The Drow Grew Stronger (Goth Drow Book 4)

by Martha Carr

  Ur’syth shrieked at the sky. Cheyenne looked again and only saw colors. What’s making her freak out?

  The old Oracle convulsed where she sat, her pointed teeth chattering and her wrinkled hands flapping away from her lap over and over as if she tried to shoo away a cat. Streaks of black light pulsed from her fingers.

  Cheyenne and L’zar leaped to their feet to avoid being blasted by the Oracle’s magical fit. “Seriously, L’zar, what’s going on?”

  “I said, I don’t know. Can’t tell you any more than that.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  Ur’syth trembled on the stone floor, her arms jerking in awkward directions. A thick choking sound burst from her mouth.

  “We can at least do something to help her!”

  “If you want to get close to whatever magic she’s letting off right now, Cheyenne, be my guest.” L’zar staggered sideways across the trembling stone floor and caught himself with a hand on the sideways-leaning tree. Roots snapped with an earsplitting crunch, and the tree fell the rest of the way to the ground.

  “Ur’syth?” Cheyenne shouted over the next round of rumbling explosions from the city center. “Can you hear me?”

  The ancient Oracle shrieked again, whipped both hands out to either side in a moment of lucidity, and disappeared.

  “What?”

  “Come on.” L’zar snatched her wrist and dragged her across the courtyard, ducking beneath the rocking potted plants and the dangling vines now lashing out toward the fleeing drow.

  “You guys get a lot of earthquakes on this side?” Cheyenne shouted.

  He pulled her into the stone passage leading to Ur’syth’s courtyard and finally released her wrist as she hurried after him. “Not really.”

  “How about new portals opening up when and where you least expect them?”

  L’zar snorted. “This isn’t a new portal, Cheyenne. This is the city.”

  “Really? ‘Cause I’ve been around twice when those things opened up Earthside, and it looks and feels exactly like this.”

  “Those new portals are overflow. The real problem’s right here. Stop talking and move faster.”

  Gritting her teeth, Cheyenne stumbled when the tunnel bucked and shifted. She and L’zar caught themselves against opposite walls and pushed into a run. A minute later, L’zar passed his hand over an indiscriminate metal wall, which vanished instantly and led them right into the main avenue of Hangivol’s lowest level.

  The halfling gazed at the open area and glanced back once before the wall shimmered into place again. Did he take a shortcut?

  L’zar stopped in the center of the avenue, his golden eyes wide as he craned his neck to take in the bursting, churning magic spilling into the sky from the center of the city. He ran a hand over his mouth and took a deep breath.

  “So, who’s blowing up the Heart?” Cheyenne stopped beside him. Screams echoed down the avenue from far away, growing louder as the magicals on the outskirts of the city realized what was happening.

  “Who do you think?”

  “The Crown wouldn’t blow up her own—”

  “Not on purpose, Cheyenne. That doesn’t make her any less of a fell-damn idiot. Let’s go.” He reached for her arm again, but she leaped out of the way.

  “We have to do something.”

  “There’s nothing to be done!” he snarled and pointed at the dome. “This place is about to rip itself apart.”

  A splintering crack rent the air, followed by another massive tremble in the ground beneath them. Then a bright line of multicolored light raced down the center of the outer level’s main avenue, zigzagging in a jagged fissure and spewing magical light into the air.

  Cheyenne’s activator was working overtime to analyze everything that was happening within and below the city. It responded to each of her thoughts as if she were processing it all, and she pointed at one of many cracks splintering outward across the ground from the Heart of Hangivol. “We can fix this.”

  “Don’t be an idiot.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” She took off down the avenue, darting away from the magical blasts shooting up from the crack in the ground and trying to keep her balance as the entire city shuddered in an endless quake.

  “Cheyenne!” L’zar roared. “Get back here!”

  She flipped him the bird without stopping and disappeared around the bend in the street.

