Intermezzo

An impossibility rose in front of him. Nightmare or dream, he couldn't say. Heinrich Goldberger had dreamed about dragons as a child, but seeing one was a different thing altogether. It was huge, immensely so. Gold and silver glimmered among its scales and there was a cloud of electricity surrounding its body.

"Human! Halt and listen!" The voice boomed through his head.

Behind him he heard sharp cracks as soldiers fired their weapons. Heinrich braced for the blast waves, but none came. He fired his own weapons spreading armor piercing grenades in a covering arc. The dragon was no longer there and his grenades detonated in the dirt far ahead of him.

"Cease fire!" he yelled.

"Interesting." Another booming thought in his head. He whirled and saw the dragon behind them.

How the hell did it get there?

"Interesting and very dangerous." The dragon swallowed something held it its claws, and Heinrich suddenly understood it had to be one of the grenades. The dragon gulped and Heinrich followed the lump traveling down its throat, and he could see the dragon expand as the grenade detonated. "Sharp, but a bit spicy for my taste." The dragon burped and the soldier in Heinrich took command and felt much more at ease. A rude display of force. It was a language he was familiar with.

"What do you want?" he demanded, knowing the glimmering monster didn't intend to fight.

No response at first. The head, larger than his body walker, came closer. "You dare asking me?"

"I dare. Kill us or get the hell out of my sight if you have nothing important to say!"

"I would dearly appreciate the opportunity to kill you for your insolence, but that is not the reason for my being here, puny one."

"So, what is?"

"You are bold, as bold as your brethren here. One of you is acting in a way that is unacceptable."

"Who?"

"You call her Christina Ulfsdotir."

Heinrich swore. Yes, the bitch was well known to act just merely within the limits of laws, and if Erwin was correct, she usually acted outside of those bonds whenever she could get away with it.

"What about her?"

"She has killed her way to the man you call Arthur Wallman. Now she's spreading death in a city of humans."

Heinrich was bewildered. "How?"

"She has brought men like yourself, with weapons like those you carry."

"Now what the hell! That's forbidden!"

"I'm glad that you share such a sentiment. My mission here is to bring you to where you can act upon her atrocities."

Heinrich looked at the dragon. He followed its sleek body and rested his eyes on its wings. "Are you going to fly us there?"

"That is an amusing notion, but no. I will jump you there."

"Jump?"

"Your mind would call it teleport. Wrong, but for all practical reasons it amounts to the same thing. Are you ready?"

Heinrich looked at his men. One even managed to shrug in his body walker and it was obvious they had all heard the conversation.

"We are ready."

They jumped.