Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

more you could possibly wish for?"
    A ten-minute start, thought Brett, but had enough sense not to say it out loud. "I know you," he said carefully. "Hell, everyone on Logres knows about you. Why would the great and legendary hero Finn Durandal suddenly decide to go bad?"
    Finn shrugged easily. "Perhaps because it's the only thing I haven't tried yet."
    "But why me?" Brett said plaintively.
    "A coincidence, at first," said Finn. "You gave yourself away at Court, you know. You were far too good at your job. Most real waiters have a certain sullen evasiveness; never there when you want them.
    And once I looked carefully, I spotted the camera eye straightaway. I was going to let Court Security deal with you after the Ceremony, rather than spoil the atmosphere, but afterwards . . . Once I had my computers run a check on your background, I realized you were perfect for my needs. You know people, Brett. You have contacts in all sorts of dark and unsavory places. People who wouldn't talk to me will talk to you. We were meant to meet, you and I. You are a part or my destiny.
    Crazy, Brett thought resignedly. All flat goodness and heroics finally sent him over the edge, and he flipped. But; just because he's loopy, it doesn't mean he can't deliver all the things he says he can , . .
    "All right," he said. "I'm your man. Are you really serious, about bringing down the whole Empire?"
    "Deadly serious," said Finn, smiling again. Brett really wished he wouldn't. It was a distinctly disturbing smile. "And when the Empire is in ruins, the King disgraced and deposed, and the people are on their knees begging for a savior; they'll come to me to save them. And I will! I'll raise them up and make the Empire great and glorious again. In my own image, and according to my own needs, naturally. And then everyone will finally know that I am the better man!"
    Yeah, thought Brett. You get my vote for loony of the year.
    "Question?" he said. "How are you, even with my very experienced help, going to bring down hundreds of civilized worlds?"
    "By setting them at each others throats," said Finn Durandal. He glared suddenly at Brett. "Once you're all shining clean again, and somewhat easier on the nostrils, you don't leave my side. We're partners.
    Guess which of us is the junior? Got it in one. And don't sulk like that, or I'll hurt you."
    "Some days things wouldn't go right if you bribed them," said Brett, pouting. "All right, senior partner; where are we going first?"
    "Shopping," Finn said brightly. "You will accompany me as I gather together the rest of the people who are going to assist me in my glorious cause. Even if they don't know it yet."
    "What sort of people are we talking about here?" Brett said cautiously. "The Shadow Court, the Hellfire Club?"
    "No," said Finn. "Or at least, not yet. They're buried so deep even I'd have trouble finding the right stone to look under. And they are, after all, the kind of people it's best to deal with from a position of strength.
    When the time is right, when they've seen what I can do, they'll come to me . . . No, Brett; to start with I thought we'd pay a pleasant little social call on the Wild Rose of the Arenas." "Oh shit" Brett said miserably.
    King Douglas crossed the floor of the House to a fanfare of prerecorded trumpets, and took his Seat with quiet dignity. His Kingly robes had been pressed and arranged to within an inch of their life, and the great Crown of Empire set on his noble brow shone brilliantly in the restrained lighting. He sat on the golden Throne as though he belonged there, and always had. The Members of Parliament had more self-discipline than to show how impressed they were, but still most of them bowed their heads to their King with more than simple duty. Jesamine Flowers stood at the King's left hand, every inch as regal as her husband-to-be, and the Deathstalker stood proudly on his right, a dramatic figure in black leather armor who seemed the very embodiment of safeguard and justice. The media cameras broadcast it all live, and all across the Empire, on hundreds of worlds, human hearts swelled with pride. This was what they paid their taxes for. The power and the glory, and the pageantry of it all.
    And then the business of Parliament began, and it all fell apart.
    Because the first order of the day was aliens. To be exact, the place of aliens in what was still predominantly a human Empire. Officially, the 132 declared sentient species were equal partners in the Empire,