by Martha Carr
The copper drow puzzle box had freed itself from her backpack and lay right on the carpet in front of her. Not where I left you.
She shut the door quickly, then nudged the box across the floor with her foot. It rolled a little on its edges and came to a stop beside her backpack again. Corian wants me to haul this thing back across town. Not with a bunch of O’gúleesh loyalists hunting me.
Rolling her eyes, she kicked off her black Vans and headed back into the hall. Raising both arms high above her head, she gave a massive yawn and shuffled into her bedroom. “Like a Nightstalker knows anything about drow legacies.”
The halfling scratched her right shoulder and stopped. With a snort, she pulled the shirt away from her shoulder and ripped off the gauze bandage she’d been wearing all day like an idiot. The gauze and extra tape fluttered to the floor, then she stripped down and climbed into bed with her cell phone, set her alarm, and stuck it on the bedside table. She took one more look at her shoulder, rubbing the smooth, healed skin with a smile. Best thing that drow bastard ever did for me. Probably won’t be able to top it.
Pushing aside her thoughts of L’zar Verdys, Cheyenne climbed under the sheets and her comforter with the giant skull sprawling across the center and snuggled down. Finally, a good night’s sleep. She yawned again and buried her head in the pillow.
* * *
Another crazy dream filled her head that night, and Cheyenne knew from the beginning it was just a dream. That didn’t make it any less vivid or any less terrifying.
She was walking down a cold, dark corridor of black stone. This wasn’t anything like the damp walls of the Dungeon at Chateau D’rahl. The stone had been cut and laid with skill and was worn by time. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever until she was suddenly at the end of it, looking into a huge circular room of the same black stone with high, vaulted ceilings. It was even colder.
Blood splattered the black walls everywhere she looked. Every few feet, long, thin, frayed banners spilled down the walls toward the floor. They fluttered in the freezing draft kicking up from all directions. Then the halfling noticed the floor.
It was littered with bodies of all different sizes strewn in the positions they’d been standing in when they’d been struck down. She didn’t recognize the clothing—loose, flowing things frayed like the banners and soaked with blood, only the blood on their clothes glistened in the light of the torches blazing around the room. Everybody lying on the floor had the dark, purple-gray skin and the bone-white hair of the drow.
In the center of the bodies knelt a huddled shape draped in black robes. Another drow, judging by the stark white hair falling around the bowed head and the dark ears poking through. When the drow lifted his head and met her gaze, Cheyenne’s throat tightened. L’zar.
His golden eyes glowed in the darkness, far brighter than the torches sending shadows flicking across the black stone. But the careless half-smile was gone, replaced by a creased brow and a grimace of anguish that didn’t look right on her father’s face. L’zar stared at her through the curtain of his white hair, a silent cry not yet released from his open mouth.
“I thought I could stop it.” His voice echoed around the huge stone room, the torches flickering with each resounding word. “But I wasn’t strong enough. Now it’s your turn.”
* * *
Cheyenne jolted out of sleep with a gasp, only to scramble across her bed until her back thumped against the wall. The copper puzzle box hovered near her, emitting rays of golden light. The thing clicked and whirled, each piece of the spastic Rubik’s cube spinning wildly in front of her.
The halfling reacted without thinking. Heat bloomed at the base of her spine, and her now-purple-gray hand reached out to snatch the box out of the air. “Leave me alone!”
An orb of black energy flared to life in her other hand, and she clamped it around the puzzle box that was vibrating madly in her palm. The golden light filling her bedroom was muted by a flash of black and purple between her hands, then the legacy box fell still.
Breathing heavily, Cheyenne snarled and dropped the box onto the bed. It rolled a little, stopped, and then one row of those shifting runes etched into the metal slowly turned. The thing let out a soft click, and the outer layer of symbols that had turned flashed one last dim light.
“What the hell?” The halfling pulled her gaze away from the copper box to stare at her drow-dark hands. Did my magic just turn that thing?
Her eyes widened, and she lunged across the bed to grab the box and try again. She did everything the same—black spheres of her magic with purple sparks bursting into her hands before she smothered the box again with the spell. There was a dull thump, and purple sparks flew through her fingers across the room, but that was it.
“Fine.” Cheyenne tossed the box back onto her comforter. We both have a limit. Then she grabbed her phone off the bedside table just as her alarm went off. She snorted. “Right on time.”
* * *
Once she’d showered, blow-dried her now-black hair, and donned her whole outfit of black on black on black, putting a little more black around her eyes, Cheyenne headed out to the living room. She stopped in the doorway to her bedroom, feeling another little prickle at the back of her neck, and scowled over her shoulder at the drow puzzle box resting on her bed. Don’t move.
The shower had woken her up, but she still yawned when she stooped beside the kitchen’s half-wall to snatch up her backpack and sling it over her shoulder. More crazy dreams. No wonder L’zar got locked up.
The image of her drow father kneeling in the center of those drow bodies was pretty hard to shake out of her head. Might have some truth to it. Like the raug Oracle said, everyone who touched that box is dead. Not this halfling.
