Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

Get the hell out of here, Lewis! They'll kill you!"
    "I will come back for you! Whatever it takes!"
    Half a dozen energy beams seared through the air before the Throne, but Lewis was no longer there.
    The energy beams went on to blow ragged holes in the floor. Douglas leaped to his feet to yell at the guards.
    "Take him down with swords, dammit! Swords! Get down here and earn your pay! He's only one man!"
    But that one man was the Deathstalker. Some of the guards and security men started to make their way forwards, but none of them were hurrying, all of them ready to let some other poor fool have the honor of tackling Lewis Deathstalker. After all, it wasn't as if he was going anywhere. All the exits to the House had been blocked and sealed. Finn Durandal had seen to that, with a little help from Anne Barclay. Lewis had realized that too; but he had other plans. He was looking at the floor of the House. Not all that long ago, Lewis had foiled an attempt to kill the King, by a Neuman suicide bomber. The transmutation bomb had gone off right here, reducing the bomber to protoplasmic ooze, and severely damaging the structure of the floor. It was supposed to have been repaired long ago, but Lewis happened to know that a backlog of work (and an ongoing argument in the House as to who exactly was going to pay for all this work) had meant the real repair work had yet to be done. The workmen had just covered the damaged area with a temporary new surface. Lewis knew all this because it was one of the things the King had ordered him to look into, back when Douglas was still keeping him busy with makework.
    Lewis aimed Finn's gun at just the right spot, ignoring the shakily aimed energy beams still blazing past him, and opened fire on full intensity. The weakened section of floor blew apart with a satisfyingly large explosion, and a whole section crumpled and fell inwards, leaving a gaping hole nearly ten feet in diameter. Lewis jumped into it without hesitating, just as a dozen energy beams whipped through the air where he'd been standing. It was a relatively short drop into the service tunnels below, and he landed easily. A quick glance around to get his bearings, and then he was off and running. He knew every inch of the House he'd sworn to protect.
    Guards and security men crouched around the edges of the great hole, and peered dubiously down into it. Absolutely nobody was keen to follow the Deathstalker into unknown territory. Particularly not when he could be waiting for them anywhere ... Finn pushed his way through the guards, limping heavily and with one arm protectively cradling his smashed ribs. His face was white with pain and fury, but his features were still carefully composed. He glared into the hole, and then turned his glare on the guards.
    "Get down into that hole, right now, or I swear I'll shoot you myself."
    No one there doubted he meant it. The guards looked at each other, sighed heavily, and then one by one they slowly and very cautiously dropped through the hole into the tunnels below, guns at the ready. But of course by then the Deathstalker was long gone, losing himself expertly in the intricate warren of service and maintenance tunnels under the House that were a mystery to all. Except those few unfortunates who used them on a regular basis and those who knew of them because it was their business to know such things. Finn knew the tunnels too; but he wasn't stupid enough to go after a maddened, avenging Deathstalker. At least, not until he'd spent some time in a regeneration machine, and afterwards armed
    himself with every weapon under the sun.
    King Douglas sank slowly back into his Throne again, glaring down at the confusion on the floor before him. He knew Lewis would have made his escape by now. None of these people here were fast enough or smart enough to catch the Deathstalker. By the time they'd finished checking out the tunnels foot by foot, Lewis would have left the House. Free as a bird. Douglas wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wanted Lewis tried and punished for what he'd done, if only for being such a disappointment; but he didn't want him killed. You couldn't kill someone just for falling in love with the wrong woman. The rest of the charges had to be lies or misunderstandings. Had to be. Douglas sighed heavily. He couldn't be that wrong about a man he'd known for so many years. He just couldn't be. At least he still had Finn . . .
    Lewis wouldn't be back, no matter what he'd said.