Chapter Four

Qui-Gon followed Cian through the tunnel. At its end was a large entrance which led into a huge cavern. He stepped inside, stopped and caught his breath.

A vast temple filled the cavern. It was pyramidal in shape and comprised of huge blocks of a glossy black stone. It towered over the floor of the cavern, the apex of it just touching the high ceiling.

Cian moved away from Qui-Gon towards the center of the cavern. She headed towards a smaller version of the base camp. Qui-Gon hesitated for a moment as he gazed at the huge temple, then quickly followed her.

As he made his way towards the camp, he noted the air in the cavern was cold and musty. He could also hear the sound of running water and sharp, strange echoes as if small pieces of rocks were falling somewhere.

Cian had laid Qui-Gon's haversack on the ground. She then removed her mask, took off her cloak and put them on a small table near the tents.

Qui-Gon shrugged the pack of batteries from his shoulders and lowered it to the floor. He took off his goggles and, drawing back his hood, looked around.

"Where's Professor Landru?" he asked.

Cian glanced around. "He's probably in one of the inner chambers. We've explored quite a bit of this place."

"It looks like an ancient Sith temple."

Cian nodded. "That's exactly what it is. Fantastic, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Qui-Gon agreed. "However, I don't think it's wise for you and the professor to be exploring it without the assistance of Jedi Masters."

Cian bristled at his words. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, her voice sharp. "We're capable."

"I meant no disrespect, Mistress Nyal, but to delve into matters of the Sith without the aid of specially trained Jedi could be extremely dangerous."

"I can assure you we're being very careful."

Qui-Gon shook his head. He would pursue this matter later with both her and the professor.

"I would like to see Professor Landru now."

"Yes, of course." Cian turned around and called out Landru's name. Her voice echoed off the walls eerily. There was no answer. Cian called again.

"Perhaps we should look for him," Qui-Gon suggested.

Cian called out again.

"You can stop all that shouting, Cian," a voice said from behind them.

They both turned.

Landru walked towards them from the temple's entrance. He was a white-haired man with watery green eyes. He was coughing and Qui-Gon could see he was also terribly pale.

Landru glared at Qui-Gon. "Who the hell are you?"

Cian stepped in front of Qui-Gon before he could answer.

"Professor, this is Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Knight. He's been sent here by the Republic to see how we're doing."

"We're doing fine," the professor snarled. He gave Qui-Gon a withering stare, his green eyes blazing with barely suppressed fury. "Now, go back where you came from!"

Qui-Gon moved around Cian.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Professor," he said. "I was sent here because the Chancellor is worried. He knows about your illness. And from what I can see I think it best if you and Mistress Nyal returned with me to Coruscant."

"Nonsense!" the professor shouted. Veins stood out on his neck in livid ridges. "I'm fine! You have no right being here. No right! I insist that you leave immediately."

A coughing fit overtook him and he bent over double.


Qui-Gon reached out to him, but the professor danced nimbly away.

"Don't touch me!" he screamed.

Cian ran over to him and gently took his arm.

"Professor Landru, please, don't upset yourself. I'm sure once Master Jinn has heard what we're doing here, he'll understand the importance of our work and leave us in peace."

The professor turned a cold eye on Qui-Gon.

"He doesn't understand anything. He's a Jedi," he sneered. In Landru's mouth the word sounded like a curse.

Cian gently pulled Landru towards his tent.

"Please, Professor," she begged. "Come away. It's been a long day and you must get your rest."

Landru continued to glare at Qui-Gon as Cian lead him away to his tent. She remained inside with him for some time.

Qui-Gon took off his robe and sat down. The professor was obviously very ill, sicker than even the Chancellor had feared. And Qui-Gon was not at all comfortable with the two of them puttering about a Sith temple. Once he returned to the Republic he would contact the Jedi Council and inform them of the discovery. A team of Jedi Investigators, well versed in Sith lore, would be sent to oversee the excavation.

Cian came out of Landru's tent. She sat across from Qui-Gon.

"He's very ill," Qui-Gon stated.

"He's just tired."

Qui-Gon shook his head, his expression grave.

"You know he's been diagnosed with Alvron's Syndrome?"

Cian nodded with a taut jerk of her head.

"The two of you must not remain here. It's not safe."

"You don't understand," Cian said. She looked at him, her eyes pleading. "This is the professor's last chance. His one opportunity for a final legacy, before...." Her voice broke and she looked away to compose herself.

She turned back to Qui-Gon, her gray eyes determined.

"You can't take him away before he's completed his work here. It will kill him."

Qui-Gon spoke quietly, but firmly. "The professor will receive full credit for his discovery. But what's important now is his health and safety. And yours."

"He won't listen to you," she warned.

"Then I'll just have to carry him."

"I won't be a part of this."

"You have no choice," Qui-Gon said. "This expedition is under the jurisdiction of the Archeological and Antiquity Consortium and the AAC is under the jurisdiction of the Chancellor's office. As a representative of the Chancellor, my word is the final one here."

Cian sighed heavily. She looked away from Qui-Gon towards Landru's tent.

