Now what was this all about?

Saying nothing of her thoughts for the moment, however, Shayla stepped in behind the others who had begun to follow the Master, keeping her eyes and ears trained on what was going on as well as her senses. She was most curious as to what the Master was doing...

...and with a sudden realization came to an abrupt halt, her eyes slitting futher. "He lies," she growled. "He is not leading us to the place where I sense Phalomir; I will not be lead about as a lamb to the slaughter; enough!"

Before the Master could completely turn to even address Shayla, something within her reached out and melded and merged with what was already inherent to her very soul as well as to that which she was had learned throughout her training not only as a Jedi but as a Sith Adept. Tapped into it and sought to use it for all it was worth. Which was quite a lot, really. Before the Master truly knew what was happening, for the entire set of events happened in less than a second, he found himself slammed to the ground with great force, so much so that he was knocked completely unconcious. Nearby, much the same happened to Rykounagin, who was also left unconscious on the jungle floor. By the impact of the force, both would remain there on the jungle foor for a several hours.

Seeking out then for something even deeper and stronger to ensure that the Master and Rykounagin would not be bothering her for quite a while, Shayla stetched out into the grandness of the All, her renewed abilities now at her beck and call.

She sought far more than the creation of an apple out of the molecules of the air, but this time a logical but firm binding to keep the two in their place for a while longer after they awoke. In response to this, thick, firm vines encircled each one's arms and legs, leaving them bound tightly on the jungle floor.

"We must hurry from here and head that way," she then spoke softly as she pointed off in another direction, her eyes still closed, the grand majority of her very being still trained on the strength of the All see was connected with, and indeed, was indeed but a mere portion of...

[ 03-23-2007 12:13 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

"There is something intelligent out there but with all these people dropping in on us it doesn't have to be him."

Shayla's attack on the other Sith was the last straw in Thea's mind however. She gasped as the vines appeared out of nowhere.

"How could you? How could you be so evil. They can be killed out here trapped like that. How can you have turned your back on all you were taught to be!"

Thea pulled away from Yaoksi and hurried over to the two men. She started ripping at the vines trying to free them so they wouldn't be the next snack for those monsters.

--------------------

Unless Blondie knew something about them we didn't; ahh now, there's the rub.

I cut a short glance her way, chewed my lip a little as I tried to figure out what to say. Finally:

"Ahh... but isn't the opening that he--" I nodded in general toward the mass of vines. "--created going to where that beastie took Lord Phalomir? I mean, we saw it head off in that direction..."

I trailed before I could say anything else to possibly ignite her inflammatory ire. Gulping back the rest of what I wanted to say I moved to where Thea was tearing rather ineffectively on the vines.

"Maybe you might want to give it a rest, hon," I suggested, giving an imperceptible nod in Blondie's direction.

"If you know what I mean..."

[ 03-26-2007 05:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

--------------------

At the bottom the spiral stairs opened into a larger room, though not much larger than the stairwell. Phalomir stepped onto the hard dirt floor and was instantly drawn to the large stone statue that stood along the wall. He stared at it, dumbfounded, taking involuntary backward steps until he thumped against the stone wall of the stairwell. His hand extended outward to shine the light on the statue, glinting off the crystal which lay on something its hands. He stood still for nearly a minute before he drew his next breath.

“How can this be?” he finally asked. The tuk’ata, waiting patiently on its haunches throughout this silence, turned its head away from the status to face Phalomir.
It is, came the telepathic reply.

Phalomir took a step forward towards the statue, still unsure what to think. The face of the statue, a stone mirror of the Sith he remembered as Trelanicus, one who Phalomir once thought to be his father from ancient times, stared out with hollow eyes. Phalomir placed his hand on the cold face and followed it down to the chiseled shoulder. He felt a warmth begin to flow into him, slight and wafting, and looked down at the stone scroll the statue was holding. Carved into it in intricate detail was a figure eight, lined with runes. Inside each circle was a triangle; in the left circle each angle held an ancient rune for Male, on the right circle it was Female. The center point of the figure eight held a crystal in the shape of rune that meant many things, among them Change, Ending, and Death.

