Demon - Part 1
The Jedi stared up at them. Three of them, two brown-skinned humans, one adult female and the other appeared to be a younger male padawan. The third Jedi seemed to have more experience, if his Force Aura was anything to go by. He was some kind of blue-skinned reptilian race, though Maul was unsure of the type. Behind them stood at least a hundred more guards in that garish orange armour. Ready to attack.
However, it was the human that stepped forward. The pitiful creature known as Ja'boag landed in a heap behind them, squawking about attacking the intruders, but Maul paid it no mind, his volcanic gaze fixed on the human woman that stepped forward to speak.
"Darth Maul, my name is Salmara. I would like to find a diplomatic way to end this without any senseless loss of life. May we speak?" Of course she wished to speak, it's all the Jedi did. Amused, Maul folded his arms and gazed down at her with a snarl, he would humour her.
"What do you propose?" he asked in a growl.
"I propose you put down your lightsabers and come quietly. I promise no harm will come to you before your trial. We-" The Jedi named Salmara was cut off by a sharp bout of laughter. Zaiya stepped up to Maul's right side and leaned over the ledge of the open underground factory.
"I had not realised the definition of diplomacy had changed. All take and no give on your behalf is awfully selfish, Jedi Salmara," the Nightsister said with a tilt to her head and a smile across her perfect lips. "We would not even be here were it not for your bounty." The Jedi glanced at the older reptilian male behind her and Maul heard Zaiya chuckle. "It is the Republic's bounty through this pathetic proxy, is it not?" she gestured at the figure of Ja'boag that was stumbling to his feet. "Cancel the bounty," Zaiya called down, and gave a flourishing mock bow to the Jedi, "and we shall leave. All these lives shall remain sensibly intact." Savage and Feral chuckled behind them, and even Maul had to focus on remaining stoic.
There was a beat of silence, only the sound of the factory operating before the Jedi finally spoke.
"I cannot do that. You are all wanted by the Republic for crimes against-"
"My brother allows you to speak and this is the best you can do?" Savage boomed into the cavern.
"Such a pity," Zaiya muttered quietly. She glanced at Maul, who only barely nodded, giving permission. A moment later, the four leaped, landing with blazing eyes gleaming with excitement for a fight.
"Open fire!" screamed the shrill voice of Ja'boag as the Dathomirians landed.
It was almost funny that they thought such weak sentients would be enough to hurt them. With an almighty push in the Force, Maul and Savage sent half of the amassed soldiers on the platform flying off in multiple directions and into the molten rock below. Zaiya and Feral broke off to engage the humans as the reptilian Jedi rushed in to strike at the two brothers.
They clashed sabers, darting back and forth and the Jedi was pushed back, cracked across the face by Maul's elbow. Blood streaked from his large nostrils as he looked back at the Zabraks.
"It's been a long time since I faced a foe such as you." He almost smiled with that wide, sharp-toothed maw. Had he the time, Maul might have actually allowed himself to take the time to enjoy killing the beast.
"You won't face us for long," Savage said with a sneer beside him. The Jedi dove forward and Maul leapt to avoid- but he heard Savage grunt as he was knocked down.
"Your brother is too wild, Maul," the Jedi said casually. Maul grit his teeth as he landed, his blade locked with the Jedi. "He lacks focus… perhaps I'll take his legs as Kenobi took yours." Rage burned in Maul's throat. His teeth bared in a snarl as he readied to strike again.
A roar ripped through the air as the Force shoved him and the Jedi back. Savage's raw power in the Force was incredible… but unrefined. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Feral, stumbling back from a strike by the Jedi Salmara. Green light held in a wall beyond them as Zaiya held the other soldiers at bay. Savage and Feral weren't ready for such a fight.
"Kill her!" A huge metal canister flung toward Savage in the Force and instead of dodging, Savage swung wildly. Maul heard a curse from Zaiya which drew his eyes. It was all happening at once as she darted in, her white braid flashed past him as she dove for Savage.
"Brother, no!" Maul screamed. "That's Carbonite!" Too late as it burst all over both Savage… and Zaiya as she tried to reach him in time. A second later they were both frozen, mouths open, eyes closed as she tried to protect his brother.
No… NO!
The Jedi began to make some snide comment, but rage overtook the former sith and he grabbed the reptilian Jedi's arm in a gloved hand. And snapped it. The Force was overwhelming as the rage consumed him. His family… the Jedi were trying to destroy his Family!
