Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 10

My belt buzzed.

My eyes flickered open, and I stared at the grey ceiling for a few moments, wondering why I wasn't in an untidy heap on the floor. I was sure I had fallen asleep sitting up, so that usually meant I would have keeled forwards and landed on my face or something ungainly like that. But then I remembered why I had woken up and fished around in my belt until my fingers found the transmitter. Pausing before I pulled it out, I glanced across at Obi-Wan, tentatively reaching out to see how deeply he was sleeping. He wasn't waking up any time soon, but his dreams were restless and frustrated. I took out the transmitter, pressed the button, and then waited for the message to appear.

"Look to the skies today. And watch out."

I blinked. Great – now I had to watch where I was going, who I was running into, and what was about to attack me from the sky. This would be a tricky day. But I couldn't call his bluff; I just hoped that Obi-Wan would help to pick up my slack.

I slipped the transmitter back into my belt and slipped back into a fitful sleep.

"I knew Ahsoka was involved in this."

"Your friend is keeping things from you. He is betraying you. Friends tell each other what is happening."

"The Council thought it best if you didn't know."

"Friendship is such a powerful thing. But when that trust is broken, cracks appear. It doesn't happen all at once. Your friend is still hiding something from you. Ask him. He won't tell you – trust me."

"I'm sorry, Anakin."

I never said I forgave him.

I woke with a start, breathing heavily, palm sweaty. I lay staring at the roof for a while, trying to calm my racing heart. Then I glanced across to see Obi-Wan rolling up his sleeping bag and pushing it into the corner. I stayed still for a few minutes, watching him and wondering if he was going to notice that I was awake. But he seemed preoccupied and wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"Morning," I said softly.

He whipped around, eyes wide, shoulders tensed, but only for a moment. He immediately made himself relax and offered me a smile. "Good morning, Anakin. I'm sorry I didn't realize you were awake."

I crawled out of my sleeping bag and started rolling it up. "It's okay. You must have been busy thinking. What's on your mind?"

He sighed. "I was dreaming again. It was the same one that I told you about earlier."

I glanced across him. "The one with the trap?" When he nodded silently, I went over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "We're a team, remember?"

He gave me a weak smile. "What can't we face?"

I returned his smile. "Yeah, that's right. Are you ready for another day of bashing Seps?"

He put his hand over mine. "I've got your back."

We left the ship together and set out in search of droids. We had to go further than the other days, which I took as a good sign, because it probably meant that there weren't heaps of droids left. Once we dealt with the remaining few, we could get Ahsoka, and hopefully then Maul would give up and leave, seeing that his plans had been thwarted. Then we could go back home.

Close to an hour later, we found a small troupe of droids, which we made short work of. I was disappointed to see that Ahsoka wasn't with them, but I didn't lose hope. We still had plenty of hours left in the day.

The worst part for me, though, was trying to keep an eye on the sky. For whatever reason, Maul seemed to think it was important, and I was worried it might start raining bombs or something. I was very glad to have Obi-Wan fighting at my side: he was catching the shots I missed and just generally looking for out anything and everything.

We moved on, continuing our search for droids. I started getting a bad feeling about something and began checking the skies more frequently as the feeling increased. We were getting closer to it, but I couldn't see anything in the air. "Look to the skies ...." But nothing was there ....

Then it happened. I had just glanced up for the umpteenth time when I felt the ground below me trembling. Before I had time to realize what was happening, hands had shoved me to the side, accompanied by a blast from the Force that was strong enough to send me sprawling. I tumbled out of the way of the gaping hole which was opening up where I had been standing milliseconds ago, and I looked across just in time to see Obi-Wan falling into the hole – into the trap.

"No, Obi-Wan!" I cried out, thrusting out my hand as I tried using the Force to stop the trapdoor from slamming shut again, but I was too late. It sealed up tight, and I couldn't do anything about it. One of my friends had taken the fall for me – again.

Scrambling to my feet, I raced over to the trapdoor and was about to try and split it open using my lightsaber. But a dark presence swirled through the Force, causing me to pause.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't ...," Maul trailed off, watching me curiously. He tapped his fingers against the lightsaber in his hand. "If it isn't Skywalker," he said slowly, an amused smirk playing on his lips while a confused frown pulled at his brow.

I glowered at him, regripping my saber. "What have you done to Obi-Wan?"

He tut-tutted, sauntering closer to me. "No, I get to ask the question, I think. How come you're here? Did you find a transmitter in your ship?"

"Yes, I did," I answered darkly. "Where's Obi-Wan?"

He didn't seem to be listening but was still musing over something. "It was you who found it. That's intriguing. How come you found it?"

"I went into the ship, and I picked it up."

"You went into the ship?" He seemed surprised. "That's so interesting. I might have to talk to Kenobi about that later."

I could feel the blood pounding in my temples as I fidgeted from side to side. "Where is he?" I demanded.

"Oh, he's gone," Maul responded carelessly. "I told you Kenobi would be at my mercy, Skywalker, but did you listen? Are you ready to stand by and watch as I exact my revenge on your friend? Are you ready to fail yet again?" He ignited his lightsaber with an expressive thrust. "So much for being the Chosen One. Let's see how well you do without your friends. I can't wait to see you fail." With that, he dashed forwards and engaged in deadly combat, and it was all I could do to keep up.

As we fought, Maul kept up the conversation. "I really had been intending to let your master meet the same end as his master, with you standing by, of course, but you did have to go and mess up my plans, didn't you?" He swept his lightsaber down, whacking me across the arm. "Never mind; I can adapt. I'm flexible. Now that I have Kenobi, I will simply beat you and take you back so you can spectate. It's not a big deal, really."

"You're so confident," I growled, lunging for him, then giving him a hard kick in the gut.

He stumbled backwards, coughing, arms wrapped around his waist.

I stalked up to him, swinging my lightsaber around my hand as I prepared to bring my blade down.

But he swept his leg at mine, catching me offguard and knocking me off my feet. He straightened up, laughing cruelly as heshoved his saber up my throat. "You know I don't fear you, Chosen One. Youranger throws you off. You have given me exactly what I want. You are so easy towind up, made so much easier by your forbidden attachments. You have failedyour Jedi Order by having them, you have failed your padawan because you didn'tuse them, and you have failed your best friend despite them. You are powerlessagainst me," he hissed, the very tip of his weapon burning on my skin. "Admitit." Then he thumped a metal boot down, and I remembered nothing more.

_______________________________________

Eek, Maul's scary. Does anyone else feel that way? Maul, stop trash talking poor Ani! He's having a hard enough time as is!

And uh-oh, sorry Obi-Wan. Isn't he so sweet, though? I love it how the two of them look after each other so much. They're so selfless. I hope I captured some of that in my writing!

And yes, it's a cliffhanger chapter ending, but things are gonna get worse before they get better. I think the book is coming to an end, but we've still got a few chapters to go. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the votes! <3