Rhenor was getting frustrated beyond belief. Even though they'd done their best to try to find where Kaz had been brought, they were nowhere closer to reaching their goal. It had been hours, and all they'd done was explore every corner Rethan had to offer with nothing to show for it.

And if anything, seeing the town from up close made him angrier. There was almost nothing to criticize about Rethan, from what he'd seen. The town was...nice. And peaceful. There was none of the oppressive atmosphere than choked most of Istamid's town and villages, none of the poverty like he'd seen in Sigallah, no major differences in wealth between the people living here, in fact.

And Rhenor hated to see it. He hated that the people living here seemed so unproblematic because it made it hard to hate them. And by the gods, did he want to. They treated Kaz like a damned animal. He didn't care what Corill thought. Dragons treated humans horribly, yes, but it was nothing compared to how these humans treated dragons.

"I don't think he's here," Elaya said, sounding as frustrated as Rhenor felt. "You can't just hide a dragon this big, so they must be keeping him somewhere else."

"We'll find him," Rhen replied, knowing that they both needed to hear that. Corill promised they wouldn't hurt Kaz, at least, though he wasn't sure how exactly they were planning on convincing a dragon to be a slave without hurting them. Kaz might go along with it, but that was only because he wasn't prideful and didn't want to hurt anyone, which weren't very common traits for a dragon.

"Damned right we will," Elaya practically snapped, but immediately her glare softened as she gave Rhenor a look of apology. "Sorry, I'm just.... I'm worried about him."

Rhenor nodded. He was worried too. He didn't want Kaz to spend any more time alone with these people, but since they'd made no progress finding him, he would have to. Hopefully, he would manage to hold on for a while longer.

"Okay," Elaya said, rubbing her eyes as she leaned against the wooden wall of the house behind her. "So, he doesn't seem to be in Rethan, but I didn't notice any ships that could carry Kaz, so we can assume he's still on the island."

Rhenor agreed that that was probably the case. Of course, Kaz might be hidden by magic, like that druid had done back in Frostrun, but if Corill was to be believed, only he could use magic around here, which made that theory unlikely.

"We need to go back to where they shot us down and follow the print marks."

In hindsight, that probably would have been the best way to go about this in the first place, but Rhenor was sure they were being watched, and he'd been worried that Corill would change his mind and lock them up after all if he felt like they were doing something suspicious.

"Right. Let's...."

She trailed off as her eyes focused on something behind Rhenor, who immediately turned. He immediately understood why she'd gotten distracted when he noticed Corill, his damned amulet, and a couple of guards walking down the connecting street.

And he was looking at them.

Rhenor huffed, trying to prepare himself for whatever the man was planning on telling them. Though if he once again suggested they leave Kaz to his fate, Rhen wasn't sure he would be able to resist punching him.

"I hear you've been exploring our town, to say the least," Corill said to them, his voice just as infuriatingly pleasant as before. Though it came off as less genuine due to the hint of annoyance hiding just underneath. "You wouldn't happen to be searching for anything in particular, would you?"

Rhenor rolled his eyes at the fatherly tone the man was now using. It had likely been meant to help them see reason, but it just came across as patronizing. He was about to snap back something rude, but Elaya got there first.

"No, but we're looking for some-one," she growled. "You know, our friend, who you keep referring to like he's an animal."

Corill sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. As if he had any right to be exasperated by this situation. "The only thing separating dragons from animals is their intelligence."

Elaya glared at the man harder, clenching her fists. If she ended up hitting Corill soon, Rhenor couldn't say he would be surprised.

"That is true of many humans, too," Rhenor shot back.

Corill opened his mouth, likely to deny what Rhen had just said, but then he closed it again and frowned. Rhenor was honestly shocked he'd managed to shut the man up for a moment.

"Come with me," he said after a second, beginning to walk down the street and waving at them and the two guards with him to follow.

Rhenor didn't want to obey, and neither did Elaya if her death glare was any indication, but they ended up following Corill anyway, knowing that they would more than likely be forced to walk with him if they didn't. The two guards certainly looked like they wouldn't take no for an answer, with the suspicious, irritated looks they were giving both of them.

"Why did you come here?"

Rhenor resisted the urge to tell Corill that they hadn't—they'd been shot down. He supposed it wouldn't be accurate when it came right down to it, though. They had wanted to come here, for reasons Rhen knew were off the table now.

Rhenor supposed being truthful wasn't likely to make things worse.

