“No.” Maul moved his hands back and forth in the water. “I... I like being here.”
Kilindi lowered her body so just her head and shoulders were above water. “I like it here too. There weren’t any seas like this where I grew up.”
“I don’t understand,” Maul said. “You are a Nautolan. Your homeworld is Glee Anselm. An ocean planet.”
“But I didn’t grow up there,” Kilindi said flatly. “You knew that, right?”
Maul shook his head. Because he had not grown up on Iridonia or Dathomir, he felt foolish for having assumed Kilindi came from her people’s homeworld.
“I thought it was common knowledge.” Kilindi said. “I’ve heard other cadets talking about it, so you were bound to find out. Before I came to the Academy, I was on Orvax Four. I was a slave.”
Although slavery was outlawed on Republic worlds. Maul knew that it existed throughout the galaxy. His mind was suddenly filled with many questions about Kilindi’s past, but he said nothing, because he had no reason. He didn’t need his Master to tell him that the girl’s life should not be of any interest to him. And yet he was interested.
“But all that’s behind me now,” Kilindi continued as she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. “My owners are dead.”
Without thinking. Maul blurted out, “You killed them?”
Kilindi lowered her head so she faced Maul again. “Yes. They were a large family. I killed them all.”
Maul thought, Good.
“Killing them was easy, but leaving Orvax was hard. Lots of slavers were hunting me. But Master Trezza heard about the killings and... well, he found me before anyone else did. He’s the reason I'm at me Academy. I’m his ward. You knew that, right?”
“I knew you were Master Trezza’s ward.” Maul said. “That’s all.”
“So now you know about me. What about you? Where are you from?”
Maul looked down and watched the water ripple at his fingertips. “I can’t say.”
Kilindi lifted her head curiously. “Because you can’t say, or because you won’t?”
“Both,” Maul said, then shook his head “We can’t talk about... me.”
Kilindi shrugged, the movement making her head tresses jiggle. “Never mind. I won’t ever ask personal questions again. But I do have some advice for you.”
Feeling suddenly irritated. Maul said, “Why should I want your advice?”
“Because I know why you’re making your own wooden spear.”
That got Maul’s attention. “I’m listening.” “Master Trezza invited you to go hunting wild kaabores with him and told you it’s a tradition at Orsis Academy for cadets to make their own wooden spears for their first kaabore hunt. But it’s really a test to see if you’re prepared for the unexpected. I’m guessing he’ll lead you straight to a pack of armored chargrecks. That’s what he did to me on my first hunt. See these scars?” Rising so her upper body was above the water’s surface. Kilindi turned to show Maul the three jagged marks across the back of her left shoulder. “A chargreck did that. Your wooden spear will be useless.”
Maul eyed Kilindi suspiciously. “Would Master Trezza be very angry with you for telling me this?”
Kilindi nodded. “Very.”
“Then why? Why tell me?”
Kilindi grinned. “Because I’m hoping you will tell me about the look on Master Trezza's face when you pass his test.” And then Kilindi sent her body backward, sliding into the water and launching away from Maul. She look care not to splash him as she left.
Maul lowered his body into the water up to his neck, then held his breath and kept his eyes open as he dropped below the surface. He could clearly see Kilindi, illuminated by shafts of sunlight as she undulated past a school of fish. He still hated the waters of Mygeeto, but he decided the sea of Orsis was not entirely unpleasant.
He thought about what Kilindi had told him. He had been looking forward to his hunting expedition with Trezza, but now even more so.
Four days later, Maul was with Trezza in an outback to the north of Orsis Academy when Trezza pointed to the ground and whispered, “Look there. Kaabore tracks, and they’re fresh. I’m guessing there’s one just beyond those trees.’
Maul shifted his long spear in his hands as he looked toward the trees. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Shall I try flushing it out. Master Trezza?”
Trezza smiled. “Be my guest.”
Holding his spear with one hand, Maul moved past the trees, down a short hill, and around some tall shrubby growths before he saw the five armored chargrecks that were waiting for him, just as Kilindi had anticipated. Each chargreck’s body was protected by incredibly strong segmented plates lined with sharp spikes.
