Chapter Three
Talzin began the chant that the manuscript provided, knowing full well that powerful chants like these were well preserved and kept complete once written. She was careful to pronounce every vowel slowly as she went through what the book had provided. Then she watched as her chant took its effect and began to raise the ancient city from the ground, uprooting trees, throwing boulders and mountains off their connections with the ground, and even kicking enough sand and dirt to have a sandstorm before at last the buildings began to emerge from their underground tomb after millennia of forcibly remaining dormant. It was everything she could have imagined it being what the legends described and more, the abundant houses stretching for miles in all directions, the office buildings attempting to reach the sky but doing no better than the houses surrounding them, and the Palace at the center with the spiraling tower that was the tallest feature of this underground city.
"Yes, the legends were true for once. Now I shall begin with the final stages of my plan, I just hope Maul and Savage can keep the Jedi and the Sith busy enough for me to carry it out. But I'm in no rush, why not explore this city before I use it for my purposes then destroy it?" Talzin thought aloud with zealous enthusiasm. Though still worried about Asajj Ventress, Talzin didn't believe that the sister would interfere with her plans for this city yet nor intended to.
Talzin's biggest hope though was that Ventress wasn't here on Dathomir and had been witness to the tremor. After all, once Ventress saw something that interested her there was no stopping her from investigating the item of interest in full. The last thing Mother Talzin needed was Asajj Ventress investigating the city and finding out she was still alive before she could complete her plans for the city. But then, she reminded herself that if the worst were to come she could always use Ventress' connection to her to take possession of her mind and make her Talzin's loyal servant as she had when Ventress asked her to aid her in her plot against Count Dooku.
After weeks of traveling without coordinates and brining down entire smuggling groups to even find a meager portion of the way to Felucia, Maul and Savage arrived at last. Now that they had arrived in Felucia, Maul immediately made it a priority to find the Madness herb that Talzin had spoken of when he last visited her. He knew enough to know about flowers to know that the herb was simple a flower with a star-shaped set of five purple petals on it. "Why do you know so much botany if you are a Sith Lord who is meant to destroy such things?" Savage asked.
"Organisms like us work in a very similar manner to plants: we take in solid matter for nutrients, we drink water to maintain the liquidity of our bodies, and we use both to grow mentally as well as physically. To know how to destroy your enemy, sometimes you have to know their physical and mental anatomy thus spotting any weaknesses (as there undoubtedly and inevitably will be) quickly and decisively. And besides, in order to destroy your enemy sometimes you have to know how they were created first," Maul explained. "Like the Sith know how the Jedi were created, I presume?" Savage guessed.
"A valid and excellent presumption Savage, you may have much still to learn but you're catching on rather quickly. Look around for people that may know where to find the herb, persuade them with some-interrogation, if it can be called that- to persuade them if you must. Nonetheless we must have an herb ready to present to Kycina in the event that Talzin's fears about her sanity are confirmed," Maul replied. "Yes brother, shall I look in that cantina to my left and see if anyone knows?" Savage asked, indicating the cantina.
"Go ahead, it may be a good place to stop for the night if our search for the herb turns fruitless today," Maul answered with a nod. Though he didn't like doing it, Maul knew that if he and Savage separated they could get more searching done than if they stayed together. It meant that more space was covered and as long as the rendezvous point was the same, it didn't matter if this first day proved successful or if it did not. They had come this far in several months and could afford to wait a little longer as could Kycina herself.
As Maul had foreseen, Savage's exploration of the cantina at the edge of town was in vain but so was Maul's own search in the town square for someone who knew where the herb could be found. But just when they were about to call it a day, a drunken smuggler came out of the cantina and asked if they were looking for the Madness herb. "Of course, I'll only tell for the right amount of credits," he added smugly. Savage decided that since they didn't have credits, it would be best to improvise when he grabbed the smuggler by the throat and began crushing his windpipe with a single large hand.
"I mean, I would love to tell you immediately, yeah that's what I meant," he said before Savage knocked him unconscious. "Then talk and we will stop this," Maul ordered. "They have several bushes along the front of the forest. The ones most effective are the ones on the border of the forest that have already bloomed. Since Felucia is affected by the Force, the plants can live hundreds of years even after being violently uprooted," the smuggler said desperately.
"One last thing before we let you go: how are the drinks in this cantina?" Maul asked with a raised eyebrow toward the drunk. "Not the best but certainly better than the heavily diluted crap they give you on Coruscant," the smuggled told him. At Maul's order, Savage let him go and together they entered the bar unopposed. A prostitute even offered a freebie to Savage in exchange for him buying a drink for the two of them.
"Have some fun Savage, we'll be here the rest of the night and some of the morning," Maul told him. He paid the bartender a couple chips he found in one of his adventures with his brother and told him they would be the full expenses for their long stay. While Savage bought the drink with some of his own credits, Maul went up to the rooms provided to them. Despite not being high quality, the rooms were nice and cozy for a one-day stay at this place.
