Chapter 13

Ezra POV

The day had started out hopeful, but had quickly become miserable.

Despite the ominous nature of the dream that had inspired his trip, Ezra had been happy to get an excuse to visit Sabine, having missed her company over the past couple months. Then, only shortly after he'd arrived, his vision had started to come true. Seeing Maul for the first time in his life right after seeing him in some trippy dream had to be more than a coincidence, and the memory of the rest of the dream had caused Ezra to volunteer to go with his hated enemy before either Kanan or Sabine could get involved, determined to keep the two of them from harm. However, Maul's presence was even more disturbing than he had imagined.

Mostly because he wouldn't shut up.

"So tell me, apprentice," Maul said as he flew them down towards a planet that was a dark red, almost like blood. To Ezra's annoyance, Maul had insisted on calling him "apprentice" ever since he had mentioned that he had no master, uncaring of how many times Ezra insisted that he was not, on fact, Maul's apprentice. "what brought you to the one called Kanan Jarrus? Reputation? Power?" Maul asked.

Ezra lied back in his chair aboard Maul's own personal Kom'rk, the Nightbrother. "I have no intention of answering your questions, creature," Ezra responded, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to look at Maul.

Maul brought their ship in to land and said, "Is that so? Well, I think that you will soon change your mind. There is much that I could teach you." As he set the ship down, he and Ezra both stood and exited down the ramp.

"Sounds good," Ezra said. "First thing I want you to teach me is what color you bleed. Can we begin the lesson now?"

Maul chuckled at him and commented, "Ah, yes. You'll do nicely."

Recognizing the phrase, Ezra stumbled for a moment and asked, "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Maul said innocently as he led Ezra towards a large cave opening. "Just saying that you will make a fine apprentice to me one day. You have such anger, and I can sense your power. And a Mandalorian, no less. Yes, you'll do quite nicely indeed."

Ezra lowered his head as they were consumed by the darkness of the cave and groaned, "By the Manda, please shut up. If you keep talking about me being your apprentice, I'm gonna-"

He broke off as they walked into a big, open space within the cave, lit only by the light of candles along the walls and with a large stone table in the middle, a tall ceramic pitcher and two smaller ceramic drinking glasses on it. What was most surprising about this scene, however, was a picture that hung against the back wall, the same picture that Ezra had seen in his dream. It was of the Mandalorian former Duchess Satine Kryze, wearing royal robes, but blood had been drawn in jagged lines over her eyes and neck.

Unfortunately, Maul didn't know that that picture had a bigger meaning to Ezra, who looked at it in revulsion. "What is this place?" he asked, looking around to see several more relics surrounding him. Some were weapons, trophies, and many of them seemed to be Mandalorian. There were several Mandalorian helmets in black with red outlines and horns on top of the head, clearly meant to evoke Maul's own appearance.

"This planet is my home, Dathomir," Maul answered. "Once, it was also home to my kin, but now I am the last survivor. Yet the Nightsisters once lived here. Masterful witches they were, and now we require their power to achieve our goal."

After Maul finished explaining, Ezra turned back and noticed one relic in particular, standing in a place of honor atop a stand right below the painting of the Duchess. It was a thin, rectangular blade hilt with a hand guard and an emitter at the end, clearly a lightsaber of some sort, but one unlike any other, as Ezra immediately recognized. Of all the things in this room, that weapon was by far the most interesting. It was the greatest and most famous Mandalorian relic in their history.

Stepping forward with the intent to liberate it, his wrist was suddenly seized by Maul's hand. "Touch nothing, apprentice," Maul ordered. "These relics are offerings to the spirits of the Nightsisters to appease them as we use their magic. We must not disturb the sacrifices."

Ezra forcefully pulled his hand away from Maul's grip and pointed at the lightsaber hilt as he argued, "That one is no offering. It's not to be given away! Do you even know-"

"It is the Darksaber, indeed," Maul interrupted him. "And yes, it is quite the weapon, but next to the goal I have in mind… It is nothing. Now, come. We must begin the ritual."

