Ascension/Part 6

No longer bothering to brush ferns out of the way, using their slaps on his face to keep himself awake, Nillan slogged on through the forest, thinking only, Just get to that tree…just the tree…okay, good, now just to that rock… He had done ruck marches on Jaguada, but never over this kind of distance, and never with only the few hours of sleep he had been able to snatch on either side of the ambush among the rocks. The forced march back to their base camp had consumed the previous afternoon, all night, and the entire morning, too; Nillan's feet had gone from pained, to numb, to worse pain, and to a deeper kind of numb. Nothing but the dark side pumping fire into his veins and a stubborn refusal to quit kept him upright.

Fatigue dogged them all, though the taller adepts, Zurgharjhen and Shrizzzqadl, bore up better than most, and the feline Fruuna showed no sign of exhaustion save her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Nillan had wondered whether Megaera would make it, but the march group had passed through the edge of the swamp and back over a river, giving her time to hydrate and refill her water bottles. She walked with her face toward the sun, eyes closed as she drank in its rays.

To the extent that he could think anything other than keep moving forward, Nillan was still a bit surprised that he had stood up for Megaera. True, Lady Khiyali and Zeff Rogu had done so first, but they were Darth Alecto's second-in-command and her only remaining Acolyte; they would probably be marked for death if they didn't. But Nillan, unarmed, had shielded Megaera—and stranger still, Crile Craetor had joined him. Nillan wasn't about to put some rosy, Jedi spin on it, that they had all become friends and boon companions for life; they were still Sith, and if Megaera stood between him and lordship someday, he would strike her down without hesitation. But something about Darth Alecto's comments about teamwork had stuck; Megaera had woken them in the ambush like a proper sentinel, and it seemed Nillan and Crile both had taken note of it.

He had been surprised to hear about her escape from Dromund Kaas, especially coming as it did over a pile of corpses, but knowing she had thorns under the roses was kind of sexy. And besides, when Darth Alecto gave them a rest—if that time ever came—maybe Megaera would be feeling grateful. She's cute, he mused, and she obviously doesn't mind being dirty…

He was so amused with his own pun, so happy with the accompanying fantasies, and so sleep-deprived, that he walked right into Shrizzzqadl's back, having failed to notice they had stopped marching. The Zanibar shoved him away, but once he got his feet under him, Nillan saw the front of the column had broken the treeline and returned to the clearing where they had first met Darth Alecto…had it only been two days ago?

All their gear sat exactly where they had left it. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with dirty palms that stung the scratches on his cheeks, he wondered why no local animals had disturbed it all. It took him a moment to realize Darth Alecto probably had her Anzati guarding it. The clearing seemed deserted…but were they watching now? Nillan suspected he wouldn't sense them even if they were.

"Recover your weapons and clear your gear to the side," Darth Alecto commanded.

That did not sound like it was to be followed by and then take a nap, but Nillan kept himself from groaning aloud. He grabbed his lightsaber and hauled his pack to the treeline.

There were shadows under Darth Alecto's eyes, but no fatigue leaked into her voice as she barked, "Break into pairs and spar with one another; Zeff, with me until I put you somewhere. No serious injuries."

That woke Nillan up in a hurry; no Sith he knew carried a lightsaber with anything but lethal intensity. As they broke apart, Nillan looked at Megaera. She nodded and drew out her lightsaber as snap-hisses erupted around them, and the two of them fought for a while. She barely attacked, dodging around Nillan's blows, but he couldn't land one on her; she was always just a little too nimble. Eventually Darth Alecto split them up, and then it was Nillan on defense against Dolre; the Clawdite had a build as rangy as Nillan's, but all of it was muscle and he was so light on his feet a breeze might have been blowing him about. Nillan had three burns by the time he was rotated to Crile Craetor.

"What do you think so far?" Crile asked as he hacked away at Nillan.

Struggling not to get a fourth gouge into his body, Nillan forced through his gritted teeth, "I dunno."

"She's tough enough," Crile mused; Nillan had to throw himself away from the Human's slash at his waist. "Wasn't sure how it was going to go with those Acolytes from Dromund Kaas…"

Nillan tried a stab at Crile's cheek, and Crile had to shut up to defend himself. Nillan was relieved when Darth Alecto parted them, only for his heart to sink back into his stomach as she paired him with Zeff Rogu. Conscious of his being the only Sith Acolyte left among them, Nillan thought to bow this time. Zeff nodded, and they began.