She slipped into her Vans and hesitated before grabbing the doorknob, but nothing from her dream flashed out at her this time, and she was only too happy to get the hell out of her apartment and away from the box. Before she closed the door, she paused to take another sweeping glance across her apartment, then shook her head. Forget it.
Cheyenne sat through her classes, and one more time fought not to rip her hair out and claw her eyes with boredom. Just like every Monday. Just like every day of the week. Apparently, showing up on time to every class spared her from the snide remarks and dubious glances from her professors, and the first conversation she had with anyone wasn’t until after her last class as she walked across the quad toward the Computer Sciences building.
She shot a skeptical glance at the student message board and the bench halfway across the lawn, where a group of other college students was gathered to check out the new fliers posted there. A guy in a button-down shirt with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder and brown hair hanging over his eyes caught her looking and thought she was interested.
“Hey.” He headed toward her, even as she sped up. “We’re looking for more people to join the chess club. You interested?”
The halfling glanced at the flyer he waved at her and stopped. Squinting at him, she gestured toward her black clothes and the silver zippers and safety pins studding her shirt, then spread her arms. “Really?”
The guy tossed his shaggy hair out of his eyes and gave her a crooked smile. “Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover, right?”
“Probably a good idea with this book.” Cheyenne took off down the walkway again, and Mr. Chess Club laughed behind her.
“Okay. The flyers are up if you change your mind. Have a great day!”
This was a normal college. She should’ve stuck with online classes between chasing down magical scum.
She reached the Computer Sciences building without any more interruptions and found Mattie Bergman’s office door wide-open as usual. With a quick knock, Cheyenne stepped into her professor’s office and shrugged. “Happy Monday?”
Mattie looked up from the work on her desk and chuckled. “You’re saying one thing, but your face says the complete opposite.”
“Good to know I’m an op
en book.” The halfling cocked her head. “Second time I’ve been compared to a book today.”
“Well, get ready for one more. A book, I mean. Actually,” the professor said, chuckling, “not so much a book as a giant stack of papers. I made copies. I hope you weren’t expecting anything fancy.”
The woman pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk and withdrew a huge stack of paper, thumping it down on the edge of her desk. “Just like I promised.”
“Woah.” Slipping her backpack off, Cheyenne stepped toward the desk and eyed the words printed on the top sheet. “Cheyenne S., huh? Way to keep it top-secret.”
“You know what? That’s the only way I’d remember what the hell I’m supposed to do with a monster stack like this. Otherwise, I’d have a heart attack, thinking it was a bunch of papers I forgot to grade, and I’d probably end up throwing it in the trash.” Mattie looked up at her student and smirked. “It’s better than Collection of Spells and Healing Magic.”
“Fair enough.” The halfling slid the papers off the desk and cradled them in one arm while she quickly flipped through. These were spells all right, most of them labeled in a language she didn’t know, but they all had drawings of hands doing different things with different fingers. “You brought this across with you from the other side?”
Mattie chuckled and shook her head. “Definitely not. Trust me, the books over there are a lot harder to read and even more impossible to pin down without someone holding your hand every step of the way. Maybe literally. I simplified it.”
“Oh, yeah. This looks real simple.” Cheyenne sighed and shook her head. “You could’ve pulled out a whole bunch and then tied all this together with a piece of string, at least.”
“Please, Cheyenne. You can write me into a box with your programming skills, and you expect me to believe you don’t know how to keep a bunch of loose paper together?”
Ignoring the jab, the halfling set the stack on the desk again and flipped through it again for a better look. “Seriously, how is this simplified? All these drawings and diagrams, plus, what? Like, a hundred spells?”
“More. And the recipes for all those healing salves and whatever are in the back.”
With a laugh, Cheyenne looked at the copied pages, just now registering how they’d gotten on the paper. “Did you write all this yourself? And the drawings?”
“I sure did, halfling. Took me damn near a year to get down even that much, and that’s just the beginner’s guide.” Mattie sat back in her office chair and tucked her wavy black hair behind her ear. “That’s why you get copies only.”
“How much more is there?”
“The advanced stuff? Oh, three or four times as much.” The woman laughed when Cheyenne looked at her with wide eyes. “I’ll say this much, kid. I had a lot of time on my hands when I first came over. And in some weird, naïve burst of inspiration, I thought it would be a good idea to get all this down. Thought I’d find myself some kind of apprentice and make a living that way. Worked out pretty well, huh?”
“You know enough about computer programming to make a living this way, too.” Cheyenne picked her backpack up off the floor and propped it on her knee before unzipping the main pocket. “I can’t believe you crossed the Border with a bunch of training-with-magic books just so you could rewrite them.”
“What? That would’ve been crazy!” Mattie said with raised eyebrows. She looked more than a little overwhelmed at the thought. “I never would’ve made it if I’d done that. I copied it all down from up here.”
When Cheyenne looked up again, she found the woman tapping her temple with a knowing smile. “Huh. Remind me never to try getting into your head.”
“That’s not something you can do, is it?” The anxiety in the question made the halfling pause. “No mind-reading on that list of surprise magic you mentioned?”
“Not that I know of.” That’s a thing?
