by R. L. King
DEDICATION
To Dan, my best friend.
PROLOGUE
AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
NEAR KOOKYNIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Toby Boyd was making surprisingly good time zooming across the Outback when the desert tried to kill him.
One moment he was rolling along, looking forward to some good beer and good conversation. The next, the parched, cracked ground lurched up, tossing his ancient little dual-purpose Honda bike into the air like a child’s hand poking at toys from under a blanket.
The dwarf let go of the handlebars, deciding in midair to not to be near it when it—and he—landed.
Crap! I’m gonna die in the middle of nowhere!
The harsh summer sun beat down on the dusty, wide-open Outback plain with merciless disregard as the nearby landscape bucked and roiled, chunks of rock bigger than cargo vans scraping and smashing against each other like some kind of discordant geological orchestra.
Boyd hit the ground hard, his shoulder jarring painfully against the rutted dirt road. He rolled a couple of times, and heard the crash as the Honda slammed down a few meters from him. Normally that would have concerned him, given that he was a long way from camp and it was his only transportation, but right now he had more important things on his mind.
Like how he’d managed to miss the manastorm bearing down until it had been right on top of him.
Dust billowed all around him; he couldn’t even see the bike anymore, and every time he tried to rise, the ground surged up again and dumped him back on his ass. Clamping his eyes and mouth shut against the stinging grit, he dropped to all fours and scrabbled blindly forward.
It couldn’t be a very big manastorm: if it was, somebody back at the Shiawase camp would have noticed it approaching, even if he hadn’t. Damn it anyway—all he’d wanted to do was take a quick side trip to visit his sister while they were relatively close by. He hadn’t seen her in years, and given how much the bikie group she ran with traveled around, he’d decided to seize this chance to catch up while she was staying put for a while. It had been a last-minute thing, and his colleagues back at the camp hadn’t been happy about it at all, but the project was ahead of schedule, and he was due for some R&R. He told them he’d be back before nightfall and set off on his little bike in the direction of Emmy’s compound.
And now here he was, getting buffeted around by an angry planet fueled by angrier magic, and he still wasn’t out of the woods. The ground cracked in front of him, opening a chasm a meter across and several meters long. Rocks and dust cascaded down into it, and Boyd nearly followed—right before another heaving roll wracked the earth and slammed the edges back together again with a sound like thunder. The terrified dwarf caught himself at the very last moment before sliding over what had been an edge a second ago; clawing at the ground with his stubby fingers, he was glad he’d dropped to all fours instead of trying to walk. Even as low to the ground as he was, he’d have been crushed into dwarf paste if he’d fallen into that chasm.
“Frag, frag, frag!” Boyd muttered as he kept crawling. If he’d been more of a mage, he might have been able to huddle up under a barrier and wait it out. Manastorms were a fact of life in the Outback, something that everybody who braved the “Big Red” had to be prepared to deal with. There were a lot of ways to deal with them: spotting them with enough time to stay out of their way, outrunning them, getting underground, or using magic to mitigate their effects were some of the big ones. Unfortunately for Boyd, he’d struck out on the first three, and the fourth was out of the question, since the extent of his magical abilities consisted of some astral perception and a pretty good expertise in parabotany. The latter was why he was here in the first place: a field trip with some colleagues from Shiawase to hunt down some of the Outback’s more interesting flora for study.
And if I’d stayed where I belonged in the first place, I wouldn’t be dodging fun-size earthquakes now, he thought, squinting into the swirling dust and barely throwing himself out of the way of a falling rock the size of his head. He coughed and spat out a wad of choking red dirt.
As manastorms went, at least this one was straightforward: having the earth toss you around like a chew toy was no party, but it beat the hell out of having your skin flayed off your bones, or being turned into a rabbit in the middle of a crowd of hungry dingoes. Yeah, those things happened, and a lot worse. The only thing consistent about manastorms in the Outback was that they existed, and, if you were the least bit cynical, that they had an uncanny way of fragging you over at the most inopportune times possible. Aside from that, all bets were off. If it was something magic was capable of doing, you could bet your ass that someplace around the Outback had been hit by a manastorm that did just that.
Boyd took advantage of a momentary lull in the storm’s intensity to scramble to his feet and try to take a look around. All he managed to do was get dust in his eyes before he was unceremoniously dumped on his ass again. A cone-shaped spike of rock thrust up almost directly underneath him; he scrambled away from it and started crawling again. With his limited resources, his best hope was that the storm was one of the small ones, so he could escape its radius if he kept going in the same direction.
Yeah, if a rock doesn’t crack my head open like a melon first. He thought of Emmy, picturing her craggy face and cheerful smile. The irony didn’t escape him that the first time in years he’d actually tried to seek out anyone in his family, the very planet had protested against it.
He wondered what it would do if he tried to look up his ex-wife.
Abruptly, silence.
