Chapter Ten
Returning to the Temple on Ossus, Pina had calmed and finally managed to make a decision on what he would do about the existence of Arden and Xendor's Legions of Lettow. "So the great Master Pina has agreed to lead our forces after they make their first attack?" Tiberius asked. "Yes, I don't have a choice anyway," Pina answered. "You are absolutely right, you don't have a choice in the matter.
"However, I will inform you that I don't want you going anywhere just yet. Priam has returned to Coruscant and the others have already been assigned to deal with the Guardians of Breath. Since the others number twelve and the remaining Guardians number twelve, it works out fine, don't you think? Of course not, you'd prefer no violence even on equal grounds if you can," Tiberius mocked.
You have already sown the seeds of your downfall, Tiberius. Only problem is you just don't know it yet Pina thought but didn't say. "Then what would you have me do in the meantime?" he asked aloud. "Stay here and supervise the Temple whilst I set up military modifications so as to be ready for attack," Tiberius answered.
"Is that really necessary?" Pina inquired. "Why not? War is coming, is not? Best to have the modifications and not need them rather than need them and not have them," Tiberius replied.
Pina shrugged and was actually glad he had a chance to lead the Order for a change though he regretted having not taken it when he had the chance. Fourteen years before Arden was born, Pina and Tiberius were both Padawans to a single Master who had nominated Pina to the Council. Jealousy consumed Tiberius' heart and when Pina turned down the offer, he immediately took it. Pina's single greatest mistake then had been to approve him to the nomination and let him grow in his power.
True that Pina would go on to be called the Green Blade by the public and the Wise Youth by the members of the Council of that time and he couldn't be more grateful for that blessing. However, the mission to find the assassin brothers had already corrupted Tiberius' heart beyond all hope of salvation. The power commanded by being a member of the Council at his age had also taken its toll on his sanity and innocence until he was the corrupted fiend that Pina reluctantly served under now. "I can do that easily enough, may I be permitted a private audience with someone I know?" he asked.
"Someone you know, could you be more specific?" Tiberius replied. "A woman, one who owes me a debt for deeds long passed," Pina said. Tiberius only knew one such woman and he nodded his understanding, approving of Pina's request to see her. "Do it for five minutes only though, I don't want you two getting ideas," Tiberius warned.
Five minutes is all I need for an idea to be passed onto her Pina thought silently. When Athena, his requested woman arrived, she immediately asked if the time had come to pay her debt. Fourteen years before Arden Lyn was born, Pina had journeyed as a young Knight to the world of Hippolyte and challenged Queen Athena to a duel in single combat. Because she was challenged in front of her people, she could not deny him and didn't hold back when they actually fought.
However, Pina proved superior after seven consecutive hours of duel in which Hippolyte's body was almost broken beyond all ability to heal. As a result, she was no longer allowed to fight or bears arms of any kind though she remained around Pina as an advice counselor for her people. Ever since the duel, she had been yearning for him to finish what he had started in that duel: her death. The Jedi Code forbid him but he was allowed to keep her around as a friend and eventual concubine.
Only when Patricia entered the picture did Pina begin to attempt to settle down and have a family and Athena was not content that he would intertwine his life with someone else. In fact, she had begged him do so and explained that she was content to be a mere concubine. But her people demanded Athena's status as concubine revoked soon after the marriage and rendered her a maid. Now however, Athena and Pina were simply close friends and when Pina told her that her debt was soon to be settled, it was exciting to her.
"My daughter, Arden Lyn, is husband to the leader of the Legions of Lettow and Tiberius seeks to kill them both for their rebellion against the Order. When we inevitably reach Lettow in our campaign, I want you there beside my daughter and I want you ready to take my spear on her behalf. You do still wish that I finish what I started with the duel all those years ago, don't you?" he added. "With the same amount of heart and passion as I did when I first begged you to give me a quick death," she replied.
"Very well, go to the Legions and if my daughter or anyone ask why you're here then you say that you would like to only say that you're here for your own reasons. Tell Arden nothing of the truth until after you have taken my spear blow for her, remain close to her until then and be ready," he said. "I'll gladly perform this final service to you, my dear friend," she replied, playing with a strand of hair. "Forgive me for having not told you sooner but I must admit that if anyone ever had the potential to take Patricia's place after her death, assuming I could find the strength to move on, you'd have been the one.
