The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

It was a shock to see Agnacia be overtaken by the dark being she'd summoned, but it shattered Asemdi's world when her possessed sister fell to the floor and her body started to flail rapidly on the ground. Her arms and legs pumped and kicked, her torso and head seizing furiously against the hard surface and the black liquid that had once coated her eyes began to spew from her mouth.

"Sister!" Asemdi shrieked in fear. She collapsed to her knees and reached out to her closest adviser, but was pushed away when her sibling's foot made contact with her chest and sent the queen reeling backwards. With her hand pressed to her sternum and her eyes turning to the Sith in the room, Asemdi pleaded in desperation. "Help her! Please, do something!"

More and more black goo squirted from Agnacia's gaping maw and smeared down her chin and cheeks. The oil-like substance coated her skin like tar til it nearly covered her entire face and began pooling on the ground around her head. Ventress just watched in a horrified stupor as the witch continued to expel the dark liquid from her body, now beginning to leak from her eyes and nose as well.

What did she expect Ventress to do? She didn't know the ways of the witches, let alone how to fix whatever bat-shit crazy spell that had gone wrong. All either of the women could do was wait for what they knew would happen next, but dreaded nonetheless. As the dark sludge crawled down Agnacia's chest and shoulders, over her stomach and across her legs, her body suddenly seized up before going motionless once and for all, the black sludge disappearing to reveal the dehydrated corpse beneath. Asemdi gasped and scurried back over to her sister's side.

"Agnacia? Agnacia?" She grabbed her by the shoulders and shook the lifeless body, but there was no difference. No motion. No pulse. With her skin shriveled like a grape and her eyes rolled into the back of her skull, the queen's sister was dead and what once had been an act of revenge had turned into a suicide mission.

And now not only had Asemdi lost her daughters, but her best friend as well.

As the queen of the witches released the dead body of the one person she trusted most, her fists began to shake and her breathing began to speed up at a rapid pace. The sound of her blood pumping in her ears and the rage building within her soul was blinding; the queen stood up, not even looking at the Sith apprentice beside her.

"Fetch someone to pick up my sister's body," She spoke in a low, monotonous tone before making her way towards the exit. Asemdi clasped her hands behind her back, tightly holding each other to stop them from shaking. Though before she left, the queen glanced over her shoulder with a gaze more menacing than anything Ventress had seen from her master. "I hope you're at least useful for that, Sith."

"Where are you going?" She asked as she watched the woman walk away. This time Asemdi didn't bother looking back at the only other living person in the room.

"To kill those bastards myself."

***

By the time night had fallen, the Chitauri had begun to mend the rest of Molindi's wounds and had given the four Republic spies one of their guest homes near the market of the village. It wasn't anything over the top, consisting of a small kitchen with a table and chairs, a bathroom with running water and what appeared to be a functioning shower, as well as a bedroom down the hall with a bed big enough for two grown Chitauri. But it was much better than sleeping on the hard ground like they had the night before.

"And you're sure that thing won't come back for you?" General Skywalker asked from his position at the entryway of Etolga's, the woman who saved Molindi's life, home. The elephantine woman had carried her from the street to the foyer of her house where, based on the gurneys and medical supplies, seemed to be a makeshift hospital for the injured of the encampment.