Shimazu stopped, staring up the path at the ghosts as they flowed down along the trail towards him. Mist filtered through the trees, lit only by the pale starlight and half-moon, eldritch tentacles that reached through the dense trees and meandered across the landscape. The ghosts descended, their insubstantial forms flowing through the mist without disruption – but Shimazu knew that if they so desired they could materialise into the world and interact physically, potentially with fatal results. He stopped a few metres from the tilt-wing, his hand resting loosely on the hilt of his sword and watched as the throng of spirits approached him.
Behind him Tads bought Hunter and Aswon down to ground level, watching as they unclipped from each other and moved apart to take up supporting positions on either flank. Marius remained in the cockpit, dealing with the controls, while Vadim stood in the doorway with Kai, ready to provide support if needed.
The host approached Shimazu, flowing through the ancient wooden archway that spanned the trail and stopped, forming a loose mob in front of him. Clad in ancient armour, their dou – lacquered cuirasses with layers of stiff leather pieces threaded together – glinted in the faint starlight. None of their faces were visible, being covered in the ornate headpieces with sweeping layers of armour that flowed down onto the shoulders obscuring the sides while carved masks in the shapes of demons and wild creatures were secured over the mouth and nose. Shimazu gazed at them levelly for a moment, and then gave a deep bow of respect. One ghost took a single pace forward, then raised his arm, pointing away from the mountain in an imperious gesture.
"We cannot leave this mountain. We have a task to perform, one I am honour-bound to complete."
There was a faint thudding noise, distracting him somewhat. Running down the path came a rabbit or hare, he wasn't sure which. Eyes bulged out of its head, pink froth streaked down either side of the mouth and the whole body rippled and stretched with unnatural vigour. It ran through the ghosts, and skidded to a halt just in front of him, then opened its mouth and the token fell out onto the floor before him. The creature quivered again, and a ghost flowed out of the body, releasing the possession upon the meat-body it had stolen. As the ghostly figure flowed out of the rabbit, the flesh started to dry and wrinkle, the eyes dulled and the trembles faded away, along with the rise and fall of the chest. A moment later all that was left was a dehydrated shrunken and withered corpse, the essence of the creature stolen or fed upon by the ghost that had controlled it – a clear warning to the team about what they faced if they trespassed upon the mountain.
"Is it a cultural thing that you can ask for permission?" asked Aswon. He saw Shimazu shrug a little, then turn towards the ghosts.
"I am Shimazu, and I ask for permission to climb your mountain." Once more the ghost at the front raised an arm and pointed away from the path, though slightly more forcefully this time. Tads had a quick look at the small mob of ghosts, then contacted the team, letting them know what she'd found.
"They're reasonably powerful – probably on a par with the bigger spirit I call each day to guard the aircraft. But, I make it about thirty of them. A handful we could manage quite easily – but not that many. Not before being overwhelmed. I'm getting a mix of emotions from them as well, but not outright hostility. Determination, certainly – but not aggression."
"We have a duty from our great lord to place this stone and for it not to be disturbed for some time." Shimazu tried again, wondering if service to a higher power would affect their opinion. The lead ghost seemed to cock his head to the side, then waved again more forcefully, still away from the mountain. "I understand that you may have a task, to guard this place. So do we. If we cannot both compete our task, then we might find another way to resolve this. I challenge you to combat! If you win, we leave, and will not return. If I win, I take my stone and place it upon your mountain."
The ghost shook his head from side to side in a firm show of negation. Reaching up to his armour, it pulled open a flap of leather, revealing a small and finely wrought pendant that hung from the right shoulder. Shimazu recognised the clan marker at once, though he couldn't place the actual clan at all. The ghost pointed at his marker, then at the mountain. A dismissive wave swept over Shimazu and his colleagues, then waved once more off the mountain.
"Ahh, I see. Very well." Shimazu reached down into his pocket to withdraw the symbol that Isarroko had made for him, holding it out in front of him as if it were a lantern to light his way. The ghost leant forward to examine it, raising a hand to hold around the bottom of the symbol. As it did so, a chilling wave swept through Shimazu's hand, leeching away all of his body heat and sending shooting pains up his arm. He gritted his teeth though, keeping the hand still as the ghost examined the symbol carefully. The pain climbed his arm, numbing the flesh and he saw his skin change to a dull blue colour as it reacted to the unnatural cold. Letting these things touch you was clearly a bad idea!
The ghost stepped back and gave a nod to him, then stepped back once more to re-join the mob of other spirits. Shimazu looked around a little uncertainly, then took a careful step forwards towards them, his eyes flickering around the mob as they shifted and swayed. As he took another step towards them, they flowed back – at least most of them did. Two took a step to the side, moving to stand either side of him, hands dropping to the hilts of their blades.
Shimazu paused, watching as the mob split into two equal sized groups, flowing into a long line that stood to either side of the path leading up the hill. As he studied them, trying to work out if this was a trap of some kind, he saw differences in their dress and the style of their armour suddenly coalescing before him.
