Caldor fought against the rope binding his wrists behind his back and his ankles together, shaking his head as he tried to dislodge the gag in his mouth. But of course, both were fruitless efforts.

Leaning back against the wooden wall of the large carriage he'd been forced into, he breathed in and out a few times through his nose, trying to come up with some way of escaping, but there wasn't much in the carriage that would help him.

He could theoretically move around, but with his ankles bound as they were, he doubted he'd be able to take even a step in the cramped space without falling flat on his face, which would no doubt alert Zaria, or whoever was keeping guard outside, and end in Caldor being tied up even more securely.

Cal bit hard into the fabric in his mouth, once again pulling against the strong rope binding his wrists with all his might, but all he managed was to chafe his skin. Groaning at the burn, Caldor slumped in his seat.

Kyra had been right, hadn't she? He might not be executed, but he had been captured and was now being used to force Idri into helping Augerill with whatever nefarious plans he had.

Cal hung his head. He couldn't help but feel ashamed of how foolish he had been to simply rush in. Even now he knew he could never have left Idri to his fate here, but the way he'd gone about it had been very, very stupid. He should have taken his time to plan, to survey, but no, of course he hadn't done that.

But at the same time, he couldn't feel too angry with himself. The idea of Idri being hurt in any way made it hard to not want to rush in and save him. And actually seeing them torture him....

Caldor gritted his teeth. He would make Augerill pay for this, for everything he'd done. Killing members of his guild was one thing, since they were criminals, even though Caldor didn't want to give Augerill any justifications, but Idri was innocent. He'd done absolutely nothing to deserve being kidnapped and tortured.

Caldor wondered what Augerill wanted from the dragon. The lord had already gotten the spellbook back, hadn't he? Maybe he'd realized he couldn't use magic and had to force a dragon to do it for him.

Cal would have smirked if the damned rag in his mouth had let him. The thought of Augerill not getting something was rather pleasant. Though his spiteful amusement was immediately ruined by the fact that Augerill now did have a dragon he could force into helping him, didn't he?

And it was all Cal's fault. Idri wouldn't let anything happen to him, which meant that Augerill would get anything he could ever want. Caldor knew basically nothing about magic, but even with the little he knew, he realized Augerill having access to it was bad news.

Despite all of that, though, all Cal could focus on was Idri. Why wasn't he in this carriage with him yet? Caldor certainly hoped that his wounds were being taken care of, and he wasn't being hurt more because if that was what Augerill was doing....

His thoughts were cut short as he suddenly heard a quiet gasp right outside the carriage. The clinking of armor followed, erratic as if the person wearing it was struggling desperately against someone until it ceased with one last thud.

Had someone attacked the guard outside? Caldor tried to lean closer to the carriage door window, but he froze when he heard a voice.

"No, Idri! Don't kill her," came a soft hiss. Cal's eyes widened. That was Kyra. And...wait, had she said Idri's name?

"She threatened Caldor's life," Idri's voice replied, just as softly but with much more irritation.

"Yeah, threatened. And only that." And with that the carriage door swung open, making Caldor forget how to breathe for a moment. Both Kyra and Idri were there, looking down at him, and Cal could scarcely believe it. Had Kyra followed him and set Idri free? The dragon was here in all his glory, his wings glistening in the little moonlight there was, so she must have.

Cal felt his shoulders slump in relief. Oh, it was so good to see them.

"Beloved!" Idri cried with relief, his eyes glassy with tears as he pulled Caldor out of the carriage and onto his feet before pulling the gag out of his mouth and hugging him with both his arms and wings.

"Hey, Idri," Caldor muttered, hugging him as soon as Kyra got his arms free, sighing as his ankles were freed as well. He wanted to hug him like this forever, but they were still in danger as far as Caldor knew. Idri didn't seem to care, though, and wasn't letting go, forcing Cal to crane his head to the side awkwardly so he could look at his friend.

Kyra was wearing the armor of one of Augerill's guards. Cal couldn't help but grin at that. And he was also somewhat pleased to see Zaria's unconscious form lying by the carriage. Caldor knew she was just doing her job as Augerill's personal guard, but after everything, it was nice to know she wouldn't be a problem for them, at least for a while. "Thanks for the save, Ky."

Kyra sighed, but he could see the corner of her mouth twitch up, breaking her annoyed facade. His gaze drifted over to the leather strap crossing her chest, realizing when he looked down that it was the satchel he'd bought.

"We found it on our way out," Kyra explained briefly when she noticed him looking. Idri finally let go of Cal then, his expression hard and angry.

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"Yes, with my spellbook missing."

"Look, we need to go," said Kyra, looking she had a hundred questions, but she wasn't asking any of them. "Before the rest of Augerill's guards show up."

Cal glared at the mention of the lord's name, looking towards the castle. He wanted revenge, but with both Kyra and Idri here with him, that burning need for it had been dulled a lot.

They should leave while they could. Still....

"How many guards are there?"

Kyra shot Cal a disbelieving look. "We are not fighting them."

Cal was about to argue. After all, this might be their only chance at payback. Augerill wasn't likely to stop hunting them down, either. Maybe if they took him prisoner, they might convince him to leave them alone.

But before he could say any of that, a cry came from the right, making them all turn to face the castle.

Four guards were running down the hill towards them, yelling at them to stay where they were, with Augerill behind them, walking instead. Dramatic bastard.

