"What happened to me?" Aidia asked.
"You had a little accident, that's all." Evie said, trying not to upset Aidia with her worried expression. "Aidia, how much can you remember from that incident?" Evie asked. She really needed to know if Aidia had shared the same vision that she had...about the day that they were separated.
"It was dad..." Aidia choked out, her voice taking a few minutes to return. "Dad...killed...mom..." She looked up at Evie with questioning eyes. Evie frowned...that was exactly what she had remembered too, and it scared her.
"I think that he's still alive, and he'll stop at nothing to find us." A chill went down her spine. "We'll endanger everyone here if we stay." Evie directed the statement towards Luke who was standing near where the bed was.
"I have always feared the unknown, but I have always known..." Aidia said. "I have never told you this, but I can remember a day when you were elsewhere, and I was left in Dad's charge. Mom was sick from what we later learned was some sort of reaction from poison." Aidia said, there were tears in her eyes. "I saw Dad disposing of that poison." Aidia couldn't speak of the horrors that that brought to mind. "He caught me spying on him, and told me that I was next..." Aidia shivered.
"Why did you never tell me?" Evie asked.
"I didn't want to believe it to be true..." Aidia said... Evie helped Aidia to stand up. She was relieved at the fact that Aidia was alive, but what Aidia confirmed about their father really scared her. She had tried to push it out of her mind as far as she could, but now it resurfaced... and she was horrified... She had spent so long searching for her sister... And now that she had found her, she had put Aidia in more danger than she had been living on Kashyyyk where no one could have found her.
"Now that we are together, we are in more danger than we were if we were separate..." Evie said, chillingly... Evie looked at Aidia, and put her hands over her sister to send healing power to where she was hurt. She sighed... She wondered if she would be putting them in danger if her and her sister stayed... Evie turned back to Aidia and sighed. "Should we risk the chance of putting the only friends we have in danger if we stay?" Evie said, swallowing hard. The sith that was hunting them down had already killed her Jedi master, and she had stumbled upon the burning village when she had returned.
Aidia shook her head. "I sense that these
people mean
a lot to you." Aidia said. She caught a flash of what Evie
was seeing and sighed. "Do you want to take a chance of having
that happen again?" She said, referring to the image of the
burning body that Evie was
seeing.
"I don't want that to happen to anyone ever. But he will hunt us down, no matter where we are. Can we spend our lives running in fear whenever even a whisper of the Sith comes near?" Evie sighed.
"I only hope that maybe we can outlive him." Aidia said. "Perhaps by his death, no more bounty hunters or Sith will be after us."
"You're right, Aidia." Evadne said. "We can't spend our lives running from the unknown. We need to find Luke and tell him of the possible dangers of having us stay here and then ask him what he thinks. We also need to start your training. I know the Force is strong in you, as it is in me. But you have had no formal training. Perhaps Mara would consider helping you." Evadne sighed. "But for now, we need to try to get some rest."
***********************************
Evie and Aidia woke up at the same time. Evie could suddenly sense the presence of some other being that was powerful in the Force... It was a Sith... and he seemed to be within hours of reading where they were. Evie looked at Aidia in horror. She knew that the Sith was coming for them, and they had to be prepared... Aidia frowned. Suddenly Aidia felt a sharp pain as if there was someone that was trying his or her hardest to keep her paralyzed. She tried to move, but found that it was impossible. She looked at Evadne desperately to see if she felt the same power. The look on Evadne's face answered that unasked question.
"What's
happening?" Aidia said. She could tell that Evie was in more
pain than she was. Suddenly it stopped. "What was
that?"
"Someone's here...and he or she knows about us and our father..." Evie's voice was chilling. Aidia didn't quite understand...not being trained in the Force made her not as traceable as Evie...
"We're in trouble..."
Aidia said... Evie knew that they were in trouble as well. She had
sensed a presence rich in the dark side of the
Force...the feel of the one that was sent to seek and destroy...
She looked at Aidia desperately.
"What do we do?
We've already caused Luke and the rest so much
trouble...and now this." Evie's voice trailed off.
"We need to
warn the others and then go back to that ship. Maybe there is
something aboard that ship that will help us conceal where we are.
Unless it is truly too late." Aidia answered. Aidia looked at her
wounds and let Evie touch them...sending healing powers pulsing
through her... "We've got to get back to that ship. I think that there
might be something there that we need to look for. You said that you
found that necklace there... Well there should be a matching one in
there for me. Maybe it will help us decide what to do." Aidia
said as she sighed. She got up off of the bed and walked out
of the room with Evadne. Evie followed Aidia out of the room. She sighed... She
really didn't want
the Sith to find them, but she really didn't want to do much of anything.