"We needed a safe place for Kaz to turn back into human form because the dragons are going to want his head after what he's done." What they'd done, Rhenor corrected in his mind. Kaz had done nothing except save them from certain death. "Then we planned on going back by ship."

Corill looked back at him, his eyebrows drawn together. "And you just happened to fly over our archipelago?" Rhenor scowled as the man raised an eyebrow in challenge before turning his gaze back to the road. "You did not seem very surprised to see that these islands are inhabited."

Rhenor threw a look at Elaya. He had no idea what Corill wanted to hear, and she looked just as incredulous. Nevertheless, she spoke before Rhenor could come up with anything.

"The dragons know about you." Rhenor wasn't sure why, but the cold way Elaya had said that sent shivers down his spine. He'd already known this, of course, but his entire life, the idea of the dragons finding out about him doing something they didn't like had terrified him. He couldn't help it.

"Yes, I imagine they do," Corill replied after a moment of silence, sighing. "We did capture over a dozen of them over the three centuries we've been here."

Rhenor couldn't figure out how he felt about the idea of other dragons also being trained to be slaves for these people. It seemed too cruel for a sentient creature to be treated this way, but at the same time, most dragons were vile murderers and thieves, who certainly deserved even worse.

Rhenor shook his head. The only dragon he cared about didn't deserve it, and they would rescue him. That was about as far as he had to think about this.

"So you have more dragons here?" Elaya asked as they reached a corner and started to walk up the main street. It was full of people who Rhenor did his best to ignore.

"Oh no," Corill replied, clearly attempting to make it sound casual, but there was something off about the tone. "We have not had a dragon for a long time."

"But dragons live for hundreds of years," Elaya prodded. "What did you do with them?"

Rhenor knew that this was certainly not the time to focus on this, but he did feel his stomach sinking at the reminder that dragons lived much longer than humans. If he and Kaz did for certain decide to be together, then Kaz would be forced to watch Rhenor grow old and die, and then carry on alone. And Rhenor didn't care how far in the future this concern would be, he simply found the thought of it upsetting to think about.

"When a beast as dangerous as a dragon can't be fully tamed, it must be put down."

Rhen immediately felt his previous sadness leave his body, only to be replaced with rage. When one put down a sentient creature, there was a much different word for that—murder. And Corill full well knew it.

"I would not worry, though," Corill continued while Rhen and Elaya were too shocked to yell at him. "I hear your dragon has been very docile so far."

Rhen gritted his teeth. There were no words to describe how much he hated hearing Corill call Kaz that. Even though he had no trouble imagining it. Despite his huge size and impressive strength, Kaz was still as unthreatening as ever. And with his soft heart, he probably hadn't tried to fight back so he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Rhenor sort of wished Kaz had tried to escape, no matter the consequences, but he understood why he hadn't. It didn't matter, though. He and Elaya would get him out of here sooner or later, anyway.

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"And you still don't believe he isn't a threat," Elaya said, not even making it sound like a question. "He doesn't want to hurt anyone, that's why he's being docile."

"Yes, or he is waiting for us to let our guard down so he can escape," Corill immediately replied, scowling as he no doubt realized he'd used the correct pronoun unintentionally.

Rhen wished he could smile at that, but if anything, it just made him angrier. He had no doubts that the reason these people kept calling Kaz an it was to, for the lack of a better word, dehumanize him. It probably made it much easier to pretend Kaz was just an animal.

Rhenor wanted to point out as much, but the words died in his throat when he noticed the large building they were heading to. It was round, made of stone from wall to roof, with two tall steeples on each side. Its impossibly smooth walls and its absolute symmetry betrayed its nature immediately—this building had been built using magic. While Rhenor wouldn't be surprised by that in a town of free humans, it was odd given that no other building had been built this way, as far as he could tell. But then, only Corill could use magic, couldn't he?

Perhaps the difference was that this seemed to be a temple of some kind. It was far too large and ostentatious to be anything else. There was not a trace of any of the gods on the outside, though, which made Rhen more than a little suspicious as he followed Corill inside through the huge door made of engraved metal in the front. It was already open, which was probably a good thing because it looked too heavy to move easily. It was large enough to fit Kaz's current form through.

A long purple curtain hung just beyond the door, hiding whatever was beyond it, but Rhenor didn't have to wonder for long because soon enough Corill pulled the curtain aside.

