Torment 6

Luke shivered in the dark, his sweaty hand clutching the lightsaber. What had been that loud crash that had caused the floor to tremble under his boots? And who had gasped so terribly? He leaned forward slightly, straining his eyes in a vain attempt to see something, anything in the utter darkness. He opened his mouth and then called out uncertainly, worry for his friends filling him. "Han? Leia? Are you all right?"

"I'm here!" Leia replied from the darkness, her voice seeming hollow and far away.

"What the heck was that loud bang?" Han asked, his voice also seeming to come from a great distance.

MAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Would you just shut up?!" Han yelled at Tantalus, annoyed and in a foul mood.

A faint yellow glow appeared and Luke locked his gaze on it, frightened. At the moment he didn't feel much like a Jedi at all. A proper Jedi he knew shouldn't be scared of these other-worldly things, but he never had the full training his Father had been given, only a fast crash-course in the most basic of basics. All together he felt ill prepared and his conscious ate at him, knowing he should be helping in some way. The pale glimmer grew brighter and another soon joined it, than a third. Within a few heartbeats, a whole flock of the weak lights had appeared, hovering at waist height. They formed a wide circle around them, cutting off all avenues of escape. Then with a brilliant red flash that stung his eyes with its ferocity, the lights turned blood red.

Luke gasped in sheer horror when it became clear each red glow was coming from within a human skull that floated in the air, the fire within flickering from the empty eye sockets and nose opening. As he stared at them, the lower jaws flapped up and down madly, the now familiar evil laughter issuing forth. Without thinking of what he was doing, he clung to Mara, terrified. The skulls started zooming around the room in an aimless pattern, a long smoky fire trail in their wake. However horrible, the fire skulls provided a weak illumination that allowed them once again to see their surroundings, if poorly.

"NO! Chewie!" Han screamed and dashed across the large room in a wild panic.

Luke turned his head and spotted the big Wookie lying on the floor, the heavy round chandelier partly on top of him. The circular wooden frame hung around his neck like a bizarre piece of jewelry, too large even for someone of his size. Many of the candles had broken when it had hit the floor and broken bits of wax was scattered everywhere. The busted chain dangled across the Wookie's stomach and continued onto the floor, as still as a dead snake. He started to rush towards his friend, but Jade's arms around his waist held him back. "Chewie! Han, is he all right?"

Han skidded to a stop by his co-pilot's side and knelt down, feeling for a pulse at the fur-covered throat. Leia quickly joined him and she too crouched by Chewbacca.

Luke squirmed in Jade's grasp and shot her a dirty look. "Let go of me!"

"I can't." Jade replied, her grip as effective as if he were chained to a rock. "I have my orders to protect you and you're safer over here than over there. My Master knows what's best for you, Farmboy."

"But Chewie's hurt! I got to help him!" Luke replied as he tried to dig his boot heels into the smooth stone floor to gain more purchase.

"He's dead." Han stated, an oddly blank expression on his face.

"What?" Luke asked, sure he hadn't heard right. He stopped struggling with Jade and waited for Han to repeat what he had just said. "What did you say?"

"He's dead." Han repeated as he slowly rose to his feet, his arms hanging loosely at his sides.

"But he can't be!" Luke protested, panic in his voice. Chewie couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be! Shock gripped him and he just stared at the limp body of his friend. How could he have died without him knowing about it? Certainly he should have felt it, know somehow?

"Well, he is and it's your new buddy's fault!" Han's eyes fell on his discarded blaster; the one Jade had kicked out of his hand earlier. He scrambled towards it and leaped. He landed in a smooth roll and came up on his knees with the energy weapon aimed square at Palpatine. "You're doing this! You killed Chewie!"

The fire skulls grew brighter, the fire pouring from the bottom of the skulls and tongues of flame leaping from their open mouths. There also seemed to be more of them and they zoomed along the room's walls, the loud crackling of the fire audible over the anguish in Han's voice. Luke felt the Dark Side increase in strength and power, the sinister nature of it freezing his blood. With sudden realization he realized this constant bickering was increasing Tantalus's strength. "Han! You have to stop this fighting! You're only egging him on! He wants us to fight each other, can't you see?"

"Yeah, I see all right, Kid. I see you joined your old man on the Dark Side! Maybe you did set this all up. How do I know you weren't scamming us from the beginning?" Han shifted the blaster off Palpatine and onto Luke. "Is that why you're so chummy with them, huh?"

"Han! What are you doing?!" Leia rushed towards the smuggler and gripped his blaster arm, trying to push the muzzle of the weapon away from her brother. "Have you gone crazy?! You can't shoot Luke! He's on our side and he'd never join the Empire!"

"Han, I swear I didn't arrange any of this!" Luke's fear jumped another notch, his pale blue eyes locked on the tiny round opening at the tip of the blaster. He'd never dream that one day Han would be pointing it at him. It was just unbelievable! He struggled to reach for the Jedi calm as Yoda had taught him, but his mind and body was too tense. His nerves were shot and the slightest unexpected sound would send him leaping ten feet into the air. The flame skulls constant cackling broke his concentration and he half feared he'd have a heart attack even at his age. The look of utter lost in his friend's eyes broke his heart, but he also knew it made the smuggler unpredictable. He could do anything in this state of grief, even murder his best friend.

Leia continued to struggle with Han for the blaster, the point of the muzzle swinging wildly all over the place.

The fire in the flying skulls blazed into blinding scarlet bonfires twelve feet tall and then vanished, the fires extinguished in a few seconds. The room was once again flooded with instant night and Luke felt a cold, damp breeze blow across his face. He heard the sound of the blaster discharging an energy bolt, the luminous red beam searing his eyes. Green afterimages danced before him crazily and he blinked frantically several times to clear them away. Someone cried out in pain and then he heard the loud thump of a body falling to the ground.

To be continued…