Given the length of their trip, Cal had been worried about Idri slipping up and Kyra figuring everything out, but thankfully, that hadn't happened yet, and they were about to reach the town. Kyra and Idri seemed to have found a common interest in reading, and they'd been talking about books they'd read, which meant that Caldor was being left out of the conversation, but he didn't care. He was happy to be around Kyra, and that she and Idri were getting along.

He did want to tell her about what Idri was, but every time he so much as thought about saying it, the words refused to leave his mouth. Cal was terrified of her not taking it well, but at the same time, forcing Idri to pretend to be something he wasn't was unfair to him.

Maybe alcohol would help him tell Kyra the truth. He would just have to be careful and not drink too much, or he risked saying it too loudly, and he didn't cherish the thought of having to run away immediately. He needed to rest his legs a bit after this.

It was already getting dark by the time they finally reached the town, which turned out to be situated right next to a mountain cliff and surrounded by huge, grassy fields. It was no Redreach, but it seemed quite large, with maybe over a hundred buildings, but the thing Cal was mostly focusing on was the fact that the place had a stone wall surrounding it, which meant that the only way to enter would be to go through the gate that would no doubt be guarded.

They would have to hope that either the guards wouldn't recognize them or that they could be paid off. Caldor was assuming it would be the latter.

"This isn't what I imagined," Kyra whispered as they approached the metal gate.

"It's going to be fine," Cal whispered back before putting on a mask of confidence. He could already see the guards standing next to the gate looking at him, and he needed to seem like a clueless traveler if he was to be in any way convincing.

"Good evening," he greeted them with a smile, only to be met with two blank faces.

"What's your business in Everfell?" the female guard asked, sounding incredibly bored. Good, bored he could work with. It was the male guard that was making Cal a bit worried since he kept staring at Idri.

Cal could understand how someone would want to stare at him, given how good-looking Idri was, but this wasn't that kind of staring. No, this was the suspicious variety.

"We're traveling north, and we were hoping to spend the night at a local inn." The guards said nothing, only looking them all over. "We do have the coin to pay for it if that is a concern."

He reached into his pocket to show off the silver to make his point, and also possibly to try to subtly bribe the guards, when the woman waved her hand. "Fine. There are three inns. You can find the nearest one by following the path on the right."

"Thank you very much."

The female guard looked even more irritated at Cal's pleasant smile. "Just get inside."

He was walking through the gate before the guards could say anything else, only taking a glance over his shoulder to make sure Kyra and Idri were following him. They were almost out of the guards' sight when the man spoke for the first time.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

Caldor froze, his heart skipping a beat as he whirled around, expecting the guard to be looking at him. But instead, he was talking to Idri, who was standing just in front of the gate, about to walk inside.

If anything, Cal's fear doubled, but before he could intervene, Idri replied to the question, his face perfectly neutral.

"That's not likely. I have never visited these parts before."

Caldor cringed, expecting the guard to get angry since, even though Idri just tended to talk like that, it could be read as sarcasm, but the man just huffed and waved Idri inside.

Cal grabbed his hand as soon as Idri was in a reachable distance and walked faster, dragging the dragon along, even though Idri would no doubt love to take in all of the surrounding architecture. Caldor could barely even see the houses beyond their walls. All he could think about was getting far away from the guards and finding some dank alley they could stop in and talk for a moment.

How could that guard have recognized Idri? Were there wanted posters up for him, even here? And why hadn't either of them recognized Caldor, if that was the case? Augerill and several of his guards knew what he looked like. The only one who should be fine was Kyra, who had ironically been the most worried about this situation.

Finally coming across a dark alley to hide in, Cal pulled Idri into it, with Kyra following right after, peering over the edge of one of the houses to see if anyone had followed them.

"Do you think you just looked similar to someone that guard knows, or did he recognize you because Augerill's after you?" Cal asked Idri while he looked over at Kyra to confirm that there was no one chasing after them. He let out a breath when she shook her head, turning his full attention to Idri again.

"There is no way to know," Idri replied, looking even more serious than usual. And he had good reason for that. This could be a problem.

Cal nodded, taking off his cloak. "We need to disguise your hair."

Idri's hand immediately flew up to touch said hair, frowning and looking almost offended. "What is wrong with it?"

