Corian whispered something to Maleshi and the general grinned, bowing her head in an attempt to hide the expression from everyone else.
“Leave it alone, Cheyenne.” Foltr sniffed and readjusted his staff on his lap. “The Cu’ón has a weakness for those who pledge their life and loyalty to the Four-Pointed Star and the cause we’ve all taken up as our own. His cause. That weakness includes conjuring threats where no threat exists.”
“Seriously?” She looked up at the old raug and frowned. “He thinks they’re a threat to him?”
“Not yet, but he might if his awareness changes.”
“They’ve both put everything on the line to follow him into this mess, and they haven’t seen each other for what? Centuries before this?” The halfling glanced at her father, so deep in his Weaver meditation that he could have been a statue cut from a boulder the same color as his skin, and shook her head. “I don’t think I could stand behind someone who forces everyone else to give up on everything they care about except for him.”
“Many of us have made sacrifices to force the new Cycle’s turning.” Foltr sucked his teeth again, scowled, and swallowed loudly. “Whatever you’ve heard from others, their personal stories are not unique.”
Like Elarit and Persh’al. Now it’s Corian and Maleshi. Cheyenne shook her head. “And no one’s stood up to him about it?”
“In their own ways, they have. And still do.” Foltr nodded at the nightstalkers and shrugged. “What L’zar doesn’t know at this point won’t hurt him, Aranél. Not right now. What he could know, on the other hand…well, that would end up hurting everyone around him, wouldn’t it?”
“If you’re using that as a euphemism, it’s not working.”
“It’s happened before.” The old raug stared at her and lowered his head. “That’s all you need to know before I tell you this conversation is best left buried. Do not dig it up again.”
Cheyenne snorted and shook her head. “Digging stuff up is one of my specialties.”
“Perhaps, but here and now is not the time and place, Aranél. L’zar might be distracted, but the rest of us cannot afford such a luxury.” He glanced at the nightstalkers one more time. “Either they will come to the same understanding, or they won’t. Lending them your focus helps no one.”
Staring at the stone at her feet, Cheyenne nodded slowly. Never thought I’d get this wrapped up in keeping secrets from L’zar. If anyone deserves some personal time, it’s the magicals who gave it all up to watch that crazy drow’s back. They better get it out of their systems before he comes back down to reality.
“Hishmál!” Cazerel threw his head back and roared with laughter, pointing a red-clawed finger at Ember. “Such tales, Healer. I could listen to you all day and not understand half of it!”
The fae girl chuckled in surprise. “At least I’m amusing.”
“Ha! Far more than that.” The chief slapped his thigh and pushed himself to his feet. “Another day, when time has grown long again, you and I will sit together again to finish these stories. Perhaps you can teach me how to understand a Healer’s metaphors, eh?”
“Well, they’re not metaphors, but okay.”
“We move out now!” Cazerel raised a massive arm and flicked his hand in the air. “The journey isn’t long, but it leaves us with more than enough time to be ensnared.”
Ember swallowed. “By what?”
“By the end from which you saved me, Healer.” He nodded firmly and headed down the incline out of the rocky clearing. “And I would rather not confront it again so soon.”
The warriors stood quietly and jammed whatever items they’d taken from the carts back into place before swiping thick gray hands across control panels to send the carts after their chief once more.
With a startled glance at Cazerel’s retreating back, as if he’d forgotten anyone else existed in the clearing, Corian stood abruptly and cleared his throat. “Back to it, then.”
“One day, ma gairín,” Maleshi said. She finally noticed the goblins staring at her and Corian across the clearing and narrowed her eyes at them.
Lumil turned and shoved Byrd after the raug chief and his warriors, ignoring the goblin’s shout of protest.
The general stood and stormed past Cheyenne. “Don’t say anything.”
“I wasn’t gonna.”
“Good.”
Corian sniffed and turned toward the meditating drow. “L’zar.”
“Why is everyone always shouting?” L’zar snarled and waved away his Nós Aní with a dismissive flick of his wrist. “Always beneath the surface. Buzzing, buzzing…buzz the fuck out of my head, huh?”
The nightstalker suffered the strange outburst without expression. “We’re heading out again.”
“Telling me what I already know doesn’t make you useful, Corian. Just annoying.” L’zar stood and jumped off the boulder before brushing past the nightstalker with a scowl. He muttered unintelligibly as he stalked after the rest of their traveling party and didn’t look at Cheyenne when he passed her.
Corian scratched the back of his head and crossed the clearing.
Cheyenne folded her arms when he approached her. “It’s almost like you enjoy the abuse.”
“I have to pick my poison, kid. Right now, it’s the venom on his tongue.” The nightstalker shot her a warning glance. “Better than being tied up in one of his webs for the rest of eternity.”
“His what?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
The halfling followed him and slowed down when she reached Ember waiting in the crawler at the edge of the clearing.
The fae girl stuck her thumb out after Corian and wrinkled her nose. “Is it just me, or does everyone seem tense right now?”
“It’s not just you, Em, but we might be the only ones weirded out by this new normal.”
Ember swiped her hand over the control panel, and the crawler dipped forward to carry her down the incline after the rest of their raug escort. “Do I even wanna know what’s going on right now?”
“You want to be complicit in keeping L’zar in the dark and tiptoeing around him until he’s lucid again? If he’s ever lucid again.”
“No, I’m good.”
Cheyenne snorted. “Trust me, I’m starting to think I prefer everyone keeping secrets