"I am sorry that it has taken me until I have reached old age to express the feelings I had for you, not too long after I took you into my care and gave you a new life. Can you ever forgive me that youthful arrogance and delusion?" he asked. "You need not apologize or regret past deeds, I always knew and I always had the same feelings for you," she answered. The two of them shared a gentle, reminiscent kiss that reminded them not of any youthful love but of what might have been.
"I hope that in the netherworld, our souls will meet again so that we can have more time to express this love," he stated. "There is no need to worry about what will happen after death. All that should be mattering to you now is your daughter as she is all that matters to me now," she replied. "Thank you Athena, I will miss you," he said.
"I know," she stated before leaving him to go pack her provisions. Smiling, he was glad that he had been able to count on her all these years. Now that the matter of buying himself more time to prepare the morichro had been granted with her sacrifice, he could worry about his other duties. Where do I begin with execute the tasks that Tiberius has asked of me? he asked himself silently. Deciding to meditate, he figured that he could at least appear to be productive when he wasn't for the present.
"We have many allies who give us strength with each passing day but we still need the side of the Republic in order to secure our victory against the Jedi. Blendri, how well did you do in the Temple simulations on leading armies?" Xendor asked. "Aced it down to the last element except for strategy but I suppose you have that covered for me already," Blendri answered. "Yes, I have that taken care of to the best of my ability but I need a good negotiator which you are," Xendor replied.
"I will see what I can do about persuading the Chancellor to side with us but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. Tiberius has got him bent over like a common whore and persuading him will not be easy if it's even possible," she warned. "I never wanted easy, just the knowledge that it could be done," he said reassuringly. Just then, Arden entered the smithy and Blendri dismissed herself in order to begin preparations for her trip to Coruscant while she sent Cuthallox with the Ossus taskforce.
"What news from the Palawa?" Xendor asked immediately. "They won't be able to help us beyond the bounds of three systems in each direction from Bunduki but they've agreed. Their armies will join us in the coming war and I believe that they may play a big part," Arden answered. She was surprised that he would get down to business so quickly but she probably should have expected it.
With war sure to begin at any time and the future of The Devouring uncertain, the Jedi could attack them at any moment even without the Chancellor's approval. "All that matters is that we are now ready to fight against the Jedi, that much is for sure. If we can get the Republic to join us, we'll be victorious but if not then we will still be able to put up quite a display before the end. As it is, Republic forces will be too weak to join the Jedi by the end of the Devouring even if they win," Xendor said.
"Then why ask them to aid us if that's the case?" Arden asked. "Because even so, the Jedi will have already lost half the battle if the Republic joined us even before fighting started. We could potentially persuade Tiberius to surrender power when this is over. Besides that, I can also persuade Theseus and his remaining Guardians to stand down and end the Devouring altogether," he answered.
"That would be dangerous, to ask them to end it after the Republic has joined us and that's just assuming that the Chancellor agrees," she warned. "Dangerous perhaps but necessary to prove our loyalty to the Republic if it's added into our alliance to destroy the Jedi. Besides, I did intend to dispose of any remaining Guardians of Breath with the Talisman when it was over anyway," he replied. "Spoken like a true Follower of Bogan, I thought we were trying to find out how to destroy it," she said.
"No, spoken like someone who knows that the Kashi Mer Dynasty will need to be first torn down to the foundation and then rebuilt anew. The Guardians of Breath, useful as they have been and much as I'd like to keep them around, are a hindering element of the past. Destroying them means that we will be able to rebuild the Dynasty under a new, stronger image than existed before," he snapped. "Xendor, there is no honor in that; there is no honor in creating a dynasty in that way," she told him.
Then suddenly he let his anger control him and he hissed at her as he spoke with naught but disgust in the hiss. "What do you know about restoring dynasties? Nothing!" he said in that tone. Arden was surprised that he would take his anger out on her and some of the blacksmiths stopped their work.
They were curious to see what would happen but Xendor ordered them to get back on track with making the arsenal that he had demanded to have his armies supplied with. "I'm sorry Arden, I don't know why I said that," he said when he returned to her. "I do: it's the Talisman, I've seen the way you act with it in your possession. You're not eating and you seldom sleep, you don't even meditate anymore.
