Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

heroes."
    "You don't know everything about me. And don't you dare tell him."
    "Don't worry, your sick little secrets are safe with me. Ruby, why are you still here?"
    "You promised me a good fight, and all the loot I could carry."
    "The odds are there isn't going to be any loot, Ruby. Odds are we're going to die down there. The Empire could turn up here anytime, and you can bet they'll come in force. I've been in my share of tight corners, but never anything like this. There's no back door this time. Just a rock and a hard place."
    "Stop hogging the bottle," said Ruby. She took it from Hazel and hefted its weight disappointedly. "Going to need a new one soon. Look, it's not as if we had anywhere to run. Our only way out of here is on the Standing, and since Giles is the only one who can pilot it, and he's determined to check out the Wolfling World first… we're stuck, girl. Look on the bright side."
    "What bright side?"
    "Give me time, I'll think of something. Look, it's just another fight. Win or die, we'll have a good time."
    "But its not just us anymore. If we really can get our hands on the Darkvoid Device, and wake the Hadenmen, we'd be in a position to tell the whole damned Empire to go to hell and make it stick. We could change everything, put everything to rights. If we die, that chance dies with us. That's what's getting me so jumpy."
    "Things happen as they happen," said Ruby. "And once things get this big, people like you and me don't matter anymore. If we ever did. All we can do is play our part, not take any stupid risks, and try and keep from getting our heads blown off. Leave it to the heroes like Random and the Deathstalkers. We'll just keep
    to the sidelines, fight when we have to and keep our eyes open for the main chance. There's got to be something down there worth stealing."
    Hazel grinned. "Don't ever change, Ruby. Stay as mercenary, self-centered and downright vicious as you always have. The universe would seem so boring without people like you in it."
    Ruby looked at her calmly. "I don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes I think I'm the only sane person on this ship."
    The rebels all ended up together again in front of the main viewscreen on what passed for a bridge on the Last Standing. It was a large open area, with no visible control panels, and absolutely nowhere to sit down. Not for the first time Owen felt more than a little superfluous. Giles lectured them in his dry, sardonic way, and all listened with varying amounts of politeness. Even so, none of them seemed in any hurry for the briefing to be over.
    "The castle's sensors show extensive workings deep below the surface of the planet," said Giles. A map appeared on the viewscreen before them. It was intimidatingly detailed. Just looking at it made Owen's head ache. "Most of the workings weren't here the last time I made planetfall. They form the city built by the Hadenmen. It's situated beyond the Madness Maze, and since the transfer portal I left behind is located on the opposite edge of the Maze, we have no option but to pass through the Maze to reach the city. Unfortunately."
    "And what does that mean, exactly?" said Owen. "You've never actually explained what the Madness Maze is."
    Giles pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It's an enigmatic structure, built by the Wolflings, not long before they were all wiped out. Well, all but one. He guards the Maze. Sometimes I think he does it not to keep people out but to make sure
    the Maze doesn't escape. And whatever he knows about the Maze, he has always kept to himself. The Maze… is hard to describe; you'll have to see it for yourselves. I have never passed through it myself, but its function is no secret. The Maze affects the mind and body, shaping them in new, different ways.
    I believed it was originally intended to raise the Wolflings to the next step up on the evolutionary scale. Fortunately, and I use the word advisedly, they never got a chance to use it. I'm not sure Humanity could have survived what the Wolflings might have become."
    "Hold everything," said Hazel. "If the Hadenman built their city beyond the Maze, does that mean they've all been through it?"
    "I believe not," said Moon. "The original scientists excavated down through the frozen planet to a position of their own choosing: a set of huge natural caverns. They collapsed the tunnel after them, at the end, to cover their traces and prevent anyone from following them. And at the end, I mink they saw the Maze as