Cal smiled to himself, despite the situation. "It's absolutely perfect. But there aren't a lot of blond people around, so it makes you stand out."

"And my eyes do not?"

Idri brought up a good point, but thankfully it was hard to get eye color across with wanted posters drawn with graphite. And there was also another problem with this. "Well, we have nothing to hide your eyes with."

Idri narrowed his eyes and looked like he was about to argue, but then he just nodded and took Cal's cloak when it was offered to him, pulling it around his shoulders and the hood over his head.

"Does this not make me look more suspicious?"

Cal wanted to assure him that he looked fine, but he found himself pausing when he realized Idri looked very fine wearing his cloak like this. It gave him a sort of mysterious, dangerous air, which was sort of ridiculous because Idri had had a lot of that already.

"It's fine, Idri," Kyra assured him. "Just stay out of the center of attention and no one will notice you."

Caldor resisted making a joke about Idri having no choice but to be the center of attention. Now wasn't the time.

"So, what do we do? Stay or leave?" Kyra asked as she walked around them to check the street at the other end of the short alley.

Cal wasn't sure what to say. He felt as though leaving was the smart choice, and yet they likely didn't have much of a reason to worry so much. That guard had after all only suspected he'd recognized Idri, and the other guard hadn't seemed to.

So far, he hadn't seen any proof that the people of this town even knew they were running from Augerill's wrath. It would definitely be the safer option to leave, but only if there was another gate because leaving just minutes after arriving would be incredibly suspicious. And looking for another exit could itself be dangerous, as it would mean walking around the entire town.

And after the trip over here, Cal didn't want to do more walking right now.

"We can stay the night," Caldor finally said, nodding to himself. After all, he and Idri had spent an entire day in that other town, they'd done nothing to disguise themselves, and nothing had happened. No one had even given them so much as a suspicious glance. Sure, that town had been much smaller, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. We'll just blend in and leave early in the morning." Caldor walked to the end of the alley, looking out to the cobbled street. It was mostly empty, but he could hear voices all around them. Especially coming from a place up ahead. No doubt that would be where the inn was located.

"All right, let's go then," Kyra said, joining him and Idri. "I really wouldn't mind sleeping in an actual bed tonight."

Caldor agreed with that very much. Sleeping on the ground didn't agree with him, and even Idri had seemed a bit bothered by it this morning.

Cal could also do with eating something, as he was now realizing. Immediately after that thought, his stomach grumbled, as if to express its agreement, and he sighed. They would have to talk to someone to get a room for the night either way—ordering some food wasn't going to make the process any riskier.

They walked down the street winding itself around the town wall, as they'd been instructed, and soon enough they found the inn. Even though it was quite dark, and Cal might have missed the sign hanging above the door, it was still obvious it was a tavern just from the muffled noise of people talking inside and music playing, as well as the soft muttering of a group of three people standing outside, leaning against the stone wall of the building.

Good, everyone being distracted should make it easier for them to appear inconspicuous. Caldor was about to walk inside when Kyra stopped him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Out of the three of us, I should be the least recognizable," she whispered in his ear. "I'll deal with this. You two sit somewhere out of the way."

Cal wanted to argue, but he gave up on that almost immediately. He knew she was right. He nodded, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a few coins.

Kyra raised her eyebrow at them when he held them up to her, but she took the coins without comment, instead giving Caldor a look and walking into the inn.

Cal followed right behind her, almost wincing at how loud the music and talking got when she opened the door. But almost immediately he relaxed, the corner of his mouth quirking up. He'd missed the hustle and bustle of Redreach, and this was comparable. All the chaos and noise was comforting, no matter how strange it was when he actually thought about it.

Caldor quickly looked around, noting that while the inn was quite packed and relatively well lit, there were darker corners they could disappear in. As soon as Cal spotted a free table in one of them, he took Idri's hand again, guiding him through the labyrinth of chairs, tables, and people, trying to ignore both the food on their tables, and the amalgamation of delicious smells filling the entire place.

Caldor huffed as his stomach grumbled again. He didn't care what Kyra would buy, he just wanted to eat something.

As he sat down on what turned out to be a bench in the corner, he grinned at Idri as the dragon joined him. But his smile quickly faltered when he saw the apprehensive look in Idri's eyes.

