They checked the map, looking at the distances involved and timescales. As they started to look at the logistics of getting to Mount Ararat, the mood around them sobered quickly, and they realised that there was more going on here than they thought. Over the next few minutes they worked out that the locals had thought they were joking… you just didn't fly up to the mountain! From the subtext and people's reactions, it became clear that the mountain was somewhere you got invited to – not somewhere you turned up unannounced.
Strangely enough, Marius seemed to be happier with this turn of events, and was considerably more jovial when it appeared that the team wasn't going to the mountain after all. That mood was somewhat ruined through, when Hunter flashed up a map, showing their current location and a large black circle surrounding them on the map – their effective range with the fuel they had left. The line fell just short of Sochi to the north east, though they could reach Batumi; there was a fair amount of land to the east of them and they could get into the Trans-Caucus League – at least the western side of it. But they couldn't get back to the ranch.
As the team looked at their options, nobody looked particularly happy.
"If we end up going to Batumi, are we going to have to go and have dinner with Kulkachev? He might get annoyed if we don't show our respects a second time." Hunter didn't look like he wanted to pay his respects to anyone, but also didn't want a local warlord or crime kingpin pissed at him either.
"That's a good point. The other one is that if we try to land at the airport, the bribes are likely to be quite high – this is a very different craft to the old chopper – and we don't have an established history and transponder details yet." Marius looked around the team, to see if anyone had any other points to raise. "I don't like it. I do have a friend in Turkey though, I could maybe call him and see if he can help us out?" Kai bent forward and looked at the map with an intense expression for a few moments, then reached over to zoom the map in a little and get a better view. He sat back and steepled his fingers together, gazing off into the distance with his eyes unfocussed.
"Hunter. Just have a look around the eastern part of Armenia, will you? I'm sure I remember hearing somewhere that there was a vineyard or winery that was on a smuggling route. I'm not sure who they were aligned with, but the woman I was talking with was pretty emphatic that there was a route through there. I mean, it was a couple of years back now."
Hunter scrolled around, and did find a vineyard taking up several hundred acres of valley bottom, about sixty five kilometres north west of Mount Ararat. Once he had a name and a location, he pulled out his computer and cross-linked to the sat-phone then started a matrix search, calling on his new contacts in the shadow community. It didn't take him long to find some rumours and details. Nothing firm, but it certainly seemed to bear out what Kai thought. The rumours were, though, that the location was part of the opium route south, and were not likely to react well to people turning up unannounced. Marius offered to call a friend of his from Turkey to see if he could find some details of anywhere else to land, but Kai asked him to hold off – he had a hunch he wanted to play.
He found Commander Kawa and sat down with a fresh cup of the strong coffee for each of them, and started to chat. Explaining that they were heading to the east to get some more work done, but that they needed fuel to help them on their way, he showed them the map and their fuel range, explaining the problem he had, before outlining what he thought he knew about the vineyard, but making it clear that it was only rumour, and that he didn't want to risk causing trouble for anyone. The conversation took a good fifteen minutes of dancing around the subject, before Kawa finally admitted that the vineyard was aligned with the PKK – and that yes, he could make a call to introduce them.
By the time they'd finished negotiations and planning, it was getting on, and the team decided to stay the night, breaking out the tent and setting up for a night's sleep. Aware that he was going to be flying for most of the following day, Marius got his head down early while the rest spent some time socialising with the guerrillas. Tads grabbed Shimazu though, pulling him outside and explaining that she wanted to travel up to Russia to go and check on the base, but that she was uncomfortable leaving her body alone and unguarded that long. Shimazu told the others where they were going and then headed to the tent with Tads, watching as she settled down in her sleeping bag.
She quickly called the doctor at the base hospital and told her she was planning on coming – but not to wait for her for more than 90 minutes – if she hadn't got there by then, she'd run into trouble along the way. With that done, she relaxed, took a deep breath and then let her astral form rise up and out of her body.
