Magic has returned to the earth. The ancient races of Elves, Dwarfs, Orks and Trolls have re-emerged. Technology has also changed, allowing man to augment his body with artificial enhancements called cyberware. These enhancements can make one faster, stronger and smarter than before.

Mega-Corporations have become nations unto themselves while former national powers have reformed. The United States became the United Canadian-American States after the loss of much of the West to the Native American Nations and the South to the Confederate American States and Aztlan. Technology and Magic co-exist in this awakened world where awesome powers are often kept in balance by those who run in the shadow world, those known as Shadowrunners.

Where the Wild Geese Fly By Aislinn

Ch. 1

"Can’t see me, can’t shoot me." --- Street Proverb

Karina shivered in her small shelter and prayed for the rain to end soon. Luckily snow was a very rare event in Seattle, but even without snow, the wind whipping in from the Pacific was bitterly cold. The boxes she had piled up were slowly becoming soaked and would eventually be no protection at all from the icy drizzle. She pulled her leather jacket, the only legacy she had left from her mother, tighter around her thin form and waited with patient endurance for morning.

Sometime later she awoke with a start. The street had taught her to lie perfectly still until she had identified everything around her. She heard someone sobbing and the sound of fists impacting on flesh. She fought down a sudden queasiness when she located the sounds.

By the reflected light from the streetlights, she saw a beautiful woman kneeling in the alley. Her long hair was tangled in the hand of an ork who forced her to watch as a huge troll repeatedly drove his fists into a once immaculately dressed man’s stomach.
"Tell us where ya hid it slitch, or it’s yer turn next,." the ork yelled at the women.
Karina winced in sympathy as the troll finally dropped the man into the sludge of the alley. She heard a crack as his head bounced on the pavement. Blood ran down his face and mingled with the rain to produce a gory mask. Then a wail pierced the night as his Doc Wagon bracelet suddenly went off.
"Time's up, slitch!" The ork screamed. "One last time, where is it?" He turned loose of her hair and turned to the troll, "Useless slitch."
The woman continued to sob in incoherent fear as the troll turned his attention to her. He picked up a room sweeper that was leaning against the wall and rammed it into the woman’s mouth. He mumbled something to the ork and pulled the trigger.

Karina smothered a scream and scrambled out of her shelter. Pure panic lent wings to her feet as she ran down the alley, away from the murderous pair. An unintelligible bellow from behind her let her know she had been spotted. As she heard the slap of feet start up the alley she screamed to herself, "Go baby go baby go baby go!" She poured on more speed and ducked around a corner just in time to avoid a blast from the room sweeper. The sound of buckshot ricocheting off the wall urged her to run even faster. She dashed across the street and into another alley. As she rounded a corner she slipped in the muck, bounced off the wall and slammed into a dumpster. With a stifled cry, she pushed off the dumpster and continued her headlong rush up the alley to the next street. As she ran, the panic began to subside a bit and she started thinking again. ‘Gotta find a place to hide! If they catch me I’m dead!’

The alley was dim and littered with trash and oily puddles that made navigating it at a run hazardous. Luckily, she knew this neighborhood very well. She had spent the last year and a half dodging gangs, pimps, dealers and various other nasty individuals who wanted to use or abuse her. Out of sheer necessity, she had learned several different ways to out-fox her opponents. Using one of those tricks now, she turned right at the next intersection and circled the block. Then she remembered an alley that ended in a board fence, so she headed that way.

The kids in the neighborhood had scraped a small hole at the bottom of the fence that she knew from past experience she could just slip through. That should slow down the two men following her long enough for her to hide. ‘There is no way those slots will fit through that hole,’ she grinned to herself. As she dashed down the alley the shotgun boomed again. She winced as chips from the ferrocast wall stung her. ‘Oh frag, that was close!,' she thought. ‘Time to end this now!’ Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the ork barreling towards her, his face set in a snarl and his arms outstretched to grab her. She screamed, threw herself into a classic baseball slide and slipped under the fence just in time to avoid being captured. She scrambled to her feet as his body slammed into the fence. ‘Glad I practiced that before I really needed it.’ With a feral grin at his frustrated roar, she took off at a sprint.

