Deathstalker War

by Green, Simon R.

  Down below, Anything had turned into his most martial shape, and was cutting through the massed toys with razor-sharp hands. Their weapons rebounded harmlessly from his metal body, so they clung to his arms and legs, trying to drag him down by sheer weight of numbers. But the toy who wished he was a Fury stood firm and would not fall.

  Poogie had become a snarling fury of hate and destruction, no longer cartoonlike at all. Enraged at the toys who would keep him from his atonement, and would dare attack humans under his protection, he fought tirelessly in the center of the deck and defied one and all to bring him down.

  But there were so many patchwork toys. So very many.

  In the stateroom, Halloweenie hovered helplessly over Julian, and wondered desperately what to do for the best. Toys were hammering on the barricaded door and smashing the windows. The young esper was still bleeding heavily from the mouth and nose, despite everything the Li’l Skeleton Boy could do to stop it. The ship did have a med bay, but Halloweenie knew he wasn’t strong enough to drag the esper such a long way, even if they could avoid being noticed by the patchwork toys. Halloweenie might have escaped on his own, but he didn’t want to leave the injured human unprotected. The toys hammering against the door were slowly forcing it open, and pushing the piled-up furniture back inch by inch. Toys were trying to get through the windows. Halloweenie ran back and forth, pushing them back out.

  And then the barricade of furniture suddenly collapsed and fell backwards, and the door swung open, and the toys came howling in. Halloweenie ran forward to stand between them and the human, but they were so many, and he was just a little skeleton boy. He went down under their stamping feet, his bones cracking and breaking, crying out for Julian to run. The young esper tried to get his feet under him and lurched forward to help his small defender. Swords and axes rose above him.

  There was a clap like thunder and a rush of displaced air, and Giles Deathstalker appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the stateroom. The patchwork toys fell back, unnerved by the sudden appearance, and Giles moved forward and hauled Julian to his feet. And in that moment, while the toys hesitated, Giles reached out with his Maze-altered mind and slammed into Julian’s. There was a moment of opposition, as the young esper realized what the Deathstalker meant to do, and then Giles swept it aside, seized control of Julian’s esp, and summoned up a psistorm.

  Julian screamed horribly, the sound rising above the roar of battle, and everyone hesitated a moment. And then it was as though a great wind swept the length of the boat, picking up the patchwork toys and pitching them overboard. Others were torn apart, reduced to their component parts, and scattered by the wind. Some simply exploded, touched by the stormfire crackling across the deck, spitting and seething. The humans stood and watched in awe, untouched by the power of the storm.

  Bruin Bear was lifted off his feet by the strength of the wind, but the Sea Goat grabbed him with one hand and clung grimly to the guardrail with the other. The strain almost pulled him in two, but he wouldn’t let go. He was the Sea Goat, and he didn’t let his friends down. Poogie and Anything clung together in terror, wedged under a pile of deck chairs. In the stateroom, at the heart of the storm, toys fell dead at its touch. The wind howled like a human voice, in agony and exultation, and swept the deck clean of patchwork toys.

  The storm shut off as suddenly as it began, and all was still on the ship again. Apart from the agonized screaming from the stateroom, and Halloweenie calling desperately for help. The humans and the toys forgot about their sudden victory and their various wounds and ran to the stateroom, pushing their way in past the half-open door and the scattered furniture. And there they found Halloweenie dragging his broken body painfully across the floor, trying to reach Julian Skye, convulsing in Giles Deathstalker’s arms. The esper’s screams were growing hoarser, as though the horrid sounds were damaging his throat. Giles dropped Julian and backed away, his eyes cold and watchful.

  “Don’t let him get away!” said Halloweenie. “He did it! He hurt Julian! He did something to him, and he started screaming and couldn’t stop!”

