Chapter 3:
Iwas startled out of my sleep by the incessant jabbing of a sharp spear at my mid section. I looked up to see the wielder. My vision cleared through the dried tears after a few moments, and I saw a strange looking woman. Her face was tinted with black and reddish-purple paint in a spidery design that grasped at her face from her hairline. Her hair was braided and adorned with many sorts of trinkets, and bones, and other bizarre accessories from the wild. The look in her eyes was fierce, determined, but not cruel. She wore tatters of clothing made from animal skins. She spoke the common dialect.
"Looks like this one made it. A female as well. What shall I do?" she said to her companion who I couldn't see.
"Gethzerion will wish to see it," said the hidden one.
"Trap her wrists and bring her along," said another, what I assumed was another similar female, and my assumption was proven correct as both leapt from a gathering of thick brush with a spear of the same craft their hands.
The strange female pulled me up from the ground like a weed. I had little choice but to follow her lead, and I stood before her. My body ached. I could feel blood caked and dried on my leg and arm. I hadn't realized I had been shot until that moment, I couldn't even feel it past the pain in my head and in my heart. The strange women prodded me along before them as we walked silently towards wherever the strange people were leading me. I had not the energy or will to defy them.
Syymbacca is dead, I said in my mind. I wanted to cry. I wished they had just left me in my grave in the jungle, let it be my resting place, and I would have cried until the sedimentary feeders claimed me.
They didn't leave me. We walked for what must have been hours. They prodded and pushed me all the way, and said nothing until we left the jungle and entered into a clearing much like the one where the Imperial prison was being built. Small huts made of branches, clay, and other gatherings of the jungle dotted the small, well-hidden valley. The mountains rose around the entire area just beyond the trees and vine-mesh. The path from where we entered from was thick with foliage, and the ground was covered with moss so dense that it didn't retain the imprint of our steps.
We walked into the center of the small village. There were several other females, human looking females, all dressed and painted very similar to the three who found me. They all watched me with curious, and a few vicious, stares. The only sounds were from the surrounding forest, for none of the human women spoke. Breaking the silence among them was a voice from the largest hut that stood at the apex of the clearing. A deep, melodic, but unmistakably female voice spoke from within.
"Bring her to me" she said.
The spear wielding female guards did the voice's bidding without hesitation. The voice felt strange to me. I heard more than what she said, as if a kinder, softer voice spoke in hushed tones at the same time, like there was someone else speaking with her in translation welcoming me, speaking only to me. We reached the doorway. I tried to peer in to find the owner of the voices. She spoke again.
"Unbind her and leave us."
Doing her bidding, the guards unbound my wrists and pushed me inside the hut. In the far corner of the hut sat a dark figure cross-legged, sitting near a small fire that I could not see until I had entered; the shadows acted as a wall between me and what was inside. The woman before the fire looked up to me. Her face paint was similar but more extravagant. She wore finer clothing compared to the rest. She wore a long dress in different hues of purple, black, and white. Her hair was adorned with equally similar trinkets, and unknown collections. Her eyes set her apart from the others. Her deep, black pupils like wells of nothingness, were surrounded by red as if offering a glimpse of her life's blood. She looked at me with the gaze a predator looks upon its prey before it seizes it. Her smile desired something else, but it was kind, and inviting.
She raised a hand with a wind-like grace, beckoning me to sit beside her. Her nails were long and dark, further adding to her predatory look. I sat before her next to the fire holding my hand over my shoulder, keeping my leg as straight as possible to not reopen my wounds. She lowered her hand to her lap and spoke. Her voice enthralled me. It wrapped me in its comforting embrace, and sang me into its dream.
"I know who you are, Wookiee, dear Makaashyya. You have finally come to me, behest, after the death of your brother at the hands of the oppressors. You come into my care and protection to set you upon your path to your destiny. A path we both share."
My eyes lulled in my head as she spoke; her melodic voice was a vaporous drug. It conjured up warmth inside me that I could not explain. It seemed to wash away the pain of my wounds both seen and unseen, but all visible to her. She spoke as if she knew all that I had encountered, and knew the answers to my questions.
"You have a light within you child. That is why I have called you here. I can help you find this light, to nurture it, to help it grow. I can give it to you. To right all wrongs, and seek your justice."
I was calmed, and on the edge of sleep, my eyes half closed, but unable to look away from the woman. Her power made me forget what had just happened. She continued.
"Do you not see things my child? Do you not dream of things strange, and perhaps terrifying to you?"
"Yes." I said, and nodded lazily. Yes I do. How do you know of this? I thought. She heard me nonetheless.
"You learn quickly as I suspected." Her thoughts entered my mind as she spoke.
Who are you? What is this place? I asked in thought.
"I am Gethzerion, Nightsister, leader of these people, people of the secret magic, the Force as you will come to know of it," she answered.