At the next intersection, she turned left and quickly slipped into a deep set doorway, pressing herself as far back as she could into the shadows. She heard yet another blast from the shotgun and the sound of ripping wood. A minute later, her pursuers came pounding out of the alley. She held her breath and tried as hard as she could to be invisible. She remembered hearing somewhere that an enemy could feel you looking at him, so she shut her eyes and prayed. ‘Please God, make them go away.’ She held herself as still as possible, sure that they could somehow sense where she was.
"Where da hell did that fraggin kid go?" The troll rumbled, sounding like gravel in the bottom of a barrel.
Karina cringed at the malice in his voice. Under no circumstances could she let these two catch her or her remaining life would be short and painful. Risking a peek, she saw them standing under the street light.
The two men looked around, peering into the shadows across the street. ‘Please God,’ she prayed ‘Don’t let them turn around’ An eternity later, they decided she must have continued across the street to the next alley. As they ran across the street and disappeared into the night she heaved a sigh of relief. Karina waited until she could no longer hear their footsteps and then headed down the street at a fast jog.

Once she was far enough away to take a breather she stopped and squatted, panting, behind a dumpster. Her hands trembled as she wiped the sweat and rain off her face. ‘Frag! Now I gotta find another flop. Way to go stupid, if I had just stayed quiet they never would have seen me. I should know better by now!’ Her wet hair clung to her face until, impatiently, she pushed it behind her ears. Then she fell to her knees as reaction set in, and all she could do was kneel in the muck and shake and cry. She cried for the woman and man who had died such a horrible death, and for herself. She could feel her nose clogging up and her chest and throat were hurting, but she just couldn’t seem to stop. She did her best to stifle her sobs in her sleeve until, long minutes later, she managed to get her emotions under control. . " Stop it!,' she told herself, ‘ Just stop it! Get yourself under control and think! You have to find a place to hide out until those guys stop looking for you.’ Racking her brain, she decided to head toward the small park where she went every morning to practice Tai Chi. It was almost an hour away by foot, which should be far enough away to avoid the men that were after her. Normally she caught the bus but it was still to early for one. ‘Oh God, I really don’t wanna walk that far. Ah well, I’m outa creds so I woulda had to walk anyway. If I hurry I should be able to make it in time for class,’ she thought. ‘Suck it up girl and get movin'. No way I wanna run into those slots again!’ She stood up and wiped as much of the grime off herself as she could. Holding her hands under a down spout she washed them. Once she was as clean as she could get herself under such primitive conditions, she cautiously peered out into the street. After listening for a moment, she stepped out of the shadows. Taking a deep breath, she jogged off into the night.

The sky was just starting to lighten when Karina reached the park. Thankfully the rain had stopped while she was walking and it looked as if it might turn out to be a dry day, a relative oddity in Seattle, especially in the winter. An odd collection of people was already gathered for the sunrise class. There were Samurai with obvious cyberware, old people, young people, all races and all meta-types. She joined the group, nodding to a few of the people she recognized. When the teacher arrived, he bowed to the group. They bowed in return and started following his slow motion moves. Karina fell into a half trance as she moved, calm, centered, and alert. When the class was over, she felt much better. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in several days, so she decided her first move had to be finding something to eat and someplace to get cleaned up as much as possible. "Dear God, I hate feeling grubby," she muttered. It had been so long since she had been able to wash all over she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be clean.

Behind a small corner restaurant she found half a pizza that had been thrown out and a couple of husks of garlic bread. "Looks like I won’t have to go hungry today," she mumbled to herself as she gathered up the food. "Good thing I have a strong stomach." Two years ago, she would have turned up her nose in disgust at such a breakfast, but it was amazing how a few months on the streets changed your perspective.

