Rhenor couldn't get himself to fall asleep, even after the guard outside his cell stopped trying to pester him about what was going on in Istamid. This was all too similar to when that druid had taken Kaz.

Still, Kaz seemed to have very bad luck when it came to these situations. If—no, when they rescued Kaz and got out of here, Rhenor wouldn't let him out of his sight for a while. They would leave this island, go somewhere else, and then stay there for at least a week.

Rhen sighed, leaning back against the stone wall behind him. The cell had a bed in it, which had been quite a shock for him when he'd been brought here. He was sitting on said bed, but he couldn't even bring himself to lie down. He knew it would be pointless, anyway. Not when he was so worried about Kaz.

He must have sat there for hours, just staring at the wall opposite him, lost in his thoughts, until he heard a muffled noise from his right, followed by a cry. Rhen frowned, getting up so he could gaze off into the darkness outside of the cell, only to blink when the door to the dungeons swung open.

Standing there was Elaya, her dimly glowing eyes angry. She didn't give the guard in front of Rhenor's cell the chance to even try to attack her as she clenched her fist, making the stone floor between her and the guard ripple. Rhenor grabbed onto the bars of his cell as the ground shook, while the guard stumbled back against them. This was enough for the guard to bolt, running away as fast as he could.

Rhen couldn't blame him. Seeing the ground move like this was disturbing. At least he would feel that way if he weren't so confused.

"You.... You can use magic again."

Elaya waved her hand, making the cell door swing open with a loud bang as the lock broke. Rhen felt himself flinch and grimace. The less rational part of him still wasn't comfortable with the idea of anyone using magic, it seemed.

"Yes. Now come on, we need to save Kaz," Elaya said, wasting no time as she turned around again and walked outside. Rhenor shook his head, trying to get rid of how dazed he felt from everything that had just happened. He left the cell, quickly grabbing his bow, quiver, and satchel that were all hanging from a hook on a wall before rushing to catch up with her. He tried not to pay attention to the unconscious guards right outside the door and just kept running until he closed the distance between him and Elaya.

She must have found Kaz if she was so eager to get going, but Rhen felt like there was something she wasn't telling him. Nevertheless, he knew they could talk about that later, once Kaz was free and they were far away from here.

Together they ran toward the forest next to the town, made their way past it, and continued down a field, and through all of it, Elaya said nothing. Rhenor understood why—he wanted nothing more than to get Kaz away from here as soon as possible—but she was acting strangely. He had been about to ask her what else was going on when they finally reached the place Kaz was being kept.

The sight of the dark dome in front of them made Rhen grit his teeth and push himself to run even faster, in spite of the burning pain in his muscles, only stopping once they reached the large, metal door at the foot of the hill the structure was built into.

He clenched his fists, readying himself for a fight as Elaya grabbed the door with both her hands, wrenching it open, its hinges creaking too loudly in the stillness of the night.

Rhenor resisted the urge to cover his ears as he tensed up even more, still breathing heavily, waiting for someone to come rushing at them. But that didn't happen.

Eager to find Kaz, Rhen couldn't make himself wait more than a few seconds before walking inside, cautiously looking around the room in case someone was waiting inside. However, that concern left his mind immediately as soon he spotted the massive cage at the opposite end of the chamber. And the large, dark shape within it.

Not caring at all who might hear, Rhenor started running, reaching the cage just as Kaz started to move around. Rhen felt a wave of relief washing over him when the dragon's head came into view, his large eyes hooded as he blinked owlishly. He must have been sleeping, and the sight of Kaz so sleep-addled almost made Rhenor laugh, but his joy at finding him was cut short at the sight of the collection of chains binding the Kaz's body, the most offensive of which being the thing keeping his mouth closed.

Rhenor could barely keep himself from cursing out loud while Kaz's eyes widened and cleared. The dragon grabbed at the bars of the cage with one of his massive claws, letting out a muffled but delighted chirp that might have been Rhen's name as he pushed his snout against the bars as if trying to fit through.