  With a snarl, L’zar whirled toward the outer edge of the city. A mile away, the shouts and screams of the O’gúleesh at the fighting pits rose above the constant rumble beneath the streets. We could’ve been out of here by now and left this whole thing behind us.

  Hissing, he turned back and took off after his daughter. You’re gonna get us both killed, Cheyenne. And you won’t be able to climb out from under that debt to be paid.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cheyenne leaped away from a branching crack splitting off from the main fissure. Her activator pulled up a huge, blinking yellow arrow. Right around the corner. That’s where we can put it back.

  A shrill scream came from her right, and she skidded to a stop to see a group of magicals running out of an alley toward her, their eyes wide with terror. One of the buildings behind them started to sink, crumbling in on itself as the ground buckled beneath it. Cheyenne scanned the stats the activator gave her and nodded. I can make it.

  “Stop!” L’zar grabbed her wrist again and jerked her back.

  Cheyenne whirled and slammed her fist into his face, powering it with a sphere of crackling black energy balled in her hand. L’zar grunted and staggered backward, blinking against the daze as she shook out her hand. “Either help me or get the fuck out of here, but don’t try to stop me again.”

  “Wait!”

  She darted toward the slowly collapsing alley where the screaming magicals still spilled out of the space between buildings. “Over here!” She waved them toward her, and the frightened O’gúleesh headed her way without a second thought. “How many more are in there?”

  “I don’t know.” The troll she asked barreled past her as he answered, looking over his shoulder.

  The buildings crashed against another, spewing sparks and shrieks as metal ripped into metal. Cheyenne ran toward the collapsing alley and threw up a shield of dark, shimmering drow light. The force of the top half of the building toppling onto her shield made her cry out in an effort to keep it up. Marching closer, she raised her hands above her head and sank to her knees when more of the building toppled onto her broad shield. A little heavier than that construction site. No problem.

  O’gúleesh raced past her, dragging each other along. A wide-eyed goblin dropped his tankard on the ground, and Cheyenne snarled at him when he stopped to pick it up. “Go!”

  He jumped and scurried around her. With a deep breath, Cheyenne slipped into drow speed and released the shield. As soon as she got to her feet, L’zar barreled into her, and they both went flying away from the collapsing building and the spray of unleashed magic spewing through the closing alley faster than either drow could move.

  Grunting, Cheyenne rolled across the cracked metal and pushed herself to her feet.

  “Are you okay?” L’zar scanned her as he approached.

  “So you decided to help. I’m fine.”

  “We need to go.”

  “Not yet.” She spun and scanned the avenue for the source of the bright yellow arrow in her vision. “I can turn all this off. Probably temporarily, but it’s something.”

  “Cheyenne, I can’t risk it.”

  “You don’t get to decide for me!” She stalked toward the yellow arrow blinking in her vision, ignoring his growl of disapproval.

  “You’re making this incredibly difficult.”

  “No, that would be you.”

  The ground bucked beneath them again, but she managed to keep her balance this time. When she finally reached the blinking yellow arrow, the activator displayed brand new lines of code and overlapping diagrams along the wa
ll of a short, squat building another block off the main avenue. She studied the data and pressed her hand to the wall.

  “We don’t have time for you to play around with this shit,” L’zar snarled. Right on cue, another explosion came from the center of the city.

  “Shut up.” Cheyenne selected the best of the activator’s next presented options, and with a swipe of her finger against the wall, the O’gúl version of a breaker box opened in a recessed square in the wall. She bent over and reached inside as far as she could, feeling for the lever the wall should have created on its own under her command.

  “What are you doing?” L’zar ran his hand over his head and looked between her and the mushrooming cloud of volatile magic spewing toward the top of the dome-shaped shield.

  She ignored him and finally found the lever, giving it a quick jerk as she poked the illuminated symbols on the wall. A loud, pressurized hiss filled the avenue. When she looked up, she saw the muted gray dome above Hangivol shimmer, flicker, and disappear. The released magical cloud caught inside burst from the top of the city and rose straight into the sky like a beacon.