"You have to fight it Xendor, you have to destroy it before it destroys you," she begged. "Do not tell me what I have to or don't have to do, woman! The Talisman was entrusted to me and me alone for a reason!" he shouted at her. "Listen to yourself, do you know who you sound like?" she asked.
"A King of Kashi Mer, who else?" he replied. "How about fucking Tiberius, sounds better to compare how you presently are to how he always is!" she exclaimed. "Do not compare me to that pitiful little coward who hides in his Temple on Ossus!" he shouted. Then he did the worst thing possible whilst still remaining under the possession of the Talisman: he backhanded Arden in the face.
Giving into her own rage, Arden retaliated by unleashing a punishing volley of Force Lightning which he could not deflect. "You dare strike at me!?" she demanded. Within seconds of receiving the blow, the marks from Xendor's fingers swelled purple on her right cheek and were painful. She stopped short of killing him or knocking him cold at which point, she collapsed and sobbed what she had done.
Tun stopped what he was doing and asked to take her somewhere away from the forge to cool down and recover from what had happened. Arden took his offer and he guided her away from the scene of the fight, an arm wrapped around her for comfort as he did so. Sethul, meanwhile, carried Xendor back up to the room he shared with Arden and saw to his healing from the Lightning. However, both men wondered if the Talisman was trying to divide the Legions in their most desperate hour.
After all, if that was the case, it was doing a damned good job of dividing Arden and Xendor on intentions for the future of the group. When Arden finally managed to put a cold, wet cloth on the purple finger marks that Xendor's slap left on her cheek, she thanked Tun for his help and even hugged him. Then she went up to her room, where Xendor lied next to her and she tried to rest in the hopes of forgetting what had happened or at least putting it aside for the protection of the Legions of Lettow. Why does the Talisman do this sort of thing to people, even people who love each other like Xendor and I love each other? she asked herself quietly.
She knew it wasn't Xendor acting of his own free will, she knew it was the Talisman taking possession of his mind long enough to influence even her to evil action. But the worst thing was that she knew the Talisman had been doing it to Kashi Kings for centuries and doing it well too. She wondered if she could persuade Xendor to hand it to her and see if she could neutralize its power to possess minds. After all, it had so much work on Kashi Mer humans that the spirit trapped in it might not have power over any other humans; it was all a matter of hoping that something could be done to counter it.
Councilman Priam was witness to the arrival of Legionnaire General Blendri to see the Chancellor and he had to admit that he was disappointed that she had come alone. So confident that you can defend yourself against me that you come alone, eh? No matter, I'll rectify that opinion when we're on the battlefield as I know we will be he thought to himself with a smile. When she did arrive, she immediately requested to speak with the Chancellor alone.
Priam knew he would be able to listen to the discussion even without his physical presence being there so he was content to hear it from outside anyway. "Why have you come, Master Blendri?" the Chancellor asked immediately. "I come with news that might shock you down to your core, news of who your true enemy is and it is not the Legions of Lettow. In fact, we want to help you save yourself from the real enemy that is at large even as we speak in this chamber," Blendri answered.
Priam raised an eyebrow in suspicion, wondering if she meant the Jedi or some other force that had yet to present itself. "And what enemy is that?" the Chancellor inquired. "Priam represents it, of course," Blendri replied. "You mean to tell me that the Jedi Order is not to be trusted, what proof do you have of this?" the Chancellor demanded.
Priam smiled, doubting that Blendri could bring up anything that would back up her case. "How about the way Tiberius 'persuaded' you to approve of a taskforce to destroy the Kashi Mer Dynasty? Better yet, how about the time Tiberius lied to you about the threat posed by the Followers of Palawa and massacred many of their people before leaving them to rot on Bunduki? Or how about the time that he went to Vahla and banished the Ember of Vahla, destroying their homeworld in the process?
"What more do I need in the way of evidence to prove that the Jedi are your enemy?" she replied. "I approved of every single one of those actions with my stamp! He has committed no crime with those acts," he snapped. Priam smiled, glad to see that the Chancellor was still talking sense like he should be.
"Yet you uncovered evidence that he had committed perjury in order to persuade you to approve of each action though you never brought it up, did you not? And not only were you so fearful of his power that you didn't bring it up, you also destroyed that evidence," she calmly countered. How the hell does she know about that? Priam asked himself angrily. "The past is the past but I am surprised that you know that however, what happens if I say no to joining?" the Chancellor continued.
