Star Wars: Darkness Falls/Chapter Six

Chapter VI

Rilek awoke bright and early, he seemed to be shivering. He got up and got ready, the shaking still remained. I guessed it was nerves, but he reached into his pocket and revealed a medicine vial. He took the medicine and the shaking seemed to stop almost immediately. “You ready,” he asked.

“Yeah,” I didn’t sound confident, more like a man who wanted it just to be over.

“Let’s head out,” he said, and that we did. We were dressed in our green garb when we entered the palace. I couldn’t believe that in less than a day, I would be known as an assassin if Rilek and I were caught. We kept our heads down as we walked in, appearing once again as monks. No one stopped us or even wanted to talk to us. The only problem we had was bumping into people. It really is hard to walk when all you can see are your boots.

Rilek and I carried on, walking faster and faster. I didn’t hear someone yelled stop in time and ended up ramming into a soft body. I was knocked on my rear and my hood flew back. I sat up and quickly put my hood up, concealing my face before the women I hit could lay her eyes upon me. I was fortunate to see her face though, it was Jenn.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. I could feel her eyes burning into my chin, the only part of my face visible. “Do I know you?” she asked.

“I am a monk of the Order, I know no one,” I said getting up quickly and moving my feet as fast as possible.

“Mac?” I heard her whisper.

“Who?” I tried to sound as clueless as possible. It seemed to work as she stood up and began talking about the Monks of the Order. I found this the opportune time to walk on, following behind Rilek who seemed to have run away after I bumped into Jenn. He seemed to be far away as I would often take quick glances forward and I still could not see him.

I kept my head down and continued walking until I was jerked to my left into a dark room. I took of my hood, wondering if that was why it was so dark, but I realized there was no light on. “I found a storage room,” Rilek said.

“Great, is there a light.” I asked.

“Yeah, but I fear it will shine through the door, giving away our position. Now lets just get some rest befo&mdash;”

“Who in there,” a voice called in from the door. A second later in opened and I saw Eshirca. “What are you doing here,” she said in a hushed tone after closing the door, leaving the three of us inside.

“The palace gave us a job, but not a room,” I said quickly. I knew Rilek was most likely reaching for his gun at that moment. “Well who’s your friend?” she asked.

“He’s my brother, we both got jobs.

“Now is he your brother or your ‘brother’?” she asked making air quotes around the second brother.

“What? No!” I said, a little too loud.

“I don’t mean that kind, like the kind of brother Apul thinks you are to me.”

“Oh, so you’re asking if I’m lying to you?” I said trying to sound as honest as I could, I was quick on my toes, but faking emotion was never my strong suite.

“Well are you?”

“No.”

“OK”

“Uh, this may sound odd, but we’re,” I yawned, “really tired.”

“Oh, OK. I guess I’ll see you later.” she smiled as she reached for the door. I had a feeling this would be the last time I laid my eyes on her.

“You’re lucky, I almost killed your friend.”

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

''“Okay, and to your left you will see the red wall of Belaham. This palace wall is said to be decorated in the blood of Maynian leader, Syle Torrav. But if you ask me, its just red paint.” Jenn said, the crowd laughing. She had a natural presence with people, they always seemed to love her, now if only Mac had felt that way, she always thought. She had been madly in love with her childhood friend for as long as she could remember. She feared the worst when he disappeared, but was glad to see him finally home.''

“Excuse me,” one of the tourists yanked her attention, “does this tour include seeing the palace suite?”

“No, sorry, that’s only on weekends.”

“Damn,” he said.

''Just before she was able to tell the man to keep his language at a child friendly level, a palace guard approached her. “Hello miss, I’m Apul Namatch. Is it true that a monk walked into you earlier this afternoon?” he asked as he pulled out a note pad and began jotting note, she hadn’t even replied yet.''

''“Why yes, it was all just one big mistake. The poor guy couldn’t see, and I wasn’t paying attention.”''

“Could you identify the monk that knocked into you?”

''“No, I’m sorry, I’m new here. Is he in some sort of trouble?”''

''“Well not with the palace, but with the monk order. They train hard in their youth to not make mistakes like that. It is said that they have an ability to see without their eyes. Like some sort of magic. Well not exactly magic, more like those Jedi you’ve probably heard stories about.”''

''“Intriguing,” she said. Jenn remembered the stories of the great Jedi from her youth, they had arrived on her planet at first to assist the living who were being effected by the Vandoid sickness. They later had many squabbles on the planet, it all ended though when master and apprentice dueled on the planet. There were many different endings to the story, some were good defeating evil while the others evil won. Her favorite was the one where the apprentice won, but spared his master. No one died, and they all were happy in a way.''

''Jenn realized she needed to wrap up her last tour of the day and get home quick. Traveling the rear sector at night is one of the greatest dangers an innocent citizen such as herself could encounter. The gangs were aggressive.''

''“Yes it is,” he paused and closed his notepad. Also, your not allowed to tell anyone you know about the monks, they like to stay private, is that clear?”''

“Yes, sir,” she said straightening her stance to appear respectful.

“Then carry on.”

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

''Larild stood in the quiet lobby, it hadn’t even been a day and he missed her dearly. She told him that she would visit on weekends, but he knew that would never be the case. Once you taste that freedom you never want to go back. He had to face the truth, he would be running this place till the day he died, and once that happened, it would become of beacon for all the scum and villainy the sector had to offer.''

''Larild was soon shaken from his daydream when a SecPol officer ran down the stairs. “Hey man, could you clean Room 12?” he asked.''

“You guys don’t pay for our services and now you want me to clean you dirty room?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” the young officer said.

''“Do it yourself,” he said. His anger growing with every breath.''