The Force? I have heard of it in stories told to us by the Elders of my people.
"Yes. Most people are aware of it, just by a different name. It has guided you here with subtle and gentle pushes amidst the horror around you. It has been calling to you, and with my help it has led you here."
She held me for a moment with her gaze and then continued.
"There is much you can learn here, much I can teach you. All you must do is accept, and I will give it to you."
What do you require of me? I could hear chaos in her mind, but muted, dull, veiled.
"I require you to open your mind to me, and to be my willing apprentice. You must abide by our laws and our ways against a common enemy."
Images of all that I had experienced at the murderous hands of the Empire swirled in my mind. Gethzerion swallowed them up hungrily. The bombing of my village, so many lives taken, slaves, Syymbacca, my dream. My head grew hot. I bared my teeth in anger.
Yes, she thought, that enemy, and greater still of the same yoke of whom you do not know.
I didn't want to wait any longer. I was taken.
I accept what terms you offer. I desire to avenge my brother, and my family, and all of my people to rid us of the oppressors. Tell me, teach me, and mold me into the weapon to reap my justice. I pleaded with her in my mind, not noticing the tears welling up in my eyes. She nodded, and with a wave of her hand over the fire she snuffed it out like a candle.
"Now go. You need care and rest. The truth and your desire are forthcoming. Go with the Force, child." Her voice trailed off into silence, and she disappeared again into the shadows.
A Nightsister, a teen child by human reckoning, was waiting for me at the entrance of the hut. She guided me to another hut like the smaller ones that rose to honor Gethzerion's larger one. The Nightsister tended to my wounds, cleaning them out with warm water that had been boiling over the small fire in my hut. My flesh was raw, torn, but not infected. She plastered the wounds shut with a strange paste that smelled foul, wrapped them in cloth bandages, and then helped me to remove the slaver collar. I was given a plate of food, and left to myself. I occasionally looked outside while I ate ravenously, half expecting Stormtroopers to come charging from the forest, blasters raging, their towering AT-STs stomping the forest flat.
I pushed the empty plate away, wiped my mouth on my arm, and rested my head against the wall of the hut. I thought it impossible that I could have actually felt comfortable after what had happened, but I was still under Gethzerion's powerful influence.
I drifted into an uneasy sleep thinking of dear Syymbacca, and the dream met me again. I was held fast by Stormtroopers to offer me up to the approaching void. I looked and saw my village, my family, all of them lying upon the ground spilling their blood onto the wooden floor. I faced the void. The atmosphere around me pulsed and throbbed in tight convulsions, as if were trapped in a vacuum. The throbbing drowned out the calling of my name from the void. When I looked back to my family one last time before the darkness consumed me, they instead all stood around me as faceless figures shrouded in shadow, their heads hanging low. I jerked myself awake wanting to scream, but I came to my senses and realized where I was. Dathomir had always been dark and overcast with clouds threatening to storm, so I couldn't tell what time it was, but figured it to be day by the coming and going among the Nightsisters outside. I watched them from my makeshift bed made of soft leaves and straw. Then I felt a shudder in the ground however faint but noticeable.
"They are coming." I said to myself in near panic. I limped from my hut ready to make a run for the forest when I saw them. Thundering in from the jungle came towering beasts that walked partially on all fours, their segmented, armored hide colored brown, green, and black. They had short, pudgy, clawless, legs, long muscular arms, with four fingers that ended in frightening talons. Four of them came running in from the forest, each with a spear-wielding Nightsister on its back. The beasts had Gamorrean-like faces, with beady pitch-black eyes that reminded me of the soulless void in my dream. Their gaping mouths were filled with irregular spiked teeth. The beasts looked as fearsome as anything a Wookiee could ever experience on Kashyyyk.
They rode into the center of the village, throwing up dirt in their wake, making the ground rumble with their steps, and then stopped in front of Gethzerion who stood waiting for them. I found it amazing how they had tamed such terrifying things. The Nightsisters gracefully leapt from their mounts and fell to the earth like leaves before the hulking beasts came to a stop. The Nightsisters spoke to Gethzerion in whispers, and then Gethzerion dismissed them. They mounted their beasts and ran back into the forest. The heavy footfalls of the creatures shook the ground as the jungle swallowed them up. Gethzerion looked to me and noticed my perplexed and frightened stare. She glided over to me, her body didn't sway in the normal motion when she walked as if gravity had no affect on her; her presence was intoxicating.
"Rancors, great beasts of the forest of Dathomir. We have a special kinship with them. They understand us, we understand them, and we benefit each other. It is a talent among we Nightsisters, a talent you may be worthy of learning in the future." She turned and started walking. "Come with me, Makaashyya," she said over her shoulder.
I started walking after her, trying to ignore the pain in my leg and shoulder.
