The last vestiges of day gave way to mottled purple dusk. The air sagged, limp and damp. Cinder felt it cling stubborn to her face as she cut the last of the panels from the fallen basilisk. Behind her, Bestia managed to wrangle the other and climbed atop its back.
"Almost done?" Bestia called down. She brandished her lightsaber and gave it a twirl. "I have a bad feeling about this."
The sheet metal glowed orange at the perforations Cinder made and slid free. She called upon the Force to catch it before it made a sound, then sat it gently on the ground. She took her saber hilt in both hands, raised it over her head, and stabbed. Acrid smoke poured out, searing her nostrils as she pierced the web of wires underneath. It reeked of piss and brimstone. The basilisk let out a whine, low and thrumming. It tried to raise its head but the mess of cannons had become all too much for it to bear. The face of guns slumped down into the sodden soil of the marsh.
Cinder left the smoking heap of scrap metal and joined Bestia atop the war droid's back, clinging to the girl's shoulders for support. Bestia took the reins in her free hand, let out a "Hyah!" and ushered the droid into the thick of the jungle wood. Its hulking, clawed feet trampled fallen trunks underfoot when it failed to clear them with a jump. It stopped at random to spit yellow clouds of smoke, belching the small spurts of orange flame.
It continued this harried sprint until they found themselves in a smoldering clearing, the last wips of black smoke trembling as they melded with the air. The ground was littered with white flecks of ash atop the malformed scars of scorch marks, like daisies in a graveyard. We'll be pushing them if we linger, Cinder thought. Their mount slowed to a meandering canter. Its hydraulic coils groaned with every step.
"This one was yours before, I think," Bestia said, throwing a look back at Cinder. Her face scrunched up in frustration as she tried to force the basilisk back up to speed.
"What makes you say that?"
"It's slow and deliberate, like you."
Cinder grimaced. "Pray you don't end up like yours then."
Bestia turned with her mouth agape. "It was a jest, Dark Lady. I meant nothing by it."
"Right." Cinder forced a smile. "I bear you no ill will, Lady Bestia, truly. But perhaps we ought save the japes for later."
She giggled at that. "Of course, Lady Cinder." She tried to shake out the hair she no longer had.
Cinder could not hold it against her. Bestia was the newest of Ruin's apprentices, having come to Korriban on her own barely two years ago still drenched in a nobleman's blood. Her similarities to Fell were uncanny: slave children, bound by blood and law to their masters, both attuned to the Force. Circumstance led to them being ignored by the Jedi and had them pushed towards the allure of the dark. But Bestia was more inclined towards ambition, however. So much more. Cinder often wondered what it would have been like to take her as an apprentice instead.
"You remember when we first met, Lady Cinder?" Bestia dragged her from her thoughts. "I told you why I came to Korriban, right?"
"Yes," Cinder said. She remembered it well. "The whole bloody affair, down to every last detail." She knew it was pathetic, but Cinder couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Much too young for these trials, girl. Too young to damn yourself- Cinder stopped and shook her head. "It's nothing we need concern ourselves with in the here and now. Let's press on."
Bestia turned around and flashed a smile. Her skin was getting some of its color back, Cinder noticed. "As you wish." She lashed out with the reins one last time and, finally, the basilisk picked up speed once more. "How long have you known our Dark Lord?"
The change in subject was jarring. "Years and more. Why does it matter?"
The basilisk kicked up patters of mud as it entered a murky glade. A net of fat and sharp leaves, thick as canvas, concealed the sky overhead and left them buried in the dark. Bestia said, "Do you think he was always this shell of a man?"
No. "I will not deny he has his moods," Cinder said. She chose her words carefully, guarding herself against wherever this line of questioning would lead. "But he has been reasonable more often than not." Or am I choosing to not remember? "I was away from Korriban for the better part of five years. If you recall, upon your arrival, I had only just returned."
"So if there was a change, it was then?" Her tone suggested she hated the answer.
Cinder found her own patience wearing thin. "There is little point in questioning the root of Ruin's madness, Lady Bestia." She had almost formed another word when Bestia cut her off.
