Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

really been two whole months? He looked around the room with new eyes, and was honestly shocked at the mess. How could he have lived in such a sty for so long, without noticing? No wonder Anne hadn't taken him seriously anymore. He forced himself to calm down, pushing back the anger, unclenching his fists. He had to be cool, calm, controlled. There were things he had to do.
    He strode over to his private comm unit, and put through a call to House Campbell, punching in his old family security codes. The connection took longer than usual to make, and when his screen finally cleared, the face looking back at him was that of a stranger. He wore anonymous guard's armor with no markings. He recognizedDouglas immediately, and inclined his head.
    "Your Majesty. How may I serve you?"
    "I want to talk to my father," saidDouglas . "Why are you answering his private number?"
    "No one speaks to William Campbell," said the guard. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I have my orders,
    direct from the Durandal."
    "Finn is my Champion," saidDouglas . "He answers to me. I am your King, and I want to speak to my father."
    "The Durandal's orders were quite specific," said the guard, unmoved. "No one is to speak to the prisoner, without his express permission. And in this case, his authority derives from Parliament, and not Your Majesty."
    "I could come down and see him," saidDouglas .
    "I would advise against that, Your Majesty. All unauthorized ships approaching House Campbell are to be shot down on sight. The Durandal's orders."
    "Gosh," saidDouglas . "I'd better not do that, then. I'll talk to Finn. Thank you for your assistance.
    You've been very helpful. I'll be sure to remember you."
    He couldn't resist that last barb, and was rewarded by just a little uncertainty in the guard's face before he shut down the connection from his end.Douglas scowled at the blank screen. Events had clearly slipped even further from his control than he'd realized. His first impulse was to commandeer a flyer, load it up with really big guns, and pay House Campbell a personal royal visit the guards there would never forget; but he knew he couldn't do that. Finn would be expecting something like that. AndDouglas had a strong feeling he wouldn't be allowed to just stroll out of the palace either. He was beginning to sense just how comprehensive a trap had been constructed around him by Finn and Anne, and God alone knew how many others. All he could do for now was play along, play the broken man in public, until he could get back into shape again, physically and mentally. And then he would show these upstarts and their fake brother James just how Douglas Campbell had become a legend among the Paragons, long before he became King.
    He would show them what a realCampbell could do, with vengeance in his heart.
    But first he had to clean up his room. He couldn't live in this dump anymore. Just looking at some of it made his skin crawl. And simple repetitious manual jobs always helped him think. It took him a long time to clear the mess up, but he had a lot of thinking to do.
    Over the next few weeks,Douglas sweated his way through every punishing exercise he could think of, while watching brother James make the rounds of all the very best news and gossip shows on his viewscreen. It seemed like James was everywhere, dashing from public appearance to public appearance, his every move covered by all the celebrity channels. Looking big and bluff and handsome with his bright eyes and bashful smile, James was the biggest news sensation since the return of the Terror. The people were desperate for good news, and the return of the man who should have been King was just what they needed. He wasn't Owen Deathstalker, but he would do.
    William, of course, was painted as the very blackest of villains, who only reluctantly kept James alive in case something happened toDouglas while he was playing at being a Paragon. Should James have been needed, it seemed William and Niamh had arranged to have a powerful esper delete all of James's memories since the crash, so he would know nothing of his imprisonment. This particular announcement led to open hostility against all espers, even though the oversoul went out of their way to deny that any of their people had ever been involved in such a scheme. No one believed them. There were demonstrations bordering on riots in cities on worlds all across the Empire, calling for strict new controls on all espers. From all across the Empire, espers