Beyond the Pale (29 page)

In the distance, like a faint tickle through thick fabric, Ryan sensed healing magic touch him, coming from Talon. It seemed so far away, so removed. But as the mana from the Dragon Heart continued to arc through Ryan’s spirit and into his physical body, the magic combined with Talon’s healing spell to coalesce into a synergy.

Ryan felt the world shift and change around him. His perception grew and grew until he was in many places at once.

He lay dying on the cracked plane of rock.

He flew across the metaplanes in the body of the dweller on the threshold.

He perceived in the physical world, inside the ritual circle atop the amusement park tower, his awareness hovering over the unconscious bodies of Talon and himself.

Is this what it feels like to die?

Talon’s healing spell. The synergy with the increased mana gave the spell far more power than Talon could safely use. The spell slammed into Ryan, purging the poison, knitting the wounds. The magical construction stabilized his astral body, reassembled the shattered fragments of his soul.

Flying across the metaplanes, Ryan transformed. As the mana built inside him, his spirit metamorphosed. Awakened.

Power surged through him, magic of such a level that he thought he would explode from it. His spirit swelled, and he emerged in the physical world. Whole and complete.

His nightsuit and body armor shredded on his physical body as he manifested in a new form. The fabric stretched, then ripped, then fell away. Ryan’s weaponry and arsenal hit the metallic roof of the observation platform as his new body emerged in place of his old.

Ryan manifested in the body of a drake—a small dragon like the dweller on the threshold. His human shape was gone, his head elongated into a reptilian beak, spines jutting from his mouth. Sharp horns protruded from his brow, curling back.

What the frag?

Ryan’s gut burned with fire and wings unfolded from his back, his skin replaced with blue and silver scales that glowed from the mounting mana inside him. A tail coiled behind him and his arms and legs appeared with talons, claws like scythes.

His consciousness expanded and he found he could perceive astrally without effort. He saw the ebb and flow of mana instinctively. Those around him were no longer just physical forms, they were now essences and auras—Axler and Grind turning toward him with their weapons brought to bear.

White and silver flames flickered off his scales. He could still feel the mana that Lethe was channeling into him. He felt whole and completely healed. Powerful as he stretched out his wings and stood upright, more completely himself than he had ever felt.

It made sense in an odd way. The dweller had told Ryan that it was a mirror. That Ryan was more than he thought.

Ryan spoke to Axler and Grind telepathically.
Don’t shoot,
he said.
I am Ryan. I don't know how, but I’ve manifested in this shape.

Axler’s look never melted. “Don’t move!” she commanded.

An explosion on the Locus shook the tower beneath their feet, causing it to sway and rock. Unconsciously, Ryan used his wings to hold himself aloft while the others tried to keep their footing on the moving rooftop.

Axler, you 'll just have to trust me. If you listen to that cold heart of yours, you’ll know I’m the real thing.

Axler kept her distance, but did not fire. She wasn’t ready to trust him, but didn’t want to take the chance of shooting him if he was telling the truth.

Ryan looked down on the scene far below. He did not need binoculars now. His eyesight was extremely keen. The area around the Locus was surrounded by dead and burned bodies. No one moved within a half-kilometer perimeter. Everyone dead.

Ryan winced at the stench of charred flesh rising from below. Trees burned all around, sending black smoke into the cloudless night sky. The
teocalli
sat like a crooked mound of melted slag. On the side nearest the Locus, the stone had been blown away and charred, melted from the heat.

The Locus sat intact and unmarred in the center of the destruction. Its surface was a dull black now, not shiny, except for the faint scintilla coming off the hairline threads of orichalcum that passed through the stone. Ryan could feel the magic dwindling inside the Locus, and knew that Lethe and the Dragon Heart were responsible.

Next to Ryan, Axler and Grind still maintained defensive posture. Axler subvocalized to Jane, “Can you see this?”

Suddenly, the tower swayed again in a gust of wind, listing violently this time. It had sustained damage from the explosions. The ancient amusement park ride was on the verge of toppling over with all of them still on top.

Ryan might survive; he could fly now. But his friends would certainly die when the tower fell. There was no way he could save them all.

44

Nadja paced around the room as sunlight filtered hazily in through the skylight above. She walked from the Louis XIV chairs, past the huge stone hearth, around behind the blue velvet sofa where Harlequin and Aina sat unconscious, then back again. Completing the circle.

As she paced, she shivered and rubbed her arms. Harlequin’s Chateau d'If was cold in the morning.

The two slumped elves had not moved in hours. Sitting side by side on the sofa, their expressions slack, revealing nothing of their success or failure. Nothing of Ryan.

Nadja had been in touch with Jane-in-the-box, but the decker could not follow the mission into astral space, and did not know what had happened. Whether they were succeeding or being destroyed.

Jane Foster sat cross-legged on the ottoman, facing the sofa. She wore a Missouri sweatshirt over her mauve dress, and absently turned her coiled-dragon ring around and around on her finger. She was another elf mage, an apprentice and powerful in her own way, but much younger and far less experienced than either Aina or Harlequin.

Foster was meditating, not asleep. Meditation was just her way of passing the time and trying not to worry. There wasn’t room enough for
both
of them to pace.

Nadja’s portable telecom rang, and she straightened abruptly and walked to the end table where it sat. She turned the screen toward her and tapped the Connect key.

Jane-in-the-box’s icon filled the screen, ridiculous cartoon breasts bulging under a tight yellow leather halter. Huge pouting lips of the brightest red. Gigantic blue eyes.

“Yes, Jane?” Nadja said.

“Something’s happened,” Jane said. “Look.”

