly not going to help him. Besides, it was all in the past, and it didn't matter anymore.

The street slowly emptied more and more as Kaz kept heading down it, the harbor already within sight. The fact that it was so relatively close to the tavern was one of the reasons he'd chosen to come here as well since he wasn't confident in his ability to navigate the city to be sure he'd make it back without getting lost first.

As Kaz reached the beach, he let his eyes wander around the whole harbor, taking in the many stone-and-wood piers, the ships, and the lamps lighting the place up. Much like the rest of the city, there were few people, but there seemed to be more of them than in the other parts of the city, mostly sailors. Kaz wondered where they'd come from or where they were planning on sailing if they were using Embertide simply as a place to buy supplies. And if any of these ships would be capable of bringing them back to Istamid.

Kaz leaned on the wooden railing separating two of the piers closest to him and sighed, staring out at the tumbling waves in front of him. He, Rhen, and Elaya had somehow managed not to discuss what to do next, most likely because none of them was looking forward to it. At least that was how Kaz felt because he had no good answers to the question of whether they should stay or leave. And ultimately, he didn't care much either way.

This place was strange to him, but most of Istamid would be strange to him, too, seeing as he'd not truly gone anywhere and had mostly just read about things throughout his whole life. But he supposed that was good—he could leave the decision up to Rhenor, and Elaya, if she chose not to go with the druid. The more opinions there were, the more complicated things got.

His heart felt heavy now. He couldn't seem to push this away the same way he'd done with his other worries tonight. The thought of starting the conversation about their plans for the future was too important to ignore it and just relax.

Heaving another sigh, Kaz pushed himself away from the railing, taking one last look at the clouded sky. From here, he could see the moon, and he let himself watch the crescent for a moment until a cloud rolled in, covering it up.

As he started to walk back to the tavern, though, he became increasingly aware that something was off. He was usually not very good at noticing things like that if comparing his experiences with Elaya's in the past had been any indication, but he knew something was off now. It felt as if someone was watching him.

Kaz looked around the deserted street, listening for any suspicious sounds as he stopped for a moment, but all he could hear was what sounded like a startled cat, and a distant banging of what he assumed was someone hammering metal. He wasn't sure if it was normal for a smith to work at night, but he doubted that was cause for concern either way.

Feeling his heartbeat pick up, he took in a deep breath and started moving again. He couldn't think of a rational reason for why his legs seemed to carry him at a much faster pace than he wanted them to, but he couldn't stop it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At least not until he found himself being grabbed by his arm and pulled into an alley. He cried out in shock, but it came out muffled as a hand clamped itself over his mouth.

Before he could even think of fighting back, though, the person who had grabbed him let him go. Kaz swirled around to face them, his hands raised even though he had no idea how to fight with his fists.

"Who are—" Words escaped him as his eyes widened. A woman with long, black hair in a braid was standing in front of him, her face partially hidden by a hood, but Kaz could easily recognize her anyway.

"Eryn," he breathed, barely able to accept that she was here. Eryn had been a part of his personal guard in Reighir, assigned to him during his very short rule, but she'd worked for his parents before then. He didn't know her that well, but he did know who she was, and he couldn't think of a single logical reason for her to be here of all places.

"Lord Astranno," she replied, sounding almost as shocked as he felt as she gaped at him. "It is you."

Kaz almost flinched. He hoped no one had overheard her call him that.

"I feared you might have been killed."

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a harsh whisper, ignoring what she'd said and leaning in closer. Whatever reason for her presence here, Kaz had a feeling it wasn't anything good. It couldn't be. Not even Kaz, regardless of how much he'd read and the sources he'd had at his disposal, had no idea this city existed. How could Eryn have found it?

"I...." Her eyes snapped to the main street and then back at him. "I can't tell you, I'm sorry, sire."

Kaz shook his head. She shouldn't be calling him that, anymore, but that wasn't what he was focusing on right now. "What do you—"

"My Lord, please, listen," she said, her tone chillingly serious. There was guilt and worry in her eyes, so much of it that Kaz couldn't manage to say a word. "You need to leave. As soon as possible. Something very bad is about to happen. If you stay in Embertide, you will die."

Before the full weight of those words could properly hit Kaz, Eryn bolted, running at full speed to the other side of the alley, dodging crates and barrels as she went.

"Wait!" Kaz cried out before he could stop himself, running after her. But he couldn't keep up, not with an elite guard, even if she was a human. He'd built up stamina from all the walking he'd done so far, but he'd not gotten much run faster. He would catch up to her easily if he had four legs, but he couldn't change into his true form and risk someone seeing him.

He came to a halt as a sudden idea hit him. He didn't have to shapeshift all the way to give himself an advantage. Just his wings would do.