"Hey, Kaz," Rhenor said softly, somehow managing not to sound even a little angry despite the fury that was raging inside of him. Especially when he noticed the leather straps keeping Kaz's wings bound. How dare these people treat him like this?

He flinched when next to him the large door to the cage broke open, the lock shattering and a few pieces of it falling to the ground with a clink. Rhen looked back, seeing Elaya rushing to Kaz too, but not before the dragon managed to climb out of the cage.

"Oh, Kaz, I was so worried about you," Elaya said as wrapped her arms around Kaz's neck, resulting in a happy rumble from Kaz. Rhen wanted nothing more than to hug him too, his arms practically ached for it, but the only thing he wanted more was to get those infernal restraints off Kaz, so Rhenor went to do that instead, starting with the straps around the dragon's wings.

Thankfully, despite the leather wrapping itself around the entire fold of Kaz's wings, it was fairly easy to undo, as there was only a buckle or two. As soon as Rhen was pulling the strap off one of the wings, Kaz unfurled it, stretching it with a huff that sounded almost pained. But if his wings had been like this for hours, Rhen couldn't say he was surprised.

Quickly freeing the other wing and giving Kaz enough space to flap them, Rhen walked around Kaz, trying to see how best to remove the rest of the chains. But before he could make much progress on it, Elaya was already ripping off Kaz's muzzle with her magic.

"I'm so glad you're both okay!" Kaz exclaimed as soon as he was physically able, his voice reverberating in the large circular chamber. "I was worried."

"You were worried?" Rhen shook his head, but he couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto his face. He went to hug him as Elaya broke the other chains too, freeing Kaz completely. The dragon didn't move though, aside from hugging Rhen back carefully with his wings. Rhenor sighed. It felt so good to see Kaz was all right, to be able to touch him.

"Wait, but why can you use magic again?" Kaz moved his head to look at Elaya as he spoke. Rhen let go and turned around to look at her as well. That was something he would like to hear about, too.

"I'll explain once we're out of here," Elaya promised. "Now come on, we need to go before...."

She trailed off, but before Rhenor could ask what was wrong, he saw it. A figure was standing in the door, looking at them. As ridiculous as it was, Rhenor stepped in front of Kaz, trying to defend him no matter how huge and strong the dragon was in comparison to him. He couldn't let something happen to him again.

As the person stepped forward and a sliver of moonlight hit their face, Rhenor immediately recognized Corill. Rhen's heart made an anxious stutter. Of course, he would be here, but would Corill alone be powerful enough to fight Elaya and Kaz at once? Rhen would do his best, too, of course, but between a talented magic user and a dragon, he didn't have much to offer in terms of fighting another talented magic-user.

"You can't leave."

Rhenor almost frowned at the hint of desperation in the older man's voice, but he managed to keep his expression neutral. "We don't want to fight."

Corill sighed, his shoulders slumping. "You don't understand. I need to talk to your dragon."

From the corner of his eye, Rhen could see Kaz poke his head closer to Corill. He didn't need to look directly at him to know he was at least a little interested in what Corill had to say, instead of being offended by all of this.

Rhenor gritted his teeth, making a mental note to talk to Kaz about not giving people the benefit of the doubt after they lock him in a cage and treat him like an animal.

"I swear to Andor," Rhen started, intent on telling Corill exactly what he thought of him, but Kaz spoke over him.

"What is it you want?"

Rhenor wanted to snap at him not to listen to the man, but the protective way Kaz wrapped one of his wings around Rhen made the words impossible to voice. He wasn't even sure why. Perhaps he was simply still not used to having a dragon not only not trying to kill him, but also caring about him.

"I need you to build a vessel for a spell," Corill said, walking up to Kaz and looking up at him as if Kaz posed no threat to him. As if Kaz couldn't bite him in half. "The kind dragons use."

Next to Rhenor, Kaz tilted his head, throwing an unsure look at both Rhen and Elaya.

