Page 70 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

Something very big with equally big teeth.

Tyche stiffened and gulped, his hands tightening on Haru’s spine. “That wasn’t me. I think maybe my magic woke up something in the Ordas and it’s coming to eat these soldiers.” While that worked for their efforts, Tyche didn’t sound excited about it. He patted Haru’s shoulder twice. “Let’s get out of here and return to the others. Even without that monster, they won’t be going anywhere for several hours. They could be here for a day or two. Assuming the Ordas doesn’t get them.”

Haru grunted and spread his wings, catching the wind that was whipping through the valley. As he reached a peak, he spotted an enormous boulder balanced over the gathering of soldiers. Haru circled once before diving to slam his hind feet and tail into the rock, sending it rolling down the side of the mountain. Tyche let out a scream of fear that ended in a cackle.

They were heading toward Eltos Pass when there was a loud explosion and crunching of metal as the boulder hit a vehicle. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give the Caspagir soldiers more breathing room, a little more time to prepare for the coming fight.

If they were lucky, they would end this war in a matter of weeks.

It was a good thing they had this little god on their side.

TWENTY-SIX

SHEY THRUDESH-VO

Bones rattled softly, the sound barely reaching Shey’s ears above the rustling of the leaves as the wind picked up. He leaned on a large oak tree, the bark biting through his shirt while he kept his eyes on the meadow before him.

The rattling stopped, and Tyche swore under his breath.

“How do you know you’re doing it correctly?”

“Dragon,” Tyche growled, and Shey bit on the corner of his mouth to hold in his snicker. “If you imply one more time that I don’t know how to use magic…” Tyche left the threat hanging unsaid, but he knew without a doubt that Haru didn’t take him seriously.

“At this point, I don’t think he’s implying any longer.”

Naturally, Adrian had to stick by his mate and just throw more fuel on the fire.

“I know what I’m doing,” Tyche snapped in a low voice. A moment later, the rattling started again.

It had been three days since they’d left Green Hollow, cutting through the southern tip of Zastrad to enter Uris-Oladul. They had alternated between Haru carrying them a good distance at night while in his dragon form and resting for several hours, then continuing more of their trek on foot.

As a group, they were avoiding all towns and villages they came across. Occasionally, they would send Tyche into a town to get supplies and see what news he could gather. The God of Luck had spent far longer than all of them combined traveling the world and blending in. Meanwhile, the Federation of Order had plastered Adrian’s, Shey’s, and Haru’s faces across TV screens and in newspapers, labeling them terrorists and threats to all safety. Somehow, Tyche had escaped notice.

That afternoon, they’d reached the outskirts of a village called Three Hills—named for how it was nestled within a valley surrounded on three sides by hills. The town appeared to be about the same size as Green Hollow. It was positioned halfway between the capital of Olan in the northeast and Damardor’s former capital of Bellcairn in the southeast.

Adrian walked to where Shey stood, his arms folded over his chest. “I don’t think our contact is coming. We’re a day late. These people freaked out and decided not to risk it.”

“They gave us a three-day window. We only missed the first day,” Shey reminded him. That had been the hard thing about making the trek from Sirelis to Three Hills. Everyone knew there was a high chance of them running into problems from the Order, so they hadn’t been able to give an exact time of when Shey and his team would arrive. The best they’d had to offer was an estimate of a few days.

“Do we know how trustworthy these people are?”

“No.”

Shey wished he could add something more reassuring, but he couldn’t. He didn’t trust the people of Uris-Oladul any more than he trusted Damardor or New Rosanthe. Probably even less than he would have trusted Ilon if the country had reached out to his mother. Sure, he understood that Uris-Oladul had some damn good reasons to want the Federation of Order destroyed as quickly as possible. This was their chance to make a clean break from New Rosanthe. However, if things went even the slightest bit sideways, he expected Uris-Oladul to abandon them and plead innocence. Or worse, snatch them up and claim it was all a plot to capture them for the new chancellor.

Haru strolled close and draped himself across Adrian’s back while loosely wrapping himself around Adrian’s arms. “Why do we not go to Bellcairn ourselves? We have all spent time in that city. We could find a hiding spot until it was time to strike. The march is planned. It will provide ample opportunity to strike.”

It was something Shey had been considering during their long journey. The only snag was that their contact was supposed to have information on Chancellor Feng’s itinerary, allowing them to line up the perfect shot.

Instead of answering, he turned from the meadow bathed in golden sunlight and stared at the redhead sitting in the dirt, tossing a set of well-worn chicken bones carved with symbols. “Ty?”

The snarky man with the flashing green eyes didn’t even bother looking up. “He’s still coming.”

“Okay, but are these people on the level?” Adrian demanded.

That got Tyche to lift his face and look at Adrian as if he thought the man didn’t have a single working brain cell in his head. “I don’t even need to throw the bones to get the odds on that question.” Adrian sucked in a breath, but as he opened his mouth to comment, Tyche held up one finger, stopping his words. “That being said, luck is still in our favor to succeed in our mission. It’s just that things are going to be messy.”

“Huh,” Haru mumbled. “It seems Tyche was right.”