Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

still with them and looked around with open mouths. Toby realized who was standing before him, and where he was, and gestured urgently for Flynn to start filming.
    "What the hell are you doing here?" said Hazel, not all that welcomingly.
    "The Mater Mundi wanted us here," said Jenny Psycho. "Any problems, take it up with her. Apparently she wants the downfall of the Empress shown live throughout the Empire. Why she wants me here as well… isn't yet clear to me. No doubt I'll find out shortly. So, bring me up to date. What lies between us and the Court?"
    "Well, basically, these doors," said Owen. "Personally, I thought there'd be more security than this."
    He broke off and they all looked round as they heard the sound of approaching running feet. There seemed to be a hell of a lot of them. Those who had them drew swords and guns. Jenny gathered her power around her till it crackled on the air. Flynn sent his camera up to the ceiling, made sure it was pointing in the right direction, and then moved quickly to join Toby in hiding behind the others. He'd barely made it when a small army of Lionstone's personal guards came charging into the antechamber, armed with drawn swords and personal force shields. Owen took a firm grip on his sword. There had to be at least two hundred of them. Hazel glared at him.
    "You had to open your big mouth."
    "Surrender!" yelled the officer in charge of the guards. "You're massively outnumbered. You don't stand a chance."
    Owen grinned at Giles. "He doesn't know us very well, does he?"

    "Finish them quickly," said Giles. "Lionstone could be trying to distract us while she makes her escape."
    "Can I just point out, in an extremely nonthreatening way, that Flynn and I are very definitely noncombatants," said Toby, from the rear.
    "Kill them all," snapped the guard officer, and led the way forward.
    Jenny Psycho levitated into the air, spread her arms wide, and lightning blazed from her hands, striking down the first dozen guards. Hazel d'Ark shimmered, and suddenly there were a dozen of her. Hazels that might have been from other timestreams, all of them grinning nastily at the prospect of battle. Giles teleported back and forth among the guards, striking men down and disappearing again before he could be attacked. Owen smiled and shook his head. Show-offs. He hefted his sword, boosted, and went to meet the guards with death in his eyes.
    Two men and two women went to war against an army, and the numbers were no problem to them, no problem at all.
    At first. The rebels cut their way through the guards with grim efficiency, and soon dead bodies lay everywhere, getting underfoot. The rebels killed and killed, but still the guards kept coming. Owen fought on, swinging his sword with both hands, and no one could stand against him. He was boosting, and strength and speed sang in his arms, but for every guard that fell, it seemed there were two more pressing forward to take his place. They swarmed around him, coming at him from all directions, and soon there wasn't enough room to swing his sword anymore, and all he could do was cut and stab. Backed by his boosted strength and speed, such blows were still devastating and deadly, but with enemies at his back as well as his front he couldn't relax for a moment. He fought on, spinning this way and that, holding his enemies at bay, knowing that if slowed down or hesitated even for a moment, he was a dead man.

    Quick glances around suggested his friends weren't doing any better. The Hazels had become separated, scattered the length of the antechamber, but still fighting furiously. Owen had to smile. It seemed that whatever reality the various Hazels came from, she was always a hell of a scrapper. One of the Hazels was forced back in his direction, and Owen was glad to see it was the original.
    They moved quickly to fight back-to-back, and Owen was happy to have her there.
    They'd always made an excellent team.
    He could see Giles fighting some distance away, roaring his ancient battle cries and bringing his huge long sword down like a hammer, guards surrounding him like attack dogs struggling to bring down a bear. He'd had to stop teleporting. There wasn't enough space left among the fighters for him to teleport into. It seemed to Owen that there were even more guards now than when they'd started, for all the dead bodies cluttering up the floor. They must be bringing in reinforcements. The cheats. Jenny Psycho was still hanging in the air, wreathed