Iceblood: Book Summary

Somewhere on the Byan-Thang plateau in Tibet a man named Zakat is freezing to death. He is the only surviving member of Sverdlovosk's party. He escaped from the Mongols after the death of Sverdlovosk and the Tushe Gun. The TU-114 Cargo plane ended up crashing in the mountains of Tibet.

It turns out that he is a priest of a hidden cult, the cult of Khylsty. This cult is devoted to the memory of Rasputin. About a year before he achieved the rank of Major in the military. It's late afternoon and he is caught in a storm. He stumbles along blindly until he falls off a cliff.

When he opens his eyes he spots a group of buildings as well as a monk in a soiled orange robe. A single strangely dressed man surrounded by six other men approach.

Being a priest of Khylsty, he has been trained to endure incredible physical hardship as well as being slightly gifted Psionically. The small man easily smashed down his feeble barriers and knocks him out.

When he finally awakens he finds himself in the Trasillupo Lamasery. It turns out that he has been out for two days and suffered from frostbite, but won't lose any part of his body to it. A man greets him. His name is Dorjieff, the high Lama for the Lamasery.

The high Lama reveals that he knows all about Zakat due to the travel papers he was carrying. Another man, accompanied by a sixteen-year-old girl enters. This man is named Gyatso. This roughly translates to the King of Fear.

Five months have passed since the crash.

Kane, Brigid and Grant are near the Sioux encampment and see that Auerbach is about to have his balls roasted over an open fire. They can't see any sign of Beth Li Rouche. The two people left four days before for a routine maintenance check on the road sensors. They disappeared without a trace and thus forced the others to search for them.

Both Kane and Brigid hope to secure their release through diplomacy instead of combat and the main ploy will be reminding the natives that they helped them several months back.

Kane approaches and is attacked by a warrior wielding a lance. He easily disarms the man and takes him down without harming him. The Shaman, Sky Dog, recognizes Kane after he calls out his Indian name. Kane finds out that the two were taken captive due to trespassing on the Sioux land. Kane argues that there is no way that they could have known that. In the end Sky Dog agrees to let the two go.

A big man named Standing Bear doesn't want to give Beth Li up. He won her from Auerback in a contest. He wants to fight Kane in the same sort of contest for her. Kane is very reluctant, but slaps Standing Bear, showing that he is ready to take the challenge.

The challenge is to ride a horse bareback and dismount the other rider, then release Beth Li. It's rigged from the word go as Kane has only ridden a horse once. He cheats, dismounts and knocks Standing Bear down. The natives accept the win, but Kane has to pay a price.

The price is a ritual scar inflicted by Standing Bear. It marks Kane as the trickster wolf. The Shaman knows that the whites are hiding something deep in the Darks, so he decides to share their secret to see if they can come to an agreement. He takes the group to go see War Wag One, that had been sitting there since Ryan Cawdor lead them deep into the darks.

Sky Dog wants them to help repair and get the wag up and running in exchange for acting as the first line of defense. Kane agrees to it, knowing that it will force Lakesh to go along with his decision for a change.

Kane, Grant and Brigid discuss Rouche and Auerbach. They wonder if they should take them back as deserters or as rescued prisoners. In the end, Kane and Grant decide to interrogate Auerbach while Brigid will talk to Beth Li.

Auerbach tells them what happened to him and Beth Li, without the two Magistrates resorting to less pleasant means of getting the story out of them.

Brigid ends up slapping Beth Li when she refuses to answer her questions in a civil way. She learns that yes, the other woman had actually set the situation up in order to force Kane's hand and see if he would come and rescue her or not. She asks Brigid to simply step aside and let her fulfill her duties to the redoubt, and threatens her if she doesn't step aside willingly.

Brigid and Kane compare notes and he learns what Beth Li said to her. They also discuss how they seem to be linked throughout the ages once again. Kane goes to take up the matter with Beth Li.

