Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

example. Lionstone was very keen on tradition.
    David turned off the viewscreen, and the bedchamber was suddenly quiet. He hugged himself as tightly as he could stand, trying to hold himself together, despite the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his middle. The pain came and went now. He didn't know whether that was a good sign or not. When it was very bad all he could do was sit very still, gritting his teeth so he wouldn't call out, and wait for the pain to pass so he could think again. He felt hot and cold by turns, and sweat was dripping off his face. He tried desperately to think of something he could do to save the situation. His surrender had been turned down, and he couldn't get a signal offworld to call on the underground for help. Down below, the few staff still loyal to him or the rebellion were fighting to keep the Imperial forces out of the Standing. They wouldn't last long. Kit SummerIsle came through the open door, and David knew his news from his face.
    "Captain Silence and the Investigator are leading a strike force against the main door. There's no way our people are going to be able to keep them out."
    David nodded slowly. "They were never more than a holding action." He struggled
    to get up off the bed and onto his feet. Kit hurried over to help him. David hung on to him. His legs felt like they might go at any moment, but he wouldn't give in to them. He forced them straight and smiled at his friend.
    "This is it, Kit. Once the Standing falls, the rebellion here is over. I think I finally understand what it means, to be a Deathstalker. To fight the good fight, to put it all on the line, even when you know you can't win." He gestured at the old holoportrait of the original Deathstalker, on the wall at the foot of his bed. "Look at him. Like some bad old barbarian mercenary, in his leathers and scalplock. Giles, my ancestor. I wonder what he would think of me. We never really had a chance to talk. And then there's Owen. I think I understand him a little better now. He tried to warn me, and I wouldn't listen. He said I'd never be able to hold Virimonde, and he was right. The Empress gives and the Empress takes away. God damn the Empress."
    "You're feverish," said Kit. "Sit down again."
    "No. If I sit down now, I'll never find the strength to get up again. Time we were leaving, I think."
    Kit looked at him. "The Standing's surrounded, David. They have all the exits blocked."
    "There's one they don't know about." David lurched over to the holoportrait and hit a hidden switch, and the portrait swung sideways, revealing a narrow passage. Lights came on, showing the passage stretching down into darkness.
    David smiled tiredly as he saw new hope rise in Kit's eyes. "Secret passage.
    Owen told me about it. Saved his ass when they came for him. Finishes up in the flyer bay, in the caves below the Standing. We'll grab a flyer, shove the throttle to max, and get the hell out of here before they know what's happening.

    I can't die yet, Kit. My people need me. If I can't save them, maybe I can arrange for them to be avenged. You know, Kit, it's taken a long time, but I think I've finally found my honor and my duty."
    "You are feverish," said Kit. "Let's go."
    They made their way slowly down the secret passage, David leaning heavily on Kit. Blood was running freely down his side now, and when he coughed, as he sometimes had to despite the pain, blood sprayed from his mouth along with the sound. But he kept going. He wouldn't give up. A Deathstalker never gives up.
    His head swam sickly, and sometimes he thought it was Owen there in the passage with him, and sometimes it was Giles. But when his head cleared, Kit was always there with him, the only real friend he'd ever had.
    They reached the end of the passage, and came to a stop while Kit peered cautiously out into the flyer bay. He snapped his head back in immediately, and a disrupter beam hit the top of the tunnel mouth, blasting debris from the stone ceiling. David was caught off-balance and fell heavily to the floor, pulling Kit down with him. They lay together on the stone floor, breathing heavily. Kit fired his gun blindly out the passage mouth, to discourage anyone from coming in after them. He looked for David's gun, and found he didn't have one.
    "David," he said urgently. "Where's your gun?"
    "I gave it to Alice, just before we crashed. She's still got it." David spit blood onto the floor, and pulled a face. "Kit, I just tried to boost, and nothing