Ragnarock

by Stephen Kenson

  Talon ran through the melee and rushed Zoller, who tried to ready another spell. He wasn't quite fast enough, and Talon slammed into him like a linebacker, sending them both rolling on the floor. He jammed an arm against Zoller's windpipe to cut off whatever incantation he was starting and brought Talonclaw up against his exposed throat.

  "You've got some explaining to do, fragger!" Talon said as he pinned Zoller down. "All right!" he yelled to the remaining magicians. "We've got your boss! Give up now or he's gonna be speaking spells through a second mouth!"

  The fighting died down as the remaining magicians raised their hands and were covered by the other shadowrunners. The magicians entrapped by the elementals had passed out from lack of oxygen, and the spirits withdrew, awaiting further orders from their summoner.

  "Boss!" Aracos said in Talon's mind. "One of those rune magicians has some kind of protective spell up around him. There's something weird about him. Watch out."

  Just then, one of the dark-robed figures took a step forward, and Hammer turned to cover him.

  "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Talon." the man said in deep, unaccented English. "Herr Zoller is not the leader of this circle. I am, and you've chosen the wrong time to interfere."

  The robed figure raised a hand and Hammer fired a burst from his Ingram. The bullets spattered off an invisible wall that seemed to spring up between them and their target, leaving the man unmoved. He gestured, and Val's rotor-drone was swatted out of the air like an insect struck by a giant, invisible hand. It smashed against the wall, then dropped to the ground as a pile of useless junk.

  Talon dragged Zoller to his feet, still holding Talonclaw pressed against his neck as Boom, Hammer, and Silverblade all opened up on the mysterious figure with their guns. Bullets ricocheted and bounced off the invisible barrier, but none of them reached their mark. The figure drew back his hood to reveal a face with refined Aryan features and dark blond hair. His eyes, however, were a deep amber color, unlike any human eyes Talon had ever seen, but they reminded him of other eyes, inhuman eyes, he'd seen recently.

  "Poor things." the man said, like a father lecturing his children. "You have no idea what you have stumbled into, have you?" He took a step toward Talon.

  "Stop right there," Talon said, "or Zoller's still toast!"

  "Ah, well that is a problem." the man returned. "Allow me to relieve you of it." He raised a hand.

  "Master, no!" Zoller cried out, "I've served you well! I've . . . argh!"

  "Holy frag!" Talon said as the man gestured lightly and Zoller's entire body began to melt away in Talon's grip. The form of the Runenthing magician flowed and shifted out of Talon's hands, his dark robes collapsing into a heap on the ferrocrete floor.

  Something stirred from inside them, the cloth rustling to reveal a large toad. It croaked, then hopped away from the stunned Talon.

  "Now then," the mystery man said calmly, "we can talk without interruption. I had hoped to use these fools to augment the ritual I wanted to perform tonight, but I suppose they can still do so, in a way." He gestured again and chains leapt from their hanging places along the walls and ceiling struts to entrap the remaining Runenthing members. The chains dragged them to the foot of the metallic cylinder where the elven prisoners were bound. Some of them cried out, but were flogged for their efforts until they fell silent, mewling and whimpering.

  "Do you consider their lives worth your efforts?" the robed man asked, gesturing toward the elven prisoners, who remained in their drug-hazed state.

  "I will fight to protect any of my people from the like of you!" Silverblade spat.

  "Will you, paladin? And what do you know of me? I, who know your race far better than you can imagine?"

  "You set us up!" Talon said. "You set us up to take down Lofwyr for you."

  "Yes." the man replied. "And it worked far better than I'd imagined. My brother's own greed and curiosity always did get the better of him."

  "Your . . . brother?" Talon said.

  "Of course." The man smiled. "Who else could possibly have crafted a spell to strike a blow against one of the mightiest of great dragons except for another?"

