Ragnarock (23 page)

"Easier said than done."
Talon said.
"The others still aren't awake. Did you remove the sleeping spell from me?"

Aracos shook his shaggy head. "
Wasn't me."
he said.
"There wasn't any spell on you when I got here."

"Hmmm."
Talon mused.
"Well, I can try to deal with the spell on the others, but I've got to be on the physical plane for that, which means dealing with the guards."

"I think you and I can handle the guards."
Aracos said.
"There's only two of them, and they don't know you're awake. Doesn't look like they've got any magical protection."

"True. Okay, here's the plan."

A few moments later, Talon's astral form returned to his physical body. He carefully pretended to remain unconscious, but kept in mind where he'd last seen the guards. Any moment now, Aracos would go into action.

Talon heard a deep growl from one side of the train car and then one of the guards saying something to the other in German. Talon didn't have his German chip active, but by the tone of surprise in the guard's voice, it wasn't too hard to guess what he'd said. Talon opened his eyes and went into action.

As they'd planned, the guards had turned to look in surprise at the ghostly wolf that suddenly appeared behind them. Talon concentrated and focused on the two men. One of them heard a faint noise
from the chains as Talon moved and started to turn
back, but he was too late. Talon's spell struck both guards instantly and overcame their wills, forcing them down into unconsciousness much like his own chained companions.

"Nice job."
Aracos said.

Talon held his hands up in front of his face, staring intently at the chains.

"Shatter." he whispered, focusing a bolt of magical force against the chains. They broke apart with a popping sound and clattered to the floor. As he got up, Talon checked his headware systems. They were all operating normally. His chronometer showed that he'd been out for a few hours. He opened up a channel on his commlink.

"Team Two, this is One. Over." he said quietly.

"Thank God!" he heard over the link. "One, this is Two. What's your situation?" Trouble asked.

"Could be better." Talon replied. "I'm loose, and Aracos and I have taken care of our guards. The others are still out. I'm going to try to wake them. How are things from your end?"

"We're keeping up." Val broke in. "This bird can pace the train you're on all day long, but we haven't exactly got unlimited fuel. You're also headed through some fairly rough terrain, which is making things kind of interesting. You want us to come down and pick you up?"

"Sounds good to me." Talon said. "How do you want to work it?"

"Rooftop pickup's probably our best bet." Val said.

"We can lower you a ladder and pace the train."

"All right. I'll signal when we're ready."

"Roger that." Val said and Talon closed the link.

Bending down near where Boom lay, he focused his senses on the astral plane once more and examined the aura of the spell around his friend. It was a powerful one, very powerful. He'd never seen anything quite like it before. But then, this was the magic of a dragon, probably a great dragon. Still, he had to try and break the spell. There was no way he could get the others out while they were unconscious.

"Aracos, I need your help here." he called to his familiar.

Aracos settled on Talon's shoulder in his falcon form. "Looks tough." was all he said after examining the spell.

"I know." Talon held his hands out over Boom's head and chest and focused on breaking the spell. He threw his own will against the spell's energies, drawing on Aracos' power as well. The spell was powerful, more powerful than anything Talon had encountered before. All his efforts were having no effect. But he had to overcome it, or else leave everyone else behind, and that was something Talon was not willing to do.

He redoubled his effort, focusing on the structure of the spell, on pulling it apart. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he could hear the blood roaring in his ears. Then something broke. He felt the spell yield, grabbed onto that slight weakness and pushed with all his strength. The seconds ticked by like hours, but the spell slowly dissolved and his companions began to awaken.

"Look sharp." Talon told them. "We're getting out of here in a hurry. We're on a train bound for Berlin and riding with some nasty company." He jerked his chin toward the tapered cylinder of the bomb. Almost immediately, the others were fully awake and ready.

"So how are we getting out?" Boom asked.

"Val and Trouble are following in a chopper." Talon explained. "They can pick us up off the roof."

"What about one of your air spirits? Couldn't they help us out?"

Talon shook his head. "I can't feel any of my servitor elementals. Alamais must have completely disrupted them somehow. How about you, Silverblade?"

The elf likewise shook his head. "No, nothing."

"Then we're on our own." Talon said.

"And unarmed." Hammer added.

For the first time, Talon noticed that they'd been relieved of their weapons and ammo belts. His hand automatically went to his side and found Talonclaw was missing.

"Damn!" he said. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it right now. First order of business is getting out of here." Talon moved toward the door at the side of the car. "This looks like the only way out."

"As far as I could tell." Aracos told him. "But it looks like it has some electronics hooked up to it."

"An alarm." Talon examined the edge of the door. Aracos was right, there were hints of some sophisticated electronic circuitry there. "Boom, take a look at this." he said.

The troll bent down to examine the door. Despite his brutish appearance, Boom had become quite adept with electronics over the years. Still, he shook his head after a few moments.

"Sophisticated stuff." he said. "No way I can defeat it without at least some tools."

"Can we open the door?" Talon asked.

Boom flexed his massive arms a couple times. "Null sweat there, but we'll definitely set off an alarm if we do."

"No choice." Talon said. "Let's do it." He opened up a commlink and told Val and Trouble to get ready.

"Hurry it up, Talon." came Val's voice. "You're headed for a tunnel and we'll have to go around it. If you go through, it could be a little while before we catch up to you again."

"If we wait, somebody might come to check on us." Talon said. He looked over at Boom. "Okay, do it, chummer."

Boom grabbed the handle of the door in his huge hands, firmly planted his feet, and yanked. The door groaned in protest for a moment, followed by the sound of a snap as it slid open, letting a howling blast of frigid air into the train car.

