“You aren’t.” Cheyenne spun and stormed across the main room toward the open balcony.
Something thudded against the wall of the building, making the floor beneath her tremble. Deep raug voices echoed around the courtyard, roaring with renewed excitement and the contagious battle rage they shared in Hirúl Breach.
“Show him, Barlek.”
“Smash his head in!”
“Blood and honor, brother!”
Cheyenne slammed both hands on the balcony rail and peered over the edge as the only voice she recognized came from below.
“You think you can handle this?” L’zar spread his arms and grinned, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth as he swayed on the stone floor of the courtyard. “I’ve eaten radan hooves that fought back better than that. How long have you been hiding here, wondering who cut off your balls?”
“Jesus Christ,” Cheyenne muttered. “Why am I not surprised?”
Chapter Thirty
The raug L’zar had hurled against the wall of the building bellowed and charged the drow thief. L’zar staggered back but somehow wasn’t fast enough to avoid a massive hard gray head ramming into his chest. The drow flew across the courtyard and toppled into two other raugs who were cheering their clansman on as another half-dozen of the giant gray magicals snarled their approval.
One raug snatched the front of L’zar’s shirt in a meaty fist, red claws scraping the drow’s slate-gray flesh, and sneered in his face. “Not so big now, are you?”
Blinking heavy eyelids, L’zar tried to steady his wobbling head and meet the leering raug’s burning gaze. “Bigger than you where it counts, I imagine.”
The second raug he’d stumbled into swung a fist into the drow’s jaw. L’zar’s head whipped to the side, the rest of him held in place by the other raug’s fistful of his tunic, and dark blood splattered on the stone floor.
L’zar snickered. “You call that a hit?”
The raug holding him shoved the drow away and sent his fist crashing into the other side of L’zar’s face. The drow spun beneath the blow, then whirled back toward his attacker with wide, furiously glowing golden eyes.
“I wasn’t finished!”
“You will be.” Both raugs charged him at once, their pounding footsteps making the ground tremble beneath them as they kicked up bits of stone splattered with drow blood.
L’zar darted into drow speed and brought his fist up into the first raug’s gut of solid muscle. The gray-skinned magical staggered backward with a roar, and his clansman stepped toward the blur of gray and white and swept his muscular arm aside in a smashing arc. L’zar flew out of drow speed and gained his footing before the raug he’d slammed into the wall stepped up behind him and punched him in the lower back.
The other magicals gathered to watch the fight roared in approval and stomped their feet, pumping their fists in the air and snarling. Spit and blood and sweat flew everywhere as L’zar whirled under the simultaneous attacks of three raugs, none of whom looked likely to take mercy on the drow thief.
Even from where she stood at the balcony, Cheyenne could smell the fumes of Bloodshine and fellwine as if she’d downed a whole keg of it on her own. Of course, he’s drunk. He’s gonna get himself killed.
L’zar darted into drow speed again and clambered onto one raug’s back. The raug roared and pounded his fist against the drow’s forearm, which was squeezing his thickly muscled throat. Another raug cracked an elbow between L’zar’s shoulder blades, then grabbed the drow around the middle and swung him fiercely away from his kinsman before slamming him to the ground. The crack of L’zar’s skull hitting stone echoed through the courtyard.
Ember scuttled toward the balcony in the crawler, weaving as she swiped at the control panel and tried to get the machine to do what she wanted. “Did I hear L’zar screaming?”
Down below, the crouching drow spun in a streak of gray and black and white, hissing and baring his teeth. Then he leaped at the closest raug and pummeled the magical’s muscular torso with both fists. The others closed on him and took turns smashing their knuckles into L’zar Verdys’ face, back, ribs, and shoulders.
Cheyenne gritted her teeth. “That’s it.”
“What’s happening?” Ember stabbed a finger on the control panel and made the crawler totter off in the wrong direction. “Cheyenne, if he’s stupid enough to start a fight, let him.”
“He’s wasted, and they’re gonna kill him.”
“Why is that suddenly your problem?” Ember stopped and stared in exasperation at the empty balcony and the flash of bone-white hair fluttering toward the courtyard below. “Right. ‘Cause jumping off balconies is her thing now.”
Cheyenne landed in a crouch, steadying herself with her fingertips on the stone, then rose to her feet. “Hey! What the hell’s wrong with you?”
L’zar ignored her. So did the raugs. One of them reached out when the drunken drow thief darted past in a blurred streak. L’zar was ripped out of his enhanced speed when the raug’s fist buried itself in the drow’s long white hair. His roar of pain and fury cut off when the raug jerked him back by his locks and smashed his other fist into L’zar’s gut.
The drow hit the ground and slid away on his back, firing flashing red bursts of magic that went everywhere but at his attackers. Cheyenne ducked a stray burst and it hit the wall behind her, resulting in an explosion of stone chips and black dust. “Come on.”
The raug closest to L’zar charged the drow with a crazed sneer, his black tongue hanging out of his mouth in drunken excitement. L’zar lashed out with a booted foot and connected squarely with the gray-skinned magical’s kneecap. Something crunched, and the raug bellowed as he crashed down on his other knee.
“I’m serious.” Cheyenne darted forward when the second raug lunged toward L’zar with both fists raised high above his head. “You guys need to cut this shit out! Hey! I’m talking to you!”
The
