Disclaimer: I'm a teacher which means that I don't earn much. Please don't sue me. :)
This is the beginning of Part Three... enjoy reading :)
Cassie
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PARS III
CAP. XXXV – The Black Tower
As night fell, the gate of the royal city of the Kingdom of Quentaa opened to allow three riders to pass. They rode in a tight-knit group, disappearing into the night like bolts of lightning. Messengers riding the best horses Chief Growthak's stables could offer streaked past the geysers and headed toward the border with Gotan, keeping the ice-capped mountains to their left in sight, to be certain they were going in the right direction.
They rode hard for hours, not looking back, knowing their orders and mercilessly pushing their horses through the darkness. They were heading for the first Gangarian village where they would change horses, which was still six hours of ride away. It was on the outskirts of the village that they heard the roar issuing from the depths of the world. They rode on, knowing that they had to deliver their news to Gotan, or die trying – but as more and more time passed, it became apparent that perhaps it was going to be so.
The ground shook and their horses jumped, rearing on their hind legs and letting out ear-splitting whinnies which were nothing compared to the noise being emitted by the bowels of the mother Horukaan herself. She seemed to be whining, screaming in terror, ripping apart at her very core, as though her heart was on fire. The messengers have never heard anything like it and they stood paralysed, looking around themselves and drawing their maces, trying to steady the horses despite of the fact the ground beneath them was moving. Thunders erupted before their eyes as they glanced over the night sky, and far away, in the distance, they saw something emerge from the darkness and begin to spread terror wherever it went. Their horses finally managed to throw them off and they rolled across the shaking ground, still holding the reins, to at least keep their horses. The messengers were certain that this was exactly how the end of the world was supposed to look like.
A few hours before dawn they arrived to the village on foot, because their horses managed to run away, and since they wanted to remain alive and to be able to deliver their messages, they had to let them go.
"Most of the horses ran away, Maak Nook," said an elderly blacksmith. "Have you seen…?"
"We have," the first messenger snapped, showing him his girdle bearing the seal of the Chief's Seniors. The blacksmith bowed to him. "Now give us what you have, for we must ride on."
The sun of Cyrron rose with sadness in its eyes, shedding light upon the world and upon the damage made during the night. However, it so seemed that the destructive tornado left the northern parts of the world in peace and Gangar looked the same as ever. The messengers came to the same conclusion when they crossed the border and rode through the Kingdom of Gotan.
The messengers arrived at the gate of the royal city of Gotan in the evening of the twelfth day and the gate was opened for them as soon as they showed their seals. However, when they arrived at the Court, they found that the Lord of Gotan was not there and they were instructed to wait for him. This was an unexpected treat for the messengers, because they were exhausted and they welcomed the chance to relax a little and regain their strength while waiting for the Lord of Gotan. The servants of the Lord ordered a good meal to be prepared for the noble warriors of Gangar and they sat to talk to them.
"Our horses ran off," said one Droddian, who could speak Albinian reasonably well.
In fact, this was how the Chief chose his messengers, apart from all other qualities. In Gangar, and generally among Droddians, an able warrior was never merely a warrior. He was an excellent rider and a daring, brave man in all situations, ready to show his courage and what he was capable of at any time. And in Gangar, to be a messenger was a special honour, for such a man had the trust of the Chief and his respect. Such a man could not be an ordinary warrior.
"We saw fire and thunder and it looked as though the very sword of Rennokh descended from the skies," he went on.
Rennokh was an ancient Droddian deity, referred to as the celestial warrior, the judge of courage and great deeds of a deceased. According to their belief, Rennokh weighed the souls of the deceased to see whether he followed the customs and whether he strived toward being a brave, able warrior and then decided whether to allow him to pass into the other world, which was a land of everlasting bliss.
"His sword spat fire and spread destruction. He is very displeased about something – a cowardly deed must have enraged him; dishonour must have disgusted him, so that he decided to punish those who have enraged him."
It has always been attempted to put religious debates aside, and while the warriors of Gangar spoke about their heavenly warrior with a sword in hand, the Albinians of Gotan spoke about Far-Meh-La, the queen of storm and ruler of mountains, the mother of snow, who spat avalanche on those who tried to destroy her kingdom. According to their belief, she defended her people, the people of Gotan, by snowing hard upon the unworthy, clouding their vision and freezing their limbs with ice, so that they would perish in the depths of her kingdom. She was often shown as a woman with hair made of icicles, wearing a long cloak made of the fur of the legendary bear which lived in the mountain ranges. She carried a staff which was made of ice, with which she she would command the storm and the wind and send them to bury the unworthy in the snow, where their bones would remain preserved in ice, a reminder of what could happen if one crossed her.
"It descended from the clouds," the Chancellor said. When he was a child, he got caught in a storm in the mountains with his family and his little brother got buried in the snow. He grew up fearing the snow queen more than any one. "And though it did not snow, she apparently found another way to punish those who acted against her."
