The sound of chains clanking together
and viciously snapping apart echoed throughout the room. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Zekk
broke free from his restraints, charging full throttle at Karsay with a murderous
bellow. Still holding the chains that
had once kept him bound to the floor, he wrapped them around his knuckles and
flung them at the Dark Jedi.
Sensing Zekk's attack, Karsay had to
divert his attention away from the helpless victim in front of him in order to
defend himself. His divided attention
forced him to loosen his grip on Jaina entirely, sending her plummeting to the
ground and gasping in lungfuls of wonderful fresh air.
Even after seeing Jaina was going to
be all right, Zekk did not stop his attack on Karsay. Blinded by his rage, Zekk dropped the chains and called his
lightsaber from its spot on the other man's waist, to his outstretched
hand. With a snap-hiss of his
own blade, Karsay met Zekk's first strike head on. Swinging like a madman, Zekk forced Karsay to fall back, but with
most of his blows missing wide, he allowed the Dark Jedi to regain his balance
and counter attack.
"I knew you still had that hot temper
of yours," Karsay said in the middle of exchanging thrusts with Zekk.
Zekk spoke through clenched
teeth. "I'm going to finish you off
like I should have years ago,"
"You won't," Karsay said, as he batted
Zekk's blade aside, "because you're just like me. Look at how easily you let your hatred take over." Their lightsabers clashed together, sparks
flying out from the connected blades, Karsay leaned in as close to Zekk as he
dared, then said in a low voice, "you've become me,"
Startled at this revelation, Zekk lost
his concentration, and the force of Karsay's blade drove him to his knees. Knowing he was at a complete disadvantage
from his current position, Zekk did the only thing he could think of. He switched off his lightsaber and quickly
rolled to the side. Karsay's entire
body was focused on driving Zekk's blade out of his hands, making his momentum
carry him forward, and with nothing there to hold him back any longer, he
tumbled to the ground, shutting off his deadly weapon a before he fell on it.
In a matter of seconds, Zekk had
scrambled away from Karsay to the other side of the room. He needed time to think. His palms were so sweaty he could barely
hold on to the handle of his lightsaber. Shaking all over, he felt the truth of Karsay's words piercing through
his mind. You've become me. The words kept repeating themselves over and over in his head. What had he done? Was he really that stupid to think that he could give into his
dark feelings and then be able to walk away from them consequence free? The frightening part of it all was he had
always known that he was different, and no matter how hard he tried he could
never go back to being that naïve street kid who always kept his promises. He had proved today that he was still no
better than he was during his days with the Shadow Academy. He was still full of hate and a monster with
the blood of hundreds perhaps even thousands on his hands.
"Zekk, snap out of it!" A female voice cut into his thoughts.
Forcing himself back to reality, he
saw Karsay stalking towards him. Zekk
did not ignite his blade. He just stood
there, awaiting the fate that he deserved.
Karsay hefted his blade from hand to
hand. "Come now, Zekk, you're making
this too easy for me. Where's the fun
in killing an unarmed opponent?" Karsay
held his blade high in the air. "But
that doesn't mean I won't do it."
At the last possible second, Zekk
ignited his blade, parrying Karsay's near decapitating thrust.
"I knew you wouldn't give up so
easily. You're a coward, not a
quitter."
Zekk bit back a response. He could not afford to lose control again. He was already flirting dangerously close to
the dark side. He let his movements
become defensive, only striking back when he had to.
Annoyance shone on Karsay's face. "I'm tired of these games Zekk," he flung
himself out of the reach of Zekk's lightsaber and unhooked something from his
belt. "I always thought it was a good
idea to have explosives rigged into the Shadow Academy. It helped to keep people in line."
Zekk's eyes widened. "Even you're not that crazy, Karsay,"
"Maybe I am," he flicked a switch on
the object in his hand.
Through a tiny grill speaker on the
control, a mechanical voice said, "self-destruct sequence activated. Awaiting voice authorization to begin
countdown."
Still looking at Zekk, he said into
the control, "Karsay, Xander,"
"Voice authorization confirmed. Self-destruct sequence has been
engaged. Self-destruct will commence in
fifteen minutes."
A deafening alarm blasted throughout
the entire fortress, while a calm recorded voice announced fifteen minutes
until self-destruction.
