Inside the box was a lining of black velvet. Resting upon it was an object that gleamed in the lights that flickered past the tinted windows of the Eurocar. Talon reached inside and lifted it out with one hand.
"
Wowza!"
Aracos said in his mind as Talon held it to the light.
It was a necklace, made of silver, and decorated with elaborate knotwork that looked vaguely Celtic, although Talon suspected that it wasn't. From the center of the necklace dangled a smoky crystal, cut in the shape of a curving crescent, the wide base capped in silver. The crystal caught and reflected the light, revealing faint lines and symbols that covered part of its surface. Talon recognized it. It was a piece of the crystal Dr. Goronay had found, the crystal his team had been hired to recover and bring to Lofwyr.
"A small token of my employer's appreciation." Brackhaus said. "A memento, he said."
"Dragonfang." Talon murmured, almost to himself. As he spoke the word, a faint tingle ran up his arm. The necklace seemed warm to the touch, almost like a living thing, and the depths of the crystal seemed to glimmer with a darkling light. For a moment, Talon recalled the experience of being merged with Lofwyr's astral form, fighting Alamais, and of soaring high above the ground. The memories of his visions had faded somewhat in the days since they'd returned from Germany, except in his dreams, when he often recalled the sensation of flight.
"That thing has some real mojo, boss."
Aracos said.
Talon contemplated the necklace for a moment. Did he really want to accept a gift from Lofwyr, the dragon who'd used him and his team as catspaws in one of his games? Shadowrunners had a saying, "Never deal with a dragon." Talon had already violated it once, and it nearly got them all killed. Was he going to ignore it again?
Still, the necklace felt so well suited to him, so
right.
And Talon wasn't exactly known for playing by the rules. He slipped the necklace around his neck, feeling the cool metal against his skin, and slid the crystal tooth under his shirt.
"Please give your employer my thanks." Talon said to Brackhaus.
"I shall. I'm sure there may be prospects of other work for you and your people in the future." The Eurocar slowed and stopped at the curb, and Talon reached for the door handle.
"You've got my number." he said, then got out of the car and closed the door behind him. The car pulled away and quickly vanished from sight among the traffic.
Talon pressed his fingers against the crystal under his shirt, feeling it tingle against his skin.
"You okay, boss?"
Aracos asked him.
"Hmm? Yeah." Talon said.
"Tesetilaro.
"Aracos muttered in thought-speak.
"That's what Silverblade called me before he left. At first I thought it was just another elven insult I hadn't heard before, but now I'm starting to wonder. Do you know what it means?"
"Yeah."
the spirit replied.
"It means 'Son of the Dragon.' It's a very old expression."
"How do you know that?" Talon asked. "I didn't even know you spoke Sperethiel."
There was a shimmer in the air as Aracos materialized on Talon's shoulder in the form of a goldenwinged falcon.
"I don't. Let's just say I know and leave it at that for now. It's one of the reasons I'm here. I suspect we'll be hearing from Lofwyr, and Alamais again sometime."
Talon didn't have anything to say to that. He took Brackhaus' credstick from his pocket and turned it over in his fingers, then flipped it up into the air and caught it as it came back down.
"C'mon," he told Aracos, "let's get going. We've got a hell of a lot of nuyen, and I for one plan to use some of it to have some fun. I'll buy you a drink."
"Trying to take advantage of me?"
the spirit said with a touch of mirth.
"With your capacity? Don't count on it."
The falcon vanished as Aracos materialized in motorcycle form, engine already running.
"Just as long as I don't have to drive for the rest of the night."
the spirit said, as Talon climbed aboard.
"Deal."
And the two of them roared off into the night, quickly vanishing, back into the shadows.
Ragnarock
is Steve Kenson's third novel set in the Shadowrun® universe. He is already familiar to fans of the Shadowrun® series as the author of numerous game books like
New Seattle
and
Underworld,
as well as the novels
Technobabel
and
Crossroads,
also published by Roc Books. Steve lives in New Hampshire, and readers and fans of Shadowrun® can reach him via E-mail at
[email protected]
.
Copyright
ROC
Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
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First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
First Printing, February 2000
10 987654321
Copyright © FASA Corporation, 2000 All rights reserved
Series Editor: Donna Ippolito Cover Art: Royo
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