Debates were led and names of gods and goddesses were put aside, for no one could deny that something inexplicable happened, something the people of Horukaan have never seen before. For once the Droddians and the Albinians sat together, ate together and drank, discussing the sword which descended from the skies and the Dark Lord's presence was not necessary to force them to do it.
"Was Korrugen not with you?" the Chancellor asked.
"No," answered one of the messengers from Gangar, drinking his wine. "He was with the emissaries from Quentaa. Or so I believe."
"Has… your Lord spoken about the celestial sword yet?" the other Gangarian messenger asked carefully.
"No," the Chancellor answered a little thoughtfully, putting down his goblet and leaning aback. "The following morning he rode out and he has not come back since then."
"We thought he might know why great Rennokh was so angry with the mortals," the Droddian said. "He knows the way of the sword and he is a warrior of Darkness; he would know why it struck the world."
"Perhaps," said a voice from the doorway.
The ruler of Gotan was standing there and he was obviously heavily armed. Whatever he had been doing, it must have been very important.
Everyone jumped to their feet, bowing their heads. The ruler of Gotan smirked and entered the room. Everyone was aware that he was closely followed by a few people and it was not very hard to guess that those people were his apprentices.
"The power of the Dark side has been unleashed," the Dark Lord said curtly, sweeping away his travelling cloak and pulling down his hood to reveal his pale face. He pointed a finger at the chairs surrounding his and his apprentices sat down without a word. "For the first time since aeons, it spoke again," the Dark Lord said as he sat down himself.
The warriors of Gangar have never heard anything more frightening and now all they could think about was how Gangar was spared of destruction and concluded that the reason for this was their alliance with the Dark Lord. Suddenly they were painfully aware of the importance of this and felt grateful to their Chief who was so persistent in accepting the alliance. The Chancellor and the others merely stared at their Lord with unhidden horror. Gotan was spared, was it not, they thought? Was this… his doing? Is this what he can do? How great is his power?
"You bring me news, warriors of Gangar," the Dark Lord said softly, glancing over them. "Let me hear them."
ooooooooooooooooo
After the meeting the three Sith went to have a walk through the Court gardens. Lord Tammutyen was smoking in silence and all three of them were discussing the latest development of matters, all the while glancing over the night sky.
A gleaming, blue-white star appeared on the sky of Horukaan after the apocalyptic earthquake and tornado ravaged the world. It was smaller than the sun of Luth, but still far bigger and brighter than the other stars.
"Has it just appeared there or has it been there before, only having grown in size and brightness?" Tyananna asked Lady Tarralyanna. "You know a lot about astrology."
"It is impossible to say," Lady Tarralyanna said seriously. "It is not one of the stars I know by name or by their position. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that it might have been a smaller star which was not visible until now, as it has grown."
"Has Master given it a name?" Tyananna asked eagerly.
"Not yet," Lord Tammutyen said.
"Let us play a naming game," Lady Tarralyanna said, still staring at the star. "I will call it… The Avenger. Tammutyen?"
"Hm," Lord Tammutyen mumbled, pulling at his cigar and narrowing his eyes. "I will call it… Doom."
Lady Tarralyanna let out an amused chuckle and the both of them turned to Tyananna, who shook her head. She had no idea what to say.
"Come, come," Lady Tarralyanna said. "It is just a game. Have you not grown weary of all of those human emotions called shame and embarrassment?"
"All right," Tyananna said, looking up again.
It was beautiful, she thought. And to think that it actually showed up right after the tornado ravaged the continent!
"Awakening," she said quietly, looking at the star. The two Sith exchanged glances and then smiled.
"It is a wonderful name," Lady Tarralyanna said. She was clearly impressed.
ooooooooooooooooooo
The following day, after a very eventful training before which Tyananna felt slightly nervous, as this was her first chance to show Lady Tarralyanna and Lord Tammutyen what she learned while they were away, Lady Tarralyanna suggested they should go to the water garden.
"Oh, I do hope this helps," Lady Tarralyanna said, taking a seat in the garden and putting her legs on the rim of the fountain, closing her eyes. "All those streams and lakes and rivers, and they have not considered making a water garden with hot water. Tyananna? Oh, come out, for the Love of Darkness, stop with your shame. Tammutyen is not here and he is not coming."
Tyananna sighed and put away her towel, jumping into the water as soon as she was close enough. Lady Tarralyanna glanced over her with approval.
"I love your tattoo," she said, staring at it. "Was it painful?" She did not seem to be surprised to see that Tyananna had one.
"Not as much as I thought it would be," Tyananna answered, vaguely remembering the feeling. It all seemed so very long ago.
"I can see your body is going back to its natural shape," Lady Tarralyanna went on, nodding at her.
"Meaning?" Tyananna asked, glancing over herself.
"Meaning, that is how your body is supposed to look like when it is well trained," Lady Tarralyanna said.