She headed back to the park to eat and think out a plan of action. ‘First, I have to find a new flop,' she thought. ‘Maybe I will get lucky and find an abandoned building.’ There was no reason to return to her old haunts, so she decided to explore the area around the park when she was done eating. ‘Why didn’t I move over here sooner since I am here every morning anyway?’ she wondered. Glancing around she saw several people clustered around a group of tables playing some kind of game. She finished her breakfast and wandered over to watch. As she got closer, she realized that they were playing chess. For a moment she couldn’t see for the tears. Her father had taught her to play chess before the accident that took both he and her mother and turned Karina’s young life upside down. After that, she had ended up in one foster home after another before she finally ran away from the last one. Since then there had been no time for games, only one grueling day after another just trying to survive. For one brief moment she felt an unexpected urge to play but, shaking her head, she turned around to run. As she did, she crashed into a man standing behind her. His arms came up around her to keep them both from falling.
"Watch it there," he cried.
"Oh God, I am so sorry," she stammered. The man holding her was tall with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He had a body builder’s physique and she was struck by the air of quiet confidence he had. She started to back up but he kept hold of her and looked carefully at her face.
"Did you know you are bleeding?" he asked quietly.
She shook her head mutely, her hand going to her face and neck where the chips had struck her. Looking at her hand she stared at the red stains. She must have reopened the wounds when she crashed into him.
"There is a shelter a few streets over," he informed her. "They also run a free clinic and a soup kitchen. You might want to have them take a look at that."
She glanced up at him and asked suspiciously. "It isn’t the Universal Brotherhood, is it?"
"Nope, it’s run by a volunteer group from this area," he grinned at her, noticing her sigh of relief. ‘She must have heard the rumors,’ he thought.
"Is it bad?" she asked, indicating her wounds.
"Not too bad, but you definitely should get it cleaned and bandaged. You don’t want it to get infected."
" Thank you for the information. I will definitely stop by there, sir." She smiled up at him.
The man smiled at the ‘sir’ . ‘Polite child’, he thought. After a moment he said, "My name is Sparky. What’s yours?"
Karina looked at him warily for a moment, trying to decide how trustworthy he was. Gazing into his eyes she saw nothing more than polite interest. " They call me Mist," she finally answered.
"Well, Mist, it is nice to meet ya." He looked her over, liking what he saw. Though she was a bit scruffy it was obvious that she tried to keep herself clean. She was wearing grubby sneakers, a faded pair of jeans, a Seattle U. sweat shirt that had seen better days and a battered leather jacket. She looked like the streets but she talked corp. There was a haunted look in her green eyes, but looking deeper he also saw courage and intelligence. She was about 5’10" with long red hair. As she brushed her hair away from her neck, he caught a glimpse of pointed ears. She was obviously young, but Sparky knew that street kids had to grow up fast. Asensing her out of habit, he noticed something else about her. Her aura was shot through with the red of fear and despair and the yellow of distrust. Swirls of color moved in wildly unpredictable patterns. ‘Interesting. She’s magically active but totally untrained. I wonder if she knows? A definite study in contrasts, this girl,’ he thought, his curiosity piqued. "You had better get yourself off to the clinic now," he told her. "Oh, and be sure to ask for Poss. He might even be able to get ya a spot in the shelter if ya need it. Just tell him Sparky sent ya and he will fix ya right up."
After he gave her directions, she thanked him again and left the park. A soup kitchen would make life much easier. In spite of the breakfast she had just devoured, the thought of fresh food made her mouth water. ‘Looks like today might not turn out to be so bad after all,’ she thought, but then the reason she was in the park came rushing back to her and she shivered. ‘Don’t get cocky girl or you will end up very dead’

Finding a gas station first, she asked the attendant if she could use the restroom. He tossed her the key without even looking at her. Once inside, she carefully washed her hands and face and finger combed her hair as best she could. Looking at her wounds, she realized that Sparky was right. She did need to get these bandaged before they got infected. She stared at herself in the broken mirror. "So girl, should you trust Sparky and take a chance that this Poss guy can help you? To trust or not to trust? That is the question." She giggled at her silliness. "Well if it turns out to be a sham, I can always take off. Right, onward through the fog."

