Chapter 27
Footsteps
"How could that creature's hide stop our lightsabers?" Mirian finally asked as she followed Master Shadaarwin through the tunnels.
"I'm afraid that creature was probably a remnant of ancient Sith alchemy. The Sith dabbled in the darkest of many arts, not just the Force. There are legends of monsters they created to act as slaves, guard dogs, or worse. In the old days many Jedi were killed by their creatures. Every now and then an expedition will find a Terentak, thousands of years old and still as powerful and angry as ever. I suspect that the Sith found some way to engineer these creatures to huge sizes, and imbue them with Force powers that would make their skin impenetrable to Force or saber attacks."
"Do you think there will be any more of them?"
Her Master smiled and said, "I hope not. There's little enough down here to serve as prey for such a large beast, I doubt more than one could survive. Still, we must be cautious." She pointed her glow rod down at the ground. "Footsteps in the dirt. Master Kree has come this way."
Mirian held her glow rod in her off hand, and gripped her saber tightly. Master Shadaarwin kept her light trained on the footprints as the two Jedi delved deeper and deeper into the Sith ruins.
And then she could feel it. The coldest, darkest, most seething spot in the Force was just up ahead. Just beyond a crumbling archway. And there was something alive in there.
She followed her Master into the room, and there was Kan'to Kree, holding a lightsaber in one hand and a holocron in the other.
"You should not have come down here!" shouted Kree, "This is my sanctuary! Jedi cannot survive against the might of Darth Nadir!"
Master Shadaarwin lit her green blade. "I take it you won't come quietly?"
Kree snarled and out of the hand holding the holocron came a violet blast of Force lightning that curled around Shadaarwin's blade.
"I'll take high, you take low," she said to her apprentice, and without hesitation she launched herself across the room. Immediately two more sabers ignited, one yellow and one silver. Kree deflected the Jedi's blade and sidestepped, causing her to go past him. But with Force enhanced speed, Mirian sped across the chamber, keeping low. At the same moment, the two struck. Mirian was to his left, and striking low, while Master Shadaarwin was to his right and striking high. Kree performed a lazy sideways handspring, leaping over Mirian's low blade and under Shadaarwin's high strike. He kicked out at Shadaarwin's arm as he flipped under her blade, but she managed to move it out of the way in time.
The two Jedi continued their assault, now both coming from the same direction. Keeping pace with both of them, he blocked every blow. Finally, Master Shadaarwin managed to deflect and entangle his blade with hers, leaving her apprentice room to make another low strike. Mirian aimed at his knee, but found herself buffeted back by a blast of telekinetic energy. Master Shadaarwin stepped forward, her blade still locked with the Nikto's. She managed to push his blade back, then swing directly at his chest. Kan'to Kree raised his other hand and sent a blast of Force lightning into Shadaarwin's blade, but he couldn't stop the swing. It intersected with the Sith holocron.
"And that's my last clear memory. I saw shards of it explode everywhere." Mirian hung her head. "I don't know what happened to my Master, but... I think she's dead. And I think... there were times when I didn't feel like me. I felt like something else was trying to take over. Something horrible. I could feel Kree, whatever it was already had him. And he was trying to find me, but I wasn't infected enough for him to track down."
"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure your Master put up a fight. Kree lost his lightsaber in that fight." Ahsoka handed the saber to Mirian. "It looks like it needs to be charged, too. He wore it down."
Mirian held the hilt in her hands, looking at it with wide eyes as if she'd never seen it before. "We need to find out for sure. I want to know if Master Shadaarwin is alive."
"Of course. As soon as we can we'll get a transport and head down to Lofla."
Ylenic said, "Perhaps I should take her. You have a bounty to collect as soon as the local offices are open tomorrow. And perhaps you should take the lightsaber with you as proof that this is the Jedi they were searching for."
"Right. I'll need some way of carrying him."
"Perhaps you may want to invest in a small loader droid for such a task."
"I'll look into it. This bounty's pretty high, I should be able to afford one. I can probably rent one from the spaceport to get it there in the morning. Or maybe we should make another mask and have Arc pretend to be my partner, now that he's got two working hands."
Mirian handed the lightsaber back to Ahsoka and said, "I'm not sure I need it back. It's done so much harm."
"This is a Jedi's weapon. Your weapons," said Ylenic, "I doubt that anything Kree did with it can truly taint that. Rest now, child. Recover. Tomorrow we will travel to the Sith ruins outside Lofla."
"I'll get it back to you in one piece, Mirian." Ahsoka smiled at her. Even though Mirian didn't know Ahsoka all that well, it felt like the first genuine smile from a friend that she'd had in ages.
"Thank you, Padaw... I mean, Ahsoka."
"I've got to head back to the Whipclaw to keep an eye on things there. Ylenic, will you..."
"Yes, I believe it will be best if I stay here. Please alert us if there is any relevant new. For now, however, it is late, and I think it is best if we sleep."
Arc gave a grin with the good half of his face, "Speak for yourself. I'm going to go look for a net-ball partner to try out my motor skills."
"Good luck with that. It's nearly midnight," said Ahsoka.
"What, there's no all-night net-ball clubs in Yumfla? I guess this really is the backwater."