Tyananna glanced over herself. When she wrote in her diary that her body was transforming, she was not exaggerating. Her figure drastically changed. The period of being thin was obviously over and Tyananna found, as the Dark Lord was now introducing new exercises and new trainings which replaced the old ones, that she was sprouting muscle out of thin air.
"When I was younger, I wanted to look like Tammutyen," Lady Tarralyanna said unexpectedly. "But with time I accepted the fact that no matter what I do I will end up tall and thin."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Well in most cases we inherit the physical constitution from our parents," Tyananna said. "My parents are not tall and so I ended up short as well. But what about your parents? From whom have you inherited your physical constitution, I wonder?"
Lady Tarralyanna glanced over her flat stomach and looked at Tyananna's navel. It was so strange to see a person who did not have a navel, Tyananna thought. It was only then Tyananna noticed that Tarralyanna did not have a single hair on her body except those which grew on her head. She winced. That is not normal, she thought.
"I have asked myself that question millions of times," Lady Tarralyanna said. "And I am afraid I do not have an answer. I only know what Master told me."
"Do you think," Tyananna said carefully, "that there are people out there, living on other planets? Do you think that… perhaps you are one of them?"
"That, Tyananna," Lady Tarralyanna said with a secretive smile, "seems to be the best possible explanation and I myself arrived to that conclusion several years ago. But I have earned myself a rather romantic name. The Daughter of the Stars?"
"Ooh, so that is what it means," Tyananna said, nodding and connecting Sith words in her mind. "So, the second word means 'daughter'. It is so rarely used that I have never come across it."
"It turns out that we know very little Sith," Lady Tarralyanna said. "All we know is what we use every day, what we have read in books. But Master speaks it like his mother tongue, having spent years with his Master, who originally taught him Sith. His vocabulary is much richer than ours and he still corrects us. I wonder… what does your name mean?"
"Certainly I am not a daughter of anyone who matters," Tyananna muttered.
"Parents are irrelevant," Tarralyanna said, waving off. "What matters is our work here, our knowledge and our skills. Tammutyen has no idea who his parents are. Once he was very curious about them but I do not think they crossed his mind during the last ten years. He was too busy, see."
The door opened and Tyananna reached out quickly for her towel, throwing it over herself. Lord Tammutyen's head appeared in the doorway.
"I am not looking," he said, having his eyes closed and Lady Tarralyanna laughed at his courtesy, whereas Tyananna stopped trying to pull her small towel over all of the important parts of her body.
"Master sent me," he said. "He says you should get dressed as soon as you are done here. He is taking us somewhere after lunch."
"On horseback?" Lady Tarralyanna asked, who was still sore due to all that riding.
"Yes," Tammutyen answered, still having his eyes closed. "He also said you should take something warm to sleep in with you."
"All right," Lady Tarralyanna said. "Shall we eat together, then?"
"If you can hear my thoughts," answered the grumpy voice of Lord Tammutyen, who was still not as good at this skill as Lady Tarralyanna was, "then why do you ask?"
"Because of Tyananna," Tarralyanna said simply, ignoring the jealousy in his voice. "We shall see you later then."
Lord Tammutyen's head disappeared with a growl and the door snapped close behind him. Tyananna looked at Lady Tarralyanna, who was picking at one of her tattoos which was ruined by a nasty scar.
"Those details will be hard to reproduce," she muttered, annoyed.
Tyananna stared at her scar.
"Battle?" she asked.
"Some stupid guard who fancied he could throw knives like Tammutyen," Lady Tarralyanna answered angrily. "I killed him of course, but not before he wounded me."
"How many have you killed in Quentaa?" Tyananna asked, as though this never occurred to her.
"Who knows?" Tarralyanna asked rhetorically, her expression darkening. "Tammutyen kept the count. He likes to do that sort of a thing, you see. I was only glad to be done with it, to go through the whole list. I more enjoyed setting up plots and having the King resolve them, while Tammutyen kept himself busy with hunting."
"But I should say around fifty," Lady Tarralyanna said, furrowing her brow. "Enemies, that is. Traitors. I do not know about the guards, servants and all that. We had to fight our way through, of course."
"I have never killed anyone," Tyananna muttered, staring at her feet and playfully flexing her leg muscles. She never had legs like that before.
"Oh, you will get your chance," Lady Tarralyanna said, apparently thinking that Tyananna was disappointed she never had the chance to do it.
"I am not looking forward to it," Tyananna said firmly.
"Why not?" Lady Tarralyanna asked, surprised. "It is a test of your abilities, of what you have learned, an application of all that in battle. Do you not want to know how far you have gotten?"
"I am sure there are better ways to test that," Tyananna answered moodily. It so seemed that after a long time of agreeing on everything they reached the point of disagreement.
"Of course there are and battle is by no means the ultimate test for your skills," Lady Tarralyanna said. "Because not many can be a match for us. And remembering how you used to fight, you will forgive me when I say that I doubt many Jedi could stand against us either."
