Padme felt that she was rapidly progressing.
Progressing much faster than she normally did.
She ran through the mountains, making her way down and over towards the sprawling jungles and swamps, with her weighted gear pressing down on her, leaping and diving with brisk grace over the foliage and tree roots growing throughout the mountain range.
Now, she was able to detach herself from pride, ego, and the emotions both brought to bear.
She felt light, completely relaxed, finally open to experience the full flow of the force. When Cadus threw thousands of stones over her head and towards her, Padme reacted instantly, and with a flash she sliced the stones into dozens of white hot pieces before they fell to the ground.
Cadus smiled, nodding his approval. "You're moving much faster and staying calm. You can feel the force and allow the force to flow through you."
Padme sensed something dangerous, something evil.
"Something's not right...I feel danger...The sensation of death."
She looked around her, trying to see what it was that emitted so powerful of a dark aura, and as she turned she saw huge, tangled trees with debris from the battle over Naboo from nearly two decades ago, all lying on the ground their bark and interiors soaked slick to the touch.
The base of the trees were surrounded by a large pool of water that lead to the river nearby, where the gigantic roots had grown to form the opening to a dark sinister cave.
All around the expanse was debris from Trade Federation tanks, Naboo tanks, and droids.
Transfixed on the monolith of darkness, Padme could only stare at what she could consider a dark monstrosity.
Breathing hard, she found herself unable to speak.
"That's why we took the detour today..."
Padme wiped the sweat from her forehead, sighing softly.
Cadus sat on the ground, calmly looking at Padme.
Padme shivered, gazing at the gnarled trees that seemed to grow out the watery swamp. "I feel cold."
"Strong with the dark side of the force. Evil happened here and lingers here now. When the Trade Federation invaded and we made our stand, this was where one of the bloodiest battles were fought...The Naboo and Gungan cleared out what debris they could and buried who they could...Into this, you must go."
Padme felt a tremor of apprehension, knowing what had taken place here.
She had assisted in the clean up.
"What's in there?"
"Only what you bring."
Padme looked at Cadus a bit warily, and then turned her focus back at the swamp and the trees. She silently resolved to take her courage and step within that darkness to face whatever it was that awaited her.
She would bring her light-saber.
Igniting her weapon, Padme stepped through the shallow waters of the pond, moving into the swamp toward the dark openings between those gnarled and tangled roots.
Cadus's voice stopped her.
"You won't need your weapon, Padme."
Padme paused to look at the trees, the debris, where thousands of bodies had once been piled and scattered, and lastly she looked at the expanding swamp.
Go into that dark place completely unarmed?
As skilled as she was becoming, Padme did not feel quite comfortable to do that.
She gripped her saber tighter and shook her head.
Cadus only closed his eyes and crossed his arms, sitting on the ground patiently.
Taking a deep breath, Padme cautiously stepped deeper into the swamp, until she could make her way into the tree caves. The dark inside was so thick and unlike anything Padme had ever felt, even on other worlds where the suns wouldn't shine longer than six hours.
It felt like it was right against her skin, it was on her eyes, it was on her tongue, her hair, so black that the light thrown by her light-saber was quickly absorbed and illuminated scarcely more than five feet in front of her. As she moved forward, dripping vegetation, moldy wood, and roots brushed against her face. and the moisture from the soggy environment began to seep through her boots and her clothes.
She pushed through the darkness, her eyes growing more accustomed to the near pitch black. She saw what appeared to be a jagged corridor before her, but as she moved toward it, she was surprised by the sensation of something thick and sticky trying to envelope her.
Like the web of some gigantic spider, or the tentacle of something fearsome...
It was like something was being oozed out like a sticky slime to keep her in place.
Slashing at it with her light-saber, Padme managed to disentangle herself to clear a path ahead, and held her saber in front of her, noticing an object on the cave floor. Pointing her light-saber downward, Padme illuminated a black, shiny beetle type of creature.
In an instant, the thing scurried up a slimy wall, borrowing into the moldy wood.
Padme braced herself and ventured deeper into the dark chambers. She felt the space widen, almost expanding with each step she took as she moved forward, using her light-saber as a dim beacon. She didn't strain to see in the darkness, rather she used her hearing, the force, her sense of touch, and her sense of smell.
