The Art of Chaos and Darkness

Chapter Ten

Valda decapitated the hooded figure in a single swipe.

She didn't wait to see his body hit the ground, she was already moving toward the pile of rubble, clipping the lightsaber to her belt.  The Mandalorian was foolish, she'd told him repeatedly to leave and he hadn't.

Now he paid the consequences. 

The shards of rock were huge and sharp.  She came to a stop in front of the largest one.  There was no way he had survived.

You're free

The thought clanged through her.  The Mandalorian was dead.  His ship was hers and she wasn't even the one who had killed him.  She needed to leave now before more New Order showed up and actually killed her.  The Darkside moved around her, tendrils of energy and darkness.  She spotted the fallen beskar spear and picked it up, strapping it across her back. 

She didn't know where she would go, a tiny backwater planet maybe.  She could sell enough from the ship to survive for a while.  Valda left the clearing starting into the woods. 

You risked your life for those two girls

Valda swatted away a leafy branch as if she could get his voice out of her head. 

You were a slave

You don't want to kill me

She gritted her teeth and kept walking, storming through the underbrush.

I'm sorry

Somewhere from her subconscious those words rose.  He'd said that in the club, after he saw her reaction to the slave auction.

I'm sorry

Valda came to a halt.  She gripped the beskar staff in her hand and then swearing softly, turned and sprinted back through the forest the way she had come.  The clearing was still the same, the hooded figure's dead body slumped over and the huge rock pile still unmoving.  Valda sucked in a breath.  Time was of the essence now.  She reached out with the Force, searching for anything...

There.  The faintest of a heartbeats. 

The Mandalorian was alive.

Valda flung her eyes open and raised her arms.  Using the Force she moved the rocks away from his body until her mind felt like water and her body was covered in sweat.  The lightsaber cut on her arm burned and she pushed the pain away.  The Mandalorian was passed out, body covered in dust.  She carefully climbed over the sharp edges.  His armor seemed to have protected most of him but she knew countless bones were broken.  Blood leaked from between the cracks of the Beskar.  Valda had to get him back to the ship now.

Summoning the Darkside once more Valda managed to remove the Mandalorian from the rubble.  Willing strength into her limbs and mind, she gritted her teeth and started the long trek back to the ship, half dragging his body behind her.  Deeper into the woods she stopped and sliced off two of the largest leaves she could find.  Gingerly rolling the Mandalorian onto the makeshift sled, she started again, muscles straining.  His armor weighed nearly her whole body weight.  She had half a mind to take it off but something stopped her. 

Sweat poured down her body, her mind and muscles taxed to the brink of exhaustion.  As the space-port came into view she willed herself and the Mandalorian to become one with the shadows, equal part darkness and mist.  The Darkside had never failed her and it did not now. 

Unseen by anyone, Valda pulled the Mandalorian up the ramp and into the ship.  The ramp closed, and the ship rumbled to life before lifting into the sky. 

Onboard, Valda dragged the Mandalorian into the med bay, somehow managing to Force-lift him onto the table.  Her whole body trembled and she knew she was on the verge of passing out but her job wasn't finished yet. 

She left his helmet untouched but removed the armor covering his torso and arms and legs.  Holding her hands out she sensed the numerous contusions and shattered bones.  there was a large gash in his side that blood continuously leaked from.

Valda flung open all the drawers and cabinets in the med bay to find what she needed.  She grabbed a syringe from the wall, jabbing it into his side to speed the healing process and eyed the wound. She was already so drained, there was no way she would be able to heal the entire thing. It would kill her. But if she gave him the right medicines and then started the healing process, his body should recover.

Valda found the right stimulants and a med patch which she carefully stuck just over the wound. She plunged the stimulants into his body and then hovered her hands over his heart and closed her eyes.  The Force swelled around her.

Force healing was typically considered a Jedi technique because all Sith assumed it required a Lightside tendency to heal. But from the start of her training on Moraband, Valda had discovered the opposite. Her master had said it was because of her unnatural affinity to death and the Darkside. She was able to tap into death itself and nearly reverse the process. She could draw on the pain, suffering and anguish of the wound to convert into healing power.

No Lightside powers required.

What it did take from her though was her own strength.  She drew on the wounds of inflicted and while they didn't kill her, it severely weakened her and left her vulnerable if not cared for. Valda knew there was little time for this consideration if she was to save the Mandalorian.  She closed her eyes and drew in a steadying breath.  Darkness and light sprang from her finger tips, enveloping the Mandalorian's body. 

Her breaths grew slower and her legs felt weak.  Blood began to spill from her nose.  The lightsaber wound on her arm burned and she cried out as a gash in her side opened up, identical to the Mandalorian's.  Countless cuts and slices appeared, blood beginning to drip onto the floor.  The wound in her side bled freely and her legs shook but Valda gritted her teeth and held on.  She pushed every ounce of strength she had into healing his body, stretching her connection to the Force thin.  The wound began to close centimeter by centimeter and then at last, the Mandalorian's breathing evened out. 

Valda sucked in a breath that felt like inhaling glass.  She stumbled back, striking the wall beside her and coughed, blood spilling from her mouth.  The ship's engines revved as it prepared the jump to hyper-space Valda had pre-set before healing the Mandalorian.  She felt the ship exploded into the stars and then darkness filled her vision.