Chapter 9
Coruscant was most beautiful by night.
During the day, the silvery buildings shimmered and the endless parade of vehicles wove a tapestry against the blue sky, it was pretty enough. Brimming with a sense of bustling business, life, and activity.
But when the sun set and the skyscrapers' windows sparkled, when the aerial traffic turned to streams of light, the city-planet took on a rich dark enchantment that made it seem less a civilization and more a wondrous thing in its own right.
It was a scene that normally filled Zadrek Kellnu with peace and purpose, and a stroll along the high ledges of the Jedi temple usually soothed her. Tonight, it could not ease the troubles that plagued her mind.
A strange pall had fallen over all of them. Anxiety and grief, dismay and dread, putting tempers on edge. Her fellow Jedi Masters were unsettled and edgy, unable to pinpoint the source of these disturbing feelings.
The Knights, being more prone to action, were petitioning for permission to go and search for their absent brothers. They resented being denied, but such was the way it had to be.
It formed a conundrum that did not seem likely to be resolved. Until they knew more, the Council would not endanger the lives of the Jedi; without sending Jedi to seek answers, they would not soon know more.
Six Jedi Knights lost ... not cleanly to death. To something unutterably foul, unmistakably evil. The last, taken when he was responding to the Council's own summons, carried the additional weight of guilt, for had they not sent for him, he might have been spared.
Kellnu sighed, not looking forward to the unhappy task that awaited her. As the most empathic of the Council, it fell to her to inform the families of the fallen.
True, young ones strong in the Force were removed from their homes, brought here to be properly raised and trained, but they were not barbaric about it. Contact was still permitted, and such ties were encouraged ... not only was it the kind thing to do but it let them keep an eye on families that showed strength in the Force.
Such relationships were not always so smooth. Some families resented the Jedi, were not honored to see their sons and daughters 'snatched' away.
Soon she would have to deal with one of those very families. She would have to tell them that the son they hadn't wished to be parted from would now never return at all.
The brother worried her most. None were more bitter against the Jedi than those who had once been considered, and rejected.
She suspected that his future was bound to the Jedi in some vital but concealed way. How she handled him could affect that role, and she was uncertain as to the best way to proceed.
This curious blankness, this unsettling cloud ... it infiltrated her every thought and mood. As if the combined weight of sorrow upon all the Jedi were coming to rest on her.
Yet through it, thin threads of disquiet wove themselves into a design, whose pattern she could not foresee.
XXX
Anakin had liberated a courier ship, long and narrow and boldly blazoned with the colors of the Republic.
The interior was not really equipped for passengers, consisting mainly of a straight cramped corridor that ran from cockpit to rear, pocked with compartments to hold packages. The crew of two shared a tiny living space tucked behind the cockpit almost as an afterthought.
To further complicate things, most couriers in this sector were Tad'k, a humanoid race that reached five feet at their full growth and were winged and hollow-boned. This meant that the bunks were too small even for Sabeeth, the ceilings were low, and the pilot's seat was more of a perch than a chair.
But it was a fast little ship.
Anakin didn't like to wonder what might have happened to the Tad'k; He hoped they'd flown away from the riots in the city.
He checked the autopilot and nodded in satisfaction, then went to the tiny living area.
Obi-Wan was sitting on his knees beside the bottom bunk pulling the blankets more tightly around Sabeeth's lifeless body, making sure she was warm. Her pale skin looked almost luminous in the dusky light.
"How is she doing?" his Padawan asked.
"She's alive", Obi-Wan answered.
"She'll pull through", Ani said wanting to comfort his master. "I can sit with her if you need to rest."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, thank you, Ani. When will we reach Coruscant?"
"In half a day, I think, the Tad'kian instruments are kind of hard to read. Master, I haven't been able to contact the Council, the transmitter is broken and I can't fix it."
"I'll try to contact them. Why don't you get some rest, Ani."
The boy gratefully curled up in one of the bunks, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could in the limited space. Just a few seconds later he slept.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes, gathering the Force around him. It felt wild and untamed, like Sabeeth. He pushed the thought of her aside and focused.
Master Yoda... Master Windu...?
It felt as he was trying to push his way through a dense cloud. He took a deep breath and tried again. And this time he felt a response.
The cold prickle of sharp teeth... Agony... Violent death...
"No!" He opened his eyes. One of the Council members was dead!