“Right. Good. You know me. Just had to ask.” Mattie shrugged and tried to laugh it off, but the fact that she’d asked hung between them.
“Well, if that ever shows up, I’ll make sure to tell you before I use it on you.”
The professor almost choked and brought a fist to her mouth to clear her throat. “I wouldn’t expect anything like that, Cheyenne. There were a very small number of magicals who could work their way into someone else’s head before I came here, and I don’t think they’ve been working on cultivating that particular skill since I left.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say it’s a lot harder than it sounds. For both parties.”
The halfling nodded, staring at the Nightstalker under her human disguise. Then she grabbed the stack of spells again and stuffed it into her backpack as neatly as she could. “Stay away from mind-reading. Got it.”
She felt Professor Bergmann’s gaze wandering all over her even before the woman opened her mouth.
“Cheyenne.” Mattie squinted when the halfling looked at her. “Something’s different about you.”
It could be anything from the last twenty-four hours. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” The woman tipped her head back and frowned. “Just different. What did you get into over the weekend?”
Cheyenne smirked. “We both know you don’t want me to answer that.”
“No. You’re right. Keeping my mouth shut.” Mattie mimed zipping her lips and nodded. “Whatever it is, it looks good on you, halfling.”
“Thanks. I guess.”
The tense silence of ending a conversation they never started returned, then Mattie clapped and plastered on a polite grin. “Well, I guess you’re on your own now, learning those spells. That should be enough to get you started, but come back if you have any questions.”
“I always do.” Even when she won’t answer half of them. The halfling slung her backpack over her shoulder again but paused before heading across the office. “Actually, I have some questions right now if you still have time for your one and only drow halfling in training.”
Sitting back in her chair, Mattie folded her arms. “You know it depends on the questions.”
“Yeah, I know, but they are just about magic. I promise.”
“Then fire away. Not literally.”
With a playful roll of her eyes, Cheyenne readjusted the strap of her backpack and shifted her weight to the other hip. “Based on what little you know about drow in general and drow halflings specifically—”
“Ha, ha.”
“How much do drow magic and Nightstalker magic have in common?”
Mattie’s lips opened in surprise, and she blinked. “In regards to those spells I gave you? They’re accessible to everyone.”
“No, I mean inherent abilities. You know, like my purple sparks or something stronger.”
“Oh, yeah. The cute ones.”
Cheyenne snorted. “Very funny. I mean, if you knew more about all the abilities I have, which may or may not still be on the surprise-magic list, would you say they’re like what you can do?”
“Huh. Well, your magic isn’t like what an orc or a troll can dish out. Maybe even a faery—”
“A faery?”
Mattie shook her head and gave a dismissive wave. “If there are any of them left. Probably not. But I honestly don’t know enough about drow magic to be able to say it’s much like anything but drow magic.”
Very helpful. The halfling took a deep breath. “Can you move super-fast? Or aim lightning bolts across the ground?”
Her professor raised an eyebrow and eyed her sideways. “What gave you that idea?”
“Just pulling it out of my head. This is all hypothetical.”
“Uh-huh.” The woman chewed the inside of her bottom lip for a second, still frowning at her student. “For a Nightstalker, and that’s all I can speak to when we’re talking inherent abilities, that kind of power comes from a lifetime of intense training and honing one’s skills. Most of my race don’t get that far before they give up and settle for what they can alr
eady do.”
“Which group do you fall into?”
“That’s another question to stick on the ‘don’t ask again’ list, Cheyenne.”
The halfling raised her hands in surrender and stepped back. “I get it. Not trying to push. But say you were at that level with your magic.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Would you know enough to train someone else to get to the same place?”
“If I were working with another Nightstalker, kid, I’d only be able to say maybe. There’s a lot more to the equation than the level of my powers. Seeing as we’re talking about one very specific drow halfling, hypothetically, I still don’t know.”
“Right.” Cheyenne sniffed and hiked the strap of her backpack up on her shoulder. Still no idea if Corian can deliver on his promise. “Okay. Thanks for not running away from me this time.”
Mattie burst out laughing and brought a hand to her forehead. “Is that the first thing that goes through your head every time you come to my office now?”
“Kinda, yeah.” With a snicker, the halfling started to turn toward the door again and stopped one more time. Now that I caught her in a good mood… “Hey, just for fun. You ever run into any magicals wearing a bull’s-head pendant around their—”
“Stop.” All the humor had drained from Mattie’s face, and she lifted a warning finger without quite pointing it at her student. “Don’t go down that road, Cheyenne.”
“So you know what it is.”
“Not trying to push. You tried to get me all loosened up before you brought out your secret weapon of a question, didn’t you?” A quick light flashed behind Mattie’s glittering green eyes. “Real sly, halfling.”
“I’m trying to fit the pieces together—”
“I can’t imagine a single scenario where all the different pieces you bring up in my office belong to the same puzzle. Look, I told you to stay away from the FRoE, and you clearly had your own ideas about listening to me, but this is a serious warning. Whatever you think you can find out from whoever you saw wearing those pendants, don’t. It’s not worth it. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that if I had to choose between the bull’s head and the FRoE, I’d pick the FRoE any day of the week.”