Asajj Ventress had been wandering the ancient city for an undetermined amount of time and could not believe there were people living, breathing and walking in it. It had been underground for thousands of years, how could anyone survive that long? she asked herself before realizing that Dathomir magic evolved from the Force and thus capable of amazing things. Could this be the work of Mother Talzin, could she indeed have survived the attack on Dathomir and merely told Ventress to stay away so that she didn't interfere with any plans she had for the future?
It was worth checking out although Savage would probably be worth more than this mere city that would be reported on HoloNet News if Republic journalists ever saw it. Hell, archaeologists would be crawling all over it and examining it within a matter of days if that were to be the case. Nonetheless, she did know only one person who would care about this place besides journalists and archaeologists: Mother Talzin. That and she knew Mother Talzin would also be the only one with the power and/or materials to raise it from the earth after millennia of remaining trapped down there.
Considering that Talzin told her to go on to find her own life after the sisters were destroyed, Ventress had to find her and force her to reveal why she said that. She had to know why Talzin had told her to leave her home behind her forever. Was it because she foresaw something that would happen to her if she didn't? Did Talzin foresee another encounter with Count Dooku in Ventress' near future?
Your Master Qui-Gon Jinn, I gutted him while you stood helpless and watched Maul had said. The words and the way they were said still made Obi-Wan shutter, toss, and turn in his bed at the glorious Jedi Temple. How did that make you feel, Obi-Wan? he had added. Obi-Wan tossed again and shivered in the fear of such a loathsome memory as that had been for him. Your rage has unbalanced you that is not the Jedi way, is it? Maul added to taunt him further.
It was at that comment that Obi-Wan woke up uttering a battle cry and calling the lightsaber he then activated into his sweaty hand. Being in the next-door room, Anakin heard the commotion and raced to Kenobi's room to see Obi-Wan holding his lightsaber toward the door as if to defend himself from something only he could see. "Master, are you okay?" he asked. Obi-Wan deactivated his blade and shook his head before mentioning that he dreamed about his fight with Maul.
"He mentioned how he killed Qui-Gon in an attempt to make me give into my anger. I had done that when I faced him for the first time as a Padawan and I guessed he was hoping it would work again. He could not have been more right about that one," he added when he calmed. "And yet you feel you have to face him again before long?" Anakin asked.
"I have foreseen it, it cannot be avoided nor do I think it should be avoided. If it is the will of the Force that I face him again then I will but if it is not the will of the Force then I will never meet him again, understand?" Obi-Wan replied. Anakin nodded though Obi-Wan doubted if he truly did understand as Anakin's head was somewhat thick even for someone as young as he was. As he lied back down in bed and Anakin left, he began to wonder if Qui-Gon was right about focusing on the here-and-now rather than the distant future or the equally distant past.
Maul observed as the life outside of the Felucian cantina began to mellow out for the first time since his sudden arrival to this forsaken world. Savage was still busy with the whore he had bought drinks for and the distant sounds of her incredibly loud orgasms could be heard across the otherwise still hallway that seemed to go forever. The stamina his brother had was phenomenal and even Maul himself began to wonder if he had ever compared on any of his missions as Sidious' pathetic apprentice.
But he reminded himself that pathetic or no, the apprentice had defeated the spirit of the Sith Emperor Darth Vitiate when it inhabited the body of Claudius Draco. While his brother continued having his way with the prostitute, he decided to do something he knew Savage would not like: he used the Force to call Obi-Wan over to Dathomir. Kenobi, if you receive this then I want you to travel to Dathomir. I promise we will face each other alone and if you win again as you did twelve years ago, you may kill me or else I will cease all attempts towards revenge should you choose to spare me Maul said, keeping it short, sweet, and direct.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that long before he got a response from Kenobi although the Jedi Master was fast asleep in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. I will be there Maul just tell me where and when to meet you on Dathomir. That is, so long as you don't mock me with killing my master like you did the last time we fought Obi-Wan replied. Maul chuckled and said that although he didn't guarantee he wouldn't, he'd try not to do that again.
It was after he finished conversing with Kenobi through the Force that Savage left the room he was in, the whore he had banged lying motionless as the dead and equally deep in sleep. "Brother, you sure you got enough out of that one? Where did you learn such stamina as that incredible feat?" Maul asked. "Let's just say I got between the legs of many women while searching for you in the galaxy," Savage answered.
Maul mentally smiled and reminded himself he hadn't been so different when he was apprentice to Lord Sidious. Just thinking of that man made his head ache and his hands lust for the feel of his lightsaber, knowing full well that the only thing that could please him as much (if not more than) as killing Obi-Wan would be exacting his revenge on Sidious as well. If there was anyone who deserved a more excruciating death than the Jedi, it also had to be Sidious himself. And Maul knew just how to start the beginning of the end for the man who had raised and discarded him if he ever had the chance: he would start with this Count Dooku character first.