Cheyenne looked at Maleshi, hoping the general would give her something more than that, but the nightstalker woman remained silent, facing straight ahead like she had her marching orders. This isn’t about them wanting to keep secrets from me. No, they’re doing this ‘cause they have no idea how L’zar’s got that kinda grip on this place. They’re blindly following the crazy drow.
Ember floated faster to catch up with the group, falling in line on Lumil’s left. “So, that’s it, then? Just a quick fight that wasn’t even hard, and now we have an open path?”
“Sure is what it looks like, huh?” Lumil shook her head. “That’s what I call anticlimactic.”
“Oh, please.” Byrd hissed in irritation. “It’s okay for you to say. Is that it?”
“I never said you couldn’t say it. I was just commenting. Endaru’s balls, goblin. Did your parents not give you enough battle clubs growing up? I swear, it’s like you have this constant need for conflict.”
Corian’s four-inch claws extended in a flash, and the next second, Lumil found herself swallowing against the points of the nightstalker’s weapons held against her throat. “Last warning. Keep up the bickering like a couple of suckling pups, and I’ll finish what that noose started in Karu Ga’abil. Do we understand each other?”
Lumil glared at the nightstalker, who was at the end of his patience. Beside her, Ember stared at the huge glinting claws poking against the goblin woman’s green flesh.
“We’re good, nightstalker,” Lumil muttered, her upper lip twitching in a sneer. “Takes two to tango, as they say. Don’t tell me you’re lettin’ Byrd off the hook.”
Corian’s silver eyes flicked toward Byrd, who also stared at the silver claws against Lumil’s throat. The nightstalker retracted his claws with a metallic ring. “I was talking to both of you. You just happened to be behind me.”
He turned and walked swiftly to close the distance L’zar had gained on them, oblivious to the tension rising among his little band of rebels. Maleshi shook her head and chuckled.
The goblins, Cheyenne, and Ember followed close behind. Lumil tapped her throat, then jerked the collar of her leather jacket up around her neck. “Gonna take a lot more than manicured nails to get through this neck.”
“You passed the deathflame once already, sister.” Byrd clapped the goblin woman on the back. “He ain’t gonna throw you into the fire.”
“Yeah, I know. He’s too much of a coward to try.”
Cheyenne met Ember’s gaze and nodded for her friend to join her behind the aloof nightstalkers. Ember looked at the goblins over her shoulder and whispered, “Are they gonna try to get him back for that? That will be a serious problem if we’re all supposed to be on the same side.”
“No, they’re fine.” The halfling frowned at the back of Corian’s tufted ears. “That was his version of the way those two nag each other all the time.”
“Huh.” Ember swallowed and raised her eyebrows. “Nightstalker-intense all around, huh?”
“That’s pretty much how they are.”
“Shit. Good thing they’re on our side.”
Cheyenne cast her friend a sidelong glance. “Mostly, yeah.”
Chapter Eighty-Nine
There’s no way to tell how long we’ve been in here. Cheyenne gritted her teeth and trudged behind the nightstalkers following L’zar. No one had said a word for what felt like a long time because there wasn’t much else left to say. Except for how the hell L’zar can just walk around like he’s taking a stroll through the park.
Corian lifted his chin and peered around the drow leading them forward. “There. See it?”
Maleshi tilted her head. “Hmm. Moment of truth.”
“Truth about what?” Ember muttered.
“Where in all the corners of the fell-damn Gape this portal opens on the other side.” Corian let out a slow breath and nodded. “We’re about to find out.”
L’zar turned toward the rest of the group as they approached the door-sized rectangle of light floating freely within the in-between. A small, thoughtful frown creased his brows as he gestured toward the door. “Would anyone care to hazard a guess about this one?”
“You kinda put on a lid on that before we could start.” Byrd scratched his head. “I’m not gonna hazard anything I can’t see.”
“Hmm.” L’zar tilted his head, then turned slowly back toward the exit doorway. “Indeed.”
“Okay, there’s something seriously wrong with that drow,” Ember muttered.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” Cheyenne gazed around them and caught flickering shadows moving through the smoke. “We’re still being watched, too.”
“Oh, come on. I didn’t need to hear that.”
“Something tells me we’re not having a repeat mock battle anytime soon.”
L’zar stopped in front of the doorway and stared at it, tapping one long slate-gray finger on his pursed lips. “Corian, if I could—”
“I know.” The nightstalker gave L’zar’s back a not-so-gentle thump of encouragement before stepping past him to study the doorway. “We’ll work with what we’ve got when we get there.”
“Now I wish I’d paid more attention to the crone at Aelmhalk.” Maleshi cocked her head. “She specialized in doorways. Though at the time, if anyone had told me I’d make the crossing twice in my life, I’d have ripped their heart out.”
“Hmm. A refreshing reminder.” Corian slowly reached toward the doorway.
The outline of the shimmering rectangle burst into black fire, the flames flickering in suspended animation as if moving through sludge instead of what passed for air in this realm. L’zar stared at the ground between his feet and the doorway. “Interesting.”
“In more ways than one.” Corian nodded. “I’ll take point on this one. Unless, of course, General Hi’et would like to lead her return to the Motherland?”
“It’s hardly
