Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

suddenly. “They didn’t even leave enough of my body to bury. And they’re even more powerful now.”
    Everyone stirred uneasily. Nina fixed Diana with a thoughtful look. “You never did explain how you came back from that.”
    “No,” said Diana. “I didn’t, did I?”
    “What are our options?” said Douglas. “Speak up, people. I’ll listen to anything that even sounds halfway sane.”
    “We stay put,” said Tel Markham, hovering at Douglas’s side, as always. A dark, grim presence, in clothes he kept spotlessly clean. “We let the uber-espers’ army enter the Parade of the Endless, and then watch safely from the Rookery as Finn’s soldiers go head-to-head with the thralls. With any luck, they should weaken each other considerably. We put armed guards on our barricades to keep everyone out. We don’t have the room or the resources to support any more refugees. When the worst of the fighting is over, we go out and hit the survivors with everything we’ve got. The thralls might have the numbers, but they don’t have our weapons, or our knowledge of fighting. We should be able to push a weakened force back out of the city, and then take over the Parade of the Endless for ourselves. Finn will be too weak to stop us.”
    “And then?” said Stuart.
    Tel grinned. “We wait for the Deathstalker and his fleet to turn up and save the day. They can’t be far off now.”
    Douglas looked at Nina, who shrugged. “Sorry, lovey, but as long as the fleet’s still in hyperspace there’s no telling how far off they are. They could be here today, tomorrow, next week. We won’t know till they’re practically ready to hit orbit.”
    “And in the meantime,” said Stuart, “we’re supposed to let everyone else in the city die, or be possessed? While watching safely from behind our mental shield? To hell with everyone but us? About what I’d expected from you, Markham.”
    “The safety of the Rookery must come first!” snapped Tel. “The King must be protected!”
    “No,” said Douglas, and everyone looked at him. “We go out into the city, and protect the people. This is our city, and they are all our people. Stuart, talk with our strategy groups and start putting together some possible courses of action for me to consider. We have resources none of the other cities had, and I want to use them all, to the full. We can do this. We are going to hold this city against everything the uber-espers can throw at us, and prove they’re not unbeatable.”
    “Who are we supposed to be proving it to?” Nina said quietly. “Our best information is that every other city on the planet has already fallen. Smaller towns are being ignored, for now, but . . . We’re all that’s left, Douglas.”
    “Then we prove it to ourselves,” said Douglas. “After all, someone’s got to be here to welcome Lewis home.”

    The uber-espers summoned their armies from all over Logres, and pointed them at the Parade of the Endless. Millions of possessed bodies tramped away from the ruins of cities, all wearing the same smile on their faces. Millions upon millions of thralls, moved by five all-powerful minds, heading towards the last free city in the world, to tear down the Emperor Finn Durandal and his people, and then move on to the final prize: the various tasty minds and souls of the Rookery. The dessert at the end of a very satisfying meal. And the chance for revenge on one of their oldest enemies. Life . . . was good. The thrall armies filled the roads and the skies, all heading in the same direction, with mayhem and murder on their minds.

    In his usurped palace, in the Parade of the Endless, the Emperor Finn Durandal contacted every other world in the Empire, and demanded help and support and military reinforcements, and every single world turned him down flat. Even the staunchest fanatics of the Church Militant and Pure Humanity laughed in his face, and warned him not to send any ships to their worlds. Any ship traveling from Logres would be blown apart on sight, for fear of infection. And that very definitely included any ship the Emperor might be traveling on. Everyone was more scared of the uber-espers now than they were of Finn. He no longer had the power to compel their obedience.
    The Emperor stalked back and forth in his private chambers, thinking furiously, and making note of certain names for future retribution. He had no doubt there would be a future. He was confident he could beat this problem, as he’d