Freezing Shadows, Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Dragon’s Lair

Redmond had been hit hard by life in general, the last few decades. Things had already been sliding, back when the Awakening happened, but the Second Corp War had really sent the place into a nose dive. That tends to happen when corporate strike teams fight over a nuclear power plant, and the thing goes full Chernobyl.

Thankfully, magic had been around by that point, and some local magic types had banded together to raise a barrier as a ritual, which kept most of the radiation inside. So, unlike the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which was a hefty 30 kilometer radius, the Redmond Exclusion Zone had a radius of just 1.5 kilometers. That still meant about half of Redmond was in the radius, of course, but things could have been a whole lot worse.

For people in the UNAS, well, it was the first example any of them had been able to see up close and personal about how magic went weird when interacting with nuclear anything. Yeah, there’d been news accounts of some of the stuff that happened in the Middle East, like when Israel stopped pretending that they were the good guys, and launched nukes on half their neighbors and the Gaza strip, trying to end their problems once and for all, only for one of the Great Dragons to pull an Uno reverse on them, and send all ten nukes back to Jerusalem, wiping it from the map. But those were just stories half a world away, and were less real to people in the Seattle metroplex than seeing something just next door.

See, the barrier spell had kept the radiation from spreading too far, but it also concentrated it. And, somehow, even after the barrier went down, the radiation stayed put. On one side of the Green Line, as people called it, the radiation was normal, sun on your face levels. Nearly harmless, unless you got burned too often and got yourself some skin cancer.

Inside the Green Line, however, things were… weird. High levels of alpha and beta radiation, but the way they were ‘tuned’, for lack of a better term, meant that a respirator and some basic radiation protection on your armor was enough to keep you safe, even if you were living there. Without that protection? You’d probably be getting cancer in the next few years if you lived there. Everything from the Green Line in was ‘affectionately’ known as Glow City.

Exactly five hundred meters in, there was a second line, known as the Yellow Line. Without something to protect you from radiation? You had a couple hours before you started getting radiation sickness. Staying there for more than a day or two, even with protection, would take years off your life. Without protection, it was a death sentence.

The Yellow Zone was home to all sorts of nasty types. Feral ghouls, irradiated and mutated paracritters, and, worst of all, cultists. Not just any cultists, mind you. Doomsday religious nuts who worshipped radiation, calling themselves the Children of the Atom. The only good thing about them was that the radiation probably made it so they had a poor chance of breeding.

And then there was the Red Line, exactly one kilometer out from the plant. You did not go in there without full-body suits with as much radiation protection as you could get. And you sure didn’t fight in that kind of area. A hole in your suit, and you’re a dead man walking. The only life confirmed to exist in the Red Zone was a species of fungus that somehow was eating the radiation, and was slowly starting to expand throughout the old power plant.

Of course, that was the only ‘confirmed’ life. There were rumors, however, of other things. Psychic shades, echoes of those who lost their lives when the reactor went up, trapped playing the same events over and over again. Spirits of radiation and pestilence haunting the wreckage. And other, crazier stories. No clue how many of them were real, if any, and anyone crazy enough to spend time inside the Red Line was the definition of an unreliable witness.

Thankfully, we weren’t headed anywhere close to the Red Line. Redmond Towers was a hotel just inside the Green Line. Technically in Glow City, but not in the really nasty parts. First two floors of the building played home to a casino, with the next ten being apartments. The top floor, though? That was a dragon’s lair, one of the few that was publicly known.

And it was that dragon’s lair that was our destination tonight. We’d only been back in Seattle for a couple days since our ‘adventure’ out in Yakima, but the sooner we put the dragon business behind us, the better. Which meant we needed to speak to another dragon, and see how we could buy our way clear.

Of course, just because the Green Zone was ‘safe-ish’, didn’t mean we weren’t going to go in without some protection. Each of us put down some nucred for a new piece of kit, a lined coat with color-changing, the Softweave mod, and Rating 6 radiation shielding. That, and a respirator for ‘just in case’ things got especially nasty, would do for precautions against the environmental hazards.

For the more physical hazards, well, none of us were unarmed, but the heaviest weapon any of us were sporting were pistols. Anything heavier was left in our rides. They’d be safe enough there, since Ivaeth, the dragon in charge, had people making sure the parking lot for the casino was secure.

The residential floors were filled with locals, who practically worshipped their dragon overlord and protector. After making a show of flame-roasting and eating the last mobster that tried to take a piece of the action or offer protection in her domain, she became the unofficial queen of Glow City. Anyone who lived or worked in the irradiated landscape did so at her pleasure, or they quickly found out what her displeasure was like.

