The night fell into a hushed, respectful silence, as three short figures marched steadily through its streets. Fog crept through the streets, and the trickle of the fountain, far away in the town square, carried clearly between steps.
Most things begin in trepidation.
In that mist shrouded, quiet cold beginning of the long night, where the lunar eclipse would keep their world shrouded in darkness for nearly a week, two boys found their apprenticeship to this fabled lord of distant Coruscant had taken its first steps.
"I hope you're not planning to double-cross him." The Boss said, into the silent night. Neither boy, walking a step ahead of him, spoke in response. There was no need.
"Every single person on this moon can tell you horror stories of the Lord of the Obsidian Throne. Most have lived under his rule, at one point or another. It's been said that he has never lied." The Boss reflected, as they walked.
Beriven turned back to him, the sudden curiosity burning in his eyes, seen only for a moment. "It frightens me as much as anything else about him. When you have such naked power that you have no reason to lie, to bluff about your power, to deceive someone for advantage."
"He will stay true to his word. Your friends are safe, so long as you arrive on time." He finished, trying to be reassuring.
Marius turned to him, as they walked, and asked "What's he gonna do with us?"
Beriven added "Is he gonna turn us into soldiers? Killers?"
The Boss sighed, as they walked. "I don't know. But boys,"
They stopped, and gathered close as he spoke. "He's giving you power. Granted, he has his own motives for it, but you are being offered knowledge, and strength, from someone who ruled the better part of an entire world for over six hundred years. You may never have a greater teacher."
He paused, taking a deep breath, and added "But I want you both to remember your time here. Remember that even with what you went through as children, that you still managed to find a place with laughter, with love, and friends unlooked for. You will still find such things in the future, as long as you want it."
"And I am sorry, that I could not give you a childhood here." The Boss admitted, hanging his head a little.
Both boys chocked back tears, as he spoke, and struggled with the urge to hug the Don of Vos Ma'ar.
"You came close." Beriven said, quickly.
"Yeah. It took a sorcerer to stop you." Marius added.
"More than that. You almost gave us back something I never thought I could hope to have. I don't remember much before being a slave, but I remember enough to miss it." Beriven explained. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I failed." The Boss said, quietly.
The rest of the trip back passed in silence, asides from a brief crossing of paths with Sark Vilith, who took in the orders without objection, and left as quickly as he came. Hardly more than fifteen minutes passed, before they reached the warehouse, and the three of them stepped inside.
Too much light poured through the makeshift corridors the empty shipping crates created. Too many lights, more than were usually on during the day, and many of them pointed so that anyone entering would cast very long shadows.
Marius turned his head to Beriven, and said "At least we don't need to wake'em." Beriven nodded in agreement, a soft grin on his face. "Can't get anything past them. Not since we were attacked. Good for them."
They started inside, the Boss lingering by the doorway, shutting it as softly as possible. The boys were met, almost instantly, by Thema, who had placed herself on top of one of the crate stacks. She hopped down, and stared at Beriven, silently waiting for him to explain.
"You should have locked it." Beriven said, forcing himself to sound nonchalant. He failed.
"Berry? What is it?" She asked. "Why is he here?" pointing to the Boss in emphasis. The Boss, seeing her pointing, waved a little.
"Thema, could you go get everyone? We need to talk. It's serious." Marius asked. She nodded in response, heading up the stairs to the offices, where they usually slept.
Marius turned to Beriven. "How are we gonna tell them?" He asked.
"Let me start." The Boss offered. "People tend to take authority figures seriously on the outset."
The boys nodded, and turned back to see the stairway start to fill with the others. Anita entered first, the life in her eyes as bright as ever, but carrying a darker tone since the night they were attacked. The tired grimace she wore faded as she spotted the Boss.
"Berry? Merry? What is..." Bug asked from the top of the stairs, coming into view as Anita started down. Marius stared, and as vividly as he now saw his young friend standing at the top of the stairwell, his mind's vision flashed with images of a tall man, with Bug's features, dressed in the same faded brown cloak and loose fitting clothes the Boss now wore.
Mystery and Tha'varr followed Bug down the stairs, though not as quickly, as Bug threw himself down to catch up to Anita. As ever, Mystery seemed calm, almost serene despite the presence of the city's Don. Tha'varr, in contrast, was shaking, and the hand she used to grip the rails was almost white.
"Berry? Guys, what happened?" Thug asked. Unlike the others, Thug was dressed warmly, likely on rooftop duty. "Mystery woke us half an hour ago, said you were missing." Thema fell in behind him, and everyone gathered around to wait for the boys to explain.