At first he makes it appear as if he is going to go along with her wishes, even taking her face gently in his hand. Then he turns viscous and twists her face telling her that if she ever threatens Brigid again that he would chill her. He knows he made an enemy but doesn't really care any more.

At this time Zikat has fully recovered from his injuries. The head Lama and he became friends even though secretly Zikat was just using the other man. He also seduced the young girl Trai. But, in the end, he betrays Dorjieff. He and Gyatso plan to force the other man to show them the Chintamani stone.

After Zikat receives a single, mentally projected word, he goes to his quarters and finds Dorjieff raping Trai. He forces the other man off her and savagely cuts his face. Dorjieff is horrified to learn that both men have betrayed him. They force him to take them down to the tomb that contains the Chintamani stone.

Zikat touches the stone and his mind is bombarded with just a fraction of the five thousand years of history it contains. With Gyatso's help, he psionically forces Dorjieff to blow his own brains out with his pistol.

Back in the states it's after three in the morning and Lakesh is finding sleep elusive. It's due to the fact that he knows that nothing can be done to change the past, as was proved in Omega Path. He goes to the control room to think. As he watches the monitors he sees Banks, clad only in underwear walking.

It turns out that Balam is mentally controlling banks and that the Archon wants to speak to Kane about something very important.

Banks awakens and is horrified to learn that Balam used him. Lakesh sends the man to his quarters to get some rest after the ordeal.

Lakesh goes to see Balam about what he did. Balam goes through his standard greeting but then shows the man images as well as emotions. He can tell that Balam is frightened and he gets the message that the only one who can help is Kane. The fact that the Archon is afraid terrifies Lakesh.

Domi is waiting for the group to return from their trip to rescue Beth Li and Auerbach. Kane is tired and angry (as usual) and has to interviene when a man named Wegmann insults the other man.

Kane goes to see Lakesh and is about to boot the old man when he tells him that Balam asked to see him by name. The news stuns the Magistrate, so much that out of curiosity he agrees to see the Archon.

All of them, including Banks meet with the Archon. Balam asks and gets permission to use Banks as a vessel to communicate with them. Balam shows Kane the stone and lets him know just how dangerous it will be if it falls in the wrong hands. He asks Kane to prevent this from happening.

It turns out that one piece of the stone is in North America, in the museum of natural history in the ruins of New York city. Another thing that shocks Kane. It turns out that the archon has a lot of respect, if not admiration for the man.

Kane meets with Lakesh after the meeting with Balam. He demands that something be done about Beth Li. She is Lakesh responsibility after all. He tells Lakesh that it’s a bad time to start thinking about raising children in the redoubt as it's only a matter of time before the Baron's located and assault he base.

While they are talking Bry informs them that he has detected activity below Manhattan. One of the gateways registers an arrival. It turns out to be the same redoubt that is located below the twin towers, the same one that Kane, Salvo and Brigid used to when they arrived in the past.

Brigid lets them know that she has prepared a report on the Chintamani stone. They learn a great deal behind the history of the stones, and figure that it's the reason that they detected the mat trans activation in Manhattan. Someone else was after the stone.

Manhattan and New York is not under any specific barony control. It is basically overrun by muties and slaggers.

They prepare themselves and leave for the city. They arrive and other than the obvious damage from the nukes nearly two centuries before, the place is exactly as they remember it from their jump to the past. The redoubt elevator is still functioning and they hit the garage below the building. Here they are attacked by scalies.

They kill the mutant and head outside. Brigid leads the group as her photographic memory makes for the perfect map. They come across a pair of corpses, one a scalie and the other an oriental man. Both corpses are being devoured by screamwings.

They head to the museum of natural history near central Park. They look at the displays that have amazingly enough survived the decades since the war. Finally they arrive in the geological section of the museum. They spot four people. Zikat, Gyatso, the girl and another man. Kane recognizes the Russian from his previous encounter. He also is able to tell that Gyatso is a hybrid.

They are there for the stone as well. Suddenly both groups fall under attack from a group of scalies and one poor, confused, misplaced stickie. They agree to a brief truce and fight off the group of muties. In the fight the fourth member of Zikat's group is killed, but the mutants are defeated.

