Page 4 of Shadow Wings
I stiffened and tensed to shove away from him, but he grabbed my bare wrist and spoke in my mind.Not now. I need to get you out of here. You can be angry at melater.
The darkness continued to coil around us, wrapping us in its silky embrace. Tyrrik pulled me closer. This was the first time I’d let him touch me since we’d left the castle, and something in my chest felt funny with the contact. Probablyindigestion.
Come with me now.Tyrrik moved us out of the tavern room in a blur that left my head spinning. I gasped and opened my eyes to find we were in the back alley, and Tyrrik’s skin was rippling with blackscales.
“No, Tyrrik,” I screamed. I knew what would happen if he turned into a dragon. My heart ripped and bled, the pressure mounting in my chest. “Please,” I begged. “Don’t shifthere!”
The air around Tyrrik shimmered, and I covered my head, ducking as an inferno of heat erupted. The heat grew, sweeping upward, billowing and coiling until all I knew was the consuming warmth of theDrae.
My pounding heart settled as the sensation dimmed, and I uncovered myhead.
Thenblinked.
“Holy pancakes,” I murmured. I was standing between two huge, onyx-scaled Drae legs. “Holy pancakes,” I repeated, edging out. “Please don’t squish me. The community will bedevastated.”
The Drae was oddly still. As I crept past Tyrrik’s armored chest and came alongside his giant fanged head, I sawwhy.
“The tavern,” I mouthed. The back half of Dyrell’s tavern was demolished, Tyrrik’s Drae butt now sitting where the kitchen used to be. It was the second tavern he’d demolished, and even though I hadn’t owned either of them, both The Crane’s Nest and The Raven’s Hollow had been safe-havens in mylife.
“You ruined my tavern!” I grabbed at Tyrrik, and he lowered his head. Holding either side of his Drae face, I narrowed my eyes at his slightly sheepish expression. “You are so paying for that,” I snarled, staring into his inky eyes. “In coin, not carrots.” I released his head and sank to my knees. “Everything . . . I’ve worked for. Inruins.”
Tyrrik nudge me with his snout.It’s only been threedays.
He breathed out warm air, and I shivered as it hit my back. Glancing back to shoot another insult his way, my breath caught as bright blue rippled through his scales in awave.
“Why do they do that?” I whispered, getting to my feet. I laid my hand on his scales, and as I did, the blue flickered in its depths. Warm tingles ran up my arm, and the skin where my scales had started to appear pulsed. “What isthat?”
But shouting and screaming broke my trance before he couldanswer.
“My patrons.” I burst into a run down the alley, leaping over the rubble of Tyrrik’s transformation. I got to the end, and a whining crack had me whipping backaround.
Tyrrik was squeezing through the alley after me, demolishing the rest of The Raven’s Hollow and the wall of the store next to the tavern as he did so. Lifting his head, he huffed atme.
“I don’t believe this,” Imuttered.
I was not waiting for him and his stupid Drae butt to squeeze from between the two buildings. I sprinted to the front and rounded the corner, skidding to astop.
The crowd was outside and staring at the tavern in shock. Hopefully all of them got out. People from the nearby businesses poured into the dirt streets, and I scanned the increasing mass of humanity for the one person who mattered most. I heaved a sigh of relief when I sawhim.
Dyter caught sight of me and hurried to myside.
“Ryn,” he said, gathering me up. “Whathappened?”
I resisted the slight discomfort at Dyter touching me. I avoided touching most people now, but I refused to let what had happened affect things with my only remaining family. I jerked my head at Tyrrik as he escaped from the alley. “He accidentally shifted. Though, after one hundred and nine years, I’m not sure how that happens.Icertainly don’t have accidentsanymore.”
Tyrrik hadn’t done this on purpose, had he? After spending months in his company, only to discover he’d deceived me the entire time, I really couldn’t be sure. He was manipulative to theextreme.
The Drae stomped into the road, clearing a space in the crowd before the pile of wood, iron, and bricks that had been The Raven’s Hollow and the inn next door. There was a heartbeat of shocked silence, and then the screaming started anew. Really, it was amazing how quickly the crowd cleared afterthat.
The illusion I’d built of returning to my normalcy ran away with the patrons. I wanted to cry, scream, and run away, too. I wanted to scream and never stop screaming, but I shoved the emotion away, refusing to let it take hold of me. Standing next to Dyter, I stared after the crowd of humans fleeing. “I didn’t know Seryt could run thatfast.”
Hearing a scratching sound, I turned to see Dyter rubbing his chin. “He’s in front of all the young’uns,” he said. “Impressive.”
Within seconds, the space was empty and the only ‘people’ remaining were the three Druman, the stunning man with silver hair, and the three ofus.
Tyrrik stood over me, still in his Drae form, and puffed out a small jet of flame. The molten heat landed just in front of the three Druman before anglingup.
A cloud of smoke appeared. I coughed, waving my hand to clear the air, and my jawdropped.