Shadie entered a dim lit room, taking a few steps before stopping.  She ignited her lightsaber, the snap-hiss resonating in the cavernous chamber, and she held it as one blade in her right hand, with her arm extended to the side.  She could feel the dark side ever so strongly in this room, more so than in the rest of the entire Crypt.  The low gravity had destabilised her briefly, but not as much as the wave of dark side energy emanating from the Crypt.  The sphere had reassured her that if the Lady could embrace it, she could transform it.
Shadie stilled her thoughts as a figure approached.  She could see their silhouette a good distance away.  She knew it was Kromus even before he stepped into the light.
‘Darth Shadie!’ said Kromus; he seemed somewhat surprised, though trying to hide it.  Perhaps he thought Lahnius would be returning in her stead?
Shadie nodded slowly.
‘Yes.  It is me… Now, it’s time for you to die!’
Shadie walked to Kromus in a steady pace and hacked her lightsaber above him.  Kromus swiped it away with ease.  She came at him again, striking low and left; he blocked.  She was trying to feel where he was at with his abilities.  Long had it been since she’d fought him or trained with him and she did not know how much he’d grown in the Force.  Although, to her own advantage, neither did he know how much she had grown in the Force.
They duelled briefly, studying each other’s moves, evaluating how quick they were to parry, how quickly they attacked.  Kromus used Force Speed to strike blows up, down, left, right and left again, and Shadie managed to block each one with astonishing speed.
Simultaneously, they took a few steps away from each other, backing away and began a slow walk around the room, circling, facing each other.
‘Do you really believe your powers are stronger than mine?’ asked Kromus.
‘You forget that I am a servant of the light now.  Combined with the powers you taught me…  Well, let’s just say, I can be quite deadly.’
Shadie came at Kromus again, this time mixing speed and lightning which he caught on his blade, she switched her sabre to a two-sided staff and flurried, adding a quick strike at the neck.  Kromus hacked her staff away using the Force to send her bouncing back a bit.
‘I can still sense the dark side within you, Shadie.  It has merely been dormant.  You are a Jedi, yet you are a Sith.’
He attacked high and hard, Shadie alternately blocked and attacked side to side with her staff; left, right, left right, advancing with each hit, Kromus backing away with each hit.  He lifted one hand and a piece from an unfinished wall of the Crypt’s cave beyond the room came rushing Shadie’s way.  She sent a quick burst of lightning and it shattered into tiny pieces.  Half her lip curled into a smile.  And she stood back, looking at Kromus who was staring back at her.

Continue reading the Epilogue.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.

When Shadie walked out of the refresher, she garbed in her most comfortable and flexible dark outfit with her black cape.  Best enter a dark cave dressed for it.  Knarf was handsome as usual to her and he took her hand as they made their way to the cockpit.  The sky streaked into star lines and into the backdrop of space.  Dathomir loomed in the centre of the forward viewport.  Shadie closed her eyes, reaching out in the Force, and pointed.
‘There.  There’s the sphere.’
Brenum set a bearing and head into the planet’s atmosphere.
‘The binary message was from Master Juun like I thought,’ said Trylia.  Knarf smiled strangely to himself, but Shadie took little notice.  ‘To tell us he’d left Coruscant safely.  He’s perhaps a few standard hours away.’
Shadie nodded as she felt a familiar prickling at the back of her neck.  Her danger sense.
‘Starboard!’ she shouted.
‘I see it,’ said Brenum, swerving the ship.  ‘There’s a whole minefield of them.’
There were missile bombs set for sleep, to wake upon detection of the Krayt Dragon.  Sith fighters began to approach and streaked laser fire towards the ship.
‘Hey Knarf,’ said Brenum, ‘you know why Shadie, Trylia and I decided to call this baby the Krayt Dragon?’
‘Why?’
‘Because krayt dragons are difficult to kill and you got to be karking barvy to try to destroy one.’  Brenum veered the ship aft and up.  ‘How many people do you know who didn’t die trying to bring down a krayt dragon?’
‘None, actually,’ replied Knarf.  ‘Well there was that one Jawa who claimed his cousin…’   He shook his head and laughed.  ‘No.  I can’t remember ever speaking to a successful krayt hunter last time I was on Tatooine.’
‘Exactly!’
Brenum steered the ship using the Force to feel the Sith fighters and the invisible bombs the Sith had lain out for them.  Up and down, port and starboard, twirling and flipping, dodging and veering.
Next thing they knew, they were landing on the planet’s night side.
‘So what’s the plan?’ asked Trylia, as they all exited the ship.  ‘You head for the sphere while we fight Lahnius?’
Before Shadie could answer, a large rancor approached, a Night Sister riding it.  Shadie kept her hands by her side, Knarf thumbed his blaster, and Brenum and Trylia stood like Shadie, with their hands by their sides, for now.
‘How do these Dathomiri witches tame those beasts?’  Knarf seemed to size it up and down.  ‘You’d think a Jawa would have better luck taming a gundark.’
‘They’re Force-sensitive, Knarf,’ replied Trylia.  ‘But I’m not sure.  I’m a Jedi and I wouldn’t try to tame a rancor.’
The Dathomiri witch sitting atop the rancor halted it and studied the Jedi carefully.
‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ said Knarf.
The Night Sister called out in her chanting tongue.  Then as one, several dozen red blades lit up the night.
‘Oh, that’s rich,’ murmured Shadie, as she heard Knarf gulp.
‘Lahnius does enjoy the preliminaries,’ said Brenum.
‘Oh, I do!’ came a familiar voice.
From the centre end of the ring of Sith approached Darth Lahnius, his dark hair dishevelled.  Come to think of it, he could have been quite handsome, Shadie observed, but for the dark glare in his eyes.  They glowed of the dark side, his pale skin tone contrasting with the darkness of his irises, as his aura permeated dark side energy,
With a snap hiss, he ignited two red blades.
‘Kill the others, but Shadie is mine!’