"Too bad you failed to finish the job
once again, Zekk," Karsay yelled to him over the blaring self-destruct
alarm. Then with a final salute using
the hilt of his lightsaber, he ran to the far wall, placed his right palm
against it, revealing a secret door. Without turning around, Karsay took off into the secret passage, the
invisible door closing behind him.
In one swift motion, Zekk was at
Jaina's side, who was attempting to get up.
"Jaina, you have to get out of here,"
he told her, helping her to her feet.
"No, we have to get out of
here," she said.
"I can't. I have to go after him,"
"Zekk, that's exactly what he wants
you to do,"
"I know that but this is something I
have to do. Look, I don't have time to
stand here and argue this with you. Now
can you please just listen to me for once and do as I tell you?"
Stubbornly, Jaina crossed her arms
over her chest and said nothing.
"Jaina –"
"Ok, fine," she said in an exasperated
tone.
That took him by surprise. He had not expected her to give in so
easily, but was glad that she understood he needed to do this. Alone. He touched her cheek briefly. It
felt cold to the touch, but the colour was starting to return to her face. There were so many things he wanted to tell
her, but could not find the words to say them. So he said nothing, and took one final look at her before charging to
the section of the wall where he had seen Karsay go through. He must have used the force to open it
because Zekk could not see any door release. Reaching out with his mind, he found the panel with little
difficulty. Placing his palm on the
seemingly invisible switch, the door revealed itself. Before it had even slid open all the way, he charged in to the
darkened corridor after Karsay.
Waiting until Zekk had gone through
the door, Jaina raced to the open section of the wall, slipping through just
before the wall closed behind her. Even
in here the self-destruct alarm rang, but it was not nearly as ear splitting.
Zekk had been too distracted to
realize she had just been telling him what he wanted to hear. Jaina had no intention of leaving this place
without him. Besides, he was probably
going to need her help.
Tenal Ka and Jacen had lost precious
minutes on their quest through the jungle. Now they were trying to make up for that lost time by running the rest
of the way as much as they could.
First, they had been attacked by some
of the local wildlife, eager to have Jacen and Tenal Ka as their next
meal. A half dozen group of four legged
sharp-clawed beasts that they had never seen before, had dropped down from the
trees above and ambushed them. The
animals were able to stand on their hind legs for a short while, so at times it
was like fighting a human being who came up to just below their chests. An extremely ferocious human being that
is. After finishing off the last of the
beasts – Jacen with his lightsaber and Tenal Ka with her deadly throwing knives
– they had hurriedly left the area to avoid attracting anymore unwanted visitors.
They came away from that battle
unscathed, but had lost twenty minutes in the process.
A further ten minutes was lost when
Jacen had sunk to his knees, grabbing his throat, before finally blacking out
from the unbearable pain. When he
regained consciousness about five minutes later, he was afraid that when he
reached out to his sister, he would not find her. Through their special bond, he had felt every ounce of the
torture she was going through. He had
never experienced so much pain and terror at once. He knew Jaina was still
alive but it made him recoil to think about the kind of agony she must have had
to endure.
As they rushed through the forest,
Jacen found a new sense of urgency attack his senses. It was not coming from Jaina directly; maybe he was picking up on
Zekk's thoughts, he didn't know. All he
was sure of was that something was definitely wrong, besides the obvious.
A cramp was burning in his side, but
he shut the pain from his mind. Tenal
Ka did not even bother asking him if he wanted to stop. She already knew what his answer would be.
The urgent beeping from his wrist comm
cut through the sounds of the forest. Without slowing down, Jacen answered it. "What is it?" He said,
sounding out of breath.
His younger brother's voice came back
to him. "Jacen, where are you?"
"We ran into some trouble," he
replied, "but we're almost there,"
"We can't wait for you anymore,"
Jacen nearly tripped over an overgrown
vine. "Anakin, that wasn't the plan,"
"You felt it too. She's in trouble, they both are. I can't explain it but I know we have to
go. Now." Anakin signed off before his brother could
argue with him further.
Restraining himself from using some of
the more colourful swear words he had picked up from his father, Jacen kept on
running. He had known all along
something like this would happen.
Even though he did not think it was
humanly possible, he pushed his legs to take him faster.