"Enough with that, I am no 'lady' and I deserve no silly title. My name is Mira. I think." She sighed and raised a hand to her temple. "It's been so long since I had a name. 'Lady' this, 'Bestia' that. 'Slave', 'bitch', 'whore', 'girl'. Enough." She kicked the basilisk's side hard and it stopped with a pout. She turned to face Cinder, silent silver tears streaming down her face. She ignited her lightsaber and leveled the blade towards Cinder's face, so close she could feel the heat.
"Careful with that," Cinder said. Her hand rested on the pommel of her own saber, on reflex.
Bestia turned off her lightsaber. "I beg you Lady Cinder. Please, when we get to Rhen Var, let me do it."
"This is my battle." Cinder sighed. She took Bestia's hands into her own and held them gingerly. "As much as you deserve your revenge, I must be the one to kill him and take his place. I am his apprentice, and that is the way of things. You know this."
"I can take his place!" Bestia tried to ignite her lightsaber, but Cinder snatched the hilt from her hand.
"Don't do anything stupid. Our order has been destroyed from within a thousand times before because of such nonsense."
Bestia wrenched her hands free and threw her head into them. She let out long wailing sobs that echoed through the murk before turning herself back to the droid's head. There was a clang as her boot pounded the side of the basilisk, and it began to trot through the mire, through another swatch of trees.
"Make him suffer before you take his crown," Bestia said in between sniffles. "You'll make a better Dark Lady without even trying."
Cinder sighed. Would I? She had no desire to rule. Those flames had burned out when she sacrificed her potential barony in the Mid Rim, her potential life as a Jedi Lord. It was a reminder in truth. She'd had her birthright given up on her behalf when her parents handed her off to the Jedi, though she could not say how appealing the countship on the monsoon-riddled backwater of Fassa would have been. She thought the title of Sith Empress would be just ever-so-slightly more appealing, but it was all the same. Deep down, she did not want it. Deeper still, she knew it would not be how the Sith would survive.
The last thousand years were pocked by the brief reigns of several hundred self-proclaimed dark lords, their ways and knowledge lost to the ether. Phobos had mentioned her cult in passing, but Ruin was the first to truly reinstate the Sith order. The first, too, to spark a war for which he was woefully unprepared.
Two thousand years ago, the Sith had been all-powerful. Exar Kun waged his bloody war across the galaxy, Mandalorians at his side, spelling a scourge for the Jedi Order. When he was defeated, Revan and Malak came along, ending the Mandalorian Wars and claiming the galaxy for themselves with the Star Forge's infinite fleet. When Malak fell and Revan was redeemed, the Triumvirate rose and finished what Malak started on Dantooine, falling just short of wiping out the Jedi completely. Even still, the old order crumbled to forge a path for something new.
She remembered what Bestia had said about the voice in Ruin's head, how it claimed to be from the time of the Hundred Year Darkness. The Dark Jedi then suffered catastrophic defeat after catastrophic defeat. That was what made them Sith, when they fled to Korriban and mingled with the Sith species. Those chief among the emergent Sith Lords found themselves made leaders of a formidable army, though they did not take it to war. Cinder knew precious little of them. The Jedi Archives only spelled out their names: Ajunta Pall, the swordsman; XoXaan, the Black Marchioness; Sorzus Syn, the alchemist; Remulus Dreypa, the baron; and Karness Muur, the sorcerer. Ruin would never chase shadows, she knew this well enough. Their travels together had always led to something, even if it wasn't what they searched for. Had one of the first lords of the Sith survived? If they had deemed it fit to speak to Ruin...
She felt a sharp tinge in the back of her skull, as if something were scratching her brainstem. She found herself shouting, her fingers scrambling to the hilt of her own saber as she tossed Bestia's back to her. "Duck!" she shouted. Bestia obeyed and Cinder followed her own advice.