Continue reading Chapter Nine.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.

Air traffic was slow and they could not see any reason for it, nor could they see any Holonet screens.  Finally Knarf veered the air speeder down and took a different route.
When they arrived at the Temple, Jedi were bustling about and the air was tense with nervous energy.  Shadie reached out in the Force, something was amiss, something illusive, yet…  There, above Coruscant, as though many ships were coming out of hyperspace, she felt several gaps in the Force.  Sith.  And not just any Sith: Kromus’s Sith.  She felt a tremor in the Force.  They had just come out of hyperspace.
Instinctively she took Knarf’s hand and held it tight.  He looked at her carefully, as though trying to read on her face what she had sensed through the Force.
‘Is it Kromus?’ he asked.
‘His Sith,’ she answered, confirming.  ‘They are here.’
‘All of them?’
‘No, but many.’
They entered the Council Chamber, still hand in hand.  Shadie no longer cared.  War was upon them now.  Master Juun Kloh stood in the centre of the circular room before the Masters who formed the Council, sitting as they always did, in a large circle around the room.  Brenum and Trylia were with him.  They seemed somewhat surprised as the pair walked hand in hand, but remained silent about it.
‘Shadie,’ said Master Juun.  ‘I don’t know if you sensed the disturbance…’
‘Kromus’s army of Sith,’ she said.
‘Yes.  He’s sent them to attack the Jedi.’  He looked at Brenum and Trylia then back to her.  ‘You must go now and hurry.  Your battle lies at the Crypt.’
‘And at Dathomir,’ said Shadie.  ‘The sphere is there, so is Darth Lahnius.  First things first.’
‘Do be careful, child,’ said Master Shargal, one of the eldest members of the Council.
‘That is not all, Shadie,’ said Maser Juun.  He wore a strange expression.
Brenum and Trylia exchanged glances before looking at Knarf.  Shadie only held his hand more tightly as he added his other hand to their clasp, and brought their hands close to his heart.
‘I’m going with Shadie to Dathomir.  My path lies with her,’ he said.  In that moment, he almost sounded like a Jedi.
‘That is good to hear,’ said Master Juun, nodding, ‘for I have noticed that you strengthen her, but you must both still hear this.’  He turned to the holocom that stood in the centre of the Council table and activated the holoscreen.  ‘This message came in early this morning.’
The image of Kromus’s face appeared on the screen.
‘Good day, Jedi,’ he said most contemptuously, ‘if you are watching this recorded vid, then my spies have arrived on Coruscant and soon an army will be upon you.  My army of handpicked Sith.  They will destroy you.  There is only one person who can stop this war: Darth Shadie, my former apprentice.  She must come to me, if she can find me.’  His lip curled up in a snarl.  ‘I hide and shall remain hidden.  If Shadie is as powerful as everyone claims she is, then that should not be a problem.’  He leaned closer into the holocam.  ‘I don’t expect many of you Jedi will remain alive by the time she’s found me.’

