Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

done it for anyone else, but Brett… was different. She patted him tentatively on the shoulder, and even rocked him a little. "You stick close to me, Brett. As long as you're with me, you'll be fine."
    His tears dried away into sniffles, and she got him back on his feet again. She tugged at his clothes here and there, trying to tidy him up, and then gave it up as a bad job. Brett had a hard time looking presentable even under the best of circumstances. She led him back to the others, who were politely pleased to see he was all right. No one said anything about his running off and leaving them. This was Brett, after all.
    "Interesting new smell you've brought back with you," said Jesamine. "If it was any stronger you'd have to have it on a leash."
    Brett ignored her, looking glumly about him at the watching monsters. "Am I to assume we're all chums now? And they don't mind about all their fellow nasties we blew up, shot the shit out of, and generally sliced to pieces?"
    "This is Shandrakor," said the albino. "Everything dies here."
    "I want to go home," said Brett.
    Everyone took turns to explain the situation to him, and then again more slowly when he refused to believe it, and then finally they all set off towards whatever monsters considered a city. They made fairly quick progress through the jungle, the larger creatures going on ahead to spread the word and break open new trail where necessary. The four humans huddled together, followed by Saturday, and tried not to react to the growing number of creatures surrounding them. Word— or something very like it—passed rapidly through the monster population, and it seemed like every living thing in the jungle had come to witness the arrival of the prophecied Deathstalker. Jesamine tried to make a joke about whether they were inviting the humans to dinner, or to be dinner, but was so nervous she messed up the punchline and quickly fell silent again. Rose was practically holding Brett up as they walked together. Lewis made a point of talking with the albino monster, trying to draw him out about Shandrakor's more recent history.
    "We were abandoned here," said the albino, looking straight ahead as he talked. "We were an embarrassment to an Empire that had rescued us but couldn't cure us, and then couldn't bear to look at us. We were left here to live or die; they didn't care which. Perhaps they were counting on the native monsters to finish us off, when they didn't have the guts to do it themselves. But we survived. The native creatures were no match for us. We were smarter than they were, even if we weren't all that we used to be. We understood the value of working together, of setting traps and ambushes. It occupied us; gave us something to do. It wasn't long before we dominated the native creatures, and began interbreeding with them. Don't look so shocked, Deathstalker. We have human thoughts, but inhuman appetites and instincts. That is part of our torture. It has been hard to hang on to our humanity down the years… to our memories, and our souls.
    "At first, many of us were uncertain whether we even wished to survive; that perhaps the only comfort left to us was to be found in death. Some defied their instincts, to sit quietly and starve themselves to death. But then Shub intervened. They sent emissaries, the steel robots. Many of us destroyed the robots on sight, remembering Shub only as the enemies of Humanity, and our tormentors. But they persisted, and finally we listened to what they had to say. It took us a long time to really believe they had changed and seriously wished to make amends, even if they couldn't undo what they had done to us. They gave us their creed, their own new belief, that All that lives is holy. Even monsters like us. And they gave us a prophecy, that someday a Deathstalker would come to us, and that would be the beginning of the end of our suffering. A Deathstalker would set us free. That was long ago, and many times we have thought that Shub just told us that to give us hope, to keep us going… but here you are. Searching as Owen did, for the Last Standing of your ancestors. For the ancient castle wherein miracles are born."
    Lewis said nothing. He didn't want to be a disappointment to the monsters. He had a strong feeling that might not be safe.
    And finally they came to the city the monsters had made for themselves. Lewis and the others could smell it long before they could see it, but even the appalling stench did nothing to