  The man seemed to shrug, and his body suddenly expanded. The dark robe ripped and tore as his body stretched. Leathery wings sprang from his back as his arms and legs elongated, becoming scaly. His neck stretched impossibly and his face distorted, elongating and becoming a snout filled with dagger-like teeth. It stretched up, up, until it nearly reached the roof of the warehouse. In an instant, Talon and his team were faced with a gigantic golden-scaled dragon.

  "I am Alamais!" the dragon's thought-voice echoed in their minds. "And you, my little puppets, have chosen a poor time to try and cut your strings."

  Faced with the dragon, Talon wanted only to run, to escape. But for some reason, he couldn't move. He couldn't do anything but stare in horrified fascination at the creature that loomed overhead.

  "Aracos, run!" he thought to his ally. "Get out of here and back to Trouble and Val!" He couldn't tell if the spirit obeyed, for all his attention was focused on the looming form of the dragon.

  "Still, your timing is fortunate." Alamais said. "You will have an opportunity to witness the completion of my latest work."

  The chains holding the elves to the metal cylinder fell away, dropping them to the floor. Talon could see, printed on the side of the metal, radioactive warning labels and markings in German, along with the Saeder-Krupp logo.

  Oh my gods, he thought. It's a nuke!

  "Now," Alamais' thought-voice said, "prepare for your final journey."

  Talon felt a surge of magical power from the dragon overcoming his will, overcoming his defenses and driving him down into darkness. He tried to fight against it, but it was too powerful. He felt his grip on consciousness fading, then everything went black.

  18

  In his dreams, Talon soared. He imagined once again he was a mighty creature, flying high over the Earth. The ground below stretched out in all directions like a fantastic patchwork. The air flowed over his wings as he glided on the thermal currents, supported by the power of his magic. The magic flowed as strongly as the warm air itself.

  Magic was everywhere, a part of everything. He could sense its flow as clearly as he sensed everything else, his perceptions expanded far beyond those of a mere human. To Talon, it was like a blind man given the gift of sight, except in his case it was more than just one sense, it was many. It was clear vision and hearing, a sense of smell that could pick up odors of grass, flowers, and animals far below, a sense of emotion, of space and time, of magic and thought. All the sensory impressions were so intense as to be nearly overwhelming.

  He approached the majestic peaks of some mountains, feeling the winds change. The temperature dropped and he could sense the flow of powerful magic around these mountains, his home. He circled around a broad plateau on the tallest peak before slowly gliding in for a landing there. Folding his wings close to his body, he then made his way into the dark cave opening that awaited him.

  The interior of the cave was cool and dark, a pleasant contrast to the warmth and sunlight outside. Its stone walls were worn smooth from centuries of erosion and, Talon sensed, from subtle and careful shaping through magic. Embedded in the walls were crystals, some mere flecks, others the size of a human's entire torso, all the colors of the rainbow, all of them gleaming in the light coming from the mouth of the cave. They were beautiful; more than that, they were powerful. Talon could sense the energies inherent in each of the crystals, the auras that flickered around them, shedding a warm astral light in the cavern.

  In the center of the cave was a deep pit dug into the warm sand, a cool and comfortable place to rest. Scattered around the pit were gleaming objects: sacks spilling over with gold and silver coins, sparkling gemstones, trinkets, and jewelry forged by small and clever hands. Mementos and tokens from those paying homage and those foolish enough to challenge him. Each represented a memory, and Talon found he liked to view them and
recall those memories often.

  He moved to rest from his travels when he heard a sound outside the cavern. A loud roar shook the air, making crystals vibrate and hum. The sound of it was unmistakable: a challenge. Anger fired Talon's blood as he turned and left the cavern to find out who dared to challenge him on his own ground. The roar spoke to the predator instinct within him and called him to answer, called him to battle.

  Leaving the cave, he threw back his head and roared an answer to the challenge. He could see the challenger now as he approached: another male, large and powerful. His scaly hide gleamed golden in the sunlight, his wings glinted as they caught the light. His teeth were like daggers and his talons like swords. But Talon was not afraid. He had been challenged and to show fear was to admit defeat. He would not be overcome by this challenger, especially not by this one. With a mighty sweep of his wings, he took to the air to meet the challenge.