Zikat turns the tables and breaks the truce. He shoots out the remaining cable that was holding a stuffed whale aloft in the museum. It falls and traps Grant beneath it. The Russian and his group take advantage of the situation to escape.

They in turn make it back to the redoubt and jump back to cerberus. Dafoe takes a look at Grant and announces that he's going to be laid up for a week or more recovering from the wounds he suffered.

Lakes is very angry that they didn't get the stone. Kane decides to force the issue and goes directly to Balam to discuss it.

For the first time in three and a half years the Archon is released from the cell that has been its home. It can actually speak but barely. Balam once again links with Banks in order to speak better. They all learn more in a few minutes than most people ever learned about the Archons in many, many years.

After relating what he learned to the others Lakesh comes to the realization that he was correct in his theory. Balam is the last Archon.

Kane flips. He grabs Balam by the throat and tries to strangle the Archon. In the few seconds that Kane is in contact with Balam he learns even more about the race that caused the destruction of mankind. He releases the creature and they discuss going after the stone that Zikat took in the ruins of New York, as well as the other pieces in order to prevent a horrible tragedy from occurring.

Kane will lead the expedition to recover the stones, and informs the group that he is going to take Balam with him as well.

They make the jump to the Lamasary. Here they discover Dorjieffs corpse. They are attacked by a monk who upon discovering what Balam is, literally pisses himself in fright and awe. The monk keeps saying that Balam is one of the eight immortals.

They learn that Zikat and two others left on horseback. They are all given mounts and supplies for the journy next day and then are given a room to rest in for the night. The monks insist that the Archon be given the bed. Kane and Brigid are forced to sleep on the floor.

At first light they leave the Lamasary and spend the day traveling in the frigid weather. Balam nearly goes over the edge of a cliff and is saved by Kane. Finally they reach the entrance to the city. Balam claims that the last time he had been in the city was after a failed Viking attempt at colonization of North America.

Zikat and his followers are there as well. Once again he offers a truce, wanting both groups to enter the city at the same time in the following morning. Balam ignores him and strips off his protective clothing. He enters the entrance, oblivious to the danger presented by Zikat and his followers.

Kane provides the necessary cover fire and he and Brigid follow Balam. Zikat and his band are hot on their heels. At one point Kane uses a grenade to hamper their pursuers. It works and he and Brigid escape.

They eventually make it to a huge statue that is near an underground river. Kane is able to find a canoe and they use it and the river to reach the city. Here they encounter three Archons who turn out to be idiots. The three point them to a huge monolith, not unlike the monoliths inside the baronies.

There they meet Balam and Lam, Balam's father. They discuss parallel worlds. Kane takes a chance and touches the piece of the stone they are watching over. He sees himself in a parallel world being killed by Thrush, the man he met in Omega Path.

Zikat enters the room at this point. He orders them to disarm themselves and when they refuse, he kills one of the idiot Archons. To save the other two, Kane and Brigid do as he demands.

Gyatso demands his legacy as a hybrid and Balam tells him to take it. The man does so and grabs the stone. It ends up killing the Hybrid. This was the distraction that Kane needed. He attacks. The girl is subdued easily enough while he and Zikat fight to the edge of a deep crevasse. The Russian nearly gets the better of Kane, and even tries to convince Kane that he needs him to use the stones. In the end Kane tosses his holy symbol into the pit and Zikat grabs for it, falling into the bottomless depths.

Kane has the stones that Zikat used to posses. He returns to the others and finds Brigid comforting the girl. Balam is tending to the body of his son, one of triplets born to a human woman nearly four hundred years before.

Balam indicates that Kane take the stone from Lam's hand. When he does, the father of Balam instantly dies. Balam explains that his vigil is over and now it's Kane's turn. He needs to find a way for humanity to survive. The only way to do so is to overthrow the barons. He tells them to leave.

End of Iceblood.

A total of Five months, three days passed in this novel.

Return to Main Page.