The Drow There and Nothing More (Goth Drow Book 3)

by Martha Carr

  “Yeah, it doesn’t sound possible.” Watching dozens of his kids die when he already knew they would. Definitely a recipe for crazy.

  “Well.” Maleshi chuckled. “On the other hand, this isn’t his first time making the impossible possible. You’re his heir, Cheyenne, whether you like it or not. You passed your trials, and you’re still alive and kickin’.”

  The halfling scowled at her backpack and the legacy box inside. “L’zar didn’t have anything to do with that. I made it possible.”

  “That’s my point. L’zar’s prophecy was unraveled because he did nothing. If I had to guess, I’d say he had a hunch about that, and that’s why he let himself be locked up in that prison for so long.” Maleshi spread her arms. “I just hope he learned his lesson with that one.”

  “He doesn’t seem like the teachable type.”

  The nightstalker raised her eyebrows. “He’s not, which is why he should’ve stayed behind bars until we get this other portal business under control.”

  “We’re getting there, I think.” Cheyenne studied Maleshi’s shimmering green eyes, which narrowed in interest now. “L’zar’s lying low at the warehouse for now. I think.”

  “He better be.”

  The halfling chuckled. “Who knows, right? I was there this morning. Apparently, they found the guy who’s been meshing O’gúl and Earth technology, so at the very least, it should keep them all busy.”

  “They found him.” Maleshi broke into another grin. “You know, I’m ninety-nine-percent sure L’zar doesn’t give a rat’s ass about that little piece of our puzzle. He’s focused on you. I, on the other hand, would really love to hear what they told you.”

  “Not much.” Cheyenne shook her head, trying not to laugh at the crestfallen look eating away the nightstalker’s eagerness. “They had some scaly dude tied to a chair when I showed up. They shoved him in a closet and told me they’d figure out the rest.”

  “Well, that’s frustrating.”

  “Yeah. So is being dismissed by all the magicals following the crazy drow to their own ends. Whatever they figure out, I’m not sure they’ll tell me.”

  “They’ll tell you, Cheyenne.” Maleshi nodded slowly, the cold, hard intensity of General Hi’et returning to her features. “You deserve to know as much as everyone else, if not more. And if they don’t know that by now, you’ll just have to make them tell you.”

  Cheyenne leaned away from her old professor and raised an eyebrow. She’s got battle-lust written all over her, even with that illusion spell. “I’m not gonna start interrogating the people who are trying to help me.”

  “What?” Maleshi laughed. “Who said anything about interrogating? Just a few good pops with your magic, kid, and they’ll get the message.”

  “Jeeze. If you’d talked to me like that when I first starting coming by here for your help, I wouldn’t have come back.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing I know how to play my hand, isn’t it?” The nightstalker winked. “Thanks for stopping by to show me that special drow trinket you finally got open, but don’t worry about dropping by on your days off to fill me in. I’m thinking about popping into that warehouse for a little visit.”

  “To interrogate the scaly dude?”

  “Ha. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Smirking, Maleshi slowly lowered herself into her chair again. “I wouldn’t turn down the offer to be perfectly honest, but I’ve got a prophecy or two to sort out. I’ve come to the realization that I might need a little help with that.”

  “You don’t look happy about that part.”

  “I’ve been sucked back into a war I left behind me centuries ago, Cheyenne. On purpose. If I don’t look happy about that, it’s because I’m not.”

  The halfling narrowed her eyes and looked the nightstalker up and down. “Because you’re going to Corian for help, right?”

  Maleshi stared right back at her. “That’s one of the reasons, sure.”

  “What happened between you two, anyway?”

  “Enough. Nothing that needs to be dug up right now in Mattie Bergman’s office, thank you very much.”

  Cheyenne raised her hands in surrender. “I’m just curious.”

  “You can be as curious as you wanna be. I’m not strolling down that particular memory lane with you today.”

