The Drow Grew Stronger (Goth Drow Book 4)

by Martha Carr

  “Like, it’s alive?” Ember watched the nightstalkers.

  “In its own way.” Corian dipped his head, clasping his hands behind his back. “The kind of explosion that could very well take out this entire city won’t be contained. Imagine someone nuking Washington DC and taking out the entire eastern half of the US with it. Not something we can afford to let happen.”

  Cheyenne folded her arms. “So, what do we do?”

  “That’s what we need to figure out.” Corian glanced at L’zar’s back as the drow thief watched the magical pillar and listened in on the conversation at the same time. “And quickly. We can’t afford a long deliberation about this.”

  * * *

  L’zar’s rebels gathered around one of the open fighting pits, everyone sitting down at the edges and dangling their feet, claws, or hooves over the white sand below as they discussed their options.

  Cheyenne fought back a smile as she gazed around the square of deliberating rebels. Not as sophisticated as sitting around a table, but I guess it works.

  “So, a hold’s out of the question, then?”

  “Of course it is. It would take all of us combined to hold back a fraction of what’s seeping out of the Heart as we speak.”

  “I don’t suppose Ba’rael’s alchemists came up with a way to distribute magic to more than one individual.”

  L’zar snorted. “She must be furious right now.”

  Corian shot him an exasperated glance. “I’m normally fond of your ability to find amusement in every situation. Now’s not one of those times.”

  “Just an observation, vae shra’ni.” The drow shrugged and set his hands behind him on the metal floor to lean back and look up at the clear blue sky.

  “Do we know any conjurers?”

  “Not closer than three days from here, and you know they won’t accept a journey by portal. Impossible to pinpoint them anyway.”

  “What about our alchemists?”

  “We don’t have any alchemists, Jara’ak. She took them all.”

  A dozen more options were offered, and the conversation grew into a shouting match as the Four-Pointed Star realized they were wasting time and still couldn’t come to a satisfying conclusion. L’zar raised his eyebrows at Cheyenne and leaped away from the edge of the pit, shoving his hands in his pockets and pacing across the open metal ground.

  “All right, stop. Stop!” Maleshi raised both hands, and when the magicals around her kept arguing, she sent two bolts of silver lightning into the opposite wall of the pit. They stopped immediately and looked at her.

  “Well?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I can’t think when you’re all squabbling like these two.” Maleshi tossed a hand toward Lumil and Byrd, who were sitting along the adjacent wall of the pit. Lumil elbowed Byrd in the side, and she bumped her into her other neighbor with a grunt.

  Corian lifted his head. “We could take a request to the Sorren Gán.”

  L’zar spun toward the pit and shook his head. “Absolutely not. Keep thinking.”

  “None of us wanted to say it, brother, but it’s the most obvious solution.”

  “There’s always a way around the obvious solution, Corian. Cheyenne’s proof of that.” L’zar nodded at his daughter and picked up his pacing again. This time, it was tense and aggravated.

  “L’zar.” Foltr smacked his stick against the pit wall beside his dangling legs. “You know how that could help us. Follow that knowledge and set your cowardice aside, will you?”

  The drow thief whirled on the elderly raug and snarled, “I’m not going. That’s my final word, and if I have to order each and every one of you not to mention it again, I will.”

  Foltr laughed deeply and swung his cane up to point at Cheyenne. “You gave up the right to give us orders when you handed over your blood right to your daughter. Unless she orders me to be silent, I’ll sing about the Sorren Gán all night if I have to.”

  L’zar’s eyes widened, and he sneered at the shriveled raug. Foltr raised his thick brows, and the drow snarled before spinning away into more pacing.

  “I think that’s our best option at this point.” Corian nodded and pushed himself up. “Does anyone disagree with me?”

  The rebels exchanged wary glances but didn’t offer any protest.

  “Then we’ll send out a party. I’m happy to make the journey again.”

  “I’m not,” L’zar spat. Corian ignored him.