The basilisk galloped, jumping deftly over a log. A scream pierced the tinted sky. The heavy air parted like curtains of fat green velvet as the shriek grew closer, closer, louder. As Cinder pressed down into the basilisk's carapace, the missile screamed past, lighting the sky above her aflame. Another screamed its siren song to her right, letting loose a muffled explosion as it embedded itself in the dirt. A third and fourth soared overhead, demented birds of silver with red-painted tips. The tenseness came again. She couldn't find the words. She couldn't even hear what she shouted to Bestia, but it didn't matter as the woman obeyed all the same. Cinder rolled from the basilisk as it kept running. A deafening caterwaul echoed out as a triptych of missiles rammed their way through the basilisk's head. Plating, wires, gears, and shrapnel went everywhere as the warheads splintered throughout the beast. The crumpled husk staggered forward a few more paces before keeling over, its three remaining legs splaying to the ground as the joints snapped.
Cinder saw nothing but smoke and tasted naught but dust. The green sky now danced with bursts of orange and yellow and red as metal and greenery alike caught fire. Still clutching her saber hilt, she staggered to her feet and ignited the blade. She saw Bestia lying face down in a murky puddle of deep brown. Cinder ran over to her, tugging and pulling at her arm. Finally, Bestia rose, her skin caked in mud. She stumbled slightly, but steeled herself all the same, flicking her red blade to life.
"What happened?" She stood at Cinder's back. They were almost pressed into one another, back-to-back, each watching one side of the burning glade.
"He's here," Cinder said. She thrust her saber into the air and began to shout. "There is no honor in attacking your enemies from the shadows, Mandalore! Come out and face us!"
Only the sound of the feasting flames answered her call. He's going to drag this out. "Bes- Mira," she said, catching herself, "It seems we have become the hunted." She looked up and saw just how close the Invictus had gotten. It was so low now that it had to be relying on propulsion thrusters to keep it aloft. Any closer and it would be landing. A gleam of orange from the underbelly caught her eye.
"On my signal." She shot a quick glance at Bestia out of the corner of her eye. She readied her lightsaber in a defensive stance, squaring her feet apart. It would not be enough, she knew.
"So this is where it ends," Bestia said.
"Mira," Cinder said, her eyes narrowing. "It's just beginning."
The large orange glare split into seven smaller ones. Each barreled faster and faster towards them. They were comets of solid metal riding in on trails of molten fire. Then, they spewed more in Cinder's direction.
Cinder dropped her lightsaber and threw up both her hands in front of her, palms out and fingers stretched up high. A barrier of nebulous, orange energy eked its way from her hands, coalescing into the oval shape of a bubble and turning solid just in time for the barrage to hit. She ground her teeth so hard she thought they would turn to dust. Her hands throbbed with pain down to the bones with every moment she held the barrier up. I am not dying yet, screamed her inner voice.
The barrage ceased but gave way to great geysers of smoke and dust as the basilisks barreled into the ground. There was no sight here, no way to see through the salt and pepper clouds of ash and soot. The barrier fizzled out and Cinder's fingers twitched. She called her lightsaber back into her left hand and readied it. She cut through a plume of smoke and thrust it through. It met a rod of chrome metal alloy and glanced back. She saw the gun barrels within and moved to block the fire that spat forth. Shrapnel melted off her saber's blade, and some of the slag caught in her fingers.
The smoke cleared and she stood face to face with Mandalore, in the center of a circle of Mandalorians atop basilisks. He hopped off his own droid, then lowered his staff down to his side and stabbed at the dirt. "You impress me as much as you disappoint me, Lady Cinder." His words were muffled by his helmet, and drowned out further by the din of fire and falling trees around them. The glade had turned to a bowl of ash and hellfire. "The kill was good, I'll give you that, but you were supposed to hunt her, not my droids!"
"She bears as little love for Ruin as you do," Cinder said. She jabbed her lightsaber towards Mandalore's chest. "I have no reason to see her dead."
"I gave you reason to see her dead. You dishonor our terms-"
"You rejected my terms. There were none to dishonor." She took a step closer, still pointing her saber at him. She raised it slightly with each step until it was at his throat, beneath the pointed chin of his mask. "I challenge you to single combat, as I should have done before."
Her smirk faded when she heard the other Mandalorians ready their guns.
"Would that I might," Mandalore said with a snicker. "It would seem there are two of you. I reject your challenge."