  Finlay and Evangeline moved quickly forward to kneel beside the young esper. His whole body was convulsing now, his heels drumming on the floor. His head whipped from side to side, blood spraying from his mouth as he screamed. Evangeline sat him up and cradled him in her arms, trying to contain his helpless movements. Finlay tried to cheek Julian for wounds, but it was clear to his Arena-trained eyes that the damage had to be internal. The esper’s struggles grew weaker as the strength went out of him, and his screams died away to groans. There was blood leaking from his ears, and dribbling down his cheeks from his eyes, like dark crimson tears. His skin was deathly pale and icy to the touch. Finlay glared at Giles.

  “What the hell did you do to him?”

  “What was necessary,” said Giles. His voice was calm but wary. “We needed a psistorm. It was our only chance for survival. So I helped the esper produce one.”

  “You knew it might kill him!” said Evangeline.

  “Yes,” said Giles. “I knew. But it was necessary.”

  “Then if he dies, you’re a murderer,” said Evangeline.

  “He wouldn’t be my first victim,” said Giles. “Grow up, woman. We’re in a war here. The survival of the group has to come first. Our mission is more important than any one of us. And yes, that includes me.”

  Toby hurried in, carrying a small autodoc disc from the ship’s med bay. He handed it over to Finlay, who pulled the esper’s collar back and slapped the flat disc against the side of his neck. Toby moved back, to get out of the way of Flynn’s hovering camera.

  “It’s a pretty basic doc,” Toby said hesitantly. “I mean, it’s good for tranquilizers, stabilizers, things like that, but don’t ask me what it can do for cerebral hemhorrhages and total body shock.”

  Julian’s struggles slowly ceased as the drugs the doc was pumping into him finally took effect, and his groans died away to whispers. Evangeline rocked him gently, stroking his forehead and murmuring soothingly to him, like a mother with a sick child. He didn’t look like he could hear her. Finlay got to his feet and looked back at Halloweenie. Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat were trying to comfort the Li’l Skeleton Boy. Both of his legs and most of his ribs had been smashed, the breaks showing clearly on his bare bones. There was a great crack in his skull, through which the glowing metals of his artificial mind could be seen. He was crying, without tears. Poogie and Anything looked on helplessly from the doorway.

  “How is he?” said Finlay.

  “What do you care?” said Anything. “He’s just a toy.”

  “He’s one of us,” said Finlay. He looked at the Bear and the Goat. “Can the damage be repaired?”

  “Hopefully,” said Bruin Bear. “He’s an automaton, after all. We don’t have any spare parts on board, but there should be enough splints and staples to hold him together till we get back to Toystown.”

  “If we get back to Toystown,” said the Sea Goat.

  “Shut up, Goat,” said the Bear. “This isn’t the time.” He looked at Finlay with his large knowing eyes. “Your friend is dying, isn’t he?”

  “Yes,” said Finlay. “I think he probably is. He saved us all, but there’s nothing we can do for him here.”

  “The Deathstalker did this to him,” said the Bear. “He has unusual mental abilities. I saw him teleport. Perhaps he could use those abilities to undo what he did to the esper.”

  Finlay turned to look at Giles, who looked steadily back at him. “Well?” said Finlay. “You’re supposed to have been through the marvelous Maze on Haden. Show us what you can do. That is why you’re here, after all. To use your special powers. Heal him.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” said Giles. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  “Try,” said Finlay, pointing his disrupter at Giles’s chest. “Or I swear I’ll kill you, right here and now.”

  “No, you won’t,” said the Deathstalker. “You need
me. Without me, you’ll never reach Harker, never complete our mission.”

  “Stuff the mission,” said Finlay. “Do it, or you’re a dead man.”

  “I won’t forget this,” said the Deathstalker, and his voice was calm and cold and very deadly.

  “Like I give a shit,” said Finlay.

  Giles nodded, and knelt down beside Evangeline. She glared at him, but let him take Julian from her arms. The Deathstalker held him with surprising gentleness, the esper’s head lolling back against Giles’s chest. Blood dripped from the esper’s chin.

  His breathing was very faint. Giles closed his eyes, concentrating in a way that was still new to him, reaching out in a direction he couldn’t name but somehow knew was there. He could see Julian now as a dim light in the darkness, a guttering candle whose flame was slowly going out. Giles looked at himself, and saw a light so blinding he could barely face it. And it was the easiest thing in the world for him to take some of that light and give it to Julian.