"I think we have Samurai to the left, Ronin to the right of us." He stepped forwards again, bringing him almost to touching range of the first pair of ghosts. A flash of movement rippled up the line as each drew their sword in turn, the ghostly green blades slicing through the air until they met in the centre of the path, the metallic noise of the blades impacting upon each other reverberating with an odd echo. Shimazu looked up the tunnel of blades that lay before him, took a deep breath and felt his emotions flip as he realised he wasn't going to get a lead on their intentions.
Shimazu started to move again, taking a step to bring him directly under the first pair of swords, head held high and eyes fixed forward. Aswon took a step forward as well, spear ready to provide support. He glanced from left to right though, ready to stop moving if the spirits turned upon him for daring to intrude on some kind of clan territory. As Shimazu passed under the first blades through, the two ghosts took a step back, lifting their blades away from his head and slowly fading away. Shimazu continued to walk forwards, and as he passed each pair of figures they repeated the actions, fading away quickly back to the astral plane and then disappearing from there. Thirty paces later, Shimazu stood alone by the wooden archway, with only the remains of the furry body to show that anything unnatural had happened here. Hunter started to move forwards, scooping up the token and setting off after Shimazu.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I don't care – but with your racial type. Don't wanna anger the spirits?" Hunter shrugged, looked around him and then carried on forwards, head scanning from side to side in case anything materialised near him. The mountain remained still and quiet though, with no sign of further astral activity. "Huh… guess they don't care then. Right-o." Aswon set off as well, casting his gaze about him as they walked up the path as he searched the undergrowth and path for something. He scooped up a light coloured rock about sixty metres up the path, jamming it into the front of his armour to keep it out of the way.
"What's that for?" Hunter asked, glancing over towards him.
"Going to put the token down somewhere, then put this over it. Hoping the colour will make it stand out a little compared to the rocks at the top that have been weathered, but it'll stop it blowing away or being disturbed too soon. And I'm thinking on this one we might as well go all the way to the top to make sure it's in the area needed, and to cut down on the number of people passing. Unless we find a great spot like a shrine or some kinda temple or something like that?" Hunter grunted in understanding and turned back to face upwards, striding powerfully up the path to catch up with Shimazu.
They climbed, spending the next ninety minutes in silence other than the occasional grunt of effort as they climbed a steeper section, or reporting in to the team down below to let them know they were ok. At the top they found the original cone of the volcano, mostly collapsed in on itself and forming a shallow bowl that was littered with rock. Aswon found a spot, wedging the token into the fine gravel and rocks that littered the area then placing the rock he'd carried up over the top. With the token placed they turned and retraced their steps, descending the slope as quickly as they could whilst remaining safe.
When they had neared the bottom, Shimazu headed to the side of the path, examining the wooden archway carefully and reading the faint characters inscribed on the wooden surface. Following the directions and text, he wandered off into the undergrowth for a few metres, finding a wayside shrine nestled into a small grove in the trees.
"Found a shrine, I'm just going to settle down for a few minutes and check it out." He tuned out the answer, on the basis that it was a lot easier to ignore them telling him to get back so they could take off, rather than argue with them. Settling down by the shrine, he sat back on his haunches, one hand on the pommel of his sword, while the other was splayed out before him, pressed into the wooden decking in front of the shrine. He had no idea how old the shrine was, but the wood was deeply marked and scuffed, and showed signs of considerable aging. Like the construction at Chun's dojo, the woodworking here was using very old techniques, wooden dowels locking together carefully cut joints rather than using nails or screws, with the pieces cut to exacting tolerances.
As he settled into position, he opened his mind, reaching out with his soul to connect to the place, absorbing the memories of the wood, stone, trees and plants. The psychic impressions created by the emotions of thousands of people over thousands of years, pressing themselves onto the natural world and creating an imprint that could be read with careful practice. Fleeting images appeared in his head – priests at the shrine, worshippers giving thanks. Births, deaths, marriages – all flashing by too quickly to be seen individually, but crafting an emotional and narrative tale in his head.
The battle jarred him, almost knocking him out of his trance with its sudden violence and upheaval. He felt the shock of the deaths, the thrill of the charge, sadness of those who survived viewing the dead and dying. He wasn't sure when it had taken place, but it was a long time ago – the armour was primitive and nobody carried a firearm of any kind. Armoured samurai carved their way through blocks of peasant militia, cutting them down in swathes, decimating their ranks with superior skill, training and equipment. The battle looked lost, until a band of Ronin appeared, charging from concealment to take the samurai in the flank. The battle turned, the samurai falling back under the furious assault, finding themselves up against a foe every bit their equal.
