Page 69 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

Shey shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. I have no idea if the New Rosanthe soldiers are in formation outside the city limits or if they’re still arriving.”

Haru shoved his hand into the box and pulled out a brown cracker and popped it into his mouth. It had a nice flavor of black pepper and rosemary, but it was dry as hell. This needed cheese. Maybe a fresh tomato. But now wasn’t the time.

“Do you think the train has enough room to carry all the passengers? They will take them without tickets, right?” Haru inquired.

Shey nodded. “As we were leaving the train, I asked the conductor, and he said they were taking everyone as far as Wolfpine.”

“That’s good. But it’s still going to take time to get everyone loaded up. Plus, there are more people on the road. It will be hard for the Caspagir soldiers to retreat if they have to worry about all the civilians.”

Adrian narrowed his eyes and crossed the kitchen, crowding close to Haru. “I can hear the wheels turning in that crazy head of yours. What are you thinking?”

Haru grinned slowly. “I was wondering if maybe a certain God of Luck would be willing to spread some bad luck on the Order troops as we are leaving Green Hollow.”

Tyche froze, another cracker hanging in the air in front of his open mouth. The god smiled and pointed the cracker at Haru. “You know…I have some fun new magic that I’ve been dying to test out. But! Only if I’m allowed to ride on your back. You’re not dangling me from your claws like last time.”

The god drove a hard bargain. Haru preferred to allow only Adrian to ride him while he was in dragon form, but for all these displaced families running scared, he’d make an exception for Tyche. They would teach these invaders a lesson.

“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” Tyche chanted the curse like a prayer as he clung to the hard ridge along Haru’s spine, sounding terrified. Haru hadn’t even done anything frightening yet. He was simply gliding, sliding between the various mountain peaks. If they weren’t on such an important mission, he’d be tempted to fly in a loop to see if he could get Tyche to scream. However, stealth was imperative, and Shey would probably be furious if he made his new boyfriend scream.

Just after dusk, they’d sneaked out of the house and through the town, dodging sporadic patrols while following Shey’s map to the entrance of the pass. It was after they’d arrived in the wilderness and had been walking along the pass across the Zastrad border that Haru had dared to shift into his dragon form.

After summoning up some thick clouds to cover the moon and stars, Shey had kissed Tyche and helped him onto Haru. Adrian was remaining behind with Shey to keep the prince safe while they went off to cause a bit of mischief. They were to wait hidden in a rock outcropping until dawn. If Tyche and Haru didn’t return, Shey and Adrian would continue to Three Hills.

But Haru had no intention of allowing his mate to travel without him. If Adrian was busy protecting Shey, Haru was needed to watch Adrian’s back. Obviously, they all needed to keep an eye on Tyche. It was a wonder the god had lived for so long without someone protecting him.

As they cleared a last row of jagged peaks, they caught sight of glowing lights cutting through the night while harsh voices bounced off the side of the mountain. Engines roared as they were revved.

Haru circled twice, remaining out of the reach of the lights while trying to give Tyche a good view of the forces gathered below. Shey had been correct that the Order would send troops in force. There had to be at least fifty thousand soldiers gathered. Possibly more. The Caspagir soldiers in Green Hollow didn’t have a prayer of stopping these invaders for long.

On the final loop, Haru spotted a ledge on the side of the mountain that was large enough to land upon. He settled on the shelf, being careful not to knock loose any rocks that would draw the attention of the nearby soldiers.

He twisted his head to look at the little god to find Tyche sitting up straight, his hands pressed together flat and his eyes closed. But his features appeared relaxed. It was as if the god were deep in prayer. Who would a god pray to? Other gods?

Tyche cracked an eye open and smirked at Haru. “Just sorting through my powers to see what I can do.”

Haru flinched. Could Tyche read his thoughts? It was one of the few annoying drawbacks that came with being in dragon form. He couldn’t communicate with humans. Dragons used a variety of trumpets and roars to communicate their needs, but he’d yet to meet a human who could understand their language.

A terrified scream tore through the steady murmur of noise, luring Haru’s attention to the Order’s staging area.

“Spiders! Spiders!” The man’s shouting echoed through the valley. It was more quietly followed by dark giggles from the god on Haru’s back. Was Tyche trying out his new nightmare powers?

“Spiders!” The soldier’s cries grew higher in pitch and more frantic. Other angry voices barked at the person. What they were saying wasn’t as clear, but they sounded a mix of angry and fearful.

Everything changed when automatic fire rattled through the gathering. Men screamed, and more gunfire opened up. It seemed as if the man who’d spotted the spiders had decided to take them out with his gun but ended up shooting several of his comrades. That resulted in several people shooting the instigator to save the rest of them.

The moment the gunfire stopped, and a commanding voice rang out to get control of the situation, a roaring engine rattled somewhere in the distance. The vehicle choked and fell silent.

And then another.

And another.

Until someone was shouting for them to turn off all the engines.

Tyche snickered some more and patted Haru’s back. “That one was a mix of bad luck and accident. It’s just small things breaking in all the engines. Not much, but it’s enough to have their mechanics working through the night.”

Several yards away, south of where they hid, someone else started shouting, but this time it was about snakes. A third person screamed about spiders. More gunfire.

Something roared.