Once she found the right street, it was no problem finding the soup kitchen. She just followed her nose. A large sign hanging on the building said Shelter of Hope. The building looked like a large steel framed warehouse. Windows had been cut in the walls to let in light. A man was busy sweeping the sidewalk and a woman was washing the windows. Karina stopped and stared in astonishment. It had been a long time since she had seen anyone who cared about keeping their surroundings clean.

" He - he -hello,’ said a voice behind her. She turned and saw a tiny Asian man who was standing there looking up at her. He was dressed in an ancient pair of coveralls with a faded name tag that said Hermann stitched above the heart. He was wearing a battered pair of combat boots that looked too big for him, and a bright red bandana was tied around his neck. The broom he carried had been cut down to fit his small size.
She smiled at him. "Hello," she said gently.
"Th-th- this your f-f-first time here. I-i-isn’t it?" he asked.
"Yes, how did you know?" she asked curiously.
He chuckled, "Th-th-th-the way y-y-you stared. E-everybody d-d-does at first. B-b-but you w-will get u-u-u-used to it. Y-y-y you go i-inside n-now and g-g-get something t-to eat. Y-y-you look h-h-hungry."
"Your right about that," she agreed. " I haven’t had a decent meal in weeks."
"Well, th-th- this is a g-g-good place. Y-y-you’ll l-l-l-like it. Th-th-they f-f-f-feed ya g-g-g-good."
Karina exchanged grins with him." Thank God for that," she said. He patted her on the arm and pointed to the door.

Once inside she stopped and looked around. A harried looking man was sitting at a desk, writing in a book and answering a telecom that seemed to beep continuously. No sooner had he finished answering one call than another came in. He was also directing people to different sections of the warehouse. Interestingly enough, she noticed that as busy as he was he never seem to lose his patience with anyone. He seemed to be especially gentle with the old people who shuffled in off the street. She approached the desk and waited until he had a moment. When she asked for Poss, he pointed towards a set of double doors. "He’s in there serving breakfast," the man told her. "Go on in." The telecom beeped again and with a sigh he answered it, "Hello, Shelter of Hope. Blaze speaking. How may I help you?"

Karina turned away and headed for the doors. She stepped through into what looked at first to be pure chaos. Long tables were set up over three quarters of the room, and along the back wall was a cafeteria style serving line. Behind that was another set of double doors marked ‘In' and 'Out’. People were rushing through them bringing food to the line. There was a long line of people waiting to be served and Karina’s nose twitched at the appetizing smell of bacon and eggs and soykaf. Half of the tables were already filled with people eating. It was loud in here with the sound of dozens of conversations. She paused uncertainly for a moment, the decided it was better to beg pardon than to ask permission. She walked up and got in line. Surprisingly it was only a short wait.
"Eggs or pancakes?" the first server asked her.
"Can I have both?" she asked hopefully. "Hungry are you?" he smiled as he filled a plate and handed it to her.
"You have no idea!" she said. "Umm…" Stealing a bite, she smiled at the server. " By the way, I was told to ask for Poss."
The man grinned in obvious delight and pointed to a blonde man handing out small containers of milk and cups of soykaf. " That’s Poss," he told her.
"Thank you," she said as she moved on.
"You're welcome."

Poss sighed and rubbed the small of his back, trying to relieve the tension. Every time he worked here it was the same. He felt like he was trying to hold back the tide with his hands. For every person they saved from starvation, death by exposure or random street violence, ten more took their place. He knew, however, that they had to try. While it might not make much difference to the problem as a whole, he knew that it made a tremendous difference in the lives of those they could save. ‘Think about them, Poss,’ he told himself. ‘ Just do what you can with those you can reach.’
"Excuse me, sir?"
Poss looked up . A very pretty redhead was standing there smiling uncertainly at him. ‘Lord, she looks like Aurora. I wonder if they are related?’ he thought. " Yes."
"Are you Poss?" she asked. "Yep, that’s me," he answered " What can I do for you?"
Karina smiled at him hopefully. "I’m Mist, Sparky said I should talk to you. I need some medical care and I need to find a flop. He said you might be able to help me."
Poss relaxed a bit and studied the girl. " The clinic is open to all and I do believe we have several beds still available in the woman’s dormitory. Why don’t you go eat your breakfast, and when you're done I’ll take you to meet Doc."
" Sounds good," she turned around and made her way to a table.
Sitting down, she started eating with single minded intensity. Poss watched her in awe for a few moments. Obviously she hadn’t eaten in a while, but even still she was really packing away the groceries. Shaking his head in amusement, he turned his attention back to passing out beverages.

