Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

Something wrong?"
    "The universe itself has changed since I last remember it," said Giles. "And now it seems I am undergoing fundamental changes, too. Pardon me if I find this all rather disorienting."
    "We can talk about this later," said Hazel. "In the meantime, how about getting the hell out of here? The Imperial forces can't be that far behind us."
    And then she stopped and looked back at the Madness Maze. They all did, their new senses triggered by & sharp premonition of danger. They heard the roar of an approaching pinnace, and then the thunder of disrupter cannon. Owen started to shout a warning, and then the whole Maze exploded in a blinding flare of sleeting energies. The rebels moved together, instinctively, and a force shield formed around them, drawn from within themselves. And not even the bartering storm of released energies could penetrate it. The force of the explosion died away, and the air slowly cleared. The Maze was gone, swept away in a moment.
    Where it had been, an Imperial pinnace hovered. The force field dropped, and the rebels looked around with equal parts of surprise and shock. All around them, the Hadenman city had been shattered and torn apart like a child's building blocks scattered by a storm. Buildings had toppled or collapsed or been torn
    apart, and there was ruin and devastation for as far as they could see. A city that had stood for so long, torn down by an uncaring hand.
    "And they call my people monsters," said Moon.
    "That could have been us," said Owen. "By all rights, we ought to be dead."
    "Our own personal force shield," said Hazel. "Now that is going to come in handy."
    "Not necessarily," said Moon, his composure restored. "We had to draw on our own collective energy to power it. We couldn't do it separately."
    "In other words," said Random, "we only have the shield for as long as we stick together. You think the Maze was trying to tell us something?"
    "Considering that we are currently staring down the gun barrels of an Imperial ship, I am quite prepared to listen," said Ruby.
    "Those cannon are useless until the energy crystals recharge," said Giles. "So their next step will be to send men out to check the ruins. And then we can show them just how powerful we have become."
    "Right," said Hazel, her eyes lighting up at the thought. "They don't know the kind of weapons we've got, either. This is going to be fun."
    "Hold everything," Owen said suddenly. "What happened to the Wolfling?"
    They all stopped and looked at each other, and then around them, but there was no sign of him.
    "Did anyone see him come out of the Maze?" said Random. "I kind of lost track of things for a while."
    "Maybe… he didn't get out," said Ruby.
    "No," said Giles immediately. "He would have made it through. Perhaps he came out ahead of us and moved on into the city."

    They all looked at the ruins around them. Owen shook his head. "Either way, it doesn't look too good for him, does it?
    And then they were all distracted by the sound of the pinnace landing and turning off its engines. They all turned to look, hefting their weapons. A side door opened in the pinnace, a ramp lowered and men came hurrying out. There didn't seem to be too many of them, but Owen's eyes narrowed in recognition.
    "Wampyr," he said quietly.
    "And that man leading them is the Lord High Dram," said Ruby. "Warrior Prime, and current favorite of the Iron Bitch."
    "No," said Giles. "That's not his name. Not his real name. I suppose it was inevitable that if I returned here, so would he."
    "What are you talking about?" said Owen. "I recognize him. Everyone in the Empire knows who Dram is."
    "But I know who he used to be," said Giles, and his mouth hardened into a thin, flat line. They all looked at him, but he had nothing more to say.
    Wonderful, thought Owen. More secrets. And then Stelmach and his alien appeared, and Owen forgot about everything else. His mouth went dry as he looked at the creature, age-old instincts stirring the hairs on the back of his neck. It wasn't just that the alien was huge and armored, with far too many teeth and claws; Owen could feel how dangerous it was, even at such a distance. His new senses hammered in his head like an alarm. It was like seeing Death itself, walking cold and unhurried in the light of the pinnace, waiting only to be unleashed. Owen scowled. He'd never seen anything like it before, and could have done without seeing it now, but on the other hand, it had never come across anything