  “There’s a first time for everything.” With a wry chuckle, Maleshi stood and dusted off her pants. “I wouldn’t miss this trip for the world. Hell, for both of them.”

  “Anyone else who wants to be part of this is welcome.” Corian nodded at the rebels slowly rising from their makeshift seats. “L’zar’s coming, of course. Ember, you’re free to stay here with the others if you like, though I’m sure you won’t because Cheyenne, we need you with us.”

  “Okay.” Cheyenne accepted Ember’s hand for a boost to her feet when the fae girl floated instantly off the edge of the pit. “What do I have to do?”

  “Whatever you do, don’t look forward to it.” L’zar snorted and headed away from the pit.

  “All right. Whoever’s with us, get ready to move out. We’re leaving now.” Corian shot Cheyenne a wary glance, then nodded and headed after L’zar.

  “What’s a Sorren Gán?” Ember muttered.

  “I’m the last person to ask about that, Em.”

  “Sakrit.” Maleshi approached the orc and clasped his forearm. “On General Hi’et’s orders, get these pits closed up for the time being. It hurts to say it as much as it hurts to hear, but we can’t risk overloading the city with power until we’ve cleared out the worst of it.”

  “They’ll understand. We had a good few hours with the pits for the first time in centuries. They can wait a little longer if it means they can use them the way they were meant to be used. I’ll take care of it.”

  “I know.” Maleshi clapped a hand on his shoulder and nodded before joining the rest of their party following L’zar.

  Cheyenne hurried after her father and Corian. “Hey, wait a minute.”

  Corian looked over his shoulder at her and Ember, who was floating closely behind. L’zar showed no sign that he’d heard her.

  “We talked about the whole ‘no more secrets’ thing, so who’s gonna tell me where we’re going and what the hell a Sorren Gán is?”

  L’zar snarled. “I’m so sick of hearing that name!”

  “At least tell me why I have to go. I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but nobody even asked me.”

  Corian slowed to fall in beside her. “You and L’zar are the only ones it will listen to.”

  “Why? Because we’re royalty?”

  In front of them, L’zar snorted. “No. Not even close.” He stepped aside and let them pass, fuming at the ground and refusing to meet his daughter’s gaze.

  Corian put a hand on Cheyenne’s back and urged her to keep moving.

  “What the hell’s wrong with him?”

  “We might have a chance to talk about it on the way there, kid. Just leave it alone for now. When L’zar’s ready to stop throwing a fit about it, he’ll fill you in.”

  * * *

  The group of rebels made their way underground to the Four-Pointed Star’s hidden bunker. The place had suffered a little damage from the magical earthquake, but it wasn’t enough to make it dangerous. Cheyenne grabbed her pack from where she’d left it beside the wall that morning and stared at the fallen chunks of stone scattered across the huge metal table. “One more downside to not having any integrated tech down here, huh? Can’t just patch the holes in the wall with a bunch of smart metal.”

  Maleshi moved her fingers in a quick spell. The stone chunks on the table and scattered around the main chamber illuminated with silver light and whisked toward the opposite side of the room, where they fell in a neat heap against the wall. “It’s an easy enough fix.”

  Ember grabbed her own backpack and slung it over her s
houlders. “I would’ve said you could use your fancy earth magic and stick it all back up where it goes.”

  Cheyenne shot her friend a brief smile and shook her head. “I can rip the ground apart and shove it back together again, Em. Not sure it’s refined enough for filling holes in the ceiling.”

  Maleshi, Corian, L’zar, Byrd, and Lumil quickly packed and got ready to head out. A handful of the other rebels darted between them, dispersing prewrapped packages and small metal boxes. A grinning goblin handed these to Cheyenne and Ember too. Cheyenne frowned at the box. “What’s this?”

  “Drow eat like everyone else, don’t they?” Chuckling, the goblin hurried away to take care of some other preparation.

  When the journeying party had gotten everything together, Corian pointed at a large arch on the far right side of the chamber. “We’ll take the transport shuttle out to Ki’uali. That’s the farthest point.”

