Chapter 19

Jyo stood about eight feet on one side of Cordell, and Todan glared at the demented student on the opposite side. Cordell chuckled, "Jyo, Jyo, Jyo. You're really losing your touch. You say 'let's attack him together', and then you separate yourselves on either side of me. I'm really disappointed."

Cordell made his move as soon as he finished speaking. He sprinted to his right and covered the distance between him and Todan in seconds. Todan was not taken by surprise; however, and the older student raised his defense in time to parry a quick and deadly slash at his neck.

Cordell did not hesitate and followed up on the attack. Todan calmly and skillfully held his defense. It almost seemed like a reenactment of Denz and Cordell's duel. Except this one ended differently. Cordell was so engrossed with trying to get through Todan's defenses, that he did not realize Jyo had snuck up behind him. With his deactivated lightsaber, Jyo whacked Cordell on the back of his neck. Cordell grunted as he fell to the ground and landed on his back, still holding his ignited lightsaber.

Losing my touch, am I? Jyo thought. I knew what you would do almost before you did.

"Good plan." Todan said. "Now grab his lightsaber."

Jyo nodded and reached for the weapon. He pulled away as soon as he felt it. Cordell suddenly sprang up, kicking Todan in the face as he did, and as he landed, brought his lightsaber down in an overhead attack at Jyo.

Todan flailed as he flew backward from the blow, and Jyo barely had enough time to get his lavender lightsaber up to block the second part of Cordell's two-pronged counterattack. The blow carried too much force for Jyo to handle; however, and as a result, he fell to the ground. Their blades still locked, Cordell stood over Jyo with a smile of anticipation as he slowly used his leverage to push Jyo's lightsaber toward him.

Arrgh! Jyo thought. If I deactivate my lightsaber, his will cut my head in half. But if I continue to block him, I'll eventually impale myself on my own lightsaber! There's got to be a way out of this!

"We're almost there." Denz said as they ran through a dark alley. "Just a few more turns and …" Denz stopped mid-sentence and skidded to a halt, and Salah ran into his back.

"Wh – Why'd you stop?" Salah demanded.

Denz put a finger to his lips. "There is something blocking our path," he whispered.

"What?" Salah inquired as she peered into the darkness.

"We must get to the others as quickly as possible. We can't waste time here." Denz said instead of answering.

"But …"

"Wait here." Denz told Salah.

"I'll wait here." Salah replied.

Denz nodded and walked determinedly into the darkness.

He disappeared from sight as Salah shook her head to clear it. She knew he had just used a mind trick on her, but didn't dare go after him. Suddenly she saw a flash of light and a spark as two things that would not cut each other collided. The blade of light moved again and there was another spark. Then the tempo increased and the light moved faster. Is that another lightsaber? Salah asked herself. She closed her eyes and shook her head again, but when she opened her eyes, it was over.

Denz called out from the darkness, "Let's go!"

Salah followed his voice to him, and before they started to run again, she caught a glimpse of the outline of a large and gruesome creature with what looked like snakes for arms. "What was it?" She asked.

"Something I hope we don't encounter more of." Denz replied.

Salah knew Denz tried to hide it, but she still picked up on the worried sound in his voice, and she did not think it had to do with running into more creatures.

Jyo's lightsaber was now only an inch from his face. All he could see through his goggles was the light from the two locked blades, and all he could hear was their hum. Jyo closed his eyes and admitted to himself that it was over. No matter how hard he tried, he could not overpower Cordell or think of a way break free.

Jyo felt and heard his goggles break as they came in contact with his lightsaber. Then there was nothing. The pressure was gone. Jyo thought he had died, but he still felt his arms aching from the struggle. He slowly sat up and saw, though blurry, Cordell stumble away holding his side. Jyo vaguely saw something hit Cordell's chest, as he was knocked farther away. Jyo turned and looked in the direction opposite of Cordell. "Is that Zeek?" Jyo asked himself.

Sure enough, in the exact same spot he had fallen, Zeek was kneeling on the ground with a hurricane of rocks spinning around him. He launched another piece of debris that he had gathered from the collapsed building.

Cordell got his bearings and was able to dodge the next piece of duracreet. Jyo was still recovering from the near death experience, and Todan lay off to the side clutching his face where Cordell had kicked it. Zeek did his best to keep Cordell busy with a hailstorm of duracreet, but Cordell thought of the attack as nothing more than a nuisance as he dodged small pieces and sliced larger ones with his lightsaber. Cordell was trying to get to Zeek but found it more difficult than he expected.

Zeek's attack, while not doing Cordell much harm, was keeping him back. Cordell finally gave up trying to battle the storm of duracreet. He held his ground long enough to pull something small and round out of his robe. Cordell threw it as hard as he could in Zeek's direction. Zeek saw it as it landed several feet from him, and he knew there was no time to get away. With what debris he had left, Zeek formed a crude wall between him and the object.

The thermal detonator exploded, and the force of the blast hit the makeshift wall hard, knocking it over. The aftershock also knocked Zeek a dozen feet backward into a building. Zeek slumped against the building and was still.