  “No problem.” Cheyenne took another step back and grabbed the straps of her backpack again. I could hold my own in here if I pushed too far. Wrong place and wrong time, though. “Can you at least tell me what you found out about that weird-ass prophecy you bought from Gúrdu?”

  Maleshi’s eyes narrowed even more, then she laughed. “Yeah, you’re just curious.”

  “I can’t help it.” The halfling chuckled. “It was creepy.”

  “Yes, it was.” Taking a deep breath, the general-turned-professor sat back in her chair again. “I’ve figured out most of it on my own. That prophecy was talking about the new portals in a roundabout way. I’m pretty sure the Crown’s involved, but not intentionally. She sent those shipments through the new portal we found, but my bet is, that was a happy coincidence. She found it and used it.”

  “Well, it’s been there for a while.”

  Maleshi frowned. “What makes you say that?”

  Shit. I can’t make promises to keep secrets and let something like that slip. “Heard mention of it somewhere.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, however long it’s been there doesn’t matter if we’ve got new ones popping up in reclusive socialites’ backyards, does it?” Maleshi leaned sideways into the armrest of her chair. “At a basic level, it looks like the Crown’s spreading madness is running out of space in Ambar’ogúl and starting to seep through Earthside. I don’t think the Crown knows how directly the two are connected. Not yet, anyway.”

  “If she does, she doesn’t care.”

  “Hmm.” Maleshi gave the halfling a tight-lipped smile. “You’re starting to talk like an O’gúleesh who’s seen what’s happening on the other side.”

  Cheyenne spread her arms. “Camouflage.”

  “Very funny.”

  “What about the rest of the prophecy?”

  “What about it?”

  Cocking her head, Cheyenne twirled a hand in the air. “That part about cutting out the heart and the rot. Destiny or chains. ‘Blood binds to blood’ was in there too, and I’ve heard that part before.”

  “You don’t let too much slip through your head, do you?”

  The halfling smiled. “I have a pretty decent memory. I’m choosing to credit my mom for that one.”

  With a snort, the nightstalker nodded. “That’s a little deeper than I can go.”

  “But you think you know what it means, don’t you?”

  “Maybe. That’s why I need an extra nightstalker brain to help me figure it out.”

  Cheyenne frowned. “I might be able to help. Before I had that pendant, I was getting a lot of crazy dreams with all kinds of prophecy pieces screamed at me.”

  “Which I noticed you aren’t wearing anymore.”

  “It stopped working, mostly. And you’re changing the subject.”

  “I’m entitled to change the subjects I don’t want to talk about.” Maleshi leaned forward with a sarcastic shake of her head. “Are you gonna take the hint, or do I need to use stronger tactics?”

  Casting the woman a sideways glance, Cheyenne pursed her lips. “You won’t fight me in your cute little office as a college professor.”

  “Of course not, but I can find you pretty much anywhere else, and I’ve been brushing up on my portal-casting.”

  “Right.” The women stared each other down, and when the corner of Maleshi’s mouth twitched into a smirk, Cheyenne choked back a laugh. “Okay, fine. Go talk to your nightstalker buddy from a past life about it first, but I want to know what you guys come up with. Don’t make me make you tell me.”

  Maleshi chuckled. “My own advice coming back to bite me in the ass. That’s been happening a lot lately.”

  “Hey, good
to know I’m not the only one.” With a final glance around the office, Cheyenne took a deep breath. “Anything else?”

  A soft, timid knock came at the door. They both quickly glanced that way, and Maleshi cleared her throat. “It’s open.”

  A kid in a button-up plaid shirt with insanely thick glasses and a real live pocket protector with two glinting pens peered through the door when he opened it. His eyes widened when he saw Cheyenne, and his shoulders hunched as he reconsidered opening the door any farther. “Um, Professor Bergmann?”

  “Yes?” Maleshi grinned and batted her eyes.

  “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Nope.” Cheyenne nodded. “I was on my way out. She’s all yours.”