Caldor tensed up, quickly looking around for anything to fight with, but before he could dive to the ground to grab Zaria's sword, he felt Idri push him, making him stumble back. Steading himself, Cal almost asked what Idri was doing. But then he saw him.

Idri was changing shape, like Cal had seen him do a dozen times before. Within a second or two, Idri's mostly human form was gone, and instead there stood Idri's true self, the golden, magnificent dragon that Cal found oh so incredible.

Frozen in place, Cal watched as Idri took a graceful leap forward toward their pursuers, stomping so hard that Caldor wavered in place. And then Idri roared. Cal scrambled to cover his ears at how loud it was, squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for the dragon to stop.

He opened his eyes again just in time to see Idri flap his massive wings at the guards, sending them to the ground with the sheer force of wind, and then watching them scramble to get up and run away from Idri as fast as possible. Cal would have made fun of their cowardice, but if he was to be honest, if he had been faced with a dragon like this, he would have been running even before Idri had had the time to roar.

But one person wasn't running. Augerill was standing about twenty feet away from them, holding Idri's spellbook against his chest, and staring up at the dragon with annoyance instead of fear. Given the situation, no matter how much Cal hated the lord, he couldn't help but feel a little impressed at how little Augerill seemed to care about the huge, winged lizard standing in front of him.

Idri snorted angrily, putting one wing protectively over Caldor and the other over Kyra, who was standing on the other side of him. Cal couldn't help but grin, feeling very victorious even though Idri was the one who had done all of the work. He stroked his hand over the dragon's scaly side as he walked toward Augerill.

"Some loyal guards you have there."

Augerill sighed, looking more irritated than Caldor had ever seen him. "You are so exhausting, Hawthorne."

Caldor was about to throw something back at him when Idri snorted again, flaring his nostrils. Cal blinked when he saw actual smoke coming out of them. He couldn't deny that seeing that was a little intimidating even to him. Augerill, though, seemed completely unconcerned.

Caldor had thought a lot of negative things about Augerill, but he'd never thought he was stupid or insane. Maybe Cal had been wrong.

"I say we take him prisoner," Caldor said, looking over at Kyra before turning his gaze back to Augerill. "Give him a little teachable moment about why kidnapping and torturing people are not nice things to do. Not to mention killing them."

Augerill grinned. "Adorable that you think you have me cornered."

Caldor frowned, having no idea what Augerill was talking about. It was three against one, with one of them being a dragon. How could Augerill hope to get away? But as he watched Augerill pull a ring off his finger, dread quickly spread through his belly. The sound of fabric ripping apart filled the air, and all Caldor could do was stare at him with his mouth hanging open.

Huge golden wings were now spreading out from Augerill's back, much longer than Idri's were in his other form. The lord's face was dotted with golden scales, four horns stuck out of his hair at the top of his head and above his ears, his nails had turned into small claws, and most disturbing of all, Augerill's teeth were now fangs, making his smile sharp both literally and figuratively.

Caldor was too shocked to feel as afraid as he should. He just didn't understand at all. Had Augerill been a dragon this entire time? But that would make no sense at all. What was going on?

"This is far from over, Idriseth." And with that Augerill tightened his grip on the spellbook and with a few mighty flaps of his wings he was in the air, flying away so fast Caldor lost sight of him almost immediately. He still kept his eyes on the dark sky for a while, though, struggling to understand what he'd just witnessed.

"What...." Kyra took her helmet off, looking bewildered. "How...."

So it wasn't just him who was completely clueless. That did make Cal feel a bit better. He quickly pushed these thoughts away, though, when he heard Idri groan. Given how quiet the sound had been, the dragon had no doubt tried to stifle it, but with how big he was, that was guaranteed to be impossible.

"Are you okay, Idri?" he asked as he closed the distance between them, stroking the dragon's snout. He grimaced when he saw the red stains on his belly. Even though Idri was holding a claw over his wounds, and it was dark, the stark contrast of blood on his golden scales was too visible.

"I will heal," he replied, his voice laced with pain. Gods, Cal hated seeing him like this. "We need to leave."

Caldor yelped as Idri picked him up by the collar of his tunic with his fangs and gently deposited him onto his back. Cal shook his head, deciding to keep his complaints to himself since Idri was injured, but if the dragon continued doing this, they would have to talk.

Idri then moved his neck to the side so he could pick up Kyra as well, but she backed away. Cal was about to assure her that it was okay, that Idri wasn't going to hurt her, but she spoke first.

"I can climb on by myself. Just give me a second to get this armor off."

There was a definite hint of apprehension in her voice, but Caldor couldn't blame her. This was the first time she'd seen a dragon, and with everything she'd read about them, it was bound to make a bad impression. Cal himself had been terrified when he'd seen Idri like this for the first time, after all.

"Are you sure you can fly hurt like this?" he asked Idri as Kyra managed to get the last piece of armor off her and joined him on Idri's back, sitting right behind him.

Idri craned his neck to look back at him, fondness in his huge, beautiful eyes. "I will manage."

Cal felt Kyra wrap her arms around his waist a bit too tightly, her entire body stiff as Idri spread his wings. Caldor wanted to assure her they were going to be fine, but he didn't get a chance to do so before Idri started running and beating his wings, quickly flying up to meet the night sky.

After a moment, though, Cal felt her relax at least a little. And so did Caldor. He breathed in the cold night air, stroking his hand down Idri's neck.

At least for the moment, it was over.