Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

back and forth, and the tears he cried were just as real as any human's.
    Flynn stopped filming.
    And up in the sky, the superpeople fought on, uncaring of the lesser beings below.
    The ship chugged on through the day, and the sounds of war grew louder. They could almost make out now the individual explosions that made up the never-ending thunder. There was smoke in the air, too, gradually darkening the daylight till it seemed evening had come early. The humans and the toys watched from different sides of the deck. They'd been keeping themselves separate since Anything's death.
    The steamer pressed on, slowing slightly as wreckage began to appear in the dark waters of the River. And then there were bodies of toys floating past the ship, and bits of toys. So many dead they were beyond counting. Trees burned on both
    sides of the River, dark smoke billowing up into the false evening sky. Some patches were already burnt-out, dead trees in a dead landscape of rutted earth and trenches and bomb craters. Bright splashes of color lit up the sky in vivid moments, the flash of explosives and the tumbling stars of falling flares. The toys grew restless. The Sea Goat stared straight ahead, eyes wide and nostrils flared, as though deep within him his Shub programming was struggling to resurface. Bruin Bear held the Goat's hand with his paw as hard as he could.
    Poogie had curled into a ball, hiding his eyes as he sought to hide from old memories of blood and death. Halloweenie sat guard at Julian's door and would not move.
    And then suddenly the war was all around them. Armies of toys covered both banks, running and shouting and fighting with boundless strength and fury. They were armed with all kinds of weapons, from crudely beaten blades to energy weapons. Grenades arced through the air, sending earth and broken toys flying through the air. Hand-to-hand combat broke out everywhere, toy fighting toy, with no sense of strategy. It was just chaos, a sprawling mess of death and destruction. The humans and the toys on the steamer ducked as rockets roared over their heads, exploding on the opposite banks.
    "Where the hell did they get all these weapons from?" said Finlay, raising his voice to be heard over the din.
    "From Shub," said the Sea Goat, still staring out into the chaos with unblinking eyes. "We were supposed to use them against you. And some we made ourselves.
    Shub gave us that knowledge, too."
    "Can you tell who's winning?" said Toby. "The good toys or the bad toys?"
    "No one's winning here," said Bruin Bear. "They're just dying."
    And at that moment, as though the warring toys had only just noticed them, the
    armies on both sides of the River opened fire on the paddle steamer. The waters erupted as bombs and grenades fell short, showering the deck with water. The humans and the toys had to cling to the guardrails to avoid being swept away.
    Energy beams shot out of the murk, piercing the ship's sides in a dozen places.
    The deck shuddered underfoot as the Merry Mrs. Trusspot screamed. Fires broke out, flames licking hungrily along the wooden hull. The humans fired their disrupters at both banks, while the toys ran to fight the fires with buckets and hand pumps.
    Evangeline stuck her head out of Julian's cabin, and Finlay yelled for her to get back inside. She was safer there. Evangeline looked around her and didn't argue. Giles and Finlay put away their guns and drew their swords. They knew someone would come. Toby kept his head well down, recording an exciting commentary, while Flynn sent his camera shooting back and forth, trying to cover as much as possible. More energy beams blasted ragged flaming holes in the ship's superstructure. So far, they hadn't hit the boilers. The ship was still screaming, but her great paddle wheels still turned.
    Toys plunged into the River and swam over to the ship. There were teddy bears and shape-changing adaptors and dolls of all kinds. The Sea Goat appeared with a barrel of oil, and emptied it over the side. It floated on the surface of the water, thick and glossy. The Goat ignited it with a thrown torch, and flames sprang up around the ship. Toys caught in the blazing oil screamed as the flames consumed them. But many more made it to the side of the steamer, and surged up the holed hull and over the guardrails. Finlay and Giles met them with flashing swords, and the Goat was there with his club, but they were so few, and there were so many enemies, crazed to kill humans.

    Toby and