It was definitely a dragon thing to do, but somehow it felt like small potatoes compared to the stunts some of the other dragons were up to. Not even counting the Greats, most of the known dragons had a lot more going on than just being queen of an irradiated slice of the Seattle sprawl. Which meant that either she was not as capable as other dragons, or was better at hiding what she put her claws into.

One theory on the Matrix said that she was actually a younger dragon, and that’s why she didn’t push as hard as some of the others. I didn’t believe that, myself. Oh, she might well be a younger dragon, but I wasn’t going to bet on her being less capable, or just not able to push as hard. No, my guess was that she was taking the long view. She had a lair that no corporation would want, since the radiation made it unprofitable, and organized crime had been pushed out. She had a stable base from which she could build personal power without butting heads with larger powers before she was ready. That was a dragon’s way of thinking.

We moved as a group to the front door of the casino, ten minutes before our meeting time. I’d coached everyone before we left our base. We moved together, not defensively, but also not acting oblivious. We walked like we had purpose, not like we owned the place, or were trying to start trouble. And definitely not like we were afraid. We were ‘invited’, after all, but we were also petitioners, which meant that, so long as we abided by some basic rules, like not doing anything to cause insult, we could expect the dragon to give us safe passage, this time.

Two guards, ork woman and a human man, were standing outside the door, wearing armored vests and armed with AK-97s on slings. Probably not necessary, given who owned the place. However, no one wandered through the Redmond Barrens without some obvious protection. Anyone who walked these streets without armor and a weapon was asking to get killed. Not because people were looking to take out a weakling, but because doing that screamed that you were either crazy as fuck, or powerful as fuck. Either way, you were a fucking problem and a threat that needed to be taken out sooner rather than later.

The ork held up her hand as we approached, and said, “Who are you, and what’s your business?” Not unfriendly, and not moving to her weapon, but definitely checking who we were. As expected.

I stepped forward, and gave the response Alisha had told me to say. “Iceblade, and friends. We were invited to see the Lady.” That’s what the dragon’s people called her.

The ork nodded once, and spoke into a commlink, passing the information along. A moment later, a response must have come up on the screen, because she stepped aside and opened the door, letting us in. Before we could even get three steps inside the door, a young troll in a business suit that would be considered cheap in other parts of the sprawl, but was as classy as it got out here in Redmond walked up to us.

The troll’s eyes were cleverer than many I’d seen working the shadows, and his voice, when he spoke, had a tenor that spoke of some kind of social training. Not common fare for trolls, which were usually regarded as big, dumb brutes. “Ah, Mister Iceblade, and friends, you are early. Unexpected, but welcome. I am Kole Malone, and I serve as the Lady’s attendant. Please, if you will follow me?”

“Of course,” I nodded graciously, and we followed as Malone led us through the casino floor, towards a bank of elevators. Two of the elevators were unmarked. The third one, on the left, had a stylized painting of a dragon on the doors. Unsurprisingly, that was the one Malone led us to.

Somehow, we all managed to fit in the elevator, showing that it had been designed with larger groups in mind. I noticed that there were only two buttons on the inside of the elevator: L, for Lobby, and PH, for Penthouse. This was the ‘polite’ entrance to the dragon’s lair.

As the doors closed, I said, “Well, I was always taught that arriving slightly early was a sign of respect. And considering that we are here to meet with the Lady, I believed that respect was warranted. Before we arrive, how ought we to address the Lady? I would not wish to cause offense by mistake.”

“Understandable,” Malone nodded, a small grin on his overly large face. “There are few who would knowingly give offense to the Lady. Unless she says differently, you may address her as ‘your Lady’ or ‘my Lady’. Some people have earned the right to say one of her names, but until you have earned the privilege, you should refrain.”

The troll paused, to make sure we all understood his words, before continuing. “My Lady has shared with me the reason for your visit, and what she intends. She will have a task for you. It will not be easy, naturally, but she is not one to send supplicants to certain death. This task will not be entirely without payment, beyond her intercession with the feathered serpent in Vancouver. However, this payment may not be in a form you would typically expect, but it will be something of use to each of you, and my Lady is unlikely to consider… alternative offers.”

I chuckled. “Yes, I can imagine that an impertinent elf trying to haggle with a being of the Lady’s stature would come off as cheek, at best, but more likely would give insult. I am afraid I am allergic to being eaten, and so will pass on that, today.”

Malone nodded. “A wise choice, indeed.” The elevator gently slowed to a stop, and the doors opened with a chime. The troll stepped off the elevator, and motioned with his hand. “Come, my Lady awaits.”