Talon started another spell, even knowing there was no way he'd be in time. The wyvern's stinger caught him in the right thigh and Talon cried out in pain, nearly losing his grip on the ladder. He could feel a terrible burning sensation spreading out from his leg as the wyvern's venom took effect. It was like that part of his body was on fire, a fire that was rapidly spreading outward. The injured wyvern drew back and prepared to stab a second time to finish its prey.
There was a loud crack and a jet of flames shot from the open door of the helicopter, striking the wyvern full in the chest. Speren Silverblade stood in the doorway, fire flowing from his outstretched hand like a flame-thrower. The creature wailed as withering flames flowed over it, burning exposed skin and flesh. The creature fell back, beating its wings furiously to stay aloft, and the train and the chopper pulled ahead, leaving the wyvern behind.
Talon struggled to retain his grip on the rope ladder. His leg was starting to go numb, and he was afraid he would lose consciousness.
"Talon . . Val started to say over the commlink.
"Don't worry about me," he snapped, gritting his teeth, "just get us down there to pick up Boom!" The chopper started to drop down in response to his order.
Talon could see Boom struggle back onto the roof of the train, hand over hand, lying flat as the wind tore across it. The hills were looming high overhead as the train headed for the dark mouth of the tunnel opening.
"Grab the ladder!" Talon yelled. Boom levered himself up and reached for the flailing end of the rope ladder, but even his huge troll arms weren't long enough. It flapped just out of reach. Val was trying to pull the chopper into a better position to give Boom another shot, but Talon wasn't sure there'd be time.
"Boss, I can't hold these lizards off any more."
Aracos said.
"They're headed your way again."
Wyverns were nothing if not persistent, and they were not renowned for their intelligence. Talon glanced back to see the forms heading for the chopper like bat
winged fighter planes.
Ignoring the burning pain of the wyvern's toxin, Talon gestured tightly with one hand, focusing on the end of the ladder. Power flowed, and he gasped out words of power to shape it to his will. An invisible hand seized hold of the ladder and pulled the end of it toward Boom's outstretched arm. The troll grabbed hold as the hills seemed to rush up at them.
"Val, pull us up!" Talon said. The chopper pulled up sharply, lifting Boom off the roof of the train. The engine whined as they fought to clear the steep hillside, Boom's feet lifting mere meters off the ground as the train plunged into the darkness of the tunnel.
"Incoming!" Talon heard Val say as the wyverns arced in toward the chopper again. The damn things were amazingly persistent and stubborn. Boom was starting to climb up the ladder toward Talon as he began concentrating on another spell.
"
Aracos, aid me."
Talon commanded.
He was getting tired of this. The wyvern's poison burned in him like a fever. All the rapid-fire spellcasting was making him feel dizzy and lightheaded, and he was battered and bruised from hanging on to the rope ladder. He took all his anger toward the situation, toward Alamais, and toward being set up and hung out to dry, and compressed it into a glowing sphere in one outstretched hand. It burned white-hot at its core, a fire of anger and pain. As the wyvern arced in, Talon hurled the sphere at it with all his might.
The sphere streaked out like a tiny meteor and struck the oncoming wyvern dead center. There was a massive boom and a detonation that nearly knocked Talon off the ladder he clung to. The little ball blossomed into a massive sphere of flames that engulfed the wyvern completely. The creature let out a shriek of pain that echoed through the hills, then died out as the flames did too. The wyvern dropped toward the ground, its flesh covered in burns, parts of its wingflaps burned away entirely by the blast.
Talon watched the creature fall with a certain fascination, then glanced down as he felt something tap him on the foot.
"Start climbing!" Boom shouted from directly below him. Talon nodded numbly and started up the ladder as quickly as he could. The blast seemed to startle the other wyvern, but it had not yet given up the chase. Talon wasn't sure he could manage another spell, but he had to try. He got to the open door of the helicopter, and Hammer's strong arm reached out to help haul him aboard. Speren Silverblade stood near the doorway, obviously readying another spell of his own as Boom clambered aboard close behind Talon. Once in, he hugged the floor of the chopper for a moment in sheer relief.