  The kid cowered against the cracked door when the Goth girl with a backpack headed across the office toward him.

  “Cheyenne, hold on a minute.” Maleshi grabbed a pen from the jar and a pad of sticky notes from the desk drawer, then scribbled something on the top note and peeled it off. She stood quickly and crossed the room, shooting the other student a reassuring smile as she handed the note to the halfling. “Just in case.”

  “Sure.” Cheyenne took it without looking, then stopped in front of the door and waited for the kid to open it so they could trade places. His eyes were huge behind the thick lenses. “I’m not gonna bite.”

  “What?”

  “The door, Mr. Thomas.” Maleshi gave him a pert smile.

  “Oh. Um, yeah. Um, sorry?” He pushed the door open, pressing his back against it like he wanted to melt into the wood as Cheyenne stepped into the hallway.

  “Good luck.” The halfling raised her eyebrows and brushed past him. Maleshi’s soft chuckle and muttered reassurances that her startled student shouldn’t rely on luck followed Cheyenne through the hall.

  Chapter Ten

  Cheyenne tried the handle of her apartment door before bothering to pull out her keys. Of course it’s unlocked.

  She stepped inside and found Ember sitting in her chair at the far end of the coffee table, watching something on their fancy TV. The halfling shut the door with a smirk. “Good to see you’re keeping busy.”

  The fae’s eyes remained glued to the TV screen. “Just trying to turn off my brain with something that has nothing to do with the last twenty-four hours.”

  “And that would be?”

  “Stranger Things.”

  Cheyenne blinked. “That was not what I expected you to say.”

  “Hey, it’s better to watch someone else live through something that’s guaranteed not to be real.” Ember finally looked away from the screen, met Cheyenne’s gaze, and chuckled, lifting one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “Even if it’s, like, weirdly close to what I just found out is real.”

  “You do you, I guess.” The halfling set her backpack on the floor beside the couch and headed toward the wrought-iron staircase leading to the mini-loft over the bathroom that served as her private office.

  “How did the meeting with the deranged escaped convict go?”

  Cheyenne snorted as her black Vans echoed with a metallic clang up the stairs. “Pretty much the way I expected. The only real thing I learned is that drow use nightstalker blood for instant portal-casting.”

  “Say what?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know how that works, but it’s a thing.”

  Ember returned her attention to the TV. “I’m zoning out again.”

  “Have fun.” The halfling reached the top of the stairs and paused, gazing at Glen’s hastily rewired setup and the boxes of miscellaneous cords, cables, and spare parts against the wall. At least I had time to put together the most important components.

  She stepped toward the desk and powered on her custom tower, then turned on the monitor and sat in the rolling office chair. Her forearms thunked on the plastic armrests as she swiveled back and forth. Cheyenne grimaced. Couldn’t find a decent office chair as part of their show apartment, huh? Last upgrade on the list, I guess.

  Her personal server blinked from its temporary place on a small table against the wall on her left, and as Glen powered up to full working order, Cheyenne glanced through the thin metal rail around the mini-loft to see Ember fully engaged in her zone-out time with the TV.

  It still feels like someone’s watching me. Guess that’s what I get for having an open office anyone can look into.

  That thought made her pause, and she squinted at the wall on her left as if she could see through it and into the apartment across the hall. Matthew Thomas and his cybersecurity firms. That’s not dabbling. But Ember would’ve told me if he’d even asked about snooping around up here.

  The login screen popped up on her monitor, but she pulled her phone from her back pocket instead and initiated a quick Google search on their friendly neighbor.

  “Of course he’s on Wikipedia.”

  “What’s that?” Ember tilted her face up toward the mini-loft but didn’t take her eyes off the TV.

  Cheyenne shook her head. “FYI, Em. If I’m talking when I’m up here, it’s to myself.”

  “Uh-huh.” The fae slid her hands off the armrests of her chair and into her lap but didn’t say anything else.

