The wind outside howled, occasionally making the entire craft vibrate or tremble as gusts combined or formed a wave front. Everyone had stripped quickly, getting out of sweat-drenched clothing and gotten into dry stuff, then layering back up as quickly as possible. Tads and Aswon had made it clear to them all that the heat loss from hypothermia was probably more dangerous than getting shot at this point – as their sweat cooled it would wick away their body heat with incredible efficiency and make their core temperature plummet, until their body just shut down.
Shimazu looked particularly drained, possibly as a result of the chemical imbalance to his system and wedged himself into the corner of the troop bay, and sat with lidded eyes, looking like he was drunkenly falling asleep.
"I have finished my assessment. We appear to be in good shape physically, with no major system broken. However, we have widespread issues with items that will need resetting, repriming or with minor replacements. For instance, every sensor on the starboard side needs to have the breakers reset and the fuses re-seated. I estimate we will need four to five hours to accomplish this."
"Ok, good stuff, Marius. So, can we stick the heating on first to make sure we don't freeze to death?"
"No, Kai. First I need to reset, reprime and repair the electrical system. Did you not hear what I just said? I can prioritise the electrical grid first, but we took a massive hit as we came in." Marius looked exasperated with Kai.
"Oh, right. Well, yeah, let's do that. So, how far away from the drop point are we?"
"I'd estimate about one click horizontally, and about three hundred metres vertically to reach the edge. But, I'd say we're better off aiming for about fifteen hundred metres and four-fifty to make sure we're well inside. The GPS SHOULD be accurate, but I wouldn't want to risk it, not somewhere like this." Hunter sketched out some circles on the map and plotted his position and the estimated areas of the drop zones to illustrate his point.
"Cool, ok. Yeah, let's play it safe. Next question for you, Tads – your watchers. Do they work in the storm?"
"Will they go outside? Yes. Can they see any better than us in the storm? No. The view on the astral plane is just as disrupted by snow as it is for us, so it's just as hard to see through. On the other hand, they don't have bodies, so they won't get cold, or need food, or the toilet. So in that sense, yes, they can go out in the storm."
"Great, so we can use them as a first line of defence or to give us a warning, and we don't have to have someone out in the cold risking their life?" Tads nodded in agreement with Kai. "Good. Ok, the enemy chopper and their systems – what did we find out about it?"
"Most of their electronics on the craft were broken during the impact. Their pilot put down much harder than we did." Marius sniffed a little, vacillating between derision over their lesser skill and sympathy for the loss of a fellow rigger and their aircraft. "We can salvage – have salvaged – a bunch of spare parts, but their aircraft will not fly again without massive overhaul. The only really functional device was their black-box flight recorder, which was broadcasting a distress signal. I have shut that down, but I do not think the signal reached anyone. They were too far inside the dead-zone to get a signal any real distance."
"Ok, that's promising so…" Kai paused as Marius held up a hand. "Go on?"
"I have also checked, and their team was linked by a sensor network interfaced with cybernetic systems. That possibly explains how they co-ordinated with each other. I have glanced at the footage and can confirm that they too got hit by an attack, I believe the same EMP blast that hit us, and went down hard, no more than a few hours before us. The pilot died on or at impact, but the safety systems in the troop area kept them safe. They all activated their emergency beacons, which again I have disabled. But it looks like they were settled in to wait out the storm, until they felt the impact as we hit them. From the fragments of conversation recorded, it sounded like they thought we were rebels, come to attack them."
"So they're missing, but their base probably doesn't know where they are, and we shouldn't see any rescue mission turning up soon, especially in this weather?"
"Correct."
"Ok, that's something at least. Next thing – Shimazu… did you have to shoot that man in the face? I mean… what was that all about?"
"I recognised him. And I'd sworn vengeance upon him."
"Vengeance? Was that? He was the one that you saw in your weird vision thing?"
"Yes. It was him. He killed the wife and child, I'm sure of it. And now he has paid the price."
"Riiiight. Well, hm. Ok, I suppose." Kai realised that there was nothing he could do about it now, and he was unlikely to get Shimazu to promise not to do it or anything like it again, so he let the matter drop. "So, I guess we wait out the storm, repair the chopper, plant the token and then get out of here."
"I think you are missing a very important point. We got shot down with an EMP weapon. They are not common devices, not at that power anyway. What happens if we fix the craft and go to fly away and get hit by another one?"
"Tads, can we use a spirit to find the weapon, and look for any more?"
"I can send a spirit out, but it's going to be hard to explain to it what an EMP weapon is – mostly because I don't understand what it is!"
"You don't need to." Aswon smiled at her as she fixated on the problem. "Take a step back. Just ask the spirit to look for anything man-made or non-natural. Out here, that's going to be almost nothing. Chances are that anything it does find is going to be the weapon or some other weapon like it." His smile faded a little. "Either that, or we find it was some kind of critter or animal with an attack, like a lightning bolt or static discharge, that has the same effect."
"If we got hit by a lightning bolt though, there's likely to be scoring or marks on the hull right, at the impact point?" Tads queried, and saw answering nods from both Marius and Hunter. "Ok, so we can check, and if there's no marks it's going to be an EMP weapon, and if there is, it's possibly from a critter. And what is an EMP anyway?"
Marius launched into a brief summary of electromagnetic pulse weapons, how they affected vehicles and how they were likely constructed or manufactured – until he saw Tads' eyes start to glaze over a little and the head bobbing start to become spasmodic. He stopped, and they fell silent for a moment until Kai picked up the conversation again.
"So, if it is a creature, we just have to avoid it or deal with it. If it's a weapon, that means someone put it there, and we have to deal with that. So it's not been put there by Tsimshin or Mitsuhama, I would say, unless they made a really stupid mistake and shot one of their own craft down."
"Quite apart from the loss of the crew and the training invested in them, the helicopter would probably have cost on the upper side of two million Nuyen. Assets like that are not generally wasted, and they have friend or foe identification beacons built in for a reason. I see that as unlikely." Marius sounded fairly sure of himself, and they remembered he used to be a pilot for Saeder-Krupp, probably flying under similar conditions.
"So, if it's not them – who put the guns here?"
"Possibly someone from the Athabaskan Council government or military – such as it is – fed up with border incursions. They have enough reach and power to secure a weapon like that, and if Tsimshin forces keep crossing the border, they might have decided to take action. But my money is more on local guerrilla forces, maybe rebels from Tsimshin that are hiding just over the border point and staging raids – and defending themselves from the military when they come looking." Aswon leant over and zoomed in on the map, tracing routes across the nearby border through a number of valleys and passes.
"So if it is that, I think we want to make friends with these people. Certainly try not to be their enemies at the least. So we need to go carefully if we spot any more forces coming into the area." There were general nods of agreement to Kai's statement. "But, until then, we probably want to stay under cover for a bit."
