Chapter 3
The ship lay in a crater of melted snow and ice, still burning. The durasteel paneling was dented and twisted beyond repair, the twin engines at the sides had snapped off completely. The superheated metal seemed to shriek in pain, as parts of the ship began to sag inwards from the heat.
Aayla lay slumped against the control panel, half conscious. The world was a daze of fire and ice. She slowly pulled herself up, ignoring the flashes of pain,and crawled off the seat. The air was burning up, Aayla felt it crisp her skin, she was drenched in sweat. Kit was sprawled on the ground, blood trailing down from a cut on his forehead, his eyes flickered open. Aayla crawled over to him, coughing.
Kit groaned and shook his head groggily.
'That. Was the most stupid thing I've ever seen you do.'
Aayla shrugged and said, 'We have to get out of here or we'll be cooked alive.'
In an instant, her blade was in her hand and ignited. She cut a rectangular hole in the wall and kicked it open. A gale of sub-zero wind blew inside. A contrast to the sweltering heat inside the ship. Aayla looked out at the wall of darkness, lit by the glow of the crystal plants. I should have put on another layer, Aayla thought to herself as she clipped her handgrip back onto her belt.
She shivered in the freezing cold. Her leather tights and brown leather tank top wasn't exactly suited to the night side of Ryloth. The temperature in the Nightlands were the exact opposite of the Brightlands. Sub-zero. Aayla raised her hand into the light of her saber. The cold was already taking its toll. Her arm shivered uncontrollably, small icicles forming on it. She ignored it and supported a struggling Kit through the hole and lay him down in the snow.
'Stay here, I'm going back to get Cirus.' Aayla disappeared back into the inferno of flame that was once a ship.
She moved through the smoke and covered her mouth to stifle a cough. Aayla ran her hand across the floor and grabbed a big filled with food squares. Aayla fumbled across the wall and punched in the code to open the storage door. It slide open and a blue fist shot out of the darkness, colliding with her face. Cirus was free.
He leapt out of the hole in the door, running across the snow. But Kit tackled him down at the legs. They brawled wildly in the darkness, snow flying everywhere. Cirus kicked Kit off and sent him crashing to the ground with a quick snapping kick. Cirus closed his hand around Kit's throat, choking him.
Until a blue blade lit the darkness and stopped millimeters from his throat. Aayla stood in front of him, shivering in the snow.
Madness burned in Cirus' eyes. 'We will all die. All of us. You have made sure of that little one. My brethren will find us and slaughter both of you. And I for my failure.'
The blade edged closer to Cirus' throat. 'Your will lead us to wjere your little pals live. And I have a sneaking suspicion that it's somewhere on this side of the planet.'
Cirus spat into the snow. 'Why would I help my mortal enemy and walk right into my execution?'
Kit staggered to his feet massaging his throat. He shook icicles 'Well for one thing,' he croaked, his huge eyes piercing the darkness. 'There are a large number of evil looking creatures coming this way. And they're hungry.'
Aayla submersed herself in the Force and found it. Found them. Found the overwealming presence of darkness, the brutal mindset of KILL KILL KILL! The Doashim. Nightmare creatures from the subterranean depths of Ryloth. And they were closing in.
That's impossible, thought Aayla, Doashim rarely venture above ground and in such numbers. She took her blade away from Cirus' neck, waving it in the darkness, as if warding off an invisible enemy. Through the darkness they appeared. Reptillian, demonic shapes moving as swiftly through the snow, almost gliding.
Cirus staggered to his feet. He gulped. 'Run.' They ran. For their lives. And the pack of Doashim followed. Moving in for the kill.
Cirus sprinted ahead of the two Jedi, through the darkness, never looking back. Aayla and Kit followed blindly, trying to escape the hunters. Cirus heard the rapid squelching sounds in the snow as the Doashim drew nearer. They were trying to surround them. Like it or not he did need the Jedi. Even his murderous cousin.