"Are you going to begin my teaching?" I asked. Gethzerion looked at me out of the corner of her eye with a smirk on her face.
"Ambitious, eager. You have desire, and the anger, and hate to drive it. Cultivate that. It is your first step to learning who you truly are, and in letting the Force into yourself." She kept walking, and I followed.
We walked through the village, and into the jungle. It seemed as if only seconds after we started walking I noticed we were deep into the trees and brush. Time seemed to hasten. The ground moved faster under our feet, the foliage was a blur. I felt strange, like I had just wakened from what was for once, a pleasant dream.
I was again fully embraced by her enchantment.
"This world is strong in the Force, full of life, full of the dark side of the Force. It thrives by doing what is in its nature to do. To survive, to defend against enemies, or to crush enemies, or be crushed by the stronger." Her tone was careful, melodic and she used words that were in my mind.
We stopped walking, and by that time we were surrounded by foliage. The trees reached into the sky and were covered in parasitic vines, creating a spidery canopy that acted as a shield from the elements. The sounds of the forest that I had feared at the labor camp echoed in all directions around us, but I wasn't afraid.
"I must start at the beginning," Gethzerion continued. "Just as we were born, you must be reborn again, and tear away the remnants of your old self." Her mouth stopped moving, but she continued to speak. She entered my mind, as I eagerly wanted her to.
A Jedi Knight named Allya was cast into exile by her order, the Jedi Order, because she posed a threat to their power. She made the Force known to us. They feared her strength, just as the Empire wisely fears us. Allya showed the ways of the Force to our ancestors, a tradition that has continued for hundreds of years. We are the daughters of Allya. There are nine different clans, none of which we the Nightsisters ally ourselves with. They fear our power as well.
I let my eyes lull in my head as if a powerful drug were flowing in my veins. Her voice was so comforting. Her mind had an overpowering affect on me, taking away all the pain and replacing it with warmth. I spoke slowly, finding it difficult to speak clearly.
"Do they have the same power as you?"
Yes they do, she answered. Though they hold themselves back in pursuit of a false ideal, that things can be at peace, or that ambition is somehow evil, or wrong, that vengeance is against the will of the Force.
She paused and looked to the ground in contemplation of her next words. I couldn't see her mind as clearly as she saw mine. She looked back to me with her burning eyes.
"How does life grow and thrive if not through conflict? How do the great trees that cover a planet grow from a seed without the desire to reach the sky? How does one attain worthiness to survive if not acting upon others as they have acted upon her?" Her words spoke sense, either with her power to enthrall and captivate, or I truly did believe she was telling me the truth.
I was aware of her hypnotic power, and in fleeting dissent I asked, you still bend your will upon me. Do you not have faith in your judgment to let your words stand alone? I said to her mind. She burst out into laughter, which made me uneasy.
You are wise beyond your years, Makaashyya. It is the very truth in my words that enthralls you by no will of my own. Take what you will and do away with what you will. I am merely your guide. She opened her hands in supplication.
Part of me wanted to resist, most of me did not. My attempt at defiance was tepid.
Why do you wish to guide me? Are there so few within your clan to nourish? I wanted to be skeptical, untrusting, yet the weak wall of my will crumbled.
Few know of the pain you bear. I know your pain well; as mine own has nurtured me, so shall yours. You alone have a power beyond that of the others. Perhaps beyond mine. With my teachings, the teachings of the dark side of the Force, will you be able to set on your path.
What are my first steps? I asked curiously.
You are taking them with me now just as we walk through this forest. Your training must be done in secret, or others will be jealous, but for now let us return to the village.
We wandered in a large circular path through the forest and back towards the village. I paid no attention to the predatory roars and growls around me, nor did I think of the Imperials that were still on that planet. I focused all of my thought upon the feelings around me, and to Gethzerion's mind.
We entered Gethzerion's tent together. No fire burned in the center. No other Nightsisters came to the entrance to disturb us. We sat cross-legged upon the ground. The scent permeating the hut was sweet, and moist like fertile soil. After sitting and dwelling on my overwhelmed senses, and Gethzerion's power of enchantment still over me, I let the memory of Syymbacca drift into my mind. His comforting smile stretched across the landscape of my thoughts. His protective nature and unmitigated devotion to me pulled me deeper into my subconscious. Then, and against my will, and with Gethzerion's subtle coaxing, I thought of his death. The blaster bolts tore through him, his blood splattered my body. I felt as if I were having the dream again. Gethzerion spoke, and startled me from my daydream. I opened my eyes.
The Nightsister sat across from me glaring, her legs crossed. Gethzerion's voice still held me in her thrall.
"Do not fear your memories. Embrace those memories. Revel in them and let them fuel your hate, and you will gain strength to overcome. That is the dark side. Repeat after me. Hear the words, feel them and let them empower you, my child. This is the way of the dark side."