"Except for me. I need to go and replace the fuses in the auxiliary power unit, and get some electrical systems back online, before we all freeze to death." Marius didn't look thrilled by the thought of going outside, but he grabbed his toolkit and wrapped up in extra layers before he headed towards the side door. Tads sent a spirit with him to guard him and protect him from the worst of the storm, and they slid the door open for the minimum time they could as he squirmed out into the bank of snow to get under the port side wing and start work.
While they waited for him, Tads detailed a few more spirits to go and search down the canyon, looking for the EMP weapon or magical critters. It didn't take long for them to return, telling her they had found a big box of deadness – a fairly common description for complex electronics which just appeared as a dead grey mass on the astral plane. She projected out of her body and went after them, tracking down the canyon carefully until they led her to a shallow depression in the canyon wall, just around a sharp bend. As she examined the area she could see that the mass of rock would have protected the site from detection until they were rounding the corner – by which time it was too late.
She manifested and approached carefully, checking out the large lump of equipment which had been wedged and shored into position. She could make out a barrel with some kind of dish or focussing system around it, and then just a big lump of machinery behind it. Leaning in close to cut through the snow and sleet, it appeared to be completely inert – there were no lights visible on the displays, no fans spinning in the case, at least not under their own power rather than as a result of the gusting wind. No noises from inside the case of motors, capacitors or computer equipment. It looked completely inert – and harmless, from what she could see.
Heading back, she reported in and they waited a while, until they heard Marius rapping on the doorway. Sliding open the door, they helped him inside, clustering around him with blankets and warm clothes, using their own body heat to try and bring his temperature up and help him thaw out. When he'd recovered a little, he headed to the cockpit and initialised a few systems, grunting in approval as the APU kicked into life, providing some power to bring various components back online.
After a mug of hot soup created by Tads, and some time spent warming his fingers up, he headed back outside to carry on working on the next system. For the next three hours, that set the tone – Marius heading out to replace electronic components and reset systems, working in the cold until he started to drop parts from his numb fingers, then diving back into the relative warmth of the craft to recover while the rest of the team fussed over him – but with every trip, more of the aircrafts systems powered up or responded normally, the lights on the cockpit dashboard gradually changing from a swathe of red and amber warning lights to a sea of green.
During one recovery period, Tads sat next to Marius and cast her mind-linking spell, sharing with him the experience of looking at the EMP cannon, walking around the device in her memories and letting him examine it through her senses. He announced that it was likely completely discharged, the batteries run completely down from the blast – and that it was unlikely to charge back up as it didn't appear to have any external cables or charging source, at least none that Tads had seen or that he'd spotted second-hand. It was also old – he estimated at least two if not three generations of technology behind the curve. That meant it was likely military surplus or had been liberated from some stockpile somewhere, and increased the odds that it was a guerrilla or rebel operation.
Whilst the storm raged outside, the team huddled together, trying to conserve body heat and avoid doing anything stupid. Tads and Aswon had appointed themselves as frostbite monitors, and fussed over them all, checking to make sure the team were well wrapped up and checking their extremities, balancing movement and keeping their circulation active with the chance of sweating or accidently touching something metallic with bare flesh. Even their sat-link proved to have problems punching through the weather, so they were restricted to whatever music Hunter had cached already, which proved to be a somewhat eclectic taste of Brit-rock and Ork thrash metal that left several of the others wincing.
Around four in the morning, the storm eased a little, the winds dropping to around fifty kilometres per hour, which eased the temperature somewhat – it was no less than negative fifty Celsius they estimated. Still madness to attempt the climb on the summit, but with Marius having finished his repairs that he could make in the field, it allowed them to warm up a tiny bit more inside. Unable to sleep through the bitter cold, several of the team were looking a little grouchy and ragged around the edge. Only Marius who had gotten so exhausted by his repair efforts outside and had curled up and dropped off almost instantly and Tads – who seemed almost used to the cold – were looking normal.
The weather continued to ease as the morning progressed, and a little after eight the wind had dropped to no more than ten kph. The temperature rocketed up as a result, the combined rising sunlight and lack of wind meaning it was still below negative twenty, but feeling almost bohemian compared to the night before. Hunter managed to pull down a weather image, and they could see the swirling arms of the storm as they battered their way up the Cascades towards the pole, and the large 'eye' that was roughly over their position.
"If we're going to go, we should go now. We've got a break of a couple of hours, then the far side of the eye will pass over us, and we'll be back in the shit again. It's still going to be dangerous out there – it's not like the eye of a hurricane where you get clear weather and stuff. But it's not going to get any better than this for a week or more as far as I can see." Hunter zoomed out on the map and showed the vast weather system that was pushing up from the tropical zone, front after front of moisture-laden cloud being driven up towards the polar regions and combining into a storm system that covered thousands of kilometres. No doubt for the city dwellers and residents of towns and corporate compounds it was seen as undesirable, persistent heavy rain and cold winds – but up here it took on a more lethal and dangerous edge. Vadim looked around at them and held up a finger to get their attention.
"I know you are all wise, but we have a saying back home. We have experience with this. 'Do not fuck with mother nature.' I agree with Hunter."
"Well, I'm still happy to levitate my way up there to plant it." Tads offered.
"Thanks – but I think that's not a good idea. Nobody should be going out there solo. And if you're going out with someone else, and they can't match what you do, then it destroys the benefit." Aswon shook his head. "I think it should be Hunter and myself again. But like last time, I'd appreciate the astral cover if you and Vadim want to do shifts?"
The team swung into action – checking the weather report again, examining the map and then making sure they had the token securely stashed away in a pocket and well sealed – nobody would see the funny side if they made it to the top and found they'd forgotten the magical marker and left it down in the chopper…
Aswon and Hunter set off up the slope, climbing out of the sheltered cover and up the large glacier field, heading to the top of the ridge up a sweeping climb. The ground was fairly smooth, the climb even and the storm had dropped a huge amount of fresh snow that gave them a soft but even surface to travel over. Aswon took the lead, probing with his spear, with Hunter following a few metres back on the other end of a rope, just in case. However, their journey seemed to go smoothly and without issue, and they made good time – or as good a time as they could hope for in the cold thin air. Vadim's astral form darted around them, probing ahead and keeping an eye out for magical interference, but finding nothing. It seemed like the local creatures knew this was just a brief respite and were staying tucked up warm and cozy deep in their burrows, waiting out the weather.
Back at the chopper, Marius had gotten wrapped up again and took the shorter hike back down the canyon, guided by Tads, to go and physically examine the EMP device. It was pretty easy to get to, requiring only an easy climb up the canyon wall, and he spent ten minutes checking it over. As he'd estimated, it was completely drained of power, nothing more than a mass of batteries, capacitors and charging circuits now, pointing out into the canyon. One thing he did discover was a long, thin and very lightweight rod sticking out of the front of the device. It was a good three metres long, drooping slightly under it's own weight and entered the bottom of the device.
After a very careful examination and check for booby traps, he gave it a tentative wiggle. It didn't move up and down, but when he rocked it side to side, he could hear the click of pressure switches inside.
