Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

clubs and bars she'd played at the start of her career. But this was war, and war was different. All the blood and suffering, the desperate screams of the dying, the knowledge that you could die at any moment if you were slow or stupid or just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Amid the noise and the bedlam and the sudden stench of freshly spilled guts, she had killed because she had to, and she had no doubts about what she'd done. She had nothing but contempt for the fanatics who made up the Church Militant and Pure Humanity. But still she shook and shuddered and bit her lip to keep from crying out. She didn't know if she could do it again… not even for Lewis and his cause.
    Lewis finally noticed her and came quickly over to put a comforting arm around her. She turned and
    buried her face in his chest, and took what comfort she could from him.
    Not too far away, Brett was standing hunched over, his arms wrapped tightly around his aching stomach. He'd already vomited till he dry heaved, and it hadn't helped. He was a con man, not a fighter.
    A thief, not a killer. He didn't want anyone to die, least of all himself. And yet he remembered walking through the trees, making men kill each other and themselves, as though he'd been a whole other person then. Rose stood patiently beside him, not understanding, but keeping him company.
    "It's over," she said. "We won. You fought well enough. You should be proud."
    "I never wanted this," he said thickly. "This isn't me. This isn't what I do. I want to go home."
    "Things change," said Rose. "After a while, it won't bother you at all."
    "That's what scares me," said Brett.
    Saturday watched them all, and said nothing.
    Carrion came walking out of the forest with another man at his side, and both sides were surprised to find the other knew the newcomer.
    "You told me John Silence was dead," Carrion said reproachfully.
    "That's because we knew him as Samuel Chevron," Lewis said finally, when he could get his breath back. "I knew you had to be someone important from the age of heroes, but I had no idea… are you really him? Captain John Silence of the Dauntless!"
    "I was once. It was a long time ago."
    "That's how you were able to do all those amazing things in Traitor's Hall!" said Jesamine, her eyes almost painfully wide. "Why… why didn't you tell us? Why did you let everyone think you were dead?
    And why didn't anyone recognize Samuel Chevron was really one of the great legends of our time?"
    "People see what I want them to see, when they look at me," said Silence.
    "I've taken care of all five starcruisers," said Carrion, smiling at the open awe in the faces of Lewis and Jesamine and Brett. Rose just watched silently. "A few lifeboats got away, to tell what happened here. I don't think the Empire will be coming back. I trust the excitement is now over, and I can get back to my life?"
    "We were hoping you might come with us, Sir Carrion," Lewis said diffidently. "To search for the blessed Owen. We have so much to do…"
    "No," said Carrion. "Not even for a Deathstalker. Not even for you, John."
    Lewis turned to Silence, but he shook his head too. "I go where I'm needed. You don't need me, Deathstalker."
    "Why haven't you revealed yourself before this?" said Jesamine, almost angrily. "Why did you allow Finn and his people to come to power? Why didn't you stop all the terrible things that have happened?"
    "One man alone can't save the Empire," said Silence. "Even a Deathstalker needs companions."
    "Why didn't you interfere in the fighting here earlier?" said Brett.
    "Because you needed the experience."
    "We could all have been killed!"
    "That's part of what you were learning."
    "What about the Terror?" said Lewis. "With your power…"
    "No," said Silence. "That's your destiny, Deathstalker. Go to Haden. All the answers you seek are there, in the Madness Maze." He turned to look at Carrion. "I have to go, Sean. Tell me: are you happy, now you're an Ashrai?"
    "Yes," said Carrion. "It's all I ever wanted."
    "Good," said Silence. "I'm glad one of us at least got to have a happy ending."
    "They told me you were dead, John."
    "I am," said Silence, and he disappeared.
    Carrion nodded slowly. "Well," he said. "This is a planet of ghosts, after all."
    He turned back into an Ashrai, huge and powerful, spread his membranous wings, and flew back up into the glowing sky to rejoin his people.

Chapter 2
    BROTHERLY LOVE, AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
    It was dark in the