Talon leaned over the big troll to look out the door as the wyvern closed in. He wasn't done yet, and for some reason didn't want to show weakness in front of Silverblade anyway. He gathered power to him again and shaped it into a spell. Almost at the same moment, he and Silverblade loosed their spells on the oncoming creature. The twin manabolts stabbed out like magical lasers. The bolts struck the wyvern and sundered its life force, killing it almost instantly as the creature's uncomprehending mind was overwhelmed. The wyvern dropped from the sky like a stone, crashing into a copse of trees on the hillside below.
Silverblade slumped against the side of the chopper, holding onto a wall-staple with one hand. Hammer quickly moved to pull the door closed as Boom carefully rolled Talon off of him.
"Talon was hit." Boom said with concern as Talon slumped limply to the floor. The last spell seemed to have taken it out of him. Boom lifted Talon like a parent would lift a small child and moved him to one of the bench seats. The ragged hole in the leg of Talon's jeans was covered in blood.
Trouble came back from the cockpit with medkit in hand as Boom tore open Talon's jeans to expose the wound.
Silverblade waved Trouble off, "I have a spell . . ." he began to say, but Boom interrupted him with one raised hand.
"Wouldn't worry about it." the troll said, crouched over talon. "Take a look at this."
Both Trouble and Silverblade leaned over Boom's shoulder to see the hole in Talon's leg nearly closed. Even as they watched, the wound appeared to shrink, until only a small, tender-looking spot remained. Boom reached out and placed one big hand over his friend's forehead.
"He's got no fever, and his pulse seems normal."
"His aura is strong and undisturbed." Silverblade said, shaking his head. "How is this possible? I've never seen a human recover from any injury like that. Wyvern venom is among the most fatal there is."
"I've seen Talon pull off some pretty amazing healing spells," Trouble said, "but not while he was unconscious. Aracos?"
There was a shimmering in the air, and Talon's familiar spirit appeared at his master's side in wolf form. "
Wasn't me."
the spirit's thought-voice said.
"I’ve never seen anything like it."
Talon groaned and began to stir.
"Oh, frag." he muttered, his eyes fluttering open. "Did we get it?"
"And then some." Boom said, touching him gently on the shoulder. "Those wyverns aren't going to be bothering anyone anymore. How are you doing?"
Talon blinked a couple of times. "Fine, I think. In fact, I feel pretty good. Way better than I should after all that spellcasting and . . ."
Suddenly he sat bolt upright, one hand reaching for his leg. "The wyvern," he said, "it stung . . ." He stopped and his eyes widened as his fingers brushed across unblemished skin beneath his bloody clothing.
"Almost completely healed." Boom said. "And it looks like the venom isn't affecting you either."
"But how?" Talon asked, a look of confusion on his face.
"That's what we were going to ask you." Trouble replied. "We don't know. None of us do. Guess you've got a guardian angel or something, chummer."
"We're going to need one." Silverblade broke in. "There's still the matter of Alamais and whatever he's planning. Alamais is obviously working with Winternight, or perhaps using them for some purpose of his own, and they have control of a nuclear weapon. The devastation they could inflict is immense."
Talon glanced at his teammates and read the expressions on their faces.
"He's right. Whatever Alamais is planning, we can't let him get away with it. The dragon set us up to take out Lofwyr, but there's got to be more to it than that. If we can find out what Alamais is doing, maybe get word to Saeder-Krupp, we can tip them off."
"Do you really think S-K would believe us?" Boom asked.
"I don't know, but we've got to try. If anyone wants out of this, now's a good time to say so. We can drop you off, and you can find your own way back to Boston or wherever. No hard feelings, no questions asked." He looked from one face crowded around him to another.
