The moist hot air hit her nostrils from the moment that the hatch hissed open. The air was thick with scents of Bogoli flowers and Avi trees. The sweetness of the hot, moist air almost made her choke. She jumped out of the cockpit and landed on the soft sluggish grass that covered the woodland area.
Aly Baveric gazed dazedly out at the thick underbrush and tall trees that created a wall in front of her and around the whole clearing in which she had landed the Jedi star fighter. The sounds of singing birds came to her ears. An insistent squawking could be heard from somewhere in the distance. The sun was setting, piercing the foliage with its bleeding rays. Aly shut her eyes tightly, forcing herself not to think. Willing herself not to dwell on the memories that rushed at her, plunging their spears into her heart, reopening the wounds that she had ignored for several years now.
"Bay'me'wi! We better go before it gets dark!" she called.
An eager thirteen year old girl stuck her head out of the 'fighter and pushed her shinny, long bangs out of her alert green eyes. "Yes, Master. I'm coming." Moments later she was at Aly's side and they started moving toward the thick underbrush.
They spent the trip in silence, concentrating on hacking a path through the flora that imprisoned them on all sides. By the time they started their hike up Shighak Hill the sun had almost set, its blood red rim barely visible over the horizon. The abandoned fortress came into view with blunt distinction, towering over them, sharp edges perturbing like spears of darkness leaving shadowy corners and insets in the walls. The engravings carved intricately on the structure whispered their ancient evil. The Sith code was written in a language that wasn't spoken anymore, used only by their kind.
As they got closer the darkness became more repressive. A sickeningly familiar feeling to Aly.
"Master?"
Aly didn't reply, only looked to her side.
"It's suddenly so cold…"
Aly nodded. The place was eerie and the Force was dark and cold here. "So it is, Padawan."
"Why have we been sent here, again, Master?"
"To get the Sith artifact that was left here and bring it to the temple" Aly answered glumly. She wasn't at all pleased with the council. By all rights her padawan was too young for this. They were sending her as a test; however, they did not trust her enough to send her alone. It was pathetically ridiculous! And yet, she admitted grudgingly, just.
They were finally standing before the sealed entrance. Bay' reached for her 'saber, intentioned on cutting through the rugged stone. Aly stopped her with a silent gesture. The young knight held up her hand, wrist perpendicular to the ground and sent a current of the Force at the crack visible between the door panels. There was a steady grating sound and finally the panels slid back.
Aly walked forward with Bay' trailing behind her in an awed silence. They walked several meters into the front hall….
X3 X3 X3
….and the door panels slid shut behind them.
Aly's hand went automatically to play with her braid. A nervous gesture that she had been practicing for as long as she could remember.
Knight Oke Ocoidum fished out a glow rod out of her bag and lit it. Aly quickly followed her master's lead. The crisp light of the glow rods threw ominous shadows onto the walls where ancient torches leaned idly against cool stone.
Aly looked around at the display of shockingly graphic engravings of decapitation displayed on all sides. Aly felt the bitter taste of bile in her mouth. Nausea nagged at her from the pit of her stomach.
Ocoidum must have sensed her padawan's discomfort because she said calmly, "don't look if they terrify you so, Padawan. Let's go. We have to move quickly."
They moved like ghosts through dark hallways, narrow and claustrophobic, until they reached a long winding staircase that would lead them to the top of the fortress' single tower. Aly followed her master to the top chamber from which the Force signal was radiating like a black light. The pyramid would be there.
They were almost at the top landing when Ocoidum raised her hand and sopped so abruptly that Aly nearly ran into her. The padawan was about to ask why they had stopped but shut her mouth as soon as she felt it; a dark, menacing wave that came crashing toward them. The temperature dropped suddenly so that Aly shivered involuntarily. She watched her master's hand drift to her 'saber as she deactivated her glow rod. Aly did the same, reaching out cautiously to the currents of the Force that were now boiling with power and sparking with the dark energy radiating from only a landing above them. But that wasn't all. Now that she looked deeper, as terrifying as it was, se felt another presents. This one was timid and innocent, yet scared and resentful at the same time. More darkness.
"They're here, Master" Aly whispered vehemently. If she was even two years younger she would have been tugging at her master's tunic as a plea to leave. She was a Jedi, though. A eighteen year old Senior Padawan. She had faced more deadly situations. Hadn't she?
"Yes," Ocoidum replied gravely. "And the Sith has a child with him as well."
