Ragnarock

by Stephen Kenson

  Flipping the phone open, Zoller hit a single button and held it to his ear. Speren moved close to hear the hushed tones as he spoke in German.

  "There's a disruption of the wards in my suite." he said. "See to it. I'm on my way now to investigate." He snapped the phone shut and pocketed it, striding toward the stairwell. At the foot of the stairs, he stopped, closed his eyes, and muttered a short phrase in German under his breath. His aura grew brighter and more solid as he extended his presence into the astral plane. Speren kept close to the entrance, behind Zoller, where he hoped he could not be seen.

  Suddenly, the astral plane around him was lit up as a ghostly warrior appeared, dressed like a German soldier from the nineteenth century, complete with helmet, breastplate, and a filigreed fencing saber at his side. Zoller spoke to the spirit, which regarded him with deep, faintly glowing eyes.

  "Go to my suite." Zoller said. "Find any intruders there and destroy them, but do not harm the crystal. This is my will."

  The spirit bowed faintly. "As you command." it said in German, then took flight up the stairs at great speed, not giving Speren's astral form so much as a second look. Speren was pleased that spirits were often so literal-minded. The hearth spirit Zoller summoned had probably noticed Speren's astral form, but since its master hadn't bothered to include intruders outside his suite in his orders, the spirit simply ignored Speren altogether.

  Speren wasn't about to waste such an opportunity, and he slipped up through the stairs to catch up with the spirit. It would lead him where he needed to go. He thought briefly about staying with Zoller, but his instincts told him that the magician would follow quickly enough. Speren had not gotten where he was without knowing when to take risks.

  In moments, both spirits passed through a dozen floors to reach Zoller's hotel suite. As the magician said, a ward existed around the suite, a magical barrier to block the passage of astral forms, no doubt put there by Zoller himself. Already under Zoller's command, the hearth spirit was able to pass through the ward with no more difficulty than passing through the physical wall. Speren, however, was blocked by the shimmering barrier. He knew that any attack on the ward would alert Zoller, but there was no time to waste. Speren drew the astral double of Argentine, his magical sword, and swung it at the barrier with all the power of his will behind it.

  Although Zoller's ward was skillfully built, it was no match for Speren's enchanted blade, which sliced through the barrier as if it were made of paper. In an instant, Speren was through the ward and into the suite, the gash he cut through the barrier closing behind him like a healing wound. Inside the main room of the suite were four intruders, three of them physical beings—a human, an ork, and a troll. The fourth was a spirit in the form of a golden-winged falcon. The human was just slipping a flat rosy crystal, cut in the shape of a heart, into a soft black bag. Silverblade was nearly blinded by the powerful radiance of the stone's aura before it was swallowed by the bag. It had to be the item he'd been sent to find. Slung over the troll's shoulder was an unconscious man with gray hair and a full beard, wearing a rumpled suit. Dr. Goronay himself.

  Shadowrunners, Speren thought. They had beaten him to his target. Even as he considered his options, Zoller's hearth spirit assumed physical form, appearing as a fierce warrior clad in armor and wielding a razor-sharp sword.

  "Hold, intruders!" it said. "Surrender or die!"

  10

  It had all been going so well, Talon thought as the uninvited spirit materialized inside the hotel suite. But most shadowruns did, at first. Breaking the ward protecting the crystal was a calculated risk. Now they were paying the price.

  Both Hammer and the spirit moved with blinding speed, the spirit through the power of its magical nature, Hammer via the technology of superconducting nerves and spinal subprocessors. In this particular case, it appeared that technology won out over magic, as the ork mercenary raised his snubnosed Ingram smartgun and fired off a three-round burst at the onrushing spirit.

  Had it been only a being of flesh and blood, the impact of the 9mm rounds would have wounded or even killed the spirit, would at least have knocked some of the wind out of it. The spirit, however, was no mortal creature, but a being of the astral plane. Its body might look and feel solid, but it was not flesh and bone. Hammer's gunfire had no more effect on it than it would on stone, wind, or water.

  The spirit's shining sword flashed out. Hammer dropped his Ingram and fell back, cursing, bleeding from a deep gash along his forearm.

