Cheyenne blinked. “I have no idea how to tell if a prophecy is good.”
The old crone wheezed with laughter again and shook her head. “Not that decision, hinya. The blood of one will do many things, yes? You must choose the one.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ur’syth cocked her head abnormally far toward her shoulder and grinned. “Ask your father to help you with that one, eh? He’s had thousands of years to practice the art.”
A thunderous, bellowing explosion rose from the center of the city. All three of them saw a shimmering mushroom cloud of strobing colors peeking above the highest wall of the courtyard. “What was that?”
L’zar slowly lowered his hand to the stone floor to push himself to his feet. “I don’t know.”
The ground bucked beneath them without warning, making the trees creak even louder and the hanging plants swing violently from their ropes.
The muted gray sky beneath Hangivol’s domed shield flashed with brilliant colors one right after the next, and another explosion wracked the center of the city. Ur’syth’s glass vials and jars toppled over onto the stone and rolled in every direction. The ground shook so violently that the second tree ripped half its roots from the ground and lurched forward, suspended sideways when the rest of its root system held fast however many feet below the surface.
Ur’syth shrieked at the sky. Cheyenne looked again and only saw colors. What’s making her freak out?
The old Oracle convulsed where she sat, her pointed teeth chattering and her wrinkled hands flapping away from her lap over and over as if she tried to shoo away a cat. Streaks of black light pulsed from her fingers.
Cheyenne and L’zar leaped to their feet to avoid being blasted by the Oracle’s magical fit. “Seriously, L’zar, what’s going on?”
“I said, I don’t know. Can’t tell you any more than that.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
Ur’syth trembled on the stone floor, her arms jerking in awkward directions. A thick choking sound burst from her mouth.
“We can at least do something to help her!”
“If you want to get close to whatever magic she’s letting off right now, Cheyenne, be my guest.” L’zar staggered sideways across the trembling stone floor and caught himself with a hand on the sideways-leaning tree. Roots snapped with an earsplitting crunch, and the tree fell the rest of the way to the ground.
“Ur’syth?” Cheyenne shouted over the next round of rumbling explosions from the city center. “Can you hear me?”
The ancient Oracle shrieked again, whipped both hands out to either side in a moment of lucidity, and disappeared.
“What?”
“Come on.” L’zar snatched her wrist and dragged her across the courtyard, ducking beneath the rocking potted plants and the dangling vines now lashing out toward the fleeing drow.
“You guys get a lot of earthquakes on this side?” Cheyenne shouted.
He pulled her into the stone passage leading to Ur’syth’s courtyard and finally released her wrist as she hurried after him. “Not really.”
“How about new portals opening up when and where you least expect them?”
L’zar snorted. “This isn’t a new portal, Cheyenne. This is the city.”
“Really? ‘Cause I’ve been around twice when those things opened up Earthside, and it looks and feels exactly like this.”
“Those new portals are overflow. The real problem’s right here. Stop talking and move faster.”
Gritting her teeth, Cheyenne stumbled when the tunnel bucked and shifted. She and L’zar caught themselves against opposite walls and pushed into a run. A minute later, L’zar passed his hand over an indiscriminate metal wall, which vanished instantly and led them right into the main avenue of Hangivol’s lowest level.
The halfling gazed at the open area and glanced back once before the wall shimmered into place again. Did he take a shortcut?
L’zar stopped in the center of the avenue, his golden eyes wide as he craned his neck to take in the bursting, churning magic spilling into the sky from the center of the city. He ran a hand over his mouth and took a deep breath.
“So, who’s blowing up the Heart?” Cheyenne stopped beside him. Screams echoed down the avenue from far away, growing louder as the magicals on the outskirts of the city realized what was happening.
“Who do you think?”
“The Crown wouldn’t blow up her own—”
“Not on purpose, Cheyenne. That doesn’t make her any less of a fell-damn idiot. Let’s go.” He reached for her arm again, but she leaped out of the way.
“We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing to be done!” he snarled and pointed at the dome. “This place is about to rip itself apart.”
A splintering crack rent the air, followed by another massive tremble in the ground beneath them. Then a bright line of multicolored light raced down the center of the outer level’s main avenue, zigzagging in a jagged fissure and spewing magical light into the air.
Cheyenne’s activator was working overtime to analyze everything that was happening within and below the city. It responded to each of her thoughts as if she were processing it all, and she pointed at one of many cracks splintering outward across the ground from the Heart of Hangivol. “We can fix this.”
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” She took off down the avenue, darting away from the magical blasts shooting up from the crack in the ground and trying to keep her balance as the entire city shuddered in an endless quake.
“Cheyenne!” L’zar roared. “Get back here!”
She flipped him the bird without stopping and disappeared around the bend in the street.
With a snarl, L’zar whirled toward the outer edge of the city. A mile away, the shouts and screams of the O’gúleesh at the fighting pits rose above the constant rumble beneath the streets. We could’ve been out of here by now and left this whole thing behind us.
Hissing, he turned back and took off after his daughter. You’re gonna get us both killed, Cheyenne. And you won’t be able to climb out from