Feral let out a cry as he clutched his side, defending from the human Jedi's attacks. The sensation of sinking filled his chest. He couldn't get them out. He couldn't get Zaiya and Savage while Feral was wounded and fighting. He squeezed a hand, the Jedi before him clutching at his throat as Maul began to choke the life out of him.
Searing pain filled his senses as he looked down. A green lightsaber blade jutted out of his abdomen.
"Leave him alone!" The padawan. In his anger he'd dismissed the boy as he'd stayed to the back , when had he jumped in? With a roar, his vision almost red with pain and rage, he slashed at the child with his blade and leapt back. His chest tight as he called for his youngest brother.
"Now, brother!" he demanded, and Feral was at his side.
"We can't leave them!" Feral hissed.
"We must, for now." Maul grit his teeth, both Zabraks clutching their sides as they leapt back to higher ground. A hand extended, he would ensure the Jedi could not follow. They were screaming more useless words, but in an assisted effort from Feral, the passage collapsed in a heap of rock and earth.
The two slipped out of the passageway, the surface was barren… unforgiving and harsh. The way to the ship was barred, all they had was the oppressive heat and desert for miles.
"We have to go back for them." Feral said after what felt like hours of walking.
"We will, but first we shall need more power to take the base. It's too… fortified." His voice wavered as the pain made it hard to walk. He turned to look and Feral seemed pale, and his steps were shaky. Without even thinking about it, Maul swept an arm around his shoulders, both wounded men leaning on each other as they trudged through the blistering sands. "We must… circle around to the ship." He let out a heavy breath, the injury was catching up to him. He cursed himself for his own arrogance.
"Why did she rush in like that? Fool…!" Maul cursed softly.
"She would… have for any of us…" Feral groaned and his steps faltered. He sagged forward heavily and collapsed.
"Brother!" Maul demanded, tugging at his robes. "Get up!" but Maul was too weak. The best he could manage was dragging him to a nearby outcropping of stone. There was a sliver of shade, and Maul propped Feral against the rock. He was still breathing, thankfully, but who knew how long either of them would remain out here. If he could… yes just a short rest. He'd regain some strength and they'd find the ship.
He was used to the darkness… but the heat… so immense and heavy. His limbs felt too large and weighted. Even his eyes seemed to slide like stone. Every movement was a struggle.
"Where…?" His voice escaped like a rasp, like reeds in a hot wind. He felt himself slowly sinking.
"Don't leave me…!" Whispered a voice in his ear, and he tried to open his eyes, or reach a hand to the voice he knew so well. Mismatched eyes in blue and green flashed in his mind.
But then… why should he? Why should he not leave her? She had left him behind time and time again. The excuses of the clan, of his mother, of her own power-
"Brother-!" The deep baritone of his brother, so changed under the influence of the Sisters. Barely recognisable and strange to him now. Foolish and rage-filled where once he was a great hunter. The new power he'd so eagerly run towards was too great for him to control. It was his own fault.
"Awaken." Ah yes… the eldest. A sacred child of crimson skin. The first to leave. To abandon him. They all listened to him. Obeyed him. As though nothing else mattered but his word.
Why should I listen? Why should I wait? Why should I return?
Why should you obey? Spoke another voice. Nothing more than a whisper in the back of his mind. Take up your own power. Take it from them. You don't need them. They will only hold you back and abandon you again.
"Wake up."
He didn't want to obey, he needed power. He would destroy his enemies! He could feel the pull of power. Tendrils in the darkness as he felt himself, heavy like a statue just sinking into the dark as though it were sand.
His chest seized. Wait… what was he doing? No, they were his family. He loved them. Zaiya and Savage needed him… Maul was counting on him. He couldn't go! He couldn't leave them!
"Feral!" He struggled, writhed and jolted, trying to force himself to move, to pull away. Gasping for breath, fingers clawing at the falling grains, finding no purchase as the pressure increased on his chest.
No! No I can't -
"Feral!"
Feral jolted upright, a rasping gasp escaping him as he gulped down air to fill his burning lungs. Eyes blurry, he squinted, trying to see in the dim light. A warm hand found his shoulder, the connection grounding him as his gaze slowly rose to find his eldest brother, clutching his shoulder with a bare hand, his face stoic, but a hint of concern in his eyes. It was strange, he wasn't the type for such expressions, but there it was.
