Deathstalker Honor Read Free Page A

together, moved in the same circles, went to the same parties. He seemed quite . . . normal then. Nothing out of the ordinary. No sign then of the psychopath he became. Just another kid, perhaps a little quieter than most. Much like me. We were never actually friends, but I can remember good times we had together. And then we went our different ways, to be trained as a Wolfe and a Deathstalker, and I didn’t see him again for years. And sometimes I find myself wondering how two such similar children became such different adults.”
    “People change,” said Hazel. “Whether they want to or not. Life writes our scripts, and we just get to ad lib now and again.”
    Owen looked at her. “Why, Hazel, that was almost profound.”
    “Don’t you patronize me, Deathstalker. I have a mind. I have read the occasional book in my time. When there was nothing else to do. I just meant that even while we’re busy changing the universe, it’s busy changing us. Look at you; you’re not the person you used to be, even a few years ago. Thank God. The Owen Deathstalker I saved from certain death down below is a very different man from the official hero who toppled an empire.”
    “I know,” said Owen. “That bothers me.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” said Hazel. “He really was a stuck-up little prig.”
    Owen raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you stick with him?”
    Hazel smiled. “I thought I saw potential in him.”
    Owen’s mouth twitched. “I thought much the same about you.” And then he frowned again.
    “Oh, hell, Owen, now what? I swear, you know more ways to depress yourself than anyone I’ve ever met.”
    “I was just thinking about Finlay Campbell. We should have included him on this trip.”
    “We’ve been through this, Owen. The man is obsessed. He’s sworn a vendetta against Valentine. Sworn to kill the man, on his blood and on his honor. If we’re to keep our options open down there, we can’t afford to have the Campbell anywhere near us. He’s always been . . . erratic. They tried using him as a bounty hunter, but he always brought them back dead. Sometimes in pieces. Last I heard, his girlfriend, Evangeline, was trying to get him interested in politics. God help Parliament, that’s all I have to say.”
    “He fought beside us. He was a hero of the rebellion, just like us. And Valentine wiped out his whole Family. It doesn’t feel right, keeping this from him.”
    “Owen, we hardly know the man. You’re the one who wants to bring Valentine in alive. If the Campbell were here . . .”
    “Yes, I know. But if we’re keeping secrets from people who are supposed to be our comrades, what might they be keeping from us?”
    “Hell,” said Hazel lightly. “Everyone’s got secrets.”
    She realized how that sounded only after she’d said it, and she held her breath a moment before Owen grunted and turned away to study the sensor readings on the main display screen. Hazel let her breath out slowly, so Owen wouldn’t hear it, and tried to relax. There were still things she was keeping from Owen, partly because she didn’t want him getting upset, and partly because she still believed in keeping her own business to herself. Ever since she’d first passed through the Madness Maze on the Wolfling World and been changed forever, she’d been having problems with dreams. To begin with, they had been just disturbing images, but more and more these days the dreams persisted into her waking world, and she couldn’t push aside the thought that they meant something. Something important. She was dreaming every night now, clear and distinct, and she couldn’t tell if she was seeing the past or the future. It was as though Time was unraveling in her head, in the darkest hours of the night, when her defenses were at their weakest. Something in her mind was showing her things, and wouldn’t let her look away.
    While on Mistworld, she’d dreamed of the Empire invasion hours before it actually happened.
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