The flames around the entrance flared in blinding brilliance and a wave of smoke barreled toward her, pushing her back across the stone floor even as she dug her feet in. Coughing and gasping for breath, Cheyenne let her rage fuel the drow magic building inside her. Think of the Nimlothar seed. And the dead forest.
Cold pressure coiled around her leg and whipped it out from under her. She crashed to the stone and spun onto her back, glaring up at the Sorren Gán as a coil of black smoke extended to drag her toward it. Purple and black light burst from her body, glowing brighter from behind her golden eyes, and her magic burned through her veins with renewed force. Yeah, that’s more like it.
She fired countless rounds of black energy spheres at the Sorren Gán’s flaming head. It only laughed harder, dragging her with it as it retreated from L’zar. Cheyenne lurched upward and grabbed the coil of black smoke before summoning two more energy spheres, and the smoke burst into black shards that caught fire as they flew through the air.
The Sorren Gán roared in fury, its barbed tail lashing the ground as it stepped toward her and reached out with one of its four hands. Cheyenne raised a shimmering black shield as a roaring column of fire shot toward her. The shield stopped it, but the freezing cold that enveloped her when she expected heat made her pause.
“You will give me what I seek,” the Sorren Gán roared as the column of flames subsided.
Cheyenne lowered the shield, her fingers numb, and reached out with her connection to the earth to find that ledge of resistance. “Fuck you.”
When she pulled with both hands, the stone floor erupted in front of the Sorren Gán. A massive slab of earth broke free and hurtled toward the flaming beast, knocking it back across the cave.
“Cheyenne.”
“And fuck you. Trying to give me up like this.” She stormed toward the cave entrance again, but before she took two steps, black smoke ballooned from every dark crevice of the cave and enveloped her. Cheyenne couldn’t see a thing as she stumbled forward blindly, waving the smoke away and trying to catch a breath as it seared into her lungs and muddled her thoughts.
The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air, sailing out of the black smoke and high above both L’zar and the Sorren Gán, who was staring up at her with blazing eyes of smoke and fire. There was nothing to grab, nothing to wrap her black lashing tendrils around even when she released them and tried to find purchase. The last thing she saw before she plunged into the hissing, raging lake of fire on the other side of the cave was the Sorren Gán’s mouth splitting in a wide grin, spewing flames and smoke. Its laughter echoed through her head as she fell into the lake.
The unbearable cold coursed through her before her drow magic took over. Cheyenne’s body erupted with black fire that rushed across her skin, blocking the cold as she sank into the bright, burning substance. This shit is definitely not water.
Something told her she could take a breath, and when she did, her lungs were free from the burning smoke. Black flames burst from her eyes as she gazed at the terrifying images coalescing around her in the fiery substance. Screaming faces contorted in terror and anguish. Humanoid shapes fighting each other, burning, destroying, wailing.
Cheyenne kicked out at the fire surrounding her, but it didn’t get her anywhere. Finally, her feet touched the bottom of the lake, and she took a tentative step forward. Flames moved around her, propelled by the drow fire racing across her skin. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, she took step after slow step up the incline of the lakebed back toward the shore.
When I get up there, those bastards are in for it.
Chapter Twenty
“The ultimate test, is it not?” The Sorren Gán loomed over L’zar, who sat cross-legged on the cave floor, his head hanging between his slumped shoulders. “Does L’zar Verdys truly hold within his insignificant hands the ability not to show restraint, but to relinquish everything?” Another thunderous laugh rose from the beast’s chest. “You are a slow learner, little drow. Once I break her as I broke you, perhaps your daughter will be capable of withstanding what you cannot.”
L’zar stared at the ground, clenching and unclenching his jaw. If I’m right, she already does.
He leaned away from a tendril of smoke the Sorren Gán extended to caress his face. “You’re so emotional, L’zar, not a trait I envy in any of you. With time, I see that withering away with all your other weaknesses. You will see.”
A burst of flame erupted from the lake on the other side of the cave, and the purple fire fell away as Cheyenne, covered in black drow fire, stormed out of the lake and headed for L’zar and his unlikely master. Purple flames fell like water behind her with each step and burned like scattered pools of ignited oil.
L’zar lifted his head and watched her, wide-eyed, with the ghost of a smile.
The Sorren Gán stepped back, stretching its wings wide again and roaring with laughter. “I seem to have been mistaken, L’zar. Between the two of you, her blood flows much stronger.”
L’zar gazed up at the beast’s face, constantly shifting in the flames, and grinned. “You gave me what I was missing, didn’t you?”
“I gave you what you needed,” the Sorren Gán hissed. “You came to me. You begged me for the cleansing, and I poured everything I had into your soft flesh. Surprise or not, little drow, do not be ungrateful.”
“I am.” Snarling, Cheyenne raised her hands toward the Sorren Gán and unleashed a column of her own flames, hissing and black as they crashed into
