Deathstalker Return by Simon R. Green Read Free Book Online

Because he was a real hero.
     
     
    The Hereward dropped into hyperspace without being challenged by any other vessel, and headed for the Ashrai world, Unseeli. The trip took some time, even with an H-class stardrive, and the stores of food and water depleted steadily despite strict recycling and rationing. If they couldn’t make up the difference on Unseeli, they’d be eating their shoes by the time they reached their next destination. Brett had already begun making pointed comments about Saturday, when the reptiloid wasn’t around, mostly about the size of his drumsticks and how much luggage could be made out of the reptiloid’s hide. Lewis would have been concerned about the situation if he hadn’t been more concerned about what they were going to find on Unseeli.
    Information about the Ashrai world was very limited. No human or alien ship had been allowed to land on the planet in two hundred years. There was no official quarantine, because none was needed. You entered Unseeli space entirely at your own risk, and if you got too close to the planet, the Ashrai destroyed your ship. No one seemed too sure about how they did this, because no one ever came back to tell. Long range scanners didn’t operate in Unseeli space, and no one knew why. Most people had enough sense to leave the Ashrai alone. Lewis had a good reason for going there, but no doubt others had thought the same, and it hadn’t saved them.
    Lewis knew the stories of Owen Deathstalker and his dragons. He’d seen the big operatic production that Jesamine starred in. According to certain entirely unofficial legends, Owen had led an army of wise and powerful dragons against the Recreated. These huge and wonderful creatures had flown unprotected through the cold inimical depths of space, tearing the Recreated apart with vicious fang and claw. They were magnificent, and they sang a song so beautiful it touched the soul of all who heard it. According to those legends, Owen lay sleeping in a great tomb, surrounded by his sleeping dragons, waiting to be called back in the hour of the Empire’s greatest need.
    Could Owen be sleeping somewhere on Unseeli? Was that why the Ashrai guarded it so jealously?
    Except according to the Dust Plains of Memory, it was Carrion and not Owen who’d flown with the dragons, who were really the Ashrai. Lewis had to wonder what else the story might have got wrong, and whether his Deathstalker name really did have the currency with the Ashrai that he hoped.
    The Hereward dropped out of hyperspace at a very respectable distance, and approached Unseeli slowly and cautiously, sending very respectful messages ahead of them. There was no reply, but they achieved high orbit unmolested, and Lewis started breathing again. It had been so long since anything had gone right in his life that he’d almost forgotten what it felt like. Rose hauled Brett out from under his chair, while Jesamine checked the ship’s sensors, just on the off chance, but they weren’t operating. Diagnostics said there was nothing wrong with the systems; they just weren’t picking up anything. Lewis called up what little was known about Unseeli and put it on the main viewscreen so they could all study it. He interpreted the data aloud, as much to hear himself think as anything.
    “Conditions are tolerable for human life,” he said. “Which is just as well, as we don’t have any hard suits or full body force shields. Air is breathable, though there’s some unusual trace elements, and the temperature is . . . well, hot and sweaty, basically. Gravity’s a bit heavier than we’re used to, but not by much . . . which is odd, given the sheer size of the planet. It ought to be a lot heavier . . . still, that’s Unseeli for you. Never what you expect. As you can see, there’s only the one continent, and no oceans. No freestanding water at all, that I can see. And the metallic forest stretches from pole to pole . . . damn, some of those metal trees are so tall