''“You see this,” the officer pushed his SecPol badge in Larild’s face. “This thing right here means I can do whatever I damn well please,” he threw his badge down on the ground. “Now pick it up.”''

''Larild picked up the stupid badge. He hated SecPol, they all thought the badge gave them a power to rule, when all they did was make life harder for everyone else.''

“Now are you going to clean my room or not?” he asked once more.

“Fine, I will.”

''The SecPol officer left moments later, giving Larild more time to wish that his daughter would just burst through the door, radiating all the happiness that she always had. But she did not come through the door, she did not smile and hug her father, she was off in the palace having a blast. Larild needed to keep his mind off his daughter, it was too depressing to think about, so he decided to climb the stairs and clean Room 12.''

''When he opened the door to the dirty room he was shocked at how messy it was. The sheets and furniture covers were slung about, lamps were broken and worst of all, it appeared blood was on the walls. Larild could not possibly clean that, but worst than that was he could not possibly afford to replace the items. But he needed to do his best to make it clean.''

''He scrubbed the walls clean, it turned out it wasn’t blood, just a common food condiment. He then grabbed every sheet that was on the floor or bathroom and tossed them on the bed. The room, for the most part, was now clean. All Larild needed to do was pick up the lamps and dispose of them, but he couldn’t bring himself to it. The lamps were expensive and he hoped they could possibly be fixed. If only.''

''Eventually, Larild tossed the lamps into the “Broke, need fixing” pile, reuniting with a broken table, bare bed frames and sink that was discolored from years of mistreatment. The SecPol officer arrived much later in the day, he looked too tired when he entered to not even care that Larild did the worst clean-up job in Liongrad Inn history.''

“What was that,” the officer asked after trudging up the stairs, entering the room and then running back out to complain.

“I don’t know, my daughter usually does the cleaning.”

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

We exited the room after what felt like years, and I still hadn’t been able to get any sleep. The two of us couldn’t talk during our solitude as we didn’t want to draw attention to a room no one should be in. When we ended up getting out, we still didn’t talk. This was more about not being caught and questioned by the guards, them finding out we aren’t monks and then killing us. Though I think Rilek would handle any problems. The ruthless bastard was probably hoping for a guard to find us. His anger seems to feed of the dead, it really is creepy.

Problems we did not encounter, however. “Remember, our pistol’s aren’t silenced, so when the deed is done, just run for the door and I’ll follow.” Rilek ended up saying as we walked through the maze of corridors, clinging to the shadows once more.

“Why didn’t we just get suppressed weapons, or a knife?” I asked sometime later.

“What, you want to kill the man with your bare hands? You’ve got more balls than I first imagined.”

“Shut up,” I was surprised when Rilek actually listened and shut his mouth. It was only then that I looked down the corridor we had been walking down, what I saw was scary to say the least. A figure was the only thing in front of us. It was too dark to see his face, and I was hoping he couldn’t see ours either.

“I hear you...” the figure said.

Rilek and I kept our mouths shut, but out of nowhere I heard a loud exhale. “You found me grand-papa,” I heard a young voice say. Tiny footsteps then erupted down the corridor and the girl walked into the light. She was small with black hair and wearing a red dress. This little girl got to live her life without fear, without loss. Boy how it was all going to change.

Soon, the girl and her grandfather walked on by, with mentions of bed time. She had no clue her father was about to enter an eternal slumber. This would be her last warm night of comfort on the backs of the hard working servants. When the two were finally out of sight, Rilek and I walked onward. Still being quiet, but we were confident now that no one could see us. I mean a curious little girl couldn’t sense us.

“Here we are,” I finally set when we reached the regal door to the palace suite. As I pushed the door open I began to question if Noover would be in here. Any doubts were subdued when I opened the door and heard the quiet snores of Noover Gevorian once more. But what I also heard sickened me, there was another set of breaths in between Noover’s slob-like ones. I immediately knew he wasn’t alone.

We walked to his bed side. I was standing over Noover and Rilek over his wife. “Do it,” he mouthed as I stood in shock. “Do it,” he mouthed again in an audible whisper. I still couldn’t bring myself to do it. “Do it!” he yelled as he grabbed the women, putting a firm hand to her mouth. Noover immediatly woke up, his fat face turning to look at both of us.

“Gua&mdash;”

“Don’t you call the smegging guard,” Rilek said holding the gun to his wife’s face. “Or I’ll blow your poor wife’s head off. Now do it, Mac!”

I pulled my pistol out, hand shaking, and pressed it to Noover’s head. “Please don’t,” he mouth, pain stretched across his face. His life flashed before my eyes, all the mundane speeches, the happy moments with his family...his carelessness when it came to my home, my people. I took a step back, blaster still pointed at his head. Tears filled my eyes, it would all be over soon.

With my finger on the trigger, I squeezed. I don’t know what kind of bolts Rilek got, but when the round reached the monster’s head, an explosion of red touched every corner of the wall, my face, Rilek’s face and the face of the wife.

Rilek knocked the creature’s wife over the head, knocking her out cold. “Come on, guard’s will be here any minute. I stood in shock as Rilek pulled me away. “Where is the door,” he yelled in my ear. I could barely hear him, I barely cared. I just killed the man, not just by letting him starve or something stupid like that, I pulled the trigger. I was to be with the Dalemon for sure.

The palace door then opened, if I let them kill us, maybe I would be forgiven. But then again, maybe not. I kicked into top gear and ran to the tunnel entrance. I swung open the door and ran in. I heard a couple of blaster shots and feared the worst. But seconds later, Rilek came tumbling down the steps to meet me. “Run!” he yelled. And thus started our escape.