  The esper sat up suddenly in the Deathstalker’s arms, his eyes snapping open, sucking in a deep breath like a swimmer surfacing from a long dive. The bleeding had stopped, and his coloring had returned to normal. He looked around him, startled.

  “What the hell was that?” he said. “It was like God called my name.”

  “Trust me,” said Finlay. “God had nothing to do with it.”

  “What do you remember?” Evangeline asked, as she helped him get to his feet again.

  “I’m . . . not sure. We were under siege. I was trying to focus my esp, but . . . and then Giles was here with me. It’s blank after that.”

  “Probably just as well,” said Finlay. He looked at Giles, also back on his feet. “How good a job did you do, Deathstalker? Is he healed? Properly healed?”

  “I doubt it,” said Giles. “I know only basic medicine. Whatever was wrong with him before is probably still wrong with him. I just . . . jump-started him again. Gave his batteries a boost. No, he’s probably just back to how he was before I . . . interfered.”

  “Don’t ever do that again,” said Finlay. “You’re the one with the amazing powers. You can defend us in the future.”

  “You can defend yourself,” said Giles. “I never forget a threat.”

  “I think it would be a good idea if we were all to calm down a little,” said Toby nervously. “After all, we’re all on the same side, aren’t we? And the esper’s back to normal again.”

  “I think I’ll take a walk around the deck,” said Giles, not looking away from Finlay’s gaze. “Make sure there are no toy parts left on board. Get myself a little fresh air as well. It’s getting a bit thick in here.”

  He headed for the stateroom door, and everyone stepped back to give him plenty of room. The Bear looked at him thoughtfully.

  “You’re not human anymore,” he said. “I can tell. What are you, Giles Deathstalker?”

  “Damned if I know,” said Giles, and he left.

  “How do you feel, Julian?” said Finlay.

  The esper shrugged uncomfortably. “Tired. Drained. And my throat’s sore as hell. Is the emergency over? Are the toys gone?”

  “It’s over,” said Evangeline. “Why don’t you go lie down for a while? We’ll take care of the cleaning up.”

  “Yeah,” said Julian. “Rest. Good idea.” He left the stateroom on slightly unsteady feet.

  “Typical,” said Anything. “Halloweenie almost got killed protecting him, and he didn’t even say thank you.”

  “Shut up,” said Halloweenie. “He doesn’t even remember. You want to be useful, get me out of here and over to the repair shop. I need a ten-thousand-mile service. At least.”

  Anything nodded, picked up the broken little skeleton boy, and carried him out of the stateroom. Poogie, the Bear, and the Goat went with them, leaving the humans alone. Toby nodded to Flynn, and the camera floated down onto Flynn’s shoulder and shut itself off.

  “You’ve got guts, Campbell,” said Toby. “Threatening a Deathstalker. Hell, the Deathstalker. That was the man who activated the Darkvoid Device, remember? Killed very living thing on a thousand suns’ planets, and never once said sorry. Personally, I’d rather tongue-kiss a Grendel.”

  “He would have let Julian die,” said Finlay. “I couldn’t allow that. I didn’t rescue him from the interrogation cells under Golgotha just to have him die because the Deathstalker had a use for him. Still, I was hoping the ancient bastard could cure Julian; fix all the things that were wrong with him. Either he couldn’t do it, or he wouldn’t, which means the poor kid is still dying by inches. The odds are he’s going to die here anyway, far from home, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to save him, this time.”

  “You can’t do everything,” said Evangeline.

  “I couldn’t comfort him,” said Finlay. “Not like you did. I don’t know how to do things like that.”

  “You made Giles save him,” said Evangeline. “I don’t know how to do things like that. We make a good team, all things considered.”

  They smiled at each other, staring deep into each other’s eyes, and the stateroom was suddenly full of their love. It occurred to Toby that he might just get the answers to a few pertinent questions out of them, while they were in such a good mood. He gestured surreptitiously for Flynn to turn his camera back on. Flynn nodded slightly, and though the camera on his shoulder didn’t move, its single red eye silently glowed into life again.