Below it and above it, etched in the stone, were two more symbols. On the top, the symbol for Light, or Order; the bottom, the symbol for Darkness, or Discord. And as Phalomir let his eyes wander in amazement, he noticed the etchings set in the top corners of the scroll: a pair of disembodied eyes watching over all.

---

Within a few minutes Phalomir was back to the surface, now riding on the back of the tuk’ata and hanging on tightly, making his way to the Temple.

--------------------

And now he claims to lead us to his son, when only moments before he refused to do the very same. Granted, the trail he began with seemed to take us in Phalomir's direction...

...but the Master is a crafty one."

She paused then, sensing outward for Phalomir's presence. "Even now his signature is on the move; he heads in that direction, quickly," Shayla said, pointing ahead, not through the path that the Master had opened but not far from it. "We should hurry. As for these two--"

She paused once more, "They will wake in due course. If we intend to get from this place by confronting That Which Is, neither should be with us when that occurs. They have, after all, already angered It. Clearly, they both have abilities to get from here once they awake...

...through the Darker Realms."

Trailing a moment, Shayla then knelt down on Thea's eye level. "...but they will not do so with us. For one who speaks of Jedi compassion, you have yet to learn it yourself. Far more lies here than what your eyes and ears see, and what your mind can take in. Think of me what you will; but know that just because you think it, that does not necessarily make it so. For while I have taken part in actions that you believe brand me an evil traitor...

....so have they."

Falling silent at that, Shayla then stood, turning to look at the still forms of the Master and Rykounagin, letting her head fall and her hair fall into her face as her eyes oiled for the briefest of moments...

...then cleared entirely.

They will both pay...

Looking up then, Shayla nodded in the direction she had indicated, taking a few steps that way, her senses once more on all that surrounded them, and on Phalomir's particular Force essence.

[ 03-26-2007 10:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

I shook my head, partially at myself but primarily out of sheer disbelief at what Blondie was so coolly handing out to us, like the words she was speaking were rare offerings on some kind of platter or something.

"Oh, and we're just supposed to take you at your word on all this?" I waved my hands around, partly exasperated, fully frightened. Frightened for what she had done and probably could do; frightened at the fact that words which would undoubtedly see to the above were now streaming from my mouth like water from a well; wholly frightened to find I couldn't stop myself if I tried.

"After what you did just now; hell! After what you did back there--! We're expected to just roll over and follow you all la-de-dah off into the jungle, away from the direction where we last saw Phalomir being taken--"

Don't even GO there, Yaoksi!

"--and off into who the HELL knows where?!"

Scaring myself even further, I released my hold on Thea and marched right up to her, stuck my nose smack into her face, pretty blonde curls be damned.

"Look, sister; we didn't ask you to come help us find our friends; hell, we're not anywhere CLOSE to where we're supposed to be, and all we've got to go on regarding any promise you might give us is how fast you whammied these two."

I nodded toward the silent pile of vines.

"Not to mention the injured peeps back in the temple, where--"

I pulled myself to a halt, eyes wide as I suddenly realized something. Something I thought I saw shining in the depths of her oceanic eyes.

We're not a one of us going to get out of here alive.

Thea was right all along.

--------------------

I took out my comm link to make sure that with what just happened I didn't miss anything that might indicate a signal, unfortunately there where no signals to even miss. As I was returning my comm link to its rightful place a thought hit me.

"Phalomir said that these Tuk'ata are pack animals right? We where attacked by one so where is its pack?"

--------------------

...but only for a brief moment, for something deep within seemed to raise itself up for perusal:

Ahh...something to use...

Shayla then lowered her face, stepping away slightly from the group but not turning away. She then stooped to the ground, seeming to inspect the very roots, her eyes growing vague.

"I...my..."

She trailed for a moment, her eyes growing even more vague. "My husband is trapped on Degobah as well."

Looking up then, but still kneeling on the ground, she closed her eyes as if trying to calm herself. "You were not the only ones who were betrayed."

Falling silent at that, Shayla waited until any traces of darkness faded back into the shadows of her heart before opening her eyes to regard the others, standing, tears actually forming in the depths of her deep greeny-blue eyes.