"Then the galaxy will know that the Mandalorian clans are led by one who has no honor." She heard Bestia crunch the dirt beneath her feet, her lightsaber swooshing against the wind. What in the hell is she doing?
Mandalore laughed. "By whose telling? Open fire!" He waved his staff forward to give the command, but the only answer was a sudden rumble accompanied by a furious gale.
Cinder tried to dig her feet into the ground to steady herself to no avail. The Mandalorians went flying and so too did she. She landed on her knees, feeling the rocks and scrap littering the jungle floor skin them raw and bloody, using her lightsaber to stab the ground and keep upright. She winced as the pain shot through her. There was dust all around again. The six Mandalorians that had led Cinder through the Invictus lay sprawled about. Some attempted to get to their feet, encumbered by their plate armor and blinded by the dust. Cerulean lie shattered and crumpled like a doll underneath the jagged ruin of his basilisk. White was impaled upon the ragged remains of his mount's cannons, stubbornly clinging to life and clutching for his gun, which was strewn on the ground just out of his reach. Fresh crimson tears mingled with the dried blood on his armor. She could not find Mandalore anywhere amidst the carnage.
"Who's the craven now?" She taunted him, knowing damn well it wouldn't work. He had no scruples about honor, for all his talk in the throne room. "It seems Revan did not go far enough."
She swung her lightsaber through the smoke. The copper armored Mandalorian staggered in front of her, a hand hanging limply onto a holdout blaster. The other arm held limp at his side, the armor and skin shredded through by barbs of shrapnel thin as razors. He pressed the gun into her chest and weakly tried to pull the trigger to no result. Cinder pushed him aside and he crumpled to the dirt. She did not grant him the dignity of a clean death and continued on as he whimpered in his native tongue.
She pushed on, her orange blade illuminating the path forward. Bit by bit, the smoke clouds were beginning to clear. She called out first for Mandalore, then for Bestia. She heard a lightsaber in the distance and stopped in her tracks. No, do not face him alone you fool. She looked around, trying desperately to figure out where the fighting was. She turned off her own saber for a moment and let the smoke and fog encircle her. There was a moment where everything was serene, everything was clear. She found the answer she sought in the form of a sound ringing through her ears. She raced towards the source, letting the Force bolster her speed.
She caught a crimson beam cutting through the smoke and stopped in her tracks. It hammered down again and again. Each time it was beaten back, the glint of a silver rod caught Cinder's eye. She moved towards the sparring, slowing her pace and holding her saber at the ready.
Mandalore and Bestia were locked in a dervish, dancing sideways around one another as their weapons collided. The three survivors of Mandalore's honor guard - red, green, and violet clad - stood silent as they watched the duel. Behind them was Mandalore's own basilisk, the sole survivor of its pack, lying on the ground like a watchful hound.
Mandalore took a quick look at Cinder as he parried another of Bestia's blows. "She returns," he said, his breath haggard. He countered another blow, then bowed the staff up. When Bestia moved to counter it, he kicked and forced her feet from beneath her. She smacked the ground face first, loosing a cascade of dirt and dust. The others moved into position around her, guns trained.
"Are you here to witness your failure, Lady Cinder?" As he turned to face her, Mandalore pointed the headless end of his staff towards Bestia's head, letting it press against the skin. "It was a valiant effort, I assure you, but valor and victory are two different things."
Cinder felt heart thump within her chest, quicker and quicker until it felt like it would burst free. Her nostrils flared. She thought her skull about to burst aflame. She inched forward.
"Any closer and she dies." He swung around and pointed the staff at her. Each barrel within gleamed as it caught the light from the fires.
They stood there staring at one another, making neither movement nor sound. Cinder ignored the searing pain that radiated through her body. She was damp with sweat and blood. She dared not look to see how the wounds were faring. Mandalore seemed more worse for wear. The polished metal of his armor had been scratched and scarred, caked and filled with dirt and grime. Fresh scarlet replaced the former reddish brown of his plate. His cape hung loose from his back in streams and tatters, held in place only by a single gilded rondel marred by blaster scores and pockmarks. His mask still bore the blaster scar where HK had shot him in the center of his forehead. Elsewhere, the yellow paint was chipped, the red bumps flattened and turned to divots, exposing the bare gunmetal grey underneath. His black visor was cracked open on one side, revealing a bloodshot grey eye.