She in turn saw him checking her over astrally, his sword a bright shining mass of power on the astral. When he nodded that he was ready, she headed north at speed, the kilometres blurring around her as she went. It was nearly two thousand kilometres to Samara, so she didn't have to worry about overshooting for a while, so she got some height and concentrated on her direction, ignoring the landscape mostly and keeping a watch out for astral foes. She spotted a large blot on the landscape after a while – the remains of the massive toxic spill that had blighted Russia a while back. It didn't look like it was active, more the remnants of a ravaged land.
In the main tent, Aswon, Hunter and Kai joined in the evening chatter by the light of a few kerosene lamps, swapping stories and news. Aswon had assimilated the basics of the language by a process of osmosis, while Hunter leaned upon his mnemonic enhancer, the gene-modified clonal tissue that had been implanted into him letting him soak up the language like a sponge until by the end of the night he was speaking like a native – including a number of colourful idioms. At around 21:00, people started to leave the main tent, heading back to their own sleeping areas.
"That's pretty normal in an area like this. A lot of rural communities are very early risers, up with the sun, settle at dark. Saves on fuel costs for lighting and heating. We should probably do the same," Aswon explained. The others nodded, and made their way back to the tent, finding Shimazu waiting for them with his sword ready, next to the unconscious body of the Shaman. Moving carefully to ensure they didn't bump into her or step on her they settled themselves down into their own sleeping bags and chatted quietly for a few minutes before gradually drifting off to sleep, leaving Shimazu on guard duty.
As Tads got closer, she slowed a little, stopping to get her bearings from rivers and mountains, and spotting for landmarks they had seen on their previous journey north. Just over an hour after setting off, she got close to the base, and started to cautiously descend, sinking out of the cloud cover and seeing the base laid out below her, the barracks blocks laid out around the parade ground, two identical battalion areas side by side, with the base facilities running along the top section of each. As she examined the area, she saw a number of spirits flitting around the area, and she paused her descent, trying to make them out.
She was pretty certain there were at least half a dozen spirits down there, maybe a few more, as they were racing around the buildings and disappearing from sight in and out of the woodlands. They seemed to be split between nature spirits, mostly forest-based she thought, and free spirits. None of them was as powerful as she was individually, but it wouldn't take many of them to mob her as a pack and overwhelm her. As she examined them, trying to determine any specific types or powers they were showing, she detected a sense of coldness about them. They seemed primitive in some way, bestial or primal. Raw. There was a sense of darkness around their beings, as if an echo of a violent and primitive time.
Her thoughts were born out when she spotted someone dragging some supplies out of the motor pool towards one of the storage shed, and caught a flicker of power from one of the circling spirits. A wheel on the trolley wobbled and then fell off, spilling supplies all over the roadway. As the soldier turned to gather them back up, another flicker of power sent him sprawling as he tripped over a small patch of oil spilt from one of the tumbled boxes, landing awkwardly and painfully on the concrete.
While she watched the scene, wondering if she should intervene or not, one of the patrolling spirits had noticed her and flitted about, attracting the attention of three others. They rose up towards her in a wedge, closing to engage her in combat. Tads decided to err on the side of caution and turned on her metaphysical heels, speeding off to the south as fast as she could. The spirits gave chase, but were nowhere near as fast as her, and she soon left them behind.
She travelled back to the guerrilla camp quickly, and on returning to her body sat up, telling Shimazu what she'd seen. She was back quickly enough that neither Kai nor Aswon were fast asleep, and the sound of talking roused them, so she restarted her story, telling them what she'd seen at the base. When done, she called the doctor, leaving her a message to describe that there were magical creatures in the area, but that it would take some greater effort to get rid of them.
The night passed uneventfully, and they were roused from their sleep in the morning by the sounds of the camp getting up and about, and being none too quiet about it. Clearly Aswon had been right, and they were up at dawn, getting their food and starting work for the day. Aswon and Hunter went for a run, drawing some incredulous looks from the guerrillas who clearly hadn't expected quite the turn of speed and show of stamina they saw. When they returned from their run up and back down the bottom of the valley, a few of the locals arranged for a race up to some bushes and back. They were fit and wiry, and had lived in the mountains all their lives – and had the experience to show for it.
