The Shores of Rethan (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 5)

III - Chains and Claws

It took Kaz a second to realize that the people dragging him somewhere had stopped. He was incredibly disoriented from a mix of not being able to move so he could look around and every muscle in his body cramping at how tightly the metal net was wrapped around him.

Where even was he? Quickly scanning his surroundings as best he could, he saw dark, stone walls, making up a dimly lit, round room with a very large cage in the corner. Kaz felt his heart stutter in fear. That was no doubt meant for him, though he couldn't say he was surprised by it. Honestly, he would prefer a cage if it meant getting out of this net. The way it stopped all of his movement, the oppressive metal tied all around him.... It kept him on the edge of panic.

Though what was making him panic as well was that he had no idea what had happened to Elaya and Rhen. Were they okay? He certainly hoped these humans were nicer to their own species than to dragons. Kaz couldn't even blame them, though—dragons had treated humans even worse than this for centuries.

"Remember, it can't burn us, but it can still bite," said one of the people close to him. Kaz tried to crane his neck to look at him, but there was truly no give to the net. "So be ready with the muzzle."

Muzzle? Kaz looked around, swallowing when he saw one of the humans holding a large, metal contraption in her hands. It was made up of two curved plates of metal, with rings at each end, no doubt meant for padlocks. It wasn't hard to figure out how this must have worked—the metal would go over Kaz's snout, making it impossible for him to open his mouth, much like what the net was doing right now.

But that meant he would be rendered silent again. He would have to ask if Rhen and Elaya were okay before they could muzzle him.

Kaz knew that he should be worrying about having that thing locked onto his snout instead, but he couldn't bring himself to care. There was nothing more important to him than the safety of his friends. It was his fault they were stuck here, after all. If he had paid more attention, he could have avoided that net. Or perhaps he should have recognized that the strange feeling he'd had was him losing control over magic and left before they could have gotten shot down.

He couldn't help but whine as the humans started to pull the net off of him, sending pinpricks throughout his wings and legs. He wanted to stretch them out so much, but of course, the people freeing him wouldn't let him do that, as they had no way of knowing Kaz wouldn't hurt them.

He was going to try to run as soon as he was given a chance to, especially after he was freed enough to move his neck a little and his eyes came across a set of four shackles connected by chains that were lying on the stone floor. The metal they were made of looked heavy and unyielding, perfect to stop him from so much as walking fast, and he had no doubts that his wings would share a similar fate, even if he could see no restraints for them.

Why were these humans so perfectly equipped for taking a dragon captive? He was still surprised that their leader had promised not to kill him, but surely they were not thinking of keeping him here for the rest of his very long life.

"Get ready."

Kaz finally felt the net leave him snout enough for him to open his mouth and speak, just as the man holding the muzzle climbed under the net with him, about to lock the metal contraption onto him. The dragon jerked back as much as he could under the heavy net, giving himself a few seconds of surprise to ask the question he wanted to ask the most.

"Please, my friends, are they unharmed? Are they safe?"

The humans, all ten of them, stared at him in surprise, as if they'd never heard a dragon speak. Or perhaps they were surprised at the question itself.

"They came here with me. I need to know if—" The rest of the sentence was turned into a grunt as metal was pushed onto his snout and locked in place before he could try to resist.