Deathstalker

by Simon R. Green

  Silence and Hazel helped Owen to his feet, as Carrion came running back, power lance in hand, looking just a little embarrassed. Owen put his sword away as Hazel checked the wound in his side, and pressed a folded cloth against it.

  "Nasty, but not immediately life-threatening. You'll heal, Owen."

  "Of course," said Owen, just a little breathlessly. "I always do."

  "He wanted to die," said Silence. "To join the last of his kind."

  "Oh sure," said Owen. "But he would have taken me with him, if he could. Luckily, I convinced the Maze to let him go. I don't think the Maze needs a guardian anymore. Presumably its long scheme is nearly over, and we're approaching the endgame."

  Hazel shuddered suddenly. "Scary thought. If the Wolfling was telling the truth, it could be all our lives have been led and manipulated, just to bring us here. To this place, at this time. To carry out its endgame."

  Carrion shook his head uneasily. "Nothing's that powerful."

  "With the Maze, who knows what's possible," said Owen, straightening up cautiously, ignoring the pain in his side. "It doesn't have human limitations."

  "Right," said Hazel. "It could do anything to you, once it had you inside it, again. I don't think you should do this after all, Owen."

  "I doubt it'll kill me, after all we've been through to get here."

  "Maybe not. But it could change you again. Make you more… alien. Like itself. We've already come a hell of a long way from the rest of Humanity, Owen. If you go in again, there's no telling what might walk out the other end. We've come so far together, Owen; I don't want to lose you now."

  "As with so many times before, I don't really have a choice," said Owen. "Not just because of the Recreated, but because of the baby at the heart of the Maze. Wulf said he was waking up. I have to reach him before that happens. God alone knows what he might do, if he wakes alone and scared. Or angry. Someone has to be there, to supply comfort and guidance. And who else would he accept, but another Deathstalker?"

  "It could just kill you with a thought," said Silence.

  "Yes, I suppose he could. But I don't believe the Maze brought me all this way, just to let the baby kill me at the last step. I have to believe there's some purpose to my being here."

  "You don't have to do this, Owen," said Hazel.

  The Deathstalker smiled. "Yes, I do. I've always known my duty. Hazel."

  "If you're going in, I'm going in too," Silence said suddenly. "If… something were to go wrong, in the Maze, and you don't make it out, the Empire's still going to need someone to save the day."

  "You just want to get your hands on the Device," said Hazel sharply. "You still think you could use it as a weapon against the Recreated. You're an idiot, Silence. Haven't you listened to anything we've told you? You'd destroy Humanity while trying to save it."

  "I listened," said Silence. "The Maze could give me the power to control the baby. Or destroy it, as necessary. Either way, the Recreated would be destroyed."

  Hazel started angrily toward the Captain. Owen caught her by the arm. "It doesn't matter, Hazel. Let him enter the Maze again, if he wishes. He'll learn better, once in there."

  "I need to do this," Silence said to Hazel, almost apologetically. "I never went all the way through, before. I turned back, to save Frost. Maybe if I go all the way through, this time… I'll find the certainty that you and Owen have. I've spent so long trying to do the right thing, while never being entirely sure what the right thing was."

  "Then I'll go in too," said Carrion. "Just to keep you company. Who knows; maybe I'll find some answers and certainty for myself. It's been a long time since I had any purpose or direction in my life."

  "It's called the Madness Maze for a reason," Owen said carefully. "It kills a lot of those who enter, and drives even more insane."

  "I know," said Silence. "I saw my men die, trying to solve the Maze. But someone has to be left to carry on the good fight, if you and Hazel don't make it, for whatever reason. You said yourself the Maze has plans for you. Maybe an alien device has alien plans, that have nothing to do with saving Humanity. The Empire must be protected."

  "For once, we agree," said Carrion. "The Recreated would destroy every living thing in the Empire, and bring it all down to darkness. They must be stopped. It's taken a while, but I finally found an enemy I hate more than Humanity."