Deciding that this was his only chance at still catching up with Eryn, Kaz quickly shrugged off his tunic and shut his eyes, his brows furrowing in concentration. A second later, a familiar and yet strange weight on his back appeared on his back. Kaz immediately stretched his wings, the tips touching the brick walls of the alley.

They were bigger than he'd intended to make them, but there was no time to fix that. He had to go now.

Adjusting his grip on the tunic in his right hand, he flapped his wings as hard as he could in the limited space. Immediately Kaz cried out in alarm as his body was flung upward by the sudden force, much higher than he'd intended. He gasped as his abdomen collided with a roof, the impact pushing air out of his lungs, but somehow he managed to cling onto a chimney with his free hand until he recovered enough to stand up.

Still feeling wobbly, Kaz rushed to the edge of the roof as fast as he could, trying to ignore the dull pain in his shin. He must have hit it, too.

Quickly looking around the web of the dark, surrounding streets, Kaz immediately spotted movement just at the end of the block. Jumping without even giving himself enough time to confirm that it was Eryn, he flapped his wings much more carefully this time as he followed where the person had disappeared to.

As he flew over the corner and looked around the new street, his insides twisted. He couldn't see Eryn anywhere. Pushing his building panic away, he kept going, gliding above the city as his eyes kept flicking from one empty street to another.

But with every new street, Kaz's fear of being seen grew stronger. It was dark, but someone could still notice him. And even if no one recognized him from so high up, he doubted he'd be able to avoid any arrows they might shoot at him, let alone magic.

Just as Kaz was about to turn back, though, he finally spotted Eryn again close to the outskirts of the city. That was enough to stave off his building anxiety, and Kaz once more beat his wings, trying to catch up before he lost her again.

This time, thankfully, he managed it.

He glided silently above, hopefully staying back just enough for her not to notice him as Eryn left the city and started making her way through the field of wheat just outside of Embertide.

Kaz frowned. He'd expected her to hide in one of the houses in the city. He'd already gotten the impression that strangers were relatively common in Embertide given how many ships passed through, so Eryn would likely be able to hide easily. But instead, she was heading out into the wilderness, not even using a road.

Kaz followed her for what felt like an eternity, though rationally he knew it must have only been half an hour at most, when she finally reached her destination—a shack at the edge of the woods, with a campfire in front of it. And around it, three other humans were sitting.

Kaz watched as they and Eryn began to converse, though he was too far away to hear what they were saying. But if they knew Eryn, and they were staying out here, that was suspicious in and of itself, especially given what Eryn had just told him.

Kaz knew he should fly back. That staying out here was a very stupid idea since he had practically nowhere to hide here, unlike the city. But Eryn had told him about something terrible happening soon. This might be a chance to find out more about what was going on. He could fly back, get Rhen and Elaya, and then come back here together to even out their numbers, but by then Eryn and her companions might be gone and it could be too late to find anything out.

But at the same time, if they noticed him, that could at the very least scare them away and they might hide somewhere else. Or they might try to kill him.

As he got closer and closer, gliding along the warm breeze under his wings, Kaz knew he was going to try to spy on them, his curiosity getting the better of him, despite his building panic over the entire situation. He wasn't sure if this was the smart decision, but there was no going back now.

He forced himself to stay as quiet as possible, knowing that in the silence of the night, even the flapping of his wings could give him away, as he made his way to the trees surrounding the cabin. He needed to land on a branch or at least grab onto one, and do that as noiselessly as possible. The only problem with that was that he'd never tried to be quiet when he'd tried to fly like this.

Another wave of panic hit him as he realized just how much of a bad idea this was, but there was no time to turn around as he was moments away from reaching a tree. Kaz gritted his teeth, trying not to make a noise as he grabbed onto the tree trunk, wincing at the snapping sound that followed as his body crashed into branches, but he didn't let go, instead pulling himself even closer to the tree, his feet firmly planted against whatever branches they'd touched first.

For a moment, all he could do was stand there panting, frozen as he waited for any sounds of alarm from the people below. But as he clung onto the tree, breathing in and out, he couldn't hear anything other than the branches around him brushing against each other in the breeze and the quiet conversation happening below.

Taking in a deep breath, Kaz adjusted his grip on the tree, making sure to get a better hold on his tunic before squeezing his wings close to his back, so he didn't hit them on anything. He looked down at where his feet were planted, adjusting his pose so that he was more comfortable and less likely to fall down. Thankfully, the leafy tree he'd landed on had many branches to stand on, and they seemed fairly solid.

Kaz tied his tunic to his arm using the sleeves as quickly as possible despite his shaking hands, so he could stop worrying about dropping it, and with that done, he gazed down to where Eryn was. He could see neither her nor the people with her well, his view partly blocked by the large leaves all around him, but he could hear them talking.

The words were somewhat indistinct though, prompting Kaz to lean as close to them as he could from where he was standing. He wanted to move to other branches, maybe even move down the tree a little to hear better, but he was too terrified to do it, so instead he stayed where he was and tried to get his breathing under control so he could focus on the conversation.