Ezra scowled at Maul's dismissal of the Darksaber, but nevertheless followed Maul back to the table as he began to pour from the pitcher into the two glasses. As he saw Ezra step forward, Maul tried to ease his mind by saying, "If you move quickly, perhaps you can take the Darksaber when you leave. But you must stay ahead of the Nightsisters. They will not want to let you take it, and they will not be stopped."

Ezra rolled his eyes and said, "Thanks, but that's not how it works. It must be won, as you should know."

"I know quite well," Maul responded, then set down the pitcher and offered one of the glasses to Ezra, who took it as Maul explained, "Now, apprentice, we must both drink this potion together, all of it, but first you must open the holocron, and we will place it between us to absorb the power of the Nightsisters' magic."

Ezra pulled Kanan's holocron, which looked like just some glass cube, from one of his pouches at his belt and brought it forward. He looked up at Maul for a moment, then used both hands to try to pry the holocron open. He used all his strength, but he quickly found that it would not budge.

"No, apprentice!" Maul chastised him. "You must use the Force!"

Ezra rolled his eyes and said, "Well, that might've been good to know beforehand." He held it out in his open palm and began one of his practices, reaching out to the cube with his senses. Soon, he saw one edge rotate around with a small click, and then the other edges began to do the same, until they all floated off and the holocron began to glow.

Ezra's eyes widened at the sight, but Maul just smirked and used the Force himself to make the now-open holocron float into the air between them and above their heads. He then held up his own glass of the potion and toasted Ezra before he began to drain it all down.

Quickly removing his helmet, Ezra followed his lead, making sure to drink every last bit of the potion in his glass, which thankfully tasted like absolutely nothing.

Seconds after, though, he began to feel woozy. Maul gripped his head and whispered, "It's working!"

He closed his eyes and opened them once more, and now his eyes were glowing a bright green. Ezra's vision became blurred, and he had a feeling that his own eyes had changed to green as well. Suddenly, wisps of green mist began to float out of both Ezra and Maul's eyes to connect to the holocron above them, which began to glow green as well as the light within it was touched by the mist.

Both Ezra and Maul looked up at the light above them, and Maul called out desperately, "Where is he?!" Ezra didn't know what Maul was talking about, but he saw the answer to his question revealed, as an image of an unfamiliar planet with two suns appeared in the light above him.

The light only lasted for a short moment, and then the lights all died down, both in the holocron and in the pair's eyes, fading into nothing. After it was over, Maul looked about wildly and murmured to himself, "Of course! It ends where it began. A desert planet with two suns."

While Maul was distracted, Ezra crept behind his back, picking up the fallen holocron on the way, and grabbed his lightsaber from off his belt, then activated it and held the blade next to Maul's throat. "Yeah, that's great, buddy," Ezra said as Maul froze under the threat of decapitation. "But now that we're done here, I think your time is up."

Just then, they began to hear whispers from all around them, echoing through the cave. Listening closely, Ezra heard what they were saying. "Pay our due!" several female voices rasped.

Still not seeing the threat, Ezra asked Maul, "What is this?" Maul looked around with fear, apparently more concerned by the voices than by the lightsaber at his throat. "The Nightsisters require payment for us using their magic," Maul said.

Ezra gestured over at the shrine across the room and asked, "I thought that your sacrifices were supposed to do that!"

Maul shook his head. "The shrine was only the start. The price they desire now is our flesh and blood."

From out of the altar next to them, two green female figures rose, their forms made of swirling mist as they went right through the solid surface of the table. Realizing that the spirits of the Nightsisters were clearly hostile, Ezra rushed forward and slashed Maul's lightsaber through one of them, but it did nothing to harm it.

"The weapons of the living cannot harm these spirits!" Maul warned him, and they both began to back up, trying to put distance between themselves and the spirits. "Pay our due!" both spirits howled again.

Just then, Ezra heard a familiar voice call out, "Ezra!"

Tensing up in concern, Ezra turned around to see Sabine and Kanan rushing into the room, their weapons out and directed at the Nightsisters. He didn't know how they'd found him here, but now wasn't the time to figure it out. Kanan held his lightsaber protectively in front of himself and Sabine attempted to shoot the spirits with her pistols, and Ezra tried to warn them, "Sabine! Kanan! You need to get out of here!"