  "All right," said Hazel. "If you're all going in, then I guess I am as well. I don't trust the Maze worth a damn, but it's the only card we've got left to play against the Recreated. You can let go of my arm now, Owen."

  Owen released her arm, took her by the hand, and brought her around to face him, his eyes fixed on hers. "No, Hazel. You can't go in. You have to go back up to the Sunstrider, and keep the Recreated busy while we're in the Maze. There's no knowing how long we'll be in there, and we can't let the Recreated get anywhere near the Maze. They might destroy it, just to stop me reaching the baby."

  "You have got to be kidding!" said Hazel. "The Sunstrider III doesn't even have any guns!"

  "But it is very fast," said Owen. "And besides, I have a feeling… that the Maze has made changes in our little ship. I seem to sense it… I think you'll find the new Sunstrider has everything you'll need to defend us."

  "The Maze?" said Hazel. "Since when has the Maze been able to do things like that?"

  Owen smiled suddenly. "The baby isn't the only thing that's waking up. I think the Maze is rousing itself from an even deeper slumber."

  "Great," said Hazel. "Just what we need. More complications. So; you want me to be a bloody decoy, is that it? A target for all the Recreated, while you all go and commune with whatever the Maze really is. Wonderful. Why don't I paint a bull's-eye on my chest while I'm at it?"

  "I think we've gone past the point where what we want matters anymore," said Owen. "I have to do this, Hazel. The Maze is calling me. Can't you feel it?"

  "You'll be killed without me," said Hazel numbly. "I know it. You never did know how to stay out of trouble."

  "If I'd stayed out of trouble, I'd never have met you," said Owen.

  Silence and Carrion exchanged a look, and moved away so Owen and Hazel could have a little privacy. Hazel remembered her dream of standing alone on the Sunstrider's bridge, fighting off impossible odds, but she said nothing. She could feel destiny closing in around her, taking her life in a remorseless iron grip, and a brief burst of fear and panic ran through her. She wanted to run or scream or knock Owen down, so he wouldn't leave her. She fought the feelings down with all her old self-control. She didn't want to upset Owen. He was looking at the Madness Maze, his head slightly cocked, as though listening to some tune only he could hear.

  When he finally turned to look at her, his smile was so sad it nearly broke her heart.

  "We've come a long way together," said Owen. "Walked in wondrous places, seen marvels almost beyond belief, and fought the good fight with all our might. We even walked into Hell a few times, and brought light into darkness. Maybe it would be greedy to ask for more, for ourselves."

  "I never wanted to be a hero," said Hazel. "I just wanted you, and some time together."

  "Heroes and legends," said Owen. "A long way from the ex-scholar and the ex-clonelegger. We've achieved more in our short time than most people do in a lifetime. Be proud of that."

  "You're trying to say good-bye, aren't you. Deathstalker?" said Hazel, holding his eyes with hers. "One way or another, we're never going to meet again, are we?"

  "Who knows?" said Owen. "We started this journey with our eyes wide open, and we knew what we were getting into. Everyone knows most heroes and legends don't have happy endings. I wish… we could have had the things that everyone else has, and takes for granted; home and family and children. Some time to ourselves, untouched by need or politics or destiny. But we were never meant for that kind of life, you and I. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Hazel d'Ark. I wouldn't trade a moment of it, for all the years I might have had, as a spoiled, self-satisfie
d minor scholar."

  "And you're the best thing that ever happened to me, Owen Deathstalker." Hazel struggled to keep her voice even. "Before you came into my life and ruined everything, I had to struggle to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. You showed me what duty and honor were, and gave purpose to my life, even if you did have to drag me into it kicking and screaming all the way. Because of you, I became someone who mattered, instead of just another minor criminal."

  "This isn't necessarily the end," Owen said desperately. "I could come out of the Maze with all the power I need to destroy the Recreated. The new Sunstrider could have all the firepower you need to hold them off and keep you safe. Maybe we'll save Humanity one last time, and then walk off into the sunset together. Stranger things have happened."

  "Yes," said Hazel. "Maybe." And neither of them believed it.

