Ahsoka, Daughter of the Light (Book 4): Hidden

Chapter 35: Canyon Chase

AHSOKA TANO-BONTERI

Ahsoka zoomed out of the pirate base on a speeder. Lux and Katooni followed straight behind her.

Ahsoka looked up at a nearby cliffside. There, she saw not one, not two, but three Inquisitors. She couldn't see exactly who they were, but she could sense that Barriss, the First Sister, was one of them.

She didn't pay it much attention though, they just zoomed off into the canyon.

"It won't be too long until they're right behind us," Lux said.

Eventually, they came to a fork in the canyon.

"Left turn," Katooni yelled.

"Got it," Ahsoka said, banking to the left. Lux and Katooni followed.

Soon, the three of them could hear speeders coming up from behind them.

"They're catching up!" Katooni yelled.

"I know that!" Ahsoka said.

They came to another split in the canyon.

"Right!" Katooni yelled.

"Okay," Ahsoka said, following her directions.

She looked over her shoulders to see the Inquisitors gaining on them.

As expected, First Sister was there, riding a black speeder. Then, there was what looked to be a male grey-skinned humanoid on the speeder next to her. But on the speeder next to him was a Pau'an.

During the raid on the temple, Bene had told her that there had been a rogue Temple Guard. Ahsoka could only assume this was him.

Ahsoka, Lux, and Katooni continued speeding forward, but the Inquisitors were still gaining on them. She wondered why they had yet to use the force against her or her speeder.

"I think they've got better speeders than us," Lux said.

"No question about it," Katooni said. "We had a pretty big head start."

"Then that leaves only one option," Ahsoka said.

In what felt like a split-second instinctual decision, she made a U-turn in her speeder.

"Ahsoka, are you crazy!?!?" Lux yelled.

But Ahsoka had already made up her mind. She was going to face the three of them head on.

She steered her speeder straight for the Pau'an, and jumped off. The Pau'andid the same. The two speeders slammed into one another and exploded.

First Sister and the other Inquisitor stopped and circled around Ahsoka before getting off. Lux and Katooni drove off into the distance.

Ahsoka stood ready to fight, grabbing and igniting her white lightsabers.

"I take it you're Ahsoka Tano," said the Pau'an Inquisitor. "You really are a bold one."

First Sister and the other Inquisitor turned on their lightsabers, both of which were spinning double red blades.

"I take it you have already met First Sister on your excursion to Onderon some time ago," continued the Inquisitor.

"You mean Barriss?" Ahsoka replied.

"That name is dead!" First Sister yelled, pointing her lightsaber at Ahsoka.

"Not to me," Ahsoka replied.

"Your faith is annoying," said the other Inquisitor.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said the Pau'an. "I'm the Grand Inquisitor. The other one over there is Fifth Brother. We have you three to one."

"I like those odds," Ahsoka said.

The Grand Inquisitor grabbed his lightsaber and turned it on.

"We'll see about that," he said.

He charged at Ahsoka, but she leapt out of the way.

First Sister then leapt over the Grand Inquisitor, but she dodged that again.

She then went on the offensive, charging at Fifth Brother. Her main blade met his, but he deflected the blow. She then spun around in an attempt to deal a blow with her Shoto blade, but that didn't work either.

The Grand Inquisitor charged at her again, and Fifth Brother slashed at her as well.

She quickly blocked the blows from each Inquisitor, then force-jumped up and towards First Sister, who blocked Ahsoka's blades the moment she came down on her.

Ahsoka jumped away from First Sister and back towards Fifth Brother. Their blades locked, and then Ahsoka force-pushed him back and into the canyon wall.

She then leapt at him before any of the other Inquisitors could do anything about it. Fifth Brother readied his blade, but with one clean slash of her lightsaber, he lost his stance, and on the next slash, she cut off his right hand.

"Arghh!" he yelled.

But he seemed surprisingly unfazed. He used the force to try and grab his saber back into his other hand, but Ahsoka knocked him back down and the lightsaber flew right by him. She then slashed at his chest, rendering him unconcious and mortally wounded.

It was now just two to one.

The instant Fifth Brother had been knocked out, First Sister ran up behind Ahsoka and tried to hit her from behind, but Ahsoka locked her lightsabers in an X-shape behind her, blocking the blow. She shoved back at her, knocking back First Sister. Ahsoka turned around and charged at her. First Sister blocked the blow, but was knocked back. Ahsoka charged at her again, but this time she force pushed her back a considerable distance.

The Grand Inquisitor approached and slashed at Ahsoka, but  she dodged it.

Ahsoka quickly noticed a stone arch between her and First Sister. Before the Grand Inquisitor could try and land another blow, she took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Time itself seemed to slow down. She concentrated on the arch as it began to rumble. Then, under the sheer power of Ahsoka's abilities in the force, the arch collapsed.

First Sister, who was running back at Ahsoka, jumped backwards just in time to avoid getting crushed.

The Grand Inquisitor, who was just about to land a blow on Ahsoka, looked in amazement.

Taking the opportunity, Ahsoka kicked the Inquisitor in the stomach and force-pushed him onto the canyon wall.

"Such power..." he said to himself, before falling unconscious.

Ahsoka, not having the moral strength to confirm a kill, destroyed Fifth Brother's speeder, turned off her and hopped on First Sister's.

She then used the force to sense where Lux and Katooni had gone. She turned on the speeder, and sped off.