Frowning, Cal squeezed his hand. "What's wrong?"

Idri sighed, his eyes scanning the crowd around them. No one seemed to be paying them any mind, which was good, but clearly, Idri wasn't comforted by this. "I'm simply not used to...this."

Oh. Caldor hadn't thought to consider that, but it made sense. Idri had lived alone for a lot of his life, so this much noise and so many people wouldn't be something normal to him. In comparison, the last tavern they'd been to had been much calmer than this, even at night.

Caldor couldn't help but feel a little ashamed that he hadn't thought to consider that at all. This kind of atmosphere was so familiar to him that it hadn't occurred to him at all that Idri might not like it.

"We'll soon get a private room, all right?"

Idri smiled at him softly, stroking his thumb across the back of Cal's hand. "Do not worry, beloved. I am a little disoriented from all of this, but that is all." Then he looked around again, tilting his head in that cute, curious way he always did. "It is interesting. Quite similar to how dragons are on the rare occasion we are somewhere in a group."

"Oh yeah?" Caldor leaned onto the table with his elbow. He always found it interesting when Idri talked about dragons, even though he knew Idri didn't like to do it much. "How often does that happen?"

"I have not taken part in any of the gatherings myself," Idri replied, frowning at nothing in particular. "But before my clan was wiped out, every fifty years or so, the clan leaders would call everyone to a neutral location to decide if some of our rules needed to change."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Right, that made sense, though fifty years seemed like a lot. And also the mental image of that was amusing, to say the least. A bunch of dragons sitting around, deciding laws. Cal hadn't even thought they'd had any rules, but he supposed they had to have some if they had leaders.

"Those clan leaders. Are they going to be a problem?"

Idri shook his head, raising his hand to brush his fingers through Cal's hair. "I will not let anyone touch you." The firm, borderline angry tone Idri used surprised Caldor, but looking into the dragon's eyes, he knew Idri was just being intensely protective again. "But no, I don't believe they will bother us. Mating a human is not allowed, but given my...circumstance, I think they will agree that it is preferable to another dragon."

Caldor scowled. He wanted to tell him just what the other dragons could do with their opinions, namely where they could shove them, but before he had the chance Kyra showed up, somehow managing to carry a plate of sausages while also holding three tankards of beer in one hand. They were smaller than Caldor thought was usual, but it was still impressive.

Licking his lips, Cal was grabbing one of the sausages before Kyra could even put the plate on the table and biting into it, humming at the delicious, slightly smoky taste. He usually didn't get to enjoy these since they were a bit more expensive than just a roast or something similar.

"You're welcome," Kyra grumbled, though a small, amused smile was on her lips as she put down the beer as well.

"Hey, 'm hungry. An' Idri's the one payin'," Caldor joked, his words barely comprehensible since he had his mouth full.

He quickly realized he probably shouldn't have said that when Kyra turned her gaze to Idri, who was studying the sausages with hesitant curiosity. Cal swallowed, quickly trying to think of a lie to explain why the coins had no marks on them, but then Kyra picked up one of the sausages and began to eat, questioning nothing.

Unfortunately, Caldor knew very well she was questioning everything, and she probably had been since meeting Idri.

Dammit, he really should have told her the truth already, and he wanted to do it now, but not in such a public place. He would tell Kyra tomorrow after they'd left. She deserved the truth, no matter how she might react. Maybe it wouldn't go that badly as long as Cal made sure to mention early on that Idri could find Aelin. Yeah, he definitely should lead with that.

They finished their meals without incident, with Idri noticeably trying not to ask about the sausages if his questioning looks aimed at the food and Caldor were any indication. Thankfully, if Kyra had noticed, she'd said nothing about it.

"All right, here's your key," she said once she finished her beer, pushing said key across the table towards him and Idri. There was a piece of wood attached to it with string with two lines carved into it. It made Cal wonder just how many rooms there were at this inn, but it was practical either way.

"You got two rooms."

Kyra laughed. "Yeah. They didn't have a room with three beds, but even if they did, if we can afford it, I'd rather give you privacy."

Cal laughed too, though he could feel his cheeks heating up. He would have thrown back something about him dealing with this stuff with Kyra and Aelin for years, but given the circumstances, it was a very bad idea, so he just stayed silent and somewhat embarrassed.

