I'm so glad to be back everyone! Even though this chapter is short, I'm going to try to type the second half tonight and post tomorrow. Also, I feel like my writing is a bit rusty, so forgive me if this is not as detailed as usual (I'll get used to writing fiction again eventually lol). Anywho, thank you so much for being soooo patient! :Dx Without further ado here's the next chapter!
Chapter 18: A Warning: Part I
Softly yawning into consciousness, Padmé's eyes fluttered open taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. Her head was still spinning from the night before almost to the point where she felt sick. She winced breaking out of Vader's protective grip as she sat up on the plush fur rug atop a wooden floor. With the fire now all but fleeting embers, the frigid air hit her bare skin as she pulled away from the shelter of Vader's heavy cloak. With a flinch, she adverted her gaze from the bright sky and white snow as its ghostly glare bore through the windows. Dragging Vader's shirt from top the bed, Padmé threw the fabric over her bare body before strolling to the window closing the shutters. Slothfully she turned, taking in the quaint room. Across from the slate stone fireplace, there was a decent sized bed flanked by two wooden nightstands. Padmé couldn't get over how primeval the place seemed. Everything was wood, cotton, and iron, no silk, no durasteel - just purely old fashioned. Another deep shiver rippled across the skin of her legs from the cold. Force, its freezing. She trembled again, running her hands up and down her arms instinctually warming her body. Glancing around the room, she noted a deep pocket full of firewood beside the inglenook.
Trying to salvage what little heat the embers had left, Padmé kneeled before the ashes and molten coals, coaxing the air with her breath to allow the oxygen laced in the air to react. New radiating heat and light flickered in her gaze as she dropped kindling to catch fire a small smile formed across her cheeks. Patiently, over the course of fifteen minutes she had recovered the roaring fire from the night before. Heating her chilly fingers a safe distance from the flames, a deep relaxed breath escaped her lungs. She may have been drunk last night but she remembered everything. His eyes, she breathed internally envisioning Vader's beautiful azure eyes. She began to wonder who that man was, Padmé knew Darth Vader was no birth name any mother or father would bestow upon their child. He must have had to another name. Padmé frowned stoking the fire; Vader was still a complete mystery. It made her feel better that they could build a physical relationship and until last night it had always felt so… rushed or greedy? She wasn't sure but Vader's words and tone continued to circulate through her mind as she stared into the flames, 'I beg you my angel, p-please let me have you…You have bewitched me, I cannot imagine being unable to have you.'
Padmé pouted recollecting his words, what did he mean by 'I cannot imagine being unable to have you,' didn't he already claim her? What could that possibly mean? She frowned deep in thought. She couldn't imagine anything that he didn't already have- she'd parted with so much of herself to make them work. Rolling her neck, her hand swept across the tender skin curtained by her crazed curls and a small smile pulled at her lips as she glanced back towards the man still sleeping soundly on the floor. When her eyes locked on the space below his ear a deep heat rushed to her cheeks, a deep purplish-red mark blemished the skin of his neck. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she watched Vader's nose twitch as he slowly came too. Then when his eyes finally drew open, Padmé blushed tearing her gaze from his.
"Good morning," Vader hummed in his deep morning, shifting himself into an upright position. Padmé thought there would have been some time to think – some time to talk – however Vader's eyes were miles away. It was as if there was something beyond the door that was calling to him.
"Vader?" Padmé cooed trying to draw his attention but, she couldn't. Something had happened. Something she was unaware of…..
Wind howling, shutters battering, moonlight stretched across every inch of snow, luminescent in night. It was frigid. Ice cold. The two men trudging through the night weren't used to it. They'd been jumping from one tropical planet to the next for too long. Even though they seemed to be no more than ordinary traders, they were anything but. They were members of the Rebellion - behind enemy lines. The eldest of the two men could sense the Sith nearby, his suffocating presence becoming weak. That perplexed the clandestine Jedi. Why would there be a spark of light emanating from a being that was sculpted by pure evil? The cloaked man shook his head, that was not his purpose for being present on this planet. His directive was to witness that Amidala was safe.
"This is suicide," the young man trekking beside him whispered just as both of them halted just beyond the inn's door. The wood mausoleum towered over them, the shadow devouring their likeness to the naked eye.
The younglings master replied in a quiet manner, his eyes straining to see, "Negative comments will not help us find what we seek," the man's voice was softly-spoken, like feathers in the wind. However, his calmness did nothing to ease the youngling's.
"How do you know she's even here?" the boy's voice was gruff, serrated with anxiousness.
"I know he's here, I can sense him."
"That means-"
"Excuse me."
The boy's words died upon his lips. The voice was blatantly sly. Unashamedly bold, with unhindered pompousness.
From the shadows the stranger mused, "Do you have a light?"
The two rebels finally turned towards the voice. Beyond, within the sparse light of the tavern's windows, the stranger's piercing emerald eyes flickered with viridescent flames. Chills ran down the Jedi's spine, there was something about this man that unnerved him. His presence alone made the hair's on the back of his neck stand. Though, he couldn't understand why? The stranger was young, had a tall broad build, sandy blond tresses apparent under the hood of his thick black cloak. The older man was broken from thought as the man's sly smile grew even more as he held up a deathstick.