  Boom didn't even bother trying to shoot at the spirit. He'd worked with Talon long enough to know that it wasn't worth the trouble. Instead, he jerked his right fist downward, and a curved blade of surgical steel slid from the concealed sheath inside his massive forearm, nearly as long as the saber the spirit wielded. Boom stepped forward and slashed at the soldier-spirit as it turned away from Hammer. He was rewarded for his effort with a slash along his shoulder from the spirit's own blade. Once again, had the spirit been merely mortal, Boom's great strength and longer reach would have made all the difference. But combat with spirits was more a matter of will than of physical strength, and Boom's willpower, while formidable for a troll, was no match for such a powerful spirit.

  The best way to fight magic was with magic, Talon thought. He could try and use his own magic to banish the spirit back from where it came.

  "Boss!" Aracos spoke in Talon's mind. "There's another spirit in the room, a projecting magician."

  "Zoller?" Talon thought.

  "No. He's an elf, and he's armed."

  An elf? Talon had no idea who it could be. Certainly not one of Zoller's people, they were all human. This certainly complicated matters. Talon needed to be careful how he used magic if there was another magician present. There was little this stranger could do from the astral plane to interfere with Talon's efforts in the physical world, but he could immediately attack if Talon used his own astral abilities. If Talon focused all his concentration on banishing the spirit, it would leave him defenseless against any other attacks, and the astral magician might have other allies around. It was too much of a risk.

  "You take the magician." Talon thought to Aracos. "I'll handle the spirit."

  "You got it." Aracos said.

  From across the room, Talon pointed at the spirit and gathered magical power to him. It seethed like a glowing ball of energy around his hand, visible from the astral plane, but unseen to mundane eyes, except perhaps as a faint shimmer, a kind of distortion in the air. In an instant, Talon gathered the power and spoke a sharp word, sending it flying at the spirit like a lightning bolt.

  The spirit stiffened and jerked as the manabolt slammed into it, tearing away its very substance, striking where it was most vulnerable, on the spiritual level. The spirit was quite powerful, however, and the spell did not slay it, as it would any lesser being. It was injured, but Talon was afraid he'd only made it angry.

  With a growl of anger, Hammer charged into the spirit and tackled it. The silvery saber flipped out of the spirit's grasp, vanishing like smoke, as Hammer bore it to the floor. Boom rushed to help, and Talon stepped forward, readying another spell.

  "Boss! I've got real problems here!" Aracos screamed in his thoughts. "He's got a mageblade."

  Damn! The astral magician was a more serious problem than Talon had thought. With a powerful enough magical weapon, he could cut Aracos to ribbons. Talon could use his own astral abilities to go to his ally's aid, but that would leave Hammer and Boom to fight the spirit, and he could already see it struggling against them. It would also leave Talon vulnerable to both the astral magician and the spirit, and he doubted he could fight off both as the same time.

  "All right." Talon thought to Aracos. "Get out of there. See if you can get that magician to follow you or something." He felt the spirit's assent and turned his attention back toward the soldier-spirit the others were struggling to hold onto. Although smaller than either of the heavily muscled metahumans, the spirit was not limited by the constra
ints of its size. With a mighty surge, it threw both the ork and the troll off it and rose up, the sword reappearing in its hand as it did so.

  Talon wasn't about to give it another chance to attack. Gathering power again, he flung it at the spirit with all his might. The spirit cried out in pain, the first sound it had made since calling for them to surrender. The physical form of the soldier wavered and rippled like a trideo image whose projector was out of whack. The power of Talon's spell shredded its life force, the core of its being. The physical manifestation followed suit and broke up, melting away like fog, its cry echoing faintly in the air.

  "Talon, we've got problems." It was Trouble's voice sounding in his head, coming over his head-com. "Hotel security cams show three men heading up the stairs with Zoller and another three in the elevator on the way to your floor."

  "Can you override the elevator?" Talon asked.

  "I'm trying, but the hotel's system is on alert and I've got my hands full dodging some ice right at the moment. Even if I can override, I'll probably have to shut down the whole system. You guys better get out of there ASAP."

