by Jak Koke
Too fragging close! Ryan ignored the pain and brought his Ingram up, triggering it as he raised his arm toward the cyberzombie's torso.
Burnout twisted violently out of Ryan's grasp, dodging the shots. Then he struck at the gun hand, making Ryan jerk it out of aim. The pain in his gut faded slowly as he concentrated with his magic. Ryan jumped for Burnout, a flying kick to the head. He connected, just as the cyber-zombie's hands clasped Ryan's knee.
Pain exploded in Ryan's calf muscles, but the kick knocked Burnout backward. The cyberzombie somersaulted and landed on his feet, then rushed Ryan, who was on the ground.
Ryan rose to one knee, covered in mud and blood, bringing the Ingram up. He knew he wouldn't make it.
He reached out with his magic, trying to touch the Dragon Heart, trying to draw strength from it. He could sense its presence like a small mana sun, but he couldn't tap into the power. His telekinetic strike barely made Burnout flinch.
The cyberzombie crashed into Ryan, monoblades snapping out of his forearms and targeting Ryan's head.
Ryan planted his feet on the man's metal torso and rolled with the impact, then pushed off and sent him flying through the air behind him. One of the blades left a deep cut in his Kevlar. Then the air around him was lit up with muzzle flash, and he became aware of the whine of Dhin's air drone as it peppered Burnout with light rounds.
That seemed to slow him down, but he dodged and grabbed the flying drone in a move so fast Ryan almost didn't catch it. Burnout jammed his hand into the whirling blades and destroyed the drone.
Ryan struggled up, bringing the Ingram up again, this time with the grenade gun in his other hand. He let loose with the armor-piercing clip and caught Burnout full in the shoulder. A clean hit that obviously hurt the cyborg.
Burnout gave Ryan a pained look, then faded from sight. What the frag? Ryan looked into the astral and saw the trail left by the cyberzombie, barely visible as it stretched away into the darkness. How did he pull off that disappearing act?
Ryan knew it wasn't mimetic or camouflage technology. Nothing like that existed. Must be magic, he thought. Which means Lethe. That made sense; he knew Lethe could hide himself in the astral, but Ryan also knew how to see him. It took a little more concentration and attention to detail, but Ryan had seen the spirit before and he could find Burnout now, regardless.
Behind Ryan, Grind stood, his body armor in tattered ruins all the way down to the thin trickles of blood cascading down his chest. It was quickly washed clean by the falling rain.
Ryan went to him. "You look like soggy drek."
"I'm solid. Saved again by Esprit combat armor. It hurts, though."
Ryan put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go."
There was a short scream through the tacticom.
"We're getting battered here," came Axler's panting voice. "Miranda banished two nature spirits before this thing that looked like a bear-man burst past me and mauled her. If we don't get help soon, there's not going to be much left to take home."
Jane's voice cut in. "Miranda's lost her tacticom, and from Axler's visual, I'd say they need help, pronto."
"On it," said Ryan, breaking into a run. "Spell out the situation."
"Axler tried to draw the bear-thing and the nature spirits back to the clearing where she and Miranda would have some open ground to finish them. Looks like she got a bit more than she bargained for. You better hurry, Quicksilver. I'm worried about Miranda."
Ryan ran in disbelief. How bad could it be? Axler was combat supreme. Hand to hand, one of the best fighters he'd ever seen. And what happened to Miranda's confidence?
Ryan hit the grassy knoll that led up to the rocky clearing. Two hundred meters up, the Phoenix II sat like a monstrous bug cowering from the rain. Its running lights glared, but couldn't match the almost continual lightning that danced around them. Thunderclaps split the night sky with searing booms.
As Ryan moved forward, a huge tongue of flame shot from off to his left. In the afterglow, he saw the fire engulf Miranda.
He angled toward her, running.
Ahead, the rigid, flaming form of Miranda was hedged in by two shapes that blocked Ryan's view. Both looked like huge masses of fur and plant material. They were manifesting nature spirits, obviously summoned by the shaman.