"Your friend broke ours," Corill continued, pointing at Elaya with a flash of anger in his eyes. Rhen's eyes widened, staring at Elaya. He couldn't say he was too surprised at this, as he was sure that had been the only way to stop the spell from working, but it was shocking nonetheless. "I need you to create a new spell before my people realize they can use magic."

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"W-what?" Kaz stammered, now looking directly at Elaya. "You broke the spell?"

"It was the only way to get to you," Elaya snapped, throwing an icy glare at Corill before she looked at Kaz, her gaze softening. "They were going to use your soul to power the damned spell."

Rhenor almost flinched. Had treating Kaz like an animal not been bad enough?

"Our magic is powered by souls?" Kaz exclaimed, his huge, reptilian eyes blown wide. Then he frowned, looking pensive. "Intriguing."

"Kaz!" Rhen snapped at him. Leave it to Kaz to be fascinated with this instead of horrified at the information of almost getting his soul taken. To his credit, embarrassment flashed in Kaz's eyes for a split second before he looked back down at Corill.

"I can't help you. I don't know how our magic works." Kaz sighed through his nostrils, and muttered: "Though not for a lack of trying."

Corill shook his head, desperation once again crawling its way into his eyes. "You have to fix this. Everything we've built here will fall apart if you don't."

Rhen expected Kaz to apologize, or something as equally as undeserved, but instead, the dragon narrowed his eyes. "I don't know how. So, I can't."

Rhen wished Kaz had had stronger words for him, but it would do, he supposed. He couldn't help but tense up though when he saw Corill clench his fists. The man looked like he might hit Kaz, though Rhenor knew that would do very little. No, the magic at Corill's disposal was the real problem, and he might use it at any time.

"Your friend destroyed the spell. That makes this your problem to fix," Corill spat out, stabbing his finger at Kaz. Then he gave a dismissive snort. "But I suppose I shouldn't have expected a dragon to have a sense of responsibility or honor."

Kaz's hard expression faltered, guilt flashing in his eyes, and Rhenor was more than ready to try to punch Corill once again.

"That's enough," Rhenor exclaimed, closing the distance between him and Corill. "We're leaving. Whether you like it or not."

Rhenor wanted to try to push past the older man, even though he knew Corill could easily stop him with magic, but before he could try, the man's eyes glowed with a dark blue light.

A clinking sound suddenly came from behind him, followed by a loud, alarmed cry from Kaz. Rhen whirled around, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. The chains that had previously bound Kaz were flying around him, attempting to tie him down once more while Kaz did his best to twist away in the relatively small space, biting and clawing at the metal that clung onto him.

Rhenor wanted to rush over to help him, to try to pull the chains away, no matter how hopeless it might be. But he managed to hold back just a second long enough to realize there was something better he could do.

Without thinking about it further, Rhen turned back to Corill. He was almost shocked when his fist made contact with the other man's face, making him stumble back. But Rhen didn't get to try to strike again. Before he could, an unstoppable gust of wind hit him, throwing him away and into the stone wall.

He hit it hard with a cry, pain stabbing through his entire back, gritting his teeth as he fell onto the floor. Rhenor wanted to get up again, to keep fighting, but the pain was not letting him. All he could do for the moment was watch the scene in front of him, and try not to let despair consume him as he watched Kaz quickly lose his fight against the chains.

One of them was just wrapping itself around his hind foot, binding his front leg to it, and making him fall with a loud thud. Rhen forced himself onto his knees just as the ground shook from Kaz's immense weight.

Rhenor was about to try to somehow get over to Kaz, even drag himself over to him, no matter how useless he was going to be at wrenching the chains away. They were just too close. They'd just found Kaz. They couldn't fail now.

But before he could try to get up, he wavered as the ground shook once again, much more intensely. And then he saw it. The stone floor between Elaya and Corill was rippling, but instead of the stone breaking apart, it was as if the stone had become liquid, moving around in waves in an ever-growing circle.