  They moved abruptly together and hugged each other close, heads pressed together, warm cheek pressed against warm cheek; at least partly so they wouldn't have to look into each other's eyes anymore. Their breathing sounded loud and strained in each other's ears, and they could feel each other's heart beating. They held on to each other as if they might be pulled apart at any moment, trying to make one moment last forever. In the end, it was Owen who let go first, and slowly pushed Hazel away from him. He'd always been the one who understood duty and honor; the one with a core of unbreakable iron in his heart. The one to do what needed doing, whatever the cost. A Deathstalker.

  They looked into each other's eyes and neither of them cried, for fear of upsetting the other.

  "I love you," said Owen. "And I always will. I'll never forget you as long as I live."

  "I'll never forget you," said Hazel. "Not even if I live forever."

  Owen waited a moment, but Hazel had nothing more to say. Owen understood. He smiled one last time, kissed her gently on the lips, and moved quickly away. He looked over at the Madness Maze.

  "I'm ready."

  He heard a puff of disturbed air behind him, as Hazel was teleported up to the new Sunstrider, and the air rushed in to fill the vacuum where she'd been. He never expected to see her again. But of course, he did.

  Hazel materialized on the bridge of the Sunstrider, and looked quickly around her. Her heart missed a beat as she saw that the bridge was now exactly what she'd seen in her dream; the old familiar setting from Sunstrider II. She moved quickly forward to check out the expanded control panels, and found the transformed ship now boasted more weapons and fire control systems than an E class starcruiser. And one hell of a set of defensive shields. Presumably the Maze felt she'd need them.

  She activated the main viewscreen. They were still there. The Recreated, clustering around the Wolfling World like rats round a dying man. She could almost feel waves of hate and rage coming from them. Hazel snarled at the screen. She stood between them and the Deathstalker, guarding his back as always, and that was all that mattered. She'd faced impossible odds before, and somehow survived. Perhaps that had all been training, for her to be at this place, at this time, and not be intimidated.

  To stand at the mouth of the pass, denying the Enemy entrance; to be the guard at the gate for all Humanity.

  She just wished she didn't have to do it alone.

  And then she noticed a flash of light at the edge of the screen, and knew immediately what it was. The Dauntless. Silence's legendary ship, that had never lost a battle. She wasn't alone after all. Hazel laughed aloud, and turned her attention to the weapons console. Everything was linked through a single fire control panel, so she could operate it all herself. Outside, in the endless night of the Darkvoid, she could feel more and more of the Recreated becoming aware of her, slowly realizing that she stood between them and their prey. Huge eyes turned in her direction. Mile-long tentacles reached across space. Vast ships orientated on the Sunstrider. Hazel whooped once with savage joy, meshed her mind with the fire controls, and opened up with everything she had.

  Owen walked back into the Madness Maze, and it felt like coming home. He strode quickly between the shining, shimmering walls, guided by instinct as much as memory. He didn't normally remember much about his first trip through the Maze, and now he knew why. It was simply too intense, too overwhelming an experience for the mind to tolerate for long. It had to be forgotten, for the mind to be able to cope with everyday things. He slowed his pace, not hurrying anymore, for Time moved differently in the Maze. A second and a year were the same thing, here. He glanced back, once, and wasn't surprised to find Silence and Carrion weren't with him anymore, though they'd all entered the Maze together. They had their own ways to go, their own destinations, their own destinies to follow.

  Owen drifted through the shining passageways, summoned by a voice he almost recognized. It was bitter cold in the Maze, but he had been tempered in fires too harsh for mere temperatures to ever really bother him again. Static sparked on the air here and there, falling like ionized snowflakes, crawling up and down the shining walls. Owen thought he could hear breathing, slow and steady and gigantic, gusting around him. Underneath his feet he could feel a slow, rhythmic tremor, like the beating of a massive heart far below. He felt watched, known, cared for. Not for the first time, Owen wondered if the Madness Maze was actually alive; some form of existence far beyond anything he could hope to recognize or understand.

