Fane could barely feel his fingertips; they tingled as though they’d been asleep for ages.  He managed to lift himself up on his hands and knees.  Talyc was moaning, Lian was bobbing this way and that, rocking himself, Shadie was reflecting energy back at Relsor, and Usharr looked focused, taking in all the dark side energy, as though ready to burst.
            ‘You going to explode the dark side at Relsor?’ Fane asked, crawling towards where Usharr and Talyc lay.
            Talyc reached a hand towards Fane.  Fane took Talyc’s helmet off.  ‘Are you all right?’
            Talyc looked up at him, his face wet with tears, and Fane felt a pang.  This ordeal must have been causing so many flashbacks for Talyc.
            Lian finally stopped rocking, after taking a loud deep breath, and lay motionless. He looked calm, his eyes focused on Relsor, and Fane saw the dark side energy orb diminish and shrink.  He understood that Lian was healing the Force.  Fane felt a little ill, but he figured that was normal, given the circumstances.
            ‘We need to take him by surprise,’ said Lian in a low voice.  ‘Usharr, can you send him one of your attacks soon?  I will attempt to connect Fane to Relsor’s mind.’
            Usharr looked at Lian and nodded, still looking focused.  Then, on Lian’s mark, Usharr sent Relsor an immense attack of dark side energy that made Relsor stagger back.  Fane focused and he could feel Lian guiding him.  They connected within the Force and connected to Relsor’s malady.  Fane pushed as hard as he could, but he could feel the True Sith fighting back.  He was in, and Relsor stood as Fane made him stand, then he was back out again.  He pushed again and was back in, then was kicked right back out.  He pushed again and felt Relsor push back.
            Relsor screamed extremely loudly.  ‘Aaargh!  Get out of my head!’
            Relsor lifted his hands high and everyone was lifted into the air.  Suddenly Fane could no longer move.  He focused on the Force around him, trying to move his limbs.  He didn’t understand.
            Relsor laughed.  ‘You thought you could resist my paralysing stasis, didn’t you, Fane?  Just because you can connect to my mind, doesn’t mean you can resist my powers.  You are still too weak to defeat me, which will make it all the easier to destroy you.’
            Fane felt panic; he was supposed to be able to defeat Relsor.  He looked at the others.  Talyc’s jaw was clenched tightly, Usharr seemed to relax in the position and circumstance in which he found himself, Shadie looked defiant, while Lian kept his eyes closed and looked meditative.  The Twi’lek opened his eyes again and looked at Fane. 
            ‘We have to try again!’ he called out.
            ‘I’m trying, but it’s not working!’ cried Fane.  ‘He’s found a way to resist us.’
            Fane saw Lian try to move.  The Jedi healer seemed to be healing the Force around him, for he could move his arms and legs in slow extended movements, but when Relsor looked at him, he became as motionless as the others.
            ‘We need to try something!’ cried Shadie. 
            ‘We need to embrace it,’ said Usharr.  ‘Work with it.’
            And then Fane saw something he never thought he would, and the Force was ever more wondrous to him: Relsor sent lightning towards Usharr but it stilled in the air, motionless, and never reached its target.
            ‘Just like that,’ said Usharr. 
            ‘Urrgh, stupid Sith!’ growled Relsor.  The Chiss tried again, this time with dark side energy, and he sent it towards all of them, but that too was stilled and paused in mid-air before it could reach any of them.
            That’s when Fane understood: as long as Relsor held them in stasis like this, his Force powers would not hurt them.
            ‘The dark side is a wondrous tool, if you know how to utilise every one of its aspects,’ said Usharr, a faint proud smile on the corner of his mouth.  ‘Something our enemy never learnt.’
            Fane couldn’t help but smile.  Usharr was the only Sith among them and he could truly use the Force in ways they could not.  For once, Fane was glad a Sith was among them.
            Relsor looked at them for a moment and sat on the ground, legs crossed, and closed his eyes in meditation.  At least while Relsor was busy trying to figure out his next move, even if they were still in stasis, floating above the ground, they were unharmed, for now.

Continue Reading Chapter Nine

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

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