Maul reached to his bell with his free hand and grabbed a small packet. All the chargrecks hissed and lunged at him at the same time. He threw the packet at them as he flipped backward. He was still arcing through the air as the packet exploded open with a quiet pop and deployed a wide electroshock net. The chargrecks hit the net and were instantly stunned. They thudded to the ground a split second before Maul landed on his feel.
Maul glanced behind him. No sign of Trezza. He set his spear aside and moved last. He deactivated the net, which he had taken from the Academy’s munitions room, then bunched it into a tight ball and stuffed it between the branches of one shrubby growth. He gathered his spear, then walked back up the hill and past the trees before he found Trezza. Trezza said, “Find anything?”
“No kaabore, Master Trezza,” Maul said casually. “Just a few chargrecks.”
Trezza’s reptilian gaze bore into Maul’s eyes. “Chargrecks? Out here? Are you sure?”
“I think so, Master Trezza. That is, they looked like chargrecks.”
“What happened? Did they run away?”
“Oh, no. Master Trezza.” Maul shifted his spear from one hand to the other. “I killed them. I just didn’t think anything of it because I was looking for a kaabore”
Trezza glanced at Maul’s spear and then back at the boy’s face to see if he was lying. Trezza said. “You killed them? With that spear?”
“No, Master Trezza. I killed them with my hands.”
Trezza's nose twitched, and he looked very confused as be said. “You didn’t use the Force. I’d have smelted it on you.”
“I know you would have, Master Trezza.”
Maul could hardly wait to tell Kilindi about how he had used the electroshock net, and also about Trezza’s reaction. But he wouldn’t tell her what Trezza had said about the Force. He always kept in mind his Master’s warning, that no one other than Trezza could know about his powers, because if anyone found out...
The consequences will he most dire.
CHAPTER NINE
Crouched behind the wide trunk of an ancient tree, Kilindi Matako stayed in the tree’s shadow as she surveyed the sleep, rocky cliff at the edge of die forest. She glanced at Maul, who was hunkered down beside her, and whispered. “Ready?”
Maul nodded. Six years had passed since his arrival on Orsis. Taller and stronger, he still did not know his own age, but based on his observations of similar humanoids, he assumed he was about thirteen years old. Although he was already considered a master of numerous martial arts, he still had difficulty working as part of a team.
Except when he was partnered with Kilindi.
Kilindi moved first, diving away from the tree so she rolled across dead leaves and came to a stop behind another trunk. A sudden burst of blaster fire tore at the ground between the two trees. A second burst pounded into the opposite side of the tree that Kilindi had moved behind. The trajectory of the blaster bolts indicated the shots came from the top of the cliff, about six meters above Kilindi’s position. She glanced back to where she’d left Maul, but he had already vanished. She waited.
Barely ten seconds later, Kilindi heard a horrific scream from atop the cliff. A blaster fired and the screaming stopped, a third voice called out. “Mission accomplished. All clear.” T
he third voice was Maul’s.
Kilindi moved around the tree and walked into the open, heading for the base of the cliff. It look her almost a full minute to scale the wall of rock. As she climbed, she sighted three spherical remotes hovering out of the forest and rising into the air. She knew that the remotes belonged to Master Trezza, and that he used them to track cadets during exercises.
When Kilindi reached the top of the cliff, she found Maul standing a short distance from two fellow cadets, the Rodians Hubnutz and Fretch. The Rodians were clutching at their respective right arms, sitting on the ground beside the shattered pieces of their blaster
‘Thanks a lot, Maul.” Hubnutz snorted sarcastically. “Nice of you to only fracture our arms this time.”
A repulsorlift engine sounded from overhead, and Kilindi and the Rodians looked up to see Master Trezza’s shuttle approaching from Orsis Academy. The three remotes glided up to the shuttle and secured themselves to a rack on a vessel's sensor array.
“Oh, isn’t that terrific?” Fretch said. “Now we get to listen to Trezza lecture us on how we messed up.”