It took Boyd a moment or two to notice that the earth wasn’t moving anymore, and even the dust was quickly settling. He stayed put for a couple more minutes, then tentatively got up. When everything remained where it was supposed to be, he sighed in relief and began looking for his bike. He’d been luckier than he should have been: this manastorm looked like one of the small, quick ones. He decided if the tough little bike was still functional, he’d keep going and see Emmy rather than turning back.
He spotted it lying on its side about twenty meters away. The air was still full of dust, but from here it didn’t look too bad. At least it was intact. Picking his steps carefully, he moved toward the bike.
He’d made it about halfway when he felt it.
Toby Boyd wasn’t much of a mage. Even his ability to detect magic wasn’t terribly well developed—it got him by, and since his job was more focused on his skills in other areas, it was all he needed. But even he couldn’t miss the sudden strength of a magical aura that nearly broadsided him as he stumbled toward his fallen bike. He stopped, his gaze darting around as if expecting the manastorm—or worse, a different, more dangerous manastorm—to be rolling back in on him.
Instead, he saw a hole.
He was sure there had been no hole there before. It cut down into the earth at around a forty-five-degree angle, and was almost big enough to be classified as a cave. In fact, for someone Boyd’s size, it was a cave. The aura, whatever it was, was coming from inside it.
He approached with caution, still unconvinced that the manastorm had passed by, and peered inside. Dust swirled around in the darkness, but even so, Boyd could see that the cave wasn’t very deep. He shifted over to astral sight and took another look, and that was when he saw it.
It lay on the earth at the rear of the small cavern, maybe two meters or so in: too far for the dwarf to just reach in and grab it, but too tantalizingly close to ignore. He couldn’t make out what it was, except that it wasn’t very big. Around a third of a meter long at maximum, and oddly shaped. The magical waves it sent off were strong, pulsing to his astral sight.
He made a fast decision: before his reasonable sense
of self-preservation could talk him out of it, he pulled a deep breath, darted inside, snatched up the object, and ran back out, all the while expecting the newly-formed cave to come crashing down around his head, like a trap. He was actually surprised when it didn’t—in less than ten seconds, he was back out in the blazing sun, the item clutched in both hands.
Boyd was no expert in such things, but he had no doubt that it was some sort of native artifact, probably made by Aboriginal hands. It resembled a coiled serpent, crisscrossed with intricate carvings and painted figures. He had no idea how old it was, but despite the fact that it had been buried under tons of earth until a few minutes ago, it showed no signs of wear or encrustation of dirt or grime. Even so, he knew it was very, very old.
He didn’t know how he knew that, but he didn’t even think to question it. Its aura pulsed strong and radiant; furthermore, the thing itself hummed in his hands, like an electrical current was running through it. Since, as far as Boyd knew, there were no electric Aborigine artifacts, this had to be something important.
He swallowed, looking down at it. The sun beat down on the back of his unprotected neck, but he barely noticed. His mind was far away, turning over possibilities.
Whatever else this thing was, it was big juju.
That could mean a lot of things, if he played his cards right.
It meant that his life could finally change.
He’d have to be careful, though. He knew the living earth could conceal magical energy, which was why nobody had noticed it before. But now, if he could sense it, then maybe others could too. He needed to get it under cover, and fast. And then…
And then he’d have time to consider his next options.
Carefully tucking the serpent into in his satchel, Boyd hurried to his bike. He picked it up and thumbed the ignition. For the second time today, something went right for him: the hardy little engine roared to life.
As he rumbled off in the direction of Emmy’s location, he allowed himself to hope that maybe this might be an omen for things to come.
CHAPTER 1
UNKNOWN LOCATION, SEATTLE
Richard Ortega thought he might have two weeks to live.
It might be a bit longer if the results were a little slower in working their way through the system. How pathetic that he was forced to pray for the glacial pace of bureaucracy now, when usually he considered the stumbling blocks it placed in his path a frustrating waste of time.
No matter how long it took for the results to surface, however, it was inevitable that they would do so. He couldn’t sweep this one under the rug, bury it in the Matrix somewhere, divert its funding to other sources. There were too many people involved, too many reports already winding their way to their final destinations, too many data trails and tests in the process of being run. So far, all of these disparate bits of information existed separately, and no single piece taken on its own would raise any red flags to anyone who might take an interest in them. But soon, too soon, all the data would come together. When it did, his failure would be visible for all to see.
He looked down at his desk, his fingers moving with spasmodic urgency as they swiped aside a series of AR windows showing blocks of text, neat columns of numbers, and page after page of complex arcane diagrams. All of them were now showing him the exact same thing—his impending, catastrophic failure. He ran a finger around the damp collar of his Executive Suite shirt, which suddenly seemed too tight, despite its custom tailoring.
He had been so fragging careful. He’d brought on talented experts, made sure they had everything they needed, and kept a close eye on their progress to ensure everything was going as planned. This was a high profile project, with results that would be available not only within the company, but to outside consultants. That made it particularly important that everything be done right: Ortega’s superiors didn’t look kindly on results that cast the corporation in anything less than a fully positive light. This project had the potential to catch the eyes of those who could finally recognize Ortega’s abilities, his loyalty, and his dedication to the ideals of the corporation. It had been too long since anyone had shone a light in his direction, and this project would be his ticket to everything he deserved.