  She’s not even listening.

  The halfling turned back to the long list of accolades and accomplishments on their neighbor’s Wikipedia page and shook her head. Should’ve checked him out sooner. This guy’s got his fingers in everything. Cybersecurity. Market trading. Prosthetics technology? All he’s missing is advanced weapons technology and military contracts, and I’d say he’s trying to take over the world.

  Scoffing at her phone, she set it beside her keyboard on the flimsy office desk and shook her head. I can look into that later. As long as he stays out of my business, I’ll stay out of his.

  Rolling back her shoulders, she logged into her desktop and went through the process of running her VPN and rerouting her entries several times before diving into the dark web. “Not like he could find me even if he did have something sniffing through the building.”

  “Huh?”

  “Thinking out loud, Em.” Cheyenne scooted closer to the desk and shook her head. Gotta quit that habit, apparently.

  It felt like forever since she’d poked around on the Borderlands forum in the guise of “Third Quarter Projections,” but when she landed on the forum’s main page, a smile crept across her lips. Feels a lot more like home than waking up in my old bed this morning.

  Fortunately, the pinned thread about the missing magical kids and the status of their return home had been pulled from the top of the page. Great. Corian’s on top of running the forum, but he can’t send me a warning text before portaling into my mom’s house.

  The halfling took a quick scroll through the most recently posted topics, looking for anything about new Border portals or creepy shape-shifting monsters on the loose. The last thing she needed right now was to get an earful from Corian about the magical community freaking out over new unregulated portals. The FRoE will lose their shit if this gets out of hand. More than usual, anyway.

  The posted topics were on the same subdued, relatively boring themes as the first time she’d scoured through the forum.

  Cheap Ways to Hex Customers Who Won’t Pay Their Tabs?

  Sale on Used Summoning Candles. Read thread for full details

  Can’t find dragonroot for simple transparency spell. Help.

  Cheyenne sat back in her chair and smirked. No more missing kids and black-market trading. The Borderlands had turned into a magical Craigslist.

  She scrolled down the page and stopped at the one topic title that stood out over all the rest.

  Anyone Heard from Our D-Class Resource Lately?

  “For real?” The halfling glanced down at Ember again, but the fae either hadn’t heard her or decided to ignore Cheyenne’s muttered self-talk.

  I’ve been off the Borderlands grid for less than a week, and people are already calling a halfling out for not making any noise.

  She sh
ook her head and clicked on the thread.

  Fists4Daze: Just thought I’d put this out there in case anyone has seen or heard anything. One of my neighbors mentioned seeing someone in Peridosh who might’ve been our friend. Something about a basket full of ingredients from the potionmaster.

  holdmyGrog911: @Fists4Daze If we’re talking about the same D-class, I’m having a pretty hard time imagining them going all-out for a bunch of spells. We’ve all heard the stories at this point, and spells weren’t part of this friend’s equation.

  CrownUndone21: I’m with @holdmyGrog911. It’s not like we have a registry for all D-class Earthside. But potions and spells don’t fit our friend’s MO.

  hideORdie: Seriously, @Fists4Daze? Things have finally settled down around here, at least where I am, and you’re trying to spread more rumors? What about the kids, man? What about all the black magic that, as far as I’ve heard, hasn’t been seized yet? My nephews just got home after being locked up like a bunch of radan in a freakin’ cult mansion, and it’s gonna take them a long time to put all that shit behind them. If you’re so worried about finding something to worry about, go back home. There’s plenty there for you to get your fell-damn fix for deadly crap. The rest of us came here to get away from it. Just let things be calm for a minute!

  sharpst8kbringzalldavamps: Somebody’s getting touchy ^^

  Fists4Daze: @hideORdie I wasn’t trying to stir anything up. Just curious. If this D-class friend had a hand in fixing any of the craziness in the last few weeks, it’d be good to know they’re still around. Just in case, you know? Looking for a little reassurance.