Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

when we have to fight our way through Valentine’s private army at the other end.” Hazel snorted. “Overwhelming odds I can handle. I’m used to that. Now, shut up and open the damned door. You can do that, can’t you?” “I’m working on it.”
    Owen studied the force field thoughtfully, and an idea came to him. He accessed his AI.
    “Oz, do you still have the command overrides for the Standing?” “Of course. I have override codes for every system in the castle, and every system linked into those systems since we left. Unless David or Valentine and his people have changed them.”
    “Not likely. David wouldn’t have bothered, and Valentine hasn’t had time. Try it, Oz. Isolate this system, shut down this cave’s force field, and then raise it again after we’re in. Without setting off any alarms.” The AI sniffed. “You don’t want much, do you? It’s lucky for you that I’m such a superior model. But before I work my usual miracles, can I just point out that I have no control over the refrigeration units Valentine has installed in these caves. They’re an entirely separate system that I have no access to. The temperature in the cave you propose to enter, it’s not actually zero, but it’s as close as you’re ever likely to encounter, short of opening an airlock and stepping out into deep space. Though I wouldn’t put that past you either. I’ve known depressed lemmings on window ledges with better survival instincts than you. Suffice to say that any normal human entering this cave would freeze to death extremely quickly. Assuming the shock didn’t get him first.” “Hazel and I aren’t normal, Oz. We haven’t been for a long time. Open the cave.” There was a sudden snap of energies cancelling out, and the force field was gone. Freezing air rushed out from the cave, steaming thickly into the cavern like a thick fog.
    The bitter cold hit Owen and Hazel like a blow, and they flinched back from it despite themselves. They shuddered violently and held on to each other for support. There was no smell, no stench of death or decay. It was too cold for that.
    Owen and Hazel moved reluctantly forward, the cold air searing their lungs painfully as they breathed it.
    The nearest body was a woman, dressed in torn peasant’s clothing, charred and blackened around the energy-weapon wounds that had killed her. Her face was a mess. Half of it was missing. Owen reached out a hand toward her and then hesitated. His hand was trembling, and not from the cold.
    “If she’s as cold as I think she is, you could get frostbite just by touching her,” said Hazel.
    “Not to worry,” said Owen. “I used to know a lot of women like that at Court.” He shook his head slowly. “I thought I’d seen everything. Thought I’d seen so much death and suffering that this wouldn’t mean anything to me. But I was wrong.”
    “When you stop feeling anything,” said Hazel, “it’ll mean part of you has died too. The human part. But
    as bad as you feel, you’re still going to do this, aren’t you?”
    “Of course. It’s necessary. He murdered my world.”
    Owen drew his disrupter, aimed it at the packed bodies before him, and fired. The energy beam tore a path through the frozen dead, creating a tunnel into the mass of bodies some three feet wide. It looked like some monstrous worm or maggot had eaten its way through the dead on its way to some unknown, awful destination. Owen put away his disrupter and turned to Hazel. “We’ll move through the tunnel for as far as it goes, and then you’ll have to pull bodies in behind us to cover our tracks. The extra space I’ve created will give us room to maneuver at the end of the tunnel.” Hazel looked at him for a moment.
    “Nothing’s going to stop you, is it, Deathstalker?”
    “No. I know this is difficult for you, Hazel, but… I need you. Do it for me.”
    “All right. For you. But you’re going to owe me one hell of a favor afterward.” She scowled at the tunnel. “It’s going to be dark, once we’re… inside the mass of bodies. How will we know where we’re going?” “I know where the hidden door is,” said Owen. “I can feel it in my mind. All you have to do is follow me. Don’t worry. It’s not like there’s any chance of you getting lost in there. Let’s go.”
    And he turned away from her and stepped into the chamber of the dead. The utter cold cut into him like a knife, and he shuddered so hard his teeth chattered in his