Continue reading Chapter Eight.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.

‘No, Shadie, you’re not trying to drain my life.  Don’t be afraid to harm me,’ said Master Juun Kloh, standing in the centre of the Temple’s interior training arena.
‘But how can I if you keep absorbing and deflecting?’ she replied.
‘You begin too weak,’ replied Master Juun.  ‘You never had this power before; remember you are not a master of it.  Lahnius was able to drain your life quickly.  You only absorbed a portion of that power.  When you use it, you will weaken your opponent greatly, slow him down,  but your initial attack must be strong enough to paralyse him.’
Shadie came at Master Juun again and he pushed her away.  She flew to the other end of the large circular arena.  She got her bearings back, walked back to him and tried again, he absorbed her attack and sent it to the ground.  And then again, this time deflecting; it bounced off him harmlessly.
Shadie paused.  If she was to defeat either Lahnius or Kromus, she needed focus.  She lifted her hand and a surge of energy pulled Master Juun to paralysis.
‘Yes,’ he muttered.
She drained him a bit, but was unable to sustain the power for long.
‘Much better, Shadie.  We shall pause here and resume tomorrow.  I need a rest.  You’ve managed to make me sleepy and somewhat low energy.’  His blue lekku twitched and he smiled.  ‘You’ve come a long way, my padawan.  I believe it is true what they say about you, that you shall combine the light with the dark and make them work for you.’
‘Thank you, Master Juun.’
Shadie then became aware of Knarf’s presence.  He was here now and watching, though she did not know where he was exactly; she could not see him.  Master Juun Kloh must have felt him also for his expression changed.
‘You know, Shadie, it is all right to have friends and care for them as brothers and sisters, but there are reasons why the Jedi have a code and follow it.’  He paused and put a hand on her shoulder.  ‘It is a dangerous time for attachments.  With such evil lurking near.  Such an attachment could be used against you to harm you.  And so easy is it to fall prey to the dark side when such a loss pains us.’  There was an unknown sadness in his eyes.  He turned his head towards Knarf’s presence in the Force.  ‘I fear such an attachment might be used to destroy you.’  Master Kloh looked at Shadie again.  ‘Think of what I have said.  We will resume your training tomorrow.’
He left the arena.
Shadie suddenly felt the fear of Knarf’s death fresh in her heart, as she had felt it when Lahnius had commanded the sphere to destroy his shuttle.  Fear could lead to anger and hatred, she knew, and ultimately to the dark side.  Shadie would not let Knarf die for her.
She felt Knarf approach her.  She turned to him, already blinking back tears.  She did not want to deny herself any of th energies, any passion or serenity, but her duty…  She would not risk anyone’slife for hers.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked tenderly, concern in his deep-set eyes.  Always so attentive was he to her needs, to her emotions, always so receptive, understanding.  Compassion was one of his qualities that drew her to him.
He came closer to her and wrapped her in his arms.  She closed her eyes and breathed him in.  His smell was comforting.  Then:
‘Knarf,’ she said pulling herself away.  ‘We can’t continue this.  It’s too dangerous.  I can’t risk Lahnius or Kromus hurting you.’
Knarf nodded.  ‘I understand.  I’ll…  I’ll respect whatever you choose, Shadie.’
‘It’s not that I don’t appreciate what we have.’
‘I appreciate it very much, Shadie.  I appreciate you.’  He took her hand, she pulled away.
‘It was wrong of us to have a secret affair.’
‘Why?  Because it goes against the code?  Against the norm of social standing?’  He looked deeply into her eyes.  ‘Or is it right because it feels good, because it brings us joy…’
‘Don’t!’ she warned.  This was difficult enough.
‘Don’t what?’
She shook her head.  ‘You must get as far away from me as possible.’
‘Shadie!’  Knarf’s brown eyes scowled with sadness.  ‘My Lady.’
‘No.  Your Lady I am no more.’
Knarf looked at Shadie solemnly, then bowed his head and closed his eyes.  Before he could say anything more, Shadie leapt up with the Force and propelled herself out of the arena.  Lightning sizzled at her fingertips and she quelled the urge to return to Knarf.

Continue reading Chapter Seven.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.