The Beast of Frostrun (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 2)

I - The Path to Frostrun

Having a person to travel with was nicer than Rhenor had thought it would be. Maybe it was because that person was Kaz, and he'd developed a fondness for him, but even beyond that it was nice to not feel quite so lonely. Rhen hadn't really realized that he'd missed the company of others, but he apparently had because the prospect of traveling distances like this alone sounded much more daunting than it had before.

Of course, traveling with Kaz also had some downsides. At first, he couldn't walk for as long as Rhen could without pauses, which had been inconvenient, which made Rhenor wonder how the man had initially gotten to Arlow. But Rhen hadn't minded too much. He wasn't that eager to meet this Elaya person, after all. He realized it was entirely for selfish reasons, which was why he hadn't said anything to Kaz, but it didn't stop him from feeling resentful.

He just didn't look forward to becoming a hindrance, or even worse—parting ways for good. He liked Kaz a lot, and he didn't want to say goodbye once they reached Sigallah. But if he had to watch him and Elaya make googly eyes at each other, Rhenor was probably better off alone.

Of course, it was entirely possible he was completely misreading what Kaz and Elaya's relationship was, but he couldn't help but assume things from the way Kaz talked about her. Though to be fair, he had used that same awe-filled tone to talk about a supposedly rare bug he'd found yesterday, so maybe it meant nothing after all.

Rhenor looked away from the campfire he'd been tending to so he could glance over to where Kaz was sleeping, huddled under his coat with only his hair sticking out from under it.

Rhen wouldn't lie and pretend Kaz's habit to sleep for far too long didn't annoy him just a little, but seeing him like this was also quite amusing and endearing, so Rhenor kept his grumbling to himself.

From time to time, he also still got the knee-jerk reaction to get angry with Kaz for the reason he was this way, but thankfully Rhen had been getting better at ignoring that. It wasn't like Kaz did it on purpose, and he hadn't chosen to be born into a privileged family.

Honestly, the fact that this man had been rich and still had risked his life to save a village of people he knew nothing about should be enough for Rhenor to not hold his now former status over his head.

As he heard Kaz groan, Rhenor looked back into the fire, adding more wood to it just to look busy. He doubted Kaz would appreciate knowing that Rhen had been watching him sleep.

"G'morning," Kaz mumbled, yawning as he sat up, blinking owlishly and rubbing his eyes. "Do you ever sleep?"

Rhen chuckled, shaking his head. "Shockingly, yes."

Kaz opened his mouth to say something, but it just turned into another yawn. Rhen just smiled to himself and reached into his bag for something to give him to eat. Kaz seemed to have a deep appreciation for meat, but they didn't have much of that left. Not that that was such a problem—Rhenor could just hunt for more, though it was a shame they couldn't bring that meat with them unless they dried it, and they didn't have that kind of time.

A bigger problem—though mostly only for Rhen, apparently—was that he'd eaten the last of their bread two days ago. They would have to stop in a town or village soon. And maybe get some of that dried meat, too.

Kaz hummed as he ate the meat as soon as it was given to him, wrapping his cloak around himself. "I really miss tea."

"I kind of do as well," Rhenor admitted, sighing. Boiling water out here was a hassle, and tea certainly wasn't a necessity, but he did wish they had some with them. It was nice to relax with, especially since they still had quite a long way to go if the weather was to get warmer. Traveling south for a week wasn't likely to make too much of a difference.