But, there was no sound or smell at all.
Nothing.
Then, a very loud hiss and maniacal cackle cut through the darkness.
The force flared with malice.
The sound was familiar.
Padme froze where she stood. She had heard that cackle even in her nightmares, it was the cackle of a thing that had once been a shrewd business man.
Out of the darkness-the crimson flame of an ignited light-saber followed its path. In its illumination Padme saw the looming figure of Nute Gunray raising his burning weapon to attack, shadows morphed around the hideous creature, all taking the form of...
Her fellow Naboo.
Prepared by her disciplined and austere training, Padme was ready. She flourished her own light-saber and perfectly deflected the blaster fire at the shadows, and parried the creature's attack. In the same movement, Padme turned to Gunray and, with her mind, spirit, and body completely focused, summoned the force to bear.
Feeling its power rushing within her, Padme arced her blade and brought it crashing on Gunray's head.
With the vicious stroke, the Neimoidian's head was cleaved, rolling from his body.
Both parts of his head crashed to the ground and rolled about the floor with a sticky wet thud.
As Padme watched Gunray's body get completely swallowed up by the darkness, along the Naboo, she looked down at the pieces of Gunray's head that had come to rest directly in front of her feet.
For a moment it was completely still.
Then they cracked in half and split open.
Padme could only watch in shock and horror, the green flesh fell aside, not to reveal the gory insides of his skull, but Padme's own face, looking up at her.
The faces of her handmaidens, alive and dead, and her once more.
Padme jolted, gasping, nearly shrieking utterly horrified at the sight.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the cleaved pieces of head and faces faded away as if they had been a ghostly vision. Padme clenched a hand over her mouth, pressing her hand to her eyes where tears began to fall. She choked back a sob, staring at the dark space where the head and pieces of it had been.
Where she had been, along with her handmaidens.
Her mind reeled, the emotions that raged inside of her were too much to bear.
The whole landscape!
It was all because of the deaths that took place here, the sheer carnage and destruction, the ugly caves, were not some charade, arranged because she had come into the tree carrying a weapon. That had happened because she went into the tree with a weapon.
She wondered if she was really fighting herself, or if she had fallen prey to the temptations of the dark side of the force or maybe Nute Gunray himself.
She might herself become a figure as reviled as Nute Gunray.
Perhaps she already was.
Why had she seen Corde's battered and bloodied face, fresh from the bomb that had taken her life?
She wondered if there might be some even darker meaning behind the unsettling vision.
It was a long time before Padme was able to move, and even longer to move from the deep, dark caves.
Meanwhile, sitting at the entrance, Cadus calmly observed the darkness from where he was, and let out a nearly silent sigh.
Some time later, as dusk crept through the dense foliage of the bog, Cadus and Padme sat in the clearing, Padme's eyes closed, her face at ease.
"You must remember to be calm. Do not attach. Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Through the force you will see many places, you will see many people, feel many different emotions and experience many different experiences, hear and see other thoughts, the future, the past, old friends, old legends, all long gone."
Padme was losing herself as she concentrated on Cadus's words.
"My mind fills with so many images and thoughts. I feel so many emotions."
"Control. You must learn control of what you see. Control of your emotions and mind, knowing which emotions are your own and which are not, and the same with thoughts. To be able to discern. It is not so easy nor quick to be able to accomplish such a thing."
Padme relaxed, and cleared her mind, detaching herself from the images and thoughts. At last there was something, not clear at first. Gradually the image cleared. It seemed to be that of a city, a city that perhaps floated in a billowing white sea.
"I see a city in the clouds." She finally said.
"Bespin in the Anoat System...I see it, too. Do you know anyone there or have friends there? Focus and you will be able to see."
Padme's concentration intensified, and the city in the clouds became much clearer, and as she focused in, she was able to see forms, familiar forms of people she knew.
"I can see them! A Jedi! Jedi! Senators!" Padme exclaimed, eyes shut.
Then a sudden agony, of body and spirit, took hold of her.
There was a scream, there was fear, there was death.
"They will be in pain. They will suffer. Someone will cause it. He is pure evil."
"It is a glimpse of the future you see, perhaps."
The future... Padme thought.
Then the pain she had felt had not yet been inflicted on her friends or the people she was close to.