And then suddenly, with a deafening rumble, a wave almost as tall as the room itself shot up, rushing at Corill, too fast to properly take in. In the blink of an eye, it crashed into the man, throwing him back into a wall, much like how he'd done to Rhenor. Then the wave retreated, the stone becoming solid again as it flowed back where it belonged. Rhen couldn't help but gape at both Elaya and the once-again smooth floor, leaving behind no evidence of what had just happened.

He managed to push his shock away, though, as soon as he heard Kaz let out a whine. Finally able to get to his feet, Rhen resisted the urge to groan at how his back ached and limped to Kaz as quickly as he could.

Elaya was tearing apart Kaz's chains before Rhenor even made it, and Kaz had already gotten up again. He was now watching Rhen with concern, lowered his huge head enough to look him over.

"Are you hurt?"

Rhen sighed and shook his head. It was touching that Kaz worried, but they had no time to do this right now. He shot a look over his shoulder, noting that Corill was unconscious but alive if the small movements of his chest were any indication. Rhen was glad Elaya hadn't killed him, but that also meant that he could come to at any moment and attack them again.

"We need to leave. Now."

Neither Elaya nor Kaz had a problem with that idea—or if they did, they kept it to themselves—and Rhen and Elaya were climbing onto Kaz's back immediately. Only then he noticed that his cloak was still on the dragon's back. The people who had put Kaz in that cage must have not noticed or didn't care enough to take it off.

Before Rhen even thought to ask if Kaz felt up to flying them anywhere, the dragon was running outside, increasing his pace with every step as he ran toward the beach. And just before his claws could reach the sand, he spread his wings and started beating them hard, bringing the three of them high up above the island.

Rhenor looked back and watched as the shore slowly became more and more distant, frowning when he noticed a group of people arriving at the structure they'd just escaped from. Perhaps they had come with Corill, but they hadn't had horses, so they'd arrived too late. Thank Hermea for that.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Finally, they managed to escape.

+++++

Kaz landed on a small island relatively far away from Rethan. It wasn't as far as Rhen would have liked, but he understood that flying at night was difficult, not to mention that Kaz's wings must have still ached from being tied up as they had been, so he said nothing.

As soon as he and Elaya jumped off Kaz and onto the sandy shore, Kaz transformed into his human form. And Rhen let out a thankful sigh. The sight of the familiar, messy, black hair, the vivid brown eyes.... It was a welcome comfort. Seeing Kaz standing there awkwardly, huddled in Rhen's cloak, Rhenor couldn't help himself and pull him into a tight hug.

He couldn't help but sigh in relief once more. He hated that hugging Kaz when he was like this felt much better than hugging him as a dragon, but Rhen couldn't help it. It was simply the truth, and he couldn't lie to himself. But he would work on getting used to Kaz's true self, and he would succeed. Because Kaz deserved better.

Kaz didn't hug back since he was wrapped up in Rhen's cloak, but he did lean into it, burying his face in Rhenor's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, his voice so soft Rhen almost didn't hear him. Almost.

"What?" he asked, pulling away enough so he could put his hands on Kaz's shoulders. "What are you sorry for?"

Kaz looked over at Elaya before gazing down at his bare feet and sighing sadly. "Everything that happened. It's my fault." If Rhenor wasn't so taken aback by those words, he would have stopped Kaz then. So he just gaped at him, unable to say a word as the dragon continued. "You finally found a place where your people are free. And now because of me, they'll be hostile to you."

"Dammit, Kaz," Elaya said as she shook her head, grabbing one of Kaz's shoulders as well and looking him straight in the eye. "I said it before, and I'll say it again—if I have to choose between humans who don't accept you, and being alone with you, I'll choose you, always."

Rhenor nodded to this, in full agreement, though he truly hated the sting of jealousy that entered his heart at the reminder that Elaya had known Kaz for much, much longer and had no issue with what he was. Another thing Rhen would have to work on, it seemed.