  “So,” said Toby casually, “what is the deal with the Deathstalker? There’s nothing in his history or his legend about his having esper abilities. Certainly no one else in his line has ever shown any trace of them. Until Owen. I saw him do some pretty amazing things on Mistworld.”

  “It’s the Maze,” said Finlay. “The Madness Maze. Something Giles and Owen and a few others encountered on the world that used to be Haden.”

  “You mean they were changed by a Hadenmen device?”

  “No. Something much older. It changed the people who went through it. Made them more than they used to be. Don’t ask for details, because I don’t have any. The underground has, but it’s all strictly need to know. And the likes of you and I don’t need to know. Now turn off that camera and get the hell out of here, before I decide which of your bodily orifices to cram it into. Sideways.”

  “Fair enough,” said Toby. “Let’s go, Flynn.”

  “After me,” said the cameraman, and they left the stateroom in something that wasn’t actually a hurry, but close enough. With the door shut firmly behind them, they both stopped for a couple of really deep breaths.

  “I don’t think he was joking about the camera,” said Flynn. “Did you think he was joking about the camera?”

  “Probably not,” said Toby. “Finlay Campbell’s come a long way from the biggest clotheshorse in the Court. Still, in retrospect, it probably wasn’t the best of times to ask probing questions.”

  “Never stopped you before,” said Flynn.

  “True,” said Toby. “Let’s go see what the toys are up to.”

  Not that far away, Giles Deathstalker was leaning on the starboard guardrail, staring into the dark waters of the River as they flowed past. The Captain had the ship back under control again, and they were picking up speed, back on course. Giles tried to recapture the feeling of how it felt to teleport, but it eluded him. As though it was too powerful an experience for him to deal with, except in necessity. Too much for a human mind. Except he wasn’t just a human anymore, and hadn’t been ever since he and the others passed through the Madness Maze. He’d become something . . . different than human, and his new ability to teleport was just the beginning. He knew that, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Though he was far away from the others, he was still linked to them through the undermind, the oversoul, and he knew that they were changing, too, in different, frightening ways. He wondered what he was becoming, what they were all becoming, and whether the end result would be in any way human. He also wondered why the thought didn’t scare him as much
as it should have.

  Raised angry voices caught his attention, and he went to see what was happening, more to keep his thoughts occupied than because he really cared. Down by the stern, Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat had found a disembodied head from a patchwork toy, wedged in a corner where the psistorm couldn’t get at it, and they were busy interrogating it by kicking it around like a football and shouting questions at it. Toby calmed them down, set the head against the stateroom wall, and asked it questions while Flynn filmed. All he got for his trouble were a series of not very inventive curses, so Giles moved in and took over. No one objected. He didn’t think they would.

  “Why did you attack us?” he asked the head.

  The head was bright blue, with pointed ears and oversize eyes. It had probably been intended to look cute and elfish in the beginning, but now it looked more like a demon. It laughed at his question, showing jagged pointy teeth. The sound was harsh, artificial, and had nothing of human emotion in it. The toy’s eyes, all dark pupils, fixed on the Deathstalker.

  “You’re the enemy. The eternal enemy. Human and human-lovers. Don’t think you’ve won anything here. You can’t get away. We’ll find you and kill you all. Or the others will.”

  “Others?” said Giles, calmly meeting the dark inhuman eyes.

  “Oh, we have many friends, waiting along the way for you. We know where you’re from, where you’re going. We have ears and eyes everywhere. You’ll never reach the Red Man. We won’t allow it.”

  “What’s your name?” said Toby.

  The head laughed at him. “Names? That’s a human thing. Our identities interchange as our bodies do. We are lost to who we were, and we like it that way.”

  “Tell me what you know about Harker,” Giles said patiently. “Tell me what you know about the Red Man, and his plans. And why you’re so determined to stop us getting to him.”

  “I don’t have to answer your questions. Human.” The head spit at Giles. He didn’t flinch.