So perhaps the future was not unchangeable?
"Will they die? Who is it?" Padme asked.
Cadus shrugged gently. "The future is difficult to see. Perhaps it isn't even the future."
Padme opened her eyes again, and turned to look at Cadus.
"Somebody who is a close friend of mine is going to be attacked and they are Jedi. Jedi and Senators are with them. That narrows it down. There are many with whoever it is, but none of them escape...Someone attacks them. It is bad, Master...I haven't felt such a wicked presence before even when Naboo was being threatened."
"It could be a ploy to lure you or someone into a trap. From your expression I imagine it must have been brutal and barbaric."
His words stopped Padme cold, and she sat on the ground, feeling a shroud of uncertainty envelope her.
Cadus took note of Padme's distress, and as he watched his student, hundreds of stones appeared behind the Jedi and noiselessly shot through the air to attack her from behind.
Instantly Padme turned to face them, one hand open, rupturing with the force. The stones sought one pressure point after the next, rocketing and looping directly at Padme, but with great skill, she warded off every single one with a deflection or small exertion of the force.
She knocked several of the stones toward the pond.
Later that evening, after she had successfully passed hundreds of her teacher's tests, an exhausted Padme finally fell asleep on the ground.
She slept soundly, tossing here and there.
Padme began to groan and shudder as if in the grip of some horrible nightmare.
Cadus heard the groans and hurried to her side.
Padme awoke from her sleep, moving around as if she were on autopilot before she stopped.
Dazed, she looked around, then saw her teacher worriedly looking down at her.
"I can't keep the vision out of my head."
"You must not attach to it, Padme. Observe it, and let it go." Cadus said, a warning in his tone.
"My friends will die if I don't take action. Jedi will die."
"You don't know that with absolute certainty. Even Yoda cannot see the fate or the end of a single person, let alone the lives of many. None of us know or see such things, not now, and not in the past. Even Revan couldn't see the future with absolute clarity nor did he desire to. Even past powerful Sith struggled to comprehend their lack of not being able to see the future so clearly despite the enormity of their power."
Padme was deeply worried about her friends, and the Jedi, and she was determined to do something if she could.
"If I can help them then I should."
'You're not ready yet to confront Sith nor Jedi. Not even those who are trained by them for five years, you are not ready to confront. You still have much to learn."
"I feel the force. I'm getting better at controlling it." Padme insisted.
"You cannot control it acutely. This is a dangerous stage for all who undertake this training, Padme. You are now most susceptible to the temptations of the dark side. The trees and debris in the swamp. Remember what you experienced in there? The emotions that made you attack?"
Padme remembered it all too well, her own men shooting at her, flanking Gunray, her handmaidens and her own battered faces flashing before her eyes...She felt she had gained a great deal of strength, austere, and understanding in that gripping experience.
"I've learned much because of that, and I'll finish my training. I promise that, Master."
"Whoever does that, wants to lure someone. It may not even be you that the person wants. You are never the single reason why your friend or comrade will suffer or has died, Padme. You are not that important that you are the center of all the woe in the galaxy."
"That is why I must help when the time comes."
"I will not lose you."
"I promise, you won't lose me."
"Only once you are fully trained, with the force flowing through you, with indomitable willpower and resolve, will you be able to conquer and defeat Jedi and Sith. If you allow what you saw to distract you from your training now, if you attach to what you saw, as many do, you will become an agent of your own terror, and the galaxy will be plunged deeper into the abyss of hate and despair. You will manifest the dark side."
"Whoever it is must be stopped. Everything depends on this. I can't be so hasty..." Padme realized.
'You are the first of brave Knights, Padme. You will bring hope to many, and liberate even more in this galaxy when it comes time so they know the joy of freedom. Be patient."
"And, by being patient that means I must sacrifice my friends?" Padme asked incredulously.
"If you honor what they fight for and if you honor them...They would do the very same thing for you."
Great anguish overcame Padme.
She wasn't certain that she could reconcile sacrificing her friend, or a friend sacrificing her with her own feelings. If her friends were in terrible danger, of course she would save them, and she would do everything she possibly could and spare no expense to help them.