"Oh…. Oh that is ingenious…" He muttered to himself, having forgotten that Tads was hovering over his shoulder in astral space.
"What's that, Marius? Is everything ok?"
"Ja, Ja. I have determined how they detected us. Very simple, yet very clever. I had wondered how they had penetrated the stealth covering on the chopper, you see. We are very transparent to radar, very difficult to detect. Yet they picked us up and hit us, very cleanly. Now I know why." He pointed to the far end of the thin rod, hanging in the air at the edge of the canyon. "It is not an optical system, nor is it depending on reflected energy or sensor data. It is a mechanical detector. Almost a trip wire. When the turbulence of our passing, the disrupted air of our engines or control surfaces passes by, it will make the rod start to vibrate. Because of the canyon, there is limited room, so the effects of the engine thrust is magnified. A passing bird is fine, but too much air displacement, and the trigger is activated. Very simple, but effective – and passive. No energy readings to detect. Almost like a trip wire. That is how we got hit."
"But it's safe now? It's not going to attack us on the way down?"
"No, the device is out of power. Someone will have to come and recover it, or charge it here using solar or wind power. But that will take time. If the others get back in the next few hours, we can be away from here before that could happen, for sure. And I am not sure these is much else to learn here – and it is still cold – so I will return to the chopper now. Just as soon as I disconnect the power source from the firing circuit." He started to fiddle with the access panel and carefully pulled on the plastic junction port between the components.
"I thought you said it was safe?"
"Ja. I am almost certain. But with the power disconnected, I am entirely certain…"
She watched while he fiddled with the power cable, pulling it out of the battery feed and tucking it neatly out of the way, before climbing down and heading back to the chopper. Taking one last look around to make sure they weren't being observed themselves, she dropped down and floated along with him, heading back to her body.
Once back at the chopper, Marius told the rest of the team what they'd found, while Tads grabbed a drink and rested, waiting for Vadim to return so she could take over for the next patrol. Shimazu was still tucked up in the corner of the troop bay, sitting quietly and brooding while Kai was flicking through some kind of antique catalogue on his tablet. After the pounding of the wind and hail all night, the gentle falls of snow and mild breeze sounded like silence, and other than the seeping cold it was fairly pleasant.
Tads and Vadim swapped over several times, escorting the climbers as they made their ascent. It went smoothly – very smoothly. Smoothly enough that Aswon became quite suspicious and cynical, his paranoia kicking in as he expected avalanches, cave-ins, ice chasms, snow leopards or a host of other hostile critters to leap out and attack them. But instead, they made their ascent easily enough and found an old cairn to stash the token in, well inside the drop-zone, then turned and retraced their steps. By the time they'd come a few hundred metres, their footsteps marking the ascent were gone, already buried by the new snowfall, but by sticking to the same general route they were reasonably certain of the terrain and the footing beneath them, and they felt they could pick up the pace a little.
They made it back a little before eleven, and prewarned by the mages, Marius had already completed the pre-flight checks and had the startup sequence well underway. Within two minutes of their return, the tilt-wing lifted into the air, somewhat shakily, then turned and started to head back down the canyon, threading their way back off the mountain. Marius could feel the craft responding slightly differently, sluggishly even. It wasn't something broken, but he could tell that systems had been stressed and strained by the impact. The control surfaces didn't react quite as smoothly, the engines just felt slightly off-centre… nothing broken, just perhaps not quite settled or seated correctly. He kept a careful watch on his systems as they retraced the previous day's journey, dropping back down towards the fjord. With every metre descended the air became slightly thicker, giving the engines an easier time and the wings a tiny amount more lift, making the piloting just that little bit easier, and as he got a feel for how she was handling and got more confidence that nothing was actually broken or about to fail, he increased velocity, slowly easing them back up to cruising speed. They shot back out into Stephens Passage, thankfully this time without the asinine humour, and he turned south west, following the water back out amongst the scattered islands and heading back out to sea.
When he was clear to navigate he turned due west, heading directly away from the land and heading out for forty kilometres, clearing the traditional territorial limits and putting himself over the horizon from any shore based observation points or sensor stations, before banking over to head south.
"Kai – just to confirm then, we are going to skip this 'Buck Palace' stop and continue on to the next target location, refuel there and then push down towards Seattle?"
"Yes please, Marius. The next place sounded weird, and nobody seems comfortable around the idea of the Cascade Orks. They do sound like trouble."
"All smuggler stops are going to be lawless places. However, that one sounded far more dangerous than most – far worse than somewhere like the Quarry or anywhere else we've seen." Aswon commented.
Marius ignored the chat flowing back and forth from the rear compartment as they started to discuss the various places they'd stopped or experienced over the last few months, and plotted his course around the Tsimshin borders and then back over the Salish-Shidhe border and their approach to Silverthrone Mountain. In many ways it was much the same as the approach to Mount Rain – unsurprising as it was part of the same mountain range. In from the ocean, and along the fjords and inlets, then cross to Owikeno Lake, shielded north and south by ridges over fifteen hundred metres high, rising up from sea level in only five kilometres of horizontal travel. But, the lake took them nearly forty kilometres inland, before turning into a river that rose up the valley, continuing another thirty klicks or so up to a smaller lake, just below two thousand meters high. Once again, Hunter had found a good landing spot – a large open area cleared by a retreating glacier thousands of years before, clearing a broad area of soil and material and leaving a barren rocky outcropping. They should be able to find somewhere to land, and then it was a six hundred metre ascent to the centre of the peak over a couple of kilometres of steep cliffs – but with some careful planning they'd have to do only two thirds of that to be well inside the drop area.
"So Hunter, what can you tell us about this drop?" Kai asked. There was a brief pause as Hunter pulled up the information he'd found on the matrix and then he started to read it out to them, his flat voice transferring the information with no variance or interest.
"Mount Silverthrone, officially named Silverthrone Mountain, is a mountain in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of what used to be British Columbia, Canada, and is now on the northern border of the Salish, located over three hundred and twenty kilometres northwest of the city of Vancouver and about fifty kilometres west of Mount Waddington. It is the highest peak in the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, which is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle. Mount Silverthrone is an eroded lava dome on the northeast edge of a large caldera complex called the Silverthrone Caldera. It lies within the Coast Plutonic Complex, which is the single largest contiguous granite outcropping in the world. The plutonic and metamorphic rocks extend approximately 1,800 kilometres on the coast of British Columbia, southwestern Yukon and southeastern Alaska. In addition, Garibaldi, Meager, Cayley and Silverthrone areas are of recent volcanic origin. The volcanic terrain in the Silverthrone area is very similar to the Mount Meager massif further south. However, there is much more ice here." Kai thought for a moment that he'd finished, but then Hunter took another breath and continued.