The Boss coughed once, quietly, and the room fell silent. With every eye turned his way, he held them for almost a dozen heartbeats. "Your friends have been apprenticed, to a sorcerer." The Boss said. "None of us have a choice in this matter."
"What?" Thug asked. "What sorcerer?"
"We don't know who." The Boss said, in what would be the only lie of the night. "But he killed almost a dozen of my guards. Easily. Your friends tried the same. As a consequence, the sorcerer demands that your friends accompany him. Apprentice to him. Their refusal will result in all of your deaths, and likely, the destruction of my organization. Your friends engaged an enemy of mine, and I would be obliged to protect you. Understand though, that if I and mine were capable of killing him, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Merry, why didn't you let us help you?" Anita asked.
"If he had, and you presented a more serious threat, he might not have spared you." The Boss interjected.
"I know." Anita said. "But when you left, why didn't you take any of us with you? Why do it alone?"
Neither boy had an answer for her, and hung their heads.
"How did you know he was coming?" Mystery asked, softly.
Everyone's expressions changed, with that question. They all turned to Beriven and Marius, expectantly.
Beriven sighed, and said "I could see him. Still can."
Marius shook his head, and explained. "He can see them the way Pali could. Through that power thingy, the Ashla."
Beriven smiled sadly at Marius, but didn't offer a different explanation.
"So you're a sorcerer, too?" Bug asked.
"At least in potential." The Boss affirmed. "It seems obvious, given his interest in you."
"And you, Merry? Why does he want you, too?" Tha'varr asked. There was something in her voice, something Marius couldn't place.
"Comic relief?" Marius asked, with a shrug. There were a few appreciative grins, despite the moment.
"Marius is one, too." Beriven explained. "I see things, because of this power, I can see people and things far away. Most people look like candles, little lights. That sorcerer looks like a lightning storm against a sunset, I guess. Marius looks like mist on a river."
"It explains a lot." Thug said. "You guys were always special. Smart, and when you get excited, it's contagious."
"Don't do that, Thug." Thema insisted. "Don't talk like they're going to disappear."
"Thema. We have to go. If we don't, he'll kill all of us. And the Boss, when you force him to try and protect us." Marius insisted.
"We left," Beriven said, turning to Anita "Because we saw him coming. I've sensed him, I guess, for over a month. I knew he was coming for me, and Marius. I went because I was afraid he'd try to take me away from you. This place, this family, is the most important thing I've ever had. I still don't want to go, but if I don't, this pace will be gone."
Anita nodded, and said "Can we come with you?"
"No." The Boss said. "At best, he'll use you. Worse, might kill you as part of their training. I've heard something of how he trains his apprentices." The Boss said emphatically.
"Why would you know that?" Anita asked.
"Because the sorcerer is Iniquitus, isn't it?" Mystery asked.
The Boss hung his head a little, then said "You should say your goodbyes. I have some soldiers packing supplies, so you won't need to part with anything. But he set a time limit, and we've used up over half of it."
"Right." Beriven said. He turned back to them, and said "I'm so sorry."
The others crowded around, tears in their eyes, as they wished one another well and swore to see each other again. Tha'varr insisted they take some of the sweets she had stashed, saying that the Boss was likely to send nothing but military rations with them.
"Come back to us, okay? As soon as you can, when you do what he wants, or become more powerful than him. Come back." Bug pleaded.
"We will!" Beriven insisted. Marius, in turn begged them to "Stay together, keep going with everything we started. Don't you dare fall back to the streets!"
"We will!" Bug insisted, his eyes fierce. "We'll look after each other, we'll always be family. And we'll leave two open plates for whenever you come back."
Anita, her eyes red, stood up to Marius and kissed him, hard, for a kiss that seemed to stop his heart, slow time to a crawl, and blacked out every thought from his mind.
As she pulled away, though, Marius saw something in her eyes, a grief that seemed too empty, as if something in her had been torn away, leaving a darkness that, despite everything else happening, left Marius chilled and heartbroken.
"It's time." The Boss said. "Don't follow. I'll be back in an hour."
He opened the door then, and the boys, reluctantly, turning their heads back every couple of seconds, stepped through and out into the night.
As they walked away, they could see a single shape, silhouetted against the rooftop lights. Quickly, they could see a couple more, until every one of their friends, despite their tears, waved and cheered their lost friends into the night.
"You're not early." That smooth, deceptively gentle voice spoke from the shadows, as Marius and Beriven stepped into view. The Boss trailed a couple of steps behind, his hand idling beside his blaster.
