Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

Ruby examined her hand. It was already covered with frost. She sniffed, untouched by the cold, and looked back at the hollow man.
    “They really emptied him out, Jack. They didn’t just take his guts; the bones are gone too. No rib cage, no sternum, even the collarbones are gone. But why send us an eviscerated dead man? Is this supposed to frighten us?” “Maybe it’s a warning of what they mean to do to us all,” said Random doubtfully. “Kill us, empty us out, and make us into Ghost Warriors. Let’s look in the other crate. Perhaps the answer’s in there.” Ruby opened the second crate, waving aside the cold air that steamed up from inside, impatient to see what the crate contained. And then she wrinkled her nose and looked at Random. “This is really disgusting.” Random leaned over the second crate. A set of human organs had been arranged neatly on the floor of the crate, pale pink and gray and covered with shining frost. Carefully laid human bones kept them separate. The heart had been wrapped in a pretty pink ribbon, tied in a bow.
    “The last time I saw anything like this, I was still a clonelegger,” said Ruby, staring in fascination at the human remains. “What the hell is the point of this?”
    “There’s another note,” said Random. “Under the heart.” He reached in and carefully slid the paper out from under the solid organ. He studied the envelope carefully.
    “Interesting. It’s addressed to us. Shub knows we’re here.”
    “Open the damned thing,” said Ruby impatiently. Inside the envelope was a single sheet of paper with a set of printed instructions on it. Random unfolded it carefully, not wanting the brittle paper to crack apart in his hands. He studied the message in silence for some moments. Ruby pushed in beside him.
    “Well? What is it? What does it say?”
    “It appears to be a set of instructions, on how to put together a human in kit form. According to this, if you put the bones and organs back in the right order, close him up, and thaw him out, the human should start functioning again.”
    “Now, that is just too sick,” said Ruby. “Even for me.”
    “Strange too,” said Random. “I never knew Shub to show a sense of humor before.” Ruby shook her
    head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Did they think this would frighten us?”
    Random shrugged. “Let’s see what the Councillors have to say.” He beckoned them over, and they returned to the crates, somewhat emboldened now that the crates hadn’t exploded after all. Then they looked inside the crates. One just made it to the door before being sick. Two others retreated to the far end of the room again and refused to come back. Bentley and de Lisle stood their ground, though visibly upset.
    “I know this man,” Bentley said finally. “He volunteered to go alone and unarmed to try to negotiate a settlement with the rebel leaders. He used to be a friend and colleague of Terrence Jacks, the ex-Mayor.
    He thought that friendship would guarantee his safety. He should have known better. I tried to warn him, but he believed some kind of deal was still possible with goodwill on both sides.” “The rebels did this?”
    said Ruby. “What the hell for?” “To send us a message,” said de Lisle. “That they’re not interested in negotiating. You can see now the nature of the foe we’re dealing with. Shub is bad enough, but the rebels here are animals. We have to keep this quiet. It mustn’t go beyond this room. Do you agree, sir Random?” “Yeah. The people don’t need to know about this. We’ll just say the crates contained severed heads from the outer settlements. That’s nasty enough to motivate them, without sickening them too much. Dispose of all this secretly. Incinerate it.”
    “I just had a thought,” said Ruby, smiling wickedly. “What if we followed the instructions and put the human together? Do you think he’d work? I mean, Shub know a lot of things. He just might get up and start functioning again.” The Councillor at the door lost what was left of his breakfast. The other Councillors looked at her with open revulsion. Random shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a road we should go down. Whatever we ended up with, you can be sure it wouldn’t be human. Burn it, de Lisle.
    Burn it all. And then scatter the ashes just in case.”
    Things were relatively quiet after that. The rebels headed for Vidar in one great force, human and Shub, destroying all settlements in their