"It is very appreciated," Idri said, sounding far too grateful not to make Caldor's face get even more red.

He shook his head, gulping down more of his beer. These two would be the death of him. In a strangely good way.

"Yeah, no problem," Kyra said, grinning. "You go ahead. I'll take a look around town before I go to bed. To check the guards aren't onto us."

Cal frowned, immediately concerned. "Are you sure?"

Kyra nodded, her smile turning gentler as she pulled her hood over her head. "I'll keep to the rooftops."

Well, Cal couldn't argue that Kyra knew what she was doing when it came to stealth. She was perhaps the best of them all. Caldor liked to think that he was great at stealth too—and for the record, he was—but Kyra was simply better. And if this would give her peace of mind, he didn't see why it would be a problem.

"All right. Stay safe." Caldor nodded at her as she got up, the scraping of her chair against the floor barely audible over the loud noise of the inn.

With one last nod, she turned around, walking towards the exit and slipping out of the inn within seconds, the door closing behind her.

Caldor let his gaze linger on the door until Idri's voice brought his attention to him. "What are these things?"

The almost desperate tone Idri had used made Caldor want to start laughing, especially when he saw the dragon staring closely at the half of a sausage he was holding in his hand.

"What are they made of? They are suspiciously delicious."

This time Caldor did laugh and kissed Idri on the cheek. "Are you drunk, Idri?"

The dragon scowled and pouted, looking far too adorable. "Of course not. I am genuinely curious."

He was probably a tiny bit drunk, seeing as Idri wasn't used to drinking at all, but Cal wouldn't call the dragon out on it.

"Well, there's meat, some spice, and I don't think you want to know the rest."

Idri scowled at the sausage as if that would make it reveal its secrets. But Caldor wasn't trying to keep this a mystery just for mystery's sake. He was genuinely concerned sausages might lose some of their charm if Idri knew what the skins were made of.

"Come on, let's go," Caldor said, grabbing the key off the table. "Somewhere private."

Cal chuckled, watching Idri nod and finish off the last sausage. There were many inappropriate jokes he could be making right now, but what was stopping him was the fact that he was mortified at the idea of trying to explain them to Idri, who would definitely not understand them.

As they headed upstairs, Caldor was surprised at how relatively silent it was up here. He could still hear the voices and music from downstairs, of course, but they blended into a kind of background noise that he would be able to easily ignore if he wanted to.

They quickly found the corresponding door and as soon as it was closing behind them he felt Idri push him against the wall, their lips meeting in a surprisingly gentle kiss. Caldor grinned into it, kissing back, and letting his hands pull down Idri's hood and stroke through his hair.

He sighed when Idri pulled away and instead started running his teeth over Caldor's neck, making him close his eyes. "You will have to tell her eventually."

Cal grimaced, looking at Idri who was now kissing his way over to his shoulder. "I will. Tomorrow, all right? And if I don't just...kick me, or something."

Idri stopped for a moment, raising his head to look Cal in the eye. He actually looked concerned. "I'd rather not."

Caldor chuckled, kissing him again. "Metaphorically."

Idri frowned, now looking mostly confused. Dragons weren't very into metaphors, were they? Cal had thought that the reason Idri didn't understand human saying was that dragons had different ones, but perhaps there was more to it than that.

"What do you think of Kyra so far, by the way?" Cal asked, taking the satchel off his shoulder and hanging it on the hook by the door.

He dreaded the answer as soon as the words left his lips and he had time to properly think about what he'd just asked. Even though Idri and Kyra seemed to get along okay, she had introduced herself to him by trying to rob them, and Idri had already expressed a deep-seated distrust when it came to, as he'd put it, rogues, so whatever he thought about her was not going to be very positive.

"I do not mind her being around if that is what you are asking. I understand she is important to you."

Caldor cringed. Oof. He'd hoped it wouldn't be quite this negative. "That bad, huh?"

Idri tilted his head, a confused frown on his face. "Not at all. My feelings are very neutral. I was simply trying to assure you that I don't mind Kyra's presence."

"Oh." Caldor couldn't help but feel like an idiot for assuming Idri had been implying something, even though it had been a completely fair interpretation. "Right. Well, that's good."