It was no contest, but Nillan thought Zeff might just have been toying with him, testing his defenses, teasing him with feigned weaknesses to see how he attacked. Not far away Nillan saw Megaera fighting Zurgharjhen; the gargantuan Irrukiine wielded a lightsaber in each pair of hands, and Megaera's eyes filled her face, but she always managed to dodge with centimeters to spare. He could feel both her fear and Zurgharjhen's rage boiling over; he wondered what was bothering the Wolfman this time.

The next thing Nillan felt was burning pain on his left leg; it buckled under him, but he managed to roll up to one knee as he hit the ground, coming up with his blade raised defensively. Zeff did not bother pursuing him, but he pointed his lightsaber. "Pay attention," he commanded. "Distraction in battle is death."

"Yes, sir," Nillan hissed, trying to get his injured leg under him too.

Before he could, there was a loud CRACK and a scream of agony, accompanied by a wave of pain in the Force. Nillan tried to drink the pain in and draw strength from it, but even as he found the energy to stand, he saw Megaera crumpled against a fallen tree, wailing through her teeth and clutching one shoulder with the opposite hand. The arm on her injured side slumped, and her collarbone had caved in. Nillan thought Zurgharjhen had knocked her all the way across the clearing.

"Stop," Darth Alecto commanded, and she pushed through the group to Megaera's side as they all deactivated their blades. Kneeling beside the injured plant girl, Darth Alecto prodded her shoulder experimentally; Megaera hissed and squeezed her eyes shut, plainly trying not to scream again.

"Stay there," Darth Alecto told her, then stood. She rounded on the remaining adepts, and Nillan was not the only one who recoiled from the look on her face, but she only had eyes for Zurgharjhen. "Do you recall me saying 'no serious injuries'?"

"This is disgraceful!" the Irrukiine roared. "This cowardice degrades what it is to be a Sith!"

Anticipation flooded the Force from all sides, and Nillan realized he was not the only one who had sensed this building since their arrival, nor the only one eager to see what Darth Alecto would do. Nevya Khiyali started forward, but Darth Alecto held up a hand to stop her. "You have something to share, Zurgharjhen? Go on, let's all hear it."

"As you command, Master," the Irrukiine spat. "Slinking through the shadows and dealing in poison and tricks is fine for the likes of you, but I'm a warrior—and a Sith Acolyte! I have seen battle and broken Jedi before me, and I should serve in a warrior's command!  You defend this weakling to better Sith who would punish her for her defiance, and you tell us all to be friends—as if competition doesn't fuel the dark side!  I'm wasted with this rabble, and with you."

He did not look away from Darth Alecto as he said the words. Nevya hissed and bared her teeth, and Nillan saw Zeff Rogu take the lightsaber hilt back off his belt, but Darth Alecto just looked up at Zurgharjhen. "And you think you have the skills to back that arrogance? I know you have the stupidity to challenge me, but do you have the courage too?"

Zurgharjhen snarled, looming over her, and Darth Alecto laughed in his face. "You want to hack me into pieces and teach me my place, but you're afraid of the Furies, is that it?"

Nillan shivered, Megaera turned pale green in a way that had nothing to do with pain, and even Zurgharjhen flinched. Darth Alecto smiled. "Let me put your fears at ease: if you have the guts to challenge me, I lay aside the protection of my anointing this one time. And Nevya?"

"Master?"

"As Master of the Brotherhood of Shadows, if this brainless oaf actually does manage to kill me, I forbid you and all our brethren to seek revenge or harm him in any way. Do you understand?"

Nillan was sure they could all see what Nevya Khiyali thought of that order, but she gritted her teeth and said, "Yes. Master."

Darth Alecto took her lightsaber in hand. "There you have it, Zurgharjhen. This chance will never come again—step forth and prove yourself the better or be silent and obey from here on out."

The four-armed monster reached onto his belts and his hands came away with four lightsabers, which burst into four scarlet blades at once. "I'll carve you to pieces."

Darth Alecto ignited her lightsaber and dropped back into a Juyo guard. "Kill me if you can."

Zeff and the adepts scrambled back as the contest erupted; Nevya Khiyali prowled around the edge of the clearing to kneel beside Megaera, who was trembling in obvious agony but unable to tear her eyes away from the battle. Nillan knew at once he had been right not to pick a fight with Zurgharjhen; the wolfman was fast and powerful, and he unleashed four blows a second on his slowest seconds. Even Darth Alecto did not stand her ground against him, but dodged around him, darting in and out, her blade fast as an adder's bite.

Darth Alecto leapt between two towering oaks; Zargharjhen chopped them down and cut slices from the falling trunks before they hit the ground. Darth Alecto somehow got on one of the trees while it was still falling and leapt back into the clearing; Zurgharjhen roared and turned into a charge, but she leapt aside. He slashed at her and she cut in to meet it.