Shimazu felt something else as well, a pulsing flow of mana. The ground, the hill, the very land they stood on was alive, throbbing with magical power. He tasted the edge of the mana stream, a vast and fast flowing flow of energy, mana as powerful and destructive as any river. He felt the links to other mountains, to peaks scattered all up and down Japan, and some beyond. The network of mountains formed some complex pattern, mana flowing from one to the next, but for what purpose he could not discern. One image burned into his mind though – a complex wooden scaffold, reaching down into the earth, clinging to the sides of sheer rocks. He recognised the quarry, the house of Isarroko, and the land around it. Somehow, there was a link between that volcano and this, even though they were separated by a substantial distance…
The feelings faded away, leaving him feeling a little hollow, strangely empty as he went back to experiencing only a single set of emotions, a single being's worth of feelings. He rose from the ground and bowed to the shrine, then turned on his heel and headed back to the craft, jumping aboard and feeling the engines rev up as Marius applied power even as he slid the door closed.
"Hey Hunter? Can you check to see what the deal is between this mountain we're on now, and the last one. I was at the shrine and I got some weird kind of magical link between them. No idea what it is though!"
As they lifted up into the air and started to fly north east, Hunter fired up his deck and started a quick search, while Kai was on the phone to Twin Peaks, advising them of the slight delay to their plans. Kai's call went smoothly, with their landing clearance pushed back without incident, but Hunter found himself struggling to find details on the volcanoes – at least not without paying a ridiculous sum to access content behind paywalls and locked data crypts.
"Shimazu – I've not really got much for you. Need to get a better link and do a hack on somewhere like the Geological survey department of the government, or one of the corps. All I can tell you is that they're both listed in the hundred best peaks of Japan guide. No wait, sorry – bad translation. One hundred most revered peaks in Japan. Guess there's a lot of history on them or something."
"You could say that…"
While he was in the matrix, Hunter decided to do a quick check on the stock market, and fired in the details of the share certificates from the Turkish steel mill, doing a quick check on what they were worth. He double checked the figures when he saw them, then quietly cursed – and let his imagination run wild for a moment as he envisaged dropping all the shares into a pillowcase and giving Kai a beating with them. At least that way they'd have some kind of value! He took a moment, then worked out how many shares they had, and just how bad it was, but the news was no more palatable on the second reading. Their original value of fifteen thousand Nuyen had dropped to about seventeen hundred, a little over ten percent of what they'd once been worth.
Once they were in the air, Tads called on the spirits of the winds and the mountains, asking them to guard and conceal them on their journey, while Marius plotted a path that saw them streaking through narrow valleys and keeping well below the level at which they would show up on any of the local radar or sensor grids. The hundred and fifteen kilometres to the northern coast flashed by, and they crossed Lake Saroma and flew out into the Sea of Okhotsk, skimming the waves. A few times they had drones fly overhead, but Marius was so low that he was once more lost in the surface clutter, and between the spirit concealment and the electronic warfare measures active, they escaped without attracting any official attention.
The distance to the Twin Peaks stop was six hundred and thirty-five kilometres, giving them a little over an hour of flight time, meaning they'd arrive a little after two in the morning. Along the way Tads raised an issue with the rest of the team.
"I was thinking about the colours you make the skin of the helicopter. The different patterns you can put in the photo thingies."
"Photovoltaic paint system," Hunter clarified. "What about it?"
"Well, I was thinking we should maybe log what patterns and colours we use in each area. And make sure that when we fly north again, into the Yakut area, that we make sure we don't use the same patterns as we did last time we crossed into their territory. Is there a way you can make your deck thingy remember?"
"I could put together a database, I suppose. Geofence areas off, and feed in the GPS co-ordinates from the navigation system. Then we'd just need to assign each deception pattern a unique ID, and tie that to the areas, meaning we can either use the same camo to go back to the same area, or a different one – depending on what we're trying to achieve."
"Just make sure you put the best possible encryption on that data you can!" warned Aswon. "That's a big fat data trail that would otherwise identify the area of every job and operation we've ever done!"
"Fair point, Aswon. I can set it up with strong encryption, but also set it to delete and purge on command, in case we ever lose the bird or end up crashing or something.
"We are not crashing my new helicopter!"
"I know, Marius. But just in case... it was nothing personal."
They flew on, flying parallel to the course of the Kuril Islands as they broke out of the north eastern side of Japan and arced up towards the Bering sea. The islands were long but thin, a narrow spit of land thrust up and out of the ocean, with steep sided peaks rising up into the air. Sensor readouts were sparse as they flew past each island, but they could see dense forests and woodland around the beaches, while the upper slopes of the mountains tended to be barren and rough. Each of the islands was superficially the same – based on or around the cones of volcanoes that had thrust up from the sea floor, formed from the lava, ejected matter or accumulated silt and debris that had washed up against them over hundreds of thousands of years – but each had its own individual topography and foibles. Marius kept a safe distance from them, not knowing which would harbour a corporate mining camp, research base or luxury enclave for VIPs.