"Mount Silverthrone is perhaps one of the most heavily glaciated volcanic peaks in the area. It has a topographic prominence of approximately nine hundred and seventy five metres, greater than any other volcano in the nearby area. The extensive icefields around Mount Silverthrone are receding and are small compared to their former extent, but they are an impressive indication of how much of the country looked ten thousand years or more ago. Silverthrone contains one of the few calderas buried beneath the ice caps of the continent, another example being Mount Edziza far to the north west."
"I can't find any information on climbing sites or tourism boards, so it's not a popular spot. And the volcano watch sites don't seem to have any information on it either, so it looks pretty dormant. Just a massive, very hard rocky mountain, covered in snow and ice from what I can see. No burial grounds, no special significance. No folk-tales. Hopefully, no fuss."
They dodged and weaved between islands, skimming across the water below fifty metres of altitude and took an indirect path as they penetrated the Salish border, evading known population centres and cutting through a number of smaller channels and cuts, monitoring for sensor outposts and tracking stations as they did so. Their stealthy craft combined with the careful approach let them slide through the air-defence network and evade detection, and soon they were flying up the lake and starting to climb, rising up towards the massive Cascade peaks before them. On both sides lush green vegetation and massive stands of pine trees poked out from the relatively light dusting of snow that remained, stretching away in all directions and rising up the mountain slopes until they met the snow line where the ground changed dramatically, becoming almost pure white.
The Selman Creek wound back and forth below them, following the fractured and heavily contoured land, white frothing water racing down the mountainside to feed into the lake. The water looked clear and no doubt was fed by pure glacial sources further up, and they wondered what the fish would be like from the river. As they climbed the vegetation changed in bands, affected by both altitude and soil composition, wildlife and topography – though it seemed precious little by the effects of the metahumans of the area. The Native American Nations had always cited living in harmony with nature, and it appeared that they were true to their ideals here.
They climbed up the creek, Marius perhaps taking it a little more gently than normal in light of the odd creaks that he kept feeling, until they crossed over onto the huge exposed area of the glacial scrape, closing in on the co-ordinates Hunter had established as their optimum landing site. A ping popped up on his sensors as he closed, and the pilot mentally squinted to zoom in the report, watching as the optical camera fed in a picture of a large white hare sitting atop a boulder, grooming its whiskers with a paw. Marius checked the sensor data again, then triple checked it, wondering if perhaps his sensors had chosen this exact moment to fail him.
In the back, Aswon was on the fibre-optic prism, scanning around and he, too, saw the hare – but was much more willing to believe the evidence of his own eyes.
"Everyone, might have a contact here. I can see a hare. A large hare. Really large. It looks to be a good couple of hundred metres away still, but it looks far too big to be normal."
"Ach, so it is not my sensors. Very well, slowing and holding position until you identify."
"No worries, Marius. Hmm – I don't recognise it as a type of creature. It doesn't look like those thumpers we found on the volcano up in the Aleutians through. Not the same at all… that's not to say it can't do the same thing, but it's not a certainty. Tads – come have a look, will you?" Aswon shrugged off the headset and passed it over to Tads so she could examine the creature and give him a second opinion.
"Well, yep – hare. Large. Very large. That looks larger than a typical large dog. Or I've got my sense of scale all mixed up. Ahhh…." Tads flicked into astral space and saw the massive flare of power and got a sense of the magic in use. "It's not a hare. Well, it doesn't have to be a hare. It's a trid-phantasm spell. Like the one I use to hide us at times." Her voice trailed off to nothing, and she adjusted the viewer on her head, unconsciously leaning forward as if that would actually bring her closer to the target. "Except that spell is about twice as powerful as the one I know. And it's….. not magic? That's impossible!" Frustration eased into the edge of her voice as he magical senses slid off the spell, unable to detect the signature or any further details. As she stared at the creature, the magical nature of the spell seemed to fade away, and with every passing second it looked just like a large hare, with no magical spell activity around it. "The spell seems to be mundane, just a normal creature. And that's just not possible…unless I've not managed to penetrate the masking mana swirling around it. And that means whoever cast it is a LOT stronger and more potent than I am…"
Tads had no idea just how true her words were…
"I don't like how this feels." Aswon complained. "It's like the fates are taking more of an interest in our activities the further into this mission we get."
"I'm not detecting any hostility from it. But then I'm not detecting much of anything from it at all. It feels like whoever or whatever that is, is choosing to present an aspect of their power for inspection. Hmm." Strange thoughts popped into her head as she wondered just how that was being achieved, and what information could be projected by a sufficiently adept caster.
"So, is it hostile or not?" Kai queried. Tads shrugged. Aswon shrugged. Everyone else just looked confused. "Right… so we don't know. Ok – Marius, bring us down please, but give it some distance. Make it clear we're not coming in to attack. When we get down, Shimazu, Tads – you're with me, we'll head over to examine it. Marius, stay on the sensors and keep the engines hot, Hunter stand by for fire support on the door gun, Aswon – we might need your big rifle and Vadim - magical overwatch…"
"It's a hare. Or maybe a rabbit. I'm not sure – but I'm going to make some food, to take as a gift or peace offering. Or a bribe. Hopefully as something that establishes that we're friends and not enemies anyway…" Tads concentrated and drew in mana, then cast her spell, creating a large handful of carrots, tapered purple cylinders with large green leafy heads.
"What the fuck are those?"
"Carrots?"
"No, carrots are orange!"
"Maybe where you come from, Hunter, but all our carrots look like this." Tads looked around in confusion. Everyone else shrugged at her.
"I don't know. The only carrots I've ever seen were a flavouring paste and made out of genetically modified Soy." Kai shrugged. "Look, if you say it's a carrot, it's a carrot. As long as that thing likes it, what's it matter?" He stopped talking as the tilt-wing settled down on the ground, turned perpendicular to the large creature so the starboard door – the one covered by the ward – faced directly towards it. The creature still sat there, forty metres away, watching them sedately. "Let's go!"
Kai slid the door open and dropped down to the ground, Shimazu jumping down quickly behind him and taking up position on his right while Tads climbed out a little more carefully and then trotted after him on his left side, catching up and then offering the big handful of root vegetables to him. When he somewhat hesitantly took them from her, she transferred her staff into her dominant hand and cheerily continued walking towards the magical critter.
"Stay on the door gun. Pah. What does he know?" Hunter ignored the weapons locker built into the side of the door frame and pulled out his assault rifle, quickly ejecting the magazine of standard ammo and hunting through his pouches for his special ammo. He slapped in a magazine of the red tipped armour penetrators and worked the action, bringing a round into the chamber before he reached over for another magazine, this time of the black-tipped anti-armour rounds before he pitched them at Aswon with a warning whistle. Aswon caught them deftly and looked at them, then threw them back.
"If it's some kind of critter, save the good stuff. The best thing you can actually use is your explosive ammo. The magical protection or regeneration they sometimes have doesn't work like normal armour. But bigger bangs make bigger holes and are harder to defend against. He slapped in the massive 120mm long magazine into the huge sniper rifle and then with a little huff of effort lifted it into firing position and checked everything was looking ok, moving to the side of the doorway where he could remain out of sight, but ready to swing out at a moment's notice.