--------------------

But this--

"I-- I--" I gawped, blinking a little with the effort to keep from physically shaking my head in shock. Actually, it was more than that; maybe she wasn't quite the bad egg Thea painted her to be. Maybe some of her words held truth; we didn't know much of the pair she had just whammied other than the fact that of the two the Sith was more than happy to lead us all back to the Darker Realms, while the sullen white-haired stranger was quite satisfied to follow.

Maybe there's more here than meets the eye, Yaoksi ol pirate. Maybe some of her words are true; hell, maybe SHE didn't even really whammy everyone in the Healing Chamber; maybe there's something else at play here.

Who to trust? Ourselves on our own, on a planet in some weird other dimension farther removed from our galaxy than the farthest pulsar...

Or her?

I waffled, chewed my lip, frowned at what Link had piped up with. Thought of the tuk'ata that had carried Phalomir off like he was so much cotton batting. Thought of the howls and yowls and growls we had heard in the distance.. not to mention coming from somewhere not that far away.

Thought of her ability to whammy... and began to look at it in a new light.

"Hang a sec..."

Saying nothing more I returned to the others, quickly stated as much of the other side of the coin as I could think of.

"What do you think, guys? Go off on our own and keep following where that beastie went-- or trust Blondie and stick with her?"

I lowered my voice to the merest of whispers.

"She does have some kind of weird power; wouldn't it be better to keep her in sight, under our noses? I mean, if we go off on our own, what if she tails us? An enemy unseen is ten times as dangerous as one honorable enough to engage in a face to face confrontation, don't you think?

"Besides..."

I shot a sidelong glance over my shoulder, grinned idiotically at Shayla, then turned back to the others.

"Maybe she's being taken for just as much of a fool as we are. What do you guys think?"

[ 03-27-2007 09:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

--------------------

Thea muttered under her breath, "Compassion. You call knocking people out and tying them up in a land of predators compassion? Who does not know it, I wonder. I know you betrayed the Jedi Order, I know nothing of them. All I know is that they have done nothing to us, nothing that would make them deserve the death you offer them."

Thea followed Yaoksi still worried about the two strangers.

"I don't think she was fooled at all. They had some reason for sending us here and I don't think it was to throw us a party. I don't think she means to ever let us leave alive. But she would be dangerous if she could sneak up on us. I don't know. I can't trust her at all but letting her out of our sight..."

--------------------

In a flash Phalomir was carried down the trail, sailing along on the tuk’ata’s back.

--------------------

She trailed, looking downward as she trembled slightly in anger, masking it as an action of fear. "I don't know what he is capable of. He casts strange spells..."

She trailed then, hearing something soft but veyr discernable in the distance. Stretching out with her Force senses, Shayla felt the nearby presence of Phalomir...

...and quietly slipped into the angered mind of one Thea Morgan.

Ahhh, what a wealth of hate for one so young, so convicted. How hypocritical, especially for one who is of the age that usually forgives more easily...

The darkness within Shayla oiled and bubbled in hot anger kept below the surface, then seeped out just a bit as she slipped into the mind of Thea. Not only a few moments after that same darkness slipped back out in disgust. For one who could criticize the dark and not embrace it despite her own dark tendancies was not ready...

...and in more than one way. Shayla really didn't know exactly what caused her to make her next move...

...but then again, she did. Before anyone really knew what was happening, Shayla stretched into Thea's awareness center with her talents and without so much as an eyeblink dropped her into complete unconsciousness, only to be awakened at Shayla's own discretion. Thea suddenly fell limply to the ground as if she had fainted...

[ 03-28-2007 10:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

She felt lighter than a piece of dream-fluff when I caught her, sagging halfway to the plants beneath our feet. For a moment I struggled with balance and my center of gravity; too much weight too low decided the issue for me. Grunting, I followed her slide to the ground, laid her down gently and then cast a look upward at Blondie.

"What's happened? Did you do something to her? Answer me, dammit!"

The combined efforts of worry and fear finally fanned a small yet up until now unnoticed ire within me into boiling anger.