Tyananna grimaced, remembering her duel with her. Yes; she would have done so many things differently now. She was certain that she was ten times physically stronger than she used to be and as for her combat skills, they have grown immensely as well. But the Dark side was a perfect tool for battle and duelling using the Dark side and the light side could, in Tyananna's opinion, not be compared. Whereas it seemed that to use the Dark side for healing was challenging to say the least. That was why the Sith mostly relied on potions and other remedies rather than on healing with the Force.
"But it is a very necessary part of your training," Lady Tarralyanna went on. "Because it can give you an idea of what you can do and what you cannot do. Sure, a Sith can be powerful and yet never kill anyone. But Master does not want you to be such a Sith. Just look at what you have been doing every day. He has been forging you into a warrior. And to take a life using the skills you have acquired as his apprentice would give him acknowledgement as a teacher."
"I have not looked at it that way," Tyananna said, staring at her in surprise.
Lady Tarralyanna smiled at her. She omitted to tell Tyananna just how much power she could get out of killing someone, because she thought Tyananna did not want to hear about it just yet.
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Tyananna went to the stables earlier than required to see her new horse and spent half an hour admiring it. It was a tall, sturdy, black stallion, which stared at her from the other side of the stall, its dark eyes twinkling like jewels while it silently followed her with its glance as she walked around. Tyananna brought a few carrots with her to get the horse to like her and quiet stallion ate them, after what it approached the bars of the stall, eyeing her suspiciously, as though wondering what she wanted in exchange for the carrots.
"You know, the way you look at me reminds me of Lord Tammutyen," Tyananna said, frowning. "But I like you nonetheless."
The stallion stood quite still as she started gently petting it, allowing her to do this. Tyananna was surprised when it pushed her hand aside and thrust the snout into her fist, closing its eyes. Apparently the horse recognised Tyananna as its future rider or at least someone it liked.
Mounting the tall stallion proved to be a little difficult for Tyananna, who in the end gave it up and jumped on the horse's back. She was certain that the horse would get a panic attack if she did, but to her surprise, the stallion stood quite still. When they rode down to the courtyard, they noted that the Dark Lord was already sitting in the saddle and was waiting for them.
"Come, my apprentices," he said, nodding at them. He seemed to be very pleased about something. "We shall ride across Gotan and I shall show you what the finger of the Dark side did several nights before."
He spurred his horse through the gate and the three followed. Tyananna was forced to ride at the rear, as Lord Tammutyen and Lady Tarralyanna were constantly pushing around or throwing things at each other, with Tyananna watching them. The Dark Lord did not seem to mind their playing, although Tyananna was certain he could hear them. For a while Tyananna felt a little lonely, sort of singled out, but at the same time she knew they have been friends and lovers since they were children and that it would be quite impossible to expect them to suddenly include a newcomer into their little games and pranks, which were getting more and more cruel as they rode on.
Tyananna focused on her horse instead and watched him trot effortlessly. Lady Tarralyanna told her that it might be a good idea to play with the Dark side from time to time to let the horse know who its rider was. When she asked her whether the horses they all rode were trained to be ridden by the Sith only, Lady Tarralyanna answered that this particular breed of horses showed natural inclination to the Dark side, that they could feel it and that they liked the feeling. Normally this breed of horses was used solely as draught horses and they were not attempted to be ridden by many, as they were notorious for their whimsical nature and proneness to anger.
"I shall call you Nan'Tha," Tyananna whispered in Sith into the horse' ear. She grew to like the quiet, dark-eyed horse, which obediently trotted behind all others. Not once has it declined to obey her. Once or twice Tyananna immersed herself shortly in the Dark side and watched the reaction of the horse. The stallion would sniff and sniff, turning its pretty head toward her and swishing its tail, as though urging her to continue with whatever she was doing, because it liked it. Nan'Tha meant 'silent wind' in Sith, and this was how Tyananna felt about her new pet.
They rode past the many pools of water which were a consequence of the snow melting during the Fiery season. The mountain peaks, however, still glowed with ice, with blinding whiteness which was troubling Tyananna's eyes and soon she pulled the hood over her head and eyes. Her feet barely reached half of her horse's belly, so tall it was, unlike Lady Tarralyanna's, whose long legs hung down the horse's sides.
She looked over at Lord Tammutyen, whose Ptah was resting on his back, his black cloak billowing behind him, his hood turned toward Tarralyanna and his mouth stretched into a very evil grin. Lady Tarralyanna tossed a rock at him, which he easily caught in mid-air and then threw it back at her from behind his back. Tarralyanna laughed as she ducked by lowering herself quickly down the side of her horse and then heaving herself back into the saddle. Amazed, Tyananna wondered when the Dark Lord would teach her to ride like this.
The fresh air was doing wonders for her lungs and she felt slightly dizzy, probably due to the altitude. When they rode to Gotan from the Land of Gnath, they just had to cross the border and ride to the capital town. Tyananna did not have the chance to see the land, except for the northern mountains, which were always the same – covered in snow, high and menacing. But Gotan as she saw it now, was something remarkable.