On the other hand, both Hunter and Aswon had some specialist training, better than average nutrition and either cyberware or magical assistance that helped them out a great deal. The race was a close run thing, too close to call a clear winner really, especially with Aswon deliberately keeping his pace steady so he could actually watch where the young men put their hands and feet and how they moved over the loose shale surface so surely.
Over breakfast, Shimazu found Ceyda and asked her if she had any more leeches for sale. She looked at him oddly, before shaking her head in reply. Ignoring her bemused look, Shimazu told her that if she did get any more, he'd be interested in buying them at a fair price from her, and passed over his contact details to her just to make sure.
As soon as the team were aboard the tilt-wing and the doors sealed, Tads started her summoning, refreshing the spirit guardians that she was now able to place on each team member. With them planning on making it into Iran, and specifically Tehran – she wanted as much protection as she could, and as much time to recover from any magical drain as possible. The process wasn't made any easier by the lurching from side to side, and the roller-coaster like troughs and highs. She wondered if Marius had picked up some sign of enemy tracking, but was too busy summoning to say anything.
In the cockpit, Hunter was watching out of the screen with a big grin, as Marius decided to see what the craft could really do – that or he just wanted to blow off some steam and live a little. Either way, the mountains flashed by on either side, and he cleared ridges by scant tens of metres before dropping hard into the valleys beyond.
Aswon clung to the goggles, flicking the view around using the selector switch, eyes watering as the scene changed rapidly through the viewing prisms. Mountain tops flashed by, trees and bushes a blur of green, and then he saw something looking at him. Watching him, and more disturbingly keeping up with him. The goat was powering across the slopes of the mountain, slowly getting closer as the mountain pass narrowed. Aswon remembered the tremendous burst of speed of the para-goats across the water. This one looked close enough in size and shape to make him feel nervous.
"Marius, magical threat, PULL UP!"
The craft nosed up into a climb, rapidly gaining height and shooting out of the valley, rising above the mountains and into clear air. The others scrabbled for their gear, drawing swords or pistols and being ready for action, until Aswon could explain.
"I was having fun down there! That's the first real flying I've done for a while. It was only a goat!"
"If that goat decided to jump and ram your engine, how upset would you be if you had to replace all the propellers due to damage after they chopped it up?"
Marius grumbled, but realised that Aswon had a good point. The bony heads of the goats they'd encountered in Turkmenistan had been thick enough and sloped enough to bounce rifle fire. If the goat had managed to leap and hit the craft, it could well have caused damage before it met its demise. He flew above the mountains for the rest of the journey, giving everyone a smoother ride, but still low enough to avoid radar contact.
They journey into Armenia was uneventful – the stealthy design and the efforts of Marius more than enough to see them through the low-tech border, and they headed down towards their landing point. The area was somewhat dry, in the rain shadow of the highlands of Turkey, and the landscape was arid and a dusty tan in colour – at least until they crossed a ridgeline and saw the valley laid out before them. The whole valley floor was covered in large coloured squares, ranging in colour from a light to dark green, with some odd patches of brown thrown in.
As they rapidly closed the distance, the details started to resolve, and they saw kilometres of vines, laid out in neat parallel rows separated by small tracks. A few drones were slowly working their way down the tracks, narrow wheels supporting large overhanging boom arms that sprayed water down on the crops to either side, slowly travelling the length of each row before neatly turning and returning down the next track.
Marius pulled up a sensor view of the main road through the vineyard, and threw a ranging scale on it – showing that it was wide enough (barely) to land light aircraft on, and was certainly straight and long enough. However, their target was in the north east corner of the vineyard, where a large complex was sited. Huge towers rose up with a mass of pipes and catwalks criss-crossing them, and a whole pile of warehouses and store rooms were built up around them, while a large house lay on another axis. In between them all was a large, flat and very….helicopter-sized car park or goods yard. In fact, as they got closer they saw that it was very large – large enough to turn a full-sized articulated truck around in, or even a chopper like the MI-6. As Marius checked the sensor feed carefully as he approached, he wondered if the catwalks and construction around the fermenting towers would allow a blimp to be moored there…
They came in carefully, transitioning to vertical flight and demonstrating a text book landing, right in the middle of the tarmac. It only took a few moments, and they saw a couple of middle-aged men come out of the house and slowly amble towards them. Around the site, a few windows or doors opened and some younger workers appeared – mostly. They generally leaned up against the side of doorways or openings, and gave that look of someone with a weapon to hand, just out of line of sight. They didn't show any signs of aggression, though.