  Metal and earth groaned around them, and Cheyenne removed her hand from the hole in the wall before it sealed itself.

  L’zar’s mouth popped open as he stared at the clear sky above them. “Did you just do that?”

  “That and other things, yeah.”

  “How? You know what, never mind. Let’s go.”

  “Wait.” Cheyenne glared at him as she stalked down the block again and entered the main avenue. The spewing magical light dimmed beneath the giant crack in the ground, then tiny metal squares folded and unfolded themselves along the fissure, drawing the floor slowly back together and sealing the crevasse in less than a minute.

  The ground stopped trembling, and a deep groan rose from beneath the city before everything was still and quiet again, except for the column of magic still spewing from the center of Hangivol into the sky.

  Cheyenne gestured toward the mended ground. “Told you.”

  “Incredible.” L’zar chuckled, slowly shaking his head. “You instinctively knew how to do whatever that was?”

  “This activator is no joke.” With a flick of her finger, she dimmed the scrolling data feeds on every metal surface so they wouldn’t distract her. Better keep it on just in case, though. “What idiot thought keeping a magical shield around a city filled with brewing magic was a good idea?”

  He spread his arms. “Again, nearly every bad choice in this place can be traced back to Ba’rael. That shield was one of the first things to go up when she started making changes.”

  “It was part of the damn problem. Those fellfire pits outside the city. No one would be working those today, right?”

  “Not a chance. No one’s working.”

  “Good, ‘cause I just let off a whole bunch of magical pressure through them. That’s what this was, right?”

  L’zar blinked at the magic shooting from the city center as his daughter stormed past him and back down the avenue. “If you’re talking about all the magic my moronic sister was storing in her torture chambers, I’m inclined to agree with you. Yes.”

  “Good thing the moron gene ended with me.”

  The drow thief spun and followed her, laughing. “And I had nothing to do with that, huh?”

  “No, I don’t think you did.” Cheyenne stopped and whirled on him, shoving a finger in his face. “The Crown isn’t the only one around here I can blame for making stupid choices. What the hell was that back there?”

  He tilted his head. “Which part?”

  “The part where you kept running away like a coward to save yourself. The part where you tried to drag me with you when I clearly knew what I was doing and could save this city and the people you told me I’m here to protect!” She shoved his chest with both hands, and L’zar staggered backward.

  His smile disappeared. “I don’t want to lose you too, Cheyenne.”

  “This isn’t about me, this is about your self-righteous power games. You’re willing to let everyone else fend for themselves, even if they end up dead, because they aren’t part of your master plan.”

  “Cheyenne!”

  “Shut up!” She launched a crackling sphere of black energy at his face, and he ducked but didn’t step back. “If you want me to do any of this, giving the Crown her terms, taking the throne or not taking the throne, helping to put this screwed-up world back together, don’t even think about telling me I’m wrong or that I don’t understand. I get how you work, L’zar. It’s great that you wanna protect me, but it’s too late to think I’ll start listening to you now over what I know I can do.”

  He pressed his lips together. “I did get you out of the way of all that magic shooting through the alley.”

  “Please.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes and turned away from him to stalk down the avenue again. “I wasn’t even close to being in real danger.”

  With a deep breath, L’zar took one more look at the pillar of dazzling, churning magic spilling into the sky and hurried after his daughter. She’s not exactly like me, not in this. When he caught up with her, he stuck his hands in his pockets and easily matched her agitated stride. “You know, you would make an excellent Crown if you decided to stay. I’m inclined to think your human blood is responsible for that.”

  She snorted. “You’re not a selfish asshole because you’re not human, L’zar. Me being half-human doesn’t make my decisions for me either.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” The drow thief chuckled and didn’t say another word.