Kai, Shimazu and Tads walked across the snow, the crunching of ground barely audible over the engine noise from the tilt-wing. Tads looked around her and marvelled at the countryside. The steep ridges, pure snow and natural rock made her feel good. Looking into the astral she gave a happy little shake and a dreamy smile formed on her lips. It felt pure, unsullied. Glorious. Why couldn't everywhere be like this?
[What are you doing on my mountain?] The voice arrived in their head, clear as a bell. It was somewhat melodic, smooth and had a strangely sensual edge to it. It was also completely unaffected by the noise from the tilt-wing or the gusting wind. All three of them stopped, and Shimazu and Tads glanced towards Kai, remembering the last time something like this had happened, back on the mountain in Iran.
"Well… that's a VERY long story. Do you have time for me to explain?" Kai didn't sound bothered about the telepathic contact – or at least wasn't giving any sign of it, and his answer came out quickly and smoothly.
[Go ahead and try].
"Excellent. Well, the first thing I'd like to point out is that although we are armed, that's just as a precaution and for general self-defence, and nothing to do with you." Sincerity dripped from his voice, and the others found themselves believing him for a moment. "But the carrots here? Well, these are a gift, if that would be welcome. Along, of course, with the message that we mean you no harm." Back in the tilt-wing the others exchanged looks, hearing Kai's little speech over their comms system, but not getting the other half of the conversation. That wasn't surprising with the throat microphones and cyber-systems, but it still didn't sound like they expected.
[Keep trying!]
"Ok, we have a task, you see. We're here to plant something very small, very innocuous on your mountain. But we don't want to damage, or steal or destroy anything at all! We're very good like that."
[What is your task?]
"Well, it's to drop off one of these…" Kai dug out a token from his pocket, unaware of the sudden spike of alarm from Tads and Shimazu as he revealed their mission so glibly, and equally unaware of the triple face-palm taking place in the tilt-wing as Marius, Hunter and Aswon all realised what he was doing. "You see, we need to put this, up on the top of the mountain somewhere. Hide it a bit, like a lump of treasure. We've done several, and we've got several more to do. But one of them goes up here."
[What does it do?] The hare focussed forward, staring at the token and its' whiskers twitched and quivered.
"Someone has to come and collect them. They don't seem to do anything at all, as far as we can work out. They're just things to collect."
"It's all part of a game, you see. A competition for some other people." Tads added. It wasn't like Kai hadn't already spilt the beans, after all.
[What people?]
"That's more complex, and might take a bit of time. And I wouldn't want to bore you, up take up too much of your valuable day…?"
[Keep going with your story.] They all heard the subtle inflexion change in the voice. Not a question, but a statement. Kai's smile widened a little and he nodded.
"We're mercenaries, you see. Available for hire. We do jobs for people that can't go to certain areas, or need plausible deniability. But we were hired for this one by two… powerful beings. Well, when I say hired, we were pretty much told we were doing the job, and then informed we would get paid. But we didn't feel we really had a choice in taking it. We got a sense that the beings we're working for are REALLY powerful – enough so that our mage here - "
"Shaman."
"- Our shaman here didn't want to check how powerful they were, to avoid causing offence or some kind of misunderstanding. And it seems that she's just as confused and a little bit scared by what you did as she had a look at you when we came in to land. So we're being respectful, and honest, and trying to get along with you.
[That is sensible.] Back on the tilt-wing, Hunter almost stepped around into the doorway to shout at Kai, not believing the drivel he was hearing. Aswon held up a hand, cautioning him to stay where he was, but even the normally reserved tribesman looked like he understood why Hunter looked so outraged.
"So, can I ask you your name?"
"No, you cannot, Kai. You should know better!" Tads interrupted hotly. "You don't go around asking people their name. Names have power, and meaning and value. Ask them how they wish to be called, or referred to – that's fine. But not their name!"
[She's a clever one. I like her!] There was an edge of mirth to the voice in their head, a lightening of the tone by several degrees. [You can call me Ice Maiden]
"Excellent. Thank you, Ice Maiden. And thank you for not attacking us, too."
[Yet.] There was still an edge of mirth, he thought. But less than before. Hopefully that was just honesty, and not a warning. [So, you want to leave your token, for your strange little game.]
"Yes, please. Of course, we understand that you're probably quite protective of your mountain and all, so we're happy to pay. We don't have much money, and we're not sure how much you need it anyway, but we can pay in favours and tasks for you?"
It started out as a quadruple face palm, but moved onto a quintuple when his words penetrated through to Tads, who was looking around the mountainside in astral and revelling in the purity. Only Vadim seemed unaffected – but then he'd not been with them anywhere near as long.
[So, where do you stand with regards to corporations. And mega-corporations?]
"We mostly avoid them because they don't like our ethics. Unless they're employing us of course. And we're careful about who we work with on that side.
[Good. I like your plane by the way. What kind of fuel are you using?] Kai handled the change in direction smoothly, and relayed the question over to Marius.
"Mairus, what kind of fuel are we using?"
"What?"
"Our host here wants to know what kind of fuel we're using." There was a pause, a long pause as Marius ground his teeth together, and imagined strangling Kai. Still he supposed, it wasn't like the fuel type was all that important, or a secret.
"JP-5, but not any specific brand. We are running from the tanks at Anchorage, so whatever particular brand they had in stock. But it is high octane jet-fuel, with a number of approved additives for smoother burning and better combustion, with things like anti-icing compounds added in." Kai listened and dutifully relayed the information back to the voice in his head.
[Interesting. Have you considered using a fuel with a lower sulphur component? It's much less damaging to my mountain.]
"To be honest, I don't know. It's something I can talk with my pilot and mechanic about. They like to use the best fuel they can get, to make sure things are as efficient and reliable as possible, so it may be that we're using something like that already? I just pay for the stuff…"
"We could commit to investigating this. As a team. To look at our fuel supplies and types, and search for less polluting versions." Tads suggested, wondering if this was a good time to push her personal agenda.
"Maybe," Kai hedged. "But if that's something that's important to you, Ice Maiden, you should know that we have performed some missions for some eco-groups, seeking to prevent pollution and exploitation of the world?"
[Interesting…]
"And Shimazu here," Kai gestured to his bodyguard, "Well, he's got a way of being ultra-respectful to nature. So much so that he doesn't even leave footprints in the snow! Look!" Shimazu scowled at Kai, then grudgingly walked in a small circle, concentrating on his movements and using his powers to leave no trace of his passage behind. "See – very green and eco-friendly. Even our fire support team-member, Hunter, is very careful with his ammo. Never wastes a shot, and cleans up his cases after him whenever he can."
It was too much for Hunter, who stepped out into the doorway and raised his middle finger at the back of Kai's head, scowling mightily at him.