"It will break his heart," she whispered.

"And I'm truly sorry, but I've made my decision," Qui-Gon said. "We'll leave for base camp in the morning and contact the Republic. It will take about five days for transport to arrive."

Cian only shrugged, her eyes downcast.

Qui-Gon opened his haversack and pulled out his rations. "Are you hungry?"

Cian lifted her eyes. "Yes, a little."

As Qui-Gon quickly prepared the rations, he asked her what she had been so afraid of outside.

She said nothing for awhile. He waited.

"You'll laugh," she said finally.

"No, I won't," he assured her.

"Ghosts."

"Ghosts?"

She shrugged. "I don't know how else to describe what happened. One night, about a week ago, I was late returning from the base camp. I could feel something watching me, following me. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel it, in the darkness, waiting, hungry." She stopped and shook her head. "I told you it was silly."

"It's not silly. I've felt something ever since I arrived on this planet. A disturbance in the Force. More than likely that was what you felt also."

Cian shook her head. "I don't believe in the Force."

"But you believe in ghosts?" Qui-Gon countered.

"I don't believe in them either," Cian said hotly. "I just don't know what else to call what happened. I'm sure there's some logical explanation for it." She shot him a withering glance. "It was probably just some wild animal."

Qui-Gon said nothing, but he was certain that what Cian had sensed had not been a wild animal. But he could not make her believe what she did not wish to believe.

------

Landru lay on his cot in his tent. He could hear Cian and that cursed Jedi talking. But he wasn't listening to them. He was listening to that other voice, the one which had started speaking to him two weeks ago. That was the day he had found the Sith artifacts.

He had been alone in one of the inner chambers where, quite by accident, he had found a sarcophagus hidden behind the chamber's altar.

Pushing aside the sarcophagus' lid he had found within it a talisman and some scrolls. As he lifted the artifacts out of the crypt, his first thought had been to call Cian and share the discovery with her, but a small, cold Voice had hissed in his mind /Do not call her/.

Instead, Landru had shoved the talisman and scrolls inside his tunic and taken them to his tent. He had kept them hidden the rest of the day.

That night, when Cian was asleep, he had pored over the scrolls. And as he had done so, the Voice in his mind had grown louder and stronger.

The Voice had aided him in translating and reading all of the scrolls. Landru had soon realized that what he had discovered were ancient Sith spells and the talisman was a very powerful Sith amulet.

The following week the Voice had instructed Landru to try one of the smaller spells in the scroll. He had done so, softly chanting the words as his hand clasped the amulet. Soon Landru had sensed the creature he and the Voice had created roaming through the blasted landscape of the night.

Later, Landru had quickly chanted the spell which dissolved the creature, but the damage had been done for that was the night Cian had been late returning from the base camp.

She had run in from the tunnel, her face drawn and pale, her eyes wide and bright. She hadn't told Landru what had happened to her but the Voice inside him had chortled.

A few days later Cian had gone back to the camp for more supplies and, upon her return, had reported to Landru something had attacked the droid they had left at the camp.

Maybe it was some kind of wild animal, she had said, but the look in her eyes told Landru she thought otherwise. She had started wearing her blaster everywhere she went. The Voice had laughed even louder at that.

Now, as Landru lay on his cot, the Voice inside him was no longer laughing. It was screaming and gibbering. It was crying for blood, the blood of the Jedi. For the sight of the Jedi had sent the Voice inside Landru spinning into a paroxysm of rage.

Landru trembled on his cot as the Voice thundered inside his head.

/VENGEANCE/ /VENGEANCE/ /VENGEANCE/

Landru shuddered, the pain in his head like a long drawn out scream. The Voice commanded Landru to retrieve the amulet and the scrolls from under the cot where he had hidden them. He did as he was told.

The Voice roared in his mind /READ IT! /READ THE SPELL!/

Landru trembled. He knew which spell the Voice wanted him to read. It was a spell of possession.

"No," he moaned, "I won't do it."

/READ! READ!/ And pain---red, hot and sharp---whipped through Landru's mind. He groaned and doubled over. He nearly retched, the pain was so bad.

He tumbled to his knees. Then, with trembling fingers, he unrolled the scroll and searched for the spell of possession. When he finally found it, he was clutching the talisman in his hand so tightly its edges had cut into his palm. Blood welled through his fingers.

/READ!/ the Voice roared. Agony lashed through Landru's mind. He sobbed, spittle running down his quivering chin.

His voice breaking, Landru read the ancient words. The Sith amulet pulsed and throbbed and burned against his palm. A dark wind began to blow through his mind. Harsh and foul it tore cruelly at his soul.

/No!/ Landru screamed silently for the Voice inside him would not let him speak. The professor could feel his soul slowly being ripped apart, torn into shuddering, bloody pieces. /Help me! Cian! Help me!/

/TOO LATE! TOO LATE!/ The Voice inside Landru crowed in triumph. /I LIVE! I LIVE!/

And Malus Var, Lord of the Sith, was reborn, and Kom Landru, once holder of the Austian Chair of History at Alderaan University, was no more.

To be continued....