CHAPTER TWELVE
Shadow lunged, blades raised high over his head, ready to kill Lumiya. The Sith Lady preformed a backflip just as he landed, causing the small daggers of lightning around his swords to create a small gash in the floor. Lumiya then swing her lightwhip, its flexible blade lashing out violently like a nexu's tail. Shadow bended back to avoid the whip and flung one of his blades, the shorter one, at her face.
Lumiya avoided it by crouching down, letting the blade clatter to the floor behind her. She then swept her whip to strike at Shadow's legs. Shadow leaped over it and threw a kick at her face in midair, his booted foot making contact with her temple, and the Sith Lady lost her footing.
Quickly retrieving his short blade, Shadow raised his longer one and moved in for the kill. Just as he was about to bring his blade down in a diving stab at Lumiya's back, the Sith jumped back to her feet and reactivated her weapon, whipping it over her back and striking Shadow in the shoulder.
He held in his grunt of pain and turned it into a vicious growl. Taking a step back, he allowed Lumiya to take a defensive position before taking a tremendous leap, flipping over her head and stabbing at her back. The Sith Lady dropped to the floor before his blade made contact, rolled over, and lunged, lashing out with her lightwhip.
Shadow raised his right arm, on which he had fitted the Mandalorian crushgaunt from the glove of Darth Vader and let the lightwhip's blade clash against it, leaving his arm unscathed. Lumiya recoiled from the unexpected resistance and backflipped away from Shadow, regathering her stance once she had landed. From down the corridor, she stared at him, her green eyes filled with a rather surprised look.
"I am...impressed," she muttered. "I wasn't expecting much of a fight from a non-Force user."
Shadow gave her a mirthless laugh. "You will soon realize, my lady, that sometimes a person without the Force can be stronger than who does."
Lumiya's gaze hardened. "I find that highly unlikely."
"Probability has a smaller limit than you think."
With that, Shadow readied his blades in a position to attack and charged.
* * *
Despite being located deep inside the tomb of Freedon Nadd, Carnor Jax could still hear the sounds of battle coming from one of the temple's many corridors. Getting to his feet, he grabbed his double-bladed vibrosword, which he preferred over a lightsaber, and ran out of the chamber he was in.
The further he ran, the louder the sounds of combat became. After running down at least eleven corridors, he finally found his master in the twelfth one, where she was dueling with a cloaked being wielding two blades. Taking advantage of the fact that neither of them had noticed him, Carnor silently but swiftly walked down the hallway, the bottom blade of his vibrosword poised to stab at the cloaked one's back.
Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, the being spun around and slashed across Carnor's chest, leaving a gash in his Royal Guardsman battle armor. He staggered back and glared at the warrior, whom he was now certain was male, his emerald eyes showing no emotion from beneath his hood.
With the stranger distracted, Lumiya lashed out at him with her lightwhip. The warrior raised a short dagger and deflected the rope-like blade with it, causing it to tangle. To both Carnor and Lumiya's surprise, the stranger then grabbed the blade, letting its energy to burn into his gloved hand. He then yanked the blade and caused its hilt to fly out of Lumiya's hand and land into his. Deactivating the lightwhip, he dropped it to the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boot.
Now that the warrior's attention was partially diverted, Carnor charged towards him with his vibrosword raised high over his head. The warrior saw him coming and narrowly stepped aside as Carnor brought the blade down. The cloaked man then grabbed the beam-like hilt that connected the two blades and began wrestling it from Carnor's grasp.
With a powerful kick to the abdomen, the warrior made Carnor's grip on the weapon weaken and he easily wrenched it from his hands. The man then kicked Carnor down to the floor and aimed the bottom blade two inches from his face.
"All too easy," the warrior muttered as he raised his blade higher, ready to decapitate Carnor.
Weakened by the kick to his stomach, Carnor Jax could do nothing but close his eyes and brace for the killing blow.
The sound he expected to hear next before his death was the sound of the blade cutting through his neck. Instead, he heard the sudden snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating, it slicing through fless, and a loud, painful scream.
Carnor opened his eyes to see his would-be killer staggering away from him, clutching an armless shoulder. At his feet laid the arm in which he had held the vibrosword, burning at its severed end. Carnor then looked up and saw Lumiya standing nearby, a scarlet lightsaber in hand. The cloaked warrior glared at her, his green eyes filled with contempt.
"I thought you did not carry a standard lightsaber," he muttered.
Lumiya fixed him with a cold stare. "Even a Lady of the Sith must be prepared. And so should you."
The warrior growled. "It seems I had overestimated my chances. I shall concede and let you leave this tomb alive. But be warned..."
His emerald eyes glowed with hate. "I will not go easy on you next time."
With that, the warrior turned and headed down the corridor, vanishing at the first turn he reached. Silence then hung over the two Sith for a time, until Carnor Jax slowly got up to his feet and gave his master a questioning look.
"You...you saved me," he said quietly. "I thought that went against the ways of the Sith..."
Lumiya said nothing, instead turning in the opposite direction of their former opponent and heading back for the tomb's exit, beckoning with the Force for her apprentice to follow. Carnor Jax did so without further query.
The sound he expected to hear next before his death was the sound of the blade cutting through his neck. Instead, he heard the sudden snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating, it slicing through fless, and a loud, painful scream.
Carnor opened his eyes to see his would-be killer staggering away from him, clutching an armless shoulder. At his feet laid the arm in which he had held the vibrosword, burning at its severed end. Carnor then looked up and saw Lumiya standing nearby, a scarlet lightsaber in hand. The cloaked warrior glared at her, his green eyes filled with contempt.
"I thought you did not carry a standard lightsaber," he muttered.
Lumiya fixed him with a cold stare. "Even a Lady of the Sith must be prepared. And so should you."
The warrior growled. "It seems I had overestimated my chances. I shall concede and let you leave this tomb alive. But be warned..."
His emerald eyes glowed with hate. "I will not go easy on you next time."
With that, the warrior turned and headed down the corridor, vanishing at the first turn he reached. Silence then hung over the two Sith for a time, until Carnor Jax slowly got up to his feet and gave his master a questioning look.
"You...you saved me," he said quietly. "I thought that went against the ways of the Sith..."
Lumiya said nothing, instead turning in the opposite direction of their former opponent and heading back for the tomb's exit, beckoning with the Force for her apprentice to follow. Carnor Jax did so without further query.
No comments:
Post a Comment