"What did you do?" I hollered as I climbed to my feet, shrugged off a pair of chitinous, cautionary manipulatory appendages.

"I know it was you, who else could have done this? One minute she was just fine, and now--"

I broke, drew in a great breath, and fisted my hands at my sides to prevent myself from actually launching into her in a full-body attack.

--------------------

"Her life signs are still good," he interjected into the tense silence, praying for hope in the situation, at a loss as to what to do about it or what was even going on.

All he knew was that he didn't want any of them to die here.

He shook Thea a bit then, trying to wake her but with no success. "She's not waking up..." he indicated then, trailing, his eyes darkening as he remained unmoving by Thea's side.

--------------------

"I did nothing to her..."

She trailed then, actually looking down on Thea, her eyes growing moist.

I may disagree with her beliefs, but she is only a child..."

Trailing again, something deep within howled in a furious reminder of something that had occurred. "Please, my Force strength is healing. Let me tend to her..."

Quieting at that, Shayla took a tentative yet seemingly concerned step forward, her eyes yet wide and full of emotion. However she did not press so as not to anger Yaoksi further.

[ 03-29-2007 10:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

Old. Studied, somehow...

I fought against the sudden chills which began to race up and down my spine, wracking my brain for inspiration. For the odds of Thea following the same path that Blondie had sent the others, practically right on the heels of said event, only purportedly at the hands of an unknown, unseen thing, were astronomical...

Against it. Only a fool would play against those kind of odds.

So I stood dithering, chewing my lip, trying to act natural and casual and knowing for a positive fact that I was failing miserably. And then sought-after inspiration struck.

"All right," I said with a definitive nod of my head.

"You say that these two are out for awhile; that means we have that much time to do something constructive. What I'm about to suggest I wouldn't wish on anybody; K'kihl--"

I waved at him, and he came up with a querying sort of clack of his mandibles. Scooping Thea into my arms, I deposited her nto his for well-keeping.

"Don't let anything further happen to her; I'm going to go down that trail and see if Phalomir is at the end of it--"

No matter what condition he might be in...!

I winced, continued. "If he's not, then we must assume that Blond--, I mean, Shayla speaks the truth, and we go where she says.

"If not--"

I narrowed my eyes, letting them darken. Gods alone knew what the hell any of us could do against her, considering the weird power she was wielding...

And strange, isn't it, that those who for one reason or another were put out of commission were those who had powers of their own?

I clenched my jaw as that little gem popped up for the first time, but other than that didn't let on any other worry or speculation to our dwindling little group.

"I'll keep in touch via comm-link; I do have one, you know!" Here I raised an arm, waggled it back around a bit, lowered my arm to my side where the hand attached to it first rested upon and then drew the blaster I had snugged to my hip. Then, before anyone could even think to try and stop me, I clenched my teeth together even more fiercely, whirled about, and headed down the path Phalomir's father had cleared through the dense underbrush.

It did not take long until I was far down that path, accompanied by nothing more than rising shadows, distant, unmentionable sounds, and a rising personal fear of such intensity to lend wings to my feet.

The size of the footprints now revealed on the path before me didn't do much toward lessening my fears, either...

--------------------

Phalomir climbed down from Md'diffnnd and walked up the ancient steps the led to the main door of the temple. He wished deep in his heart he could restore this structure to its original splendor, but he knew that this could never be as long as the planet was off limits.

He hesitated, thinking back to the day that Terrin was – well, brought back to life. He thought also of the trouble it brought to them, and the vast effort they undertook to send this entire system into the Elseness.

Phalomir inhaled deeply and continued on, followed by the tuk’ata. When he reached the top, Phalomir could hear the tuk’ata stop behind him. He glanced back and saw Md'diffnnd turn and sit, facing away from the door to look out at the grand clearing in front of the temple. Phalomir turned and continued in into the grand hallway. He proceeded on a path that would take him deep into the heart of the temple, given to him by Md'diffnnd, to the inner throne room of the Dark Lord, and hopefully to the answer he sought.

--------------------

...and finding Thea's condition disturbing as well.

