Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

them. Two great powers, the old and the new, utterly deadlocked. The monster and the mass-mind. Alessandra joined her mind with Diana’s, and Carrion sang with the voice of all the Ashrai. And still Alicia stood.
    Psi storms ran loose, crackling on the air of the court, baneful destructive energies tossed around as though they were nothing. Huge jagged cracks split apart the walls of the court, and zigzagged across the high ceiling. Pieces of masonry broke free, and fell ponderously down into the court. Carrion raised a hand, and a shimmering screen protected everyone except Alicia.
    The floor shook as though in an earthquake, and the throne rocked back and forth, as though fought over by unseen hands. The air was unbearably hot and then impossibly cold, and rain and hail fell from nowhere. Probabilities changed and altered, snapping on and off in a moment as old familiar faces flickered in and out of sight in the court. Lionstone on her throne, with the first Dram the Widowmaker at her side. Owen Deathstalker, holding a fallen crown in his hand. King Robert and Queen Constance, smiling architects of the Golden Age. So many faces, so many names, come and gone in a moment as time rippled and bent back and forth upon itself. And Douglas Campbell and Finn Durandal, who had once been major players in the struggle for the fate of the Empire, could now only huddle together to one side, ignored.
    And then the psi storms snapped off, banished in a moment by the sheer power of those who now strode into the court. The walls stopped shaking and cracking, and the floor grew still, and Alicia and Diana both looked round angrily to see who had interrupted them. And Lewis Deathstalker, Jesamine Flowers, Brett Random, and Rose Constantine strode forward to meet them. Reality stabilized as the four Maze minds enforced their will upon it. Alicia shrieked with fury, and lashed out at everyone present, unleashing all her centuries of Maze-given power.
    Diana and Alessandra and the oversoul met it first, and then the four Maze survivors reached out, adding their power. Carrion’s voice rose in a terrible song, and all the power of the Ashrai focused through him, adding their support. Alicia staggered and almost fell, but didn’t.
    Lewis stepped forward, and Alicia turned to face him. And that was how it all came to a head, with one Deathstalker facing another. Two minds remade by the Madness Maze, and made powerful beyond belief. Because the Maze had always worked best for Deathstalkers.
    Lewis and Alicia went head-to-head, matching power with power, will with will, and in the end Lewis won. Because all Alicia had was self-interest and ambition and hate, while Lewis was centered around duty and honor and the courage he needed to protect those he cared for. And Alicia stood alone, while Lewis stood for many. Alicia hit him with everything she had, trying to possess and control him, and then trick and subvert him, but there was just so much more to him than there was to her. And so she turned and ran.
    She was halfway across the court before anyone even realized that the mental battle was over, and she was out the doors and gone before they could react. Alicia ran through the palace’s maze of corridors, and the others came after her, crying out in rage and cheated passion. Alicia wrapped herself in her will, becoming invisible to the world. She sent her thoughts racing ahead of her, sensing that triumphant rebels were already streaming into the palace through the main entrance, led by Gil Akotai. Alicia smiled. She couldn’t take control of her thrall army again without giving away her presence to her enemies, but she could take one mind, and hide in it while the thrall smuggled her away. And then . . . well, Gil Akotai was a hero and a leader; just what she needed to re-establish herself . . .
    She ducked into a side passage as she heard footsteps approaching, concentrating all her power into not being there. One by one her pursuers passed her by, and she weighed each one as they passed, looking for someone to carry her unnoticed to Gil Akotai. Most were too well protected, but one mind . . . The Ecstatic named Joy ambled past her hiding place, his mind wide open, and she struck at him like a snake. Such a small man, with his surgically altered brain. If he should seem to be acting a little strangely, who’d notice? She plunged into Joy’s head, and found waiting there the cage he’d made for her.
    Hello, Alicia, said Joy. I’ve