Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

might yet be convinced to fight beside her.
    She reached out with her altered, expanded mind, in directions only she could sense, sending out a call for help that only minds like hers could hear, let alone respond to. To confuse and confound the searching Mater Mundi, Diana sent her mind shooting up and out of her body, up past the bloody sands of the Arenas, up and beyond the Parade of the Endless, until finally Golgotha itself lay turning slowly beneath her. The world looked very vulnerable, all alone in the dark. Some way off in the distance, but drawing slowly closer all the time, was the Recreated. A great howling black hole, trying to suck her thoughts and her soul into its awful inhuman self. But it was still too far away to be able to compel her, and Diana turned her mental back on it, secure behind her shields. She called out again, need and desperation giving strength and urgency to her appeal for help.
    To her great surprise, the first response came from a dead man.
    Hi, said Owen Deathstalker. What's up?
    You're supposed to be dead! said Diana, too startled to be polite. No one's been able to contact you, or find any trace of you, for ages.
    Sorry to disappoint you, said Hazel d'Ark, dryly, but we've been kind of busy.
    The mind boggles at what, said Diana.
    We've just finished wiping out the Blood Runners, said Owen. They'd used a rather unusual power source to create their own subspace dimension; a private little reality of their own where they could concentrate on torture and murder undisturbed. But I found a way in. Now the subspace, the homeworld, and the Blood Runners no longer exist.
    We kicked their ass, said Hazel.
    Well, thank the good God you're back, said Diana, because I've got an enemy here that could seriously use a good kicking, and I can't do it alone.
    Hold everything, said Owen. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we have our own mission now we're back, and we can't afford to be distracted. We have to go back into the Darkvoid. Back to the Wolfling World. Something's happening there, something bad. Something only we can deal with.
    Whatever it is, it can wait, said Diana firmly. A lot's happened while you were…
    out of touch. Most of it really bad.
    Department of absolutely no surprise there, said Hazel. We take our eye off the ball for five minutes, and everything goes to hell.
    What's happened about the Royal Wedding? said Owen suddenly. I mean, if everyone thinks I'm dead…
    It's still going ahead, said Diana. Only Constance is marrying Robert Campbell
    instead.
    Ah, said Owen, after a pause. All for the best, really, I suppose. The Campbell's a good man. Probably make a much better constitutional monarch too. I never wanted to be Emperor.
    How does Constance feel about all this? said Hazel.
    Oh, it's a love match this time, said Diana. It's really very sweet. But can we not be distracted, please? The whole existence of Humanity is under threat.
    You've got to come back.
    She broadcast compressed telepathic images of all that had been happening during Owen and Hazel's absence. The great golden ships of the Hadenmen, blasting the Fleet apart, destroying cities on a hundred worlds, deploying armies of golden-eyed merciless killers, to destroy or remake Humanity in their own logical image. The huge Shub ships sailing out of the Forbidden Sector in endless numbers, taking planet after planet with their armies of Furies and Ghost Warriors and Grendel aliens. The Recreated, and their vast insane ships, moving steadily toward the homeworld Golgotha. The nano plague, spreading slowly but unstoppably from world to world, melting down all living tissue. Jack Random executing his enemies on Loki, and then returning to Golgotha to murder more people there, before going on the run with Ruby Journey in hot pursuit, sworn to kill him. And finally, the awful truth about the actual nature of the Mater Mundi.
    Damn, said Owen. I can't believe Jack's gone rogue.
    I fought on Loki as a mercenary some time back, said Hazel. Probably beside some of the same people Jack had hanged. A bloody rebellion and a worse peace.
    I can't believe Jack just killed that many people in cold blood, said Owen.
    Oh, you can be pretty sure it wasn't cold blood, said Diana. By all accounts he
    had a really good time doing it.
    Something must have pushed him over the edge, said Owen tiredly. Jack was a good man. A hero. He must have lost his mind…
    And a madman with your powers and abilities could do a hell of a lot of