(Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews all! They really keep me going. I'm sorry if there are some whoopsies in here. I've got a head cold. ugh. So i'm not 100 percent. But i hope you enjoy! and plz review. 3 )

Chapter 4

*Blood in the Sand*

Kylo stepped away from the sandspeeder, motioning for his knights to dismount behind him. Shutting off their engines, his men followed his lead and silently stood in the drifting sand. The two dozen storm troopers who had followed them did as instructed as well, their battle armor rattling as they moved.

He glared at them. General Hux could say what he may, but Kylo knew that his army was unsatisfactory. Turning his attention away from the awkward storm troopers, he gazed at the abandoned tunnels in the rock and sand. "She's here somewhere," he muttered, reaching up to switch his visor to night-vision, "Remember, the Master wants her alive. If you can, bring her unharmed."

The five Knights of Wren silently acknowledged Kylo's orders. But Kylo could feel their bitterness toward the fact. Of the original eight, only five remained. Rey had killed three of them. One on Danthamore, one on Yavin 4, and two in a space battle orbiting the moons of Naboo. She was a slow yet steady might to be reckoned with.

His knights wanted to tear her apart. Their bloodlust was as deep and vicious, like that of rabid animals. Kylo felt it seep off them like toxic radiation. He exhaled. There was a reason why he commanded them. They were blinded by their rage. He could channel it.

The gaping cave entrances stood open and dark in the menacing nighttime. There were over two dozen entrances. It was a honeycomb in the rock with wind howling through them in the darkness.

It was a trap. Kylo knew it. He knew it because it would be something he would do. But his Master's commands were beyond contestation. He had no choice. "Split up, take a team with you," Kylo said, retrieving his lightsaber from his belt, "In one hour we meet back here."

"What about you?" Gersha Wren asked. She was the only female, but she made up for it by being twice as bloodthirsty as any of her fellow knights. A Twi'leck, her tattooed headtails twitched as she squinted at Kylo in the darkness, "Shouldn't you take backup?"

"I go alone," Kylo answered flatly, "Follow your orders."

Gersha nodded, averting her eyes in acknowledgement of Kylo's rank. Her face was as cold as ice, but her rage boiled.

"Disperse," Kylo ordered, still holding his lightsaber in his hands.

His knights did as they were told, individually choosing their entrances to the massive underground honeycombs. Kylo's feet sank into the deep sand, and he felt the wind pick up as he wandered into the cave directly ahead of him and into the deepening darkness.

He could feel Rey's presence grow stronger with every step he took. She knew he was coming. She was waiting for him. Kylo clenched his jaw as he listened to the sound of the wind whistling through the stone tunnels. "It's just us now," Kylo whispered, knowing that somehow she listened to every word he said.

Kylo felt it as she turned her attention to him in the darkness. "It's just us now," she replied. Her voice in his head only a whisper in the shadows. "There's no one left to save you now."

Glancing around, Kylo ignited his lightsaber. It hissed and fizzed in the blackness of the endless catacombs around him. He sneered into the darkness. She would find out who needed saving after tonight.

And so he went. For over twenty minutes he walked deeper into the tunnels, surrounded by a darkness so thick that it felt like it could be liquid. The only light was cast by his saber. Hissing and spitting, the humming of his lightsaber was the only noise beside the whispering wind.

Then he felt it. A sudden scream in his mind, and a coldness. Gersha Wren's death scream echoed in his head as if he was standing beside her. Kylo froze in his tracks and listened. The Twi'leck had screamed through the Force, nearly deafening him.

Where he stood there was only the sound of silence in the catacombs.

Kylo swallowed, grinding his teeth together. Rey was picking them off one by one. It was smart. Methodical. She was playing on his master's confidence.

Another scream. This time it was Leron, one of the older knights.

Kylo stiffened. She was moving fast, plowing down his knights easily. He listened once again, trying to find a bearing. Where were they? Where was she? H needed to find her, track her, he could stop her.

A piercing cry rattled through the Force as yet another knight screamed out and then was suddenly silenced. Another dead. They were dropping like flies.

He bolted. He ran down the tunnel, then up a side tunnel as it split. His boots sank into the sand, slowing him as he tore through the deserted catacombs toward the direction of the screams. He had two knights left. The tall Jallon, and the silent Nifradies. They were not his best fighters.

The sounds of far off blaster fire reverberated through the tunnels, and Kylo froze. The sound echoed around him, and he squinted in the darkness. Where was it coming from? The unforgettable sound of a lightsaber clashing against another echoed against the stone walls. Kylo reeled. They were outside.

He turned and sped through the sand the way he came, his breath burning in his lungs as his feet sank. Kylo followed his path back to the entrance to the caves. Sweat dripped down his nose in his mask, and his body heated up in the black folds of leather and canvas. He tasted his own sweat on his lips as he finally emerged from the entrance to the ruins.

He could see her on the ridge. She still wielded his grandfather's lightsaber, and it cast a blue light on her features. Surrounded by a dozen and a half storm troopers, she dueled with both Nifradies and Jallon.

Kylo ran toward them, ignoring the burning in his lungs and the sweat in his eyes. He saw Rey's saber dash in and out of the darkness, hissing against the others in a brilliant clash of red against blue. Kylo climbed the hill in leaps, propelling himself with sheer will. Finally coming at them, he raised his saber, "Fall back!"

Nifradies heard the call and retreated to Kylo's side, while Jallon chose to ignore it.

"Jallon!" Kylo screamed, "Fall back!"

Swinging his crimson saber through the air, Jallon didn't listen to Kylo's orders, and attacked. He came at Rey, saber raised with a war cry on his lips.

It was the last thing he uttered.

With blinding speed, Rey moved to the side and swept her saber in a vicious arc. She sliced Jallon in half, only to step back into a ready stance less than a second later.

Kylo stared at Rey. She wasn't retreating. Why wasn't she retreating? She was outnumbered. It made no sense for her to remain here…Unless she planned on being taken.

Rey met Kylo's gaze in defiance.

He stared at her, and slowly removed his mask. He had changed since she had seen him last. He was not the wounded man who had stared up at her from the snow. He had changed. His training was finished. The man she defeated was dead. Kylo wanted her to know it.

She didn't react.

"You shouldn't have come back," Kylo called out.

Rey took a step back, a strand of her cinnamon-colored hair falling into her face from its tight knot on the back of her head, "You were expecting me."

Kylo dropped his helmet to the sand and stepped forward, "Surrender."

She glanced up at him, but she didn't move from her defensive stance.

So be it. In that second he came at her, unleashing his fury in a blast of blinding power. He beat down at her like a thunderstorm. Jab after slice, his hell bent attack coming full force against her.

She met him and held her ground against him. She was strong. So strong.

Kylo panted, his breath coming in short bursts as he circled her. She wasn't scared of him. To his shock, she could hold him off. It would take more than sheer strength to defeat her. Desperation piercing his anger, Kylo took a step back and then flung a tidal wave concussion against her.

She was taken by surprise, and flew through the air like a leaf on a breeze. Rey tumbled in the sand, falling down the dune. Her lightsaber sailed from her hands.

Kylo raced down the sand dune, and stood over her as she tried to get to her feet. He stared down at her, panting as sweat rolled off his face. "You shouldn't have come back, Rey," he whispered.
Blinking, she moved to call her lightsaber to her.

Kylo swept his hand down, instantly rendering her unconscious.