"Wh-where are we?" He asked, groaning in pain as the agony of his Saber wound brought him back to reality. They appeared to be in a tent, laying in makeshift bedding, both of them seemingly patched up from their wounds.
"Some locals found us and through some misguided sense of charity, decided to heal us," Maul said, his nose scrunching in that telltale expression of distaste.
"Locals…?" Feral began, but the tent was pushed open and a small, slightly furry orange cat-like creature entered. Humanoid but with the nose and whiskers of a tooka. A… child?
"You're awake!" the child gasped, their eyes lit up as they approached, Feral couldn't tell if they were male or female but they seemed energetic. "You're the ones!"
"Hush, Jatenne. Leave the warriors be." Several larger of these cat-like people entered. The one speaking an older green furred or skinned being. His eyes were pale and Feral surmised he was completely blind. He didn't stumble, so obviously he knew his way around.
The brothers however were on their feet immediately, ready to face any assault that might come to them.
"I sense great anger in you. You have come from great pain…" Feral scowled at the man, and Maul seemed to bristle. "Be at peace, great warriors, you are among friends." Feral and Maul glanced at each other.
Friends? He couldn't be serious.
"What do you want with us?" Maul growled. "Why are we here?"
"You're the ones!" The child, Jatenne repeated. "Grandfather has foreseen it. A warrior that will help us defeat Ja'boag and help us retake our home - in the great mine." They seemed exuberant and bright eyed to see them, but Feral's hand slid down to his hip, feeling relief as his fingers brushed the cool handle of his Sith dagger.
"Why would we help you?" Feral asked quietly, eyeing the group of people that now stood between them and the exit. Of course they wanted something. They would not have helped the Dathomirians if they didn't want anything.
"If you will teach us, if you will lead our people against Ja'boag, we will take back our home -and help you take back your companions," the old man said with earnestness in his voice. Again, Feral and Maul looked at each other.
"We need to get them back, brother," Feral hissed quietly.
"Of course, Savage and Zaiya still live and we will make them pay for taking them from us," he snarled. Feral knew, and was certain Maul knew it too, that it wasn't really the fault of the Jedi that caused Zaiya and Savage to be stuck in Carbonite… but still, if they hadn't put the bounty on he and his family, they would not have even needed to come here. He shook his head. Too many ifs. He needed to focus on what was happening now.
"An army would make what we have to do simpler," Maul muttered, and Feral nodded.
"And if they know the terrain, it gives an advantage," he added.
"I knew you were the ones! I knew!" The old man said, a hint of vigour in his reedy voice. "The day of three suns approaches. I foresaw one who would save us from this fate. One who walks in the light, with the face of a demon…!"
Feral almost laughed. One who walks in the light? That was certainly neither of them. He bowed his head closer to the crimson Zabrak.
"Sounds more like the Dawnsister, wouldn't you say?" He said with a quiet snort. Maul flashed him a look of amusement, a subtle smirk on his face.
"What's a Dawnsister?" Asked the voice of Jatenne at Feral's elbow. The two Nightbrothers glared at the kid, and noticed they were holding two bowls of… something Feral guessed was food.
"...the woman." Was all Maul said, a strange strain in his voice.
"Oh… I'm sorry." Jatenne said, pushing the small bowls into their hands. It smelled alright, though nothing like the spiced meats of their home planet. Maul seemed to shake off whatever strange feeling had settled in him as he took a seat on the various rugs and carpets that had been laid out on the bottom of the tent for some semblance of comfort.
The old man introduced himself as Trisjon, the leader of these outcast and humbled native citizens to Moorjhone. Blind and with a bad heart, he occasionally was given visions beyond his sight and so was revered as their leader. Or so he said. Whether the visions were true, Feral was unsure, but he could detect a flicker in the Force around the old man. Perhaps there was some truth to it.
"What is this day of three suns?" Maul asked as Feral settled in beside him. He could guess, then again he didn't know if the term was figurative or literal.
The elderly Trisjon lowered himself opposite and began to explain, Jatenne sitting beside him, seemingly looking between the two brothers for a clue as to which one was the "demon" of the vision.