"I follow the needs of my people." Silverblade said first. "Alamais is a monster, and what he is planning must be stopped."
"I'm not looking to play hero." Hammer said. "But I don't like being set up, either. The dragon used us, and we've got a rep to protect. If we can take him down and clear ourselves with Saeder-Krupp at the same time, I say we do it."
"Same here." Trouble said. "We're the only ones who know about the dragon's plan so far. We've got to do something."
Talon looked over at Boom, who answered with an expressive shrug. "Hey, probably nothing good on the trid tonight anyway. I mean, who wants to live a long and safe life, right? Count me in."
"How about you, Val?" Talon called up to the cockpit. There was a moment of pregnant silence.
"Haven't been to Berlin in a long time." Val said. "It'll be just like old times."
"All right." Talon said. "Let's do this. If Alamais thinks we're history, he's sadly mistaken."
As Val explained, the Free City of Berlin was almost pure anarchy. Even by the lax standards of some North American metroplexes, Berlin was practically an open city. Val brought the team in to the Schonefeld Airport, where she knew some people in the smuggling business. They were able to land at the airport with only a quick conversation over the comm system, and they skipped customs and immigration altogether, even though all visitors to Berlin were supposed to be issued a green card and pass a customs inspection.
"They say that, but nobody really bothers with it." Val said. "The government—such as it is—hasn't got the money to clean up the streets, much less pay people to handle customs inspections. The private contractors who do run the airport couldn't care less what people bring into the city, so long as they don't try to blow up the airport itself. That's probably one reason why Winternight came here; Berlin is one of the only cities in Europe where you could cart a nuclear bomb in on a freight train and nobody would even notice."
They were situated for the moment in a room off the hangar where the helicopter sat, planning their next move. They knew the train they had been on was bound for Berlin, thanks to some Matrix work by Trouble. Unfortunately, they didn't know exactly what had been done with Winternight's "cargo" once it arrived.
"The Berlin Matrix is a nightmare." Trouble said, massaging her forehead with one hand. "It's such a mess that the legitimate users can't get anything useful out of it more than half the time, to say nothing of pirating. Also, Winternight didn't exactly file a manifest for their cargo, or what they were planning to do with it. We're not going to be able to track them down that way."
"We don't need to." Talon said. "Remember, when Alamais clocked us, he or his flunkies must have taken our mageblades, along with the rest of our gear." He gestured to Silverblade, who sat quietly at one end of the table. "They've probably still got them, and Silverblade and I are still connected to those blades magically. We can track down their location on the astral plane and follow the trail right to wherever Winternight is hiding out."
"The only concern is what sort of magical security Winternight has on their headquarters." Silverblade added. "If the dragon is behind them, as seems to be the case, then their magical defenses could be truly formidable, perhaps more than we can handle."
"I think we can do it." Talon said.
"Are you sure, Talon?" Trouble asked
.
"We're
talking about a great dragon here. I don't know much about this Alamais, there's not much about him on the 'trix, but it seems like his claim to be Lofwyr's brother is true. And if so, that makes him one fragging tough dragon, backed up by a fanatical terrorist organization. Don't you think just maybe this is out of our league?"
"What would you suggest?" Talon asked her.
Trouble shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we can contact the authorities . . ."
"In Berlin?" Val was incredulous. "What authorities? The whole city is run by gangs and criminals, Trouble. What are they going to do about a group like Winternight?"
"Then, what about contacting Saeder-Krupp, telling them what we know?"
Talon shook his head. "Saeder-Krupp thinks we were in on the hit against Lofwyr. They're looking for a scapegoat. Why should they believe us? They would simply track us down and interrogate the drek out of us to get at the truth. By the time we could convince them, it might be too late. No, if we're going to do something about this, we've got to do it ourselves. Call me crazy, but I think we can handle whatever else Alamais has up his scaly sleeve."