Bridge Over Troubled
Water
Disclaimer: Jedi don't
belong to me, though. King Lucas made 'em. Heh, the Jedi mentioned at the
bottom is mine, as is the slave… Only a prologue, tell me if I should continue
it, please.
It
is a cage of invisible bars, of steel that cannot be felt, cannot be seen, but
still has the icy cold taste of fear attached to it. She was a 'Hand Maiden'. A
Lady-in-Waiting. A slave. Call it whatever you'd like, but she still had no
life of her own unless she wished to die. Perhaps then, then she could be free
from the torture, from the pain of whips and being slammed into the floor, into
the wall. Of burns, slaps, kicks, horrible teasing and hatred. Maybe hatred was
the worst of all. She knew no love, no kindness, no gentle hand to soothe the
burns. Her mind raced, and yet, the slavery seemed to never end. It was now or
never. She would die of insanity or die of pain.
As she picked up the dagger, the one she called
'Master,' the one she disliked so much pulled back the whip as she ran into the
room, sending her body reeling. Rolling backwards, hugging the wall like a
caged animal, she still held the dagger close to her palm, so close she felt
the sensual heat from it, warming her already sweat-soaked palm. Yet her easy,
strong grip never faltered as the gleaming object was held to her throat.
"You hurt me again, I swear I'll
twitch, 'Master'," she hissed through tightly clenched teeth, her heady anger
slipping through the ancient hold on her emotions. She gave the word 'Master'
an ironic, condescending expression in her normally blank servant voice. "You
couldn't stand losing your most productive… Hand Maiden, is it…?" Her breath
came in harsh, sharp gasps, rasping through her raw throat. Her frustration
grew, fueling the hot flames of anger more. This person in front of her was the
one who had nearly killed her, had starved, beaten, raped her before, so many times
before.
Slowly, the master pulled back,
folding the whip in his palms, then dropped it slowly at her feet.
"You win." His hands slowly drifted
to chest height, as he backed up. It seemed so sincere… Slowly, her dust gray
eyes wary, she stood, her body tensed to run. With a small smile, malicious as
it was candy-sweet, he smoothly called the whip to his palm and reeled it out
swiftly, letting it bite deep. Hoping it did.
Before her eyes glazed in the red
haze of pain, he murmured in her ears, "See you tonight." Sharply, the pictures
behind them fell and shattered.
Deep within the Jedi Temple,
hundreds of light years away, a young Jedi Knight woke with a scream…