Free Deathstalker Return by Simon R. Green Page B

had that hero stink all over him. And everyone knows that heroes die young, and bloody, and mostly take their friends and companions down with them.” He smiled coldly at Lewis. “Just like you will, Deathstalker.”
    Lewis decided it was definitely time to change the subject. His hopes of persuading Carrion to join him were looking increasingly remote. “Tell us about the heroes you knew, Sir Carrion. We know only the legends. What were they really like?”
    Carrion frowned, and for the first time seemed uncertain. “When heroes become legends, so much of the truth is always lost. I knew men and women, flesh and blood. Important figures, yes, but still . . . They were people first, flawed and vulnerable—which perhaps makes their heroism all the greater. Owen—perhaps the only real hero I ever met. Death on two legs. Honorable, brave, damned. Knew he wouldn’t live to see the end of his war, but never let that stop him from doing what he knew to be right. Hazel—a free spirit, no matter what it cost her. A scrapper, a rebel, never giving too much of herelf to anyone for fear it would be betrayed. She really should have known better than to love a Deathstalker.
    “I never really knew or trusted Jack Random or Ruby Journey. I always knew they had their own agendas. And I never met the Hadenman, before he died, or afterward. No, I was only there because John needed someone to be his friend, to be his good right hand and guard his back. For all the death and suffering and broken promises between us, he was still a better man than he thought he was. He never really got over the death of his one true love, Investigator Frost.”
    He stopped as he took in the blank, puzzled looks on their faces. “Am I to take it she didn’t make it into the official legends either?”
    “Not even the apocrypha, as far as I know,” said Lewis. “Who was she, Sir Carrion?”
    Carrion shook his head slowly. “She deserved to be remembered. She and John made a great team. Unstoppable. She went into the Madness Maze, and survived. Hell of a fighter. She was cold and vicious and I never liked her. Hell, I don’t think anyone did but John, but I respected her. He loved her, even though she was an Investigator. I don’t know whether she ever loved him. Whether she was capable of it. She died in his arms, in Lionstone’s Court. It doesn’t seem right that she should be forgotten . . .
    “Let’s talk about the Terror. There was a voice that came out of nowhere after the Recreated had been defeated and then reborn as the new Rim worlds. I never knew whose voice it was. It said the Ashrai were originally created for a purpose, not just to tend the metallic trees. They are old, the Ashrai, and they have forgotten much. Perhaps it is their purpose and their fate to battle the Terror. Perhaps you serve their destiny in coming here. You said you were outlaws, like Owen and his people. What happened? And why are you here?”
    “We’re hoping to track down the missing Owen Deathstalker and Hazel d’Ark,” said Jesamine. “Our dearest legend is that Owen will return to save us all, in the hour of the Empire’s greatest need. If anyone knows how to stop the Terror, it’s got to be him. No one else is going to. The Empire’s a mess. A complete psychopath’s running things, we were all outlawed for not going along with him, and the Golden Age is going down the toilet.”
    “Nothing changes . . .” murmured Carrion.
    “So we’re searching for any survivors of the age of heroes,” said Lewis. “Hoping to find clues on where to look for Owen and Hazel. It’s a sign of how desperate we are that we’ve started with you, Sir Carrion. No offense.”
    “Legends,” said Carrion, almost kindly. “The patterns never change, though centuries pass. But I was only a part of history, not legend, so all I have to offer you is the painful truth. Owen Deathstalker is dead. He died long ago and far away, saving us all from the wrath of the