Quote the Drow Nevermore

by Martha Carr

  “It’s possible,” he replied. “The Crown’s found out about Cheyenne. That she’s here, Earthside.”

  “And no one wants this drow halfling to complete those trials.” Mattie dipped her head. “I understand.”

  “I’ve done what I could to keep her hidden, but it’s temporary.”

  “The Heart of Midnight was meant to support drow magic.” Mattie glanced at the shape of the pendant protruding beneath Cheyenne’s hoodie. “Not to battle it.”

  “You knew what this was when I asked you about it.” The halfling tapped her fingers on the pendant.

  “Of course I did. I just wasn’t aware of who’d given it to you.”

  She doesn’t want to talk about any of this right now, either. What happened between those two?

  “So now you want my help at this new portal.” Mattie crossed one bare foot over her knee and glanced at the other magicals in her living room. “Because you think the Crown might have opened it to get at Cheyenne.”

  Corian nodded. “It’s only one possibility of many, Maleshi.”

  Hearing that name made Mattie close her eyes again, but she seemed to resign herself to the fact that he wouldn’t stop using it. “Take me to the portal, then.”

  “Thank you.”

  “For Cheyenne.” The Nightstalker woman turned to offer her former student a real smile before she nodded. “If the Crown’s ripping through two worlds to get to her, it’s the least I can do.”

  Cheyenne’s heart sank when she saw the ghost of old pain behind Mattie Bergmann’s green eyes. She really doesn’t want this. “Mattie, you don’t owe me anything.”

  “Of course I don’t.” The Nightstalker woman chuckled. “If anything’s owed to anyone, Cheyenne, the armchairs in my office have yet to be replaced. But I will say I’ve grown pretty fond of you, kid. And the bigger picture is making itself more than apparent.” Mattie pushed quickly to her feet and twirled her hand in a gesture to speed things up. Everyone else scrambled up so as not to be sitting while General Hi’et stood before them. “Whatever you have to do to get us there, Corian, I strongly suggest you do it quickly.”

  Corian forced back a laugh and summoned another portal right there in Mattie/Maleshi’s living room.

  Mattie leaned toward Cheyenne as the dark, shimmering oval grew in the air. “I always had a feeling you were something special, kid.”

  “You just wanted to say you trained a drow halfling.” Cheyenne looked at her friend and grinned.

  “Turns out, I had no idea what I bargained for.” The Nightstalker woman smiled at the half-drow, but it lacked her usual mirth. “Hopefully, I can give you guys a better idea of whether the Crown’s behind this unaccounted-for portal. That’s what we’re hoping for, at any rate.”

  Cheyenne frowned. “I thought we were trying to keep the Crown from finding me.”

  “Oh, fuck the Crown. I can handle that self-absorbed drow with my hands tied behind my back.” Mattie snorted. “But if it’s not the Crown, there’s some other reason this new Border portal appeared without warning. Then both sides of the Border are fucked.”

  Lumil let out a low whistle at that last statement. Corian pursed his lips. Persh’al tried to hide a chuckle and shook his head.

  When Corian’s newest portal was fully formed, Mattie frowned at the image of a dark, empty warehouse and a bunch of computers scattered over three tables. “I’m not an idiot, Corian.”

  “Neither am I.” The Nightstalker laughed, his silver eyes shining from across the room. “You didn’t have a single ward or bonded alarm around your house, General.”

  “Because I didn’t expect a gang of rogue O’gúleesh to show up at my front door using L’zar’s halfling daughter as bait.”

  Corian shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve just fallen out of the habit.”

  She snorted and rolled her eyes.

  “And I’m not interested in leaving a trail from the border right back to your living room.”

  “Aw, man.” Byrd grimaced. “Come on!”

  “Deal with it, goblin. We’re going for another drive.” Corian stepped through the portal, which shimmered around him as he disappeared.

  Cheyenne watched him reappear in Persh’al’s warehouse, walking away from her. The goblins followed, with Persh’al close on their heels.

  Mattie winked at the halfling. “Looks like you’ve had your fair share of portal-hopping too.”

  “Enough to know I’d really like to learn how to open one on my own.”