But, Cadus thought she was not ready, that she might be too vulnerable to the Sith and Jedi, that she might bring harm to her friends and herself...She could possibly be lost forever on the path of evil. Yet how could she could fear any of this when her friends were real and would soon be suffering?
How could she permit herself to fear possible danger to herself when her friends were going to be in real danger of death?
"Excellent!"
Cadus congratulated as Padme blocked his flurry and countered with one of her own.
She didn't actually score a direct hit, hadn't since her training began, but she did force him to take a full step back under the fury of her assault. Suddenly, Cadus spun rapidly, leaping high in the air, spinning and twisting even faster so he could lash down at Padme completely as he hovered over her.
Padme was ready, switching from offense to defense so smoothly it was just a single action. She parried the blade, even as she ducked out of the way and rolled clear to safety. She spun to face her foe, only to see that Cadus had lowered his weapon, signifying the end of the lesson.
"Excellent Padme. I thought you might be caught off guard by that move, but you were able to anticipate and defend it with perfect form."
Padme basked in her Master's praise, but she was sorry to know the session was over. She was breathing hard, her muscles glistening with sweat and twitching with adrenaline, yet she felt as if she could have continued fighting for hours and hours.
Sparring and drills had become much more than mere physical exertion for her at this point. Each movement, every strike and thrust, every single footstep, and trasition had become an extension of the force acting through the shell of her flesh, blood, and bone body.
She longed to engage Cadus in another duel.
She hungered for the challenge of testing herself against him. But it wasn't time. Not yet. She still wasn't good enough to defeat Jedi or Sith, and until she could take both down, she had to keep her rapidly developing talent hidden from all prying eyes save for her Master.
Cadus tossed her a towel.
Padme was pleased to see that he was sweating, his muscles bulging, though nowhere near as profusely as she was.
"Do you have anything you want me to work on for tomorrow? A new sequence? A new form? A new set of kata? Anything in the esoteric or unconventional department?"
"You're going to be advancing far beyond sequences, kata, and forms. In those last passes you broke off your attacks in the middle of one sequence and came at me from a completely different and unexpected angle, from a different sequence, from a different style at the same time."
"I did that?" Padme was genuinely surprised.
"More than once."
"I...I didn't really mean to or even know that I did."
"That's what made them such devastating moves. You're letting your will and the force guide your blade now. You act without thought or reason. You're always ready, always alert. Your saber has become an extension of you."
Padme couldn't help smiling, but her brow furrowed in contemplation. "I still couldn't get past your defense."
She began trying to re-create the battle in her mind, and no matter what she had tried to do, no matter how fast or powerful her movements had been, it seemed Cadus's weapon was always there to parry, counter, or deflect her attacks.
"Does the ancient and classical style give you an advantage?"
"It does, but not in the way you may believe it does." Cadus replied.
Padme was silent, waiting patiently for further explanation.
After a few seconds her master obliged her.
"As you are already aware, the force is the real key to victory in any confrontation. However, it isn't that simple in a true life or death battle. Someone well trained in light-saber combat can defeat an opponent who is stronger in the force, just as someone well trained in blaster combat can defeat an opponent who is stronger in the force and skilled with a light-saber. The force allows you to anticipate your opponent's moves and counter them with your own, and the more options you have available, the more difficult it is for your foes to predict which will be chosen."
Padme thought she understood. "So the ancient and classical gives you more options?"
"No, but you think they do, so the effect is the same."
For several seconds Padme thought about the strange words, trying to decipher them. In the end she had to admit her loss.
"I still don't understand, Master."
"You know the seven classical styles. You also know the esoteric and unconventional. The classical seven you have used them yourself and you've seen the Jedi as well as certain Sith in this era use them, as well. My two handed grip, with my shoulders relaxed and back, as I balance on the balls of my feet, is unfamiliar to you. You don't fully understand what I can and cannot do because you can't recognize the stance."
From the lack of impatience or exasperation in Cadus's tone, Padme could tell this was something she hadn't been expected to grasp on her own.