  “No objection to that.” Maleshi hefted a pack onto her shoulders and nodded at Cheyenne. “Let’s move out.”

  Foltr cracked his cane against the floor, the sound amplified by a spell to get everyone’s attention, which it did. L’zar turned to shoot the old raug an irritated glance. “What?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “Foltr,” Corian started, “this isn’t—”

  “We’re heading a lot closer to the dens than most parties ever go, and I’ve been where we’re going.”

  L’zar snarled. “We both have, Grandfather. At least you get to stand there and watch.” The drow spun back toward the arch and disappeared into the corridor beyond.

  Foltr smacked his wrinkled lips and hobbled after him, his cane clicking on the stone. “Don’t let this place fall to ruin while we’re gone.”

  “Depends on your definition of ruin, old one!” a rebel shouted. A handful of others laughed, and the aged raug waved them away before joining the rest of their party and entering the tunnel.

  Ember leaned toward Cheyenne in the semi-dark tunnel echoing with over half a dozen pairs of footsteps. “So, we’re taking a tunnel?”

  “To a transport station, I guess. Like a subway.”

  “Oh.” Ember frowned. “You’d think they would’ve come up with a more sophisticated way to get places on this side, right?”

  “I said, like a subway. Trust me, it’s sophisticated enough.”

  “L’zar,” Corian called after the pissed-off drow leading the way.

  “Say another word, and I’ll bring this tunnel down on top of us.”

  Corian cleared his throat before muttering, “And we press on.”

  Cheyenne watched the nightstalker shake his head, and those in the tunnel fell into a tense silence, punctured only by their quickening footsteps. They’re all putting up with massive drow mood swings ‘cause that’s what they’ve been doing forever anyway. Guess L’zar’s got more to teach me than I thought, like how not to be that drow throwing tantrums.

  Ember chuckled softly and whispered, “Little tense in here.”

  The halfling snorted. “Yeah. This is what it’s like to be around me when I’m pissed all the time, isn’t it?”

  Ember shrugged. “At least we know who you get it from.”

  “Fair enough. I’m working on it.” Cheyenne raised her voice enough for everyone in the tunnel to hear, including L’zar. “Someone told me meditating has a lot of great benefits.”

  In front of her, Corian snorted and shook his head.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The high-speed shuttle waiting for them in Hangivol’s lowest level, Halter’s Deck, was a lot more modern than the one Cheyenne had ridden with Persh’al. The doors opened seamlessly without anyone having to poke and prod the commands, and they filed into the compartment.

  “Wow. Somebody sprang for the luxury seats in this one, huh?”

  Corian went to the control panel at the front of the compartment. “The transports that get used the most are the ones that need the most updates. Honestly, if I were the one in charge of updating these things, I’d get rid of the one-track-per-shuttle system. It’s a complete waste.”

  While everyone else flopped down on the roomy seats covered in soft, cool fabric and arranged like a lounge in the back half of the cabin, Cheyenne set her backpack down on the closest seat and joined Corian in the front. “It is a little weird that something with this much juice only goes one way.”

  “Juice.” The nightstalker laughed dryly and scanned the blank panel in front of him.

  Cheyenne watched his indecision and leaned forward to catch his gaze. “Having trouble figuring out where to start?”

  “I spent all this time getting ready to bring you here for one reason. Didn’t expect to be heading out of Hangivol with an alternate purpose, and I seem to have forgotten the need for an activator of my own.”

  “I’d offer to lend you mine, but…”

  “No, thank you,” Corian said to her. “You sure you know how to drive this thing?”

  “It does go in a straight line.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I got this.” Cheyenne nodded toward the seats in the back, and the nightstalker turned swiftly to take one for himself, scratching the back of his head. “Everyone good to go?”

  “No.” L’zar slumped in his seat at the very back, both legs stretched out in front of him with his ankles crossed and arms folded, and glared at the slick metal floor. “It’s not too late to open those doors again.”

