“And General Hi’et’s return to the Glinting Eye!” someone shouted from the back.
The nightstalker woman pointed in the direction of the cry. “So I’ve been told.”
Laughter cut through the snarls and roaring cheers.
“Who’s gonna kick this off with me, huh?” Maleshi spread her arms and turned in a slow circle, her silver eyes glinting as she grinned like a lunatic. “Who’s stupid enough to take me on in the first open fighting pit since K’laht the Everbright fell?”
Magicals shoved each other into volunteering, laughing and stomping on the metal floor beneath them.
Corian stepped forward, rolling up his shirtsleeves to reveal the tawny fur covering both arms. The general straightened and lowered her arms when she saw him, her eyes wide with amusement. Corian pressed a hand to his chest and dipped his head. “By your leave, General.”
“Shit.” Cheyenne stared at them, waiting for Maleshi to unleash her pent-up wrath at the other nightstalker, given the jaded history between them.
“What do you think?” Maleshi called to the crowd. “Is Corian Vedi’im a worthy sacrifice today?”
The crowd roared with laughter and approval, stomping and howling even louder now.
“Get the nightstalkers in the fucking pit!” someone shouted.
“Yes.” Maleshi held Corian’s gaze and nodded toward the gaping hole beside them. “Into the pit, vae shra’ni.”
Corian bowed and spun to head for the opposite side of the square while Maleshi did the same. He caught Cheyenne’s gaze at the last moment and winked.
Ember leaned toward the halfling, her mouth open in surprise. “What’s happening?”
“They’re gonna fight each other.” Cheyenne couldn’t help a sharp laugh of disbelief. “Like I said. Nightstalkers.”
Chapter Ten
By the time Maleshi Hi’et and Corian Vedi’im dropped into the fighting pit, the crowd of Hangivol’s lower-level citizens had quadrupled. Magicals spilled across Vedrosha, the flat, open area at least the size of a football field. Many climbed onto the surrounding rooftops for a better view. Those who could fly or levitate did so, and the others got creative with stacking crates or unleashing their tech into the air to view the fight for them.
Cheyenne scanned the crowd, her activator highlighting the different tech pieces worn and operated by the O’gúleesh of Hangivol. Most of them were basic models compared to hers. Makes sense. Elarit said she modified this one herself.
A swarm of floating metal orbs headed toward Vedrosha from the inner circles of the city. Cheyenne watched them carefully, but the other magicals either didn’t notice or weren’t that concerned. When the halfling’s activator picked up the data stream from the flying orbs, though, it made sense.
These aren’t tech-dark like the Crown’s police spheres.
With a quick flick of her finger to select the activator’s offered command, Cheyenne’s sight magnified the data streams flowing through the orbs as the blinking blue and yellow lights in the metal spheres rotated in multiple directions, capturing everything down here outside the O’gúl fighting pits.
So the fancy magicals in Upper Tech want to be part of this without leaving their shining upper-class streets. Might be as united as these guys are gonna get today.
The self-appointed drummers scattered throughout the crowd and produced deep, booming echoes from every direction around the open pit. Cheyenne stared down into the drop as Maleshi and Corian circled each other, grinning, and the gathered magicals erupted in a crazed chant punctured by snarls and bellows, feet stomping in rhythm with the drums.
The general spread her arms and extended glinting silver four-inch claws from all ten fingers. “I’m glad it’s you, vae shra’ni.”
Corian crouched and extended his own claws, his silver eyes burning into hers. “I’ve been waiting a very long time for this.”
“To get your ass kicked and finally settle everything between us? Oh, yeah. I know.”
Cheyenne shoved her hands into her pockets to hide her clenched fists, despite the thousands of spectators who were coming undone in their excitement in much more obvious ways than clenched fists.
“Hey, you okay?” Ember leaned toward the halfling with a concerned frown.
“Not really.” Cheyenne couldn’t take her eyes off the nightstalkers circling each other in the pit. “You’ve seen a nightstalker fight before, right?”
“Briefly, yeah. I mean, I was a little busy trying not to get killed.” Ember’s chuckle stopped short when she realized how tense Cheyenne was. “From what I’ve seen, this’ll be good.”
Cheyenne gritted her teeth. “They’re gonna kill each other.”
“No way. This is all just for fun.” Ember glanced at the hissing, growling, stomping spectators and cocked her head. “I think.”
The pounding drumbeats had become such a part of the background out here in Vedrosha that when the drummers stopped all at once, it was startlingly silent.
The nightstalkers took their cue and began the fight. Silver flashes erupted from within the pit as Maleshi and Corian slipped into enhanced speed and raced toward each other, to the crowd’s rising cries of approval. Cheyenne couldn’t help herself. She slipped into drow speed to watch the nightstalkers fight so she could follow it.
Maleshi’s swiping claws came down toward Corian’s face, and he raised his own to block her attack, resulting in a shower of sparks when their natural weapons collided. Grinning, the general disengaged and sent a swift kick with the sole of her boot into Corian’s chest. He flew backward across the pit and out of enhanced speed, his back slamming against the metal wall as sprays of sand burst on either side of him and hung suspended in the air. Then Maleshi dropped into regular speed, and Cheyenne was the only one watching a fight that hadn’t yet continued.
This is ridiculous.
She fell into regular time again, and the roar of the crowd crashed back in. Corian finished thudding against the far wall as the sand fell back to the bottom of the pit and the flash of silver nightstalker light faded. He dropped into a crouch, the tips of his blade-like claws pressing gently into the sand as he stared up at Maleshi and chuckled.
The general spread her arms and gazed at the crowd with battle fire
