Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

Just like the old days, eh, Owen?”
    “You won’t be there,” Joy announced suddenly, walking in circles around the bemused Owen. “I see the past and the future, often more clearly than I see the present, but then, it’s a poor memory that won’t work both ways. I see you, Owen, plunging back into the past, into worlds and Empires long forgotten. And then you’re somewhere else, somewhere outside or inside the universe, and I can’t follow you there. You have a long journey ahead of you, Deathstalker.”
    “Can you tell me how it ends?” said Owen.
    “Journeys end in lovers’ meetings. And then you both wake up, and it was all a dream. Or something like that. Has anyone got any chocolate?”
    They all waited a while, but he had nothing else to say. He just wandered over to one of the robots and tried to unscrew one of its legs. Crow Jane looked back at Owen.
    “Are all the dead coming back, Lord Deathstalker? Will all the legends be returning, to help us in our hour of greatest need?”
    “I doubt it,” Owen said kindly. “Dead is dead. I’m only here through a technicality, because no one else can stop the Terror. This is your war. You have to win it for yourselves, or the victory will mean nothing. This is your time. The past . . . belongs in the past.”
    “Yes,” said Joy, giving up on the robot’s leg. “That’s it exactly. Has everyone got their coat?”
    He and Crow Jane disappeared, and everyone felt a little more at ease. Owen turned to Lewis to make his good-byes, and then stopped as he suddenly noticed the black gold ring on Lewis’s finger. He held out his own hand to show the ring he wore, and the two men held their hands side by side to compare the two rings. They were, of course, identical. Everyone looked on, quietly awed. The black gold ring was famous, as much a part of history and legend as the man who’d worn it.
    “The Family ring,” Lewis said softly. “Sign and symbol of Deathstalker Clan authority.”
    “And there has only ever been one such ring,” Owen said. “That’s the point.”
    “But it’s the same ring,” said Jesamine. “You only have to look at it to see that. How is this possible?”
    Owen looked at Lewis, who shrugged uncomfortably. “A gray-clad leper called Vaughn gave me the ring,” said Lewis. “He said it came from you. Except I’m pretty sure it wasn’t really Vaughn, on the grounds that he’s been dead for years . . .”
    “I smell the interference of a certain shape-changing alien,” said Owen. “But there’s no way he could get the ring, unless I chose to give it to him. So perhaps I will, at some time in my future and your past. Time’s a funny thing, with a distinct preference for circles.”
    Brett rubbed hard at his aching forehead. “Can we please go to Mistworld? It’s only full of terrible things like crime and intrigue and thuggery; things I can understand.”
    “Shut up, Brett,” said Jesamine, not unkindly.
    “Are you sure you really want to do this?” Lewis said to Owen. “Time travel, going back who knows how far into the past, just so you can go head-to-head with the Terror, alone? Couldn’t you take some of us with you?”
    “No,” said Owen. “I wish I could. The whole business scares the spit out of me. But you’re all needed here, just as I’m needed there. I have to be going now, before I start coming up with some really good reasons to put it off. So much to do, so much time to search through to do it in. I’m sorry we couldn’t find the time to get to know each other better, Lewis. Do your best, and try not to worry so much. You’ll do fine. You’re a Deathstalker.”
    “You can’t go,” said Lewis. “I only just found you . . .”
    “We’ve been waiting so long for you to come back, Owen,” said Jesamine. “All Humanity is waiting to welcome you back. You have always been our greatest hero . . . Everything we did, we did for you. We built a Golden Age, just to be worthy of you.”
    “Stick around,” said Brett. “Give the worlds a chance to get to know the real Owen.”
    “No,” said Owen, grinning suddenly. “I’d only be a disappointment.”
    And just like that, he was gone.

    Owen had been feeling much stronger since he’d come back from the dead. Power seethed within him, demanding to be used. He didn’t need the help of the Madness Maze—or more properly, the baby at its core—to travel through time and space. There’s nothing like dying and being reborn to open