“Whatever you do, don’t look forward to it.” L’zar snorted and headed away from the pit.
“All right. Whoever’s with us, get ready to move out. We’re leaving now.” Corian shot Cheyenne a wary glance, then nodded and headed after L’zar.
“What’s a Sorren Gán?” Ember muttered.
“I’m the last person to ask about that, Em.”
“Sakrit.” Maleshi approached the orc and clasped his forearm. “On General Hi’et’s orders, get these pits closed up for the time being. It hurts to say it as much as it hurts to hear, but we can’t risk overloading the city with power until we’ve cleared out the worst of it.”
“They’ll understand. We had a good few hours with the pits for the first time in centuries. They can wait a little longer if it means they can use them the way they were meant to be used. I’ll take care of it.”
“I know.” Maleshi clapped a hand on his shoulder and nodded before joining the rest of their party following L’zar.
Cheyenne hurried after her father and Corian. “Hey, wait a minute.”
Corian looked over his shoulder at her and Ember, who was floating closely behind. L’zar showed no sign that he’d heard her.
“We talked about the whole ‘no more secrets’ thing, so who’s gonna tell me where we’re going and what the hell a Sorren Gán is?”
L’zar snarled. “I’m so sick of hearing that name!”
“At least tell me why I have to go. I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but nobody even asked me.”
Corian slowed to fall in beside her. “You and L’zar are the only ones it will listen to.”
“Why? Because we’re royalty?”
In front of them, L’zar snorted. “No. Not even close.” He stepped aside and let them pass, fuming at the ground and refusing to meet his daughter’s gaze.
Corian put a hand on Cheyenne’s back and urged her to keep moving.
“What the hell’s wrong with him?”
“We might have a chance to talk about it on the way there, kid. Just leave it alone for now. When L’zar’s ready to stop throwing a fit about it, he’ll fill you in.”
* * *
The group of rebels made their way underground to the Four-Pointed Star’s hidden bunker. The place had suffered a little damage from the magical earthquake, but it wasn’t enough to make it dangerous. Cheyenne grabbed her pack from where she’d left it beside the wall that morning and stared at the fallen chunks of stone scattered across the huge metal table. “One more downside to not having any integrated tech down here, huh? Can’t just patch the holes in the wall with a bunch of smart metal.”
Maleshi moved her fingers in a quick spell. The stone chunks on the table and scattered around the main chamber illuminated with silver light and whisked toward the opposite side of the room, where they fell in a neat heap against the wall. “It’s an easy enough fix.”
Ember grabbed her own backpack and slung it over her shoulders. “I would’ve said you could use your fancy earth magic and stick it all back up where it goes.”
Cheyenne shot her friend a brief smile and shook her head. “I can rip the ground apart and shove it back together again, Em. Not sure it’s refined enough for filling holes in the ceiling.”
Maleshi, Corian, L’zar, Byrd, and Lumil quickly packed and got ready to head out. A handful of the other rebels darted between them, dispersing prewrapped packages and small metal boxes. A grinning goblin handed these to Cheyenne and Ember too. Cheyenne frowned at the box. “What’s this?”
“Drow eat like everyone else, don’t they?” Chuckling, the goblin hurried away to take care of some other preparation.
When the journeying party had gotten everything together, Corian pointed at a large arch on the far right side of the chamber. “We’ll take the transport shuttle out to Ki’uali. That’s the farthest point.”
“No objection to that.” Maleshi hefted a pack onto her shoulders and nodded at Cheyenne. “Let’s move out.”
Foltr cracked his cane against the floor, the sound amplified by a spell to get everyone’s attention, which it did. L’zar turned to shoot the old raug an irritated glance. “What?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Foltr,” Corian started, “this isn’t—”
“We’re heading a lot closer to the dens than most parties ever go, and I’ve been where we’re going.”
L’zar snarled. “We both have, Grandfather. At least you get to stand there and watch.” The drow spun back toward the arch and disappeared into the corridor beyond.
Foltr smacked his wrinkled lips and hobbled after him, his cane clicking on the stone. “Don’t let this place fall to ruin while we’re gone.”
“Depends on your definition of ruin, old one!” a rebel shouted. A handful of others laughed, and the aged raug waved them away before joining the rest of their party and entering the tunnel.
Ember leaned toward Cheyenne in the semi-dark tunnel echoing with over half a dozen pairs of footsteps. “So, we’re taking a tunnel?”
“To a transport station, I guess. Like a subway.”
“Oh.” Ember frowned. “You’d think they would’ve come up with a more sophisticated way to get places on this side, right?”
“I said, like a subway. Trust me, it’s sophisticated enough.”
“L’zar,” Corian called after the pissed-off drow leading the way.
“Say another word, and I’ll bring this tunnel down on top of us.”
Corian cleared his throat before muttering, “And we press on.”
Cheyenne watched the nightstalker shake his head, and those in the tunnel fell into a tense silence, punctured only by their quickening footsteps. They’re all putting up with massive drow mood swings ‘cause that’s what they’ve been doing forever anyway. Guess L’zar’s got more to teach me than I thought, like how not to be that drow throwing tantrums.
Ember chuckled softly and whispered, “Little tense in here.”
The halfling snorted. “Yeah. This is what it’s like to be around me when I’m pissed all the time, isn’t it?”
Ember shrugged. “At least we know who you get it from.”
“Fair
