The escaped prisoner looked around the restaurant before his gaze settled on the soda machine. “I called it the Undoing, and from what I hear, it has been quite effective.” He took off to refill his drink.
Ember slumped in her seat and rolled her eyes. “How hard is it to get a real answer out of that guy?”
Cheyenne took a long sip of her bottled water and looked at the nightstalkers sitting across from her. “Why do both of you look like you’re hiding something?”
Maleshi raised an eyebrow and stared after Venga. She slowly slipped a fry into her mouth and shrugged. “He calls it the Undoing.”
L’zar chuckled. “And we’ve been calling it the blight. Honestly, I prefer his name for it.”
Cheyenne choked on her next sip of water and fought not to spray it all over the table and the nightstalkers sitting across from her. Swallowing quickly, she coughed and leaned over the table to whisper harshly, “Are you fucking serious?”
Corian looked at Maleshi, and the general shrugged before stuffing her face with another huge bite of food.
Ember bowed her head and ran her fingers slowly over her eyebrows. “Are you saying we’re sitting here eating bacon cheeseburgers with the mad death-magic scientist who engineered the blight?”
“Death-magic scientist.” L’zar chuckled as he pointed at the fae with a floppy French fry. “An accurate and entertaining description.”
Cheyenne dropped the rest of her burger and clenched her eyes shut. “When we agreed to break this guy out of prison, L’zar, it was under the assumption that Venga would help us against Ba’rael. Because that’s all you told us, not that we’d be unleashing the mastermind behind the shit that’s killing your world and trying to slip into this one.”
L’zar chomped on the fry and dusted off his fingers. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive, Cheyenne.”
“In what universe do you think I’m stupid enough to believe that?”
“Hmm.” The drow thief shrugged. “All of them?”
“We should take him back.” Ember looked at the nightstalkers and nodded. “Just drop him off in front Chateau D’rahl and let them handle him.”
Maleshi shook her head. “I don’t think that’s an option at this point, Ember.”
“Why not?” The fae gestured at Venga, who was still standing in front of the soda machines. He’d already downed another cup of root beer and was now filling it for the third time. “I mean, forget the necromancer part, whatever the hell that means. He made the fucking blight. He has to be insane.”
“They say there’s a fine line between insanity and genius,” L’zar replied. “I love that line. It applies to so many facets of—”
“No one asked the nutjob’s opinion on insanity, okay?” Ember raised a hand, turning her head to L’zar but not looking him in the eye.
Corian chuckled. Maleshi kept eating her burger. Byrd’s mouth dropped open in the middle of chewing up more stolen fries. On the other side of him, Persh’al shook his head and flipped through something in his cell phone.
Ember shot L’zar a quick glance. “No offense.”
He raised an eyebrow at Cheyenne and laughed softly. “If I were less aware of the finer nuances here, Ember, I most likely wouldn’t believe you.”
Cheyenne closed her eyes and couldn’t hide a small smile. About time someone else stood up to his bullshit. I’m glad it’s her.
“Still.” The fae cleared her throat. “I can’t see a single good thing about bringing Venga back to Ambar’ogúl with us. What’s to keep him from turning on us the minute Ba’rael snaps her fingers?”
“Well, first of all, I’m not a dog.”
Ember jumped and spun in her chair. Venga gazed down at her with his straw between his lips and gulped down more root beer.
“You do not see the full scope of what was done, so I’ll tell you.” Venga walked between the tables and returned to his seat. The other magicals went back to eating their meals, anticipating the necromancer’s story. Ember swallowed and stiffly lowered her hands into her lap. After another long drink, Venga finally put down his cup and let out a contented sigh. “Yes, I crafted the Undoing. Yes, it has had far more drastic effects than I anticipated.”
“It’s consuming Ambar’ogúl,” Cheyenne muttered. “That’s pretty drastic.”
“It was not meant to go so far.” Venga folded his arms. “Once my work was finished, once I’d convinced Ba’rael of the Undoing’s efficacy, she sent me here to ‘prepare our sister world for the dawning of a new age,’ as she put it.”
Ember snorted. “Said every genocidal dictator ever.”
“I made the crossing,” Venga continued. “I convened with the Bull’s Head, already very much established on this side. And I fulfilled my purpose here in certain instruction of those loyal to the Crown.”
Cheyenne stared. “You’re the one who brought all that black magic shit across the Border.”
“If you mean knowledge of how to craft and utilize it, Aranél, then yes. The first of it, at least.”
“Okay, now I’m with Ember on this one.”
L’zar shushed her. “Let him finish.”
Venga blinked. “If they do not wish to hear the rest of it—”
“No, no. Please.” Cheyenne gestured for him to continue before folding her arms. “You’re building a really strong case for yourself.”
Maleshi snorted and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Venga gazed at the halfling. “I did what I was ordered to do in this world, and when that was finished, the Bull’s Head did what they were ordered to do. They turned against me, used the knowledge I’d shared with them to siphon my magic into the endowments, and left me at a scene of their destruction to be picked up by the FRoE.”
Cheyenne blinked at him. “They framed you.”
“And I spent five years in that fell-damn tank because of it.”
“Damn.” Byrd rubbed his bald head. “That’s some next-level betrayal shit right there.”
“That is what Ba’rael the Spider does to those with powers greater than her own.” Venga stuck his straw in his mouth and guzzled down more root beer as he gazed around the tables
