The orc sneered up at her, tied tightly by the black tendrils stretching from her left hand. Then he growled something in a low, guttural language she wouldn’t have understood even if it hadn’t been muffled and thickened by his swollen lip and the crooked tusk.
Whatever he said, it didn’t sound like he would be playing nice.
She dropped into a squat in front of him. “It’s pretty clear you’re not welcome in this family’s home, so why don’t you tell me what you were trying to do?”
Those green-gold eyes within the scarred orcish face studied her, then fell to something on the floor behind the halfling. She briefly glanced back to see that the copper puzzle box spilled out of her backpack when she’d tripped over it.
“That’s not yours,” she snarled.
The orc chuckled, choked in the strangling grip of her black tendril, then spat a thick, dark-red glob onto the carpet between them. Cheyenne jerked away from the nastiness. “It’ll be easy as shit to find you now, mór úcare.”
With a sigh, Cheyenne gritted her teeth and smashed a right hook into the orc’s beefy face with the full force of her drow strength. His head hit the rug, and her tendrils released him before disappearing. The pain ripping through her shoulder after a punch like that brought a sharp growl of pain and frustration from the half-drow, and she fell backward out of her squat to sit on the rug in front of the orc, who apparently knew something about that puzzle box.
“Thank you.” The word was soft and timid, but without any fear now.
The halfling pushed herself to her feet, forcing herself not to grab her shoulder because it burned too much now. Then she turned slowly around to face the troll family staring at her with wide eyes. “Sorry about the mess. I’ll pay for the damages, so just let me know about the plants. And the chair.” She gazed around the small apartment and shrugged. “The walls too, probably.”
“None of that matters,” the female troll said, stepping forward while her husband wrapped his arm around their daughter. “We owe you for what you just did.”
“Okay. Glad it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, at least.”
“That one’s been trying to get more out of us for the last few months.” The male troll nodded at the unconscious lump of orc in his living room. “I stopped paying him when he found me at work, so he came here. To my home, you understand?”
“I do.” Cheyenne rolled her shoulder and shook out her right hand, which only now had started to protest how much power she’d put into socking the orc’s thick jaw. “I hope you don’t mind me stepping in. I didn’t even know there were other magicals in this building.”
“Please don’t apologize.” The female troll gestured toward her family. “We’ve been here only a year. It’s difficult to know exactly how to meet others when none of us is allowed to show who we are once we step out that door. Thank you for stopping to help us.”
A year? That’s what I get for not being friendly with the neighbors.
“Yeah, well, I had some extra time.” Cheyenne glanced down at the unconscious orc and frowned. “Obviously I can’t call 9-1-1 for this. Is there some kinda number or something you can call for someone to come grab this guy?”
The troll couple blinked at her and exchanged confused looks before shaking their heads.
“Right. Of course not. Look, I don’t know how to clean this mess up without dragging an orc through the apartment building. Not the best idea with everyone else heading out at rush hour too, so…”
“Of course. We have something to help you with that.” The male troll nudged his daughter forward to stand beside her mother, then took off down the hall toward one of the bedrooms in the back. Cheyenne was left with mother and daughter in the living room, plus an unconscious orc beside a puddle of bloody phlegm. The child held onto her mother with violet-tinted hands, her scarlet eyes wide and glassy as she took in the half-drow’s appearance. Cheyenne tried to smile. “Sorry if that was a little scary, kiddo.”
The girl shook her head, one long braid of scarlet the color of her eyes swinging back and forth. “I wasn’t scared.”
Cheyenne smirked. “Yeah, you look pretty brave to me.”
“Like you.”
The halfling had to look away, rubbing the back of her neck and letting out a wry chuckle. I just ripped up their entire living room.
“She’s not wrong,” the girl’s mother added. “We haven’t seen… I mean, a drow Earthside is not something most of us can say we’ve seen. And you live right down the hall?”
“Yep.” Cheyenne nodded, and the awkwardness reappeared while mother and daughter troll gazed at the halfling with admiration and gratitude. Then the dad walked swiftly back down the hall toward them.
“Here we go. Had to look through the drawers to find it. Just for special occasions, you know?” He shifted from foot to foot as he approached Cheyenne, weaving self-consciously, and held out a glass vial with a shimmering clear liquid inside. “Has about an hour in there, I think.”
“Um…” The halfling gingerly took the vial, making the troll dad bob his head eagerly, and raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”
“To make that one invisible.” He nodded at the sorry sack of orc on the rug. “So no one will see you with him.”
“Oh. This is a potion.”
The trolls all nodded vigorously. “Just throw it on the body, and it will disappear.”
The mother clasped her violet hands and smiled, showing slightly crooked teeth that didn’t make the expression any less genuine. “We are indebted to you, thanna—”
“Cheyenne, actually.” The halfling wrinkled her nose as soon as she’d given her name.
“Cheyenne.” The male troll placed a hand