Closing in on the target co-ordinates, they picked up four great peaks, one at each end of the island, and a pair in the centre, very close together. It was likely that the two peaks were actually all part of the same volcano, with one being a side vent from the other, but it wasn't possible to tell which one was the main peak – not that it really mattered to them. The team were on full alert, scanning astrally and with all their sensors turned up to the maximum, ensuring that none of the peaks were venting ash or particulates that might foul their engines or affect them at all.
Closing cautiously on the island, they could finally make out a structure – a large oil drilling platform that had either been moored here or had washed ashore in the past. It stretched a few hundred metres up, with massive ceramacrete pylons holding the platform nearly eighty metres above the water line, and another fifty to sixty metres in height for the main structure of the platform, topped with another seventy metres of cranes and towers rising up over the accommodation blocks. It was also at a slight angle – listing to the west by about seven and a half degrees. Marius approached cautiously, spotting at least two helicopter pads, one much larger than the other.
"Twin Peaks, this is New Fish, we're close to your position. Permission to land?"
"New Fish, ok. Choose any pad, they're all clear."
"You heard the lady, take us in, Marius. What have we got magically by the way?"
"Half a dozen watcher spirits, very powerful ones." Tads answered, as she flicked through the viewing prism to focus on different sides of the platform as it swelled in size. "Like… maybe as powerful as the spirits I summon mostly?"
"Is that a problem?" Kai asked.
"No, not directly. Watchers are a little dumb normally and don't have the powers of a normal spirit, but their maximum size or intelligence is normally related to the person that summoned them. So that means we're looking at a really good mage or shaman down there, who's more intelligent than Marius and more disciplined than me."
"Oh. So be careful then."
"Yes Kai, be careful. If they can make watchers this powerful, who knows what other spirits they have. In fact, I can tell you what other spirits they have – we've just come into sight of a few – a mountain and a fire spirit? Elemental? I'm not…..oh..ok – they're free spirits. Not bound to anyone or anything, as far as I can see. So they're a bit weird. Be careful when we land."
"Great. More magical nonsense." Marius grumbled. That, at least, was good for a smile from most of the team in the back. Nobody responded though as they felt the wheels of the tilt-wing lock down, and the engine pitch rose as they rotated into the upright position. Marius was heading for the large landing pad, taking advantage of its availability to give himself an easier landing. The pad looked big enough they could have landed the MI-6 on it without too much bother – apart from the slope. As it was, Marius touched down lightly and felt them rolling every so slightly, so he lifted up and rotated a few degrees before setting them down once more. This time he was perfectly perpendicular to the slope, and the craft didn't move.
Appearing from a staircase that ran down the side of the landing pad a few workers appeared with massive plastic chocks on chains, dragging them over to wedge on either side of the wheels to ensure they wouldn't move too much. Once two of the wheels were secure, Marius started the power down sequence, making sure that everything was 'just so' in case they needed to leave in a hurry. The rest of the team were more able to look around though, spotting just how run down, rusty and decrepit the station looked.
As they opened the door and started to climb out, one of the workers waved to them and pointed them over to a door on the side of the accommodation block before returning to his task. Aswon headed over that way with Kai, staggering slightly as they adjusted their gait to cope with the slope on the platform. All around them they could see rusty panels, decayed components and dirt everywhere. Along the edges of walkways and platforms they could see stunted pieces of metal sticking up a short distance, where once there had been safety rails or guards – now instead there was just a dizzying fall to the shallow water far below, or worse, a deck up to forty metres below.
Tads settled herself down into a comfy position and made herself ready.
"I'm heading north, to go and check on the next volcano, see what I can find. I hopefully won't be too long…" Vadim nodded at her and settled down to watch her body, watching over her astrally in case anything tried to get through the ward to her. With that she vaulted out of her body and straight upwards. The watcher spirits saw her and started to swarm towards her, making all kinds of noise. She put on a burst of speed, heading straight up for a kilometre, then performing a hard turn and slashing across the island and ocean as fast as she could – leaving behind her astral pursuit in a moment. The watchers came back down towards the tilt-wing, circling around it and examining it, without getting too close, and casting occasional looks towards the two figures heading towards the main block.
As Aswon and Kai arrived at the door, they exchanged glances and then Aswon reached forwards and knocked sharply. His first polite knock barely made a noise as his knuckles rapped on the heavily reinforced door, so he turned his hand on its side and pounded harder, saving his knuckles from the impact on the hard surface. They waited, but there didn't seem to be any sign of reaction. After thirty seconds, he pounded on the door again, hearing the dull reverberation through the framework.
The two workers closed on them from behind, having secured the chocks under all of the wheels, and gave them a quizzical look. One of them gave Kai a slightly fixed smile, then squeezed past him to get at the door handle, lifting the large lever and then swinging the heavy door open. His arm strained as he held the door, the tilt on the platform wanting to swing it shut, and he waved again down the corridor. Aswon and Kai stepped inside, finding a short passageway that looked as run down as the area outside, lino cracked, walls covered in marks and with only half the lights working. Reaching the end of the short corridor, a sign on the wall pointed to the 'control room' while the other direction was unmarked.