"It seems I misjudged you. Had you as much fire as Ruin's whelp, this would have been over by now." He barked something at his men, then turned back to Cinder. "Single combat it is."
He let loose a volley of bolts from the staff. She deflected them with a swift parry. Metal shavings grazed her knuckles. She ignored the pain and leapt over him. She broke her fall on the other side with a roll towards the last of his guards. In one swift motion, she rose and decapitated the three of them and fanned their corpses out with a Force push before catching Mandalore's staff with her lightsaber as he moved to attack.
She watched Bestia get up from the turgid earth grasping for her lightsaber. Blood streamed from her nose, squashed from the fall. When she tried to move, she lost balance and fell on her behind, clutching her head. Cinder hoped she would have helped her here. She would not allow this disappointment to be her downfall.
Swing, miss, sidestep, parry, pirouette. Swing, dodge, parry, duck, hop, deflect. The dance repeated over and over again. Cinder kept her eyes steady, focusing not on her opponent, but his weapon. There were no weak links along the silver shaft. This was pure beskar alloy, the Mandalorians' answer to the power of the Jedi, to Revan's ferocity. But she was no Jedi.
Her mind's eye echoed in agony, weeping fire and blood, creating a hallowed vision of brimstone and death. It was the same whirlwind of hatred that enveloped her on Korriban. Swing, duck, glance, dodge, parry, pirouette. Swing, sidestep, parry, swing, swing, swing, swing. Mandalore raised his staff and attempted to ram it through her head. She rolled forward and feigned a stumble. Her eyes seared so much they wept, whether from the dust or battle madness, she could not discern. She was behind him, his ragged cape billowing towards her. He turned to catch her with his staff. Her saber crashed straight into the center, bouncing as if it were just another piece of metal. She crashed down on it again, and again, and again. The tiniest of divots appeared.
Mandalore laughed as she recoiled. "It will not break, your highness." He swiped his staff to the right and she swatted it away. "I thought you'd be smarter than this."
She stayed silent as she raised her saber again. Her strikes became faster, more dogged, fell and relentless. Sidestep, twirl, parry, swing, swing, swing. She drove the edge of her blade down into the divot, right where the metal parted ways. She gritted her teeth, steeled her breathing. Hot air streamed from her nostrils just like the sweat from her scalp. She pressed down as hard as she could, knowing full well it would not break. She closed her eyes and let the saber do the work. She was dragging it right, to the right, slowly as it skimmed the topmost layer of the metal. When it reached the end of its path, she heard Mandalore yelp and opened her eyes open wide.
The fingers of his left hand were gone, severed at the knuckle. His metal plated gloves billowed smoke. She did not let it distract her. Still grasping the staff with his right hand, he sent it crashing towards her skull. She did not bother to counter it, maneuvering her saber towards the scalloped, webbed joint of his elbow instead. He slumped down to his knees before her as the limb fell free, the fingers still stubbornly clinging to his weapon. She pressed the orange blade up against his gorget. A bead of sweat fell from her hair and hissed against the blade.
"Well done," he said as he looked up at her. "It seems-"
She cleaved through his neck and let his head topple to the ground. She stood there a moment. The body slumped over in the muck. She let herself breathe at last and switched the saber off.
She stooped down and scooped up the head in her hands. Cheap replica, she thought as she examined the helmet. Then, she recalled the pain in her knees. She sprawled backwards, the helmet falling atop her stomach. On her back, the rest of the pain ripped through her like a maelstrom. So close.
Bestia staggered over slowly, then took a seat. The blood on the girl's face was beginning to harden and dry into a brownish crust. She'll heal, but will I? "You saved me, Lady Cinder," she said, resting the back of her hand against Cinder's head. Her touch was refreshing and cool.
"No, Leide," she rasped. "We saved each other." She felt Bestia lift up her head and hold her tight before the void of unconsciousness took her.