I was eager to obey.
"Peace is a lie, there is only Passion." Gethzerion's red-encircled pupils burned with a power that I did not understand, and feared. It was as if Gethzerion was looking right through me, burning a hole through me with the fiery embers in her eyes.
"Through passion, I gain strength, through strength, I gain power, through power, I gain victory, through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free. Do you understand these words, Makaashyya?"
I repeated the words, slowly and deliberately. I let the images of my dead family flow through my mind, like the bursting of a dam flooding the valley. The waters that were held back flowed red with their blood; my hatred drifted within it. Gethzerion closed her eyes, and I followed her lead, followed her guidance.
"Repeat them again, Makaashyya," she demanded.
I spoke the words in my mind, my memories came to me at Gethzerion's bidding, and she fully entered my mind and stoked the fire within me.
"Again," her voice cracked like lightning, echoing in my mind. Hours passed by. Days it seemed as I fell into myself, searching for the power that Gethzerion spoke of. Then, the dream came to me. No longer a nightmare. I embraced it as I would have embraced Syymbacca.
Claim me," I thought. Claim me if you can.
The Stormtroopers grasped my arms, though their grip was feeble. The void coming towards me no longer frightened me. I wanted it to come, to cover me in its comforting shadow. I turned from it, and stood there to let it engulf me as I watched my family bleed onto the ground. I no longer bothered to listen to the voice upon the wind. Just before the void won, I woke, still cross-legged, and sitting before my master. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was there. My head was hot, the blood pumped hard through my veins as my heart raced. I wanted to fight, to rend, and to tear apart anything near me. The hate felt empowering, warm, and it began to fill me with the strength of the vengeance of my dead family. I clenched my fists, and bared my teeth, and screamed out Syymbacca's name in rage to the darkness. The dark side welled up inside my being; its power rippled through my soul. The hut shuddered, the loose dirt on the ground started to move from me as if repelled by my hate, and then all went black.
I woke in my own hut; food sat beside my bed. It was dark outside, and no one walked about. My fur was clean, my wounds were freshly bandaged, and I did not ache as I thought I would, considering the previous two days. I had forgotten my hunger through the day and it made itself known as dryness in the back of my throat, and a dull ache in my stomach. I ate without care or fear of the unknown for the first time since I had left Kashyyyk. I pushed the now empty plate aside with satisfaction, and was startled to see Gethzerion standing at the entrance when I looked up.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked. I nodded, feeling embarrassed that I had fainted earlier. Gethzerion knew.
"Embarrassment is a weakness; you are above such petty concerns. The power that you are learning to wield comes with a physical price that those beneath you could scarcely pay, much less understand."
I looked into Gethzerion's eyes. More than ever before they burned, and left their scorched mark on my memory, and for the first time I could just see darkened, spidery veins at the corners of her eyes like a cancer. She quickly turned her head and looked down at the ground to break my gaze.
"You still have much to learn, Makaashyya. Come with me." Gethzerion turned and walked away from the entrance. I followed her, eager for her to fill my mind with her thoughts and teachings. Out again into the forest we walked. We stopped in another clearing different from the last, but also surrounded by trees.
"You are correct, Makaashyya, few are able to grasp what I will teach you." She reached her hand out to the ground, and up into her palm flew a small rock carried by the Force. "Exerting your mind over the will of others is a fundamental lesson, but not just beings, but objects as well." She smirked. "Feel the Force around you; let it into you and to mix with your being. Your rage and hatred are the point of ignition."
Then, using the power of the Force, the rock flew from her hand and into a giant tree in front of us, exploding the bark of the tree on impact.
"That was merely a trifle, Makaashyya, but a necessary step, learning to control."
With furrowed brow, and full of doubt, I picked up an equally small rock from the ground, and held it in my hand. I focused my thoughts on it, as if trying to bend it to my will. I thought of Syymbacca, of my family, of all the other Wookiees still slaving, and the ones who were probably punished for my escape, all of the rage burned inside of me, and then the rock exploded into dust in my hand. Gethzerion didn't flinch from the powdered rock. She just stood there. I cleared my eyes and saw the look of rage in hers.
"Control, my young apprentice." She spoke with a quiver of restrained anger in her voice. "Even a raging storm is controlled or it would come apart under its own forces. Again," she commanded. I picked up another rock from the ground, half a fist in size, and held it in my hand. I found the same energy that was quickly becoming familiar to me, and focused it from the rock to the tree as if a line of wire were connecting the two. I summoned the same feelings again, quicker than before. Obeying my command, the rock shot from my hand at blinding speed into the tree; it grazed off of the side of the trunk tearing off a section of bark, and ricocheted into the brush.
Gethzerion smiled.
