Torment 8

Luke's mouth dropped open, horrified. He had feared this might happen, but to actually have it happen! Slowly he turned around and faced the skull again. It still hovered in the same spot, fire leaping from its eye sockets and leaking from its nose. Defiant, Luke waved a fist at the unworldly thing. "You won't get me! I refuse to give in!"

He felt hands grip his arm tightly and he was hauled away from the floating monstrosity. Turning around, he saw that it was Mara that had his arm.

"Are you just stupid, Farmboy, or are you trying to kill yourself?" Mara muttered, angry with him. "Palpatine ordered me to protect you and that's what I'll do! But don't go near that thing again!"

"I suggest we take cover behind the throne." Vader instructed as he ushered the remaining individuals towards the chair made of skulls. It was the only spot in the room that provided the slightest bit of shelter. "We must stay focused and think of a way to defeat Tantalus. I will form a shield to deflect any energy bolts he flings this way."

Luke squeezed into the narrow gap between the chair and the wall, the doorknob for the tiny room stabbing him painfully in the back. There wasn't much room behind the bone throne and he, Leia and Mara barely fit. Somehow he had gotten squashed between the two women, as they deemed him the intended target for possession. All the good times he had shared with Han and Chewie floated to the forefront of his mind and he grieved silently. If only they had listened to him in the beginning! He had warned them numerous times that the Sith Temple was dangerous!

"There must be some way we can get out of this!" Leia commented as she raked her brain for ideas. "Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Sith and certainly not dead ones…"

"Maybe we only need to get out of this room." Luke said hopefully as he shifted slightly, trying to ease the pain in his back. But however he shifted the doorknob kept stabbing him. "If we could get back into that hallway, we could climb the stairs and get out of here!"

"Yeah, but the last guy that opened that door got bitten and killed." Leia commented as she wiped tears from her eyes.

The massive skull floated closer, the red light from its burning fires visible from the top of the chair. Luke's heart skipped a beat as he realized this hiding place wouldn't last much longer. In fact, it was kind of stupid really. Now the skull had them pinned down with nowhere left to go. Worst, his Father was out in the open, as there wasn't enough room for all of them behind the chair. He had lost enough of his friends today, he certainly didn't want to loose any more.

I WILL WIN AND THERES NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!!!

Tantalus laughed, the evil cackling knocking strings of cobwebs from the ceiling. Leia covered both ears with her hands in a lame attempt to stop the awful sound.

ONE BY ONE YOU WILL ALL DIE AND THEN I'LL HAVE THE ONE I WANT! YOU CANNOT PROTECT HIM FOREVER!!!

"Can't we just chop it up with our lightsabers?" Luke asked, faint hope in his voice.

"If it would be that simple, Son, I would have done it long ago…"

The skull started shooting red beams of energy out of its burning eye sockets. They hit the rounded shield Vader had erected using the Force and they bounced off. But each strike seemed to turn the invisible shield more and more red. Sensing that the shield was failing, Luke tried to join his strength to Vader's, but he wasn't nowhere near that advance in his Force studies yet. In truth, he was lucky if he could levitate things.

A blast got through, shattering the bone throne into tiny fragments, the sharp pieces biting into Luke's skin. He threw up his arms in a vain effort to protect his face from the sharp shards.

ONE OF YOU WILL NOW DIE!!

Mara quickly leaped in front of Luke, shielding him with her body. He was beginning to get tired of hiding behind Jade and felt responsible for the others' deaths. They hung heavily around his neck like boulders dragging him down into a bottomless sea. The need to do something was eating at his soul, but he was unsure of just what he could do against an undead Sith. It seemed hopeless and a no-win scenario…

The skull cackled and tossed another red bolt, this one striking Leia and flinging her across the room.

"Leia! NO!" Luke screamed and he tried to run to his sister, but Mara gripped him tightly around the wrist and hung on for all she was worth. Then Vader moved in and blocked Luke's path.

"There is nothing you can do, Son." Vader informed him in the mechanical voice. "The last option we have is the closet there behind you."

"I'm not going to hide in some closet!" Luke protested wildly, his blue eyes still on Leia's still form. Then his gaze shifted to the monstrous skull that floated in midair. It was some freak of nature and he was a Jedi! Jedi Knights didn't hide in closets but faced their opponents with their emotions under control. Throughout this entire encounter he had feared the Sith Temple and the ghostly apparition that had been stalking him, often touching him with invisible hands. Well, he had tried that route and he had failed miserably. It wasn't up to one Sith to destroy another, but for Jedi to destroy Sith. He closed his eyes for a few brief seconds and allowed himself to sink into meditation, to find his calm center. When he was once more in control of himself, he reopened his eyes and stared at the great horned flaming skull. His fear of it evaporated and Luke shouted bravely. "I'm not afraid of you! Do you hear me? I'm a Jedi and I'll send you back where you came from! You're not getting out of this building, I promise you that!"

Then Vader and Mara opened the closet door and shoved Luke inside. Mara squeezed in with him and she pulled the door shut from within.

Alone, Darth Vader faced the flaming skull.

To be continued…..