A roar split the air like avibroblade through durasteel. The doashim were starting their battle cries. Cirus new there wasn't much time left. He couldn't see in the darkness, he doubted if even the huge eyed Nautolan Jedi could see properly. But the Force flowed through Cirus' body, tainted as it was, it guided them down the icy hills to a long shallow crevasse in the ice, about ten feet deep, a few meters wide. A network of lines in the ice and snow, as if a river had flowed there long ago. Several tunnels and caverns had been dug in the side of the crevasse. They needed to get to those tunnels.
Another roar. Cirus, Aayla and Kit were mere meters from the network of lines. 'They've caught us!' roared Kit.
A pack of reptilian monsters, standing on two long muscled legs, tails lashing behind them,broke through the darkness, directly into the groups ragged path. Another came up from behind. These Doashim were more intelligent that they appeared. They roared, clawing at the light from Kit and Aayla's blades. Judging from the screeches coming from all round, a whole pack of them were on their way.
The first one went for Cirus, but never faltering, kept on running right under the Doashim's claw as it swiped for him. He could fight later. Leave the fighting to the ones with blades. Right now, he had to survive. With a Force powered dive Cirus leapt into the crevasse. He kept on going, rushing through the line of cracks, he had to find the right tunnel. The secret path to his brethren.
Meanwhile, the two Jedi collided with the Doashim in a tangled mass of light and dark. Aayla barely avoided the whirlwind of snapping jaws, gritting her teeth as the barely healed gash in her side constricted her breathing. The Doashim attacking her lunged again, only to have a hole cleaved in it's skull by a lightsaber, cutting through the hard scalesas if they were paper. Whirling around she plunged her blade into the throat of a Doashim about to crush her head with it's jaws. Panting with exhaustion, Aayla turned around to lookfor Cirus. That little slug! He left us behind with these monsters! Aayla felt around in the Force, searching for Cirus. She saw Kit, with a slash of his green blade, sever both of his doashim's legs. And in the dim blue light of her own blade, she saw over a score of Doashim all round, closing in, only meters away.
'Kit! Into the crevasse! NOW!'
Kit turned, his multiple head tentacles whipping out in the freezing wind. With a curt nod he followed Aayla into the crevasse. Kit turned around one last time, he had to buy them some time. He raised his arm at the ravenous beasts closing in on them, gathering all of his strength, and sent a blast of the Force at the Doashim. They screeched in surprise as they tumbled backwards through the snow. With his signature grin, Kit darted into the crevasse, following Aayla.
Aayla twisted through the winding crevasses, Kit close behind. She was heading towards the beacon of Dark power that was Cirus Secura. She gritted her teeth as the Doashim roared as they swarmed into the crevasse, hunting there quarry.
They were coming nearer to Cirus, Aayla felt it. Not noticing that Kit had fallen behind, fighting off a pair of reptilian monsters.She turned another corner and saw Cirus on the ground, eyes rolling backwards in pain as blood spurting from his arm from a ragged bite mark, to his right was a tunnel in the wall. A Doashim stood over the injured Twi'lek. Without a moments hesitation, Aayla lunged forward, thrusting her sword through it's spine and out of it's stomach. The Doashim collapsed to the ground, stomach juices dripping out. Aayla dragged the half conscious Cirus and dragged him into the tunnel.
'Kit, in here!' Kit backed into the tunnel, Aayla covering him as the Doashim screamed for blood. Bodies began to pile up at the mouth of the tunnel. Blood dripped down from a cut in Aayla's forehead, mixing with her sweat.. Her leg almost buckled under her own weight as her body screamed in pain after every movement. They couldn't hold much longer against this many monsters. Even Kit's smile was beginning to fade.
Cirus hoisted himself to his feet. She had saved him. Even after he almost killed her in Coruscant. Cirus sighed. He hated being honourable. 'Move back!'
He reached into the Force, worming his way through an intricate network of cracks in the mouth of the tunnel, widening them. The tunnel began to shake. Rocks and icicles crumbled down from the ceiling. With a final heave of the Force, the mouth of the tunnel collapsed, ice thundering down, crushing the Doashim into the ground, narrowly missing Aayla and Kit. Cirus collapsed back to the ground panting.