  "Copy." Talon said. "Boom and Hammer are both hurt, but we've got the artifact. We're getting out of here, but we're going to need some cover."

  "Roger that." Trouble replied. "I'll keep 'em busy for as long as I can."

  Talon mentally keyed open a channel to Val.

  "Val, did you copy that?"

  "Roger." came the rigger's voice, muffled by the background noise of chuffing rotor blades.

  "We're heading for the roof. Be ready to get us out of here."

  "I'll be ready." she said. "Out."

  Talon turned to the others, who were on their feet again.

  "You two okay?"

  Both nodded. "I'm okay." Boom said. "Mostly my pride, and I've been kicked there more times than I can count." Hammer also waved off any concern as he covered his Ingram.

  "All right, then, let's buzz."

  They headed for the door, Hammer first, Talon close behind, with Boom bringing up the rear, carrying Dr. Goronay, still unconscious from the effects of Talon's sleep spell. They held weapons at the ready, scanning for any signs of danger.

  Talon reached his mind out toward his familiar. "Aracos?" he thought.

  "Here." the spirit's thought-voice came. "I'm outside the hotel. I took off, blit the astral elf didn't try following me. He's probably still in the room with you. Do you want me to try and run interference?"

  "No." Talon thought. "Stay outside. We're headed for the roof. You can meet us there."

  "Got it." the spirit said. "Be careful, boss." Talon felt a surge of genuine concern before he closed the thought-link.

  Frag, he thought as they cautiously emerged into the hallway. Double-frag. The other hotel guests, if they had heard any of the noise in Zoller's suite, were smart enough to stay in their rooms and call hotel security, rather than sticking their heads out to possibly get shot at. Thank the gods for small favors.

  However, the presence of the astral magician dogging them continued to complicate things. Talon and Aracos could probably handle him together, but they were on the run, and Talon couldn't leave his physical body helpless while his astral form tried to deal with the magician. And if he tried to stay in his physical body and deal with him, his astral opponent gained an advantage in maneuverability. He couldn't even afford a glance into the astral plane to see what he was up to without opening himself up to an attack. He simply had to bide his time, and hope the magician didn't complicate things any further.

  They headed for the stairs. Getting caught in an elevator was the last thing they needed. Hammer took point and pushed open the stairwell door, Ingram at the ready. He looked, then stepped aside and waved the others through.

  Talon turned to Boom. "After you." he said. Still carrying the unconscious Dr. Goronay, the troll grinned and stepped through the door.

  "Thank you, kind sir." he replied.

  Talon followed close behind. Almost as soon as Hammer hit the stairs and they were on their way up to the next floor, they heard a clamor coming from below as three burly humans dressed in security uniforms came thundering up the stairs, followed closely by Heinrich Zoller.

  "Halt!" the lead man called in German.

  "Keep going!" Hammer shouted. He spun and fired a burst from his Ingram down at the guards. The bullets sparked and ricocheted off the railing and the stairs, but the guards flattened themselves against the walls, seeking cover. The shadowrunners charged up the stairs to stay ahead of their pursuers. Hammer fired another burst behind them before following. Gunshots blew holes in the plasterboard of the walls as they ran.

  Talon waved to Hammer to pass him. "Keep going." he said. He paused and raised his hand toward the way they came, focusing his will. He could hear the guards and Zoller catching up with them as he gathered mana from all around him and channeled it, whispering words of power under his breath.

  There was a whooshing sound, and a crackling plane of magical energy sprang into being. It ran from wall to wall in the stairwell, capping off the landing entirely with a translucent ceiling of purple energy. Talon leaned for a moment against the wall, drained by the effort of calling the barrier into existence. He kept his concentration focused on maintaining the barrier as the security guards rushed up the stairs and nearly ran into it. Then he turned and headed up after the others as quickly as he could. It wouldn't take Zoller long to dispel the barrier he'd created, if he was any judge of the other magician's abilities, but it would buy them some time to reach the roof. Talon hoped Zoller would exhaust himself against the barrier spell, becoming less of a threat.

  "Nice trick." Hammer called back as Talon started to catch up.

  "Thanks." Talon panted. "Let's hope it works."