Aswon knocked on the door to the room indicated, then swung the door open, stepping into a large room that was crowded with junk, and a single figure. She wore an orange flight suit with a number of patches and badges sewn onto it, and as the woman turned towards him he saw that she appeared to be a Japanese woman of middle age, with a plain face and simple hairstyle. She was far shorter than Aswon of course, but he estimated she was of fairly average height, though somewhat stocky compared to most Japanese woman he'd seen. She was looking over at them, too, a circuit board held in one hand and a small soldering iron in the other.
"You New Fish?" Her English was pretty good, without a strong accent or noticeable give-aways that it was not her native language.
"Yes. I am Aswon! We would like to purchase fuel for our craft, to fill our tanks and reserve fuel supply. We have cred on stick – this is acceptable, yes?"
"Maybe. It depends. I'm Chiaki Mukai, and I'm the lead engineer here. I like cred, but the owners like other forms of payment."
"Well, depending on what that is, we may be agreeable. We are heading to the UCAS, so if payment is carrying of goods or carrying out services, we can certainly negotiate?"
"No no, not like that. Though I may have some bits I'd be interested in. Them in charge like stories…" Aswon's eyes narrowed at Chiaki said that, and a suspicion formed in his mind.
"The beings that run this place. They wouldn't happen to be small, furry and stand about this high would they?" He gestured with his hands, making a box in the air that the Quoll would fit in. Chiaki shook her head though. Aswon activated his astral sight, looking around the cramped control room, his sight snapping to a bright astral presence on the corner of a desk. What he'd taken for some kind of sculpture or carving was a bright astral presence, a tiny rock elemental. Its power was all out of proportion to its size though, the physical being perhaps being small enough to fit in his outstretched palms, but the power being equivalent to the larger spirits that Tads called upon. He blinked in surprise, then nodded respectfully towards it – it hopefully wouldn't hurt, and it let Kai know that something was there without directly telling him too.
"So – they like stories. We happen to have a few. Do we tell them here?"
"No, we have a different room for that. One put aside for the telling of tales. But if you want fuelling, you can pay for that here, in Nuyen. After that, depending on the story, other services might be available.
She pulled out a cred reader that looked as battered as the oil rig, held together by duct tape and screws, with manually soldered wires linking to bolt on modules that were attached to the main unit with whatever materials she'd been able to scavenge. The cred reader lit up though, indicating it was working and connected to a bank somewhere, and able to transfer funds from stick to stick.
"I'll check your funds, then send the crew up to fill you up, as long as you have the cred to pay for it." She turned and picked up a phone from the confusing mass of junk scattered over the desk, and called for the technical crew to run out a hose and top up the fuel. Aswon relayed the message through, so by the time the crew had made it back up to the helipad, Hunter was already bringing down the fuel barrels to the deck at the bottom of the tail ramp and had the fuel cap open. Marius stood off to one side 'supervising' but with a vaguely vacant look upon his face, as he used his internal commlink to call Nadia, find out how she was and check on the baby and the situation back at home.
Inside, Aswon and Kai were directed down a flight of stairs and along a corridor to what had at one point been a crew room, designed to hold bedding and living equipment for eight oil workers. Now with all the bedding and equipment removed, it was a large box structure with cracked paint on the bare walls. Of more interest though was the large circle on the floor, painted on with some kind of resin that gave it a vaguely rough surface. The intricate design flowed around the room, and both Aswon and Kai got a sense that it was hermetic in nature, not shamanic. The geometry and precision involved didn't feel like an expression of a natural force, but more a mathematical formula.
Aswon glanced at the circle, and found that it was active – which was very unusual in itself. Normally a hermetic circle was only active if someone was using it for a ritual or summoning of some kind, but this one just sat and hummed away with quiet power, without paying much attention to convention or the rules of magic.
"So do we wait for someone do you think?" Kai asked?
"I don't think so – not if the door into the place was anything to go by. I think we're supposed to just do it."
"Crack on then Aswon, you volunteered." Kai smiled and stepped back into the corner of the room, waiting to be entertained. Aswon scowled at him for a moment but indicating annoyance to Kai was as good as pouring water on a duck's back, and he knew it was a waste of time. Instead he strode into the middle of the circle, trying not to show any of the trepidation he felt and took a breath before he started to speak, only to pause and spin in place as the door into the room was yanked open.
A large hulking figure stomped into the room, robe held tightly around them with just the bottom swirling in the air currents. The deep hood was raised, casting the face into shadow and they stomped into the room. Or at least they tried to – but with the slight tilt on the floor forcing them to modify their gait, it somehow seemed to lose a lot of potency.
"Are you here for the story?" Aswon enquired politely.
"I'll listen, but I'm not the one you're telling it to. They'll hear you, though."