Rhen was almost surprised at how normal the interior of the large temple was. Aside from a few colorful tapestries, most of the space was taken up by tall, stone statues of their many gods arranged in a circle, some that Rhenor wasn't even certain he could recall the name of. Right in front of him were the statues of Hermea, Seranis, Andor, Terr, and Lehtas, though, which was more than enough to convince Rhen the people on this island did indeed share the same faith.

He wasn't sure if he felt comforted by that or not, however. Especially not when he suddenly spotted something behind the statues. Something glowing with a golden light. He took a step forward, tilting his head to get a better look, and he froze when he realized the thing glowing was a large crystal in a metal stand, reminiscent of the artifact in the cavern near Arlow.

Was this what was making it impossible for anyone but Corill to use magic? And if so, why was this thing here? Kaz had told him this was artificially made magic, one that dragons used. Why and how would these people have something like this?

"Why are we in a church?" Elaya asked Corill, making no effort to not sound utterly frustrated.

"Do the people of Istamid no longer revere the gods?"

Corill seemed almost horrified by the idea, so much so that it seemed almost comical. But Rhenor was in no mood to laugh. Did Corill truly bring them here to discuss religion? Because Rhen had no interest in doing that.

"They still do, but I don't see why we should. The gods never did anything for me," Elaya said, giving the statue of Hermea a dirty look.

"They gave you magical prowess," Corill argued, which made Elaya turn around to glare at him instead. Rhen wanted to take her side, even if he wasn't sure he agreed with what she'd said, but he had no idea what to say so he stayed silent for now.

"Which I can't use here."

Corill's annoyingly understanding smile was back again. "I brought you here because of this."

As he pointed at the ceiling, Rhen frowned, looking up only to blink when he saw the intricate fresco painted there. There were many figures, tattooed humans and dragons, fighting with both magic and swords against each other. Every time Rhenor looked somewhere else, he noticed new details he hadn't seen before, but it just made the entire fresco all the more difficult to understand. Because while he could understand the humans warring with dragons, there seemed to be parts of the painting that showed them working together.

"I assume you don't know how dragons came to rule Istamid," Corill said, connecting his hands behind his back. Rhen wanted to tell him not to be so condescending, but he truly didn't know how exactly it had happened. He'd never thought to think about it because it made sense on its own.

While there weren't as many dragons as there were humans, they were much stronger and capable of large-scale destruction. If they wanted to, they could probably burn every human city to the ground in a matter of a few weeks. So what could humans do to stop them?

But according to Corill, it seemed there was more to it than that.

"Dragons have tried to conquer Istamid many times before they managed it. Istamid used to be ruled by druids, who used their magic to protect their realm," Corill explained, pointing at the left corner of the fresco, where the tattooed humans were driving a dragon away with a blue blast of magic.

Oh, they were druids. That explained why they looked familiar to Rhenor, though he wasn't sure if that made this easier to understand. He'd never heard of the druids ruling Istamid before. They'd always been protectors in the stories he'd heard, a force of good that could drive the dragons out—not someone who would replace them.

"Druids actually existed?" Elaya exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.

"They still do," Rhen told her, feeling a bit guilty for not telling her this earlier. He'd completely forgotten about that particular blunder until now if he was to be honest with himself. "I met one."

"You have?" both Corill and Elaya asked, though while Elaya sounded amazed, Corill seemed to lose much of his enthusiasm. Rhenor felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end at the sudden shift in mood as the older man put on a neutral mask.

"Why is that bad?" Elaya asked, clearly also picking up on Corill's nervousness.

"The druids are the reason Istamid is ruled by dragons." Rhenor frowned at Corill's words, utterly confused, but thankfully Corill continued with a sigh before he had to ask. "Druids excelled at all magic, including life magic, which let them unnaturally extend their lives. But they couldn't make themselves immortal. Until a small but powerful faction of them found how to do it through the magic of death."

Corill pointed at another part of the fresco, this time to a druid holding a skull in their hands. Magic of death? Did he mean necromancy? Rhen swallowed, feeling uncomfortable at the mere thought of it.

"The majority of druids rejected using death magic and forbade them from doing so, so the opposing faction came up with a plan. They would forge an alliance with the dragons to destroy the other druids, and then split the kingdom between them."

Rhenor's eyes found the image of the druids making deals with dragons very quickly, frowning at the druid and the dragon in a mostly human form shaking hands. He had no idea what to make of this. Weren't the druids supposed to be good? Sure, the one he and Kaz had met hadn't been very nice, but then again, she'd likely figured out Kaz was a dragon, and given the context, it would make sense for her not to trust him.