"Ok, Shimazu, with me please, everyone else stay under cover. Let's just get the fuel and get on our way." The others nodded to Kai, and Shimazu fell into step with Kai as they lowered the ramp and headed out and down to the tarmac to meet the welcome party. While they were crossing the tarmac, heading wide around the slowing rotors, they had a chance to check out the men approaching them – just like they were doing in return, Kai was sure.
Definitely middle-aged, somewhat pot-bellied, but still quite broad – the look of someone who has led a physically demanding life and has slowed down suddenly as the years caught up with them. Their clothing was basic, but hardwearing, looking home-made in fact. The others who were watching were more modern – jeans, t-shirts, jackets… but the two men coming over seemed to wear their old-fashioned clothing like a badge of honour.
"Welcome to Karas Wines. We're expecting you." The taller of the two men spoke, squinting at them with slightly rheumy eyes. "I understand you're just after a little fuel to help you on your way?"
"Yes, that's right. Our good friend Commander Kawa said that this would be a nice place to stop off for a quiet little break, without any…interference." Both he and Shimazu watched them carefully. Their body language was closed and somewhat suspicious, and neither had given their names or expressed anything other than basic polite greetings. Suspicion appeared to be the name of the game.
"Ahh, I think I know a Kawa, maybe a few. I'm sure they are fine fellows."
"So, what do you do to support the cause?" The second man spoke, his accent thick and difficult to understand. Kai almost gave a glib response, but managed to stop himself in time.
"We make deliveries of small to medium items, to help people out. High value goods to people in need, who might not be able to get hold of them normally. So import and export of various goods, to deserving people. After all, those louts on the border checkpoints can be so tiresome with their rules and regulations. It's not surprising that people might want a little discretion."
The two men grunted and exchanged a look, then the taller one gave a little nod. Two guys appeared almost immediately from one of the warehouses, dragging a large hose and headed for the fuelling port, connecting up and starting to fill their tanks.
The two men continued to talk to Kai, both sides being fairly non-committal while dropping hints about business that wouldn't incriminate themselves about anything specifically. A minute into the conversation, Hunter's voice came over the earbud.
"Kai, can you ask if the password that Kawa gave us is a one time job, or if we can come back?"
He waited for a few minutes, until he could work the question into the conversation naturally, and was surprised by their response.
"While you're on our side, it's good. You can come back." He wasn't sure what he'd said, but somehow they'd transitioned to being accepted as being on the same team. On reflection, that might not be so good, he thought – he still wasn't sure what their team was about, and picking sides in a war was not always a good thing. Especially if the 2nd side found out!
Refuelling took only a few minutes more, and once it was complete, Kai pulled out a credstick to pay for the fuel, authorised the transfer and politely said their goodbyes, heading back inside with Shimazu in tow.
"Ok, I think the natives are friendly, but let's not hang around and test their patience. Ready when you are, Marius!" Kai said as he hit the button to raise the tail ramp, strapping in quickly. They took off a little after 07:30, into the crisp morning air and continued to head into the rising sun as they flew eastwards. The further east they went, the greener the land became, and soon they were at the decision point – continue to head east towards Lankaran and the coast, or swing slightly north to head back to the ranch.
"Marius? What's our top speed in this?" Tads asked, over the comm system.
"If we push it, about 600 kph. We're not as stealthy that fast though… why?"
"I was just wondering if we can head up to Russia first, just to try and deal with some of those spirits. They're hurting people on the base, and they've got no way of defending themselves."
"We could… it's going to be over three hours flight time each way through, in a straight line course, and not accounting for any trouble. And it's going to use a lot of fuel. A lot."
