Chapter 8. The Temple

Maul knew that they would need to move his ship to a different location. Somehow someone found them here and he did not wanted to attract more attention. Sitting in his chair, he started up the ship, activating the cloaking device, and took off.

He wanted to be able to stay closer to the cave, where the Temple was located. So he looked at the hologram map on the console, and found a perfect spot to land.

When he landed his ship unnoticed on the terrain floor, he made sure that it was not likely to be discovered by anyone. Also he did not wanted to spend more time in here, as it need it to be. He got out of his seat, grabbed his lightsaber and cloak and walked outside of the ship. He brought forward his Speeder and took off quickly towards the Temple.

On his way to the Temple his mind was racing. He needed to be as far away from her as possible right now. He was getting frustrated and very angry. His emotions were in high alert, and he knew he had to do something about it. He needed to kill someone tonight! He truly craved it. It was like an itch, which he could not scratch. It was driving him mad.

It's been two days on this wretched moon and he hasn't killed anyone, he thought gloomily. Not like her, she massacred all those solders within a couple of minutes. But Maul did not wanted to think about her right now. It still felt very raw and painful. She did hurt him like no one before, not even Master. And this pain he suffered from was fueling his desire to hurt and kill someone tonight.

When Kyra exited her room, she felt it right away that Maul was not on the ship. Not even nearby. She didn't understand that how could he leave her there, without saying anything. Kyra did not know where he was, or what he was up to. It infuriated her and felt that she was getting angry. But on the contrary she did not wanted to be angry with him, because Kyra knew what she did to him earlier; she felt ashamed and wanted to explain to him what really happened. But he was not here and she had to wait until he gets back. She just hoped that he'd be back soon or be back at all.

Maul found a perfect place to hide his speeder. He dismounted the bike and got his binoculars out. Looking through the lenses, he saw a huge cave; similar to the one they were in last night. But the difference was between the two that this one was lit up brightly from the inside and people of all sorts were coming in and out of the cave's mouth.

He was not able to see inside from his point of view, but he knew that somewhere in there was the Temple of the Whills. Maul waited patiently, until the sky grew dark. Then he decided to enter the cave. When he saw no more people coming in or out of the cave, he walked up to it and disappeared inside.

Maul walked through the huge opening and found himself looking at a big and very humble designed temple. The Temple looked like a huge rock jutting out of the caves ground. There were several stone steps in front of the temple, which led up to a narrow opening, where the door was carved out of the rock. Light was emitting through the narrow doorway. Maul walked up the steps quietly. When he reached the doorway he looked inside and saw four men standing in the middle of the temple talking with one another.

When they noticed Maul, the conversation stopped and they all looked at him, the man in a dark cloak who was blocking the doorway. Maul removed his cloak and quickly activated one side of his red lightsaber, and then he just stood there, waiting, his yellow eyes were penetrating into the brightness of the Temple. Two of the men were wearing a brown uniform, which was similar to the ones that attack his ship earlier that day. The other two men looked to be a Jedi. Suddenly one of the brown uniformed man launched at Maul with his metal staff. Maul didn't have to wait to long before the man reached him, and with a sudden spin, he cleanly separated the man's head off of his body. His headless body felt at Mauls feet like a sack of rocks. Then Maul charged inside and reached the other brown uniform man with two quick strides. The man lifted his metal staff up and tried to bring it down on Mauls head. But Maul was much quicker than he was, he duck down in a quick motion and cut through the back of the man's thighs with one swift backstroke. The man gave out a primal scream, when the lightsaber cut into his flesh. Then he was lifted up high into the air by an invisible force and thrown to the far side of the temple, where he hit the wall with such ferocity that his neck snapped in two.

When Maul was finished with the worthless soldiers he focused his full attention on the two Jedi, by pacing front of them, almost in a taunting way.

The Jedi looked at each other then they ran at Maul with full speed simultaneously.

Quickly, Maul activated the other end of his lightsaber. He was ready to fight the Jedi. The two pressed on him hard and fast. Their green colored lightsabers were making contact with Mauls red's. They made a loud sparkly sound. Maul twisted and turned when they attacked on both sides. He was spinning his double-bladed lightsaber as fast as he could. He counterattacked the one on his left and pressed his whole body weight in it. The Jedi lost his balance at the sudden shift and that is when Maul saw the opportunity. He quickly spun around bending at the waist cutting the Jedi in half at the middle of his stomach.

The Jedi eyes grew huge with surprise; his mouth formed a silent o and then his upper body fell completely apart from his legs, falling down onto the ground making a loud thud when it reached the floor.

The remaining Jedi looked at his friend body, which was in two pieces lying on the ground at Mauls feet. He had shock and anger on his young face. Lifting up his lightsaber he charged at Maul with all his strength and anger. He was pushing Maul back for several feet. To Mauls surprise this Jedi was more powerful than the other. Or just pure fear was fueling his movements Maul didn't know. The Jedi suddenly jumped up and almost sliced Mauls face in half, but Maul leaned back, and tried to duck down, but the Jedi saber reached his head faster than he thought and cut one of his horns off of his head in one swift move. Maul roared like a wounded beast. Now the Jedi really pissed him off. He grabbed him with a strong force field and held him up high off the ground. The Jedi couldn't move a muscle. Maul pulled his frozen body closer to him, until they were face to face. He intensified his grip on the Jedi. The terrified Jedi was looking into Mauls yellow eyes, where now they looked almost bright red from the rage he felt at that moment. Then Maul opened his mouth and made a deep growling sound in his throat.

Then he asked the Jedi: " Where are the others?" He growled at him. "Tell me now and your death will be fast and painless, I promise you Jedi scum!"

The Jedi just looked at Maul with big fearful eyes and did not answer.

Then Maul asked him again, but this time with more ferocity in his deep voice.

"Tell me Jedi scum, where are the others!" He growled into the Jedi's face louder this time. But the Jedi did not answer him again. Maul lost his patience. He needed this information now! Suddenly a deep darkness entered the Jedi's mind. It flowed through his head like a dark stormy river. He felt his head was going to explode in any second.

He knew that Maul was in his head searching for information. He tried to resist him, but this dark Sith lord was too strong for him. The Jedi knew that he would die today. The unbearable pain what was inflicted on him grew bigger and bigger. He felt this evil darkness was taking over him completely. He couldn't resist it any longer. He looked into Mauls eyes and saw a sudden surprise on his dark face.

Maul was searching through the Jedi mind. He cut through his barriers with ease. There was so much information, which delighted him even more. The Jedi was an open book to him now; he just had to flip through the pages. Suddenly, he had to stop for a second. There was something here, which surprised him even more. He had to look again to make sure he saw what he saw. It can't be! Maul mind went darker. This thing, what he found, infuriated him to a higher level.

Holding the Jedi still in his force grasp, Maul lunged his lightsaber through the Jedi's heart with rage. Then discarded his dead body by throwing him down at his feet.

Maul quickly turned around and walked out of the Temple. Leaving death and distraction behind. He had to get back to his ship now. He needed to talk with Kyra at once.