He drew his knife and stabbed her through the eye. He wanted it to be quick. Jenny jerked once and then lay still. Kit withdrew his knife, put it away, and headed for the exit. He'd done all he could. He dropped down from the escape hatch and hurried across the open ground to shelter in the trees. They wouldn't protect him from disrupter beams, but they should confuse long-distance sensor readings. He had to find David. He'd know what to do. He found David a short way inside the woods. He was crouching beside Alice. He'd propped her back up against a tree trunk, and tried to push her dangling guts back into the great wound in her side. His hands were red with blood, and his clothes were soaked with it, where he'd pressed her close against him. He looked up as Kit approached. He was crying, the tears making slow tracks through the blood that had trickled down his face from the wound in his forehead.
'She's dead,' he said, and in his voice was all the loss in the world. 'She trusted me to look after her, and I failed her. Just like I failed everyone else.'
'I'm sorry,' said Kit.
'I killed her, you know. She died because she was with me.'
'You can't blame yourself,' said Kit. David's tears disturbed him, but he didn't know what to do about them. 'They're killing everyone here. You tried to save her. You did your best.'
David nodded slowly, unconvinced, and wiped tears and blood from his eyes with the back of his hand. He sniffed a few times, then looked up at Kit.
'Where's Jenny?'
'Dead. She died of her wounds while I was trying to free her.' Kit wouldn't normally have bothered lying, but he didn't want to upset David further. He looked around him. 'Any idea where we are?'
'Yeah. I know this place. The Standing's not five minutes' walk from here, on the other side of the wood. We almost made it, Kit. We were so close. Just a few minutes more, and we'd have been safe. All of us.'
Kit knelt down beside David. 'This is Lionstone's doing. Blame her. Now let's get moving. They'll be here looking for us soon.'
David nodded and got to his feet. Kit stood up with him. David looked down at Alice. 'I hate to leave her.'
'She's already gone, David. She's beyond pain now. We'll take revenge for her later.'
'Yes. There will be revenge, later.'
David turned and walked off into the woods, and Kit went after him. It was cool and calm and quiet among the tall trees, a dark and private place almost set apart from the rest of the world. The troubles hadn't reached here yet. The air was full of the smell of grass and bark and living things. Kit strode along beside David, enjoying the calm and the songs of the birds. David strode along the open trail, eyes dark and brooding, untouched by the peace around him. Kit kept trying to think of something to say to him, but couldn't think what. He didn't have much experience with this kind of thing. So he strolled along beside David, his hands near his weapons, and left his friend to his thoughts. David would come up with something. He always did.
Kit was wary and alert, but even so the first he knew they had company in the woods was when three figures stepped out onto the trail ahead of them, blocking their way. One wore a Captain's uniform, one was an Investigator, and the third figure stood well back, holding a gun in a not very threatening way. David and Kit came to a halt, and for a long time they all just stood and looked at each other. The woods were like a great green arena, a place where destinies could be decided, and anything could happen. Anything at all.
'I'm Captain Silence,' said the man with the sword in his hand. 'This is Investigator Frost and Security Officer Stelmach. You're under arrest, my lords. Hand over your weapons, and come with us.'
'I don't think so,' said David. 'I am the Deathstalker, and my people need me. Stand aside and let me pass, or die where you stand.'
'What he said,' said Kit. He smiled at Frost. 'I've always wondered how I'd do against an Investigator.'
'You'd die, boy,' said Frost. 'Throw down your weapons, and you'll live to stand trial.'
'Get out of our way,' said David. 'I won't be stopped.'
The Captain shrugged. 'Do what you have to, my lord. In the end, it always comes down to steel, doesn't it?'
He stepped forward, and David drew his sword and went forward to meet him. Their swords slammed together, sparks flying on the air, and the sound of steel on steel was painfully loud in the quiet. Kit SummerIsle smiled his Kid Death smile and went lightly forward to meet the Investigator. They circled each other slowly, searching for weaknesses in the other's eyes. Stelmach lowered his gun and backed off out of the way. He knew he was only an observer in this.
