Chapter 20

Leo looked up into the returning, steady gaze of the creature that faced him. He was tall - his brow furrowed, and if Leo looked hard enough, he could almost see a spark of the Dark Side in his eyes – a fire which burned deep within him.

Keeping his lightsaber up against the opposing weapon, Leo pushed them both forwards. He needed to see into the room, find out what this man had done with his mother.

The other wasn't willing to allow him such a liberty. As soon as he made the flaw of stepping forwards, the lightsaber flew back and darted at his belly. Leo jumped back through the tight doorway, barely avoiding the attack.

Following through after his weapon, the newcomer drove him back a little further, until they were both in the open outside the building. Leo felt more vulnerable here, and was furious for simply letting himself for being simply driven out like that – as though he might have obeyed if the alien had simply ordered him out.

It was odd to think of him as an alien…because this man was remarkably human in comparison. Despite his glittering obsidian eyes, this man had a thin, short beard and long, black hair that fell around his waist. It was tied back, complete with a tiny thread of a braid – just like Ranzel's - which was bound in place within the hairdo. So, was he a Jedi? If so…why the infinite darkness within him? And why was he at arms with him?

Perhaps he was from the Council…but then how had they gotten here ahead of him?

"So many questions, little Padawan," he slurred, as though reading Leo's mind. Leo was aware that he simply might have been showing them on his face in a moment of unguarded surprise.

Leo controlled himself – now was not a good time to show his anger. Whoever this was might pick up on it, and if they meant to fight him, even defeat him through use of this weakness.

Keeping on his toes, Leo allowed himself to speak, softly, reaching out to contact the Force as he did so, and fighting the darkness at the same time as his closeness to the connection in turn increased his perception of the shadow creeping over his heart.

"I'll answer your questions, if you answer mine," the other intoned, darkly. "But…you must understand that I already know a lot about you."

That didn't sound like a very fair agreement, but Leo knew that at least, if he didn't answer the other man's questions, he could just fight him instead. He backed away a few steps, and the black haired man held his ground.

"Who are you…?" Leo finally said, coldly.

"My name is Eroth Ra," replied the other. "But you can call me Lord Ra."

Leo, having not heard the title Lord used in reference to a Sith Master, could not presume to know what such a thing meant. Instead, it simply felt like he was being informed of his impending subordination. "I will call you no such thing," he stated, firmly.

"You misunderstand me, showing just how much you truly know. I wasn't entirely sure of this foolishness before. I believed it was simply misinformation on the behalf of my contacts.

"By the title Lord Ra," he explained, helpfully, "I mean to inform you of my presence here as a Lord of the Sith."

This time, the words had the meaning that was intended, and for a moment he lost all control. The blackness swept at his heart like an unrestrained wave and he reached up to clutch at his chest with his free hand, the icy-ness burning through him at that instant.

Leo could hear Eroth Ra speaking to himself as he stepped towards the stricken youngster. "Interesting," he was saying, "Very interesting."

"Get back," Leo breathed, waving his lightsaber warningly at the approaching Eroth as he stepped back, struggling to regain some control. He let go of his chest and straightened up, reaching out tentatively to the Force again.

"Your weakness for the Dark Side will encompass you soon enough," Eroth purred, stepping just a little closer to the shaken Padawan. "Our cause will be pleased to know of your flaw."

Leo lifted his lightsaber just a little more, steadied his stance and caught his breath. "You got one free, so tell me where my mother is." He demanded, though to his dismay his voice was still shakier than he'd expected it to be.

"She's on the Thunderstrike as we speak, heading for Empire space."

Again, the plunging feeling of ice cold fell around him, seizing him from head to toe in its grip. Eroth gave a wicked laugh, reaching out and seizing Leo's hand, wrenching the lightsaber from his grip. Leo almost didn't feel the pain. He fell to his knees gasping as Eroth recovered his lightsaber. The Sith Lord showed his white teeth, gloating at the shattered Padawan.

"You will never be strong enough unless you are trained properly. You cannot fight the Dark Side of your heart forever," he slurred, ravenously.

Leo forced himself up, his shoulders shaking. His mother was gone…a prisoner held by the Empire, and he hadn't known that it was possible. It was a shock to his system, beyond anything he'd ever thought possible to happen. It was like being in that hospital room all over again, the nurse sitting opposite him, breaking the bad news.

So this was why he felt so weak - the fear of being alone…the anger at the figure that broke the bad news? If he let go now…he could only seize on that anger, throw himself at the Dark Jedi and succumb entirely to the power of the Dark Side.

He would not submit that easily. He would not follow the ground rules that had been set out before him. They would not have him. Leo found he could call on the power of the Force again, with that sense of inner peace that came with knowing exactly what was happening at the time, aiding him. It was all clear, and for a blissful moment, Leo could feel the darkness recede from around his body entirely.

And then Eroth came at him, with both lightsabers.

