shadowrun 40 The Burning Time

by Stephen Kenson

  "That’s what you came for," she said, pointing to one of the cages near the middle of the shaft, about five or six meters above them.

  Talon looked up at it.

  "My gods, Jase!" he whispered. He turned to Vi. "How. . .?"

  "You’re asking me? You’re the mage. You came to find him, and there he is. Now all you have to do is get to him. Wish I could help, but there’s nothing more I can do."

  "You’ve done more than enough," Talon said. "It’s up to me from here." Too bad I can’t fly, he thought, looking down into the pit. He even tried putting all his will into getting himself aloft. Nothing happened. He tried a levitation spell, but that too failed. It looked like he was going to have to do this the hard way.

  He drew Talonclaw and held the blade in his teeth. Then he touched the crystal claw pendant around his neck, whispering a silent prayer to whatever gods there were as he leapt out into space. He grabbed the chain of the closest hanging cage and started to climb up, which immediately drew the attention of the gargoyles circling overhead. One of them banked toward Talon as he climbed onto the top of the next-nearest cage. Some of the occupants of the cages cried out and rushed to the bars when they saw him, while others paid no heed, remaining huddled on the floor or against the bars.

  As the gargoyle came shrieking in, Talon leapt for the flat top of another cage, landing with a thud and grabbing at the chain so he wouldn’t roll off. The thwarted gargoyle shrieked in anger and banked around for another pass as Talon started climbing, hand over hand, up the chain. As the creature swooped in, Talon extended one hand and focused on a manabolt spell, but once more, nothing happened. Damn! His magical abilities were obviously limited on this particular metaplane.

  The gargoyle slashed at Talon as it flew past, leaving three lines of blood along his arm and shoulder. Hanging on to the chain with one hand, Talon grabbed his dagger with the other, waiting as the gargoyle swooped in again. He glanced toward the other gargoyles circling above and below him. Why weren’t they attacking, too? Then the creature swooped at him with a shriek. At the last moment, Talon thrust upward, his mageblade sinking deep into the stony flesh. When he pulled the blade out with a jerk, the gargoyle spun out of control and plunged into the pit below. With a grimace, Talon put the blade between his teeth again and resumed climbing.

  When he was high enough, he jumped to the next cage. He grabbed at the chain, but missed, losing his balance and tumbling over the edge. He scrambled to grab the upper part of the cage, then held on for dear life as the pit yawned below him. The motion set the cage to swaying slightly as Talon struggled to climb back up.

  Suddenly, he felt hands reaching for him from one side of the cage. He looked up and saw a withered old visage with filthy white hair, but it was impossible to make out whether the figure was male or female. It wore rags and reached for Talon with long, bony fingers.

  "Please," it croaked, "help me!"

  Fighting down a wave of revulsion, Talon kicked away from the cage and pulled himself up onto the top of it, ignoring the cries and pleas for help. He dropped flat as another gargoyle swooped in, missing him by mere centimeters. Taking hold of the chain with one hand, he pulled himself to standing. He held Talonclaw in his other hand, waiting for the gargoyle to move in again. When it did, he ducked down and slashed up, slicing into its leathery wing. It spiraled out of control and plunged into the pit. Talon again began climbing up the chain.

  Jase’s cage was the next one over. Talon could see him slumped inside. Jase didn’t seem aware of Talon or anything else going on around him. When Talon had climbed high enough, he began to swing the chain, building up enough momentum to carry him the remaining distance. Then he leapt out into the air.

  Something slammed into him forcefully in mid-leap. One of the other gargoyles, observing the fate of its fellows, had bided its time, waiting to strike when Talon was the most vulnerable. Spinning out of control, Talon threw one arm around the neck of the gargoyle and held on with all his strength. The creature tried to shake him off, but Talon’s weight was unbalancing it.

  The two of them crashed down onto the top of one of the cages, the gargoyle shrieking and thrashing its wings. Talon felt one wing-beat slash open his cheek and another cut across his thigh. He brought his weight to bear and flipped the gargoyle onto its back, then struck downward with Talonclaw. The enchanted dagger drove straight through the gargoyle’s body, piercing the metal of the cage. The creature howled and shuddered, then lay still.