"...placed the rest of the lures," he heard a man's voice say. Kaz wished he'd not missed the beginning of the sentence because placing lures somewhere, given what he'd heard so far from Eryn was concerning, and he needed all and any context he could get. What lures, and for what purpose? To lure what to where?

"So tomorrow we set it off and leave?" a woman asked. Kaz stretched his neck as much as he could, trying to catch a glimpse of any of the people here so he could identify them later, but he could barely see where they were sitting. From above like this in the dark, there was no way for him to see their faces well enough.

"I don't know about you, but I don't feel like being here when it happens," the man replied, his tone biting. Kaz took in a breath, his foot lifting and propping itself on a branch closer to the group with him barely realizing. When he did, he grimaced. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. Lifting his other foot and keeping his hands on the trunk, he moved closer, giving himself a better view.

"Lord Hyrakk told us to wait for the results," another female voice, which Kaz recognized to be Eryn's, argued. Somehow Kaz's attention sharpened even more when he heard that name. Warrim lir Hyrakk was one of the most powerful and influential Dragon Lords. Kaz had no idea what she might be trying to do here, but if she was involved, then this truly couldn't be good.

"We can wait on the boat, and watch from there," the first woman said, sounding somewhat relieved. "There is no need for us to die here, too."

"Yes, and I highly doubt this won't go according to plan," the man added, sounding perfectly confident. This was certainly not helping Kaz stay calm. He moved even closer.

And then he felt the new branch beneath his right foot give way, breaking off. He couldn't stop the alarmed cry that tore itself from his lips as he lost his footing, his other foot slipping from the sudden movement, and his wings flaring out in an instinctual attempt to stop him from falling. He managed to avoid that only through hanging onto the tree trunk with all his strength, his feet frantically moving around to find something to stand on again.

But once he managed to steady himself, the cries from below sent him into a panic again. Oh no, Eryn and her companions had heard him. He needed to get out of here. Immediately.

Scrambling to climb as high up the tree as he could with a speed he had not known he was capable of, he quickly reached a spot where he had enough space to stretch out his wings properly. He tried to ignore the voices yelling at him, his frenzied brain only focused on getting away from here as he beat his wings as hard as he could, quickly gaining altitude.

But just as he was about to make a mad dash for Embertide, something pierced his right wing, sending waves of pain through his whole body. Kaz cried out, plummeting back down to the ground, his fall only somewhat broken by the frantic flapping of his uninjured wing.

Kaz let out a grunt as he hit the hard ground, his breath punched out of him and pain stabbing through his ribs. But that was still nothing compared to in how much agony his wing was. Kaz struggled to get up, knowing that the group must have been close behind. Looking at his wing, his fears were confirmed when he saw the arrow sticking through the membrane.

Kaz felt sick, both from the sight of his blood leaking from the wound and from the prospects of what he would have to do to fix it. He needed to remove that arrow, or he'd not be able to fly away. And flying away was his only chance right now.

"Hey!" he heard one of the humans yell at him. Kaz got up with a whimper, running toward the wheat field in the distance as he struggled to grab onto the arrow so he could break it. It took all his willpower just to keep running as he grabbed onto the wooden rod, sending burning pain through his wing and to his back. But once Kaz had it, the arrow snapped in two easily.

He let out another moan as the arrow moved, but as the two pieces fell out, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. He spread his wings again, about to escape, when someone grabbed him from behind, throwing him to the ground again and pinning him there. Kaz groaned as his head hit the ground particularly hard, feeling the rough surface of rock against his temple, making everything around him spin.

"A dragon? Here?" one voice said from behind him while another added: "Is that Astranno?"

They kept talking, their voices getting louder and more excited, but Kaz could barely understand the words. He tried to fight off the haze surrounding his mind, but he managed to clear it only when he felt something being tied around his wrists, binding them together.

Feeling panic finally take over, he threw off the person holding him down in a sudden, powerful jerk and jumped up. He didn't even think before summoning a blast of fire and making it fly at the group of humans, not large or powerful enough to hurt them, but more than enough to make them jump back. And that was enough.

Gritting his teeth at the burning pain in his wing, Kaz started running again, not caring about his bound hands for the moment. All he could focus on was getting himself into the air again, and once he did, he didn't stop beating his wings until the cabin was too far away for him to see.

The wound in his wing burned terribly with every movement, but he couldn't stop. He wouldn't stop until he reached the tavern. Kaz thought about trying to summon fire to burn the ropes binding his wrists behind his back as well, but when he was in so much pain he'd probably just end up burning himself. It didn't matter for the moment anyway. He just needed to get back to his friends. Tell them about what had happened, and then do something about whatever Eryn and the others were planning.

A whimper made it past Kaz's gritted teeth as he flew high above the first buildings of the city. Just a little longer. He could make it.