STAR WARS

HIDDEN BLOOD

A Story From The Old Republic...

It was a cool desert night on Tatooine. Kherun sat near a campfire beneath an overhanging cliff deep in the Jundland Wastes. The orange glow of the fire flickered against his deep red skin, and glared against his yellow eyes. The black hood he wore over his head was tattered and covered in sand from the planets blowing winds. A facemask he made from scrap metal sat beside him in the sand as he stirred a pot over the fire.

Kherun was on the run...

A few years ago, his family had found out about his interest in a Chiss woman he'd met on Dromund Kaas. Kherun, and his family were purebloods of the sith species, and they would not allow him to mingle with women outside of his species. To them, this was an attack on their race as a whole, and they would not have it.

They had begun sending assassins after her, and the night before Kherun's disappearance, had given him an ultimatum. Cease all communication with her, or she dies.

And that night he fled...

This was nearly two years ago now, and he had been keeping a low profile ever since.

A voice came from nearby, distorted through a helmet. "Well well, look what the Nexu dragged in."

Kherun's eyes darted in the direction of the voice. It was Gwyndolen, a friend of his family, and an old adversary. She never removed her mandalorian-esque helmet that she wore along with her signature deep red and black robes, adorned with heavy shoulderpads.

"I should have sensed you..." kherun scowled and got up, tossing his black robe to the side to unclip the crimson lightsaber hilt from his belt. The sudden motion causing sand to topple into the fire and put it out.

Gwyndolen laughed behind her helmet, waving a hand at him dismissively. "Not the first time I've been able to avoid your senses." She crossed her arms for a moment and shifted her weight. "Something must have been on your mind."

Kherun ignited his lightsaber, the deep red blade lighting up the side of the cliff they were standing beneath.

"Feeling fiesty are we, Kherun?" Gwyndolen unhooked the two lightsaber hilts that dangled at her hips, igniting them both and getting into form.

Kherun squeezed the grip of his lightsaber and made a fist with his opposite hand. "I defeated you the last time we met and I'll do it again."

"I underestimated you last time. Took you for nothing beyond a rebellious child. I won't make that same mistake." Gwyndolen took off towards Kherun and kicked off the side of the overhand, sending her into the air towards Kherun. He raised his lightsaber above his head, gritting his teeth as he anticipated the force of the blow he was about to recieve to the blade.

The deafening hum of the two lightsabers came to a sudden hault as the blades clashed in a magnificent display of sparks and flashing light in the dark. They held still for a moment, testing eachother's strength.

"You're coming back with me, Kherun!" Gwyndolen pushed harder into the hissing blades, causing Kherun to start to recoil before ducking, letting her lightsaber narrowly pass over his back as he spun to send a skillful sweep into her legs.

Gwyndolen fell over for only a moment before kicking back up to her feet and sending a flurry of lightsaber strikes towards Kherun. He treaded backwards slowly, doing everything he could to send the red blade's coming from seemingly every direction back in the direction they came from.

Time seemed to slow in his mind as he expertly deflected the onslaught from his left and right, but how long could he keep this up?

"The sith strive for their chains to be broken, to be set free. Yet the racist law of my family tightens those restraints at every moment!" Kherun yelled through baited breaths. She said nothing, maybe she agreed, but...

"Agh!!" Kherun screamed as he felt a searing pain on his wrist. One of Gwyndolen's lightsabers had burned through the flesh and sliced through the bone, sending his lightsaber and the hand that gripped it through the air.

"That's for the scar from last time..." Gwyndolen said quietly to herself as Kherun knelt, gripping his arm and wreathing in pain.

"Oh please, it's just a hand..." she said as she walked closer to Kherun and sent a kick into the side of his skull. "Looks like you're going back home."