[Oh, I see him now. Tell me about his gun? That looks interesting.] Hunter heard the voice in his head now too, and looked around wildly.
"Hunter? Our guest wants to know about your gun. Can you tell her about it? You'll do a much better job than I will."
"Tell who? Who are you talking to?"
"The rabbit."
[My name is Ice Maiden.]
"Ice Maiden. Over there."
"I'm not talking to some huge rabbit about my gun!" A horrible feeling descended down his spine, as he, too, remembered the mountain and their meeting with Aden.
"If Kai is talking to it, it's clearly not a rabbit. Not a normal one at least. And though I can't work out why it wants to know about your gun, or our fuel, it's aware of what those things are, so again – clearly not a normal creature. So if you're not going to tell it, then someone else will, Hunter." Aswon stared at the ork who just crossed his arms defiantly. Aswon sighed, then glanced over to the gun that was nestled in Hunter's arms and started to relay a message to Kai.
"It's an Ares Alpha with a standard forty-two round magazine, but with a full bore gas-venting system installed into an extended barrel, an integrated Smartlink-2 combat aiming system, Dyna-shock padding custom fitted to the stock and a Taim acupoint adjustable undergrip and dynamic weight adjustment system." Hunter glared at him like he'd just revealed pictures of his girlfriend in the locker room, but Aswon shrugged, letting the look slide off of him, and listened as Kai struggled to relay the details exactly to the mysterious being he was talking to. He still had no idea who or what it was, though he was starting to regret letting Kai go and do all the talking – despite that being his job and when he put his mind to it, something he was exceptionally good at. If only he'd stop offering their services out for FREE!
[Oh, that's interesting. Sounds like an advanced prototype, rather than the standard weapon. Good for accuracy though, but far too pricy for regular use.]
Hunter's eyebrow raised sharply in surprise. It clearly wasn't a rabbit. But it also understood what the components on his gun were for, and how they affected the price of the weapon – and it was exactly right. This wasn't a gun that you would issue to your rank and file troops, it was far too expensive.
"So, Ice Maiden. I'm assuming that this isn't your real form. Would you be more comfortable that way, if we're to continue this conversation?"
[Are you sure you're ready for that?]
"I'm pretty certain I am. I'm not sure about the rest, but they're fairly resilient and I'm sure they'll cope."
[Very well. Why not come out and we can all talk.]
"Hunter, Aswon, Marius, Vadim – Ice Maiden's invited us all out to talk to her. I'm fairly certain we're not going to get eaten, at least not at the moment. Why don't you come on out of the chopper so we can talk face to face?"
"Want me to bring my new rifle?"
"No, that's fine Aswon. Leave the guns, we're all being friendly out here. At least, she's not ripped my head off yet. Hunter looks like he wants to, but not our guest." Hunter flipped him the bird again, but slung his rifle and jumped down from the doorway and started to walk over towards the lead group with a face like thunder. Aswon stowed the sniper rifle again after making sure it was on safe, grabbed his spear and followed along, followed by Vadim and Marius who finally shut the engines down as he disengaged from the cockpit systems. As soon as he saw the last of the team leave the chopper, Kai turned back towards the hare, still sitting on the boulder just as it had been all along. "That's all of us."
The hare transformed, growing larger and larger. The body seemed to absorb all of the fur first, then stretched out, elongating and rising up before them. A few moments later they were presented with a large dragon, the body taller than Aswon, the head swaying on a long sinuous neck that merged into the stocky and powerful body, before thinning into an equally sinuous tail, the tip being a good thirty metres from the broad head. The dragon stretched, unfurling wings that reached out twenty five metres or more, dwarfing their tilt-wing. As the wings stretched out, they could see the pearlescent white body shifted gradually to an icy blue down the spine of the dragon and down the breastplate, all apart from a long scar or wound on the left flank which was a dull and mottled grey. The three metre long patch of skin was located just before the left hind leg, and looked to be as wide as a human torso. With careful movements the wings were furled back up tightly, covering the scar up and wrapping around her body. She shifted position, moving like a cat adjusting its position on a bed, and the light glinted off the fifteen centimetre long diamond-like talons that emerged from the feet.
Ice Maiden swung her head over towards them, dramatically closing the distance towards Kai, Shimazu and Tads. Huge horns curved out from the top of the head plate, made of a similar diamond-like material but stretching over half a metre, and eyes as big as their heads stared at them while the nostrils on the end of snout flared open and closed slowly. Huge eyelids blinked over the deep dark eyes, and then they heard her voice in their heads again.
[There, is that better?]
"Oh, you are SO pretty!" Tads couldn't help herself, staring entranced at the shimmering light that flickered through the horns, refracting off the thousands of facets, her eyes sweeping down to the flawless gradation between white and blue over the flesh.
[Thank you] The head bowed slightly towards Tads, acknowledging the compliment. Kai bowed deeply from the waist then spoke again.
"Well, I hope it's more comfortable for you. It's nice to meet you." Next to him Shimazu also bowed. Marius had faltered mid-step as the dragon had appeared, but he and the rest of the chopper team closed on the lead group's position, and he too was now staring at Kai's back just like Hunter.
"Excuse me. I'm not sure carrots are the appropriate food now, though you're still welcome to them, of course. But may I offer you some other food? I'll happily try and provide something more to your liking."
[That's fine my dear, but your solicitude is noted. Now…] The head swung around to face Kai. [So you want to just place this token on my mountain and then leave. Is that correct?]
"Yes, that's correct."
[And you said you would be willing to pay a price...]
"Um, yes, that's right." The rest of the team winced a little as Kai carried on as if he was just chatting with the cashier at a Stuffer-Shack. "You can pick any of the team you like, they're all well fed and quite clean!" He laughed as he said it, hoping that Dragons really did understand sarcasm.
[No, that's not what I need. I need people to do things for me, out in the other parts of the world.]
"Excuse me. I don't want to interrupt, but I feel I have to, as Kai has perhaps missed out some very important information. While we are happy to try and help you, and pay your price as agreed – we are working for some very powerful people, who have given us a specific time to achieve our mission in. And we cannot let them down. Neither do we want to have them annoyed at anyone else we have met, who they might think has slowed us down. We would not want to bring that trouble to you. And be aware, that even seeing now, like this – I think these other beings are more powerful than you…"
[Interesting.] The huge eyes blinked once more, considering Aswon's answer, sensing the truthfulness behind his words. [I will not delay you – though if you let me down and do not return to carry out your bargain, I will find you.] Aswon nodded, and considered the words, but also the feeling of those words as they arrived in his head. It didn't feel like a threat, or something that was trying to intimidate him – it was more a statement of intent. In some ways it mirrored his own sense of honesty and forthrightness. And honesty demanded honesty. He took a deep breath and continued.
