Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

isn't right that you should have been just left here, and abandoned.
    Do you believe me?"
    "Of course," said the creature. "You're a Deathstalker."
    It crawled away backwards to rejoin its own kind. Lewis got to his feet again, and Jesamine grabbed him firmly by the arm.
    "What do you think you're doing?" she said urgently. "You really think you can take these… beings back to Logres? Or any civilized world?"
    "Right," said Brett, coming forwards to peer nervously past Jesamine's shoulder. "At best, those poor bastards would end up in the Imperial Zoo."
    "There's always the Arena," said Rose.
    "Shut up, Rose," said Brett.
    "If even Shub couldn't help them, what can we do?" said Jesamine.
    "We can do our best to make amends," Lewis said firmly. "This isn't right. They didn't ask to be made into monsters. Anyway, Logres has embraced so many monsters recently, a few more shouldn't bother them. And maybe, just maybe… if we do eventually go to Haden, and enter the Madness Maze, and some of us emerge changed like Owen… He restored the Recreated, made them human again.
    Maybe we can do the same, here. But whatever happens, I won't allow this to continue. We have a responsibility to these people, to the last victims of the old war. Owen would never have stood for this, and I won't either."
    "Brett?" said Jesamine. "What's the matter now?"
    Brett had been remembering the Spider Harps, in their stone vault deep under the Imperial Zoo. He felt very strongly that there'd been far too many monsters in his life of late. He was hot and sweaty and tired and he needed to sit down. He glowered sullenly at Lewis. "I think all this prophecy shit has gone to your head, Deathstalker. We're just a bunch of outlaws on the run. We can't even help ourselves. We've no right to promise anything to anyone."
    "Shut up, Brett," said Jesamine. "God, you're a depressing bastard. And about as much use as a
    one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest."
    "Leave him alone," said Rose. "He's doing his best."
    "Now that is a depressing thought," said Jesamine.
    "Excuse me," said Saturday, looming over them suddenly and interrupting something that had all the makings for a really disagreeable row. "Do you mind if I leave you for a while? I've just met this really charming almost-reptiloid lady, so I'm off to get laid. Why are you all looking at me like that?"
    "We were all just nearly killed!" said Brett. "How can you think of sex at a time like this?"
    "Best time," Saturday said briskly. "Nothing like a little gratuitous slaughter to get the juices running. You see that creature over there, with the long tail and the golden scales? She was one of the ones who first attacked us. Isn't she delightful? Just look at the size of her foreclaws."
    "Are you sure that's a female?" Jesamine said dubiously. "I mean, I don't see any… well, anything, really."
    "Oh, yes," said Saturday. "You should smell her pheromones. I can't wait to lick the blood off her scales.
    I'm off. See you all later. Try not to get into any trouble without me."
    And off he went, swinging his long barbed tail provocatively behind him. The four humans looked at each other.
    "Just when you think things can't get any more disgusting," said Brett.
    "I'd tell him to take precautions," said Jesamine. "But I hate to think what that might involve where he's concerned."
    "You know, if we had a camera…" Brett said thoughtfully.
    "Don't even go there," said Lewis. He turned back to the albino creature, determined to change the subject. "We came here in search of my ancestors' castle, the Last Standing. It was suppposed to have crash-landed somewhere near here. Do you have any idea where we should look for it?"
    "Of course," said the albino. "It is a holy place to us. One of us will guide you there."
    He gestured at the respectfully watching crowd, and one of them came forward to join Lewis and his companions. The four humans moved to stand even closer together. This particular creature had clearly started out human. The withered, atrophied remains of a human torso hung bobbing between eight large, hairy spider legs. The torso's arms and legs had been crudely removed, and the hairless cranium of the human head had been unnaturally swollen to hold six crimson eyes. The mouth had been stretched wide by twitching bony mandibles. The creature stalked across the open ground to halt, swaying, before Lewis, and just the way the many-jointed legs moved made all the humans cringe instinctively. Brett hid