The Escape from Serrok (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 4)

III - An Unpleasant Visit

It was taking far too long to get back to the hideout. Rhenor was getting more frustrated by the minute as yet again they were forced to change the direction they were going in just to avoid a single guard.

Rhenor fully understood why they had to be this cautious, but that didn't stop him from getting angry over it. They were wasting time, and the longer he went on not knowing if Kaz was even alive still, the more anxious and impatient he would get. Thankfully, so far he'd been able to keep that to himself.

They had gotten back inside the city using an unlocked door in the wall that was far in the back of the city's poorer neighborhood. Rhen had been surprised to find out about that, but also not surprised at all at the same time. It was odd that the security of the whole city wasn't a concern, but since the location of the door was fairly well hidden, he wasn't exactly shocked that the Dragon Lord of Sigallah didn't care much and might not even know about it.

But once they managed to get to it, which had been somewhat easy given that they'd had a lot of cover from the trees, and gotten inside of the city, they had both been surprised by how many guards there were.

It was almost sunrise when they finally managed to reach the basement and disappear inside of it. Thankfully at least the guards didn't seem to have found out about that because if they had, Rhen had no idea what they would do next.

He didn't waste time grabbing his things. He wished he could take two of those bedrolls with him as well, but right now they needed to travel light. They might have to run from the guards at any point, and the more they carried, the harder that would get. Still, he couldn't help but pause with his hand on the bedroll he'd used the day before, wondering if he and Kaz were going to travel together even one more time.

Rhenor internally winced as it occurred to him just how much he'd bemoaned and insulted the dragons while Kaz had been present. Rhen had no interest in pretending that he didn't think all the things he'd said, but Kaz had no doubt assumed it applied to him as well.

No wonder he'd never told him. Rhenor hadn't even realized how much he complained about the dragons on the regular because it had been completely normal to do so in Arlow. Especially in Arlow because the dragons nor their servants visited that corner of the kingdom. But Kaz didn't deserve to be lumped up with the rest of his kind, and knowing him, he'd probably taken all of it to heart.

Rhenor ran a hand over his face. He didn't regret what he'd said about dragons, but he wished he'd known that Kaz was one, so he could have at least made it clear to him that Rhenor hadn't talked about him specifically at any point.

Why did Kaz even like Rhenor enough to be around him when he talked about dragons this way? Sure, Kaz was attracted to him, but that wasn't all of it, surely. Maybe he'd thought he'd be able to hide it forever and Rhenor would never find out, though that was hardly realistic.

Rhenor sighed and pulled his bag over his shoulder. There was no point in thinking about this until they rescued Kaz. And while not thinking about it would be difficult for him, he would have to do his best because these thoughts were intensely distracting.

"All right," said Elaya as she came into the room, a rolled-up map under her arm. She was keeping her expression neutral, though her eyes betrayed that she was angry. And she had a right to be. "I think there's only one logical place Kaz could have been brought to."

Rhen watched her unroll the map on the table, leaning onto it. The map only showed Sigallah and the surrounding maybe twenty miles, but that would be more than enough. And Rhenor had a feeling he already knew what place Elaya was talking about.

"The castle."

Elaya nodded, giving the drawing of it a glare. Even drawn it looked unnecessarily large. It was apparently called Serrok Castle, and it was no doubt where the local Dragon Lord lived. Rhenor hadn't thought it would be this relatively far away from the city, but it seemed like a fair bet to him as well.