She was tired...
Evie walked outside of the temple with her sister. They were back at the crashed ship, searching for anything that they could use to send the sith away...or deflect his powers away from them. She sighed as she looked at Aidia, who was busy with her hand stuck in a crack that she found that looked interesting.
"What have you got there?" Evie asked. Aidia smiled as she pulled out a light saber.
"Did you know about this?" Aidia asked. She studied the saber. It was nicely built and had her name carved into it. The carving looked as if it had been hastily done...as if someone had known that she had Jedi potential, but hadn't had time to give the saber to her...or get her name carved in delicately... She reached in and pulled out another saber of the same make, but it had Evie's name on it. She frowned.
"What is this about?" Evie said as she looked at the saber. Aidia smiled.
"Looks like someone was trying to prepare us." Aidia said. Evie studied the saber. It was of a better make than the one that she was carrying around that her Jedi master had given her. Suddenly she had a flash back of a memory.
FLASHBACK
"Give me that stone, Mommy. I want to put it in mine." Evie said as she studied her 'toy' closely.
"Remember girls that these are
not toys. I don't want you to play with them. They are the weapons
of your people. They are called light sabers." Their mother said
as she handed Evie the emerald that she had requested. Evie looked over at Aidia, who was
building her saber with an Gyth stone. Aidia slipped the Gyth stone
into position and then pressed the button to see if it would work.
Nothing happened. Aidia frowned and threw her saber to the ground...and
then stormed out of the room. Evie
pushed the button on her saber, and nothing happened as well... She
handed the weapon to her mother and ran after her
sister.
END FLASHBACK
"Looks like someone found our sabers and fixed them to work." Evie said.
"Oh my gosh. I remember... I wanted for it to work so bad, but I guess that neither of us was ready to build a saber." Aidia said... Evie took the saber and turned it on. It glowed a bright green, illuminating her face.
"What if it's a trap?" She said as she turned it back off and inspected it. She watched Aidia's mouth gape open.
"It's not, Evie. I sense that it was put there before Mother was murdered." Aidia said, showing her potential in the Force. She sighed. "Well, we'd better get a move on locating out sith before he finds us."
***********************
They could sense him coming just as he could sense their fear as he drew closer. How many years and credits spent searching for them he couldn't even begin to fathom, but time had finally run out for them. For one of the few times in his life that he could remember, he actually smiled.
Evie smiled at Aidia... "Maybe Mom put it there, knowing about the plot against her life?" Evie suggested, but this caused Aidia to frown.
"I don't think Mom was Force sensitive at all. I think that all of our power in the Force comes through our Father. Mom couldn't have known about her death before it happened. She couldn't have known that the Sith would come after us and try to hunt us down." Aidia said.
"You're right, Aidia. Let's not waste any more time pondering about this. We need to prepare ourselves for the confrontation." Evie said.
*******************
He crouched behind a large, fallen log at the tree line and carefully went through his backpack. Finding the macrobinoculars, he zoomed in on the front entrance to the Temple, noticing the massive stone that made up the immense building. Not seeing any movement, he slowly scanned the surrounding area and still no movement was discovered. Moving back to the entranceway with the binoculars, he caught sight of a young man running outside. Obviously he was in a big hurry, which only could mean something important was happening. His curiosity peaked, he continued watching through the macrobinoculars, waiting to see which direction the man was heading. He had plenty of time to finish his job and for now he'd follow behind just to satisfy his curiosity. Reaching deep into the dark side of the Force he found the calm and serenity he needed to keep hidden from the girls.
***************************
Mara made her way to where the girls were and came up behind them, "Evie, Aidia, you here? Luke sent me to help you. He senses great danger and I fear he is right. We must head back to the Temple at once. Someone strong in the dark side is here and I fear they have come for you." She stepped away from the wreckage, coming around to the front and saw the two girls standing there with lightsabers in their hands.
"Good, you have weapons. I hope you know how to use them if the time arises for it. But for now, we must hurry, there isn't much time to lose. We must head back to the Temple to Luke." She waited on the girls to reply knowing time was running out before the darksider would be upon them.
Evie looked at Mara and then over at Aidia. "I know how to use a saber, but Aidia here is untrained. She can only fight in hand-to-hand combat. If there is a way to quickly show her how to use it, she'd be grateful." Evie said to Mara. She frowned, knowing that it had taken her years to master the art of using the saber.