  They would use no spells, no magic or power except the strength of their own muscles, the sharpness of their own weapons and the cunning of their own minds. It was the way of things, and had been since the beginning of memory. There would be no quarter, and no mercy. Talon rushed forward to meet his foe.

  "Boss!" a voice called to him. It seemed familiar somehow, but Talon ignored it in the rush of battle.

  "Boss!" it came again. "Talon, you've got to listen to me! You've got to wake up! But don't move, and don't open your eyes. Listen to me, boss, you've got to wake up!"

  Talon felt a feathery touch on his face and stirred. The image of the battle faded and he found himself listening to the voice that spoke in his mind.

  "Hmmm? Aracos?" he thought.

  "Yeah, it's me." the spirit said. "Listen, boss, stay very still. Don't let them know you're awake."

  Talon nearly bolted completely awake as memory of recent events flooded back into his mind.

  "Alamais! The dragon . . ."

  "Yeah." Aracos said. "I thought you and the others were goners for sure. Last thing I saw before I took off was the dragon getting ready to cast some kind of spell. I thought for a second he was going to frag everybody, but he must have just put you to sleep. I could still sense you through our link."

  "What happened?" Talon asked. "Where are we?" He was completely awake now, although he obeyed his ally's counsel and kept outwardly calm, neither moving nor opening his eyes. He could feel the cold weight of chains around his wrists and he could feel a faint vibration and swaying from the floor. They were moving.

  "You're on a train, headed for Berlin." Aracos said. "You, Boom, Hammer, and that Silverblade guy are chained up to the bomb Alamais and his Runenthing buddies were playing around with."

  "A nuke." Talon said.

  "Looks like. There are a couple of guards in the train car with us, but it looks like they're mundanes. There's also some kind of enchantment on the bomb, but I can't make heads or tails of it. I've never seen anything like it before."

  "You sure the guards are mundanes?" Talon asked. "They couldn't be masking from your sight?"

  "Could, be." Aracos replied. "But they're not astrally aware, so they can't see me at all."

  Good. Talon focused his concentration, relaxing his body even more. He needed a better look at things, without opening his eyes or giving away that he was awake. He went into a trance and allowed his astral form to slip free of his physical body, leaving it virtually comatose. That would keep the guards focused while he and Aracos got some things done.

  As he entered the astral plane, Talon saw his ally standing beside his physical body in wolf form. He could also see the others, chained as he was to the metallic cylinder of the nuke inside the train car. Their auras showed that they were unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. There was some kind of spell affecting them, most likely keeping them knocked out for the rest of the trip.

  There were two other men in the car. They wore body armor and carried rifles cradled in their arms. They also wore heavy-looking swords at their waists. Both men were heavily bearded and Nordic-looking. Talon noticed that both of them had some cyberware; dark patches in their aura showed the presence of artificial implants in their heads. They didn't appear to have any other implants to speak of, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous.

  "What's the situation?" Talon asked his familiar spirit.

  "After the dragon KOed the rest of you, I went back to the van with Trouble and Val and we got the frag out of there. Val sent up another drone to keep an eye on things at the train yard, and we saw them load you on the train with the bomb. I could tell you were still alive at least, so we needed to get you out of here. Val pulled in some favors and got us the use of a chopper. She and Trouble are following the train while I slipped in to find out how you were doing. Now we've got to get you all out of this place."

  "Easier said than done." Talon said. "The others still aren't awake. Did you remove the sleeping spell from me?"

  Aracos shook his shaggy head. "Wasn't me." he said. "There wasn't any spell on you when I got here."

  "Hmmm." Talon mused. "Well, I can try to deal with the spell on the others, but I've got to be on the physical plane for that, which means dealing with the guards."

  "I think you and I can handle the guards." Aracos said. "There's only two of them, and they don't know you're awake. Doesn't look like they've got any magical protection."