XXX
The hour was late and the night was growing old, yet Zadrek Kellnu still walked the ledges on her solitary vigil, watching the courier ships come and go on late errands.
Most fully-trained Jedi had no physical need for sleep, having honed their bodies to the point where they could get by with a few moments a day of quiet meditation.
But sleep was a mental necessity as well, she knew. A chance for the mind to sort through the cares of the day that couldn't be resolved by waking thought.
There would be no sleep for her tonight. Not with so much to worry about.
The boy, for instance. What was to become of the boy?
They could not turn him loose to go on his merry way; he would be far too vulnerable to their hidden enemy. For his own sake and all of theirs, he had to be properly trained and educated.
Some Knight would simply have to take over for Kenobi in that regard, she thought somberly, walking along the ledge.
Presentiment touched her like the brush of a moth's wing. She pulled her robe more closely around herself as the night seemed to turn colder, and banished her other concerns to analyze the warning.
She shuddered, struck by the sudden knowledge that it was far more urgent, immediate, and personal. Quickening her pace, she turned a corner and stumbled over a body.
V'drin stared up at her, his features agape in horror and agony. The side of his neck was torn away in a ragged wound. Judging by the discoloration of his skin and the stiffness of the body, he'd been there for hours.
How could a Jedi Master have died without her knowing? How could he lay here undetected all that time?
Someone grabbed her from behind.
Mind and body reacted together, silently screaming a warning to the others and drawing a lightsaber that gleamed pearl-white.
No sooner was it lit than it was struck from her grasp, spinning off the edge and vanishing into the city below.
Six-fingered hands slammed onto her shoulders and spun her, sharp nails ripping the cloth of her robe to reveal her throat.
The Bram's face was streaked with dried greenish-brown blood, and strings of gore dangled from his teeth as he snarled at her.
A massive wave of blackness swamped her mind, blotting out psychic sensation. Robbed of her powers, she could not save herself, could only stand as frozen as an ice sculpture as the Bram lowered his jaws toward her neck.
Brilliant amber flared, and Mace Windu's voice boomed, "Kellnu!"
The Sith -- for so she now knew it to be -- shoved her so hard that she struck the waist-high rail and flipped over.
Zadrek Kellnu clutched the top and hung there, feet kicking in open space, unable to use the Force to boost herself back up, as helpless as a child. She saw at an odd angle how the Sith leaped to attack, agile as the best of the Knights.
Mace Windu was a staunch and solid warrior, holding his ground without any of the slick moves or fancy tricks that characterized the fighting style of so many other Jedi. He was a wall, unbreachable and resolute. The Sith's best efforts met with an impenetrable defense.
They moved out of her line of sight, leaving her with only her ears to tell her how the battle was progressing.
Kellnu still sensed nothing. Did those in the temple not know what was happening out here? Her hands slipped and she fell, but caught a lip of stone and found purchase.
The battle ranged back into her view. She saw Windu stagger, not from a physical blow but from the same black wave that had drowned her powers. Now the Sith had more of an advantage and wasted no time taking it.
"I now haff the powers of seven Jedi!" he boasted, driving Windu back with a series of slashes and thrusts. "Soon I vill haff yours too!"
"You will have nothing!"
So saying, Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped from a higher ledge. A beam of violet sprang from his fist. The moment he landed, he bounced on one foot and kicked the startled Sith in the ribs.
"Hey."
Kellnu looked up with a gasp, and saw Anakin Skywalker leaning over the rail, reaching.
"Let me pull you up!" the boy said.
She clasped his hands, sure that she would drag him over and down after her. He strained, then his eyes narrowed in concentration and she felt herself drawn steadily upward by the unseen Force, and deposited safely on the ledge.
Nothing should have been able to stand against the combined assault of Kenobi and Windu, yet the Sith was doing so. Barely, but successfully.
"I'm fine," she told Skywalker, catching her breath. "Help them."
He saluted smartly and dashed into the fray.
The Sith stunned Windu with a punch to the head, would have spitted him if Kenobi hadn't parried for Windu; a backhand swing scorched a line across Kenobi's midsection and would have gutted him if the Jedi hadn't jumped back with such alacrity; he bent with a forearm pressed along the wound, not crying out but agony evident in his expression.
The boy attempted a leaping kick and was batted out of the air; the Sith somersaulted over Skywalker and stabbed downward; the boy rolled and arched into a bow and the yellow lightsaber sank into the stone, leaving a hole. It wedged and he growled, lashing out with a kick that landed between Skywalker's shoulderblades. The boy yelped and rolled.
