“It’s a good start.” Corian ran a hand through his hair. “And this time, you two know enough about each other to hopefully make that training a little easier on you both.”
She shot him a scathing glance. “I can learn.”
“I look forward to seeing you prove it.”
Without warning, the flashing lights of the spell and the raugs’ chanting, which had grown to a chorus of shouted words in O’gúleesh, stopped.
Cheyenne turned around to see a dark, shimmering oval of light spreading in the air where the raugs had been concentrating their focused blast of magic. “Is that the doorway?”
L’zar rubbed his hands together and stepped past her toward the raugs. “I sure hope so.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Foltr rested both gnarled gray hands on the twisted knob at the top of his staff. “Nothing quite like tapping into the source with your own kind.”
Cazerel turned from the shimmering window of dark light in front of them and smiled crookedly at the aged raug. “Has it been long for you, old one?”
“Longer than I care to admit,” Foltr rumbled, then nodded at the open doorway, “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. We’ve reached the end. Healer!” Cazerel’s massive frame spun quickly to face Ember. “Come. I want you at my side to lead these friends of Hirúl Breach through the doorway.”
Ember’s wide violet eyes flicked from the dark window to the raug chief’s face. “Go ahead. I’m right behind you.”
A booming laugh escaped him, and he thumped a fist against his chest before waving her forward. “Come, come. I wouldn’t lead you to the deathflame willingly. There’s no danger for you, Healer. Only honor.”
When Ember shot Cheyenne an unsure glance, the halfling nodded slowly. “While we’re here.”
“Right.” The fae girl swiped her fingers across the crawler’s control panel and moved the skittering machine toward the raug chief.
Cazerel grinned at her, his chest quivering in silent laughter. “This pleases me very much, Healer. Now you will see what no one has seen for centuries. Excluding me and mine, of course.”
“Of course.” She widened her eyes and looked at Cheyenne one more time before she disappeared through the doorway at Cazerel’s side.
The raug warriors snickered and shook themselves like huge, hairless horses twitching beneath buzzing flies before they followed their chief through the open portal.
Maleshi growled and stalked toward Cheyenne, Corian, and L’zar as the goblins and Foltr passed through the portal and disappeared. The general scowled at the dark window of light and shook her head. “This feels different.”
“It’s a raug portal, General.” L’zar dipped his head toward her in a mocking bow and gestured toward the doorway. “Of course, a nightstalker wouldn’t recognize it.”
“I thought only nightstalkers could open portals.” Cheyenne stared at the doorway, the other side of which was shrouded in darkness and impossible to make out.
“On their own.” Corian shot her a quick glance and shrugged. “Another reminder not to mess with more than one raug at a time. Especially not a whole tribe.”
Maleshi hissed at him, “Keep your reminders to yourself.” She didn’t give him time to respond before stalking toward the portal and disappearing.
Cheyenne nudged the nightstalker’s shoulder with a loose fist. “Nice one.”
“I misspoke.” He cleared his throat. “She knows that.”
“Clearly. Hence the pissed-off storming away from you.” When she noticed Corian’s warning glance, she took a deep breath and turned toward the portal. Here I am running my mouth and screwing up the nightstalkers’ little secret. Shut up, Cheyenne. “Guess they’re waiting for us on the other side.”
“Then let’s not keep them waiting, hmm?” L’zar strode casually toward the portal and disappeared.
Corian licked his lips in restrained agitation and stared at the doorway. “Don’t let yourself slip up like that again.”
“He didn’t pick up on anything.” Cheyenne waved toward the portal. “He’s too excited about blackmailing his sister with his surprise nephew. Honestly, don’t you think you’d both feel better if you let it out in the open and told him?”
The nightstalker swallowed thickly and didn’t look at her. “I won’t tell you again.”
He took off. Rolling her eyes, Cheyenne headed quickly after him and stepped through the raug portal as Corian’s back foot disappeared in front of her.
The same squeezing pressure she’d felt every time she’d crossed the Border between worlds overwhelmed her. Cheyenne gasped for a breath that didn’t come and her mind reeled. No way those raugs opened a brand-new Border portal. No one said anything about crossing the in-between.
Then she was through, stumbling forward and wheezing when her lungs finally filled with air again. When she looked up, she knew immediately that she wasn’t in the in-between, but everything had changed.
“Whoa.”
Corian cleared his throat beside her and tilted his head. “Not what I expected either if we’re being perfectly honest.”
She frowned at him. “Are we?”
He shook his head and headed after their party. Everyone else had slowed down to let the rest of them catch up, and the group now stepped cautiously across the ground as a single blob of magicals in a sprawling valley hidden from the rest of Ambar’ogúl.
Cazerel turned around to grin at the band of rebels who’d followed him here. “Now you see. Only the raugs could bring you here. Remember.”
Ember gazed around the open valley that had replaced the forest on the slanting mountainside where they’d waited for the portal to open. Her mouth fell open. “This wasn’t here before.”
“It is always here, Healer. Only accessible to those who know the way in.”
“Which now includes us,” Cheyenne muttered. “Where are we, exactly?”
“A different plane.” Maleshi’s silver eyes moved slowly across the sprawling valley. “Don’t get too cocky about it, kid. It doesn’t include us.”
“What?”
“That isn’t a portal we can open whenever we want,” Corian added. “The chief speaks only for the raugs.”
“You can’t get back here on your own?” Cheyenne walked beside him, squinted against the bright sunlight reflecting off the white stone