  "Tal?" came a voice from within the cage.

  "Jase!" Talon called, leaning over the side.

  "Oh, Tal, thank gods." It was Jason Vale, looking up at him. His face was dirty and his dark hair disheveled, but his green-gold eyes and his expression were just as Talon remembered. Tears of joy glistened in his eyes as he looked up at Talon.

  "You heard me," he said. "You finally heard me."

  "Hang on, Jase," Talon said. "I’m going to get you out of here." He meant what he said even though he really had no idea how to do it. The cages didn’t appear to have locks, or even doors. They were of a single piece as if they had been woven or forged that way. He had to act, though. It was only a matter of time before he was attacked again. Then he heard a strange noise and turned to see something sizzling and smoking on the surface of the cage. He heaved the body of the gargoyle off and saw that some drops of blood were smoking and eating into the metal of the cage like acid.

  He looked down at his chest and saw that the bloodstain was dry and shrinking. He brought a hand up to the wound the first gargoyle had inflicted on his arm and smeared some more blood on the cage. It hissed and smoked like the first, and Talon smiled.

  "Stand near the side of the cage, Jase!" he cried out. Then he began to draw a thin line in blood along the top, creating a circle about a meter in diameter. The line of blood smoked and began eating through the metal. Within moments, the inscribed area tumbled into the cage with a clang. Talon reached down with one hand, and Jase reached out to clasp it. He felt a surge go through his body as he pulled Jase out of the cage and onto the roof. Tears were pouring down his cheeks, stinging him where the gargoyle had cut him.

  "We’ve got to get out of here," Talon said. "Are you strong enough to jump across to the next cage?"

  "There’s another way out," Jase said. "Do you trust me?"

  Talon looked into those deep green eyes, recalling the time Jase had saved his life, glowing like an angel.

  "With my life," he said.

  "Then jump."

  "What?"

  "Take my hand and jump. It’s the only way." Jase extended his hand to Talon, who took it and held on tightly.

  "I love you," Talon said, then leapt out into space. Together, they plunged down, down into the bottomless pit. As they fell, Talon looked up and saw the iron cages, opening up like strange, mechanical flowers and the people in them also leaping out into the air, with the shrieking gargoyles in hot pursuit.

  They seemed to fall forever. The sides of the pit gave way to an endless darkness all around them, with only a faint reddish glow far, far below to light the way. Talon could hear the strange cries of the prisoners, the gargoyles, and other things echoing in the distance. Jase gave his hand a little squeeze of reassurance, but the wind howled too loud around them to speak.

  Suddenly Talon felt something move in the darkness, a massive presence, like feeling a whale moving past in the water. There was a rush of chill wind and a howl of triumph that sent chills through his astral body.

  A voice echoed all around them. "Free! Free at last! The Ghostwalker has returned!"

  Talon caught a brief glimpse of bone-white scales, felt the rush of powerful wings, then his senses were consumed by a blinding light, red as blood.

  Talon’s awareness of the physical world returned slowly.

  "Talon?"

  He heard someone call his name as if from a very great distance.

  "Tal, can you hear me?"

  "Hmmm?" He opened his eyes an
d, when he saw the familiar face leaning over him, was instantly awake.

  "Jase! You. . .you’re here. I found you!" Talon reached out, but his hand passed through Jason’s body. That was when he noticed that Jase was somewhat transparent and floating a few centimeters off the ground.

  "You’re a spirit," Talon said slowly.

  "So it would appear," Jase said, looking down at his hands and turning them over. "Or maybe ‘ghost’ would be more appropriate. I did die, after all."

  "Jase, I. . ." Talon began.

  Jase’s ghostly form held up a hand. "No, me first. Tal," he said. "I’m so sorry I let you down."

  "You let me down?" Talon said. "Jase, I let you die!"

  "There was nothing you could have done. I should have been more careful. I hated to leave you all alone like that, but it looks like you’ve found some friends."

  Talon followed Jase’s gaze and saw Aracos in wolf form, sitting on his haunches and watching the spirit cautiously.

