Revenge of the Jedi/Part 44

Vedya turned her back on the cocksure Knight, strolling back toward her throne and sparing Lords Nirrakin and Faro—Math Plaything and Clingy Plaything—a glance. "Kill them."

They strode forth without hesitation; Vedya had long since seeded her will in them, so that a word was enough to impel them to action. They were as bold of champions as a lady could desire, if perhaps not as skillful. Vedya was just considering calling Kra'all to find out what had prevented him from obeying her when a massive cascade of the Force spun her back around in spite of herself; she whirled in time to see several of the White Guards go flying off the stairs, most landing on the lower level but one or two plummeting into the darkness below. Nirrakin and Faro resisted the blow, but Amaani Wisté slipped between them, and before they could turn and cut him down, Raven Kaivalt threw himself on Faro, while Jarkun'eir'saikal, the Devaronian with a sieve for a mind and a furnace where a heart should be, hammered at Nirrakin.

Amaani hurtled across the fifty-meter center tier, and Vedya sighed as she extended one hand. The younger Wisté caught the lightning on his lightsaber blade, but he seemed unprepared for the force behind it; he wore a most satisfying expression of shock as the bolts hurled him back the way he had come.

"Amaani, no!" Lord Wisté cried, but he could not go to his son's aid, for Chiron Brascel was pressing him hard, his blade whipping and snapping around Wisté's. Gaebrean Kaivalt dueled Kobold Baliss up and down the stairs, but Vedya could see that Baliss was better; she could feel the fault lines in his mind where his divided loyalties had started to tug him apart, but she expected it would be only a matter of time before he struck down the lesser Kaivalt.

Kal-Di, though…

He could be troublesome, Vedya thought. Even as she watched, he ran one of her White Guards through, then levitated a second and hurled him back toward the doors, where the guard collided with one of the Sith Acolytes dueling Yan Razam. There, however, Vedya was pleased to see Rican and Sabir dueling, the FGamorrn hammering at the panicked Twi'lek who struggled to yield ground and fight back without killing her comrade.

Sharpening her hearing with the Force, Vedya heard through the shrieks of lightsaber blows, "He's my master! You think you can lie to me—steal him from me—"

"What the hell are you talking about?! Narasi, stop!"

But she would not stop, Vedya trusted; the Force had made sure of that. The Zygerrian had been one of the easiest—so thoughtful, to plant the seeds of her own downfall in her heart. And though Zaella would fight to the best of her ability, she would not call for aid, even if Rican struck her down—for a simple word and a whisper in the mind cemented her belief that no one would answer. Vedya allowed herself a satisfied smile. A good moment's work.

She glanced at Amaani as he got his feet under him. "I spared you on your first try for your father's sake, boy, but my mercy has limits."

"I spit on your mercy, witch!" he replied, though he spat only on the floor.

In the middle of the staircase, Tirien threw one White Guard into another and tried to press through, but the Kobold-Gaebrean and Nirrakin-Jarkun duels got in his way, the combatants nearly running over each other in the confusion. An urge from the dark side counseled Vedya to face Kal-Di alone—or perhaps it was a whisper from near her heart. Clutching her ruby necklace, she thought, A little more power never goes amiss.

She traced her fingers through the air, and a meter away, the oxygen molecules vibrated to combustion speed in an instant, and an arc of fire shot toward Amaani. The marble dais floor gleamed red and orange, and Vedya smiled at the young Knight's flabbergasted face in the firelight. He raised his hands and turned his face away, but Vedya felt his pitiful defenses and knew they were not enough.

Tirien grabbed Nirrakin by his collar and pitched him aside, kicked Kobold Baliss out of his way, and launched himself onto the dais. He thrust out his free hand, and Vedya gritted her teeth as the flames curved. It was not enough, and Amaani dropped to the deck, rolling to put out the fire on his sleeves and slapping his head to extinguish his receding hair, but he should have been roasted down to the bone, and he had survived. Had Vedya targeted Tirien himself, rather than a third party, she suspected he could have defended himself completely.

Kobold knocked Gaebrean down the stairs and turned, and Tirien had to abandon his charge to defend himself. As Amaani struggled up, Vedya felt that surge of heat through her heart. Time to make an end of this.

She struck Amaani with Sith lightning, and this time he was too slow to defend himself; sparks shot off his teeth amidst his open-mouthed scream. His knees gave out, but the Force was there to catch him and lift him off his feet. Even in agony, Vedya felt his intent to destroy her, and her rage reached out and seized his saber arm as he cocked it back to throw the blade. His roar of defiance became a shriek as the bones in his shoulder compacted and ground one another to powder. Vedya flicked a finger, and his whole collarbone and the two nearest ribs snapped.

"Amaani!" Lord Wisté cried, but he was too busy fighting his former friend to trouble Vedya.

Tirien and Kobold thrust their hands at one another, and Vedya felt the Force at war between them, Force pushes struggling against each other like matching magnet poles held together. Rather than let the contest play itself out, perhaps to her ruin, Vedya dropped Amaani Wisté to the deck, and as he screamed on his knees, lightsaber dropping from the limp hand at the end of his ruined arm, she snapped her fingers and broke his neck.

"AMAANI! NO!"

Lord Wisté tried to turn, but Lord Brascel did not relent, every line of his face hard and unforgiving, and Vedya sensed the betrayer's grief sapping his concentration. It took only five more exchanges for Brascel to beat Wisté's blade aside and pierce his broken heart. At the same time, Kobold allowed himself to be distracted as well, and Tirien overwhelmed him, propelling him down the stairs into the melee.

Jarkun and Nirrakin still fought at the top of the stairs; Vedya could not see what had become of Raven Kaivalt and Faro, but neither did she care, for Tirien Kal-Di and Chiron Brascel faced her together, green and blue blades raised, tinting their faces with Jedi light. These two, she sensed, would not fall so easily as the fool who had cast his life away at her feet.

"There will be no more tricks, Lady Gasald," Brascel said with Jedi severity. "No more mind games. We have come to put an end to your evil."

Kal-Di said nothing, but Vedya sensed his power, a hypermatter annihilator just waiting for him to tap its potential.

"You're welcome to try, Lord Brascel," Vedya said sweetly. "It's been far too long since I've had a chance to demonstrate my skills to my enemies. Let me show you, shall I?"

And as the three closed, Vedya channeled the dark side from deep within herself, from the boundless recesses of will and insatiable desire around which she'd formed the sweet-faced visage of the Sith goddess she had risen to be, and as her krayt dragon spirit roared for blood, the Jedi charged and she unleashed it upon them.