“No, I’ll blame L’zar.”
He wheezed out a laugh and shook his head. “Everybody does. But his endless search for an heir stops with you, kid. If I were you, I’d think of it that way. No more lost hope for the next heir.”
“I said I don’t wanna hear about it,” Cheyenne snapped. Two birds took off from their nest yards away, startled by her shout.
Persh’al stopped and turned all the way around to look at her. His mohawk fluttered at the tips when he nodded. “Okay, this is me taking the hint.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and shoved her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. The cold, heavy silver wrist cuff sliding against her fingers reminded her of what she was about to do. Head in the game, halfling. Leave the rest of it in the past where it belongs.
They walked for another five minutes until they breached the tree line again and entered the wide clearing of the six-month-old portal ridge. The fists of stone shot toward the sky in a long line of glistening black stone cutting across the clearing and into the woods for at least another mile. The thin wall of light rising from the center of the ridge still shimmered with the soft pink light of Maleshi’s shield.
Persh’al pressed his lips together and nodded. “At least it’s still holding. That’s a plus.”
“So, how are we supposed to get through?”
“Why do you think I’m here?” Maleshi stepped out from behind the closest end of the portal ridge, where Cheyenne had decimated the black columns to send those writhing creatures back to the in-between. The rubble lay untouched, but the nightstalker woman walked a wide path around it anyway, careful not to get too close to even the smaller fragmented chunks.
Persh’al cocked his head. “How long you been waiting for us?”
“Long enough,” Maleshi said, her illusion spell gone to reveal the dark fur around her face and on her tufted ears. Her glowing silver eyes narrowed slightly. “I almost called Corian, but he’d panic and send out a search party.”
The troll snorted.
“So, I spent my time taking a walk up and down this thing.” Maleshi shot the portal ridge a disapproving glance. “Still no clue how it got here, but it feels pretty established to me. I guess six months will do that.”
Cheyenne walked toward the center of the clearing, staring at the ridge and the tall wall of shimmering pink light. “What about all the bodies and the crates of old tech? Any clue what happened to those?”
Persh’al whirled to frown at her, then the halfling gestured toward the front of the ridge. The troll took a look for himself and raised his eyebrows. “Well, shit. I’d forgotten all about those assholes. Now I’d like to know where the hell they are.”
Maleshi chuckled darkly and joined them in the center of the clearing. “I know they didn’t just get up and walk away.”
Persh’al hissed in agreement, and the magicals shared a glance Cheyenne couldn’t quite read. She didn’t like it.
“That’s not funny.”
Both the troll and the nightstalker turned to look at her. A surprised frown flickered across Maleshi’s brows. “You’re still having a hard time swallowing the wartime lump.”
“No, I have a hard time swallowing jokes about the loyalist prisoners who died right here. If it had to happen, fine. But we said—”
“We’d leave it behind us. I hear you.” With a slow, understanding nod, Maleshi turned back toward the portal ridge and stuck her hands on her hips. “And now they’re all gone. Not a scrap left behind. Which is a little weird even for bodies left out in the middle of the woods. Carrion eaters usually leave mementos.”
The halfling folded her arms. “So, those loyalists had people on this side to come for the bodies.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We could say the same thing for all the war-machine contraband, too.”
Persh’al shook his head. “They’d take the crates, sure. Not the bodies. Haven’t known a Crown-bowing scumbag to bury their own Earthside, and I’ve seen plenty of them pass up the opportunity.”
“Then, what?” Cheyenne shrugged. “They just disappeared into thin air?”
Maleshi shook long dark hair the color of her fur out of her face and scanned the length of the portal ridge. “The way things are right now, Cheyenne, it wouldn’t be impossible that the portal swallowed the whole mess all on its own, even with my shield up there. Bodies and boxes.”
“Do portals generally do that?”
“No. Not at all.” The nightstalker shot her a thin smile before stepping forward to approach the ridge. “We’re seeing this for the first time together, aren’t we?”
Persh’al gripped the straps of his pack and started pacing along the line of stone. “Just take it down already.”
Maleshi looked slowly over her shoulder and watched his short, nervous turns. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re itching to get across.”
“Yeah, back across when we’re done.” He shot her an irritated glance before looking at the sky. “And you do know better.”
“I like to think I do.” Maleshi took two more steps toward the portal ridge and raised her hands. The spell she muttered under her breath was a lot shorter than the one she’d cast to put up that shield, which sputtered with pink light, flashed once, and disappeared. Now the shimmering wall of light extending into the sky returned to its original black intensity. She dropped her arms against her sides and stepped back, studying the change. “Always easier to tear something down, isn’t it?”
Cheyenne shook her head. “Building something’s easy if you’re doing it right.”
The nightstalker looked at her sidelong and let out a soft chuckle. “Can’t argue with you there, kid.”
“Oh, boy. Okay.” Persh’al stopped beside Cheyenne, rubbing his hands together. “This is it. We’re going through.”
Cheyenne raised an eyebrow and studied the black columns of stone. “You need me to
