Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

and spent a lot of time thinking about his image. He had poise and elegance, and in any room everyone's eyes would go to him first. It was a cold, calculated charisma, but no less affecting for that.
    People tended to like Finn on sight but became more than a little uneasy the longer they spent in his presence. He could be devilishly charming, but unless it was a paid public engagement, mostly he just couldn't be bothered.
    At fifty-two Finn Durandal was the oldest, longest-serving Paragon since the Circle began. People felt
    safer all across the Empire knowing Finn was still out there standing between them and the bad guys. Of course, most of those people had never met him. Finn had a thin-lipped smile, calm gray eyes, and his holo hung on the bedroom wall of many an impressionable teenager. His website was the biggest and most heavily subscribed of all the Paragons, he had his own fan club, and a series of nicely calculated licensing deals had made him very rich. He could retire any time he wanted, but everyone knew he wouldn't. Action and adventure were his meat and drink, and he'd never been known to back away from any danger, any odds. He was the greatest Paragon there'd ever been.
    (It said so on his website, so it must be true.)
    He was the best at everything he did, because he wouldn't settle for anything less. It helped that he had the best weapons, the best trainers, and the best muscles and reflexes that money could buy. Finn left absolutely nothing to chance.
    "Immaculately turned out, as always, Finn," said Douglas. "I can practically see my face in your breastplate. Why can't you look more like him, Lewis?"
    "Because I can't afford a butler," said Lewis. "Hell, I'm lucky if I remember to shine my shoes in the morning."
    "You're just jealous of my magnificence," said Finn. "Puny mortal."
    "I prefer modesty," said Lewis.
    "And you have so much to be modest about," said Finn.
    "Girls, girls . . ." said Douglas.
    "Unfortunately," said Finn, "we don't have time for banter right now. I m sorry to snatch your associate away, Douglas, but I'm here on official Paragon business. We're needed, Lewis. An emergency has broken out at the Arenas."
    "Oh, wonderful," said Douglas. "Marvelous bloody timing. What is it; one of their imported killer aliens broken loose again? I told them they were asking for trouble, bringing those monsters in from Shandrakor."
    "The Arena's got tanglefields and sleepgas," said Lewis. "Let Arena security deal with it."
    "It's not that simple," said Finn. "It's the ELFs."
    "Oh slit" said Lewis. "I'll have to go, Douglas."
    "Of course you do," said Douglas. "Why now, of all times?"
    "I doubt it's a coincidence," Finn said calmly. "More likely they're looking to get in one last atrocity before the majority of the Circle arrive and the ELFs are forced to go underground with the rest of the rats. And perhaps; as a gesture to you, Douglas, to show you they're not impressed or intimidated by a Paragon becoming King."
    "For two pins, I'd go with you," said Douglas. "Hell, I'm still officially a Paragon till the Crown hits my head. Dammit, I am going with you! Come on; we'll teach the ELFs one last lesson they won't forget!"
    "You're not going anywhere!" snapped a cold, commanding voice, and all three Paragons looked sharply round, and then bowed formally as King William slowly descended the steps from the Throne. He nodded to Finn and Lewis and then glared at Douglas, who glared right back, his hands knotted into fists at his sides. William met his son's gaze steadily, and in the end, it was Douglas who looked away first.
    "I know," he said sourly. "More rehearsals. More ceremony and protocol."
    "You're not a Paragon anymore," King William said, not unkindly. "That part of your life is over. Let the Deathstalker and the Durandal handle it. They know what they're doing."
    "Don't worry, Douglas," said Finn. "It's only a bunch of ELFs, after all."
    He nodded briskly to Lewis, and the two of them strode quickly away, heading out of the Court and into danger and excitement, their backs straight and their heads held high. They were going out to face some of the most dangerous creatures currently threatening Humanity, to face horror and suffering and sudden death, but they didn't hesitate. They might have been going to a party, they were so casual about it. They were Paragons.
    And Douglas would have given everything he owned to be going with them.
    "Wipe that look off your face, young man," said King