shadowrun 40 The Burning Time Read Online Free Page A

beautiful, the light he gave off so protective and kind, although the ghouls didn’t seem to think so.
    Recovering from their initial shock, they charged forward, hissing at the light that threatened them. The being was unmoved by their attack. He swung his staff in an arc and struck one of the ghouls a solid blow, sending the thing stumbling back, squealing in pain. The staff flashed again and again, tracing glowing arcs around the man of light, driving the ghouls back until they finally fled from the room. Talon could hear them retreating quickly down the stairs. The figure of light moved closer, bending down to touch him gently on the shoulder. Talon’s vision began to swim and his head to pound like something was threatening to burst out of it.
    "Don’t worry," the man of light said. "It’s all right. You’re safe now." Then he began to sing a strange, soothing song, and Talon found himself drifting off to sleep. . .
    Then he was in a Stuffer Shack, looking through the racks for some munchies. The magical practice Jase was teaching him always made him hungry. Jase just laughed and said that everything made Talon hungry, but that it was only natural for a young man his age. Still, Talon was coming along well, according to his teacher. In something like a year, he had learned so much from the man who’d rescued him from the ghouls, who’d taught him that the strange sights and feelings weren’t madness but the awakening of Talon’s magical gifts. Jase taught him to control and use those gifts, and so much more. Their relationship deepened, and Talon realized that what he felt for Jase was more than a student’s affection for his teacher or gratitude for Jase saving his life. He loved Jase, and Jase loved him. They lived together on the edge of the Rox in a cramped little apartment, but Talon couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt happier or more hopeful. For him, it was like a dream come true.
    Now, engrossed in choosing a snack, Talon merely grunted when Jase said he was going outside to use the public telecom. A few minutes later, Talon heard the roar of motorcycle engines, followed by the chatter of bullets. He instinctively ducked down as gunfire splintered the Stuffer Shack’s front windows, and the cashier and the few other customers also dropped to the floor. When he heard the bikes roaring off, he rushed outside. The ground was covered with broken plastiglass and smashed food containers.
    What he saw made him cry out in pain. Jase was lying on the asphalt in a pool of blood. Talon rushed over and lifted Jase’s head off the ground, cradling his blood-spattered body and calling his name again and again, but Jase didn’t answer. Talon looked up as the gangers zoomed away on their motorcycles, laughing. He cried for help, then collapsed, sobbing over the body of the man he loved more than life itself. . .
    Then Talon was in the apartment they’d shared. The furniture was pushed back against the wall, and he was on his hands and knees, drawing on the floor with chalk and paint. He slowly built a mandala from lines and geometric shapes. He drew one large circle, with a smaller circle and a triangle inside it. Inscribed around it were runes and symbols of power. He took a small brass brazier and a sharp silver knife from his and Jase’s shared collection of magical tools and lit candles at the four quarters of the circle. Soon, a bed of coals simmered in the brazier, and he sprinkled incense over them. A sweet, heady scent began to fill the room.
    Talon made a quick, sharp cut across his palm with the knife. Blood welled up from it, dark and red. Three drops fell and sizzled on the hot coals, followed by three more, and three more after that. Then he bound the cut with a silken cloth and began his chant. He gathered all his anger and grief inside of him as the blood burned with a sharp, metallic tang that made his eyes water. He looked into the fire and thought of Jase’s funeral pyre, then he looked