  It was eight flights from Zoller's suite to the roof of the hotel. To Talon, it felt like fifty. He was gasping for air when they reached the doorway onto the roof. Boom pushed the door open and looked back at him with concern.

  "You okay?"

  Talon gulped air and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. That last spell took a bit out of me. But it. . ." Talon's eyes shifted, like he was looking at something no one else could see.

  "What?"

  "They've broken through." he said. "Zoller must have dispelled the barrier. Let's get out of here."

  On the roof was a landing pad used by influential guests of the hotel to fly in directly from the airport or from some corporate enclave via helicopter or tilt-rotor aircraft. Currently there was only one vehicle parked there, a Hughes Stallion helicopter; Herr Brackhaus had been most generous in providing it at Talon's request, with no questions asked. Val sat jacked into the control panel, keeping the rotors going at a constant slow start-up speed, ready for takeoff.

  Boom loaded Dr. Goronay into the chopper like an adult handling a small child, before climbing in himself. He gave Talon a hand up, and Talon sank gratefully into the seat as Hammer swung himself up into the cabin and yelled to Val over the whine of the rotors.

  "Take it up!"

  The rotors began to whine as they accelerated, kicking up a powerful wind. Then the Stallion lifted smoothly off the helipad, so quickly Talon felt like he'd left his stomach behind.

  As they angled away from the pad, the roof access door banged open and Zoller emerged with his guards. His overcoat flapping in the wind like dark wings, Zoller gestured angrily toward the chopper, and the guards opened fire. Hammer yanked the side door shut as several bullets bounced off the fuselage. Zoller was holding both hands out toward the helicopter, shouting something drowned out by the noise of the rotors and the gunfire.

  "Talon . . ." Boom began.

  "I see it." Talon said. He concentrated and extended magical shields over the helicopter and its occupants. A moment later, he felt the force of Zoller's spell slam into them. Barely visible arcane energies crackled around the helicopter like prismatic lightning for a moment as the spell tried to fight its way through Talon's shielding, but they held again
st the onslaught, and the Stallion continued to gain distance and altitude away from the hotel.

  Boom gave him a thumbs up. "Good job, Tal."

  "Thanks." Talon said. "But we're not out of this yet." He reached out with his mind, calling to his ally.

  "Aracos, what's going out there in the astral? Is that elf magician still with us?"

  "Looks like, boss." the ally spirit said. "And that’s not all. Zoller's working on calling up another spirit."

  Frag, doesn't he ever get tired? Talon thought. He'd definitely underestimated Zoller's power. Zoller should be at least somewhat fatigued from calling up the hearth spirit, taking down Talon's barrier, and trying to break through Talon's shields, but he just kept pushing.

  "What's the elf doing?" Talon asked.

  "Nothing right now," Aracos said, "just watching, as far as I can tell. He's not making trouble."

  "Are you hurt?"

  "Not too bad, just a scratch. Still, I don't think I'd want to fight that guy, not with that sword he's got."

  "Let's hope it won’t come to that. You're going to have to deal with the spirit Zoller's whistling up. If I go astral, that'll leave the chopper defenseless if Zoller decides to toss another spell at us."

  "I could always materialize." Arcos said.

  "What?"

  "I could materialize. Then I could fight the spirit and protect the chopper against any outside sorcery at the same time. That way you could go astral and help."

  "Damn." Talon said aloud. It was obvious. He should have thought of it himself. "I knew there was a good reason I kept you around, omae!"

  "Well, we all know who's the brains of this outfit." the spirit quipped.

  "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. All right, let's do it."

  "Talon!" Val called from the flight deck. "Zoller's got some kind of storm spirit, coming at us fast!"

  "On it." Talon said, sinking back against the seat and automatically falling into a deep and complete trance. He loosed his astral form and slipped out of his physical body and outside the helicopter, where he immediately saw a large, dark cloud rushing toward the Stallion. In the heart of the cloud was a humanoid figure, a heavily muscled Nordic warrior, with bristling red hair. Lightning crackled around his body, and he rode in a kind of chariot, drawn by two goats whose hooves struck sparks as they charged across the sky.