"Let's get out of here." Aidia interjected...
********************
Running silently through the jungle, he quickly ducked behind a large tree. He stood quietly debating on whether to follow the Jedi Luke Skywalker or continue with his original mission. He was having conflicting feelings within the Force he didn't quite understand. He could feel the ones he'd been tracking in one direction. Both were close and both were prime targets near his position. Now, which one to eliminate first.
***********************
"Ok, let's get back to the Temple first and then find Luke to see what can be done next." Mara followed them to the Temple, wanting to keep whatever was out there away from them and use herself as a shield to block any attack from it. They made it to the Temple and started looking for Luke.
*************************
Narrowing his eyes, he judged the distance
between himself and Luke Skywalker. Kneeling down, he casually removed
several items from his backpack. Locking the pieces into place, he
stood back up and leaned against a tree. He had assembled a modified,
long-range blaster rifle with an electronic, infrared scope to his
personal specifications. Bringing the weapon up, he coldly adjusted
the electronic scope and within seconds its crosshairs zoomed in on
Luke Skywalker. Taking a few
precious seconds to sigh lightly, Seth wondered briefly when hunting
down and killing a Jedi had become so pathetically easy and
unexciting. Maybe he would just wound this one and try out some new
torturing techniques, just for fun. Focusing back into the scope,
he readjusted to hit the Jedi's back instead of
his head, then pulled the trigger.
Luke sensed the bullet coming a split second before it struck the tree
next to him.
*****************************
Evie pulled some things out of the cupboard to eat. She frowned at the selection, she wondered if Aidia would eat any of it... Evie herself was quite use to eating whatever she could, and she had tried lots of different entrees from other places...but Aidia had not... She took out some food and set it in front of Aidia.
"Eat up Aidia, I don't know when we'll get another chance to eat." She said as she sat down with some food of her own.
************************************
He swore under his breath in four different
languages as he saw both shots miss its intended victim. His anger
built into pure hatred and revenge, helping fuel the dark side energy
he'd need to kill this one. Suddenly he felt more than saw the ball of
deadly energy coming straight for him. Throwing himself to the side,
it hit a nearby tree and exploded, raining sparks down on top of
him. Forget the torture, he thought
as he pulled himself off the ground. Luke Skywalker had
just sealed his fate by making this hunt more exciting and
challenging.
Slinging his gun and backpack onto his back, he
watched
his prey run deeper into the woods. He stood quietly thinking
until he finally turned back towards the Temple. Running silently
straight across the front of the building, he headed for the back and
waited for the Jedi to appear. It was just a hunch, but he had a
feeling this
was the only place the Jedi could run to for protection. He
crouched
down and waited in the tree line behind the Temple, bringing his
Force sense down so his prey wouldn't be warned ahead of time.
Bringing out the macrobinoculars, he made himself comfortable and,
like a deadly
spider, watched for Luke Skywalker to wander into his web.
***********************************
"I fear that there is someone else here on the planet. I felt a strange presence in the Force... But at the moment it seems to be gone..." Evie's voice trailed off. She watched as Aidia tensed up. "Maybe I should show you really quickly the basics of fighting with the saber." Evie said as she finished up her meal. She waited patiently as Aidia finished hers and cleared both of their spots.
"That would be nice, because I have a feeling that this person who is after us will try to separate us." Aidia said as she grabbed a towel and wiped her hands off. She then watched as Evie showed her a few moves with the saber.
****************************
Everything seemed to move at once in a split
second. He felt Skywalker's presence suddenly emerge within the
Force and he looked through his macrobinoculars. Looking right back at
him was the Jedi himself, then his prey broke into a run towards the
temple. Despite his size, in one quick, fluid motion he was up on
his feet and running towards the Temple with the agility and speed
to match the Jedi's. Locating the
small door, he double-checked for his saber hanging on his belt.
Cautiously he peered inside and entered into a small alcove. He shut
the door quietly behind him and set his backpack into a darkened
corner. Taking the scope off, he removed the blaster rifle from
his shoulder and held it as he peeked around the corner into the
main hallway. Finally he slipped around
the corner and ran down the hall, keeping himself as close as possible
to the cool, stone wall. Without
emotion, he looked around the temple, until he heard the voices of
two girls down at the other end of the hall.
His head jerked up to look towards the noise as he smirked. The hunt was officially over with and the week wasn't even up.