"But—"

"No," Elaya cut Kaz off, raising her index finger at him with a stern frown. Rhen blinked at that. It was surprisingly effective, and he wasn't even the one being scolded. "You're my family. If people can't accept that, I want nothing to do with them." She then sighed and brushed her hair off her face. "Besides, I wouldn't call a town whose people are not allowed to use magic free."

"They can use it now," Rhen pointed out, begrudgingly letting go of Kaz as the dragon nodded glumly. He kept his eyes trained on him, though. Rhen didn't like the implication that Kaz and Elaya had had a conversation like this already several times, and the dragon still thought like this, but Rhenor was very willing to try to change his mind. Maybe together they'd manage it.

"Yeah, they can," Elaya muttered, lowering her gaze as she grimaced. "I don't regret breaking the spell. They had no right to shoot us down like that."

Rhenor wanted to tell her that he fully agreed and that she didn't need to justify her actions, but she stopped there. So instead, he turned his attention to Kaz again, who had gone very quiet. And knowing Kaz, that was definitely a bad thing.

"Kaz, you did nothing wrong, okay?"

Kaz sighed, very obviously avoiding Rhenor's gaze, but he nodded, visibly swallowing. "I'm still sorry for how it ended." He finally looked up, a sad frown on his face. "Maybe they could have helped with the...situation in Istamid."

Rhenor brushed his hand over the dragon's hair without thinking about it, and while it did make him feel somewhat awkward due to Elaya being right next to them, he didn't stop. "I don't think they would have. They know what the situation is."

A somber silence filled the air. But Rhen wouldn't let himself wallow in thoughts of what could have been. Rethan had had no interest in helping them even before they'd done anything, so they certainly wouldn't be interested in helping now. Besides, there must have been more people out there. Rhenor refused to believe that these people's ancestors settled here three hundred years ago and no one ever ventured farther. Especially given the size of Rethan, it didn't seem to make much sense to Rhenor.

"What's done is done," Elaya said, shaking her head. "Besides, I don't think I've seen a ship in Rethan that would survive the trip to Istamid. We'll find another way to get back."

Rhen wanted to immediately agree, but then he paused for a second. Sure, visiting Rethan hadn't gone according to plan, to say the least, but if they managed to find another, friendlier settlement, did Rhenor even want to go back to Istamid? It was his home, yes, but he had no family to return to, no town he belonged to after Arlow had been burned down.

He would have plenty of time to consider this, and he would need to discuss this with Elaya and Kaz, but he was certainly in no rush to get back to Istamid.

"I may need new clothes," Kaz added, looking down at his bare feet. Rhenor couldn't help but huff out a laugh. Kaz hadn't had clothes since they'd escaped Serrok as he'd ruined what he had been wearing by transforming into his true self. Rhenor could have thought of buying something when they'd been in Rethan, but he'd been too focused on finding him to consider such relatively unimportant matters.

"We'll get you something," Rhen promised, smiling softly at him. His smile grew when Kaz returned it, albeit in a weaker and shier way. What had been said tonight had been a start, but there was still much, much more to discuss, no matter how uneasy it made Rhenor feel to imagine just approaching the subject of his opinions on dragons.

But it was too late to do any of that right now. They were all tired after everything that had happened, and despite Rhenor's anxious mind, he was sure the exhaustion that was finally settling in would be more than enough to make him fall asleep the moment he lay down. There would be plenty of time to plan their next move and talk tomorrow, assuming that no other catastrophe happened in the meantime.

But Rhen wouldn't let it. Between that crazy dragon who had tortured him and what had just happened in Rethan, Kaz needed a break.

No matter how ridiculous it was to be so protective of a dragon, a being so much stronger and bigger than him, Rhenor wouldn't let that stop him. Rhenor had felt this way practically since they'd met, and Kaz was still the same person, dragon or not.

Whatever Kaz wanted to do next, wherever he might want to go, Rhen would be right there with him.