"I'm afraid not."
"Hmm that's a shame," the young stranger dramatically sighed, "But then again I have never met a Jedi who smoked."
It was as if an electric shock bolted across the Jedi's skin, yet the only feature that faltered was the shift of his jaw. However, the young soldier accompanying him practically stumbled backwards. The Jedi's heart thundered in his chest, he could not sense this man's presence yet there was no doubt the stranger could sense him. "Hounds do not stray far from their owner I suppose," the Jedi retorted, the stranger could only be one thing – something the Jedi was too familiar with, one of Vader's inquisitors.
The inquisitor flicked his tongue and his smile only grew wider, "Yet you still can't sense me can you," the young man jibed.
That struck the Jedi for a moment, even though they were less than a meter apart – the Jedi still could not sense the inquisitor through the Force. How could he have developed such a skill? Then again, the only explanation as to why he could sense the Sidious' apprentice was luck.
"He might be distracted but you really think he'd be alone."
At that point the Jedi's mind froze, the barriers in his brain shattering – the pain practically crippling him. Perhaps he screamed, perhaps he didn't because suddenly all the air in his lungs was gone. His limbs felt like ice. His body frozen. Ice cold, his sight snuffed in the night.
Eryx ransacked the Jedi's mind, but everything he found was muddled. Thoughts incomplete. He couldn't even retrieve the name of a single planet. "Fuck," the inquisitor sighed crouching, he must have killed the old man too quick. With a jagged rotation of his neck, his vertebrae creaked. For three days, he'd been surveilling the two soldiers. With an exaggerated sigh, Eryx pulled himself from the snow. The frustration inching across his shoulders was growing. Lord Vader's presence was practically unshielded, dangerously distracted that woman made him. With a swift movement of his hand, the inquisitor called the lighter from his pocket – lighting his deathstick. With a slow drag, he strolled uncaringly, leaving the blizzard of snow to entomb the two corpses.
The Sith Lord was donned and out the door in an instant, the Senator's pestering questions dying to the droning in his ears. How had he not sensed the occurrence of last night? Why hadn't Eryx informed him of the rebel on the planet. They were also no ordinary vermin but – Jedi. For the first time since he was a child, his stomach twisted – he'd shown weakness last night. Not only last night but he should have sensed the presence through the Force sooner. Eryx should have mentioned him much sooner. Storming down the stairs, the tavern bar was empty to the public. Stormtroopers shifted taught as the Sith thundered into the room, Eryx also swiftly standing from his barstool to kneel.
"Lord Vader-"
"Silence!" the Sith seethed his hand coiling, crunching Eryx's neck, preceding it's breaking point, with the Force. "You fool, why didn't you bring them to me. I could have extracted the location of the rebel base!" From the voraciousness of the lord's voice, the troopers took a step back just as Eryx's body slammed to the ground. "Why don't you tell me what you found. Or did you kill them before even trying!"
Eryx swiftly regained his composure, kneeling before the Sith Lord. "I was able to retrieve their purpose and the name of the one that sent them, My Lord," Ezyx wheezed.
The room was silent, only the sound of Vader's vertebra cracking could be heard as his neck twisted with rage. What good was a name? What good was a purpose – "They are dead, their purpose does not interest me, nor surprise me-"
"But my Lord-"
Vader's hand clenched into a tight claw, plucking the inquisitor from the floor before chucking him across the room. The piercing sound of shattering glass filled the wooden room, the fragrance of cheap alcohol swarming the air. With an icy glare, Vader eyed the blooded man as Eryx yanked himself from the wooden shelf – landing on his feet. At this juncture, the stormtroopers had seeped back as far as they could against the walls of the tavern. "You are not helping yourself by interrupting me Eryx."
A pant. "It was not my intention my Lord," he breathed, slowly kneeling. "Obi-Wan Kenobi sent them," the inquisitor all but blurted out in an attempt to call Vader off. He wouldn't hesitate killing him, not for a second.
Vader's entire body froze, that name sent a fire of anger through his blood. Knuckles cracking inadvertently, the Sith stormed towards the inquisitor – yanking him up by the collar of his chest plate. "Get out," the harshness in Vader's voice cut through the inquisitor like a blade. Then he sensed the emotion that feeds the monster, fear. "You're weak," he snapped shoving Eryx back.
The inquisitor was out the tavern door in a matter of a few seconds, a trail of blood and glass in his wake. With his leather-clad fist coiled, he swiftly turned to return to the Senator – she needed to be returned to the base. There was the only place he could be certain of her location and safety. "My shuttle, Lieutenant."
"Ready to depart whenever you command it, my Lord," the trooper to the left of the staircase swiftly replied.
Vader swept past the trooper like a true apparition as he went to fetch the Senator. He could not risk – the Sith shook his head of the thought as he trudged down the hall. Twisting the door open, he was shocked to find the room empty. Not even the shower running. His back immediately straightened his shoulders pressed back as the door handle crumbled under the weight of the Force. His eyes instantaneously noticed the cracked window. It took everything in Vader's will to not destroy the room around him as he roared for her to be found.