From the open door, the runners could see it was still night, and they were speeding along through rocky, hilly terrain. Without hesitation, Boom leaned out the door and reached for the ladder mounted on the side of the car. He swung out into the darkness and began climbing.

"Go." Talon told the others. "I'll go last." Hammer nodded and followed Boom, leaving Talon, Silverblade, and Aracos alone in the train car with the unconscious guards and the dark shape of the bomb.

"You next." Talon told the elf.

"Afraid to turn your back to me?" Silverblade said.

"No, I just want to make sure you get off this thing. We still may need your help."

The elf gave a short bow from the waist before leaning out and grabbing the ladder. Then Talon followed him out as Aracos shifted back into his astral form.

"Team One, we have you on visual." Val said to Talon over his headcom. "We're coming in." As Talon clambered up the ladder toward the roof of the car, wind whipping his long coat around him, he could see the running lights of the helicopter as it began to descend toward the train. As he reached the roof where the others crouched, the chopper began to lower a rope ladder from the open cargo door in the side. Val carefully piloted it to bring the swinging ladder close to the roof of the train.

"Almost, almost." Boom said as the rope ladder drew closer. The big troll shot out one hand in a lightning grab and managed to snatch the end of the ladder out of the air.

"Got it!" he said. "You sure this thing'll hold me?" he yelled to Talon.

Talon paused to listen for a second. "Val says yes!" he shouted back. "Now get going!"

Hammer held the end of the ladder as Hammer clapped him once on the shoulder and started climbing. "You next, elf-boy." he said to Silverblade when Hammer reached the chopper. The elf didn't bother to argue, but simply grabbed the ladder and started climbing with great agility.

"You're next, Talon." the troll said.

"But .
.
."

"No buts! Someone needs to hold this thing stable and there's no way you can do it for me. I'll follow you up. Now get going!"

"Better hurry things up, Talon." Val said. "We're coming up on that tunnel mighty fast." Talon could see the high hills looming ahead of the train.

"All right." he said, grabbing hold of the ladder, then started climbing up toward the chopper.

The ladder bucked and swayed in the wind as Val fought to keep the helicopter steady and stable near the train. Talon had to climb slowly to keep his grip, and once he almost slipped and fell. Looking down at the ground, rushing past at well over sixty klicks per hour, he wasn't eager to see if his magic could break his fall in time.

"Talon!" Val's voice came over his commlink. "We've got company! Two bogies coming in fast!" Talon looked behind the train, but he couldn't see anything: no running lights or signs of aircraft.

Then he spotted them. They had no lights, only broad black wings spreading out from slim, muscular bodies. Whiplike tails tipped with poisonous stingers coiled in the air, and their long, thin necks supported small, reptilian heads, jaws filled with needle-like teeth. The two wyverns were coming right at them, their hunting cries carrying over the sound of the train.

19

"Boom! Get up here!" Talon yelled down as the wyverns closed in. Each of the flying creatures was nearly as long as the helicopter that hovered less than ten meters above the train cutting its way through Germany toward Berlin. They opened their fanged maws to give loud hunting cries as they closed in.

"Talon, we've got no heavy weapons on this bird." Val said over his headlink. "We'll try to hold them off. Get the hell up here!"

From the open side-door of the helicopter, Harlan Hammarand leaned out, clutching an Ingram submachine gun. The gun roared as he fired several bursts in the direction of the wyverns. There was no indication he'd hit them. The creatures barely slowed their approach as they started to bank around to either side of the chopper. Their tails were tipped with wicked-looking stingers.

A wyvern came rushing in at Talon, its tail poised to strike. Talon kicked off the rope ladder and hung on for dear life as he swung to the side. The stabbing tail barb barely missed him, and the wyvern started to come around again. Its companion swooped down at Boom, who was standing on the roof of the speeding train. The troll dropped to the roof in a roll to avoid the creature's sting, but nearly flung himself off the roof in the process. He grabbed the edge of the roof with one of his massive hands just as his body went over the side.

Without Boom to anchor the rope ladder, the end flapped loosely in the wind as the chopper rose slightly upward. Hammer's gun roared again as he fired at the wyverns, but the creatures were remarkably fast and maneuverable for all their size, their heavy scales like armor. Again, there were no signs of significant injury from either beast.

"We need to get back down to Boom!" Talon said to Val. "Can you lower us?"

"We don't have a lot of time, Talon. That tunnel is coming up fast. We haven't got more than a minute or two."

"We can't leave Boom behind. We've got to get down there. Lower this thing!"

"I'm bringing us in." Val said. "Try and keep those things off our tail."

"Aracos,"
Talon thought, "
try and distract one of the wyverns, keep it away from the chopper."

"Will do."
the spirit answered.

One of the wyverns was coming around for another shot at Talon. Suddenly it banked and turned away, as if something unseen had buzzed in front of
it. Wyverns were sensitive to the astral plane, like
most Awakened creatures, so it could perceive Aracos even when the spirit was in astral form. Talon knew that Aracos was far swifter and more maneuverable in his astral form than the wyverns, so he should be able to keep the creature busy for a little while at least.

Meanwhile, the other wyvern was still trying to get at Boom. Talon turned and focused his attention on the beast as it banked around for another run at the train. He concentrated and drew magical energy to him, focusing it into a bolt of pure power. He pointed at the wyvern and shouted a magical phrase over the shrieking of the wind. The mana-bolt slammed into the creature with the force of an oncoming train. The wyvern shrieked in pain and pulled up at the last moment, flying over the top of the train and missing Boom completely. Still, the spell didn't incapacitate the creature, and it kept on coming, this time headed straight for Talon.