  Chuckling, the Nightstalker woman shook her head. “Good luck.”

  Frowning, Cheyenne followed her former professor into Persh’al’s warehouse. I could open a portal if someone taught me. And if they won’t, I’ll teach myself.

  Corian clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention, then pointed at Lumil as she headed for his unfinished sandwich on the table. “Don’t even think about it.”

  The goblin woman grunted. “Come on. You can’t at least buy enough for all of us?”

  When the Nightstalker glanced at Persh’al, the troll turned away and pretended to be intensely interested in the overhead lights hanging above loose metal cages in the warehouse ceiling.

  “We’ll make it a better trip this time,” Corian said through clenched teeth. Then he nodded toward the warehouse door, and everyone headed for it. He stepped up beside Maleshi and lightly touched her elbow. “If you need—”

  “Don’t.” She shot him a warning glance and moved subtly out of his reach. “I don’t need any of this, vae shra’ni.”

  They’d stopped just in front of the door, and Cheyenne didn’t even have the option of leaving the warehouse so she wouldn’t have to watch the private moment. He seriously screwed something up.

  “And yet here we are.” Grinning, Corian looked Mattie/Maleshi up and down, then gestured for her to step outside in front of him. Mattie didn’t waste any time, and the Nightstalker glanced over his shoulder at the drow halfling and raised his eyebrows. “I think she’s happy to see me.”

  Cheyenne snorted. “Yeah, that message isn’t even a little mixed.”

  With a smirk, Corian stepped out into the afternoon light and held the door open for the halfling to join him. When it closed, he flicked his fingers toward the warehouse, and the wards illuminated in a soft green glow with a four-pointed star flashing in the center of the door.

  “I know that means something,” Cheyenne muttered.

  Corian glanced at the fading light of the four-pointed star and shrugged. “Call it a family crest, kid. L’zar was the one who built these wards.”

  “For real?”

  “Come on, Cheyenne. I might not be able to tell you everything you want to know, despite how much I’d love for you to finally stop asking. But I have no reason to lie to you.”

  They headed toward Persh’al’s SUV, parked beside Cheyenne’s new Panamera in the overgrown parking lot. The other O’gúleesh magicals filed into the SUV, and Cheyenne couldn’t help herself. Mattie passed the shiny black Porsche as Persh’al opened the passenger door for her, and the halfling reached into her pocket and pressed the automatic lock on the fob. The Panamera chirped, and Mattie jumped a little before spinning around to glance at the car.

  Her gaze settled quickly on Cheyenne, who did everything she could to hold back laughter. “That’s yours?”

  The halfling shrugged, but her grin finally broke through.

  “Huh.” Mattie took one last glance at the car before climbing into the passenger seat of the SUV.

  Cheyenne thought, Not the response I was looking for. She’s still pissed about me blowing her cover.

  That wiped the grin off the drow halfling’s face as she climbed into the back seat behind Corian. He shot her a brief, almost apologetic shrug before she pulled the door closed behind her. Then she glanced into the last row of seats and jerked her thumb toward the goblins. “It’s a two-hour drive.”

  “We’re good,” Byrd muttered, buckling his seatbelt. “I have my own win
dow.”

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  An hour into the drive, Persh’al pulled off the highway at a truck-stop exit. Corian thumped the back of the troll’s seat. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m starving, man. And I’m not stepping into that clearing on an empty stomach again. Sorry.”

  The Nightstalker leaned back in his seat. “I brought sandwiches.”

  “And you’re the only one who had the time to eat.”

  “Here we go,” Byrd quipped from the way back. “Somebody who’s looking out for the whole team.”

  “Shut up,” Lumil muttered.

  “Hey, you can do whatever you want,” Persh’al added. “I’m looking out for the only troll here, okay?”

  Cheyenne fought back another smile and watched the truck stop grow closer as the SUV turned into a huge parking lot where some semis had stopped to refuel.

  Persh’al parked in front of a Subway that shared a wall with a McDonald’s and turned off the engine. His illusion charm shimmered around his body, and a short, tanned human with a jet-black mohawk opened the door. “Gotta refuel. Then we’ll get right back into all the excitement. I promise.” He didn’t wait for anyone before walking quickly toward the door of the Subway.