"I get what you're saying, and I understand your concern, Tads," Kai smiled at her from across the troop bay, his words transmitted over the commlink far more clearly than his voice calling across the noisy aircraft interior. "But if we go, and something goes wrong, or we hit some snags, we'll miss our time slot in Tehran. I just don't think we can risk it. But as soon as we're done down here, it's my intention to head straight back up and help the Brigadier out." Tads nodded unhappily. She'd expected as much, but she felt that she had had to ask. Hunter, meanwhile, had worked out the routes, from either their current location or the ranch, heading out over the sea and then south down into Iran and over the mountains, heading towards Tehran.
"Well, if we're going down over the mountains first – shall we at least go to the smuggler stop first and get fuelled up. I know we'll use up some fuel getting to Tehran, but we should still have plenty right? And that way we don't risk dragging trouble back to them. From what we saw of them last time, they're not really well equipped to deal with it."
"Ja! I agree with Tads. The distance is pretty minimal, and I'd actually feel happier heading into that shithole with full tanks and not having to fill up on the way out. We've got no idea what we're going to run into."
"That doesn't answer the question on if we're going straight there, or stopping at the ranch to adjust cargo or have a break. I'm not sure we need any different kit, so I'm all for heading straight there. But, if anyone does want to go to the ranch, that's fine…" Kai threw the option out, and Marius took the opportunity to call Nadia on his sat phone. When she answered, he could hear the wind whistling past the microphone – she was outside somewhere, and he could hear a large and heavy engine in the background.
"Hey Marius! How are you?"
"Good, good. We're just looking at whether we should come back to the ranch or head straight on to the next job."
"Oh, well… if you're coming back here, can you make it after four this afternoon? I've got stuff all over the helipad at the moment." Marius wondered just what she had that could be scattered over his landing point, but after a moment of consideration decided that he'd either find out in good time or would ask her in person soon enough, and the important thing was that going back to the ranch looked to be off the books for now.
"No problem – we'll probably head straight down to Tehran then. Should be there for no more than two days if I have the timeline right, then we'll be back."
"Bring me something nice?"
"From Tehran? I'll have a look around, but don't expect much."
He rung off, hearing Nadia starting to shout at someone nearby and his curiosity was fanned again for a moment, but then he pushed the thoughts to one side and keyed up the internal comms.
"Nadia says not to come back to the ranch at the moment. She's doing something – not sure what – but the landing pad is out of action at the moment. So I guess we're going straight there."
"We can always stop with Rasheed and Narsin then? Under-cover, but within an hour of Tehran?"
"Good call, Tads. I could do with some time to do a little maintenance on the bird, check the intakes and such like."
"Aswon – do you have any more details on the job?"
"I don't, Kai – but let me call Spook and I'll see what I can get." Aswon patched through his phone to the main systems on the tilt-wing, making a call to Sing-Wan. On hearing that the team was heading to the target and getting ready, she promised to do some digging and get back to them soon. He tuned back into the conversation as Tads raised a point with Kai.
"When we get to the base, we should make sure we can get some hanger space. I'm sure Marius will want to do some work and things, but that means we can put a ward up on it to protect ourselves and our equipment from the spirits. We've proven we can do one quite quickly when we have to, but I'd rather know that Hunter and Marius are as safe as possible, given what we're facing."
"No argument from me!" called Hunter.
"Hey, do you think when we get there, we can ask the Brigadier for some of his scary nuclear ammunition to fight the spirits with? Might help?"
"That's possibly what caused the problem in the first place you know – not sure if we should fight fire with fire." Aswon shook his head. He didn't like the idea of firing rounds made of radioactive material around, and certainly not with wanton abandon into the earth.
"The inside of the craft is warded, yes?" Marius asked. "And that forms a barrier that spirits can't get through?"
"Pretty much right, yes. In astral space, it's like a solid material and you need to find a way around it or fight through it to pass." Aswon paused for a moment. "Why?" There was an edge of suspicion to his voice.
"So if I was flying along nice and fast, and ran into a spirit – I could ram it. And it would be like hitting a solid wall? A really solid wall, at high speed?" Marius sounded someone enthused at the idea of having a way to batter astral spirits with a massive airborne club.