  Cheyenne slid her finger along the starter sequence the activator neatly lit up for her on the control panel. A low whine filled the shuttle, quickly rising to a high pitch that faded into silence again. Lights blinked on, the device powering the cabin with a mix of magic and tech thrummed to life, and the doors let out a soft hiss as they sealed from the inside. “Whoops.”

  L’zar looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t pretend to make mistakes, Cheyenne.”

  “Why not? Does it insult you?” She turned back to the control panel and activated the rest of the powering sequences.

  “No, it makes you look like you’re trying too hard. Insulting me is a lofty goal, though.”

  Cheyenne chuckled and braced her feet before swiping the panel one last time. The shuttle hummed louder and tore out of the transport station at top speed.

  “Whoa.” Ember slid against Maleshi, gave her an apologetic smile, and shifted back into her own seat. The general grinned at her before sharing a glance with Corian across the compartment.

  “Way smoother than the last one.” Cheyenne’s eyes widened as the activator pulled up the hundreds of extra commands her first transport shuttle hadn’t offered. She played around with it, swiping up on the display and changing the walls from shiny silver to black, then white, then a panoramic view of a forest wrapping around the shuttle.

  “Hey!” Byrd cringed in his seat and stared at the trees around them.

  Lumil burst out laughing and pointed at the goblin. “You thought this shit was real?”

  He chuckled nervously. “Some updates. Damn, it looks real, though.”

  “I’m pretty sure no one would build one of these things through a forest,” Cheyenne called from the front, now fiddling with the ambient lighting. “Or if they did, the forest wouldn’t exist after a shuttle’s first trip through. Anybody know how fast we’re going?”

  “Do enlighten us.” Maleshi leaned forward and propped her forearms on her thighs, grinning at the halfling who was enjoying herself so much up front.

  “No problem.” Cheyenne wiggled her fingers over the control panel and shrugged. “I mean, seeing is believing, right?”

  She selected the shuttle’s invisible walls, and almost everyone in the party let out shouts of surprise when the floors, walls, and ceiling disappeared around them. Even L’zar sat up straight in his seat, drawing his feet back toward himself to peer beneath the shuttle at what looked like nothing but dirt and dry grass whizzing past beneath them.

  “This is so cool,” Ember muttered, her lumino
us violet eyes locked on the wall behind Corian’s head. He turned slightly to see what she found interesting, then clenched his eyes shut and shook his head.

  Cheyenne turned, and her smile faded when she saw the massive pillar of magic bursting out of Hangivol far behind them. “Wow. That looks bad even from here.”

  “The decision’s been made, Cheyenne.” L’zar waved his hand, feigning indifference and failing to pull it off. “No use in looking behind us if we’re not headed that way.”

  “Uh-huh.” She turned back to the console and managed to return the opacity to the back wall alone while the rest of the shuttle remained transparent.

  Foltr chuckled, both gnarled hands resting on the top of his cane. “Your daughter’s skills rival your own, L’zar.”

  Cheyenne stuck her hands in her pockets and stepped slowly toward the back of the cabin to take the empty seat beside Ember. “Old-world magic versus the new generation of tech advancement, huh?”

  “The two aren’t comparable.” L’zar stared at her, but the corner of his mouth twitched in a tiny smile.

  “I don’t know.” Maleshi sat back against the cushion and crossed one leg over the other. “I never saw you pull up anything quite like this, and we’ve taken plenty of shuttles.”

  “Just the two of you?” Corian looked sharply at Maleshi and raised an eyebrow. “When?”

  She shook her head and waved him off.

  L’zar’s smile widened as he stared at his daughter. “When Cheyenne’s abilities rival my own, I’ll be the first to bend the knee. I don’t need to stick a piece of metal behind my ear to manipulate the threads I see.”

  Corian snorted. “No. You have to hole yourself up in a vacuum and meditate for four hours minimum. I agree, it’s much more convenient.”

  Byrd and Lumil sniggered and stared at the drow thief, who was slowly being pulled out of his brooding. L’zar interlaced his fingers and set them on his lap. With a final smile at Cheyenne, he dropped his head back against the cushion of his seat and closed his eyes.