Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

blood on the forest air, but Owen had already swung his blade in a long, double-handed arc with all his strength behind it. The keen edge of the blade sheared clean through the Wolfling's narrow neck, and the long lupine head went flying from the broad shoulders.
    Owen and the Wolfling both fell to their knees. Owen clutched tightly at his side, gasping with pain, blood pulsing thickly between his fingers. He thought he could feel broken ribs. The headless body of the Wolfling knelt beside him, blood spouting up from the severed neck, its arms reaching blindly out in search of the separated head. It lay some distance away. The eyes still moved, fixed on the hands as they edged closer. Hazel stepped quickly forward and kicked the head out of reach. The jaws snapped at her boot and the eyes rolled furiously.
    Owen closed his eyes, ignoring the pain in his side to concentrate. He reached out to the Madness Maze with his thoughts, and felt it acknowledge him, like a slumbering giant slowly waking at the sound of a familiar voice. Owen concentrated his mind on a single thought.
    For God's sake; let the poor bastard die.
    The headless body fell forward onto the green and red grass, and slowly stilled, the hands twitching, as though still searching for an enemy to crush. The severed head's jaws gaped wide in one last soundless cry of rage or pain or perhaps just relief, and then it too was still, its eyes mercifully empty. The blood finally stopped pulsing from the body's severed neck, and the Wolfling was finally dead.
    Silence and Hazel helped Owen to his feet, as Carrion came running back, power lance in hand, looking just a little embarrassed. Owen put his sword away as Hazel checked the wound in his side, and pressed a folded cloth against it.
    "Nasty, but not immediately life-threatening. You'll heal, Owen."
    "Of course," said Owen, just a little breathlessly. "I always do."
    "He wanted to die," said Silence. "To join the last of his kind."
    "Oh sure," said Owen. "But he would have taken me with him, if he could.
    Luckily, I convinced the Maze to let him go. I don't think the Maze needs a guardian anymore. Presumably its long scheme is nearly over, and we're approaching the endgame."
    Hazel shuddered suddenly. "Scary thought. If the Wolfling was telling the truth, it could be all our lives have been led and manipulated, just to bring us here.
    To this place, at this time. To carry out its endgame."
    Carrion shook his head uneasily. "Nothing's that powerful."
    "With the Maze, who knows what's possible," said Owen, straightening up cautiously, ignoring the pain in his side. "It doesn't have human limitations."
    "Right," said Hazel. "It could do anything to you, once it had you inside it, again. I don't think you should do this after all, Owen."
    "I doubt it'll kill me, after all we've been through to get here."
    "Maybe not. But it could change you again. Make you more… alien. Like itself.
    We've already come a hell of a long way from the rest of Humanity, Owen. If you go in again, there's no telling what might walk out the other end. We've come so far together, Owen; I don't want to lose you now."
    "As with so many times before, I don't really have a choice," said Owen. "Not just because of the Recreated, but because of the baby at the heart of the Maze.
    Wulf said he was waking up. I have to reach him before that happens. God alone knows what he might do, if he wakes alone and scared. Or angry. Someone has to be there, to supply comfort and guidance. And who else would he accept, but another Deathstalker?"
    "It could just kill you with a thought," said Silence.
    "Yes, I suppose he could. But I don't believe the Maze brought me all this way, just to let the baby kill me at the last step. I have to believe there's some purpose to my being here."
    "You don't have to do this, Owen," said Hazel.
    The Deathstalker smiled. "Yes, I do. I've always known my duty. Hazel."
    "If you're going in, I'm going in too," Silence said suddenly. "If… something were to go wrong, in the Maze, and you don't make it out, the Empire's still going to need someone to save the day."
    "You just want to get your hands on the Device," said Hazel sharply. "You still think you could use it as a weapon against the Recreated. You're an idiot, Silence. Haven't you listened to anything we've told you? You'd destroy Humanity while trying to save it."
    "I listened," said Silence. "The Maze could give me the power to control the baby. Or destroy it, as