" Doc? You in here?" Poss poked his head into a tiny office. Every square inch of wall was covered with overflowing bookshelves and filing cabinets.
Doctor Margery Potter, known to her friends as Potshot, looked up from her paperwork and smiled at Poss. "What can I do for you, Poss?" she asked.
Herding a young girl in, he introduced her to the doctor. "This is Mist, seems she had a run in with a ricochet. I was wondering if you have time to check her out?"
" Of course I do. I was just taking a few minutes to catch up on some paper work. But I can definitely use a break." Beckoning them to follow her, she led them into the clinic. " Hop up here, Mist," she said, pointing to a hospital bed in the corner. Poss….out." Shooing the man before her she pulled a curtain closed around the small cubical. Karina winced as Doc probed the wounds on her neck. Doc grabbed some gauze and started washing the cuts out with a vile smelling liquid. Karina squirmed at the sting. Doc grabbed her chin and continued washing. " Hold still, I have to get this cleaned out. Yes, I know it hurts, but it has to be done. It won’t take long if you will just sit tight for a bit." She smiled down at the girl. " Hmm , well this isn’t as bad as it looked." She soothed on an antibiotic cream and then covered it with a soft piece of gauze. " Keep it dry and put some of this on twice a day." Doc handed Karina a tube of the cream. "If it starts to get tender or swollen come back and see me. Now standard procedure for all new residents is a full check up. So stick out your tongue and say Ahh."

After her checkup and being pronounced "surprisingly healthy for a street kid", Doc sent Karina in search of Poss. She found him waiting in the hallway for her. He turned to see her standing there clutching a small paper bag that looked full to overflowing.
" What did she give you?" he asked.
" Some kinda cream and a bunch of horse pills she says are vitamins." For a moment she was all "long suffering teenager", complete with sigh and exasperated look.
Poss chuckled at her antics. " Come on then and let’s get you settled."

Leading the way through the warehouse he told her the rules for all residents and visitors. " It’s very simple," he explained. " Rule 1: No fighting. This is neutral territory. If you have any disagreements with someone you leave them outside. You can defend yourself if you have to but you sure better not start it! Rule 2: If it belongs to someone else, leave it alone. Rule 3: No drugs, BTL’s or alcohol in the shelter. Rule 4: No hostile magic. And finally Rule 5: You do whatever you are capable of to help around here. This shelter is run with all volunteer help and there is plenty of work to go around. Just go to front desk to sign up for a job. Any violations of the rules will get you thrown out of the shelter. Any questions?"
" No, not right now," she answered. After a brief tour of the shelter, Poss took Karina to the female’s dormitory and turned her over to the woman in charge.

That night, Karina lay in a soft bed listening to the activity around her. New clothes and shoes waited in her locker for the morning. ‘It’s funny how sometimes bad things can lead to good things.’ She smiled as she snuggled deeper into the blankets and drifted off to sleep.

****************************************************************************

A special Thank you to my beta readers, June, "Incognito" and Maven. Your unfailing encouragement, suggestions and most of all your friendship are invaluable to me. I would like to dedicate this story to: My husband David for putting up with my late hours and endless pleas to "Just read this section and tell me what you think." To Jennifer for her love and encouragement and for giving me the courage to try. To Shapcano for setting an example of perseverance and attention to detail. And to Kim for forgiving me when I am so caught up in writing that I forget to fix dinner.

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