Leaping over the first, cross of the weapons, Leo allowed himself to fall back to a reasonable distance. He had to recover that lightsaber, and quickly. He dodged another cart-wheeling blow from Eroth, then dived under yet another.

There could only be one way to get what he needed to defend himself. He seized a breath and, concentrating both on the darkness surrounding Eroth Ra, and on the will to disappear, Leo plunged back into the state of invisibility he'd developed earlier.

Blind he moved under the lightsaber blade that Eroth spun violently at where he'd disappeared from, and then he seized the handle and turned the blade against the instinctive attack of the other weapon.

Leo let himself fall back into reality. Hidden like that, he could not summon enough of the Force to hold his own against the clash of that lightsaber. Exhausted, he threw his weight back, sending the other's blade away from his head, and twisting Eroth's body in such a way that he simply had to let go of the lightsaber in his other hand, in order to defend himself.

Away in seconds, Leo closed his eyes and ran.

Eroth let him go, his dark eyes seething with fury. After a moment, the exterior calmness slid back over him. He had learnt even more about the abilities of this young Jedi – and his intense connection to the Dark Side.

Leo however, was long gone. He ran until the sand bit tears into his eyes, then stumbled and fell in the thick drift he had been scaling. The compound was far behind him, its walls hidden by the massive rise of sand.

He lay there for a few seconds, letting everything go and simply crying into the sand that lay plastered against his face. The whole reality plunged around him with a bitter, icy touch, and he cried all the harder in his dismay, breathing in through the thick sand.

Stuck a million light years from home; without a friend, his Master, or his mother: How could he be anything more than doomed for failure? He could die out here, and no-one would ever know, would they? His body would be torn away by the vicious sandstorms, and his skeleton would be bleached and scattered.

No, he told himself firmly. That wasn't true. Ranzel and his mother needed him. If he allowed himself to die here, they would never find him, truly, but Ranzel would be punished by the Council… Leo still wasn't sure how a peaceable community might punish a powerful Jedi. What about his mother? What would the Empire do to her while he was here, lying dead in the sand? Would they kill her when they discovered his demise?

Tired and emotionally unstable, Leo pulled himself determinedly to his feet. He would have to find his way back… But there was a problem there. His footsteps had been smothered by the effect of the wind whipping over them. They were gone, and for some strange reason, he couldn't locate the feeling of population on this planet.

He bit his lip and looked around in a circle, narrowing his eyes for some sign of life – anything that might help him to find his way back. There was nothing. No people, no trees as far as the eye could see, no Obira Beasts. There was only desert.

Concentrating, Leo reached deep into himself with the Force. This was important. He had to try and remember back to when he'd left the building. If he could call up some facts to aid him, it might not be so difficult to find his way back.

He was back in the compound again, running away from Lord Eroth Ra. He came out into the path leading away from the compound, ignoring the plaintive cry of an Obira as he went out into the vicious sand without it.

His immediate reaction was to turn into the biting sand, go straight up into it, because it would be far more difficult for Eroth to see him. He would have to shield his eyes from the sand, so he didn't go blind.

With closed eyes, he'd come all this way directly into the sand. There was sand in his nostrils, sand in his mouth and sand in his trousers, but Darth Ra had not followed him. He was safe now, but for the storm.

But how could he use that knowledge to help him? Surely the winds could have changed direction…?

The knowledge that they couldn't was already within him, and he recognised it as he asked himself the question. They didn't change direction, and that was why the domes were reliable protection against the elements, because the sand would never blow back within them with the changing of the wind.

Turning away from the wind now, Leo blinked. His crimson hair was being lifted from his face, wavering in a straight line directly before him. The wind was intensifying, if anything, perhaps because of the coming of night. Leo could see a pair of moons overhead – they would be the cause of this extreme weather.

He might have to send the question through the computer when he got back, as to just why the winds were so constant. Perhaps the moons rotated against the planets rotation…?

Shaking his head, Leo continued moving. It would do no good to get caught out here with only the moon's glow to lead his way.

His decision had proved to be the correct one, if slightly off. When he got back to the compound, he fell in from above. One moment he'd simply been walking forwards, and then there was nothing to walk on. He had been moving over the disk, and he fell forwards.

Recovering himself in mid air from the surprise of suddenly not having anything to stand on, Leo managed to save himself from a nasty fall, rolling back to his feet almost painlessly after the five meter drop.

He had his lightsaber out in seconds, wheeling towards any possible attacker, but the feeling of the darkness was gone now. A glance into the stables assured him that he was alone. There was only one Obira beast there now. It licked his palm in greeting, as though grateful that he'd managed to survive.

"I know," he breathed softly to it, stroking his fingers through its thick mane slowly. "I was worried too." The Obira threw its head and snorted loudly, and Leo laughed. "Only for a minute, I swear," he said, as though answering it, and then he reached up to take it by the horn, leading it out of the stable before he mounted.