Due to the fact that snow and ice melted, there were far more lakes and streams in Gotan than usual. There were deep, small ones, looking like gigantic tears, as blue as Lady Tarralyanna's eyes; shallow ones, laced with reed and moss; and then there were bits of land where the soil was so moist that the horses could barely make it through the mud.
The land of Gotan was mostly covered in evergreen trees and shrubbery and the yellow grass, which used to be buried under the snow, was now trying to catch a bit of sunlight. As they rode on, Tyananna could not see any damage which would implicate that the tornado passed that way. Animal life seemed to be waking as well. She saw a few lizards along the way, which lazily gazed at the four Sith and a strange bird of prey which streaked past them so fast Tyananna had no chance to actually see what it looked like.
They rode for perhaps seven hours, after what the Dark Lord finally stopped in a thicket overlooking a beautiful, deep lake covered with a fine film of ice, glittering in the sunlight like thousands of jewels. Tyananna was a little reluctant when she noted that the Sith merely unsaddled their horses and let them go, but she let hers go as well. The horses knew each other from the stable and she hoped that her Nan'Tha would follow the other three when called.
As she and Lady Tarralyanna were busy with lighting a fire, she noticed that Lord Tammutyen was not there. The Dark Lord was sitting not far away from them and was smoking his pipe.
"Oh, he is probably out hunting," Lady Tarralyanna said in an undertone. "He never misses a chance for that."
Indeed very soon they heard a splash coming from the direction of the lake and Tyananna quickly looked at the Dark Lord, who was still smoking, but whose hood now turned toward the lake, an amused smile hovering on his thin lips. She went closer to have a look. Lord Tammutyen was swimming half-naked in the lake and it so seemed that she smashed his way through the ice. The following moment his head disappeared. When he dived out again, spitting out water, his eyes glittering with excitement, he was holding something in his hand. Soon he dragged something on shore what looked like a dead reptile.
"He managed to do it again," Lady Tarralyanna laughed. "He loves reptile meat. But he does not get it very often, as no one seems to be able to catch any reptiles around the Temple. But he also enjoys hunting, as well as eating reptiles."
His hair dripping with icy water, Lord Tammutyen, bare from waist up, dragged the reptile to the fire and there dropped it, glancing over it with satisfaction. Drinking her hot tea, Tyananna wordlessly watched as the broad-shouldered Sith now sat beside the fire to dry his hair, grinning at the both of them and glancing every now and then over his prize. They drank their tea and when the Dark Lord sat down beside them, Tyananna poured a cup for him, which flew out of her hand and landed safely in his outstretched one.
"We have another three days of ride ahead of us," he said, taking a sip. "I believe it is at the sheer border of the Kingdom."
"What is it, my Master?" Lady Tarralyanna asked.
"Do you remember the legend of the Black Tower?" he asked quietly in return.
The three Sith nodded eagerly. Tyananna remembered something of the sort being mentioned in a history book her Master gave her to read.
The Black Tower was the first proof that the other side of the Force actually existed, she remembered what she read in the book. It was built at the end of the First Age and it was sort of a herald of a new age, or as such it was regarded by the Sith of old. It was tall enough for a person to climb for an hour; and from the top, one could see half of the continent, or so the book said. It served as a fort of the Dark side and it was invincible, as whenever someone who was not a Sith tried to approach it would be tossed instantly into the depths of the abyss surrounding the Tower. How did the Tower look like, she wondered? Was there some sort of a description? Well, it was a legend and it was not said whether it was built by a Dark Lord of the Sith or by whom; but the fear-inspiring legend that it was, the book said that no one dared to approach the Tower, whoever built it and whoever lived in it. Its location was also a little uncertain.
"The Black Tower has been rebuilt," the Dark Lord said, a corner of his mouth twitching in an effort not to grin. "And I am taking you to see it."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo
Tooth-shaped cliffs descended down toward the sea level, overlooking a wide, deep lake. The water was dark blue and it did not seem to be moving at all, despite of the size of the lake. The Dark Lord smiled a little as he paused above it, and then began to descend toward it, leading his apprentices along with him. They rode one after one and no matter how many times Tyananna thought that she would fall off her horse, her Nan'Tha walked on, dexterously trying out rocks with his hoof before he stepped on them and not once did he stumble. Tyananna was thrilled with him.
The gleaming surface of the smooth, ominously quiet lake loomed up in sight again and Tyananna had to wonder how big this lake really was, because she could not see the other shore. She gasped as she spotted a broad, black trail which looked as though something huge descended from the skies and hit the ground, skidding across the ground and finally disappearing underwater to form a volcanic island not far away from the shore.