  "True. Okay, here's the plan."

  A few moments later, Talon's astral form returned to his physical body. He carefully pretended to remain unconscious, but kept in mind where he'd last seen the guards. Any moment now, Aracos would go into action.

  Talon heard a deep growl from one side of the train car and then one of the guards saying something to the other in German. Talon didn't have his German chip active, but by the tone of surprise in the guard's voice, it wasn't too hard to guess what he'd said. Talon opened his eyes and went into action.

  As they'd planned, the guards had turned to look in surprise at the ghostly wolf that suddenly appeared behind them. Talon concentrated and focused on the two men. One of them heard a faint noise from the chains as Talon moved and started to turn back, but he was too late. Talon's spell struck both guards instantly and overcame their wills, forcing them down into unconsciousness much like his own chained companions.

  "Nice job." Aracos said.

  Talon held his hands up in front of his face, staring intently at the chains.

  "Shatter." he whispered, focusing a bolt of magical force against the chains. They broke apart with a popping sound and clattered to the floor. As he got up, Talon checked his headware systems. They were all operating normally. His chronometer showed that he'd been out for a few hours. He opened up a channel on his commlink.

  "Team Two, this is One. Over." he said quietly.

  "Thank God!" he heard over the link. "One, this is Two. What's your situation?" Trouble asked.

  "Could be better." Talon replied. "I'm loose, and Aracos and I have taken care of our guards. The others are still out. I'm going to try to wake them. How are things from your end?"

  "We're keeping up." Val broke in. "This bird can pace the train you're on all day long, but we haven't exactly got unlimited fuel. You're also headed through some fairly rough terrain, which is making things kind of interesting. You want us to come down and pick you up?"

  "Sounds good to me." Talon said. "How do you want to work it?"

  "Rooftop pickup's probably our best bet." Val said.

  "We can lower you a ladder and pace the train."

  "All right. I'll signal when we're ready."

  "Roger that." Val said and Talon closed the link.

  Bending down near where Boom lay, he focused his senses on the astral plane once more and examined the aura of the spell around his friend. It was a powerful one, very powerful. He'd never seen anything quite like it before. But then, this was the magic of a dragon, probably a great dragon. Still, he had to try and break the spell. There was no way he could get the others out while they were unconscious.

/>   "Aracos, I need your help here." he called to his familiar.

  Aracos settled on Talon's shoulder in his falcon form. "Looks tough." was all he said after examining the spell.

  "I know." Talon held his hands out over Boom's head and chest and focused on breaking the spell. He threw his own will against the spell's energies, drawing on Aracos' power as well. The spell was powerful, more powerful than anything Talon had encountered before. All his efforts were having no effect. But he had to overcome it, or else leave everyone else behind, and that was something Talon was not willing to do.

  He redoubled his effort, focusing on the structure of the spell, on pulling it apart. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he could hear the blood roaring in his ears. Then something broke. He felt the spell yield, grabbed onto that slight weakness and pushed with all his strength. The seconds ticked by like hours, but the spell slowly dissolved and his companions began to awaken.

  "Look sharp." Talon told them. "We're getting out of here in a hurry. We're on a train bound for Berlin and riding with some nasty company." He jerked his chin toward the tapered cylinder of the bomb. Almost immediately, the others were fully awake and ready.

  "So how are we getting out?" Boom asked.

  "Val and Trouble are following in a chopper." Talon explained. "They can pick us up off the roof."

  "What about one of your air spirits? Couldn't they help us out?"

  Talon shook his head. "I can't feel any of my servitor elementals. Alamais must have completely disrupted them somehow. How about you, Silverblade?"

  The elf likewise shook his head. "No, nothing."

  "Then we're on our own." Talon said.

  "And unarmed." Hammer added.

  For the first time, Talon noticed that they'd been relieved of their weapons and ammo belts. His hand automatically went to his side and found Talonclaw was missing.