That started a spirited ten minute conversation between the team, about the difficulties of actually hitting fast moving astral targets with the craft, especially when they could natively and intuitively move in all three dimensions at speed, without pesky things like drag, aerodynamics or g-forces getting in the way. They managed to shelve the plan for Aswon and Shimazu to have a side door each and hang out on harnesses, waving their magical weapons around as Plan B, or possibly Plan M.
Aswon's phone chirped, and a large message arrived, diverting them from the plans for aerial astral combat before anyone could get silly enough to suggest wing-walking… Aswon opened up the message and found a simple text file describing the known facts and confirming the timeline, and then a basic dossier. He waited for people to settle, and then started to read.
"Ok, a team hit a government facility in Karaj, it seems, and stole some data on a storage device. Best guess is that it's an actual computer system, so might be the size of a terminal or server, rather than optical chips. They got it out of the building, and to a team, who are responsible for sitting on it and getting it out onto the next stage of the journey via Tehran."
"The team are... oh she can't be serious. Ok, the team go by the handle 'unsubtle', looks to be a team of five. Leader is a human male, callsign 'Modulo'. Heavily augmented and reputed to be fast. Second is an ork called 'Mono', swordsman – she's one for you, Shimazu. Then we have 'Door', a male troll who normally carries axe and shield. Seems like they mostly favour up close and personal stuff. Ahh, magic support is from 'Gorgon', a dwarf spellslinger. And last of all is 'Dice', their driver and drone rigger."
"There's some detail hear about their rep, and it seems the name is well deserved. Very in your face and smash to bits kinda stuff going on. Property destruction, wet-work, hostile relocations. No main corporate sponsor or political affiliation, so they look just like a team willing to do what it takes to earn the Nuyen. Oh, and something here… they have a Saab Wolverine, whatever that is." Hunter got busy on the matrix while Aswon continued to detail a few of the jobs the team had been reputed to have done, which mostly confirmed that they were morally flexible if the money was right, but didn't seem to go out of their way to do evil acts – it was all just biz.
"Found it! Saab Wolverine, supplied to the Swedish and Norwegian army, and selected export companies. Looks like a fairly rugged APC with a turret weapon system, decent sized and good ground clearance. Looks pretty similar to the truck after we'd upgraded it, but more aerodynamic." Hunter flashed the pictures he'd found onto the displays, showing them the rugged looking vehicle hammering through an off-road course, along with sales information and number of marketing terms – it looked like Hunter had found the promo-video .
"Just a thought – maybe if we can find out who is picking up the item in Tehran, we can deal with them instead, and just meet these jokers and take the goods off their hands? Might save us a fight with an experienced team?" Marius floated the idea out to them as he dived lower, bringing the craft down to twenty metres off the sea as he approached the northern shore of Iran, the Alborz mountains rising up like a protective wall ahead of him.
"Good call, Marius. That might be a way to go. If the courier is a solo or small team, that would make our job easier. Even if we can just delay them with spirits or something until we make the pickup, that could work." A lurch made Kai's voice wobble, and he checked the display to see what was going on. The bump had been Marius having to suddenly increase height to clear a power line, missing it via a few metres as they thundered across the coast road, heading inland. The fifteen kilometres of coastal plain were crossed in ninety seconds, and then Marius was pulling up, their craft climbing up through the foothills and heading into the mountains proper.
Three minutes later they were well into the mountains, having climbed to 3500 metres in less than thirty kilometres of horizontal ground travelled. Marius felt a buffet on the wings, and saw a faint haze on the sensors ahead.
"Hunter, check the weather report." His voice was curt and distracted, like when he was piloting multiple drones at once. Hunter did a quick check and keyed up his microphone.
"Clear skies, only 1-2% chance of rain, low humidity, winds between 5 and 10kph from the north, coming in off the sea." The craft gave a little lurch again, turning abruptly east by ten degrees. Picking up from the conversation that something was wrong, Tads had a quick look out, checking for spirits or magical creatures. The tilt wing gave a little lurch again, and trembled.
"Getting winds of 40kph now, blowing from the north east, slowly changing – now coming from bearing 285. 283. She's fighting me."