The island stuck out as though it was dropped there; and in the middle of this strange island, through the mist, Tyananna could see something that was cylinder-shaped and black, stretching upwards through the mist. The very sight of it made Tyananna feel faint with dread; but as she delved in the Dark side, she saw it in a different light. It was a fort, a resort, a place of safety and power, a standing proof of the power of the Dark side and there was no mistake about it.
Tyananna could not see the top. It was lost in the mist which dragged lazily and ominously around it. Like the wings of an illusion, it came close, but it could not enter the Tower; for there, she was certain, nothing like an illusion, nothing so despicable, could survive. The Tower was a symbol of the power of the Dark side and was brought into being by the very hands of the Dark side itself.
"It is beautiful, is it not?" the Dark Lord asked as he halted on the shore.
Gloomy moss laced the shore, climbing over rocks eaten off by the teeth of time, ragged and sharp, lying forgotten in their cradle of mud and waste. Even the sun seemed to shun this place.
"All that is powerful and mighty, and truly so," the Dark Lord said, turning to his apprentices in his saddle, "is intimidating. But you are servants of the Dark side – and that power is your power as well."
He led his horse forward by the rein and the three Sith followed his example. They reached the peak of the small peninsula which stretched toward the island and there let their horses go. The Dark Lord looked around and then nodded at the trees behind them.
"We must make a raft," he said curtly.
Lady Tarralyanna nodded and rummaged through her saddle bag as though she expected it. She drew a large hatchet and approached one of the trees, swinging at it without further ado. As soon as Tyananna realised she could use her own M'Hoor to do the same, she joined her.
The Black Tower, in all of its magnificence and horror, was slowly growing before their eyes as they glided across the silent surface of the lake toward it, and Tyananna, who was paddling along with everyone else, stared at it, not noticing what she was doing with her hands. A wide door gaped at them like the mouth of an infernal beast, leading inside the Tower itself. Tyananna jumped off the simplified raft they made in a spectacularly short time and landed on the slippery and smooth surface of the island. It reminded her of the Land of Gnath. As they arrived to the Tower itself, Tyananna asked herself for the thousandth time how this was possible. Who could have built such a thing?
"Not a mortal," the Dark Lord said softly, answering her thoughts. Tyananna gasped as she noted there were red Sith glyphs etched in stone above the entrance to the Tower. It almost looked as though they have been written in blood...
"I am the lurker in shadow;
I am the eyes of Darkness arisen from the depths of the world;
I am the watcher of the world; I am the Eye which sees through lies and deceit,
The Eye, which never closes and never sleeps, but stands guard, sweeping the land with the glance that penetrates all.
I am the Fort of Darkness; I am the sword rising toward the coldness of the eternal night.
Mighty warriors of Darkness, step inside and bare your souls before me;
I shall tell you who you are and what I have seen in the world.
And if you be a foe, beware!
You shall feel my wrath which shall send you to the cradle of filth whence you came."
Tyananna stared at the Dark Lord, who was smiling as he read the words.
"The ancient stone which constitutes the Tower," said the Dark Lord, "issued from the very core of Horukaan. It has not been touched by the hand of a mortal yet. But I daresay it would behave exactly like the stone of the first Black Tower."
"Only a Sith can touch it, enter it, and survive," he said. His eyes were gleaming. "Lift up your hands, my apprentices, and touch it."
Without further ado he placed his hand upon the stone and breathed in deeply with his eyes closed. Lady Tarralyanna came to stand beside him and did the same. Immediately her brow furrowed and she closed her eyes. Lord Tammutyen seemed to be very surprised with what he felt by touching it. Tyananna, on the other hand, approached them tentatively and glanced over the formidable, unnaturally black stone with apprehension. She might have followed the Dark Lord and the Sith Doctrine until now, but this was her test. If she was not a Sith, she would die, and by the sound of it, her death would be everything but pleasant. No one was looking at her. She could easily get on the raft and escape. Nan'Tha was waiting for her and she could ride like the wind.
She glanced over herself. Suddenly she realised what was it that she was actually wearing, as though she spent the last many months in the body of someone else. She was dressed exactly like the three Sith standing beside her with their eyes closed and she was carrying a traditional Sith weapon on her back. She spent the last couple of months in a trance, working hard to meet the high expectations of the Dark Lord, but in this moment everything seemed painfully real.
Everything she said or promised until now, might have all been a lie. But this was a moment of truth.
She lifted her hand; and her whole life flashed before her eyes. Her knighting ceremony, Master Bakku, grinning at her from the front row. Waak, shaking her hand and congratulating her, a new friend. Her parents, seeing her off to the Jedi Temple and crying their hearts out, knowing that they would not see her for a very long time. Her search for the Jalá ore, how she made her sword and successive meditations in harsh weather while travelling. Her teacher scolding her, who would, when she failed at something, adapted the curriculum and what he expected of her according to her performance, unlike the Dark Lord, who did not give up so easily and who could sit and watch her fail hundreds of times. He demanded and he insisted and she could be half-dead by the time he got what he wanted, but he would get it. The time Waak kissed her little before they entered the land of Gnath, which was obviously a sort of goodbye. He might have not known he was about to die, but the both of them felt that something was going to happen. The first time she saw the Dark Lord. She remembered her stomach clenching and a sense of cold dread spreading through and leaving her paralysed. She knew at once he was a Sith Lord.