  "Is this. . .him?" Aracos asked suspiciously.

  "Aracos, this is Jason Vale," Talon said. "Jase, this is my familiar, Aracos."

  "Celtic for ‘falcon’," Jase said, then smiled. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, Aracos, even if the circumstances are kind of strange." Aracos inclined his head toward Jase, but otherwise didn’t move.

  Talon turned back to the ghost of Jason. "You said you’d been trying to contact me for a while. For how long, and why did you only get through to me now?"

  "A long time," Jase said, "but it’s a long story."

  Talon held up a hand. "I should check with the others first," he said. He moved to the doorway, hardly daring to take his eyes off Jase, lest he vanish like a mirage. He reached up and tore down the plastic curtain.

  "Boom, Hammer, Val, anyone out there?"

  In a moment, Hammer appeared at the doorway, Ingram in hand and ready for anything. "Welcome back, boss," he began. "Kilaro’s got some. . ." As he caught sight of the ghostly form of Jason Vale, Boom’s voice trailed off in mid-sentence. "Who. . .what is that?"

  "Get everybody together," Talon said, "and I’ll try to explain."

  A short while later, the whole team had gathered around the rickety old table in the kitchen of their hideout. Roy Kilaro looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes, but he also radiated an air of satisfaction. Val looked like she hadn’t been sleeping much either; she seemed distracted and more than a little taken aback by the new turn of events. It was hard for any of them to get used to the idea that the ghost of Talon’s long-dead boyfriend was there with them, "sitting" tailor-fashion in the air near the table. The whole team had seen a lot of strange things in the Awakened world, but this was a new one on all of them.

  With the magic level rising and all the craziness over the return of Halley’s comet and the SURGE, these were strange times for everybody in the UCAS, Talon thought. Apparently, even shadowrunners weren’t exempt.

  Jase glanced around the group, looking as self-conscious as a ghost could. "I guess Talon has told you all how I. . .died. What you don’t know is what happened afterward. I wanted more than anything to help Tal and to stay with him. I think that gave me a kind of anchor, a hold on the physical plane. Still, I found my astral body drawn through the metaplanes to that place where Talon found me, imprisoned inside a cage I couldn’t break."

  "Who imprisoned you?" Talon asked. "Those creatures I saw?"

  Jase shook his head. "No, they were just jailers of a sort, I think. I saw a woman, if you can call her that, who lived in the catacombs under Boston. I’d dealt with her a few times. . ."

  "Mama Iaga," Talon said immediately, and Jase’s eyes widened.

  "You know her."

  "Oh, yes. We’ve had some dealings with her before. The first time I met her, she said she knew you. I just didn’t know how well. Why did she capture your spirit? And why hold you like that?"

  "I don’t know. She never told me. She only said that I was very valuable to her. I tried calling out to you, but I didn’t know if you even heard me. I couldn’t tell how long I was there. Time passes differently on the metaplanes."

  "Almost fifteen years," Talon said softly.

  "Fifteen years. . ." Jase murmured. "You’re ten years older than I was the day we met."

  "That was almost half my life ago," Talon said.

  Jase gave Talon a longing look before returning to his narrative. "For some reason, I’ve been feeling stronger lately and that gave me courage. I gathered up all my strength to reach out to Talon, to call out to him, but my contact with the physical world was fleeting and confused. It was hard to get anything across."

  "You kept trying to tell me something," Talon said.

  "Yes. There’s something happening on the metaplanes, something is changing. I don’t know what, but I think Mama Iaga does. She’s been expecting it for some time, and she’s got some kind of plan. I think I’m part of it, but I don’t know for sure. I heard her say something about ‘the dead coming back’."

  "That may be true," Kilaro said. "Around the time Talon got back from. . .wherever, there was a live netcast from DeeCee about some kind of mass hallucination. People said they were seeing things coming out of that astral hole near the Watergate Hotel where Dunkelzahn died. Some said they saw a dragon emerge from the rift and fly off, and some said they saw other things, like a horde of spirits. The news cams didn’t pick up anything, though."

  Talon looked stunned. "A dragon," he said, turning toward Jase. "Just before we came out, I thought I sensed something move past us on the metaplanes, something big."