"In combat the mind focuses on the blade, rarely can one focus on the surroundings around them and their foe, thus focusing on my stance effectively doubles the number of possibilities I have. However, my style isn't as flashy or acrobatic like some Jedi's forte now, by knowing the location of my foot, you are automatically aware of the location the blade may come from. In actual practice, it can be a little more limited. It can do more damage, it is far more precise, the arcs are cleaner, sharper, and stronger. I have no need for sweeping movements, but I use my hips, waist, and feet, moving my whole body as a single unit behind the blade to change and transition my attacks. Because the ancient and classical are so exacting, strict, and precise few among the Jedi-or even the Sith-understand it. They don't know how to attack or defend effectively against it. That gives those of us who adhere to the ancient way an advantage over most of our opponents. We only want perfection in every single movement we perform, refusing to be off by even a tenth of a millimeter, and reject apathy."
"Like the erratic attacks of the whip!" Padme exclaimed.
She planned to eschew traditional weaponry in favor of the very rare energy whip, just one of the many traits that made her stand out from the other Jedi and Sith of this era. She knew it operated on the same basic principles as the light-saber, but instead of a steady beam, the energy of the crystals was projected in a flexible ribbon that would twist, turn, and snap in response to both her physical motions, her emotions and thoughts, and her use of the force.
"Exactly. The energy whip is far less efficient than any of the light-saber blades. It can't punch through steel or metal walls...It is more flexible though, and very elusive. However, nobody ever practices against the whip, so there are not much techniques devised in dealing with it. You are aware that the confusion at being confronted with the whip gives you an edge."
"So I lose my advantage to you." Padme noted, smiling as she pointed to him.
"Only to a very small degree. You now understand why an exotic weapon or certain, unfamiliar styles will be more difficult to defend against, but until you become an expert in a particular style, in the heat of combat your mind will still struggle to grasp the limitations."
Padme kept pressing, eager to turn this new insight into something practical she could use. "So by studying different styles, I could negate the advantage someone holds over me?"
"Study other styles, master the techniques, and refine your own forte. Your best progress will always come from focusing more on yourself and less on your opponents."
"And, if that is limited?" Padme asked, trying not to get frustrated.
"You call on the force. Knowledge is power. My purpose is to give you that knowledge. It is up to you to turn it into wisdom and to figure out how best to use it."
With those words the he beckoned her to follow after him, heading into the jungle until they'd reach the clearing by the mountains.
Padme remained one step behind, wrestling with the lesson.
The smell of burning ozone blasted through the air, filling Cadus's nostrils as he watched Padme practicing her latest exercises. The entire surrounding area crackled and hissed as she channeled the energy of the force and flung it about the air in great arcing bolts of dark blue lightning.
He stood with Padme at the center of the maelstrom.
A fierce wind swirled around them, tearing at their hair and the folds of their robes. It rocked and shook the trees, knocking branches to the ground and sending their leaves flying in whirlwinds. The air itself was charged with electricity, causing their skin to itch.
In the midst of it all, Padme raised her arms high and launched another blast to rocket into the sky. Each time the lightning flared, the intensity of the flash burned Padme's eyes, but she didn't look away, her eyes were wide and flinty with the rush of power.
The thunder was deafening, and the storm was still building. If Padme wasn't careful, the echoes would reach certain places where civilization prospered, revealing their secret training ground to the rest of Naboo.
Moving carefully, Cadus reached out and gripped her shoulder.
Padme turned her head around to face him, and the stoic calm in her eyes made him smile.
"Very good. That's enough for today!"
Padme nodded and lowered her arms.
Instantly she felt the power of the storm dissipating into nothing.
Within a few seconds it was gone, only leaving the charged air and ozone odor in its wake.
"I've never felt anything like that before." Padme gasped, her face still showing her exhilaration, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
Cadus nodded. "It's a euphoric sensation, but you must be careful not to lose yourself in it and you must maintain control at all times, or you could find yourself swept up in the storm along with your enemies."
They looked around at the electrified air, able to feel the space vibrate.
"Let it come and go. Great power is fleeting. I will keep that in mind."
Most of the those learning this ability could only manage a few bolts at a time, something minuscule at best, but Padme had summoned enough energy to rip at a large portion of the sky. As it stood she summoned enough energy to charge and displace the pockets of air around them.
This wasn't the first time Padme had taken a lesson he had taught her and exceeded his expectations on her first attempt.
Padme was far more strong in the force than he had realized, and she seemed to be growing more so each day and night the training continued. They meditated in silence for a few hours, gathering their breath and allowing the force to reinvigorate them.