"This is not normal wind. There's something out there, something creating a magical effect. It's not a spell I know, but it's one I've seen before, used to control the weather. Powerful one too. It's… well, it looks to be kilometres across." Aswon looked up at her suddenly, frowning. She confirmed the distance, and his eyes widened. That large an effect probably meant an entire team of mages, all casting from a circle ritually prepared – a way to focus their magical power as one to achieve a far greater effect.
"Do you think it's the Iranians have found us? Trying to make us crash?"
"I don't know, Aswon. Winds now gusting to 60kph, bearing 281. It's forcing us east, off course. I'm having to steer further and further to try and get us back on our bearing." The clouds were visible now, racing across in front of the cockpit, masses clouds racing across to buffet and shake them, pushing them east.
"Even if this isn't an Iranian ritual team, it's going to be noticed. There's a massive pile of clouds a few kilometres across suddenly appeared on a clear day, racing across the mountains at hundreds of kilometres per hour. That is NOT normal!" Nobody could argue with what Aswon said, when he expressed it like that.
"Do we fight it, or give in? If I turn to put the wind on our tail, we'll smooth out, but it's going to push us way off course. Or I can try to climb out and over it."
"Go up – let's see if we can get over the top. Maybe they won't be expecting that." Kai answered, cinching the straps on his safety harness just a little tighter. The others saw him and followed suit, as Marius put extra power in and started to climb, banking to the east to try and make use of the tailwind to climb out of the sudden storm.
A shape appeared out of the clouds to their port side, fading in from the grey cloud and gaining solidity as it closed. It was about five metres long, a winged serpentine body and flat broad head, coloured a dull copper. Big enough to still make Hunter to jump in surprise.
"Dragon, port side, four hundred metres and level!" He wasn't sure what else to do, other than observe it carefully. The dragon twisted its head slightly, wings beating strongly as it soared closer to them, and then a bolt of actinic fire belched forth from the large jaws, spearing down and to the right. For a few moments, the fire hung into the air before burning away to nothing, but the bright afterimage on Hunter's electronic retinas remained for a few seconds longer. He saw the wings fold suddenly and the creature arrowed down and underneath them, in the same direction.
"I think we've just been told to follow it down. Or head that way before we get shot down."
"Kai?"
"Do it. You're good, Marius, but we're not kitted out to do air to air with a dragon."
"It's not a dragon. It's a drake. Somewhat similar in physical appearance but very different background." Tads was peering through the prism and following the creature's progress downwards.
"Aren't they usually pets?"
"No – they're not, Hunter. They're definitely not pets. Perhaps favoured servants, perhaps useful employees. Sometimes prisoners, so I've heard. But not pets. I would treat them with respect. From what I have heard, they are nearly always closely tied to an actual dragon, and they are bad things to annoy."
"Well, I just tried to get a read on it, Aswon, and as far as I can see it's just a big flappy bird. So Mr Drake over there has definitely studied the ways of masking its magical aura and it's doing so pretty well." There was a bit of a peeved tone to Tads' voice, as she tried to learn something about their…guide, but failed hard.
The winds seemed to die down as Marius angled down, following the copper dragon to the south east. Hunter checked the map, and it showed them now aiming directly for Mount Damavand – the highest peak in the Alborz range.
The drake angled and another jet of fire lanced out of its jaws. This blast was shorter and less powerful it seemed, pointing down at a precariously balanced hut that clung to the side of the mountain slope. There was a small clear area and a track heading alongside it that looked like it had once been a mountaineering trail. Hunter zoomed in on his map as far as he could, then called out to the team
"Simorgh Mountain refuge. Looked like a place set up to allow for base camps and medevac transfers. Reports are that it's been closed for over a decade. But it's also about the only flat land for twenty klicks in any direction. Guess that's your landing spot, Marius!"
