Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

dare!" said Chantelle, almost spitting at him in her fury. "I'm Blue Block! You don't dare hurt me!"
    "I'm Kid Death, and I don't give a damn. Release him."
    "Never!"
    "Very well," said Kid Death, and cut her throat with one swift sweep of his sword.
    Blood flew from Chantelle's shocked mouth, as she clapped both hands to the awful wound at her throat, as though she could somehow hold the edges together.
    She made horrible sounds as the strength went out of her along with the spraying blood, and she slumped slowly to the floor, her back still pressed against the
    wall. Kid Death turned to face Brendan, blood still dripping from his sword.
    Robert was slowly getting to his feet, sword in hand.
    "Release him from the control words," said the SummerIsle calmly. "Or I'll kill you, Cardinal."
    "All right, damn you! All right! Robert; Code Omega Three. Shut down! Shut down!"
    Robert's personality slammed back into his face as his will became his own again, and he stopped advancing on Kid Death. He shuddered uncontrollably for a moment, and then slowly put his sword away. Cardinal Brendan knelt down beside the convulsing Chantelle, and took her in his arms. She fought him for a moment, lost in her own pain and horror, but as the last of her strength went out of her, she finally recognized him, and tried to say something. But all that came out of her mouth was a bloody froth, and she died before she could make him understand. Brendan hugged her dead body to him, his face wet with tears, her blood soaking into his official robes. Robert clapped the SummerIsle on the shoulder, and looked down at Brendan.
    "It's over, Cardinal," said Robert. "You'll be arrested for treason, the moment the ceremony's over."
    "You think I care about that?" said Brendan, looking up at last, his tearstained face full of loss and bitterness. "Nothing matters now. Nothing. You haven't just killed a woman. You've killed Blue Block itself. She was Blue Block. Just her."
    "What are you saying?" said Robert. "How could one woman run something as huge and wide-ranging as Blue Block?"
    "Because it isn't. Oh, it might have been once, long ago, but by the time Chantelle inherited control, Blue Block's glory days were long gone. What
    organization there was, was mostly just mists and shadows. All it needed was a hint here, a rumor there, and sinister-sounding names like the Red Church and the Black College… and people's imagination did the rest. There are only about forty people left who actually do anything these days. Mostly they just implant conditioning in others, so they can be used as necessary, to foster the illusion and intimidate the Families they were taken from."
    Robert and Kit SummerIsle looked at each other, and then at Brendan. "And the Hundred Hands?" said Robert.
    "Oh, they're real enough. They were Chantelle's idea. Put them together a few at a time, wait until there were enough of them to frighten the Clans, and then use them to pressure the Families into accepting the deal she made with Jack Random.
    And once the Clans had got used to taking orders… Just mists and shadows. And thoroughly conditioned public faces like BB Chojiro. People saw what they expected to see, and believed in the myth we so carefully propagated. Chantelle ran everything, from the shadows, unsuspected, hidden in plain sight. Just her."
    "So… who started Blue Block?" said Kit SummerIsle. "Back when it really was something?"
    "Giles Deathstalker. He set it all up before he went on the run in his Last Standing. His last revenge against his Emperor. A hidden force to strengthen the position of the Clans, and then control them; an organization he could make use of, when he finally returned from stasis. But he slept so much longer than he intended, and down the centuries Blue Block rotted away from within. The Deathstalker must have been very disappointed when he found what had happened to his wonderful cabal. But he did make Blue Block possible. It was the old Empire tech they preserved that made such perfect mental conditioning possible."
    "And who would ever suspect a social butterfly like Chantelle?" said Robert.
    "But of course she went everywhere, heard everything, knew everybody's secrets.
    Who better to run a secret society based on bluff and blackmail?"
    "And now she's gone," said Brendan. "And Blue Block dies with her. She was the only one who knew everything, all the code names and implanted control words."
    "Good riddance," said Kit SummerIsle, watching