Aswon nodded, then risked a quick peek into astral, just to check. The newcomer was magically active, and didn't appear to be masking – and was some kind of Hermetic mage. Aswon was cautious – if this was his or her circle, they may have all kinds of spells or magical options available to them that could make life inconvenient to him. The newcomer seemed to be about as powerful as he or Kai, less so than Tads and Shimazu.
He took a deep breath again, then began his tale.
"I, am Aswon. Here my tale, of another being that also likes to hear a story. Our tale begins far to the south of here, on the slopes of a mountain shrouded in mist…" He told the tale of the Quoll, of their initial encounter with the magical being and its requirement to hear a story from each of them to grant them permission to climb the mountain. He was careful to leave out why they wanted to climb, and was somewhat vague when he discussed specific powers or equipment carried by the team, concentrating instead on what they felt or experienced, rather than why. He did include lots of detail though about the environment, the reactions of the team and the quoll, adding a rich description of the creature.
As he spoke, he caught glimpses of astral creatures, eyes and parts of faces pressing through the walls of the room for a while then retreating back again. He never caught a good look at them, but they appeared to be free spirits of an elemental nature, listening in to his voice. The story was well told, benefitting from his tribal background no doubt where many a night was spent around the camp fire telling tales to pass the time or used as a teaching tool for the next generation. Fifteen minutes had passed when he stopped speaking, and the room fell silent.
"They are happy with your story. Additional purchases are now available if you wish."
"Oh? What kind of things?" Aswon had a guess that they were going to be magical in nature, and wasn't disappointed.
"You may view our range of telesma and magical components, formulas and spells. Follow me." He turned and left the room, with Aswon and Kai following along behind him as he threaded his way one more floor down and through a confusing mass of passages until he led them into another room. This one felt lived in, and they saw a few tables set up covered in supplies. Each of these tables were wedged at one end to make them level, indicating it was a longer term setup, or that someone had gotten thoroughly sick of things rolling off.
Aswon investigated the table and found a wide variety of magical supplies, most of which were stone and gem based, along with a stack of parchments covered in intricate detail on the nature of fireballs or lightning bolts.
"Interesting. Our team shaman will no doubt be interested in some of this, perhaps even the formulas, though I think she would have to convert them to her way of thinking first. She is….away at the moment though, scouting ahead."
"Ahh – it was her that set off the alarm watchers, was it? They were very noisy…"
"Apologies, we meant no offence. We were unsure of the rules here, but we're on something of a schedule and don't have a lot of time, and she wasn't needed for the refuelling. I hope that isn't a problem."
"Better to ask for next time, but understandable."
"No offence was meant. So… this material? Is it all from the island?"
"Yes, all gathered or produced locally."
"Hmm, you're very lucky. I'd like to live somewhere like this one day. That's not a request to stay by the way – but it seems like a beautiful place."
"It has its advantages, though it can be hard to get supplies at times."
"I'd like to call another of our team down here, to look at your warding materials if I may?" The cowled figure nodded and Aswon called for Shimazu, trying to recall the exact route through the rig to reach them. While they were waiting he continued to chatter to the man about the materials, listening carefully to the responses. The mage was wary, but seemed to be warming up to them, and unless Aswon was mistaken he could detect a certain 'tuskyness' about his speech. He was way too short to be a troll, but spot on to be an ork, which would also explain the broadness of the shoulders.
Aswon hadn't considered how much of a surprise it might be for someone to have Shimazu appear in the doorway without a sound. He'd gotten so used to the big man moving quieter than a mouse that he'd just taken it as normal now. So when a shadow was cast into the room as Shimazu blocked the light from the corridor, he wasn't really surprised. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for their host, who turned on the spot and raised his hands to attack.
Time slowed for he and Kai as their reflexes kicked in. As the hiss of surprise and anger emerged from their host, the dilation effect kicked in and the hiss dropped in pitch, the hands rising slowly and magic starting to form around the digits in a slow nimbus of power. Shimazu's eyes widened and they could see his hand starting to move towards the blade, his own reflexes powering up in response to the perceived threat.
Aswon was no slouch, but he knew that Shimazu was capable of some amazing bursts of speed, and he threw everything he had into reacting quickly to prevent a situation. A step to the side meant he could bring his hand up on either side of his body, and he worked to force out words quickly but clearly.
"Wait! Friendly!"
The power continued to accumulate, but Shimazu appeared to have paused, content to have his hand on his sword, but not making a move to attack. The power continued to form around the ork's hands, before two blasts of power erupted and slammed into Shimazu. The ronin had an expectation of what was coming – he'd seen the levitate spell before, recognised some of the essence of the power. Tads had used the spell to allow him to escape from the roof in Baku, and he'd seen it used on the team a number of other times – supporting and lifting them, or slowing their descent from a fall. It didn't move them fast, but it did the job.
This was different through. The power behind this spell was at least five times greater than whatever Tads used, maybe more. Two invisible hands grabbed at him and dashed him back into the wall, lifting him from the deck and pinning him to the bulkhead, vice-like grips squeezing him harshly and compressing his chest and neck. Trying to struggle against them felt like trying to move a mechanical press or fight against the jaws of construction equipment – hopeless.
