Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

never be cold and impartial. You should always be prepared to pay in blood for the blood you shed.”
    “Yes,” said deLangford. “You understand.”
    “Shut up, creep,” said Owen. “So, Glory, Dominic—what do we do with him? He’s the cause of all this death, after all.”
    “Art,” said deLangford. “I took these worthless men and made them significant. What happened here will be told across the Empire. I made your glorious last stand possible. I took people who never mattered, even to themselves, and made them magnificent, if only for a moment. They are part of a story now, a legend that will be told for centuries. I made your heroism possible. Gave it shape and meaning. You should thank me. I made you art. And now, I surrender.”
    “There isn’t a legend that’s worth one man’s death,” said Owen. “Trust me, I know. What do we do with him?”
    “He goes back to his cell,” said Glory. “After we’ve searched him very thoroughly. The computers will be back on line anytime now.”
    Owen looked at her. “And that’s it? He’s responsible for everyone who died here! You could have died here! How can you be sure he won’t do it again?”
    “None of that matters,” said Dominic. “He has surrendered. We can’t punish him now. It wouldn’t be right.”
    “Hell with that,” said Owen. He looked at deLangford, and let his anger lash out. DeLangford’s head exploded, showering the surroundings with blood and brains and skull fragments. The body sank slowly to its knees, blood fountaining from the neck, as Glory and Dominic cried out in shock and revulsion. The body fell forward and was still. Owen shook thick drops of blood from the end of his sword and then put it away.
    “What kind of future do you come from?” Dominic said shakily. “That can produce creatures like you, and the Mad Mind?”
    “I should kill you where you stand,” said Glory. “You’re not fit to live in human society. I should . . .”
    “I wouldn’t,” said Owen, and something in his voice stopped them both.
    Dominic took Glory by the arm. “This is too big for us. He has to go to court, to stand before the Emperor. Let Ethur decide what’s to be done with him.”
    “Actually, I’ll decide what’s to be done with me,” said Owen. “But I want to meet your Emperor. I’m sure there are many things he can tell me about . . . the Mad Mind. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t hurt him.”
    “You’ll have to wear the energy gyves,” Glory said flatly. “We can’t risk the Emperor’s safety.”
    “If it will make you feel better,” Owen said graciously.
    The energy bands crackled about his wrists again, and the Investigator and the Defender both relaxed a little. Glory called down her orbiting ship, while Dominic studied Owen closely. Owen studied Dominic. He was getting the hang of reading body language.
    “You love her, don’t you?” he said quietly, nodding at Glory. “Have you ever told her?”
    “What? No! I . . .”
    “Do it,” said Owen. “Don’t leave it till it’s too late.”

    And so the three of them went down to Heartworld, which would one day be called Golgotha and then Logres, in a large and blocky ship that had no name, only a number. Owen didn’t recognize the design at all. It moved smoothly through space, threading its way easily through the heavy traffic, and finally slipped into the planet’s atmosphere with only the slightest of jolts. Owen sat at the back of the cabin, firmly strapped in for his own safety, and amused himself by changing the colors of his energy bands when nobody was looking.
    Dominic and Glory spent most of the trip arguing about where they were going and how best to get Owen to the Emperor. They seemed very firmly of the opinion that there were a great many political and religious factions who would just love to get their hands on Owen, for all kinds of reasons, few of them good. And all of them would be quite willing to destroy Owen and anyone with him, rather than let any other group get to him first. Glory in particular seemed very concerned over how much damage some groups would do, if they gained control over Owen and his uncanny abilities.
    “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Owen said cheerfully. “I doubt very much there’s anyone here who can make me do anything I don’t want to do.”
    This didn’t seem to reassure Glory or Dominic in the least, so the rest of the trip passed pretty much in silence. Until Glory slowed the