  “All right. Come on.” Byrd tapped the back of Cheyenne’s seat and nodded toward the passenger door. Both he and Lumil had activated their illusion spells and now looked like a couple of grinning Midwesterners back from a week of tanning on Florida beaches. “Pretty please, halfling? I need food.”

  Cheyenne shucked off her seatbelt and got out, standing beside the open door while Byrd and Lumil squeezed past the seat folded halfway forward.

  “You want anything?”

  The halfling shook her head. Both goblins shrugged, then Corian finally got out of the car too and followed the others inside. Cheyenne waited for the passenger door to open. She’s not getting out, and I’m not tiptoeing around a Nightstalker. Even General Hi’et.

  Cheyenne climbed back into the seat behind Mattie and closed the door. “Okay, look. I know you’re pissed. I did everything I could to keep them from finding you. I mean, short of smashing Persh’al’s rig into a million pieces.” Just the thought made her shiver. “I just want you to know I didn’t just give up your information without thinking about what you wanted. They found you on their own.”

  “We both know they wouldn’t have if you and I didn’t know each other.”

  The halfling’s gut twisted into knots, and Cheyenne breathed through the guilt. “Yeah. A lotta things have been happening to a lotta people just because they know me. But this one, Mattie? I mean, I’ve never made the crossing to either side, but the shit that came out of the portal… It was like fighting some kinda living nightmare.”

  “Oh, I’m well aware of what exists in the in-between, Cheyenne.”

  “Then you get why I came with them, right? I’m sorry I tricked you like that. It’s not how I would’ve done things—”

  “Maybe not, but it’s exactly what I would have done in your situation.” Mattie grabbed the side of the passenger seat and turned fully around to meet the halfling’s gaze. “You played it out to the end because it was the right thing to do, even if it made you squirm. Don’t apologize for it.”

  Cheyenne swallowed. “Okay.”

  “I try not to make a habit of tooting my own horn, kid, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who can answer the burning question about this portal. And I genuinely hope, for all our sakes, the Crown uncovered even more dark and insanely powerful magic. The kind needed to rip open another Border portal. Otherwise…”

  “Yeah, we’re all screwed. You mentioned that part already.”

  Mattie chuckled and turned to peer through the windshield toward the Subway. They both saw Persh’al sitting at a table by the window, and the Nightstalker woman said, “We have a little time. Scoot over.”

  “What?”

  Mattie shoved open the door and got out to open the back passenger-side door and shoot Cheyenne an exasperated look. “Scoot.”

  “Oh.” The halfling moved down the center row of seats, staring at the Nightstalker woman as Mattie closed the door again behind her.

  “Now.” The woman’s green eyes glistened with awareness as she fixed them on her former student. “We have some time to set things straight, at the very least. Let’s not waste it.”

  “I...don’t even know where to start.”

  “I get that a lot. I’ll take over from here, then. Feel free to stop me if something comes to mind.” Mattie clasped her hands together and set them both primly in her lap. “I’m guessing the very first string tying this all together was when you overheard me talking to myself. You asked who Maleshi was, and I wasn’t prepared to answer that question. Now, I suppose, it’s a necessity.”

  Cheyenne couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Yeah, a bit.”

  “Right.” The woman dipped her head and took a deep breath. “I chose the name Mathilda Bergmann when I made the crossing, Cheyenne. That was over four hundred years ago, and at the time, the name had a lot more flavor to it than it does now. Like I said, Mathilda sounds like an old cat lady.”

  “I mean, you kind of are.”

  Mattie’s lips twitched when the double meaning dawned on her, then she shook her head. “I like Mattie so much better. But before I started my life Earthside, as I’m sure you’re well aware, I was someone else. General Maleshi Hi’et, insert meaningless titles, et cetera, et cetera. I spent half a century as the Crown’s wartime advisor and leading strategist. I trained thousands of legionnaires while I served the Crown. Protected the people of Ambar’ogúl the best I could. Felled armies and quashed rebellions. The list goes on and on.”

  The halfling’s eyes widened. “Sounds like it.”