But his warning came too late, as the two spirits flew towards Ezra's friends. Sabine continued shooting as one of them approached her, but her blasts went right through its smoky form, and Sabine let out one final scream before the spirit went inside her, and she fell limply to the ground. Kanan quickly deactivated his lightsaber and caught her before she could collapse, but the other spirit put its hands on his head and slowly faded into his body.

Then, both he and Sabine walked slowly forward and kneeled in front of the altar, leaving Ezra concerned about what had happened to them. He began to approach them, but Maul placed a warning hand on his chest.

A moment later, Kanan's head rose, and he used one hand to remove his mask from his face, then opened his eyes to reveal an eerie green light pouring from them. He smirked at Ezra and Maul, then quickly drew his lightsaber and attacked them.

In an instant, Maul's lightsaber flew out of Ezra's hand and back into Maul's, which he then used to fend off Kanan's attacks, which pushed him backwards towards the opening of the cave.

Ezra turned back to Sabine, who opened her own eyes to reveal the same green glow, the same pleased smirk. Ezra hesitantly asked, "Sabine? Are you in there?"

She hesitated for only a moment, then suddenly leapt towards him with her arms outstretched and tackled him. After a moment of fighting her off, Ezra managed to push her back, then drew one of his pistols and shot a stunning blast at her. To his surprise, the blast hit her but seemed to do nothing. She simply smiled at him and said in the Nightsister's voice, "Your weapons are weak against us, fool!"

She then charged at him again, but Ezra activated his jetpack just before she collided with him, giving him the momentum needed to throw her back instead. She crashed into the shrine behind the altar, then fell down on the ground as the various sacrifices fell down on top of her. Ezra winced at the thought of hurting her, but he silently promised to return once he'd found a way out of this situation.

He ran off into the cave and found Maul, still deflecting strikes from Kanan. Ezra fired a grappling line from his left vambrace, wrapping it around Kanan's legs, then pulled, tripping the possessed Jedi onto the ground. Ezra then ran to stand by Maul and warned, "You better not hurt him!"

Maul simply turned and began to run towards the cave opening, saying, "Come with me! I will show you how to save your friends!"

Ezra looked back at Kanan, who was just managing to extricate himself from the grappling line, and decided that he had no choice but to follow Maul.

Donning his helmet, Ezra ran after the former Sith, and they both stopped just outside the cave entrance, then turned to see Kanan following closely behind them. The Jedi held his lightsaber out to his side as he slowly approached them, but he stopped before he could exit the cave.

"They're trapped inside," Ezra murmured to himself.

Beside him, Maul nodded. "The altar is the source of their power. They cannot venture beyond the cave entrance. I am sorry about your friends, apprentice, but this is your opportunity to-"

"No!" Ezra cut him off. "They came here to help me, and we're not leaving until they can leave too. You say the spirits can't leave the cave, well my friends can!" As he said that last word, Ezra reached out towards Kanan, still standing in the entrance of the cave, and latched onto his body with the Force, trying to pull him forward.

The spirit inside Kanan, quickly realizing what Ezra was doing, dropped his lightsaber and began struggling to stay inside the cave, using all of Kanan's strength to fight the pull of Ezra's power. Knowing that he was outmatched with his small amount of training, Ezra growled back to Maul, "Help me!"

Not wasting a moment, Maul reached out a hand as well and began to pull against Kanan, his own power quickly turning the tide of the fight in their favor.

As it lost its grip, the spirit inside Kanan screamed out, "No! No!" as it was pulled forcefully out of the cave by the two Force-wielders. It was a bit odd to see Kanan's mouth speaking with the voice of a Nightsister, but Ezra didn't let that thought faze him as he gave one last pull that finally brought Kanan out of the cave.

As soon as he was past the cave entrance, Kanan's body began to twitch and shake before the ghostly Nightsister was pulled out of his body, launching back into the safety of the cave and leaving Kanan lying on the ground, seemingly exhausted.

Both of them breathing hard from the effort, Maul placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder and said, "Very impressive, apprentice. Believe it or not, your loyalty and dedication to your underlings is something that I admire."

"They're not my underlings," Ezra argued. "Now come on. Sabine's still in there. She may or may not be injured from when I fought her earlier, but either way, she should be easier than Kanan."