There was a sharp POP and burst of sparks, and Zurgharjhen dropped the lightsaber hilt from his lower right hand; Darth Alecto had cut off the emitter. She grinned and said, "One."

Zurgharjhen mixed up his attacks now, some hands stabbing which others slashed, ducking to cut at Alecto's knees and then shooting up for her head. She skipped and danced around his attacks, retaliating often, her own techniques a mix so chaotic Nillan couldn't discern anything resembling a pattern. Overleaping a low cut, she laughed as she ducked under a high one and flicked her blade upwards.

Pieces of another lightsaber fell to the earth.

Zurgharjhen shifted his remaining weapons into his two upper hands and attacked with abandon, clearly hemorrhaging energy but filling himself up with anger until it overflowed toward his master; Nillan was vaguely surprised the wolfman didn't catch fire from the heat of his own rage. Darth Alecto met him stroke for stroke, collapsing into a defense and then exploding into a frenetic charge whenever Zurgharjhen over-committed. He bellowed loud enough that half the adepts covered their ears and charged, but Darth Alecto somehow did a knee roll until his cut, leapt and kicked off his thigh, and slashed apart another lightsaber in midair before snapping up her blade to defend herself against the fourth.

They fought on, but Nillan could feel the Irrukiine's fear now, poisoning his spirit and joining with his fatigue to sap his titanic strength away. Darth Alecto's face was bathed in sweat but shining even more with sadistic enjoyment as she took command of the fight, forcing Zurgharjhen onto the defense, compelling him to yield ground, howling in fruitless rage.

Zeff Rogu leaned over and whispered, "I hope you haven't grown attached to him."

In one more exchange it was finished, and the pieces of Zurgharjhen's halved lightsaber clattered to the forest floor; one rolled over and bumped into Megaera's boot. Darth Alecto raised the point of her blade under Zurgharjhen's chin, then lowered it as he sank to his knees, two arms wrapped around his heaving chest, tongue lolling out over fangs dripping slaver; one glob of saliva evaporated on Darth Alecto's blade.

"Do…it…" he wheezed.

"Mmm…" Darth Alecto mused, nodding; if she was even winded, she didn't show it. She passed the tip of her blade just over Zurgharjhen's eyes. "So many things I could do. Is that what you want, Zurgharjhen?  Do you want to die?"

He just panted, and Darth Alecto flicked her blade; Zurgharjhen snarled in pain as she cut a line onto his muzzle. "Answer me when I ask you a question!"

"No," he groaned. "No, I…don't want…to die."

"Think perhaps I know a thing or two about being a warrior after all?"

"…yes."

Another flick, another new scar. "Yes…?"

"Master."

"Good." Darth Alecto deactivated her lightsaber, tossing it from hand to hand as she looked at the others. "The only way forward—the only way you'll ever be anything more than tools to be used up and ground beneath some Sith Lord's heel when you've run out of uses—is obedience. You obey me in whatever I command you, whenever I command you, with no hesitation.  You don't exist as individuals anymore; everything you think about yourself is a lie to distract you from your service.  I demand total obedience, and I will tolerate nothing less.  Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Master," they were quick to reply.

"And you, Zurgharjhen?"

He bowed his head, coughing before he said, "I will obey, Master."

"Good." She activated her lightsaber again. "Hold out your hands. All of them."

The clearing grew very quiet then; only the hum of Darth Alecto's lightsaber was audible. Several of the adepts watched eagerly while others braced themselves; Nillan rubbed his wrists, trying not to imagine the sickening pain, the horror of seeing his hands fall to the ground, lifeless hunks of burnt meat and bone. Zurgharjhen raised his eyes, and his chest rose and fell as his breathing accelerated.

"Your hands, Zurgharjhen," Darth Alecto whispered. "Now."

Trembling, Zurgharjhen raised all four hands, holding them out toward her and clamping his jaw shut so hard Nillan thought his teeth might burst. Darth Alecto swung her lightsaber in lazy infinity circles around his wrists, pointing with the index finger of her opposite hand at each wrist in turn. "Hmm…no, maybe…hmm…"

The tension built and built until adepts started hissing, longing for the spilling of blood or eager for it to be over, and Zurgharjhen shook like a leaf in the wind that picked up and sent shivers down Nillan's spine…

Then Darth Alecto slashed in a single cut, almost invisible with speed, and Zurgharjhen howled.

Nillan forced himself not to look away, and so he was able to frown in confusion at once. None of Zurgharjhen's hands fell away, and he choked his howl off into a hiss at once. His upper left hand curled back and Nillan saw smoke coiling off where the fifth, smallest digit had been. Darth Alecto nodded, deactivated her lightsaber, and returned it to her belt.

