Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

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