L’zar’s eyes widened before narrowing into glowing slits, and he tilted his head. “Does that part stand out for you above all the others, then?”
“I’ve heard it before. Yes.”
“Mm. So have I.” The drow pressed the side of his head against the closest iron bar and blinked slowly. “Try meditating on it. I hear meditation has a long list of benefits.”
“That’s your advice?” Cheyenne’s fists clenched against her folded arms. It means something. Just keep going.
“That’s my advice. How does it speed things up for you? You won’t find out until you try. But do try, yeah?” His gaze traveled up and down the bars closest to his face. “I’m anxious to hear what happens when you do. And tell our mutual friend to show you the Don’adurr Thread. It’s an effective spell, and a little extra support never hurt anyone.”
“I’ll tell him. Thank you.”
L’zar’s next slow, lazy chuckle was quieter. “Don’t thank me just yet, Cheyenne. There’s much between the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end. Just like this conversation, hmm?”
The halfling swallowed. That one went over my head. “Maybe.”
“Now, what else did you come here to ask?”
Cheyenne’s skin crawled with the anger that question brought up. She automatically drew herself back together to push down the inevitably rising heat of her drow magic, but it wasn’t there. The pendant suddenly felt incredibly heavy hanging around her neck. “A bunch of kids went missing yesterday.”
“Right.” L’zar pulled back away from the bars, and his maniacal interest died out. Purple-gray nostrils flared a little. “I heard about that. Somebody’s overstepping their bounds.”
“Do you know who it is?”
With a deep breath through his nose, the drow glanced past Cheyenne at the security booth spanning around the narrow hall behind her. “Before we get into that, satisfy one small, niggling bit of curiosity for me.”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
“Did Carson step into the observation booth with you today?”
Cheyenne shook her head. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
L’zar tsked and nodded, leaning farther to the side to get a better view of the booth. “You know, I’d forgotten about the little games he likes to play. Frustrating, isn’t it? How are you supposed to trust a man who won’t give you his name?”
The halfling’s eyes widened. He’s talking about Sir. “No, he’s somewhere else.”
“Why am I not surprised?” With another deep sigh, L’zar met his daughter’s gaze again and cocked his head. “The people you’re looking for are the same people who’ve been looking for you, Cheyenne. I suppose it’s time for you to find each other, isn’t it?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
A jolt of excitement shot through the halfling. Keep going. Carefully. “How do I find them?”
“Well, I’m assuming you’ve already seen them once or twice. That’s why you’re so upset by this whole thing, isn’t it? You know you have the answer, but it keeps slipping away, doesn’t it?” L’zar asked, wiggling his long fingers between the bars.
How do I already know? I have no idea where to start. Cheyenne forced herself not to look away from the drow prisoner, growing more irritated by the second. “I have a feeling you’re about to tell me how to catch it.”
Chuckling, L’zar sniffed the air, then stepped away from the bars and clasped his hands behind his back. “You know, it’s incredibly hard to completely wash out the smell of ogre blood and fellwine.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“I bet you’ve noticed other things, haven’t you? Things those humans in helmets couldn’t possibly understand. Maybe even the other magicals they use to run their little errands for them.”
Cheyenne wrinkled her nose. Those are clues. Read between the lines, just like Mom taught you. “All of them?”
“Listen to you, searching through so many dark, narrow places. I like it.” L’zar winked, and a chill ran up the halfling’s spine. “Yes, Cheyenne. I’d go so far as to say all of them are unaware of the things you see, the strangeness. Many things have been brought together at certain points between this world and the other I no longer call home, like you. Even then, it’s inevitable the key points get lost in translation.”
Cheyenne shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and stalked along the outside of the bars. L’zar watched her intently, his small smile returning. Everything he just said means something. He knows I was at that tavern in Peridosh, or at least a tavern. That’s one of those places where both worlds meet, just like the reservations.
She spun to pace back along the bars and looked at her father. L’zar tilted his head toward the other shoulder and narrowed his eyes. “Keep going. You’re almost there.”
“Can you read my mind?”
He snickered. “Not at all. I can see it.” The drow bit down on the end of his dark tongue and grinned again before the smile faded.
“That’s not helping.” She stared at the stone again and kept moving across the floor. What did I notice?
“Do most people know who you are, Cheyenne? I don’t mean who your parents are, I mean you.”
“Not most people, no.” She kept pacing.
“Why not? Don’t you think they’d approve?”
The halfling jerked and froze. “Say that again.”
“There it is.” L’zar’s golden eyes burned from behind the bars, and he leaned toward her like he was about to pounce. “I see it right there before it comes crawling out. So close you could almost…”
The drow’s fist came down on the closest iron bar, which filled the chamber with a loud, metallic echo. Cheyenne’s eyes darted toward that bar of the cell, and L’zar hit it again. He kept pounding at it in a slow, steady rhythm, the sound of fist on metal ringing through the wide chamber of the Dungeon until it drowned out the sound of the halfling’s breath in her ears.
The drow prisoner raised his eyebrows and kept pounding with a tiny, knowing smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
Like the other magicals at that tavern. And at Rez 38. What did I notice?
“Someone’s been