Jyo, half blind, abandoned his rational nature, jumped to his feet, and rushed Cordell. Cordell, not even phased by almost blowing Zeek to bits, engaged Jyo. Cordell knew that Jyo could hardly see, so he moved around a lot so Jyo could not get a lock on his position. Jyo tried to use the Force to keep track of Cordell's movements, but he had not trained nearly enough in this way. Cordell took advantage of Jyo's disadvantage and dispatched him easily with a solid punch to the gut.

Jyo fell to his knees gasping for breath. Cordell held the end of his lightsaber up to Jyo's forehead. "I could kill you." Cordell said with a smirk. "But because you're family, I'll give you a break this time."

Cordell lowered his lightsaber and struck Jyo on the side of his head with a spinning kick. "When you wake up, you will be the only one alive." Cordell told the unconscious Jyo.

Cordell turned and began to walk in Zeek's direction.

"CORDELL!!!"

Cordell stopped and turned around to see Todan standing with his lightsaber raised and pointing at him. His left eye was closed, a line of blood traced from his eyebrow to beneath his eye from when Cordell had kicked him.

"Now there is no one to stop me from finishing you off." Todan said angrily.

Cordell laughed loudly. "And here I am thinking all this time I was kicking your sorry but."

Todan wiped blood from his lip and grinned, "I wasn't even trying."

Denz knew they were close. He turned to Salah as they ran. "Promise me something."

Salah did not turn as she asked, "What?"

"Promise me that you won't kill Cordell. I don't think he is to blame for his actions."

"You mean something or someone is controlling him?"

Denz shook his head. "I'm not certain. So, do you promise?"

Salah nodded as they rounded the final corner. Salah kept going, but Denz stopped in his tracks and soaked up what he saw. Kam lay on his back and was missing an arm; Zeek looked like he had been thrown against the building he slumped against; Jyo was face down in the sand and dirt with no wounds Denz could see; and Todan was engaged in a duel with Cordell.

Feelings of hate and revenge boiled to the surface of Denz's being, and he fought to keep them from becoming actions. Denz vaguely saw Salah join Todan as they began attacking Cordell together. Denz slipped out of sight and found that he was breathing heavily. His hands itched to hold a lightsaber and to use it against Cordell. Denz shook his head to clear it, and realized that he could not face Cordell yet. He determined that he would not face him until he was sure that he was ready. Quickly and quietly Denz disappeared into the darkness.

Todan locked lightsabers with Cordell and was slowly being pushed back by the younger Jedi's greater strength. Todan suddenly stopped moving and realized that someone else was helping him stop the attack. He glanced to his left and saw … SALAH?!"

"What are you doing here? And for that matter, how did you get here?" Todan asked as he struggled to push Cordell back.

"Denz brought me, and I'm here to help." She answered.

With Salah's help, Todan broke the saber lock; the two went on the offensive. Cordell could barely defend against them. He may have had the power to overcome a single opponent, but he lacked the skill to take on more than one.

Cordell tried to isolate one or the other, but could not keep the two apart. Salah and Todan made a good team. Salah's smooth, quick attacks kept Cordell on his toes, and Todan's defense did not let anything through. Cordell actually seemed to be getting tired, and with Salah still fresh from the sidelines, even Cordell realized he was fighting a losing battle.

Cordell finally gave in and tried to make a run for it, but Todan was too quick. He tripped Cordell as he turned, and Cordell fell face down in the dirt. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid a downward thrust by Todan.

"Wait!" Salah said. "Don't kill him!"

Todan gave her a confused look. "Why not?!"

"I made a promise."

Todan growled in frustration and stomped his boot down on Cordell's right wrist. "Can I at least break his wrist like he did to Denz?"

Salah smiled. "I didn't say I promised not to hurt him, now did I?"

Todan grinned as he heard the bones crack beneath his boot, and Cordell finally released his lightsaber. Salah picked it up and said, "You won't be using this for a while." She turned to Todan and handed him something. "Restrain his arms and legs with these. They are stun cuffs. If he struggles, he will receive a powerful shock."

Todan nodded and cuffed Cordell. He did not put up a fight or move much at all for that matter.

"Go get Zeek and bring him over here." Salah told Todan.

As Todan went for Zeek, Salah knelt next to Jyo and turned him over onto his back. She fought tears when she saw his face. His jaw had definitely been broken and the entire left side of his face looked like it had caved in. The logical part of Salah told her that she had no training, but she could not stop blaming herself for not bringing medical supplies.

Todan finally returned with a conscious Zeek. "What took you so long?" Salah asked.

"My right leg is broken," Zeek answered for Todan. "He set it for me."

"Wait a minute! Where did the stuff to make a splint come from?"

Zeek pointed to where a large man sat wrapping his right shoulder in gauze. Salah had never even realized that he was there. "Who's that?" She asked.

"That's Kam. He's the pilot that flew us here."

"Go see if there is something like a neck brace in whatever he brought." Salah told Todan.

"What happened to you guys?" A voice asked quietly.

Salah looked to see who had asked such a question and was shocked to find that it was Cordell. "What's that supposed to mean?" She shot back hotly.

"Exactly like it sounds," he replied with a shrug as he looked around and saw the destroyed building and a couple of badly injured people. "What happened here?"

"YOU HAPPENED!!!"

"What're you talking about?"

"You're a monster, Cordell!"

"Me? I couldn't have done this!"

Suddenly, Salah realized it. Denz had been right. Something had been controlling Cordell, and he didn't remember a thing.