By the time they cooled down, and were at total calm, Padme's back and legs ached from the constant bending, jumping, leaping, and running.
She fell on her back, sighing as she gave Cadus a tired smile. "I'm exhausted!"
He made his way over and stepped behind her, placing his large hands on her shoulders, just at the base of her long neck.
He began to massage the muscles, his caress surprisingly gentle for a man so muscular.
"Mmm...That feels divine! Where did you learn to do this?"
"Battling teaches you a lot about aches and pains, but being around healers like Barriss and Luminari teaches you much more." He replied, working his thumbs deep into her shoulder blades while the rest worked into her spinal cord.
She gasped and arched her back, then went slowly limp as her body melted beneath his touch.
He rarely spoke of his life as a Jedi, though over their time together she had been able to piece some of it together. Just the same, she had always been much more guarded with what she revealed about herself as well.
The storm clouds were gathering overhead.
They were completely exposed to the elements, but no matter how wet, hot, sticky, and miserable she felt, Padme knew the drills and challenges would not be canceled.
A little rain was nothing, only water, Cadus was fond of saying.
She found her place amid the vast plains.
Padme began to hammer through her drills. She had studied light-saber combat and the esoteric techniques in excruciating detail over the past weeks, anything she happened to double think now would only cause her to doubt herself, so she focused on her own technique.
In the past she had purposefully worked errors and mistakes into her routines during the drills in order to keep her growing talent hidden from Cadus.
Now, however, the time for secrecy was gone. After the challenge today, she would would know what she was capable of-or she would be unconscious and battered from the attempt of doing so.
The rain began to come down, slowly at first, fat, heavy drops spaced apart enough that she could make out the sound as each one landed, but then the clouds opened up and the rain came in a rapid, unrelenting pounding rhythm, but Padme barely noticed.
She escaped inside herself, digging down deep.
As her body went through the motions of basic attack and defense stances, she slowly gave herself over.
It was impossible to say how long the training session lasted, it seemed to go on forever, but Cadus probably kept it brief in light of the steady downpour soaking them both. By the time it ended they both gathered in the familiar clearing around a body of water in the forest, Padme had turned her piercing concentration into a singular focus.
As she had done the last time she challenged Cadus, she entered the clearing, pushing her way through the vegetation and swamp from her position on the outermost edge. She could feel the force churning inside her, a storm far fiercer than the one pelting down on her from the sky.
All her concentration was pinned on the sharp, quick movements of Cadus's wrists. She had tried to memorize the sequences Cadus used during the drills and sparring contests. Now she was looking for clues that would tip her opponent's hand...
That might reveal which sequence he planned to use to begin the battle.
Padme knew the best course of action was to counterattack and end the battle in the first pass, it was her best chance at victory, but going against Cadus, her odds of correctly anticipating which sequence he would choose were very, very slim.
Cadus raised saber up above his head, bringing it down so fast it was nothing but a blur to the eye, then sprung forward.
The blade came down in a powerful overhead strike that Padme easily parried, but the move was only a feint, setting up a stabbing attack at the right shoulder from the opposite side. Recognizing the maneuver at the last second, Padme could do nothing more than throw herself into a backward roll, clipping the blade by a fraction, narrowly escaping being struck.
Cadus was on her before she got to her feet, the golden blade slicing down in alternating rhythms of attacks.
Left, up, right, down, diagonally from above and below.
Padme blocked, spun, twisted, lunged, and blocked again, turning back the flurries.
She tried a quick leg-sweep, but Cadus anticipated the move and leapt clear, giving Padme just enough time to scramble back.
The next flurry of attacks kept Padme moving in full retreat, but she was able to prevent Cadus from gaining an advantage by giving ground and reverting to using sharp, quick defensive velocities to keep his blade at bay.
She was desperately trying to gain some advantage by watching his moves.
At one moment he seemed to be using the jabs, slashes, thrusts, and looping movements of Juyo, the most aggressive and direct of the seven traditional forms, but in the middle of dozens of sequences he would suddenly shift to the power attacks of Djem So, generating such force that even a blocked strike caused Padme to stagger back, and from there he transitioned into the precise Makashi striking with such precision that she had to scramble back.
