Chapter 11

"Hello, Shardak." Nightshade said as she entered the room. Her armor gleamed silver in the half-light, only dimmed by the dark cloak she'd draped over her slender shoulders. Her eyes, once so full of warmth, sparkled with dark hatred. Three cloaked Ix, scythes drawn, flanked her. Shardak could see two more approaching them.

"I told them that if we waited long enough, you'd come for your poor friend." said Nightshade coldly.

Shardak felt as though he'd been slapped in the chest. How had she been captured? Were they going to threaten to kill her, so he'd turn himself in? What...

No.

She was one of them.

The enemy. The Ix. He'd been betrayed. Tricked. Played by the Empire. Shardak felt his world unravel before him.

"Nightshade...you're not..."

Nightshade turned her imperious gaze on Kyhrex. She'd raised her bow, ready to fire an arrow through Nightshade's heart.

"One shot, and you're dead." Nightshade snarled. "You've seen how fast the Ix can move. You, too, Glatorian" she added Blast readied his scythe.

She must have told the Fury...where Arcturas and I were hiding. That's the only explanation for the Copies' attack in the forests that night. Shardak thought, his memories in turmoil. He'd never seen Nightshade fall to the Copies. While Shardak watched Arcturas die, Nightshade was probably laughing over his death with the Imperial soldiers.

She murdered him. He thought. Fury gave him strength, and he drew the sword Silencer had given him. Then he lowered the blade as sickening realization flooded him. The Ix would kill him before he even lifted the sword.

"We...pitied you." Shardak gasped. "We pitied you, and you betrayed us! How could you! You're..."

"An Ix." finished Nightshade. Despite the drawn weapons all around her, she seemed completely at ease, more so than Shardak had ever seen her. She was completely in control.

She was an Ix.

"I was an assassin, sent to kill Arcturas." said Nightshade, but Shardak could barely hear her over the pain he felt. It was as if someone had stabbed a knife into him and was slowly twisting it around.

"But I had a better plan." she continued. "I watched and waited while you and that old idiot wandered around from place to place, trying to escape the Empire. But no one can evade us forever. Finally, the moment was right. I trapped you both in the fire. Thought for sure you'd die at the hands of the Copies.

"But somehow you escaped, and found your way here with the help of that anarchist Silencer. Except Kor, of course, who, by now is captured and awaiting execution. You should never leave anyone you care about behind, Shardak." She laughed her beautiful, pure laugh, but it was tainted by hatred.

"Nightshade." Shardak said, desperately, wondering how she knew about Silencer. "How could you spend ten years laughing and talking and journeying with us and then-" his voice broke. "Just-" He couldn't continue any further. His vision blurred with tears.

"You didn't matter to me." she said. "Neither of you. We are the chosen race, the rulers of an Empire that spans universes. You are an insignificant group of rebels who will be erased from memory forever today."

Shardak winced as he felt the Shadow Orb grow heavy in his hand. Although he knew there was no way Nightshade could possibly know he was holding the heart of the Ix's power in his hand, he felt as though her cold emerald gaze was burning through him, as though she knew all of his innermost secrets and fears, including the fact he was holding the Orb.

She turned to the massed Ix. "Kill them." she ordered. "Kill them all."

This is the end. Thought Shardak. His mind was still confused. How could he believe that the sister he'd loved so much had suddenly become an evil Ix, bent on his destruction? Even as one of the Ix raised a scythe to deal a death blow, Shardak still felt as though everything was happening extremely slowly, despite the ghoulish soldier's extreme speed.

Shardak's eyes fixed on Nightshade as the Veiled One bore down on him. She stood before him like a conquering general, her gaze cold and pitiless. There was no sign of the compassionate, friendly Glatorian that he had journeyed with for eleven long years. Her eyes only held one promise: death.

Shardak moved in, shielding Blast from the attack. Kyhrex had her laser crossbow at the ready, aiming it at Nightshade. However, it was completely obvious that the Ix, who could move almost supernaturally fast, would grab him before they did.

Then everything happened at once. The Ix lunged toward him, there was a flash of daggers in the half-light, an explosion of blood that struck Shardak, spattering across his armor and legs, and the force of the impact flung him against the wall of the Spire and knocked the Cold Fire torch from his hand.

Then he saw his rescuer.

"Barit?" he gasped in shock. "How did you-"

Nightshade moved faster than Shardak would have thought possible. Shardak opened his mouth to scream as the dagger entered Barit's neck.

Like a puppet with all his strings cut, Barit staggered backward and collapsed limply on the ground. Shardak opened his mouth, but everything happened too quickly to follow. Moments after the dagger speared through Barit's throat, Shardak saw Blast, holding the scythe in one hand and the Blade of Arcturas in the other, struck a charging Ix.

Shardak saw a second Ix leap at him, but Kyhrex had charged into the fray now, protosteel claw swinging wildly. Shardak grabbed Barit in the confusion, hauling the Matoran to his feet. A quick examination confirmed all of his worst fears. The dagger had struck the center of his throat, and his life was slowly fading. Blast had been slammed against the wall, and Kyhrex was shouting for him to run.

"Why?" Shardak asked, his face stained with tears. "Why did you-"

"You...were...right." Barit gasped. "The Ix are not...our guardians. Prevail Shardak...for Mata Nui's sake, flee..."

His head rolled to one side as his eyes glazed over. His body went limp and he fell against the wall.

"Run! Shardak! Run!" Blast was yelling. The element of surprise was nearly over, and the Ix had recovered from the attack surprisingly quickly.

He realized he'd have to leave Barit. Leave him for the Ix.

"Run, Shardak! Don't throw your life away! Run!"

Blast's shout galvanized Shardak into action. He took one last look at Barit's body before racing after Blast. The Ix had regrouped, but Shardak knew they'd be too late. Barit's suicidal attack on Nightshade had given them the one chance to escape.

Racing down the twisted tunnels, Shardak knew they'd already escaped the Ix, but he didn't care. Kyhrex was shouting at them, urging them to follow, telling them the entrance to the Labyrinth was near, but Shardak was hardly listening.

Barit was dead. And Nightshade had killed him. In retrospect, Shardak wanted to laugh aloud at how he and Blast had played right into her hands, following her into the Circle.

Shardak knew that if they hadn't followed her into the Circle, they'd have been captured by the Ix no matter what, they'd never let any witnesses survive the fire once they learned of his survival, but the pain he felt, both from his wounds and from Nightshade's betrayal made rational thought impossible. In the wildly chaotic race through the twisting tunnels below the Spire, he was only conscious of the weight of the Shadow Orb in his hand.

Kyhrex led them down winding passageways lit by Cold Flame torches and the green spheres from the Circle, but Shardak was barely conscious of it. Later, he would wonder exactly how long they'd wandered within and below the Spire, but he knew he'd truely never learn.

Finally Kyhrex stopped before a massive archway. Shardak gasped in shock. The cavern was like a yawning void, a gateway into darkness. He could see strange green dancing lights somewhere in the bottomless blackness as well, but the pale color seemed even blacker then the cavern mouth itself. Cold Fire torches, one on either side, did nothing to brighten the shadowy cavern.

Shardak gasped again, his voice filled with awe. Though Silencer had told them both what to expect, words could not convey the sheer mass of the cavern's entrance.

"The Gateway." said Kyhrex. Her voice was grim and cold. "The entrance to the Labyrinth."