Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

beside the dead body of his wife-to-be, with her blood on his hands.
    "Oh, my God," said Anne. "Douglas… what have you done?"
    "He's killed her!" said one of the guards. "The bastard's killed Treasure Mackenzie!"
    He started towardsDouglas , and the other guard had to restrain him. Anne moved slowly forwards, andDouglas looked up at her.
    "I had to kill her. She was Hellfire Club."
    "Of course she was,Douglas . Now please, stand up. Let them get to the body. I'll… get someone to take you somewhere else."
    "This isn't what it looks like, Anne. She tried to kill me."
    "Her? Empty-headed, harmless little Treasure Mackenzie? The woman who was going to be your wife, your Queen? Oh,Douglas …" Anne put a hand to her head, and swallowed hard. "There's no way we can cover this up,Douglas . There's nothing I can do for you. Oh, God… I should never have gone along with a second marriage. Not so soon after… By introducing her to you, I as good as killed her myself."
    "She was…"
    "I don't want to hear it,Douglas ! Oh, Jesus, I should never have left you alone for so long. I knew you were depressed, but… I never meant… Oh, hell. I'm sorry,Douglas . You've gone too far now. There's nothing I can do for you."
    More guards came crashing in through the open doorway. They had guns in their hands.Douglas stood very still. Anne put a gentle hand on his arm.
    "Go with them, Douglas. I won't let them hurt you, I promise. They'll take you somewhere safe."
    "What the hell happened here?" said one of the new guards.
    "The King has lost his mind," said Anne. "He must be placed under house arrest, under secure conditions, for his own protection. Until a trial can be arranged."
    "You have security cameras in here," saidDouglas . He tried hard to keep his voice calm and reasonable.
    "I know you, Anne. You'd have cameras here somewhere, to keep an eye on me. Make sure I wasn't plotting. Check the recordings. They'll show what really happened."
    "All the cameras were shut down," said Anne. "That's why I came here, as soon as I heard. How did you do that,Douglas ?"
    He laughed suddenly, bitterly. "She really was very thorough. Of course she wouldn't want any witnesses."
    "Take him away," said Anne. "Be firm, but don't hurt him. He's not responsible. And get that body out of here. No one is to say anything to anyone! Not until I figure out how we're going to play this. And someone go find the Durandal! He'll have to… put things in action. For the trial. And the funeral. And I'll have to tell James." She looked atDouglas almost triumphantly. "He'll have to be King now."
    "Over my dead body," saidDouglas .
    "Yes," said Anne.
    Out on the Rim, on the edge of the Empire, they picked up the Terror's herald, the awful black ship that preceded the Terror's coming, the moment it appeared in normal space again. No one saw it coming. It was just suddenly there, heading for its next target, Heracles IV It didn't look like much—just a dark, vaguely organic shape about a mile in length, heading in a straight implacable line towards the sun of its next victim. It was traveling at less than light speed, but even so Heracles IV had only a few hours in which to prepare itself.
    Heracles IV was the only inhabited planet in the system, an artificially maintained farm world producing luxury foods and wines. Normally, it didn't even have much of a security force. It had never needed one.
    But on this day, Heracles IV was the most heavily defended planet in the Empire. The outermost defensive ring was composed of thousands of sensor drones. They picked up the Terror's herald the moment it appeared in normal space again, but the herald had already passed them all, by the time the planet responded to their warning. The oversoul might have bought them more time, but there were no espers in the Empire anymore—Finn Durandal had seen to that. The next layer of defense was provided by an orbiting minefield of the most powerful subspace detonators the Empire had ever produced. They blew up, one after the other, as the herald passed through them, and didn't slow or alter its progress one bit.
    Down on the planet's surface, hundreds of thousands of remote news cameras turned themselves on.
    Every news station in the Empire was represented on Heracles IV, ready to cover the story. There were no actual reporters there, of course. They couldn't get insurance. But their cameras were there, ready to broadcast the death of a planet and its whole population, live and