Maul's eyes shined as they reentered the cave and he said, "Really? You harmed your friend? That level of discipline requires… a certain strength that I hadn't known to expect from you, apprentice."

Venturing back towards the altar, Ezra responded, "Well, it wasn't easy, but I'm a Mandalorian. I'm used to making tough decisions, and I know to defend myself when I'm attacked, no matter what."

Above them, he suddenly heard the voice of a Nightsister call out, "Defend from this!"

He spun around to see Sabine jumping down towards him from atop a stone pillar, and she was wielding the Darksaber in her hand. She must have grabbed it from the shrine, Ezra realized just before she fell on him. She brought the Darksaber down towards his head, but Ezra brought up one of his vambraces to knock the blade aside instead. The beskar of his armor would protect him from any momentary attack, even a lightsaber for a short period of time, and the Darksaber's blade bounced off his arm before Ezra disarmed her of the weapon in the next second.

However, the Nightsister remained unfazed by losing her weapon, and used Sabine's exceptional skill to knee Ezra in the stomach, punch him across the face, and then kick him backwards onto the ground, all in quick succession before Ezra could react.

As he climbed back to his feet, he saw Maul step up between him and Sabine, saying, "Watch and learn, apprentice." Maul then smiled over his shoulder at Ezra as he raised a hand and used the Force to effortlessly raise Sabine into the air by her throat as she struggled and gasped for air.

Quickly climbing to his feet, Ezra yelled, "Maul! Let her go!"

Maul turned to face Ezra but did not release Sabine. "Why?" he asked. "What you see before you is no longer your friend, merely a witch pretending to be her. Yet your friend is even more dangerous herself, for she is a weakness to you, my apprentice. Let go of your past! Let go of your memories! Let go of your attachments! Let me kill the girl, and I will teach you to wield power you can't even imagine! We can be great together, Ezra. As partners. As friends. As brothers."

Ezra didn't even hesitate to respond, simply repeating in a dangerous voice, "Drop her, Maul. Now."

Maul growled with annoyance, then eased his fingers up and dropped Sabine to the ground. The spirit immediately began to cough for air, then looked up and smirked once more. Suddenly, the spirit floated out of Sabine's body, unceremoniously causing her to fall over on her side, and the spirit dived towards Ezra, who tensed up in apprehension, but just before it could touch him, Ezra heard a hissing sound coming from behind him, and then the spirit dispersed into nothingness with a wail.

Ezra turned to see what the hissing had been, and he found Maul plunging his lightsaber into the altar, which was surrounded by a green glow that slowly faded away as the magic of the Nightsisters seemed to be destroyed.

Seeing Sabine stir beside him, Ezra went to her and helped her into a sitting position.

Maul deactivated his lightsaber, clipping the hilt to his belt, and said, "It is done. The Nightsisters are no more. And good riddance."

Disgusted that he could react so coldly towards his own people, Ezra glared at him and asked, "Do you care about anyone?"

"I did once, and it brought me only loss and heartache," Maul admitted. He then turned to face Ezra and asked, "But what did I do to you, my apprentice? I can feel your anger… No, your loathing. You hate me. Why?"

"You brought Mandalore to ruin-" Ezra began, but Maul cut him off.

"No. That is what I did to Mandalore, but you hate me especially. What did I do to you?"

Ezra hesitated for a moment, then admitted, "You killed my mother."

Maul silently looked back at him, then shrugged. "I've killed many mothers," he said, then walked away towards the exit, calling behind him, "Until we meet again, apprentice."

Ezra glared after the Zabrak as he disappeared into the shadows, then tried to help Sabine to her feet, but she still seemed to be disoriented. She was barely able to get her feet beneath her, and he began to help her out of the cave.

As they passed through the cave opening, they found that Kanan had seated himself on a nearby rock. He groaned when he saw them and pulled himself to his feet. "Ezra, this is why you don't work with Maul," he said.

Ezra just nodded and tossed Kanan's mask back to him, which he caught and put back on his face. He then also tossed Kanan his holocron as he pulled Sabine into the Phantom II and said, "Here's your tracker back, Kanan. And one more thing… Don't ever try to track me again."

Kanan chuckled as he climbed back into the ship as well. "Understood."