David boosted, calling on his Deathstalker inheritance, and new strength and energy surged through him, pushing back the tiredness. Even so, he knew it wouldn't last long. It wasn't that long ago he'd spent a whole evening drinking and carousing in the Heart's Ease tavern. He almost smiled. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but his body knew different. Too much drink and too little sleep would have made him fatally slow without the boost to hold him up, and even with it he doubted he could last long. So he pressed the attack, his sword rising and falling with all his considerable strength behind it. Silence backed away, one step at a time, but still he met the Deathstalker's every blow with equal strength, which should have been impossible. They swung and thrust, stabbing and parrying and recovering, blades moving almost too fast for the human eye to follow. And then Silence stopped and would not back away farther. He met the Deathstalker's savage attacks with calm skill and would not be moved.
Kit SummerIsle, also known as Kid Death, the smiling killer, pressed his attack with more thought. He'd never lost a fight in his life, and didn't intend to start now, but this was an Investigator, after all. Kit and Frost circled warily around each other, their blades licking out from time to time, to test the other's speed and reflexes. They were masters of their craft, and saw no reason to hurry. They meant to enjoy this. They smiled at each other and went on circling.
David fought on, rage boiling within him. This one Captain had come to represent to him all the Empire forces, the blind, awful forces that were destroying his life and his world. He hacked and cut with increasing fury, drawing recklessly on the boost's support, and it was only a matter of time before Silence turned aside one particular wide blow, and ran David through. He cried out with shock as much as pain, and sank to one knee, still somehow holding on to his sword. Silence's blade had punched right through David's gut and out his back. He could feel blood running out of him, hear it splashing on the ground below. Silence jerked his sword free, and David cried out again, blood spraying from his mouth along with the sound. He tried to force himself back onto his feet, and couldn't. The boost was holding him together, but all his strength was gone. The Captain drew back his sword for the killing blow.
Kit saw David go down, and wasted no time with a cry of rage. He caught Frost's sword in a close parry, kicked her hard in the kneecap, and, while she was off-balance, he whipped off his cloak and wrapped it around her head. He would have liked to kill her then, while she was helpless, but he didn't have the time. He ran over to Silence, calling out to the Captain to distract him from David. Silence turned swiftly, and Kit ducked under the extended blade and rammed the Captain in the stomach with his shoulder. The Captain fell backwards, his breath driven right out of him, and Kit ran over to David and hauled him back onto his feet. It only took a glance to see how bad the wound was, but Kit couldn't let himself think about that. There'd be help waiting at the Standing. There had to be. He got David moving, and then heard footsteps behind him. He looked back, and incredibly the Captain was back on his feet and charging after them. Kit reached for the gun at his side, and only then realized David was leaning against it. The Captain was almost upon them. And then there was the sound of a disrupter firing, and Silence fell to his knees, shot from behind. Kit looked back, and there was the Security Officer with his gun in his hand, eyes wide with horror at his mistake. Kit threw him a quick salute, pulled David to him more firmly, and led him off into the trees.
Frost had pulled herself free from the enveloping cloak just in time to see Silence fall. She ignored the fleeing rebels, and the shocked, stammering Stelmach, and hurried over to kneel beside Silence. The energy beam had torn away most of his left rib cage. He'd wrapped his arms around himself, as though he could hold his body together through sheer strength. Frost gently pulled his arms away so she could see the extent of the wound. Blackened stubs of ribs showed clearly in the steaming wound, half-cauterized by the energy beam. Behind them, Stelmach was babbling about its being a mistake, and he was sorry, so sorry, but neither of them was listening. Silence's face was utterly white, and he was breathing in quick, shallow gasps. Anyone else would have been dead by now, from the shock alone. Frost grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard.
'Captain, listen to me! You're not going to die. There's a power in you, in us. Use it! John, dammit, you can
