Chapter 32 Shey Thrudesh-Vo #2
Tyche swore and ran after Adrian with Shey following on their heels. They would have to worry about Cirina and Kaes later. Right now, they had a much bigger problem.
“Haru! Look at me!” Adrian shouted.
The dragon’s head whipped around, and those gigantic eyes locked onto Adrian. Shey’s heart stopped in his chest. But instead of blasting Adrian with fire, he simply stared and growled. Smoke curled up out of his mouth, and his dark scales glistened in the snow and flashing lightning.
“Haru, shift right now. Let me help you,” Adrian pleaded.
The growl grew louder, and he opened his mouth. His sharp teeth snapped at Adrian, but just as quickly he jerked his head back and shook it violently. A kind of whimper broke from his throat, and those hard eyes softened.
“Go home, Haru!” Tyche shouted from beside Adrian. “Go home, and Adrian will find you. He’ll save you.”
The dragon extended his wings. With a couple of strong flaps, he launched his massive body into the air. A roar cut above the thunder as he soared higher, disappearing into the clouds.
Adrian snarled and grabbed Tyche by the front of his sodden shirt. “What did you do? And why?”
Shey reached out to pry Adrian off Tyche, but the god surprised him by covering Adrian’s hands with his own and squeezing.
He didn’t shy away but met Adrian’s angry stare.
“I gave us our only fighting chance. If Cirina had gotten her sister’s powers, there would have been no stopping her.
She would have destroyed all of Bellcairn, probably all of Damardor.
My powers are useless against her. But a dragon’s is more than enough to beat her.
Especially while holding the power of a god. ”
“Why did he try to attack me?”
“Nightmares,” Shey replied. “That magic comes with a cost.”
Tyche nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Shey to give him a tiny smile.
“Yesuntei called them whispers. Her doubts and fears whispered in her ear, creating shadows around her that haunted her even while wide awake. It’s why she preferred a life alone, away from humans.
When she was calm and centered, she had better control.
She could compartmentalize all the noise in her head from the magic. ”
“You gave a half-mad dragon the power of the Goddess of Nightmares, which is sure to drive him completely mad?” Adrian demanded, his words gaining volume and intensity as he spoke, so that he was shouting in Tyche’s face by the end.
“What?” Tyche’s voice cracked. “What do you mean half-mad?”
“Haru is insane. Everyone has always told me that. He has serious impulse-control issues. His moods snap wildly.” Adrian released Tyche and shoved his hands into hair, pacing away. “Gods, Haru.” He turned the dragon’s name into a heart-wrenching moan.
“It’ll be fine,” Shey said firmly.
“Are you crazy?” Adrian yelled. “What part of any of this makes you think it’ll be fine?”
“The powers will balance out,” Tyche promised. “Haru needs time to adjust. His powers will help protect him. He’ll be okay. I know it.”
“But…this isn’t permanent, right? You can take the powers out of him?”
“Yes! Gods, yes!” Tyche shouted, throwing up his hands. He couldn’t look more horrified. “There’s no way this is permanent. A dragon god? Fuck, no.”
Shey covered his face with his hand and rubbed his eyes. A dragon god was precisely what Tyche had made in an act of desperation.
“However, to get the pearl from him, I will need him in his human form,” Tyche admitted.
Shey had a feeling he knew how Tyche had to get the goddess’s powers back, but he wasn’t about to tell Adrian. The man had enough on his mind already.
“So, now what?” Adrian snapped. He was calming from his initial panic, but he was still glaring at Tyche like he wanted to use him as a butcher block for all his knives.
“Okay!” Tyche stepped up and held his hands out in front of him, his gaze serious and focused. “We go to the docks and we steal a boat. We take the boat north to Sirelis, where we get a bigger, faster boat.” His head turned to look at Shey. “You do have big, fast boats, right?”
Shey smirked. “Many.”
“Good,” he continued, gazing at Adrian again. “We get a big, fast boat and go to the Isle of Stone.”
“That’s where you sent him when you told him to go home?” Adrian asked, his voice softening.
Tyche nodded. “He spoke of his home and his clan a lot this past week. The dragons are powerful enough to help control him. They will also give him some comfort until you can arrive.”
“Me? I’m supposed to extract that power?” Adrian gasped.
“No, you’re supposed to fight his nightmares. You’re his Adrian. All his hopes and fears rest with you.”
Adrian’s shoulders slumped, and his eyes took on an overwhelmed, dazed look. “Fuck.”
“We’ve got this,” Shey murmured, putting the strength he had left into those three words. As long as Adrian believed they could save Haru, it would happen.
“Yes, we do. We’ll save Haru, take Yesuntei’s powers to Brightspire for safekeeping, and we’ll stop this asshole from killing innocent people and gods.” Tyche spun and pointed at Shey. “And you will stay away from Kaes. No more doing fancy magic shit to catch his attention.”
Adrian’s wide eyes jumped to Shey’s face, and Shey winced. Yeah, they definitely didn’t need to add another god to the mix. Tyche and Cirina were proving to be more than they could handle.
“I’ll tell you on the boat,” Shey muttered. They all had lots of questions, and Tyche held most of the answers. But they would have to wait until they were on the boat.
Gods. Dragons. Power-hungry men killing gods.
It was time to save the world, starting with one mad dragon.
Adrian, Haru, Shey, and Tyche will be back soon with Mad Dragon of Chaos, book two of the Forgotten Gods series.