As annoyed as he was at being blown of course by some magical mumbo jumbo, the competitive edge that had driven Marius to excel rose as he looked at the tiny car park and worked out just how the hell he was going to land in something designed to hold two land rovers or a bubble copter with a rescue litter strapped to the skids. It was made even more difficult with the swirling winds and dense cloud banks that surrounded them, and he slowed his forward momentum as he cautiously closed to the landing spot. The rest of the team held their breath unconsciously as he drifted in, one wing tip almost scraping the mountainside as he edged over the tamped earth, slowly lowering the power until the wheels made contact. The sensors showed he had easily thirteen, maybe even fourteen millimetres of space left before the ground dropped away again…
"Boss – what kind of stance are we taking here? A show of strength? Defiance? Diplomatic mission?" Aswon grabbed his spear and his Purdey from the racks. He was taking them regardless – but it was how he carried them that mattered.
"Definitely hostile but controlled. I don't like being forced down, and I suspect that nobody else does either."
"Hey Aswon." The tribesman turned towards Shimazu who was standing by Kai's side, hand on his sword hilt. "Is it a good idea to go out to meet a drake, carrying an anti-dragon spear? That is what we worked out it was right?" Aswon thought back – he did recall that being mentioned – by Aslick, he thought, back in the windmill. He shrugged through, and didn't change his mind when Kai agreed with Shimazu that he remembered that conversation.
They lowered the back ramp, and were heading out in a column to face the drake when they saw him. Or possibly her. Nobody knew for sure. Either way, there was no mistaking the huge Sirrush dragon effortlessly floating down towards them out of the clouds. Its body was easily twenty five metres long, and the tail the same again, while four powerful limbs were folded back neatly along the bronze scales, ending in wicked thirty centimetre long claws. The lack of wings made it look unreal – there should have been wings forty metres across for it to glide on, but there were none at all.
They fanned out at the bottom of the ramp, waiting while the great dragon approached them. They'd all heard the tales and stories of course. Decades ago, some of the clergy had declared the awakened unholy, abominations. They'd decided that no good Muslim could stomach their kind, and had declared a fatwah against them. Aden's wroth had been great – it was his retaliation against their stance that had destroyed Tehran. Magical fireballs, blasts of seismic power, huge lightning strikes – it had been a tour de force of just why you didn't want to get on the bad side of a dragon. The death toll had been catastrophic, and the city abandoned as the attack caused billions of Nuyen worth of damage. And now the harbinger of Tehran's doom was flying down towards them.
Aswon suddenly lurched up in the air, propelled upwards by some invisible force. His hands tightened his grip on his spear, while a cry of alarm burst from him. Hunter and Shimazu both leapt, grabbing a leg each and hanging on tightly, trying to counteract the force of whatever it was lifting him up.
A voice was heard in their mind. Deep, sonorous, powerful.
"That's an interesting tactic. But it will make bowing before me very difficult."
Aswon's upward motion stopped, about three metres up in the air. Far enough that even with the reach from the spear, he couldn't touch anyone else or anything about him. A moment later he groaned in relief as both Hunter and Shimazu released their grips on his shins, before his legs were pulled out of his hip sockets. Looking at the dragon, he deactivated the spear, and moved it around behind him, but keeping a tight hold on it.
Shimazu threw himself down to his knees, lowering his head and bowing deeply in front of the dragon. One by one the others took a knee too, lowering their heads, until all that was left was Marius, standing and looking at the dragon with his arms folded defiantly. Anger seethed through his mind, and a rage made his chest feel tight. He'd changed his life to get away from this kind of thing, away from the overbearing presence that was Lofwyr, the golden puppet-master of Sader-Krupp.
The dragon moved its long, sinuous neck and pointed its head straight at him. The nostrils twitched inwards and outwards slightly, as the giant saurian head examined him. Despite his rage, a cold dagger of fear plunged into his brain. This WAS a dragon that had destroyed a city and killed millions because someone had used harsh language and incited violence towards him. They hadn't even managed to do anything before he struck – though it was clear they were going to. But the fact remained, that Aden was more than capable of pre-emptive action.
Slowly he lowered himself to one knee, then lowered his eyes. His spirit rebelled, but there was no honour or victory in being immolated on the side of the mountain. And besides, he knew how little experience Hunter had with flying. He'd only crash his baby…
"Good. And now, we shall talk." The voice sounded insidious and appeared to come from all around them. It spoke of a creature who had walked the earth for thousands of years. It was not a comforting voice at all.