Suddenly, Axler flashed into his line of sight, coming around from behind a tree a hundred meters ahead. In front of her were two more spirits-tall, tree-looking spirits, moving faster than should be possible for such large plant-based creatures. Axler backed away from them as Dhin's Steel Lynx drone peppered the spirits with rounds from its minigun.
"Dhin!" Ryan yelled. "The drone will have null effect on the spirits. Find the shaman and concentrate fire there."
Axler broke in, panting her words. "The shaman looks like a bear," she said. "Maybe some sort of shapechange spell."
Something about Axler looked wrong, then Ryan realized she was missing part of her left arm. Chrome glistened, and Ryan could see sparks flash from the hole in her elbow socket. Ryan was still twenty meters away when Axler moved suddenly, striking at a huge form that Ryan had thought was part of the trees.
The bear-man.
In the flashes of lightning, Ryan's infrared vision couldn't keep up, but once the bear-man moved, he could see the faint signature under the heavy cloak. The bear-man bled from many tiny cuts and bullet holes, though he seemed unaffected by them.
He roared, going berserk and striking hard with a huge paw. The attack caught Axler mid-jump and sent her flying.
Axler sailed twelve meters in the air and slammed into the trunk of a huge pine. Her limp body slid down to the ground.
Ryan heard Miranda scream. The two tree spirits who fought her shredded into wood pulp. She staggered then, the flames flickering out on her body, and collapsed from the drain of using so much magic. It was just a momentary pause, but it was enough.
"No!" Ryan screamed.
The bear-man crossed the distance in three steps, insanely fast. One huge paw grabbed Miranda's right thigh, the other clawed her neck.
The thing held her above its head, and a dull whoofing roar sounded in the clearing.
Miranda thrashed in the shaman's grip, struggling, battering the creature with her free arm. To no avail.
Ryan brought his Ingram on target and opened fire. The first few rounds hit home, but then a nature spirit manifested, blocking his line of sight. Ryan adjusted immediately; he drew up and circled to gain a clear shot. He fired another short burst, then moved again as the spirit manifested again.
The bear-man was hit, dropping to one knee. He held Miranda raised over his head.
Struggling.
The creature roared again, and in that second, Ryan knew what it was going to do. He dove for a shot around the spirit. Aimed higher, the burst taking the bear-man's right arm off at the elbow.
It was already too late.
Ryan watched helplessly as the bear-man slammed Miranda down.
20
Against the flowing blood, the music refused to dim. The song sounded strong and bright, beating against the ever-widening circle of blood and sacrifices.
Lucero stood at the edge of the dark patch, oblivious to the limbs of the dead that lay slippery under her feet. Her heart strained toward the music, toward the light, even as her need struggled backward, behind her to the familiar form of Senor Oscuro as he spilled more blood.
Something was different this time. Even with the Gestalt, even with the tapped power of the Locus, his work was far more difficult than before. He grimaced in pain as he worked, wincing in the struggle just to move around.
Lucero turned to watch him, with a feeling of fear and pity. He could never understand the music, could never know its beauty, because unlike Lucero, his entire soul was a wasteland of silence and darkness.
Oscuro had given up on single sacrifices, and had brought several acolytes with him. He was killing them two at a time. His muscular forearm rippled as he made the slash, and
the two girls lying side by side on the flesh altar sprayed blood.
Oscuro's face was a mask of pain as he used the skull of one of the dead as a crude Chac-Mool, catching the blood of the sacrifices in the hollowed-out cavity. Once the Chac-Mool was filled, Oscuro staggered to the edge of the circle just meters from Lucero.
Pulling his hand from the skull's empty eye sockets, he let blood splash out, completing the circle.
Suddenly, the air grew darker, and the music dimmed.
I'm sorry, she prayed to the light. Please forgive me for what is being done to you.
With that thought, she felt the gray spot in her soul grow lighter, and with it, the music raised in volume just a notch.
Oscuro fell to one knee, and his panting breath could be heard over the sound of the singing. He looked up at Lucero and smiled, the look in his eyes chilling her gut.
