“And a gremlin.” L’zar mocked the other magical’s low bow, wiggling his head in lieu of removing a hat.
The gremlin cackled again and raced away from them, firing green sparks into the sky.
L’zar chuckled. “I like the ones who don’t bother to remember who I am.”
“Because they either love you or hate you, right?”
“Or they make fun of a drow in the lower levels and count themselves lucky to get away with it.” L’zar clasped his hands behind his back and walked swiftly down the avenue. “Have you been to the Goldsmile dens?”
“I’ve seen them.” Cheyenne stared at his profile and slowly shook her head. “If you’re taking me to a drug den in the middle of an O’gúl riot, I’d rather jump into one of those fighting pits.”
“Good. If you were anyone else, I might have given you the option of trying out one of Hangivol’s finer vices. I hear the service has improved since the last time I was here.”
“Yeah, because everyone’s getting wasted on whatever they can to forget about how shitty things are.”
“How shitty things were.” L’zar raised an eyebrow when he glanced down at her. “You’re changing all that now.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Really?” He swept his arm in a wide gesture toward the celebrating streets, every store empty or nearly empty as Hangivol’s citizens forgot their everyday grind to revel in the turning of the new Cycle. “Does this look like nothing to you?”
“This looks like magicals taking a hard-won break from being ground into the dirt by the drow who are supposed to protect them.”
“And you are changing all that.” L’zar kept moving, dipping his head and smiling at the magicals who crossed their paths.
A hunched ogre wearing more scars than clothing stepped out a doorway in the shadows between the metal buildings and held out a sealed flask. He wiggled it so they’d hear the liquid sloshing and leered at them. “Two drow beyond the Heartland, eh? Either of you care for a little augur spice?”
“Ooh. Tempting.” L’zar danced away from the ogre with a little bow, then peered into the darkened doorway behind the magical. “You open for business?”
“Making the most of this fortnight before we see how the Cycle turns.” The ogre chuckled darkly. “You’re welcome to come in and look around.”
“Hmm.” L’zar bit his lip, paused, then shook his head. “Another time, perhaps. I know where to find you.”
“You always do.” The ogre bowed at the waist and disappeared into the darkened doorway again.
Cheyenne watched until even his bright yellow eyes disappeared, then hurried to catch up with her father. “I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say he was hawking illegal stuff.”
“That wasn’t hawking, Cheyenne. That was astutely seizing a business opportunity.” L’zar said, “He’s a darkseller. Deals in stolen items.”
“Oh, so you’d be a regular customer, then.”
“Stolen organic items.”
She snorted. “What, like nightstalker blood and gremlin toes? Maybe skaxen whiskers just for fun?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Skaxen whiskers are useless.”
“You’re serious.”
They veered around three brawling trolls on the side of the street, and L’zar looked over his shoulder to watch them a little longer before facing forward again. “Of course I’m serious. You hit the other two right on the head, though.”
Gross. Cheyenne grimaced and tried not to think about a jar of severed yellow toes being rattled around in the ogre’s hand instead of the flask.
L’zar stopped abruptly, leaned back, and peered into another dark alley between buildings. “Here we are.”
He didn’t wait for her to realize he’d doubled back, and Cheyenne spun to look for him before catching a fleeting glance of his white hair disappearing. Rolling her eyes, she hurried after him. “You gotta give me a heads up before you disappear into dark spaces.”
“You won’t need a heads up if you keep up.” L’zar turned another corner, winding his way through the maze of dark alleys.
Gritting her teeth, Cheyenne jogged to catch up with him and had to keep jogging so she wouldn’t lose him after every turn. How can he be moving this fast and walking normally at the same time?
Her activator pulled up fewer and fewer data streams from within the metal walls as they moved deeper into the lower levels. Then L’zar stopped beside a wall on their right and reached out to press his hand against it. Metal sections peeled away beneath his touch, clinking and folding together like a slinky made of square pieces before a doorway revealed another covered dark passage beyond.
Cheyenne looked at the thin lines of gray light filtering through the tops of the buildings around them. “We couldn’t have walked here from the outside?”
“What, you don’t enjoy navigating a maze?” L’zar gestured toward the opening. “You get points for a keen sense of direction, Cheyenne, but this does not lead back to the outer limits.”
She eyed the dark passage and lifted her chin. “Where does it lead?”
“I’m about to show you, aren’t I? Hurry up. The wall won’t stay open much longer.” He stepped into the passage, and the metal pieces started to unfold and close up the hole.
Cheyenne leaped forward and squeezed through the moving pieces with half a second to spare before the wall sealed once more. A ball of pale violet flames burst to life in L’zar’s hand to light the way for them as they continued down another series of twisting, turning corridors. Shadows danced across the walls, and Cheyenne slid her hand along them when she realized the activator wasn’t picking up anything here. Feels like stone.
“No tech in the walls down here, huh?”
“No magicals, either.” L’zar lifted his hand to illuminate the walls, peering closely at one before continuing. “No one wants to go where we’re going.”
“Oh, wonderful.”
He chuckled. “Why waste technology on a place you know no one’s going to visit? Of course, there’s not much on the outside stopping others from getting in.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Right. Just what’s on the inside that makes them wanna stay out. Care to enlighten me about