Her old teacher might have treated her like a failure sometimes, trying to explain things to her which were childishly simple, he used to say. But now she realised that what he had been trying to explain to her was his own idea of how something should be done, of how things have been done by the Jedi for centuries. The Dark Lord never did this. He explained to her how something should be done and then demanded of her to approach the matter in her own way. And when she would explain to him how she would do it, he pushed her hard and without mercy to do it exactly in that manner, to do it her way and to succeed. The word failure simply did not exist in his vocabulary. He never treated her like a child, nor did he ever imply that she was incompetent or stupid, despite of the fact she often felt that way about herself. He would always explain everything patiently to her; but he did not tolerate giving up or letting go. Her own efforts and inhumanly strong will to prove herself to him, not to disappoint him, made her do things for which she was certain she would never be able to do.
Tyananna clenched her teeth and placed her hand on the cold stone. Her place was here, with them, with the Dark Lord, and this was where she would stay.
"Welcome, Tyananna of the Sith," whispered a voice in her head. She checked, but she left her hand where it was, her eyes firmly shut.
"You have come a very long way," whispered the voice, making her shiver. "But you will find that you have been here all the time."
"So I am a Sith," she thought back.
"Yes, rider of Darkness, Flame of Will," said the voice. "You may enter my sacred chambers."
She slowly opened her eyes, lowering her hand by her side and staring at the black stone which was as unmovable and as silent as before. Looking aside, she noted that three pairs of eyes were staring at her.
"Sorry," she said, biting her lip. But inwardly she was beside herself with happiness. "I got a little carried away."
"That is quite all right," Lady Tarralyanna said, smiling at her as the Dark Lord let out an amused chuckle and entered the Tower, closely followed by an excited Lord Tammutyen. Tyananna looked up, trying to see the top of the Tower from there, but it was impossible. The mist was just too thick.
Feeling at peace with herself and with the world around her, she stepped inside and concluded at once that there were no stairs. Instead there was a narrow, winding path leading upward. Lady Tarralyanna started climbing without further ado and Tyananna followed her example. In the beginning she thought that this was a far better way to climb to the top of a tower than to use stairs.
However, fifteen minutes later, her head began to spin and she felt seriously ill. She continued climbing by keeping close to the wall of the Tower and trying not to look down. Half an hour later, bathing in sweat and feeling seriously disoriented, she heard the Dark Lord call to them.
"We will rest here for a moment," he said.
She saw him sit down on the rocky path leading upward and close his eyes. It so seemed that everyone felt that it was for the best to immerse themselves in the Dark side and draw strength from it. Lady Tarralyanna was sitting with her legs crossed, surrounded by the Dark side, her breathing slowly steadying. The Dark Lord was a vortex of the Dark side and before Tyananna managed to focus on herself, she felt her throat go dry at what he was doing.
The ascent went on and on and Tyananna soon gave up on her calculations and stopped trying to fathom out how high the Tower actually was, merely focusing on her climbing. They could have easily used the Dark side in some fashion to climb the Tower, but it so seemed that the Dark Lord did not want them to. And he was there as well, climbing along with them, and whenever he declined to use the Dark side to make his life easier, Tyananna learned, he had a very good reason for doing so.
Her sight blurred, Tyananna noted that Lady Tarralyanna was now using the Dark side to navigate her way and was climbing with her eyes closed, her left hand tracing the side of the wall. Lord Tammutyen was breathing deeply and painfully and to hear him breathe like that was slightly alarming. But then again, Tyananna reckoned she sounded just like him. Knees aching, her stomach tied in a tight knot and ready to empty its contents regardless of what the owner of the stomach was currently doing, Tyananna jumped as she heard the Dark Lord's voice calling to them.
"We have arrived at the top," he announced triumphantly.
She heard a scoffing noise which suggested that the Dark Lord was climbing out. Lady Tarralyanna jumped out after him, whereas Lord Tammutyen chose a bit more crude method of getting out, which meant literally crawling through the opening in the ceiling and sitting down as soon as he was out, throwing his head aback and trying to catch his breath. The Dark Lord did not seem to mind this, thought Tyananna with relief as she slithered out herself, and rolled on the floor beside Tammutyen.
"Why is it…" Tyananna whispered, still breathing deeply, "so dark? I cannot breathe."
"You are not that tired, my apprentice," the Dark Lord said softly. To her surprise, she noted that he was panting as well. "The air is scarce. We have climbed so high that we are in lack of air. And why is it so dark? Come and see for yourself."