"You didn't tell me you'd bought one of THEM!" Anger and vitriol exploded from the ork, and Aswon could feel the sudden rage boiling off of him as he reacted on an instinctual level.
"Them? Someone Japanese? Or a Samurai?" Aswon hazarded a guess. "Either way, he's part of our team and a friend. Please don't hurt him, he means you no harm. And if you can set him down, I'm sure we can sort this out." Shimazu's face was starting to go a little red as he struggled to breathe normally, and Aswon didn't want to see him hurt – or lose his temper. If he did get past the spell, he had no doubt in his mind that someone was going to get cut in half if he didn't start acting a little more nicely.
The ork seemed to back down from his rage, and with a flick of the hand Shimazu was lowered to the floor and the pressure reduced – though not entirely withdrawn. Enough remained as a warning that swift movement or signs of attack would be dealt with.
"I'm not leaving here without an apology for this." Shimazu spoke quietly but firmly, staring at the cowled figure. His hand held the sword loosely, and his body was relaxed – but that fooled neither Kai nor Aswon.
"I'm sorry – I didn't think to warn you about how quiet and fast he is. And you, Shimazu – sorry. I should have said. You can surprise people with how stealthy you are for such a big guy." Aswon offered the apology – after all, Shimazu had just said he wanted 'an' apology, not one from the ork specifically. If it would avoid a fight, he was happy to offer sincere apologies all around. The last thing they needed was to burn another smuggler stop and have more people after them!
The ork moved, bringing one hand back toward him and pulling down the cowl to reveal a pale and pallid face with demonic red eyes deeply recessed into the skull. Wispy facial hair covered the top lip and chin, though a fierce snarl covered his features at the moment. His eyes were locked onto Shimazu, and they could sense hostility radiating out from him.
A sudden thought occurred to Aswon. "Hunter, if you're not busy with the refuelling, we need you down here, fast." He rattled off instructions on how to get down to their location, hoping that Hunter wouldn't stop to ask why and would pick up on the urgency in his voice. "I assume from your appearance that you are Oni?" He didn't mention the albino side of things – that much was pretty obvious, though he'd never actually seen one in person before. He'd never met an Oni either, the particular sub-type of Ork that seemed specific to the area around Japan. Probably because the Japanese regarded them as impure and rounded them all off to concentration camps and worked them to death…
Shimazu had put two and two together by now as well, and with slow deliberate moves he took his hand off his sword and crossed them in front of him. He was still annoyed by being thrown around the room, but it was starting to make a bit more sense now why it had happened.
"Your attitude towards us will be far more likely to cause me offence, than your race." He managed to state it plainly and without accusation, hoping the ork wouldn't take it as a challenge or insult to his state. The ork glowered at him for a moment, but the scowl eased somewhat, as neither Shimazu, Kai nor Aswon made any hostile moves. The tension in the room remained high though, but before anything else happened they heard the pounding of size twelve boots hammering down the corridor, about as far removed from Shimazu's stealthy approach as it was possible to get unless elephants, bulls and china plates were involved.
"Ahh, this will be Hunter, no doubt. He may be armed. In fact, I'd be very surprised if he isn't. I think he takes a gun with him when he goes to the toilet." Aswon said, slightly louder than he needed to, hoping that his voice would carry down the corridor a little as well and alert Hunter, but also reassure him that things were still at the diplomatic stage.
Sure enough, Hunter appeared at the doorway, filling the portal entirely with his bulk, the Ares Alpha combat gun held loosely across the body, ready to use. His eyes flicked around the room, taking in the situation swiftly as he squeezed through the doorway and turned slightly sideways to reduce the target profile from the pale ork.
"You… you travel together? With him?" The mage gestured from Hunter to Shimazu and back.
"Yeah, we do. Why?" He glanced over at Shimazu, noting the way his clothes seemed to be pinned back against his body, as if he was standing in a breeze, and his brows furrowed in confusion.
"More than that, they've shared rooms, worked together to defeat enemies, fought side by side and given each other first aid. And complained about their snoring to each other…" Aswon added, hoping to show that not only was Shimazu not your typical Japanese racist, but that he considered Hunter a friend, someone to actively help and support.
With a flick, the spell was dropped and Shimazu's clothing slumped down into the more normal position. The mage licked his lips and then spoke quietly.
"My apologies. I've had… bad experiences with 'our' people, and learnt the hard way not to let them get the upper hand."
"I apologise that you've had to go through that. I can't really imagine what it would be like, but I can see how it would affect your life and dealings with people." Shimazu chose his words carefully, quashing his first instinct to be angry at being assaulted, and trying to empathise with the mage. If he'd had this encounter a year ago, he'd have responded very differently – but one of the things his studies in psychology had taught him, and his travels had shown him – was just how invisible privilege was when you had it, and how it affected your thinking.