"And once we have finished our current task, unfortunately we are beholden to another being of great power. Another such as yourself, yet larger still. A task that was given to us, something very important. So important that two of us have sworn a great oath to carry out, or die trying." Shimazu nodded his agreement, drawing himself up to his full height and stared at the dragon, radiating quiet resolve.
[I see.]
"And on that note, I would LOVE to talk to you, if you would be willing, to see if you have knowledge of the foe that we face, and how we might defeat it. Because… well it's horrible, and I'm a little bit afraid of it. And I don't like that at all, but I like the idea of leaving it even less. Of course, that means coming back here to talk to you in person. I don't suppose we can just get on the phone to you…" Tads made a face, trying to imagine the size of the keypad to make it feasible for a dragon to use.
[I do not work alone. I have minions, people who are more than capable of organising messages and the transfer of information.]
"Great – and I have business cards! It's a match made in heaven." Kai quipped quickly. Ice Maiden ignored him though and swung her head towards Tads.
[You have been respectful and courteous. If you can tell me of this powerful being you face and your problem, I may be able to help.]
"Well, you see the thing is we found this place, it's quite far away, well far away for us, it must be a good third of the way around the world. We were doing another job for someone, trying to find some information, and when we got there we found an old temple, that led underground, and when we investigated it was old, very old, and went deep underground, and there were some people trapped inside it, and we went in to try and rescue them, because they were trapped far under the surface, and when we got down there it was all dark, and decaying and felt really bad, and we wandered through some tunnels until we found a pool then there was this thing, and it made us all afraid, even the guys with the guns, and it started to come out of the pool and it was this awful creature with huge tentacles and pulsating flesh and we all wanted to run, but we couldn't because it had the people trapped, so we fought it as hard as we could but it was strong, so strong, and really tough, and we could barely hurt it, but we did our best, and we managed to get the captives out and run away, and that's exactly what we did, we ran away as fast as we could, taking the wounded with us, and planting explosives behind and massive guns to keep it blocked away deep underground, and we only just made it back outside before the temple collapsed, but then the other being, the other dragon that we talked to gave us the task to go and defeat it because its evil and shouldn't be in the world."
[Breathe deary. Breathe. Now another one, and calm down. Now, tell me what it looked like in more detail.]
"When we first saw it it was only two or three metres long, the bit we could see anyway. It was a sickly colour, a nasty greeny blue that looked like it was diseased. The flesh was some form of chitinous plate, covered in spines that grew out in all directions. And there were tendrils everywhere, coming up from underneath it, all waving and grasping, all covered in tiny little barbs. They were a pale white, like they were roots or hidden from the light all the time. And in between each of the clusters of tendrils was an eye pod, with six eyes, all looking in different directions, staring at us like it hated each one of us more than anything else in the world."
"The people we were with, they fired at it, big guns. Bigger than Hunter's gun now. But the bullets, they didn't even scratch it, just bounced off into the ceiling. We engaged it in combat, splitting up to flank it, and it kept lashing at us all with those tendrils, trying to slice us open with the barbed hooks. They attacked it with sword and spear, and those at least managed to hurt it, when they stabbed it in the eyes – but when it was wounded it sprayed orange ichor out that made the armour they were wearing melt and their flesh burn. While we were down there, there was a feeling of despair and hopelessness, like we should just curl up in a ball and give up, that fighting it was futile."
"After they'd got a few hits on the eyes of the creature it seemed enraged, and it split open, the carapace sliding apart a little so a huge monstrous tail came lashing out – and that had a stinger on the end, dripping with venom. That's when we ran away – they'd managed to get all the captives out, got them onto drones to bring them out of the temple. So we ran away, sealing it deep underground." Tads had gone pale, visions of the awful beast filling her imagination as she relived the desperate fight far below the ground. The other team members had also fallen quiet, each thinking back to their own memories of the event, with Marius probably the least badly affected – the benefits of having only been there in a sense, driving the mechanical extension of his own body and being immune to the leeching fear that had affected the rest of the crew.
Vadim looked around, his mouth open, taking in the expressions on their faces, trying to imagine the horror of the situation. Emotion had filled Tads' voice as he described the beast, and having seen the team take on spirits and critters in Yakut with barely any excitement, he suddenly felt his eyes had been opened to some of the dangers of the world. Suddenly he wasn't in the shallow end of the swimming pool anymore, but down at the deep end – and found the water was dark, mysterious and filled with deadly threats.
"So, that's what it looked like. It seemed so strong, so powerful. I'm sure it does have a weakness – we just need to know what it is. Because we promised to go back and deal with it. It's terrifying, but I don't want to think about what would happen if it got loose and made it to a city. It would harvest people, sacrifice them, feed on their blood and grow stronger." She shuddered in revulsion.
[That sounds like an Eldritch Horror, a creature not of this realm. A most unpleasant thing. Hmm.] There was silence for perhaps twenty seconds as Ice Maiden considered. [I need more time to think about that, and to decide what to do. But I will have some answers for you when you return back to me.]
"We have to go and deal with that as soon as we have finished our current task. I think we're already pushing the scope of our agreement with….our benefactor." Aswon paused, realising he'd almost blurted out Aden's name, and wondered for a moment if that would be a good thing or bad thing. Ice Maiden would definitely know who Aden was, and would at least understand what she was dealing with. In the end he decided not to name-drop, at least not yet.
[I will almost certainly have information that will assist you in this task. I will be willing to trade this for some services.]
"Well, if it's research to get the job done, to find weaknesses and to be more effective – I can't see that being a problem. In face that makes no sense not to do it, to come back here on the way to the temple. Yeah." He laid out the argument in his head and it made sense no matter which way he looked at it. As long as Aden was as understanding, it would be fine.
"Besides – we can only die once. Probably." Kai added, trying to lighten the mood.
[Mmmmhm]. The eyebrow was a good thirty centimetres long, and was very noticeable as it was raised at him.
"So, we go finish this job. Come back this way. Work out what we need to do for you, and trade for the information. Then head to the temple and deal with the thing. Sorted. Unless you can tell us what it is you need already?"
[I need competent people in my employ, and you have an interesting work ethic, to say the least. If you will do jobs for me, you can leave your token, and I will help you with information about this horror.]
"There's some jobs we won't do, murdering children for instance. And some other things. Wanton ecological destruction. Things like that." Tads tried to keep her voice respectful, but firm, indicating that even though she knew she could get bitten in half with a flick of the head, she wasn't going to budge from her standpoint. Ice Maiden just nodded at her, then swung her head to look at Hunter as he marched up to Kai and plucked the token from his fingers.
"Excuse me. You carry on negotiations. I'm off to go find somewhere for this. Aswon – you coming?" Hunter started to march towards the peak, using the signal from his inbuilt GPS to line himself up with the route he'd worked out. Aswon suddenly looked down at the spear in his hand. The magical, Elven spear that research told him was thousands of years old and was somehow linked to the previous age of magic. The one Aden had seemed fascinated by, and threatened to take from him. He shifted it to his other hand, turned away slightly and started off after Hunter, using his body to shield it from Ice Maiden's view.