Lady Tarralyanna was now sitting, because apparently she felt dizzy after what she saw, but the Dark Lord was standing bolt upright with his hands on his back. Tyananna crawled over to him and sat on her heels, not daring to stand just yet. The Dark Lord watched her with a smile curling his cruel lips and nodded at her. Tyananna looked down – and gasped.
The mist which hovered around the Tower was not visible at all any more. In the direction in which the Dark Lord was facing, lay Horukaan. Green with blue specks; vast blue with gleaming white in the distance; and far, far ahead, she could see the sun of Luth, descending toward the dark line on the horizon. Horukaan glowed, bathing in its last rays before it said farewell to the world and descended into its celestial bed.
"That over there, that vast green, bordering with the ocean, is the Land of Montague," said the Dark Lord, pointing a finger at it. Tyananna felt Lord Tammutyen crawl up to her, put a hand on her shoulder and stare with his mouth open, still breathing as though he ran a marathon.
"Can you see the Aalyan river? It is merely a blue snake, but I daresay you can recognise it by its position. It passes through the Kingdom of Quentaa – that is the green speckled with blue. And that little dot far away, surrounded by the ocean, that is the Empire of Larria."
Tammutyen cursed in Sith and Tyananna agreed with what he was trying to say. This was incredible.
"This is the Black Tower, my apprentices," the Dark Lord said triumphantly. "We are so high we can see most of the First Continent. Do you not remember the poem you read above the entrance? That the Black Tower was the watcher of the world? The Eye which sees all and never sleeps? Well, the Black Tower does not lie."
"You cannot see Strem-Nah," the Dark Lord went on placidly, turning around and facing the other direction, with everyone now turning to look as well. "We left it beneath us. But you can see the Holy Land… Very well indeed."
Beyond the whiteness, which were in fact the northern mountain ranges which have never been explored, resting quietly under clouds which veiled their peaks, there was a gleaming, silent vastness of deep red. There was a flash every now and then which indicated volcanic eruptions, Tyananna concluded. But beyond it? The black horizon melted with the red surface of the volcanic land and was swallowed by the thick veil which glimmered on the horizon, as far as she could see. But now it seemed to Tyananna that the red vastness indeed had an end, because she could see a hint of something blue in the distance. Did Gnath actually border with the ocean? It was very hard to tell, but it certainly seemed that way. A piece of land had to border with an ocean at some point, after all.
Looking up, Tyananna saw a large star the size of a small sun, and she immediately recognised it as the star which made its appearance on the skies of Horukaan after the earthquake and tornado. But here it looked so much different.
"As you know," the Dark Lord said quietly. "Stars are actually suns, although they appear so very small to us. Ignorant people, who know nothing about astrology, call them stars. Thus our new star is a sun as well. Our third sun."
He looked round at Luth, which was now descending gracefully toward the horizon and smiled.
"Its name is Heh'Glah," he said softly. "Or, 'the Herald' in Albinian. And a long time ago it made its appearance on the Horukaan sky, during the First Age. The Sith of old have known it. It has arisen from its sleep once again, to announce the coming of the Age of Darkness."
"It is wonderful," Tyananna whispered, watching it. For her, it represented awakening; for Lady Tarralyanna, an avenger; and for Lord Tammutyen, doom. It was all of that, she realised.
She looked up and for the first time in her life, she saw the night sky, or just the sky, for it was night here all the time, as it really was. The stars did not twinkle here but rather stood unmoving as witnesses of eternity in all of their magnificence and splendour. Here, the truth had a different dimension. Here, it meant rising above the humanness and surpassing it; it meant looking with the eyes of an immortal being, a being which was so high above the planes of humanness (literally) that it could see clearly.
The bit of air which Tyananna's lungs could find to breathe in served as a reminder that there were still things within her which were human, which were mortal, and that even with the mighty hands of the Dark side one could not change the fact that one possessed a mortal body. Not even the Dark Lord, she thought, looking at him. But even though he possessed a body which had to obey certain laws, his soul found ways to make the best out of this prison of flesh and blood and change it and the world around him with the sheer application of his will and power.
Tyananna realised that becoming a Sith, embarking on this journey of being forged into one, could not be compared to anything she ever experienced. She could not blame the Jedi for their ignorance; and for her they were no longer standing on the wrong side. They were merely… beneath them. Down there, somewhere beyond the mines of Mangora, where the Temple was, they lived their small lives and bowed their heads before mortality. Her dare and her cheeky presumption that she could become so much more took her this far. It was her insolence that gave her the courage to reach out for this eternity, for this inhumanness, and try to claim it. And contrary to what she might have thought, the eternity did not slap her on the hand for asking for it. Quite on the contrary. It stretched out its own hand to her and helped her to her feet, gave her a new pair of eyes and a new heart, so that she could live again and see clearly and be born anew from the swamp of her mistakes and the principles and ideals inflicted upon her by the Jedi.
In the end, it did not matter how one called the path she found, because it was hers and it felt right to follow it. How could it be wrong, if it felt so right?