Padme leapt forward, bringing the melee with a series of complex, aggressive attacks. She moved quickly, pressing the tempo, using lightning fast footwork to close the gap, though Cadus turned aside her assault easily enough.
In response to the inevitable rush, Cadus shifted himself back with three quick steps, opening the gap. For a brief instant he saw Padme overextend by less than an inch, leaving her right wrist vulnerable to a strike that would have ended the contest right then and there.
Fighting his own acute instincts, Cadus didn't strike the open spot.
The battle continued in the familiar rhythm, the ebb and flow of attack and defense shifted and merged.
Padme made sure her attacks were strong, yet precise, so each time she warded off one of Cadus's charges she quickened her defensive maneuvers, transforming quick parries into crisp, rapid swipes that deflected and swatted the gold bladed saber.
With the surge and swell of each exchange Padme gently prodded with the force, testing and searching for any weakness she could exploit.
It took only a few minutes to realize there was no opening she could exploit.
Despite her training, and being in the Clone Wars, she had no real experience in long, drawn out battles.
Most of her opponents had been in the Senate Rotunda.
Padme took a breath, focusing, clearing herself of fatigue so her strikes became more crisp, her counters more precise, her leaps higher, her footwork faster, and her transitions even more elegant as she slowly, surely began to put herself on even ground.
The fog of exhaustion was rapidly dissipating, and Padme knew it was only a matter of time until she made a crucial miscalculation despite the force empowering her.
She slowly became more and more frustrated as she continually tried and failed to break through his guard.
As the prolonged physical exertion began to take its toll, Padme's swings became controlled as opposed to wild, and calculating instead reckless, until she was focused on defense in an effort to press Cadus, that she realized she may be forced to stay on it.
Cadus waited until the last possible second before unleashing the energy he had bottled up inside him in a tremendous rush of power. He channeled it through his muscles and limbs, moving so fast it seemed as if time had stopped for the rest of the world.
In the blink of an eye he knocked the saber from Padme's hand, striking her forearm, then spun through and brought his saber crashing into her lower leg.
Padme steadied herself and brought her light-saber back into her hand, shifting it, getting a better grip on it.
Then she exploded into motion, coming on again fiercely, her green light-saber flashing and flickering. She kept a better measure of her thrusts and slashes this time, reversing and changing her angles often, turning wide slashes into sudden thrusts.
She tried to press forward more forcefully, but Cadus continued to fend off the strikes, even with her renewed assault, and then her momentum finally got the better of her.
Cadus stepped forward, stabbing high for Padme's throat.
She flourished her green blade in a brilliant display, arcing it for a crisp block, but to her horror, Cadus shifted, turning the stab into a slash, low and across the other way. Padme couldn't get her weapon blade down to block in time, nor could she slide back fast enough.
His blade blade crashed hard into her left thigh, and as she lurched back, buckling, Cadus retracted the blade and stabbed along its original course, digging into her right thigh and smashing into her left shoulder.
Padme stumbled backward, gasping, screaming, tripping and crashing hard against the wall, but even as she fell, Cadus was there, his blade striking the marks of contact thrice for every breath she took. Padme couldn't scream, she could barely move, but she could muster a single slashing attack despite her body jerking and going through spasms.
Cadus stabbed straight ahead, intercepting the green blade, his blade working up and over, then back around with a sudden twist, launching the green light-saber from her grasp.
He went on the offensive immediately, driving the surprised and strained Padme back.
She fought hard to regain her footing, fighting posture, and light-saber, but Cadus was relentless, slashing and stabbing repeatedly, keeping her stumbling backward.
Then he stopped, angling his blade back and up.
Almost on reflex, Padme darted for him, yelling and slashing hard.
Cadus stabbed ahead and slashed out suddenly, intercepting not Padme's green blade, but her arm, at the wrist. Padme's arm flew to the side, her hand still gripping the light-saber, mouth gaping open as the numbing pain traveled all the way to her fingertips.
Padme nearly dropped to the ground, grabbing her arm on reflex.
Cadus looked her over, slowly extending his arm forward. "It isn't over."
"Master..." Padme breathed, straining.
"This isn't even the beginning."