As the Sith bent over to free his weapon, Kenobi shoved a hand at him and sent him sprawling at Windu's feet. The Jedi Master stepped hard on the Sith's wrist, pinning it, and breaking it by the sound. His lightsaber tumbled over the edge and was gone.
The Sith latched onto Windu's leg with his teeth, shearing through flesh. Bellowing in pain, Windu recoiled and fell on his back, blood not running but spouting.
Springing upright, unarmed but still fast even by their standards, the Sith went after Kenobi with a shriek of purest fury. His razor-sharp talons shredded the Jedi's tunic and severely scratched the skin beneath, the impact made Obi-Wan loose his footing and he stumbled to his knees.
"You killed my voman!" The Sith growled.
"No," a female voice said, faint but stern. "That was me."
His head whipped around, white ponytail flying.
A woman in black was leaning on the wall to support herself, her fair skin even paler than the Bram's.
Kellnu knew her at once, Sabeeth the protégé of a Dark Jedi dismissed from their order. In that moment, in the shadows, she could have been Damon Blake come back to life.
The woman was weak, barley alive, her iron will that radiated from her like heat was the only thing that kept her from falling to the ground.
"Sabeeth, no!" Obi-Wan said through gritted teeth stretching his hands towards the woman as if trying to stop her.
"I impaled her through the heart," Sabeeth continued relentlessly, inching forward. "Watched her crumble away to dust."
"And I freed your prisoners!" Skywalker announced. "Smashed your towers!"
"I vill see you both die," the Sith vowed. He turned and with a lightning quick movement seized Sabeeth and yanked her to him. Her head fell weakly back, leaving her neck exposed and vulnerable.
"Ani!" She thrust out an arm.
The boy threw his unlit lightsaber and it socked firmly into her waiting palm. As the Sith opened his mouth to bite down on her with the speed of a striking snake, she pushed the end beneath his chin and depressed the button.
Emerald light gushed from his open mouth, lit up his skull from the inside, and burst out the top of his head.
He struck out wildly, claw like nails raking at Sabeeth. His eyes were boiling in their sockets, his hair was aflame, and still he lived, still he fought. She lost her hold on the lightsaber and it slid out of his sundered head, leaving a gruesome blackened dripping trail.
Obi-Wan interposed himself as the Sith blindly reached to grapple Sabeeth. The claws found him instead, tearing, drawing blood; the scent of it maddening the Sith further. His claws sank deep into the Jedi's arm, the furnace cavern of his mouth yawed insanely wide.
Sabeeth grasped Obi-Wan's wrist, steadying it. Together, they brought the violet lightsaber up and out, plunging it into the Sith's chest.
Whether he crumbled to dust or burned to ash, Kellnu was never fully sure. The night wind whisked the remains away, leaving just the empty shell of armor and clothing . Sabeeth swayed and would have fallen if not Obi-Wan had caught her. He sank to his knees cradling the woman. Unable to speak he smoothed her hair back from her face, letting his hand linger on her cold skin trying to give her some warmth.
"Obi-Wan..." she whispered. "I-- I..." She closed her eyes, trying to gather some strength.
He traced the curve of her lips with a light finger. "You don't have to say anything, my love. The healers will make you alright and then we can talk."
Her eyes fluttered opened just for a second. "No... it's too late, I can feel it..."
He shook his head. "No! Don't say that, Sabeeth." But he could sense it was true.
Sabeeth felt something warm fall on her lips, she forced her eyes opened again and looked up. Tears glistened in Obi-Wan's eyes. She lifted a hand and gently stroked his cheek. "I love you."
He kissed her one last time then pressed his forehead to hers. Closing is eyes, looking at her through his mind's eye. She shone like a fire, violet- edged black, golden at the heart.
I don't want to loose you, my love...
He heard her take her last breath, felt her heart slow down and finally stop. He felt her spirit leave the body and become one with the Force. For a second everything seemed dark, and he felt utterly alone. Sabeeth...
Then he saw her blazing brighter than any star, the light surrounding him, consuming him. Untamed energy rushed into him. And her voice was like velvet in his mind.
You wont loose me Obi-Wan.
And he knew that it was true.
THE END
XXX
A/N: Don't forgett to read the epilogue. A big thanks to everyone for the feedback. Cheers, mates!