"That was a close one, my child. I thought the slitch would take me before I finished the barrier."
His tone was ragged, as if he had just run a long distance, and he wiped dark liquid away from his forehead.
He's sweating blood, realized Lucero. She had thought he was just covered in the blood of his sacrifices, but where he'd wiped the blood away, she could see fresh blood bead up on the pale, sickly looking skin.
He looked her in the eye, studying her for a moment, and Lucero was filled with panic. He knows! she thought. How could he not know? I'm the reason he has to struggle so hard. Now, he's looked into my eyes and seen my love for the music, my desire for the light.
He sees the graying of my soul.
Oscuro smiled. "Help me to stand, child. I know you cannot help the sacrifices because of the delicate balance you have to maintain, but that does not mean you can't give your master a hand to his feet."
Lucero swallowed the lump of fear in her throat, and stepped forward to the bearded man.
He stretched forward a bloody hand, and with a shudder, she grabbed it in her own and pulled.
Oscuro stood, keeping her hand in his. Eye to eye, Lucero became acutely aware of the stench of blood, the sweet aroma of her addiction. She licked her lips nervously as her hunger grew.
Suddenly, a smile formed on Oscuro's face-a smile full of gentleness and concern. Lucero's fear faded, and she couldn't understand how she had ever felt pity for the amazing man.
"Little one, you have withstood so much, and have accomplished so much for me. You are truly a remarkable servant."
She bowed her head. "Thank you, Master."
His bloody hand slipped under her chin, and raised her head to look him in the eyes.
To her, he took on the look of something dangerously beautiful. The blood that covered him beckoned to her, and she found herself wishing she could kiss him, could lick the blood from his face, from his hands.
The music rose.
No! she thought. I will resist the blood temptation.
Pain flashed across Oscuro's face and he took a step away from her.
Lucero looked down at herself, and she could see the dull glow coming from inside. She was lightening the circle!
The dull glow filtered outward from her, forcing Oscuro away. His expression went from pain to determination. "I must go now."
She stood in awe of what was happening to her. The music grew louder and louder to her, until Oscuro had to yell to be heard.
"You will come with me."
Her voice cracked as she said, "Why?"
He forced a smile. "Your spirit is strong, but the balance is upset. You will not be allowed to go into the light. It will destroy you." He had backed away almost to the piled corpses at the edge of the dark circle.
Then, just as Lucero's dim light reached the brittle edge of the dark circle, Oscuro waved his hand in the air. A casual gesture that made a funnel of the world. The funnel sucked her down into a river of darkness.
Behind her, the music and the light plowed over the dark circle, purifying it. Bathing out its filth with beauty and perfect harmony. Brilliant and pure white.
But she was too far away to touch it, to hear it. She rushed down the flow of dark current and screamed. And she was still screaming as her spirit slammed into her meat body.
21
In the cold rain, Ryan watched Miranda fall. The bear-man brought her down across his knee, and the crack of her back as she landed ripped through the clearing.
Miranda's scream held a note of agony, and for a moment, the gray world around Ryan went still. He felt rain on his face, pain in his shoulder and gut, but it all seemed so distant.
Focus returned with Miranda's second scream, snapping Ryan back to reality. He clicked into full alert, senses heightened, reflexes as taut as mono wire. He ran at the bear-man, easily ducking inside the nature spirit.
Once close, Ryan fired his Ingram and prepared to close the final meters.
No spirits manifested to block the barrage of bullets, and the man came apart, erupting in a spray of crimson that painted the trees. The bear-man began to turn, but only made it halfway around when Ryan's burst took out his knees and he crumpled into a heap. Freed, the spirits vanished into astral space.
Dead.
Then Ryan was on him, pushing around him to get to Miranda.
She lay like a broken doll, her legs jutting away from the rest of her torso in an impossible position. Her face was streaked with blood and grime; her hair, where it hadn't been burned off, was plastered to her head, like a dirty helmet.
Blood came from her mouth, and she was missing several teeth.