  “But none of that’s important anymore, you understand? The new cycle began… Well, I despise euphemisms, so I’ll just say it was a bloody affair that came about long before its time.”

  “You mean, someone grabbed the throne.”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Mattie glanced down at her clasped hands and bit her lip. “The new ass to sit upon that proverbial throne—and I do mean ‘ass’ in every sense of the word—showed the entire world who she really was when she took things into her own hands. Literally. Things changed, kid. I have no problem getting a little dirty if that’s what’s required of me, but to say things got messy at the turn of the new cycle is a gross and disgusting understatement. Blood, mud, and black magic. Add a heaping portion of greed and entitlement, and you’ve splattered an accurate picture of the state of things all over a blank canvas. Make sense?”

  “Yeah.” Cheyenne studied the pain in her friend’s green eyes and frowned. “That’s why you left, isn’t it?”

  The Nightstalker replied, “That’s mostly why I left. I’ve seen things that give me nightmares, kid. Still. The things I did by order of the Crown were far, far worse, and no amount of advice or berating on my part made a goddamn bit of difference. So, yes. I laid down my banner, stripped off my badges, and shot the Crown a big ‘fuck you’ when I hightailed it out of there. It’s still home, Cheyenne. It...calls to me from time to time. And for four hundred years, I’ve been satisfied knowing the Crown no longer has General Hi’et at her side to do the dirty work she was so fond of ordering me to do.”

  “And you didn’t tell anyone.”

  A wry chuckle escaped Mattie, and she gave a little shrug. “Not a soul. I abandoned everything I believed in because I just couldn’t do it anymore, and apparently, that put me down in O’gúl history as the spark of the fucking rebellion!”

  The sharp, bitter cackle coming from the Nightstalker’s mouth made Cheyenne lean away. She still hates herself for it.

  “But if that’s what it took to keep things from getting as bad as they could have on the other side, kid, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Every single bit of it.”

  The halfling nodded.

  Mattie caught the hesitation
in the halfling’s posture and leaned toward her. “What? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, Cheyenne. I’ve had enough practice reading you to know a seed of doubt when I see it.”

  Cheyenne clenched her eyes shut, then turned just enough to meet Mattie’s gaze sidelong. “You might’ve accidentally started a rebellion, but I don’t think that kept things from getting worse over there.”

  “Of course not. They were bound to get worse anyway. Which will always be my shame, and I have to live with it.” The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Why? What have you heard?”

  “Some new friends of mine told me about their village on the other side. The Oronti Valley.”

  “Oh, God. I haven’t thought of that place in centuries. Beautiful. Serene. I always wanted to take a few months off and build myself a hut out by one of the lakes. Very happy people. And I mean genuinely happy.”

  “Not anymore.” Cheyenne waited for realization to dawn on the Nightstalker woman’s face before she said anything else. “The way I heard it, there’s nothing left. Even in the valley.”

  The blissful nostalgia in Mattie’s smile disappeared immediately. “I see.”

  “And it’s forcing even more magicals to make the crossing. Whole families. Kids. Christ, after what I saw at the new portal this morning, I can’t imagine trying to take a kid through even a tenth of that.”

  “Yes.” Mattie interlaced her fingers again. “Sounds like people are forced to do a lot of things they couldn’t have imagined beforehand. That’s where your trials come into play in all this.”

  Cheyenne stared at her former mentor and forced herself not to bombard the woman with every question racing through her mind. Finally we’re getting somewhere. “It’s only been about a week, but it feels like I’ve been waiting forever for someone to spell it out for me.”

  “Well, today must be your lucky day, kid.” Mattie dipped her head in wry acknowledgment. “At least in that regard. Clearly, you know about the prophecies surrounding L’zar Verdys.”

  “Yeah. All his dead kids.” And my dreams that made me think he killed them.

  “You know, I love that you’re just as much a fan of euphemisms as I am.” The Nightstalker snorted. “That drow has spent an ungodly amount of time trying to find a loophole through those prophecies, Cheyenne. Honestly, those of us who knew him were ready to toss him across the Border just to get him to shut up about it. Drove us nuts. And he caused more than his fair share of trouble in Ambar’ogúl during his mad search.”