Priam calmed, glad to see that the Chancellor was remaining straight in the face of such overwhelming truth being used against him. "Then I'm afraid that I have sixteen thousand troops waiting with orders to destroy Coruscant and help me absorb the assets of the Republic unless you surrender. At most, I sense you only have two thousand Elite Guard to use against us if you did choose to fight against us which wouldn't be wise," Blendri replied. "Sixteen thousand?" the Chancellor asked.
"Yes and we have another force of equal size that we'll be deploying to Ossus in a few days," Blendri answered. No, impossible! There is no way that so many troops could be raked up and used for just two attacks unless there's a deeper purpose to that in Xendor's mind Priam thought. "I take it Xendor wants to emerge victorious with as little bloodshed as possible but with those kinds of odds, why should I join you when it looks like you'll be victorious anyway?" the Chancellor asked.
"Because even with Tiberius gone, there are still those who could take his place like Awdrysta Pina. Thus, even if we destroyed Ossus, we'd still have to fight the Jedi if they chose to keep fighting. But with the Republic on our side, we can persuade Tiberius' successor into a surrender," Blendri explained. Hm, she does bring a good point by saying that and that makes more sense than sending thirty-two thousand troops to two planets for no reason Priam observed silently.
The Chancellor was deep in thought, Priam sensed, and the decision of possibly thousands of lives weighed on him heavily. "My troops are already spread thin from the Devouring, an attack on Coruscant that succeeded would mean the collapse of the Republic. This is an offer that only a madman would refuse, seeing that the Legions will win either way if Coruscant is taken. But my Elite Guard are made up of Jedi Warriors, Sentinels, and Guardians trained to the bone for such things as this.
"Call me madman if you wish but I'll take my chances fighting against your armies and letting you earn the right to wield the military might of the Republic if you can," he said at last. "I warn you one last time Chancellor, do not do this! It'll only mean your ruin when we succeed and a disgraceful end to your existence is insured even if you miraculously succeed somehow," she begged. "Maybe so but I have already chosen my path long before you were born and I will follow it to the end," he said.
Priam smiled and glorified it when the Chancellor told Blendri to take his terms back to Xendor with the addition of a promise that the Republic will do what it could to aid the Jedi. "The Devouring is almost over and we can still fight a war if we have to. Xendor is a traitorous, bloodthirsty warlord and all who associate with him are traitors to the Republic and the Jedi Order," he stated. Blendri calmly left, thanked him for at least seeing her, then left to prepare her troops for the war that was sure to come.
"Priam, I need your help. What can I do to stop a force of that size? I've just condemned my Guards to be dispatched with relative ease and allowed an army to march on my doorstep," the Chancellor demanded of Priam. "On open plains, an army of that magnitude would destroy any simple taskforce like the Elite Guard with relative ease.
However, her cockiness blinds her to that fact and we can use it against her. Let her armies compact at the Okehazama Narrow and then send the full might of the Elite Guard upon them. In those tight corners, her armies will suffer massive casualties before she can kill a few dozen of our troops. What say you to that plan?" Priam replied.
"Only one problem: the Chancellor cannot be allowed to engage in direct battle in case he is killed," the Chancellor said. "Then let me lead the Elite Guard into victory at the Okehazama Narrow. Even if Blendri wasn't bluffing about her numbers, she'll expect me to lead the opposition anyway," Priam suggested. "Do it, take all my forces and go to the Okehazama Narrow and claim victory for the Republic!" the Chancellor exclaimed.
"As you wish," Priam said with a smile and a bow. Ordering for his armor to be donned, Priam had to admit that this was exciting to him. After all, the last time he had worn his armor or used his sword for combat had been to destroy the Kashi Mer Dynasty with Tiberius and Master Pina. Smiling, he felt honored to be participating in one final battle before the end of his life which he felt was fulfilled.
"Give me a good fight, Blendri. I look forward to facing and defeating you on the field of battle like I helped defeat the Kashi Mer before you were born," he said gleefully. "Truly, it will be worthy of celebration when you return victorious from defeating the Legions of Lettow," his servant stated. "No, the true celebration will lie in the defeat of the Legions of Lettow at their home base," Priam replied.