His eyes locked on Stargazer. "I think it's best that you remain right where you are until he gets back," he then stated, reaching then for his blaster and fingering it...

...realizing that if push came to shove it really wouldn't do him alot of good against this particular individual.

--------------------

Within a flash the tuk’ata was bounding through the jungle, stealthy yet quick, until it felt it was close enough to stalk. Md'diffnnd crept along the forest floor, careful of where its feet landed, moving into position. The scent of the human was strong, and the deep hunger the tuk’ata felt wanted to rise to attention, but there were more important matters at hand for the guardian than taking in a small morsel. The human was indeed following the trail, and would find the stone man.

So it stopped and waited, lying flat on the ground and hidden amongst the green.

The human walked by, making enough noise to bring the entire jungle in upon it. But under the watchful eye of Md'diffnnd, none would dare molest the tiny being. Md'diffnnd crept along behind, staying just out of sight and out of earshot, until the human reached the ruined hut. It seemed to study the footprints and small pool of violet Sith blood on the ground, and then examined the opening of the hut. It put a hand down on the ground, touching the footprints of the Dark Lord, which led into the opening.

Blood... odd, purple and more than likely SITH blood... and entirely too many tuk'ata tracks scattered about for my liking.

Except--

Amidst the mangle of beast-spoor, something caught my eye. It was a more normal footprint, more like that a man would make. A rather large man, such as a Sith...

I rose from where I had knelt down to study the footprint, the blaster becoming slippery to hold for the sweat that suddenly coated my palm. For although I was entirely relieved to find it more than probable that Phalomir was alive and walking, I still didn't like the myriad tracks that muddled about near his.

I placed my hands on my hips a moment to stretch backward, getting the kinks out that tension and fear and worry had put into my body, then cut a quick glance about.
Nothing. There's nothing there, Yaoksi ol' pirate. You're just imagining things; all's nice and quiet.

Then why are the hairs on the back of my neck practically jumping off of it now?

I squinted, peered off along the way I had come, certain there was something there, not seeing it. Finally put it down to a case of nerves and returned to the tracks, in particular what had to be Phal's footprint. It was just too fresh.

I looked up, trying to follow where it led. While the spiralling steps going down into the darkness didn't inspire much confidence in me, I could see a touch of blood here and there. As if Phal had stepped in his own, and now left a track so obvious even I could follow it.

I glance around again, nerves tingling, then let out a breath of air I hadn't been aware I was holding.

"Well then, Yaoksi; let's just go see if he's down there--"

Tightening the grip I held on my blaster I girded my figurative loins, and began to descend into the darkness, lighting a glow-stick when it got too dark to see, following the occasional blotches of darkening purple as what I presumed to be Phalomir's track led me down and down into...

Who the hell knew what.

After a period of time that seemed a lifetime, I came to the bottom of the stairs. The short and dreary stone corridor I wound up in was truncated abruptly by shadows that stretched ahead. Forcibly swallowing back a persistent, rising fear, I raised the glow-stick a little higher, trying to illuminate more of that darkness even though I knew that in doing so it was likewise dazzling my eyes.

"Phal?" I called out cautiously. "You in there?"

[ 04-01-2007 10:49 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

--------------------

So Md'diffnnd crept closer to the hut, still quiet, and sat down on its haunches to the side of the hut to wait for the human. None was faster than Md'diffnnd, and he would show this human when it emerged from the stone man’s well. Md'diffnnd had communicated with a human once before, although a human trapped in a Sith body, but he was sure he could make the link once the human came back.

"I'm going after Yaoksi, I can track these things from a better vantage point."

Before anyone could object I leaped up into a tree and proceeded to leap from limb to limb following Yaoksi's trail. Eventually I could see a hut up ahead, when I got within 5 meters of the hut I finaly saw it. Earlier when one of those creatures took Phalomir I didn't get a good look at it, well now I did. Paying to much attention to the creature instead of where I was going I landed on a branch that couldn't support my weight and snapped sending me to the ground.