"When Ja'boag came," the old man began, his wrinkled face a vision of wistful misery, "his operations forced us from the caves we called our home. We did not live there by choice but by necessity. Moorjhone is surrounded by three suns. When two suns rise the heat is barely tolerable. But once every ten years-"
"The three suns rise together," Maul surmised with a slow nod.
"And everything on the surface of this planet burns," the old man finished. Feral grimaced, it was literal then. And if that day was coming, they too needed to be underground or off the planet by then. The ship itself was protected, and would survive in extreme heat… but they wouldn't. They needed to act quickly, and leaving Savage or Zaiya was not an option.
The two brothers shared a glance, and were wordlessly in agreement.
"We will train your people, Trisjon," Maul began as he stood again, pushing the bowl of dough-like food aside. "But they must be willing to die to retake the mine and end Ja'boag."
There were sounds outside now that we're catching their attention. Sounds of people, many people.
"Of course, great warriors." Jatenne hopped up and pulled back the flap of the tent. Light and heat skilled into the dim tent, blinding them. The sounds grew even louder now. "We shall be your army, and you, our demon in the light!"
As the two Dathomirian brothers stepped out, a crowd of more of these strange cat-like people erupted into cheers. Hundreds of them. Roaring with excitement in the area below the short plateau on which they now stood. There seemed to be hundreds of them. Crying out in joy, all of them chanting.
"Demon in the light! Demon in the light!"
Feral's hand once again brushed the handle of the dagger. He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.
Over the coming days, Maul and Feral began training regimens, organising the pitiful Moorjhone people into groups and strategizing plans to have the greatest advantage against the far more technologically advanced opposition. Maul felt his desperation build. Feral was good at following commands and understanding what needed to be done… but it wasn't instinctive. He didn't just seem to know Maul's mind. He was not Maul's Right Hand. Feral was not his Lieutenant.
"They can't possibly defeat Ja'boag's forces," Feral whispered to him after their third day of training.
"They can be overwhelmed with numbers, if all of Trisjon's people stand in the fight," Maul replied, sipping some much needed water. Being of rank of great respect here came with privileges.
"There are lots of children among them," Feral warned slowly. "You know what Zaiya said. We agreed." Maul's brow furrowed deeper. Feral was right but…
"Who's to say she finds out?" Maul muttered half-heartedly. Feral stared at him with the most deadpan stare. "What?"
"Do you honestly think lying to her is a good idea? Or that you even can? I'm sure she can see through time itself with that eye of hers." Feral shook his head and Maul let out a heavy sigh, leaning his chin on his balled fist in thought.
Zaiya had always been honest with him. Had she not demanded the same? Did she not deserve the same? But to tell her the truth, if he went ahead with his plans, to use these people as a simple distraction. To get inside the mine and slip out with Savage and just kill Ja'boag and the Jedi in his path. Then the entire clan of them would die.
He couldn't say he really cared. They were weak and could not even protect themselves. Why should he care whether these fools lived or died?
What did bother him was that he had made a deal with Trisjon. Zaiya had told him that honouring deals was honouring oneself. She had told him not to kill children. Void… he didn't even know if the strike against the Padawan had only injured or killed him.
Yes, the idea of Zaiya being angry with him was far more worrisome than the fate of these pathetic people. In order to avoid such a thing… he would have to follow through on his deal to the best of his ability, and ensure he didn't needlessly get all the children killed.
By the Void, she'd managed to make his life so damn complicated. The feeling of disgust crept over him like some kind of insect. His skin crawled and he was furious that he was too weak willed to defy the demands of an underling. He ran a hand over his face. Even that thought was lying to himself. She could never be an underling. Not that he would ever say so out loud.
Feral was still staring at him when he finally looked up. His mouth twisted into a grimace.
"We will… honour the Dawnsister's words." He said finally. He had better not regret this. They were running out of time.
Notes: Hello my friends!
I regret that I do not update this fic as often as I wish to. I do however enjoy writing, and rereading it. I love especially all your wonderful comments!
I hope you are all doing well.
Those of you that have read the comics will recognise this plot line, it comes from the four part series, Death Sentence. I use shows, movies, books and comics to include into my fic, so some of the wording is taken from that though I do add and change things considering the plot and characters I have added.
If you enjoyed this, please let me know, I love comments and they really help keep me going. I have a lot going on atm irl, and I hope that it will all be over soon and that I am able to write and post more often.
Look after yourselves!
