Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

missed him until much later. They were too busy doing what they did best—surviving against impossible odds and killing everything within reach. The dead piled up around them, the blood-streaked skin of the fallen rebels lying next to the gray flesh of fallen Ghost Warriors. And Random and Ruby never even noticed that gradually, foot by foot, they were being separated from the main body of the fighting.
    It took little more than an hour for the human forces on both sides to pretty much wipe each other out.
    They never even noticed that the Shub forces had moved away, so wrapped up in their own needs they never knew the real battle for the future of Loki was being fought somewhere else. The long, narrow valley between the open plain and the city of Vidar hadn’t looked like much when the city army marched through it, but Random had recognized its strategic importance. It was the only way to reach Vidar that didn’t involve a days-long detour. If the Ghost Warriors were to reach Vidar while the lull still held, they had to pass through that valley. So when Random and Ruby finally realized how far they’d been herded from the rest of their army, they wasted no time in cutting their way out of the surrounding Ghost Warriors and ran like hell for the valley. All that remained was for them to defend the one strategic location that actually meant something. They soon outdistanced their pursuers and took up a position guarding the entrance to the narrow valley.
    It was over a mile long but barely twenty feet wide, narrowing to ten at the entrance. Which meant two people could hold off an army. For a time, Random and Ruby stood together, leaning wearily on each other while they got their breath back. They’d had to cover a long distance at a dead run, and even more than human legs and lungs had their limits. And the fighting itself had been long and hard, with Random and Ruby having to operate at the very limits of their strength and speed. After a while their breathing slowed and their hearts no longer hammered quite so frantically in their breasts, and they were able to stand alone. They looked out at the army of walking corpses gathering in the open plain, and swore more or less in unison. There were almost a thousand Ghost Warriors, with swords and guns and a complete readiness to be destroyed if that was what it took to bring the enemy down.
    “Can’t say I like the odds,” said Jack Random. “A thousand to two is just a little worrying.”
    “We’ve faced worse,” said Ruby Journey.
    Random looked at her. “If we have, I must have missed it. A thousand Ghost Warriors would cause even Owen Deathstalker to have doubts. However, they have to come at us from the front, so that means only a handful can reach us at a time. If we pace ourselves, we might just outlast the bastards.”
    “Unless they figure out some way to sneak up on us from behind. Or come down the sides of the valley.”
    Random looked back into the valley, frowning thoughtfully. “Unlikely. It would take them days to march around to the other end of the valley, and one way or another, we won’t be here that long. And the sides of those mountains are pretty near vertical. No, Ruby, they have to come straight at us. Head to head.”
    “Best way,” Ruby said briskly. “So all we have to do is hold the Ghost Warriors off until our side wins, and comes to relieve us, right?” “No,” said Random slowly. “From what I saw of the fighting, I don’t think we can count on anyone joining us. We have to assume that we’re all that stands between Vidar and Shub. If we can hold them off till the lull is over, and the storms return, then we’ll have won. The city will be safe.” “What about us?” said Ruby.
    “We made it to the city through the storms before. We can do it again.”
    “And the battle?”
    “God knows,” said Random. “Last I saw, the city army had the rebel forces on the ropes, but the real threat was always the Shub forces. And I don’t think we made much of a dent in them. And there’s something else that worries me.” “There’s always something that worries you,” Ruby said resignedly.
    “What is it this time?”
    “I haven’t seen any sign of Young Jack Random yet. He wasn’t anywhere in the battle. I would have known. So where is he, and what is he up to?” “Damn, you’re right. That is worrying.”
    “If you don’t like that one, you’ll love this. Why aren’t the Ghost Warriors