"But once they won, the dragons turned on them, killing the remaining druids as well. With Istamid's strongest protectors gone, the dragons took over the kingdom and have ruled it since," Corill finished the story, shaking his head as if he was judging the druids.

Rhenor was certainly doing just that. This was how the dragons had taken over? Through a hunger for immortality from a small group of druids? It seemed implausible, and yet completely believable at the same time. Of course, he had no reason to believe any of this in the first place—Corill wasn't exactly giving him indisputable evidence.

Still, he could see it happening. He couldn't help but wonder what the kingdom had looked like before the dragons had taken over. Had it even been a kingdom then? Rhenor was suddenly realizing that he truly didn't know much about how things were before the dragons had taken their land. No one seemed to know much, now that he thought about it, but that was more than likely because the dragons had forbidden humans from talking about it, and now, centuries later, barely anyone remembered.

"I brought you here to show you two things," Corill said after a moment of silence. Rhen was almost surprised Elaya hadn't said something to him before then, but when he saw her still wide eyes, full of shock and awe, he couldn't say he was too surprised. He hadn't even thought of how much she might like to hear about a group of humans as talented at magic as her, perhaps even more so.

"One is that magic is a wonderful gift, but not all who receive it should have it. That is why only one person in our town is allowed to use it at a time, and when it is used, it is always to make the lives of everyone better."

Right, Rhen supposed it made some sense to take advantage of magic, but not let everyone use it, as that would no doubt lead to people trying to use it for their own ends. But just because he understood it didn't mean he agreed. Magic was a tool like any other, and taking it from everyone just in case they might use it for evil seemed like an extreme way of going about things. Would they next ban hammers and knives because they could be used to kill people?

But then, this attitude was the same as their attitude toward dragons, wasn't it?

"And the second thing I wanted to show you was why your dragon can never be allowed to go free," Corill continued as if reading Rhenor's thoughts. "Dragons are dishonorable and untrustworthy. They will do anything to achieve their goals, and this is prime proof of that."

Corill looked Rhenor right in the eye then, an almost pitying smile on his face. "Your dragon may not seem that way, but it is using you somehow. And eventually, it would have betrayed you. You may not want to see, but this is for the best."

Rhen didn't even feel like he was in control as his fist flew up as soon as those words left Corill's lips. It was like he could see it in slow motion as it approached Corill's jaw, but he could do nothing to stop it, even as it dawned on him how stupid this was.

And suddenly a huge gust of air was throwing him across the room as Corill's eyes flashed blue, making him hit the marble stone hard with his back. Rhenor groaned, gritting his teeth as he did his best to roll over so he could get up again, but his spine ached too much for the moment to quite manage it.

He didn't have to bother, though, because soon he was being hauled up by four strong hands, his arms wrenched behind his back. Rhen made a halfhearted attempt to shake the guards off, but he knew there would be no getting free like this. And even if he could, Corill could throw him into a wall.

"I'm sorry." Corill did look regretful, but that didn't stop Rhenor from glaring at him. "But trying to attack any of us is very serious. Since you are new here, and not used to our customs, you will spend only tonight in the dungeons. Please use that time to decide on what you want. If you continue trying to find and free the dragon, I'm afraid you will be banished for the safety of Rethan."

Rhenor couldn't say he was surprised at being arrested for something as foolish as trying to punch Corill, but he couldn't say he regretted his automatic reaction either. It was more than justified for how the older man talked about Kaz.

It frustrated him to no end because this town was a free human settlement–something Rhen had only dreamed of until now. He should be ecstatic about finding this place. And yet, he couldn't help but not care in the slightest if he got himself banished from this community. He just wanted Kaz back, safe and unharmed, and the rest didn't matter to him at all at the moment. And given his experience so far, maybe it never would matter to him.

He hated to think about it like this, but it was true. Kaz just came first.

"Wait, that's not—" Elaya protested, but Corill cut her off.

"This is the most lenient punishment possible."

Rhenor shot a glare at the people holding him as they started to drag him away and out of the temple, but really, he was just angry with himself. Corill was being very strangely lenient given the fact that Rhen had tried to hit him. But even one night in prison was a waste of time. They needed to find Kaz, and now Elaya would have to try to do it alone until Rhen got out again.

He sighed as he let himself be led down the street. This was just getting worse and worse.