"We're not late." The Boss replied, dangerously.
"True. But I do prefer fear inspired promptness. Your toeing the line suggests a compromise between terror and principle. Common among the most defiant of my servants." Iniquitus explained.
"And your most capable, I suspect." The Boss replied, quietly.
"I concede the point. But you may give these children the wrong impression, that I actively seek defiance in those I employ, or rule." Iniquitus looked hard at the Boss, and flexed his fingers. "A question, boys. In this instance, what would be the best way to ensure the Don's loyalty and silence?"
The Boys, terrified, shrank back a little and shook their heads.
"Too frightened to give an answer? If I told you your silence might get him killed? Will that loosen your tongues?"
"Killing him will loose you the resources, and wounding him makes it more likely for him to risk putting a thermal detonator in his next shipment." Beriven said, quickly.
"He's less likely to deal with you, if you don't stick to the letter, and the spirit of what's been agreed upon. We go with you, you leave this place and its people unmolested. We serve you, you don't come back and burn Vos Ma'ar to the ground." Marius added.
Iniquitus' expression couldn't be seen under the bandages, leaving it almost impossible to gauge his reaction.
"Well put. I am impressed." Iniquitus said. His gaze settled on the Boss, who now gripped the blaster pistol with one hand, and had the other at his side, looking only a moment away from drawing it.
"Turn back and look at him, children." Iniquitus said. "Men such as him are the rarest in the galaxy. Principled, ethical, and capable. He has forged justice and peace in a world that lacks law, or the economic incentive to acquire it. His adversaries are criminals and the worst sort of scum, and if they ruled, you two would be slaves or worse, beneath an indolent, self-indulgent heel. Rare is the person who would not do that to you, if they had power. Rarer still is the person who can acquire power, and still treat the powerless as if they deserved a dignified life.
My first lesson to you is this: Do not squander such people. If you do, you will have armies without teeth, servants without worth, and an empire without pillars to support itself. You were wise to attempt to save him, regardless of your emotional attachment."
The Boss looked stunned, and shifted his stance to one more relaxed, though his hand still stayed near the blaster.
"Verre's soldier, know this. The bargains we have struck tonight will be honored." Iniquitus said to the Boss, as he looked into the sky. "One more bargain, for your consideration. I have no love for the slavery of children, so I offer you this. If you repair my ship, I will go to one city, of your choice, and end the trade of slaves in it. Give me your answer with the next batch of supplies"
He turned back to Beriven and Marius. "Boys. You are both familiar enough with loss. I can sense the grief within you, for what I'm tearing you from. But I sense the resignation, the solid acceptance of those who have lost, and grown stronger for it."
"And I sense the fear. In both of you. But beneath that, there's a sense of urgency, an eagerness. Know that you will both become strong. Stronger under a year of my tutelage than a lifetime could have ever made you. I sense your hunger for that power."
Beriven swallowed, and said "You don't sense anything like it. I'd rather go back now, join my family, and find my own kind of strength, my own way.
Iniquitus looked down on him, the cold, dark fury behind his eyes seemed to suck the heat from the air, and darken the sky of the lunar eclipse.
"Then you may. Your friend, though, does not get that choice." Iniquitus said softly, the smooth voice carrying enough menace to put tears in Beriven's eyes.
"Berry, take it! It's the best deal we'll get! They only loose one of us this way." Marius said, quickly.
Beriven turned to Marius, and shook his head. "I ain't leavin ya to him. I'd rather the lucky orphans lived without me, then see you become the next Therran Amar."
Iniquitus looked at Marius, a long, thoughtful gaze that held Marius in a cold, sweaty fear. He turned, eventually, back to Beriven, and said "then when you address me, you will call me Master."
A pair of soldiers stepped up to them, slowly, and dropped off three packs, one of them larger than the other two. "Medical supplies, clothes, sleeping bags. Military rations, a data pad and a transceiver. Anything more you need, just make a list. I'll arrange the next shipment fifty-two days after the lunar eclipse ends."
Iniquitus nodded, satisfied, as Beriven and Marius picked up their own packs. "What are your names, boys?"
"Marius, Master." Marius said, quickly.
"Beriven, Master." Beriven said slowly, after a moment.
Their Master nodded again, and started into the night. Beriven starting after.
To Marius, as the followed, an understanding that had passed between himself and the former Lord of the Obsidian Throne. That the eagerness he had sensed, the hunger for power his new Master had sensed, had come from him. That if he had made Marius that offer, he too would have refused, but not for such a noble reason.