As I fell I tried to grab onto anything but there was nothing save the falling branch. I fell 2 meters and landed hard on my back knocking the wind out of me. When I regained the ability to breath there the creature was staring at me. I sat up and quickly fumbled through my personal belongings and drew my vibro blade and held it in a semi defensive stance when I noticed my had was shaking beyond all belief.

With very little confidence and probably some fear I all I could manage to get out was a small "Stay Back."

What have I gotten into now.

--------------------

...but Shayla knew immediately. "I saw one of those creatures nearly rip the heart out of Captain Danner..

...and kill him," she said softly, darkly. "There is no time to stand around and play any longer."

Without any furher ado, Shayla cast one final warning look Aaron's way...

...and without a word stole off into the jungle, at first behind Yaoski and Cel, her senses yet trained on that presence of Phalomir as she then began to divert from what appeared to be his path...

...her ultimate intent already set in stone as she began tracking not only the steps Phalomir had taken...

...but also his Force signature.

[ 04-02-2007 10:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

It wasn't a hard one to make.

Not immediately recalling Yaoksi's commlink frequency, or if he even had it, Aaron keyed a general frequency into his wrist comm...

"Yaoksi, Cel has gone after you," Aaron opened with, "And Stargazer just took off as well. I'm coming after you both; splitting up like this is dangerous, especially while she is on the move. Please let us all know where you are, your status, and if Cel happened to make it to you."

Sending off the transmission at that, Aaron drew his blaster from the holster and turned to K'khil, who still stood there with a very motionless Thea. "Come on, pal," he said softly, worriedly, "I don't want to leave you standing around alone and split us all further apart."

With nothing more than that, Aaron nodded towards where everyone else had taken off through the jungles, and began quietly moving there as well, taking a care to not move too fast, his ears listening for the sound of the Verpine following behind as well as for sounds up ahead.

--------------------

Shaking my head to try and stabilize my jangled nerves, I switched it open, listened to the message in-coming from Aaron.

Frowned.

Great, that's just great! I scowled before flicking the unit from receive to send.

"Aaron, this is Yaoski. I've trailed the tuk'ata to some kind of little hut; there's some mighty big footprints here that look to be Sith, and since they're fresh I can only assume that Phalomir is here somewhere. I'm checking now; do what you can to get the others back and stay in one group.

"There's tons of tuk'ata spoor around here, too... fresh tuk'ata spoor. It's enough that I risk my own life; don't need to risk that of the rest of you.

"Find Cel and get her back with K'kihl and Thea... and thanks for the warning about Blondie.

"Out."

Dismissing the comm-link, I took a tiny step forward now, glow-stick raised high. It didn't send much in the way of light; all I could see was a small circle of stone flooring, that upon which I stood, surrounded by utter darkness.

I took another step... and another, and yet another.

Something loomed in the periphery of the glow-stick's range.

I froze solid, my heart trip-hammering away. The hulking shadow was big, and dark...

"Phal?" I said and forced myself to take one more step. That brought the light upon something...

A statue. A BIG statue, one bearing weird markings and sigils.

I nearly fell over with relief-- but one short-lived, for it was only then that the light revealed the wall against which that statue stood. From the curvature I deduced I was in a circular chamber; pursing my lips in thought I moved out to seek the dimensions of that wall. All too soon I found myself by-passing the winding stairs I had come down, and it seemed only seconds passed after that before I found myself back beside the statue once again.

No Phal. Nothing but a stone statue.

I flipped the comm-link open again.

"Hey, Aaron; there's nothing here but some weird statue. I don't see Phalomir anywhere; I'm going back to the doorway in here and taking another look at those tracks. Maybe he went off in another direction from here."

With that I closed the connection, not bothering to mention my fear that Phalomir had been reduced to tuk'ata-chow. For I hadn't seen any footprints leading out... only into the little underground chamber I was in.

I sighed, drew in a deep breath. Then, gripping the glow-stick tightly and my blaster even tighter, I moved quickly back up the stairs.

Upon reaching the top I let out a relieved breath of air, happy to be back in the light of day again, even if it wasn't real sunlight

Or maybe it was; thinking about where we were made my head hurt. All I knew was that I just wanted us OUT.

--------------------