Or it would have been, if he hadn’t made a crucial mistake.
His right hand clenched into an involuntary fist as the offending AR slid onto the top of his desk. It was an intricate formula, the design of a summoning circle of a type that had never been attempted, due to the danger to both those performing the ritual and anyone who might be in the path of what it summoned if the ritual team should lose control of it. Similar rituals were performed in the deepest reaches of the corp’s magical R&D labs every day, and sometimes even those less risky versions failed. Sometimes people died. That was an unpleasant but necessary side effect of pushing the boundaries of magical research. However, another unpleasant side effect, he knew, was that failure on the scale of what would soon come to light simply wasn’t tolerated in this subset of the corporation’s culture.
In two weeks—maybe more, maybe a bit less—the results would all come together. A team would be assembled to attempt the summoning, and a cadre of outside experts would be on hand to view the results.
And it was all going to fail.
Ortega didn’t know how Marques had found out about it, but the meeting a few days ago hadn’t been a pleasant one. Marques was two levels above Ortega’s manager in the org chart, high enough in the food chain that when he summoned you for a meeting, you showed up without asking questions.
Even if that meeting was held at a clandestine conference room in a remote area outside the city.
It was blackmail, pure and simple. Marques had somehow found out about the impending failure. He had the power to make the whole mess disappear, to cancel the project (citing budget constraints, or some similar unlikely corporate-approved reason) before the ritual ever saw the light of day. He had the power to save Ortega’s career—and probably his life.
It wouldn’t come free, of course. The proposed cost was one that Ortega had no idea how he would pay—but he didn’t have a choice. He’d have to find it somewhere. But even after he’d added up the value of all his personal assets and everything he thought he could get away with embezzling from his department’s funding, the total still fell far short of the mark. He grew more desperate as the time window grew shorter and shorter, and with only a little more than a week left, he contemplated another meeting with Marques to beg for more time to pay off the favor.
He’d nearly made the call when earlier today, his salvation had appeared in the form of a message from someone he hadn’t even thought about in more than twenty years.
He pushed aside the AR showing the faulty formula, accessed a private, encrypted datastore, and replayed the message. He had viewed it and then put it aside for a while, not daring to hope that it might represent a way for him to get out of this debacle alive. However, on second look, that tiny hope began to kindle. Perhaps the gods did look out for mere mortals after all.
Leaning back in his chair, he watched the familiar face of Toby Boyd, a dwarf who had been a member of his fraternity back in their university days, but who he’d promptly forgotten after graduation. His mind wandered as Boyd spoke, explaining what he wanted and what he was willing to offer to get it. It wasn’t until the view switched to the item in question that Ortega leaned in to examine it more closely.
No, he hadn’t been wrong. He wasn’t entirely certain what the object was—much of what gave it its value couldn’t, by its very nature, be conveyed via an AR message—but he was enough of an expert in magical artifacts to know that if it was genuine, it was very old and very valuable. Certainly worth a small fortune—enough that he could sell it, or maybe even present it to Marques in exchange for his assistance. Or, more likely, he could get enough money out of its sale to bypass Marques entirely and pay the right people to help him disappear and never be found again. Ortega hadn’t risen as far as he had by
being naïve; he had no illusions about Marques’s plans to follow through on his promise once he had the money. Either way, though, if the coiled stone serpent was genuine, then his imminent death might not prove to be so imminent after all.
With the artifact in hand, he’d have a short time to consider his options before making a decision. But first, he had to have it in hand. And that meant there were things that needed to be done. Things that needed to be done quickly and quietly, without using corporate funds or the normal channels. He needed operatives to perform the job for him: to do what Boyd asked and to follow up on obtaining the item. Toby Boyd wasn’t stupid: he had revealed just enough to pique Ortega’s curiosity, but not the actual location of the prize.
So, he would need deniable assets—even more deniable than usual, since he couldn’t afford to let his superiors get wind of what he was up to—to do the job for him.
He knew just the asset for the job.
He smiled, but it wasn’t a cheerful smile. It was a cold smile, the sort that one might wear when contemplating a well-deserved fate for an old enemy. Calling up another private file, he sorted through a series of pages until the one he sought hovered in front of him. The accompanying holopic showed a man with dark hair, sharp features, and eyes that glittered with cynical intelligence. He studied the file for a moment, his smile widening.
He’d approached this particular asset in the past on more than one occasion, and on every one of those occasions, the man had turned him down. Not just turned him down, but turned him down with a level of contempt bordering on insult. Apparently the man had a conscience when it came to removing magical artifacts from their owners with…extreme prejudice.
Notes added to the file indicated that its subject was no longer in the shadowrunning business. Instead, he now split his time between teaching university-level thaumaturgy in England and doing various freelance projects for various organizations, most commonly the DIMR and the Draco Foundation. No doubt if he were offered this particular job, he would turn it down once again. There was no reason in the world why he would have any interest in it.