The screen image shifted to show a halting, grainy view of the top of an amusement park tower. The human bodies of Talon and Ryan lay unconscious in the center of the ritual circle. The cyberzombie and the Dragon Heart had vanished, moving completely across into astral space or to whatever metaplane they all went.

“This happened just moments ago,” Jane said. “I pieced together feeds from the headcameras of both Axler and Grind.”

Suddenly, Ryan’s body jerked. He began to glow silver and cobalt blue as though a cold fire shimmered over his skin. Then his clothes tore and fell away as the transformation of his flesh changed him. In instants, his skin grew metallic, and his head elongated into a dragon’s snout, horns curling back from his brow and protruding from the edges of his mouth.

Wings appeared, beautiful silver and blue scales shimmering as his body armor and equipment fell to the metal roof. A small dragon had taken shape from Ryan’s body.

Nadja watched this with fear and fascination.

There was movement next to her, and she noticed that Aina and Harlequin had awakened. Harlequin leaned his head back and let out a long slow breath. His face paint couldn’t hide the dark purple-black circles that hung under his bloodshot green eyes, the droop of his shoulders, or the obvious pain evident in even the simple task of drawing breath.

Aina was in similar condition. Her head hung forward as though it were too heavy to lift. Her yellow-white hair was tousled, and her Rolling Stones T-shirt was wet from exertion. After a minute, she managed to sit up and see what Nadja was looking at.

“He’s a drake,” Aina said. “It’s still Ryan, but he’s manifested his drake form.” She gave a tired laugh.

Nadja looked at the drake on the screen. Ryan? Then as the creature turned toward her, she caught a close-up of the eyes. Blue eyes, flecked with silver. How many times had she stared into those eyes?

She loved the man with those eyes.

Ryan.

“Jane,” Nadja said. “Did you hear what Aina said?”

“That drek about Ryan manifesting his drake form?” Jane’s tone was incredulous.

“It is Ryan,” Nadja said. “I don’t know how, but that’s him.”

“That’s what Axler thinks too,” Jane said. “Dhin is on his way to pick them up.”

“Good.”

Jane disconnected and the screen went blank.

“The increased mana caused him to manifest early,”
Aina said, laughing again. “We never suspected drakes had survived the wane in magic.”

Harlequin stood up from the sofa with Foster’s help. He arched his back and stretched. “The dragons must have hidden them in their lairs.”

Nadja looked at the two of them, scanning from one to the other. They were exhausted, but whole. “Did you win?” she asked. “Did you make it to the bridge in time?”
Harlequin nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

Aina gave a harsh laugh. “Barely,” she said. “But for once I agree with you, Caimbeul.”

Harlequin smiled and turned back to Nadja. “Ryan and his team got to Lethe in time. Talon took them to the metaplanes, and Lethe used the Dragon Heart to destroy the bridge. He was still working on the far expanse when he sent us back. He was worried that our strength would give out.

“Besides, we had killed all the Enemy who had made it across—all we could find anyhow. There may be one or two still here, but they’ll pop up sooner or later and we’ll destroy them.”

Aina put her hand on Nadja’s shoulder. “Ryan succeeded,” she said. “Dunkelzahn chose him well, trained him well, and he still surpassed all possible expectation.”

Nadja turned to look at the dark-skinned elf. Lines of fatigue held her face in sharp relief, but she was smiling. Nadja guessed that Aina rarely found occasion to smile.

“It’s strange,” Aina said. “But this experience has given me renewed faith in Dunkelzahn’s plan.”

Harlequin’s jaw dropped open in astonishment.

Aina narrowed her eyes on him, but she was smiling. “I think I’ve got the first glimmer of the hope I was promised in the will. Perhaps that was his plan all along.”

“I can’t believe my ears,” Harlequin said.

“I want to join your Draco Foundation, Nadja,” Aina said. “I’d like to accept your offer.”

Nadja felt a surge of excitement. “Thank you.”

“I believe a celebration is in order,” Harlequin said. “Shall I call for champagne?”

“Not for me,” Aina said. “I need a rest.”

“And I’d like to go back to Washington right away,” Nadja said. “I want to see Ryan.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Harlequin. “I’d like to see the drake myself. Will you come, Aina?”

“As long as I can sleep on the plane,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“Just don’t snore,” Harlequin said. “I’d like to get some rest too.”

Aina started to say something in retort, but she laughed instead. “Let’s just go,” she said.

Nadja nodded, then she started to make plans. They could leave in less than an hour. The helicopter would take
them to Marseilles where they would transfer to the Draco
Foundation Platinum III jet. They could be in Washington in four or five hours.

Nadja couldn’t wait. She needed to see Ryan. Needed to make sure he was still the same inside that reptilian body.

One question haunted her as she packed up to leave: did the Ryan that she loved still exist?

45

Ryan balanced on the swaying observation platform, easily keeping his feet. The choking stench of burning bodies thickened the air all around them, smoke filling the dark sky. The Azzie army seemed to have retreated to a wide perimeter and the helicopters had vacated the area.

Axler,
Ryan said, projecting his thoughts,
get Dhin down here to pick us up, pronto! The tower about to fall.

Axler cocked her head slightly to the side. She was listening to Jane, through the tacticom. She did not lower her Ares Combatgun.

Grind followed her lead, keeping Ryan targeted.

They don't think I'm me.

Ryan didn’t blame them. He didn’t feel like himself in this drake body. Even though it clarified a lot of things—the dweller’s talk that he was more than he knew. Dunkelzahn’s choice of him so long ago. His special abilities—fast healing, his ability to banish spirits, his ease with the magic of the Silent Way.

How could I not know what
I
was?

Ryan didn’t know the answer to that, except he knew that many orks and trolls had been born human and had transformed into their true nature through an agonizing process called goblinization. Many of them hadn’t known they were metas.