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"When Queen Asteria visited us a few months ago after we destroyed Dredge, she mentioned that a number of previously undiscovered portals were being discovered—unguarded portals. And most of them lead to the Pacific Northwest."
Chase blinked. "Delilah didn't tell me that."
"She's a good girl. She keeps secrets. It's something you didn't need to know at the time." I watched his surprise turn into a frown. Oops, I'd just stepped on his toes. I did that a lot with Chase. We had rubbed each other wrong from day one.
"Oh, really? Thank you for your confidence. And pray tell—if you think I need to know—just where do these portals lead?"
Yeah, I'd wounded his ego, all right. "Don't be such a drama queen. There are plenty of things about your job that you don't tell us."
"None of the secrets I keep affect you," he said, squinting. "Oh hell, just drop it. Go on. You said most lead to the PNW?"
"Yes." I took a deep breath and continued. "Apparently a number of them lead to Seattle and the surrounding area. Now, Queen Asteria slapped guards on the portals in her jurisdiction, but there are plenty of portals out in the wild that are being discovered, and nobody has control over them. Want to make a bet that Cryptos and other creatures are finding and using them whenever they want?"
"Can't Queen Asteria put a stop to it?"
I shook my head. "As I said, if they're outside the boundaries of Elqaneve and the Elfin lands, there isn't a damned thing she can do. Even with the ones that are within her jurisdiction, well, Queen Asteria hasn't got the manpower to guard all of them. Not now, when she's fully engaged in the war against Lethesanar. You have to understand. War over in Otherworld is to the death, as it is here, but over there the magic involved can cause far greater damage than your tanks and guns. The elder mages can actually warp the makeup of the land. They can change the very structure of the soil and air. It's happened before, down in the Southern Wastes."
A somber expression crossed Chase's face, and his petulance passed. "If you were home—you and your sisters…"
"Well, if our father hadn't deserted the Guard and our aunt and cousin hadn't come out as traitors to Queen Lethesanar, we would have been pressed into battle like everybody else in the city. As it is, we'd be tortured and killed. Our entire family is under a death threat if any one of us should enter—or go anywhere near—Y'Elestrial at this time. Until Tanaquar wins, we're homeless…" I paused. A thought had crossed my mind several times that I didn't want to examine. I hadn't vocalized it to Menolly or Delilah yet.
"Yes?"
"I haven't mentioned this to my sisters yet, but I think that our father disappeared because he traded sides. His conscience won't allow him to fight for Lethesanar, but he's a warrior and a proud member of the Guard Des'Estar. He can't stand by and hide in fear, nor can he see Lethesanar defile the Court and Crown like she's been doing. I know he's in battle somewhere. I can feel it."
"You think he's working for the elves?" Chase reached out and took my hand. I started to pull away, then stopped. He was trying to be kind. I could read it in his eyes.
"Either that or he's directly enlisted in Tanaquar's army. One's about the same as the other, when you look at the end result." I stared at the floor, thinking about Father and the dangers he faced.
"You have to understand, Chase. The three of us are daughters of a member of the Guard Des'Estar. We've been brought up to face danger rather than run away. And our father is the son of a Guard member. We come from a family proud to serve the Court and Crown. Father will stay involved in this war until Y'Elestrial is free from the opium eater's grasp and a queen with honor reigns over Y'Elestrial once again."
Chase mulled over what I'd said. "So what it boils down to on our side is this: nobody over there is watching any of the new portals?"
I nodded. "That's pretty much the long and short of it. No wonder the Cryptos are getting through, though only the gods know what they want. It could be mere curiosity."
"Well, their presence is stamping a big fat red do-not-promote memo on my record, especially when they show up and get themselves wasted." Chase nodded to the door. Sharah and Mallen were on their way over to talk to us. "Here they come. Right before I got your call, I sent Shamas out on another case," he said as he pulled out his notebook and pen. "Somebody reported a troglodyte or something out in Shoreline. I have no idea what that is, but I'm hoping they were wrong. Really wrong."
Shamas was my cousin, and he'd come Earthside after being tortured and marked for death back in Y'Elestrial. Actually, he'd managed to hide out in Aladril, the city of Seers, until Menolly and I unwittingly brought him home with us. That had been a shock and a half, though mostly welcome. Since then, he'd moved in with Morio, and we'd inducted him into our makeshift version of the OIA. Shamas took to investigative work like a duck to orange sauce.
"We've got a problem, boss." Sharah swung herself onto the counter. Her legs didn't come anywhere near the ground. She was an elf—niece to the Elfin Queen, actually—and so petite she made supermodels look clunky.
"I don't want to hear about it." Chase flashed her an irritated look.
"Of course you don't," she said soothingly, then her smile disappeared. "But you have to. Here's the deal: the bugbear had this on him." Sharah cautiously retrieved and placed a long stick on the counter. Chase and I both did the jump-for-your-life thing.
"What the hell are you doing with a stick of dynamite?" Chase's shock infiltrated his voice, though he instinctively lowered it. "Be careful, and don't yell. If that stuff's old, anything could trigger it."
I motioned toward the red cylinder. "Get that out of my store right now. Things that go boom are so not a good thing to have around my magic. They could go boom in a big, bad way. Very big. Mondo bad. And what do you mean, you found it on the bugbear? He was squashed. Wouldn't it have blown up?"
"No, it rolled to the side when he fell, apparently. Before the car could run over it, too. The stick has his scent on it. Trust me, he was carrying it." Mallen, a thin, waiflike elf who was probably more powerful than all of us put together, picked up the stick and headed toward the door. "Sharah, let's go secure this before something happens to it."
I glanced at Chase. What the hell was a bugbear doing running down the streets of Seattle with a stick of dynamite tucked in his pocket? "The goblin! I wonder if he's packing, too?" I jumped up and headed for the back.
"I take it you didn't frisk him when you tied him up?" Chase let out a sigh that told me he'd had more than enough excitement for the day.
"Frisk him? You've got to be kidding. I have no desire to touch anything personal of his. You never know when one of these creatures might be packing spare parts in all the wrong places. I saw a goblin naked once, and it wasn't by choice. Two dicks. Four balls. No waiting."
Chase groaned. "Don't tell me you dated one of those ugly suckers—"
