The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Trials Of Stone

MAUL

The cavernous halls kept record of their presence as Maul and the young Jedi apprentice ascended the steps, the ring of boots on stone and the soft tapping of the useless cane echoing softly back at them from many miles away.

Although Maul had maintained a carefully non-threatening and unassuming exterior, through their entire walk, he had never ceased to study his companion. And with secret glances, deceptively casual questions and careful probes with the Force, he had gleaned much about the young Force user who called himself 'Jabba'.

He was as intrepid as he was fearful; as calm as he was passionate. A wealth of potential lay just beneath the carefully constructed surface of Jedi beliefs, and it was just waiting to be tapped into.

It was a shame a Jedi had gotten to him first; it would have been so much easier to integrate the boy into his plans as a clean slate rather than an instrument of the Light. But if what Maul sensed was true – and he knew it was – then the young Jedi wasn't too far from the tipping point as it was. He had old wounds carved into his soul by terrible loss that would never fully close, and the reawakened pain and anger emitting from them was strong enough to fuel him for a lifetime.

All it would take would be the right leverage, and he could be made to complete the task Maul had in mind for him.

"Whoa," the boy murmured, drawing Maul from his musings.

He did not need to look up to know what the Jedi apprentice was spoke of. (Though he was tempted to; having stayed bent over his stupid cane this long was starting to make his shoulders stiff.) Beneath their feet, small cracks in the ground were beginning to turn red as the energy of the Temple responded to their presence.

Maul hid a small smile. His plan had worked! The Temple saw them merely as Master and apprentice – it recognized Maul from his visit there with Darth Sidious years before and assumed he had taken on the mantle. It did not sense that the two of them were not bonded through Sith teachings; that 'Jabba' was not his student.

If he played his cards right, the secrets of the Temple would finally be his... but for the time being, he still had an act to uphold for the young Jedi's benefit.

"A place of worship for some," he began, finally glancing up at the triangular doorway whose edges were glowing a faint red, "To others, an engine of destruction. But at its heart: our prize."

"How do we get in?"

And now we shall see if the boy can indeed be useful to me, Maul thought with a sneer, and motioned ahead to the enormous stone doors too heavy for one Force user to access alone. "Two must lift these stones – no more, no less. That is the way of the Sith."

The Jedi apprentice frowned, his aura in the Force awash with a dizzying blend of suspicion and unease. "You seem to know an awful lot about them."

"To defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy." Maul noted how the boy's eyes flashed briefly with recognition, and reckoned his Jedi teacher had said something similar. Deciding to take a risk, he said, "Even practice their beliefs."

"Yeah... My Master wouldn't approve of that last part."

"Then he is doomed to fail," Maul told him, adding just a hint of sadness to his tone. For now, the boy had to believe he was an ally to both himself and his Master, otherwise, he would never win his trust. "Now, young Jedi, help me."

Maul watched with interest as the boy reached out with the Force, drawing on energy reserves deep within him to do as he was asked. The door moved less than an inch, but Maul had not lost faith in the boy – he was using but a fraction of his full potential, and Maul knew it wouldn't take much for him to call on the rest.