  Smells and scents came and went around him. Harsh vinegar and burning leaves. Oiled metal, and old lemon, sharp on his tongue. Rich earth and mulch, and the aroma of green growing things; a memory of lost Virimonde. There was a chattering of metal birds, and a baby crying, and the tolling of a cracked iron bell in a church at midnight. It felt like Christmas, the world calm and quiet under a blessing of snow. Owen threaded his way through the Maze, heading always toward the center, and all the answers to all the questions of his life.

  Silence and Carrion walked together, bound together by memories only they could share and understand. There was a time they'd tried to kill each other, over things they believed in and could not back down from, but that was over now. They had a common enemy and a common cause, and besides, they were friends, and always had been, even when they hated each other. Life's like that, sometimes.

  Silence hadn't traveled far into the Maze, that first time, and mostly what he remembered was his men dying around him in horrid ways. Now he could see the wonder and beauty of the place, the calm alien splendor of it all. He felt relaxed, welcomed; he was meant to be here, this time.

  It was Carrion's first time in the Maze, but he had the strangest feeling he'd been there before. There was something in the Maze that reminded him strongly of the time he'd spent on Unseeli, communing with the gentle spirits of the forest, the metallic trees and the Ashrai. He felt almost as though he'd returned there, to when the planet was still alive, and so was he.

  Silence and Carrion stopped suddenly, in a corridor no different than any other, and looked slowly around them, as though waking from a dream. A voice that was not a voice, but so much more, had sounded in their thoughts, and they knew they'd gone as far as they were going. The heart, and the hidden mysteries of the Maze, were not for them, this time. Theirs was a different destiny.

  "I feel almost insulted," said Carrion. "Owen gets all the answers, and we don't? Where do I go to complain?"

  "I don't think I want to see their complaints department," said Silence. "And I don't think I ever really wanted to know the answers to everything. I mean; what would you do, afterwards?"

  "You always did think small, John. So; why did we come here? We were summoned. We both felt it. We're supposed to be here."

  "Hush," said Silence. "Can you hear something? Something like… wings?"

  Slowly, they looked up, moved by something very like awe and wonder, and there high above them were the Ashrai. Not ghosts this time, but alive and vital and very much material again. Reborn, revitalized, brought back into the living world by the power of the Maze. They were still pretty damned ugly to human eyes, with gargoyle faces a
nd huge batwings, sharp teeth and claws and fierce, glaring eyes. More dragons than angels. But the threat and menace of their usual visitations were gone, this time. They were singing, alien voices raised in joy, and glory, and laughter.

  They flew in a bright blue cloudless sky that seemed to go on forever, soaring and plunging and gliding on never-ending winds. Carrion watched them with tears in his eyes. He'd forgotten how graceful they could be. He'd lived with their angry ghosts for so long that he'd forgotten the joy and wonder of their lives. Silence's eyes burned with tears too, for having murdered such amazing creatures. And then the Ashrai spoke as one, and Silence and Carrion heard their words in their heads like the voices of angels. Not gargoyles at all.

  We were wrong. Wrong to give in to rage and revenge. We are ashamed, that we allowed ourselves to become too tied to what we were, and forgot what we were intended to be. The Maze created the metallic forests, and put them into our hands, but we forgot they were supposed to be a means to an end, not an end in themselves. After we died, the residual Maze energies of Unseeli allowed us to live on as ghosts. Even after the forest, and our reason for existence, were gone. We used you, dear Sean; allowed your rage and need for revenge to give us purpose and meaning. But now you have brought us here, and we remember.

  I'm sorry, said Silence. I'm so sorry for what I did.

  We understand duty, and honor, said the Ashrai. We forgive you. Not because Sean once asked us to, but because we can see into your mind and your heart. We must put the past behind us, John Silence. A greater war faces us now, of the light against the dark, and we must face it together.

  The Recreated, said Carrion.

  Yes.

  Do we always have to be fighting? said Carrion. Are we never to know any peace?

  There has been peace, said the Ashrai. There will be peace again. But right now, we have work to do. The Maze gave us life again for a purpose.