A somewhat awkward silence filled the room, with Idri still looking very perplexed, and Caldor still feeling like an idiot. It was clearly time to change the topic. Thankfully, Caldor had had one ready in the back of his mind for a while now.

"Hey," Cal leaned in, giving Idri another kiss and putting his arms around his shoulders. "How about we try something different?"

Idri frowned, tilting his head curiously. "Different how?"

"Maybe I could take care of you this time around?"

For a second Caldor was afraid that Idri wouldn't understand what he was saying, which would mean that he would have to explain it in more words, which would no doubt be awkward, but then Idri's eyes lit up with realization. But there was trepidation in them as well as the dragon looked away and lowered his head just a bit.

"I've...never tried doing anything like that."

Caldor didn't think Idri had tried anything prior to them meeting, either, but he didn't say that. Instead, he just gave him a small, reassuring smile. "We don't have to try if you don't want to. It's fine."

Idri met his eyes then, now looking more curious than intimidated. And maybe even a tiny bit amused. "I did not say that, beloved."

Cal shivered. Idri's words really did things to him, especially when making implications like this. At least Cal certainly hoped that was what Idri was doing. He stood there for a second, torn between discussing this further and crashing their lips together when a knock on the door interrupted all of his thoughts.

He flinched, sighing and grudgingly letting go of Idri.

"Hold that thought," he whispered to him, grinning before turning to the door and calling: "Yeah?"

Cal frowned as only then he realized how odd it was for someone to knock on their door. This was either Kyra or very, very bad. Or possibly both.

"It's me," Kyra's muffled voice replied, making Caldor relax. Though he supposed the guards might not have even bothered knocking.

He swung the door open, frowning once again when he saw Kyra's serious face. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"We need to talk." Her gaze snapped to Idri, a look in her eyes that Cal couldn't quite figure out. "Alone."

"Okay?" Caldor looked back at Idri, clasping his hand on the dragon's shoulder. "I'll be right back."

Idri didn't reply, only nodding and narrowing his eyes at Kyra. Caldor would think that was a bit uncalled for, but maybe not. Kyra was acting very strangely.

And the strangeness only increased as she started heading downstairs, waving at him to follow without a word.

"What's going on?"

"Not here."

Was this about guards finding them? Cal sure hoped it wasn't because he wasn't comfortable leaving Idri alone if that was the case. And also because it would mean they were in big trouble, of course.

But he kept the questions to himself, simply following her out of the inn and into the alley next to it. It was barely wide enough to fit him—more of a gap between two buildings rather than a proper alley—but Caldor somehow managed to squeeze himself in and go after Kyra as she walked to the other side.

"What's up?"

Kyra quickly checked the connecting street before turning around, reaching into the satchel hanging from her belt, and pulling something out. Was that a piece of parchment?

If anything Caldor was more confused, but the moment Kyra showed him what was on the parchment, his mouth fell open, and all he could do was gape at it.

It was undoubtedly a wanted poster, even though he couldn't read the text written on it, but that was about the last thing Cal was focusing on. No, the horrifying part was that there was a near-perfect drawing of Idri on it. With horns and scales.

"Ah." Well, that explained why Kyra had been so serious, at least, but what the hell was he supposed to tell her to explain this? That Idri had a dragon look-alike?

"Ah?" Caldor grimaced. That hadn't been the best reaction given the situation, but at the moment he didn't know what to say. "Idri's the dragon you were sent to steal from, isn't he?"

Damn Kyra and her logical deduction. Then again, that drawing was accurate enough that pretending this was just a coincidence was impossible. Even though Idri looked like a regular person right now, Cal very well knew Kyra would see right through any excuse he could come up with.

"Idriseth," she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she turned the parchment over to look at it. "Of course you'd nickname a dragon."

"Hey, Idri's nice," Cal shot back, surprised at how genuinely irritated her talking about Idri was making him. Maybe it wasn't just the dragon who was a bit too protective.

"He's a dragon!" Kyra snapped, pushing the wanted poster in Cal's face. Immediately looking over her shoulder, she glared, worry in her eyes. Caldor certainly hoped that no one had heard that.

"There is no such thing as a nice dragon," she hissed, keeping her voice down.

"And how do you know that? A book told you."

Kyra shot him a dirty and somewhat hurt look. "You're not exactly unbiased, either."