Up above them, on the helipad, the watcher spirits once more went into a frenzy as Tads arrived back at high speed, lancing through their patrols and jumping back into her body before anything could interfere. Opening her eyes she saw Vadim checking her over and gave him a smile.
"Eighteen?" He said to her.
"um.. seventeen?" She said after a moment of thought. Vadim smiled back and relaxed as she gave the answering password, proving that it was her and not some astral intruder.
"What did you find?"
"Well, it's high, definitely high. A series of three peaks, and I wasn't entirely sure which was which. But I also saw some eagle shapeshifters flying around up there, Rocs and what I think are Volcano Buzzards – so it's likely we're going to run into trouble. I'm not sure that we can fly all the way to the top easily, so there's going to be some walking involved which means chances are we're going to get into a fight."
"Well, it would be a lot easier to fight if I had some offensive spells, you know."
"When we find a talismonger or somewhere to get some, we can discuss it. You've been coming along well in your studies."
"Funny you should mention that – I've been listening in on the team. There was some kind of story, then an ork turned up and he's a magic shopkeeper. Shimazu surprised him and there was some kind of spell used, but then Hunter went down and sorted it all out." Tads felt her eyebrows rise in surprise as she tried to work out just what kind of diplomatic situation Hunter might have resolved… "But anyway, it seems to have calmed down now, and the ork has a load of crystals and gems for sale, and warding materials and a whole bunch of spells. Aswon seemed to think they're combat based, mainly."
"Sound intriguing. Let's go have a look. But if you want some combat spells, you may need to buy them yourself at the moment – I get the impression after fixing the engines that we're pretty poor!" They checked with Marius, who just waved for them to go, probably happy that he could continue his conversation with Nadia without being interrupted any more and headed down into the rig. It took them a few minutes to realise they'd taken a wrong turn somewhere and were now lost in a maze of identical looking passages all tilted slightly to one side. After calling the team and admitting they were 'not quite sure where they were' Hunter tracked them down and guided them to the right place, his GPS system and orientation cyberware easily mapping the route through the confusing warren of passages.
Kai headed back upstairs while they were waiting and paid for the fuel, checking the balance on the cred stick as he authorised the payment. The fuel here cost them nine thousand three hundred and forty Nuyen, which didn't seem unreasonable, leaving them with forty-six thousand six hundred and ninety-seven Nuyen left. Based on the prices they'd just paid, that was good for four full refuels, enough to probably get them through the remaining eight and a half thousand kilometres to the last volcano – and to the point where they could get paid. Provided they didn't run into any more unexpected costs. Based on their lives so far, Kai wasn't willing to even contemplate that!
Back in the room, the albino ork had introduced himself as 'Kanai', and was going through the list of spell formulas he had available. All seemed to be hermetic in nature, making them far more difficult for the nature shamans to learn. They also seemed to be heavily tilted towards the art of destruction and carnage, spells creating blasts of power, balls of fire and bolts of lightning. They certainly didn't sit well with Tads and her approach to the world, though Vadim seemed much less sanguine.
Aswon meanwhile was examining the selection of gems, particularly a small handful of tiny sapphires.
"What you looking at Aswon?"
"These. Thinking one for Germaine might make a really nice present."
"Why not one of the emeralds in the next box over? They're bigger, easier to cut. Would look more impressive?" He pointed a stubby finger at the selection of four emeralds that lay to the right of the saphires. Aswon reached over and activated his phone, scrolling through a selection of images until he'd reached the pair of blue ties he'd had to decide between presenting to Germaine.
"Nah, I'm thinking blue will be better. I'm sure she'll get the reference." Hunter grinned at him and blew him a kiss then moved off to look at some of the other gems, leaving Aswon to return to his consideration.
"Are all of these stones harvested in the same way?" Aswon asked of Kanai.
"Yes, they are all pure and untainted. Why?"
"Well, Tads over there is our enchanter. She transformed Shimazu's sword into a foci for him, and is pretty skilled at such things. Getting her some more materials will help her, which helps all of us."
"I see. Well, if you have good stories to tell, I'm sure we can make some arrangements. Or some other kinds of goods in trade perhaps."
"I am Aswon. I have many good stories!"
Their conversation was interrupted by Kai, who coughed loudly to get their attention and then called them all over to one side of the room. When they were together, he showed them the remaining funds on the stick and laid out his thoughts.
"We need to keep at least ten thou for the next fuel stop. But – from what I can see here, the prices are pretty low. Presumably because he gathered them himself and can't use 'em all. But if we can buy a bunch, and sell them on at the next stop or two, we can make a handsome profit. IF we can sell them. If we can't, we just burn through our fuel money, and have a bunch of magic rocks that won't do us any good. So, I'm thinking lets go have a look through and work out what we could get and flip quickly and easily. Or if we should think about stopping here on the way back, if we can."
The team returned to the table, examining the magical materials and evaluating their costs, looking for the best value stones or components that might let them make a profit on the next leg of their trip.