"Coming!" As he started to hustle after Hunter, his head flicked back towards the dragon one more time. "I think it could perhaps best be said that we can work for you, but what we can't do is work ONLY for you. If that makes sense." He turned and picked up speed, breaking into a lope to catch up with Hunter who was busy striding across the rock, turning his anger with Kai into something more productive.
[You can tell your friend later that I never asked for exclusivity. But I understand.]
"Is there anything you need urgently, because otherwise I'll accept a deal and we can do some work in the future. But we can come back once we've done our job to discuss things further." Kai watched as Hunter and Aswon hustled away, then turned back. "It won't take us long to get to Seattle, and we've only got a few more places to go afterwards."
[Oh – you are going to Seattle? After leaving here?]
"Yeah, that's the plan. Is there something there you want? Sorry, stupid question – it's Seattle. If it doesn't have it, it doesn't exist…"
[Indeed. I would like you to enquire in the city, discreetly, and find me three or four individuals who are adept at navigating the matrix. People who understand how to obtain information, and penetrate the grids belonging to corporations, to discover secrets. People willing to work for an anonymous source.]
"And you need them to be in or around Seattle? Not just connected to the Matrix?"
[Yes. I must be able to send people to discuss matters with them, face to face.]
"And do you want us to act as middle men, to arrange contacts and set things up for you?"
[Very much so.] Ice Maiden seemed keen to conclude this deal, and Marius narrowed his eyes, racking his brain. He'd never heard of a dragon with her colours or name before, or one operating in the Salish – but he thought it was time to do some research.
"Right, we can arrange that, I'm sure. Now – have you had a truffle recently? I'm understanding that Tads here makes some of the finest truffles you could ever wish to taste."
[No – I have no idea what this is.] Kai turned to Tads and nodded, and she concentrated, pulling on the local mana reserves to power her spell. It felt easy, almost effortless here, and she conjured up a large pile of the luxury food item, then carefully and slowly approached Ice Maiden, closing until she was almost touching her. Her breath was chill, cold draughts that blew out rhythmically and drove the warmth from her. Given her colouration and location, that didn't surprise her. Ice Maiden seemed to go almost cross-eyed as she looked down, then opened her mouth, extending a huge rough tongue forward a little way. Tads could see the barbs angled backwards, designed to catch at flesh and organs, assist with devouring her prey and tried not to shudder as for a moment she flashed back to the barbs on the horror she had described only a few minutes ago. She carefully placed the pile of truffles onto the tongue and then backed away quickly. Ice Maiden waited patiently for her to clear out of the way, then retracted the muscle into her mouth and closed her mighty jaws, chewing carefully.
[I believe that this is a fine truffle. The finest I have ever tasted.] Tads decided it was best not to ask if it was the only truffle she'd ever tasted, and take the win instead.
"I have another idea. One you may be less happy with. If you would be willing to let me link my mind with you, you could see the creature we found. Exactly as we saw it, rather than just a description." Ice Maiden cocked her head to one side, then nodded once.
[Proceed.]
Tads had been fearful that it would be more difficult, or cause more damaging drain to her psyche afterwards – but those proved to be false. Casting the spell was no different to sharing information with one of the team, or a contact they had made. She relived the experience as best she could, sharing the fight in the temple in glorious detail. When it was done she carefully dissipated the mana, dropping the spell at once, before she accidently shared anything she might not want to.
[Definitely a creature known as a Horror. You have a lot of work to do. I will get my Minion to contact you, and once you have arrived in Seattle you can find the people I require and pass on the information and contact details.]
"Great stuff. Sounds like a plan. By the way – there's nothing up that mountain that will eat that pair is there? Or try to eat them?"
[Nothing that would do so without my bidding. As long as they do not kill anything under my protection, they will be fine.]
"Excellent. In that case, I'll just entertain you with a selection of my finest small-talk while I wait for them to get back, and we'll soon be out of your hair." There was another feeling of mirth, rattling around in their brains for a moment then fading away. Ice Maiden reached over and delicately put a single talon through the business card that Kai was holding, slicing through the tough plastic like a hot knife through butter. The talon curled up underneath her foot, then she turned and unfurled her wings. With one powerful beat she launched into the air, completely ignoring the laws of physics and flight dynamics for a creature that large, then floated off to the north, soaring on thermals that could only exist on some magical plane of existence. Her course didn't parallel that of Hunter and Aswon, but wasn't far away – she'd certainly be able to see them from her elevated position, they were sure.
"Right, back to the chopper I guess, and wait for them to get back."
Marius led the way, with Tads, Shimazu, Kai and Vadim following him swiftly back to the aircraft, to settle in and wait for the others to return once they'd planted the token.
Three quarters of a kilometre away, Hunter and Aswon were carefully climbing a forty degree slope, climbing claws and gecko spell holding them in place on the sharp incline.
"You notice how she said minions?" remarked Hunter.
"Yes, very much so. I'm not sure if she was being ironic, or just very open. But I think this is a dragon that very much thinks that humanity is fine if it keeps to its' place, which is firmly under the heel of their draconic masters."
"Yup. But I think she's also after power. She seems hungry. And did you see that scar down the side? Someone got into an argument with something bigger than her, and it looks like she came off second best. Or she at least had a hell of a fight."
"Yes. More so than the other dragons – this one we need to be careful of."
"Why? Why more than the other buggers?"
"For the others – Aden, Lung, Rhyumyo – we are so far beneath them, that we are like insects. Little buzzing things that could be stomped out at any time. We are just so not a threat to them. We can probably get away with something as a result. Like Kai giving Aden a bit of backchat and getting flicked off the mountain. He could have just incinerated us all, but he and we both know that. But he gave us a brief glimpse of his physical power, to let us know just how completely outclassed we were. Like, my rifle isn't going to scratch him. None of our explosives would either. We quite literally have nothing in our arsenal that could be a threat to him. So he doesn't need to fear us, at all."
"But you think this one is weaker. Enough that we could be a threat, a challenge."
"Exactly. One that she might feel that she needs to deal with. We aren't, but we need to make sure she knows this, and also not disappoint her. If she gives us a job to do, it isn't going to be a game, some tiny cog in a massive machine. It's going to matter to her. And if we get it wrong, she's going to be pissed…"
They climbed on, both imagining what a thirty-metre long lizard that weighed several tons and could magically fly around the sky with a nimbleness that fighter pilots could only fantasise about, able to cast fireballs or lightning bolts at will could do to their chopper, and they didn't like the image one bit.
"Let's get this planted, and get back, and get out of here. And Seattle is the next stop, right?" Hunter used some of the air from his internal tank to make talking and climbing easier.
"Yup. Why?"
"Going to find a sex shop, and buy a ball gag. For Kai. Stop him talking to people and offering to do free stuff."
The sound of Aswon's belly laugh echoed off the snow and ice, reverberating around the mountain as they continued their climb.