  Cheyenne snuck a quick glance at him and found him staring at the blue sky as they walked down the avenue. Looks like I got my point across. Maybe you can teach an old drow new tricks.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They met up with the others at the fighting pits in Vedrosha. Most of the magicals had scattered and returned to their homes and stores on the lower levels. Some O’gúleesh remained to help with the cleanup, which mostly amounted to getting the magicals lying on the ground back on their feet and inspected for serious injuries.

  Cheyenne found Ember surrounded by magicals holding bleeding faces and arms, clutching whatever hurt and waiting their turn. The fae girl reached toward the next injured magical in line, her palms glowing with a slightly brighter violet light than her other spells before fading again.

  The healed magicals stared at their mended wounds and bowed to the fae girl, muttering their thanks before heading out of Vedrosha to regroup somewhere else. Cheyenne waited for Ember to tend to the last of them, then approached.

  “So you’re whipping up healing spells now after magical disasters, huh?”

  Ember grinned when she saw the halfling and raised her pink-tinged hands. “I don’t even need spells. It just happens.”

  “You know, I’ve heard things about the fae’s innate healing.” Cheyenne snorted. “The only things that come out of my hands are magical bombs and whips.”

  “Everybody’s got a calling, right?” Ember’s smile faded as she glanced at the column of magic at the city’s center. “What happened?”

  Cheyenne looked over her shoulder at L’zar, who had joined Corian, Maleshi, and some of the other rebel magicals to explain his version of events. Probably downplaying his panic to get the hell out, too. “Remember that room we fought our way through yesterday? With the pool of black whatever and the bubble of light in the ceiling?”

  The fae girl frowned. “Yeah. They were stealing magic in there.”

  “That magic had to go somewhere, right? I’m pretty sure the Crown sucked up too much of it and overloaded the city somehow. I fixed it for now. I think.”

  “That was you, huh?” Maleshi’s strained smile made her look incredibly tired when she approached them. “You just happened to find the O’gúl breaker box to turn off the dome shield and let off the extra pressure.”

  “No, I found one place where I could access all those things. I’m sure there are more on different levels.”
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br />   Maleshi briefly set a hand on Cheyenne’s shoulder and nodded. “Whatever you did, it seems to have worked. We can’t be sure how long it will last, though.”

  “I know. That’s a problem.”

  Corian joined them with a concerned frown. “And it could quickly turn into a large, very dangerous problem. You made the right call, kid. Honestly, I’m glad this happened. Now we know what else we have to deal with when your two weeks are up.”

  “You mean, getting all that extra magic back under control, so it doesn’t rip up the city?”

  “Forget ripping it up.” Corian scratched behind his tufted ear and grimaced at the pillar of shimmering light. “Hangivol could be blown off the map entirely, and millions of citizens with it.”

  “What about dampening wards like Maleshi cast on the portals?”

  Maleshi shook her head. “Those new portals were apparently just overflow.”

  Cheyenne cast a scathing glance at L’zar, who conveniently chose that moment to turn away from the group and study the escaping magic. “So I heard.”

  “Dampening wards or binding spells are only a temporary patch, anyway. I’m not sure they’d be any more effective than what you did. Obviously, we can’t keep trying to hold this magic in. The Crown’s attempt at that already failed.”

  Ember rubbed her arm and shrugged. “What about evacuating the city? Get everyone out of here, and then if something happens…”

  “I like where your mind’s headed, Ember.” Maleshi shook her head. “But that would make things even worse. It’s a small part of the bigger picture, but the last Nimlothar tree still stands at the center of the Heart. At least, I hope it does after this, and it won’t do any good for this world if the capital disappears off the face of it. The Crown and the Heart will both be gone. That leaves a massive power vacuum around here, and Ambar’ogúl will become the biggest battleground any of us have ever seen. Bigger than anything in the world’s history, I’d bet. Hangivol isn’t just a city. It has a power of its own.”