Legacy of Darkness: Book 1 - Darkness Rising

Chapter 2: Betrayal

Master Jay-Li Kenobi shuddered in the cold, watching his breath freeze as it left his mouth and billowed behind him like steam as his speeder zoomed overtop the snowbanks. He disliked ice planets. The heat was much easier to ward off than the cold. He focused on his breathing and called on the Force. Soon he felt warm again, but the technique only slowed the effects of the cold and allowed him to survive without winter gear temporarily, not forever. His wife Nadia on the other hand wasn't having such an easy time of it. She was used to warm temperate climates, and despite how strong she was trying to be he could tell she was feeling fatigued.

Focusing on the Force, he let a stream of healing force energy flow from his body, through her arms and back into her. She stirred as the restorative energies loosened her muscles and warmed her extremities. "Thanks." she said sweetly and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled back at her. Her painted face was as white as the snow that surrounded them, save for the thick black lines that stretched from her eyes upward and across her cheeks. Her Jedi robes, a hand-woven gift from the Voss Mystics and made in their traditional style, were streaming out behind her in the wind. The bright, shimmering green of the decorative patterns contrasting the deep brown of the fabric.

"You're most welcome my dear. Now remember, try and focus on feeling the currents of the Force around you. Don't focus on anything else, just feel the Force." He felt her concentrate, and sensed through their force bond that the pain of the cold was beginning to leave her body. She relaxed more and squeezed him around the waist.

"What would I do without you?" She asked rhetorically.

"Get into trouble." He said shooting her a wink over his shoulder. She giggled and smacked him on the shoulder before returning her hand to its place with the other, clasping his abdomen. The speeder accelerated and roared off towards a massive mountain in the distance, covered in ice and snow.

Before long they arrived at the mountain. Jay-Li and Nadia had tracked their target, a Sith Lord, here. A unique calculating algorithm written by their good friend Tharen Cedrex had calculated that this particular Sith was likely up to something more dangerous than any of his fellows. The algorithm considered factors such as the locations he had visited in the past month, the history of those locations, as well as the number and significance of people who coincidentally come down with a bad case of dead within the same time period. Master Kenobi wasn't normally the kind of man to rely on technology or algorithms to decide his courses of action, but he could feel the Force's hand in all of this. They were meant to track this Sith. They were meant to discover exactly what he was doing here.

He climbed off the speeder and offered Nadia his hand, as if this whole thing had been nothing more than a man giving a lady a joyride. She laughed and took it, hopping off the speeder and drawing her lightsaber, but leaving it inactive. "Let's go!" She said and bounded off towards the nearby cave. Jay-Li smiled and called on the force. Taking off at impossible speed, he whooshed past Nadia in a blur. Giggling, she followed suit and they were halfway down the cave before they came across the corpses.

It was a group of dead Wampas. All sliced to pieces by a lightsaber. Jay-Li stopped and inspected the corpses briefly, allowing Nadia to catch up. "He's been here." He said, "Not too long ago either. Time for stealth." She nodded and with a wave of her hand, vanished from sight, sinking deep into the shadow of the Force. Master Kenobi followed suit and the two headed deeper into the cave. As they travelled Jay-Li poured over the situation in his mind. It didn't make sense. Their target was somehow making it impossibly hard to track him. All they had left to follow right now was a very faint force signature, and yet all the other clues said they were right on his tail! Suddenly they turned a corner, and realized they were in a small, open cavern. The end of the cave. A ray of light filtered down from a hole in the roof, casting its light on...there! At the far end of the cavern! Jay-Li felt it before he saw it. A small Sith holocron, glowing with a soft, pulsing violet light. Odd, he thought. Usually Sith holocrons were red. No matter. He could feel the Dark Side emanating from it in waves. It was a Sith holocron, no question about that.