Cadus's blade struck hard into her left shoulder, and as she lurched back, he moved it along its original course, striking her thighs, and below her knees, digging into both. As Padme stumbled backward, tripping and crashing hard against the ground, Cadus was there, his blade blade rolling over and inside her own blade, and with a sudden jerk, he struck her flanks four times in quick succession.
Before Padme could reel, Cadus's hand shot out toward the woman, sending forth a force push as solid as any stone wall, and a burst of blue force lightning, trapping and lifting Padme.
She managed to hold onto her light-saber as she went up into the air, held there by the power of Cadus, and with a wave of his hand, he sent Padme flying across the landscape, to crash into a field of flowers, where she laid, dazed and exhausted.
Soon, she was sound asleep.
Deep in the plains.
Beneath the light of the moons.
They stood.
Padme.
Cadus.
A wind swept across the terrain, but though Cadus had took off his robes to fight bare chested, he shivered nor grimaced from the cool breeze. They might have been statues, still and hard as stone, were it not for the smoldering intensity in their eyes.
They lunged, moving so swiftly it would have been impossible to say which one acted and which reacted. They met with a thunderous crash of their blades. Even as she desperately fought to hold her ground, Padme was studying Cadus carefully.
She was aware of every feint and strike, analyzing and memorizing each block, parry, and counter-strike.
Even if Cadus had said her time would be better spent focusing on improving her own technique, she was determined to negate certain advantages Jedi and Sith had by absorbing all she could from the older man's ancient fighting style in actual practice.
The exchange lasted well over five minutes, with no break or lull in the intensity, until Padme spun away to regroup and put some distance between herself and Cadus. She had sensed her attacks slipping into an unconscious pattern, and predictability was the first and last mistake to make with an opponent as skilled and experienced as Cadus.
She had fallen into similar traps over previous weeks.
She wasn't about to make the mistake again.
The two faced each other once again, motionless.
Over the past three months their training sessions had become more and more frequent and far more intense as well as exacting.
Part of Padme believed Cadus actually found value in sparring against her. He must have grown bored at some point crossing blades with apprentices and Jedi so far beneath his own level. Of course, she had yet to land a telling blow against her Master.
But, each time they sparred she felt as if she was getting closer and closer to landing that telling blow.
Cadus's form and technique were peerless, his attacks crisp and powerful, his blocks strong and jarring, but Padme was aware that the slightest miscue was all the opening she needed regardless of all those respectable feats.
Both were breathing hard.
The session had gone far longer than they expected. Their battles typically ended when Cadus landed a series of scoring blows, disabling her limbs with the nerve wracking scorch of his light-saber or by hurling her up into the air and spinning her until she blacked out.
On this night, however, Cadus had yet to land such telling blows, and she hadn't given him the chance to fling her up into the air upside down. Padme charged forward, and the hum and whoosh of their weapons rang out in a sharp and mordent rhythm.
They stood toe to toe, hammering away at each other, neither giving ground or quarter, countering, hacking, slashing, and stabbing.
Ultimately Padme was forced to disengage, breaking off the melee before Cadus's superior skill and brutal intensity broke down her defenses.
This time it was Cadus who initiated the charge, spurring Padme backward, their sabers rained down, and once again they broke apart after ten straight minutes, with both combatants unscathed from the ferocious exchange.
This time, however, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.
Padme smiled and hung her head, lowering her blade in an admission of defeat.
The last few passes and exchanges she had held Cadus off, but with each swing of her saber she was growing a second slower, fatigue was setting in, and the jolting strikes to her muscles made her keep track of every movement to the point it became a distraction.
Even the force couldn't keep her muscles fresh forever, and the seemingly endless duel had finally taken too great a toll.
Cadus, on the other hand, had lost none of his speed, power, or precision. Padme knew she wouldn't get through the next pass, and even if she did, there would an exchange, and the pass after that would bring the battle to an end. It was inevitable, so there was no point in pressing to the point that she actually suffered the pain of getting hit too hard or too much, as it frequently happened during training.
Cadus was surprised at the concession, then nodded in acceptance of the victory.
"You were smart to recognize that the battle was over, but remember I expect you to fight to the very end against me because there is no surrender in actual battle."
"Sometimes the thrill of combat is the fool's prize." Padme replied.
"For only fools allow themselves to be lost and devoured by the thrill."