Caldor ran a hand over his face. Gods dammit. This was going about as well as he'd imagined. "Idri's different."

"Cal...." Kyra sighed, taking a step forward and putting her hands on Cal's shoulders. "I get that you like him, but dragons have done this sort of thing."

Caldor scowled, folding his arms and shaking her hands off. "What sort of thing?"

"Manipulate people. I've read about it." Kyra's eyes were now full of pity, which was shocking enough to stop Caldor from arguing. He wasn't sure she'd ever looked at him this way. "They amuse themselves by using magic to get mortals to do whatever they want before killing them or just leaving them behind. I've never heard of a dragon taking on human form to do it, but...."

Cal shook his head, setting his jaw. Idri would never do that. The dragon was the one who hadn't trusted Caldor, after all, and he'd initially done very little to convince Cal that they should get together.

"Maybe you're right about dragons in general. But Idri isn't lying."

Kyra narrowed her eyes. "Don't you find all this even a little bit weird? Or suspicious? You meet this dragon, and after two weeks you look at him like he's the best thing you've ever seen."

Caldor scoffed, mostly to hide the doubt her words produced. He didn't doubt Idri's intentions for one second, but Kyra was right about something. His and Idri's relationship had moved very fast so far, hadn't it? They were basically dragon-married, after all.

He would have thought that realizing that would unnerve him, but if anything, when he properly considered it, he felt happy about it.

He smirked, though he still felt very annoyed with Kyra for not listening to him. "He is the best thing I've ever seen. I mean, have you seen those cheekbones?"

"This isn't funny, Cal!" Kyra snapped at him, her hand immediately flying to her mouth as she realized she'd raised her voice again. But the damage had been done. Somewhere from the street ahead, a voice called at them to identify themselves.

They exchanged only one wide-eyed look before both of them went running in the other direction as best they could in the very narrow space. But where should they run to? They couldn't hide at the inn, since it was too obvious. Even if no one had seen them enter, which was unlikely too since there seemed to always be a few people around the door, the guards would definitely check there.

So instead, he and Kyra sprinted off away from the inn, both looking for a spot to hide. They needed to do this fast, since running around town like this was suspicious in of itself. Caldor cursed under his breath. If this were Redreach, he'd be just fine. He knew practically all the hiding spots in the city, and running from the guards was second nature to him by now, but he didn't even know where which street led in this town, let alone the location of any good places to disappear into.

Which meant the guards had the advantage. As they quickly demonstrated when Cal and Kyra turned a corner, only to be met with four of them standing there, cutting them off.

Immediately turning around, Cal and Kyra attempted to run the other way again, but there were three more guards blocking their exit. There was nowhere to go, except maybe try to climb up on the roof of the house on their right, but there was no way Cal could do that before the guards would grab him.

"You are a wanted man," one of the guards said, stepping forward. He seemed to be speaking for the entire group, so Caldor would assume he was the leader.

"Yeah, I know I'm quite the catch. But I'm spoken for. Sorry to disappoint."

Clearly having no appreciation for fine humor, the guard nodded to the ones standing behind Caldor. He'd expected them to just restrain him, but instead, he gasped as an arm wrapped itself tightly around his throat, the chainmail scratching against his skin and cutting off his airflow.

Cal choked, trying to pull the guard's arm away but the two others joined him, grabbing his arms and forcing them behind his back, leaving him defenseless as he continued to desperately try to get air into his lungs.

"Stop!" Kyra yelled at them, turning around to face the leader. Caldor tried to focus on her, but the black spots in his vision were making that difficult.

"The dragon came here with you, didn't he? Tell us where he is."

For a moment Caldor paused his struggles against the guards holding him. No. They wouldn't give Idri up. There had to be another way of getting out of this. Gods knew what that bastard Augerill would do to Idri if he got his hands on him.

"Let us go, and I will," Kyra replied without hesitation, her voice angry and unafraid. Caldor felt horror overcome him. No, she couldn't be considering this!

He tried to call out to her, tell her that she couldn't do this, but all he managed to produce was a gurgling gasp. He could barely see at this point, his mind turning too fuzzy and slow to even think properly.

He could hear Kyra and the guard talking, but he couldn't understand the words anymore. And finally, with no strength left in his body, he lost consciousness.