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"How — "
"Follow me."
Anakin gathered in the Force. He leaped onto the gigantic statue to his left, landing on its knee. He began to climb rapidly up, looking for handholds in the crumbling stone. He heard Ferus behind him.
He balanced on one shoulder of the huge statue, Ferus on another. They were high above the floor now, but even so, the ceiling of the hangar was lost in the darkness above them.
"Wait for the first wave, then drop," Anakin said. "We can use our liquid cable launchers. The statues can be cover and — "
"I get it," Ferus said.
They waited for the precise instant their attack would be most effective. It was seconds away when two dark shapes ran out from the hangar.
Darra and Tru.
"They think we're down there," Ferus said in horror. Almost immediately, the droids locked onto Darra and Tru's positions.
Ferus and Anakin took off in midair, the liquid cables holding them secure. They bounced off the statue and then swung out over the first line of droids. Their lightsabers moved in slashing circles. Due to the unexpected angle of attack, the droids were unable to lock onto their position at first. Sweeping out over the line, they managed to take out a dozen droids between them. Racing forward, Darra and Tru engaged the rest.
The eerie space and the darkness, the glint of metal, the pull of battle. Anakin saw nothing, felt nothing, but what was before him. He wasn't a fool. He knew their chances of beating so many droids were slim to none. But he also knew that it was only in gestures like this that a true Jedi would be revealed. He Force-pushed a droid and it slammed into another. He slashed them both into one smoking pile.
Compared to him, Ferus's hold on the Force was puny. Anakin reached out for it in the way he knew, reached for the Force in the stones and the dust and very air he breathed. The Force was part of him and around him.
His vision was sharper now, his control perfect. He didn't count the droids he dismantled. He didn't hesitate or second-guess his choices. He just kept moving.
Even while he moved, he kept track of the Padawans behind him and next to him. In battle, his problems with Ferus went away. They were fellow Jedi, and they had to cover one another.
The droids split off in a different formation. Darra, who had swung wide to attack, was suddenly surrounded. She whirled in an arc, keeping most of them at bay. Tru, who was closest, Force-leaped to help her, his flexible arms reaching out to slash his way toward her. Darra buried her lightsaber in the lead droid's control panel and it wheeled crazily astray, spraying blaster fire in random, dizzying circles. The stray fire caught Tru in mid-leap. He was wounded and fell, his lightsaber clattering to the floor. A droid stepped on it and kept going.
Anakin started to rush to help, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of movement. Something sinuous, flowing. Not the movement of a droid.
A cape. A dark-robed figure was moving quickly, keeping in the shadows, heading into the shadowy end of the hangar.
Granta Omega.
Tru was down. Darra had leaped to protect him. Now Ferus was moving in that direction.
The situation was covered. And Omega was getting away, no doubt heading for the same exit that Auben had told them about. This was his chance, his only chance. With a last glance at his friend, Anakin ran off into the darkness.
Chapter Thirteen
Ry-Gaul led the way. "When I couldn't get in, I followed the wall back into the mountain. There's an old landing hangar. It's enormous — maybe a hundred service bays on each side. I got in through one of the end bays.
That's where they are."
"The Padawans won't know it's a Sith," Soara said. "Until. "
They all finished the sentence in their minds. Until it's too late.
Ry-Gaul led them steadily downward. Obi-Wan could feel the mountain as if it were pressing on his back. The closer they got, the more dread he felt.
They were deep in the monastery now. Even though it was in ruins, Obi- Wan could see how different it was from the Jedi Temple. Although the Sith monastery had the same goals — study and training — it was clear that this had been a place ruled by fear. The Temple had grand rooms, but it also had quiet spaces, light-filled classrooms, gardens. The Jedi believed that beauty was a part of the Force, and encouraged it. The sound of water, the play of light, the grace of a curving stairway — the Temple had been pla
The lines of this place were harsh. The walls were high, but narrowed slightly as they rose, in order to create a sense of being trapped. Angles were slightly off in a way that Obi-Wan realized was deliberate. The monastery was designed to intimidate, to keep beings off-balance. There were no openings to air or light. There was only cold gray stone, massive columns, hard floors. Amid the weeping stones, Obi-Wan could still feel the fear that had ruled there, the many beings who had come to learn evil, the ones who had come naively, hoping for some kind of enlightenment, and had been trapped by their own desires.
He shuddered. It was as though he could feel each wasted life. Each terrible death.
The rest of the Jedi were silent. He knew they felt it, too.
At last Ry-Gaul stepped through a doorway into what had once been a service bay. They saw Auben cowering behind the wreck of an ancient vehicle. Wordlessly, she pointed to the curved arch that led to the hangar.
It was the silence that frightened them. They rushed out into the hangar.
It was littered with the remains of droids — so many that Obi-Wan staggered. Had the Padawans destroyed them all?
They could see that the battle had just ended seconds before. Tru lay on the ground. Ferus leaned over him, tending a wound with bacta. Darra whirled around and saw them, her lightsaber still activated. She shut it down as Ry-Gaul moved toward his wounded Padawan with his usual efficient speed.
Fear welled up in Obi-Wan.
Where is Anakin?
Darra saw the question in his eyes. "He ran that way — I think he saw something." She pointed to the darkness at the end of the vast hangar.
Obi-Wan started to run. He would have to rely on the Force to find Anakin. He opened himself up to it, hoping it would reveal to him what he needed to know. Was his Padawan wounded? Had the worst happened?
He had no doubt what Anakin was chasing. No matter what Anakin thought, he was not equipped to deal with a Sith.