  Jase nodded. "I felt it, too."

  "Then it’s happening—what Mama Iaga predicted."

  "Great," Hammer said, "as if we didn’t already have enough trouble with Gallow and this virus drek."

  "Gallow?" Jase looked sharply at Hammer, then back at Talon. "Do you know Gallow?"

  "Yes," Talon said. "Do you?"

  "It’s a spirit bound to Mama Iaga. She kept it in one of the cages for a while, a powerful spirit."

  "Oh my gods," Talon said. Mama was controlling Gallow. That meant the spirit wasn’t just out for revenge. There was some other reason, something else behind it. He thought he knew what it was, and it gave him a chill.

  "What about the virus?" Talon asked Kilaro.

  "I’ve done some checking," Kilaro said, "and Cacti definitely isn’t looking for it, no matter what they might be telling everyone else. From the looks of it, they’ve been immunizing their own people against the virus and setting up for a siege. They’ve informed Knight Errant about the theft, but KE is swamped these days, trying to keep up with security for everything else going on in the streets these days."

  "Gods," Talon said, "is today the day? The anniversary of the Awakening?"

  Kilaro nodded. "You’ve been out for over fourteen hours, Talon. It’s December twenty-fourth. There’s all sorts of drek happening all across the metroplex tonight. Just about any one of those events would make a great target for some anti-Awakened terrorists like Alamos 20K or Human Nation."

  "And there’s no way for us to know who has the virus or what they’re planning to doing with it," Talon said. "We have to try and find Trouble."

  "But what about the virus?" Kilaro said. "Pandora could kill thousands of—"

  "What a minute," Jase broke in. "Did you say Pandora?"

  "Yeah. That’s what the virus is code-named," Talon said. "Why?"

  "Something else Mama said. She talked about ‘opening Pandora’s box on the night of the comet.’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, but could there be a connection?"

  "Maybe Gallow and Mama have the virus," Hammer said. "She sure as hell has the connections to hire runners to do the job."

  "That makes it all the more urgent that we find Trouble," Talon said, "and I think I have a way."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  "I really shouldn’t be doing this," Lt. John Brady of Knight Errant said to Boom.

  Brady flicked on the fl
ourescents in the sterile white and chrome room. "It’s against regs, and with all the other drek that’s been going down. . ."

  "Don’t worry, chummer," Boom said smoothly. "We’ll be in and out before anyone even notices. I really appreciate it." It was only five p.m., but on Christmas Eve a mere skeleton crew was on duty at the KE facility.

  "Well, I owe you one after what went down in the Rox last summer," Brady said. "Just don’t be too long, okay?" Boom, Talon, and Val followed him down a row of steel drawers built into one wall, with Brady stopping occasionally to check an ID tags

  "This is the one." He pulled out the long steel drawer and looked down at the form shrouded in black plastic.

  "Merry Christmas," he said, though no one laughed at his graveyard humor.

  "I hate morgues," Val said with a shudder as the lieutenant walked off, leaving them alone here. She wrapped her arms around her chest, and her eyes darted around like she thought a gang of spooks might attack at any moment.

  Talon understood how she felt. Morgues were creepy enough to ordinary people, but even more unpleasant to Awakened beings. The fact that so many of these bodies had met violent ends made the emotional impressions and lingering spirit influences even stronger.

  Talon momentarily wondered if Val’s unease had anything to do with her own latent magical abilities, which she’d lost as a teenager when she chose to get cybered up as a rigger. Like Talon, she had grown up in a conservative religious environment, but she only began fearing her magical gifts after she’d already crippled them by getting cyberware and abusing sims. Talon knew there were times when she regretted it. Perhaps moments like this were painful reminders.

  Boom checked the door while Talon unzipped the body bag. Inside was the charred corpse he’d seen in the ruins of Trouble’s apartment. He checked the datapad magnetically clipped to the drawer, but it revealed very little. The body was tagged only as "Jane Doe #12-61-754," and the cause of death was given as burns and smoke inhalation. The autopsy report indicated no signs of foul play, so the case was tagged as low-priority.