Ryan almost couldn't bear the sight. There was a sharp pain in his heart, and he accepted responsibility. "Dhin, I'm bringing Miranda in. Get ready to take her for emergency medical treatment."
"On it."
"Axler?"
"I'm here, Quicksilver," came Axler's voice. "Chewed up but not spit out."
"You going to make it?"
Axler chuckled. "It's nothing a few hundred kay nuyen won't fix."
"Glad to hear it," Ryan said. "Sit tight and keep your Nikons peeled for Burnout. He's still out there."
Miranda opened her eyes and looked at him. Her voice was like that of a child, soft and breathless. "Ryan."
Ryan knelt. "I'm here, Miranda."
"No… invasive treatment."
Ryan nodded. For a mage, putting metal into the body, any kind of invasive treatment, meant losing power.
She swallowed, and more blood escaped her lips. "Fragger dead?"
Ryan turned and rolled the huge form over, and stared in surprise. Huge, the destroyed face was still ringed by dirty white whiskers. The top of the man's head was completely gone. "He's dead," Ryan said.
Miranda smiled and closed her eyes.
Ryan's vision shifted to the astral. She still lived, but her grasp on this world was becoming more tenuous by the moment.
"Jane, contact DocWagon and give me an estimate on how soon we can rendezvous with one of their paramedical teams."
"Already on it, Quicksilver. There's a small branch clinic in Poison. Ten minutes away in the Phoenix."
"Let's do it," he said. "And get me an on-line first-aid program, one of those virtual doctors."
"You want me to talk you through patching her up?"
"Yeah, she's not gonna make ten minutes like this."
Grind came limping over.
Ryan looked up at him. "You okay?"
Grind nodded.
"Tend to Axler," Ryan said. "Help her to the LAV."
"On it."
"Dhin, bring the stretcher. I'm pretty sure her back is broken."
"Coming, Bossman."
First, stop the bleeding, Ryan thought. He pulled a huge combat knife from his boot and cut several strips from his nightsuit. He used them to tie over her wounds.
Dhin returned with the stretcher and helped Ryan slide it under Miranda. They carried her the fifty meters to the Phoenix II and laid her gently on the floor. Ryan gritted his teeth and continued patching the wounds, following instructions fr
om Jane.
Grind and Axler hobbled in, the dwarf supporting Axler's weight since her right leg seemed to be broken just below the knee. Her bad arm hung strangely askew, broken off at the elbow. She was a mess, but seemed to be in minimal pain.
"Ryan." It was Miranda again, her voice even more faint.
"I'm still here, Miranda."
She looked at him, her eyes going in and out of focus. "You get the cyborg?"
Ryan looked at her for a moment, and considered lying. Then he shook his head. "Sorry. But we will."
She tried to speak again, but clenched up as pain from her back shot through her..
Dhin shot her full of Syndorphin.
Her body went slack and she passed out.
"All right, Dhin. You go wheels up. Now."
"What about you, Bossman?"
"I'm staying to finish it with Burnout," he said.
Grind made an effort to stand. "If you're staying, then I'm staying."
From the corner of his eye, Ryan caught movement. So fast it was a blur, streaked by rain. He turned, pulling his Ingram, but even as he raised the weapon, he knew it was too late.
A hulking form disappeared into the darkness. Burnout, but he was carrying something. The shaman. Burnout had stole the shaman's body out from under their noses.
Grind was already down the ramp, running.
"Dhin! Get Miranda and Axler to the clinic." Then Ryan was running as well.
He and Grind came barreling around the grove of pines, and found themselves running along the second cliff face. A steep slope of loose shale. Utterly impossible to traverse because the rock was so slippery, and small landslides of shale sheets continued to slip down the mountain.
They careened around an outcropping of rock to find Burnout in front of them. The cyberzombie had jammed his now useless third arm around the dead man's waist, and was using him as a shield of sorts. He fired his Predators at Grind, catching the dwarf in the shoulder. Knocking Grind back.
Lightning flashed, close. The thunderclap completely drowned out the barrage of fire from Ryan's Ingram as he opened up.