Zurgharjhen stared. "I…I don't—"

"—understand? Yes, I can see that.  I blame Relteus for that too; the moron's inflicting his stupidity on the Empire from beyond the grave…"  She rolled her eyes, then surveyed her disciples. "This is the last time I'll tell you all for free, so pay attention: you're not competing with each other anymore. You're out of the academies now, and everything you do in training serves one purpose: to prepare you for the field.  And everything you do in the field serves one purpose: to destroy the Jedi and crush the Republic."

There were appreciative murmurs around Nillan, so he added one to be safe. Darth Alecto said, "You will all push yourselves, every day, to be stronger—not to defeat your comrades here, but to defeat the Jedi. You get one chance against Jedi Knights, and then you win, or you die.  And every one of you who dies makes the Sith Empire weaker; every one of you who fails is a failure of mine.  And I do not fail."

Zurgharjhen was still contemplating his hands; "But…but why show—"

"Mercy?" Darth Alecto's eyes gleamed as she smiled. "Oh, cure yourself of that delusion before it costs you more than pride and a finger, Zurgharjhen—I am no Jedi, and this is not mercy. Call it a…"

She trailed off, and her smile twisted as she chuckled. "…a second chance."

Nillan didn't get the joke, although Zeff Rogu snorted once through his vocoder and one side of Nevya Khiyali's mouth twitched.

"You have a chance to prove you're not just a mindless thug with a lightsaber and a few Force tricks—to avoid your late master's ruin and become something more." Darth Alecto took her lightsaber hilt in hand. "The first Sith Lord I served, Zygro, would have cut off your hands and eaten them in front of you. My second master, Nerlus Zedum, would've had his pet torturer, Ondar Vargh, skin the flesh off them all, then waited until you begged him to cut them off for you.  They would have made you an example to the others, but me…"

She pointed the lightsaber hilt at Zurgharjhen. "That finger will remind you what happens when you get too proud, but I think you still have potential. Or am I wrong?"

"You are not wrong, Darth Alecto," Zurgharjhen growled.

"Is he telling the truth, Megaera?" Darth Alecto called.

All eyes turned to Megaera while Zurgharjhen's fear spiked in the Force again. Megaera started, winced as she jerked her shoulder, then fixed her eyes on Zurgharjhen. She rubbed her shoulder with her thumb, and for a moment her bright eyes narrowed. But she swallowed and said, "Yes, Master."

"Good." Darth Alecto flipped her lightsaber hilt in her hand and clipped it back on her belt. "We're done here. Grab your gear and follow Zeff up the bluff; he'll show you where you can clean up and sleep.  Nillan, Crile, help Megaera."

Nillan hurried to obey; Zurgharjhen was good, but he had never seen anything like the display Darth Alecto had just put on, and more than ever he wanted her to think only good things about him—and preferably not think of him too much to begin with.

Crile seemed to be thinking along the same lines; he appeared at Nillan's side and muttered, "That was…incredible."

Nillan had thought of filling the pause with terrifying; he was glad he had waited.

"I knew Korriban didn't turn out second best, but…" The Human trailed off; for once he seemed too awestruck for words.

They debated how best to get Megaera up until Nevya barked at them to get moving; Nillan slung Megaera's good arm over his shoulders while Crile tied her a sling with his belt and went ahead to levitate her up the miniature bluffs that staggered the cliff face. The tendrils of flowers that served her as hair spilled onto Nillan's cheek, and he inhaled their sweet scent.

"So does bacta work on you, or should we just get you some fertilizer and wait for it to rain?" he teased.

She laughed, then winced as her broken shoulder twinged. As he helped her along, Nillan sensed eyes on him and looked up. Zurgharjhen watched their progress from halfway up the cliff; he was rubbing his maimed hand with one of the others, and he bared his teeth before resuming the climb.

"Oh good…" Megaera hissed through her teeth. "I made…a friend…"

Nillan laughed, but stopped when the movement rocked her and made her gasp. As they limped up a ridge, he said, "Well, look on the bright side: somebody on Dromund Kaas didn't like you either, and look how that turned out."

Her mouth twisted; was it a smile, a scowl, or a bit of both? "Eweyni…I did what I…had to do. But here…like the master said…we're all on…the same team."

Nillan reached up, caught the hand draped over his shoulders, and gave it a squeeze. When Megaera looked at him with those vivid green eyes, he winked at her. "For now."

She looked up the cliff, back down at Nillan, and this time there was no mistaking her smile. "For now."