“Yeah, Maul, you’re a real prince.” Hubnutz said as the shuttle landed.
Maul ignored The Rodians and the shuttle as he stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing over and beyond the forest canopy, staring in the direction of the distant mountain range that was broken by Blackguard’s Gorge, where Sidious had acquired an old fortress to be used as his private retreat during visits to Orsis. With Trezza’s permission, Maul was allowed to travel by speeder bike to the fortress, where his Master continued to train him in the ways of the Force and also lightsaber combat.
My Master is there now. Wailing for me.
Fretch saw Trezza climb out of the shuttle, then angled his snout at Kilindi and added. “Hope you had fun showing off for your pet slave.”
“I’m not a slave!” Kilindi said, her head tresses whipping off her shoulders as she whirled to face Fretch.
“Good one, Fretch.” Hubnutz said. “You hit a nerve in Maul’s slave.” The two Rodians laughed wheezily. Maul kept staring at the mountains on the horizon.
Kilindi scowled. It was common knowledge that she had served as a slave before she arrived at Orsis Academy. If she had any inclination to respond to the laughing Radians, she refrained when she saw Trezza walking toward them. Hubnutz and Fretch rose to their feet, grunting from the pain of their injured arms. Kilindi noticed that Maul had not budged, that he was still gazing over the forest. She whispered, “Master Trezza’s here.”
Maul turned and directed his gaze to Trezza, who was carrying a datapad. Trezza came to a stop beside the Rodians, and the four cadets bowed to him. Trezza bowed his head slightly, then said, “Hubnutz and Fretch. You failed to defend the cliff.”
“Maul busted our arms again,” Hubnutz whined.
Trezza frowned with disappointment at the Rodians. “If you can’t defend yourselves against an opponent you already know, how do you ever expect to deal with the unknown? You must be-”
“But Maul’s not like other people!” Fretch protested.
Trezza’s green brow furrowed. “You interrupt me again, young Fretch, and you’ll find yourself in solitary confinement for a week.”
Fretch bowed, “Forgive me, Master Trezza.”
“As I’ve told you too many times before, you must be more mindful. You must learn to think like your enemy to anticipate every measure with a countermeasure. If you are not prepared for the unknown, the unknown will strike you dead.”
“Yes, Master Trezza.” the Rodians said in unison.
Turning to Maul and Kilindi. Trezza said, “You are to be commended for your stealth. I confess, I could not keep track of you two. My remotes lost sight of you after you evaded the third patrol in the canyon, before you reached the forest. I know that canyon well. Did you stray into a cave?”
“Yes, Master Trezza.” Kilindi answered.
“Why?”
Kilindi glanced at Maul. Maul said, “Because the remotes were revealing our position to our opponents. Before the exercise, I overheard Hubnutz and Fretch talking. They placed tracker on your remotes.”
“You couldn’t have overheard us,’” Fretch said. “Hubnutz and I were alone in the barracks when we talked.” And then Fretch noticed Trezza glaring
Hubnutz said, “It was Fretch’s idea!”
Trezza sneered at the Rodians. “I’ll deal with you two later.” Returning his attention to Maul and Kilindi, he said, “Come with me. We have a very special appointment.” Trezza began walking back to his shuttle.
Special appointment? Maul’s expression remained passive, but his mind raced as he wondered what Trezza wanted with him and Kilindi. He started walking with Kilindi, following Trezza, and was halfway to the shuttle when he said, “I forgot something.” He went back to the Rodians.
Seeing Maul approach, Fretch said, “Thanks for squealing on us.”
“Yeah,” Hubnutz said. “You’re a real pal.”
“Don’t make things worse.” Maul said. “Trezza wants to see us shake hands.”
“He didn’t say.”
As Fretch carefully extended the hand at the end of his fractured arm, be glanced at the shuttle and said. “But Trezza’s not even looking at us.”
Maul grabbed three of Fretch’s long green fingers and twisted them sharply. The noise of rapidly snapping bones made Fretch gasp and Hubnutz cringe. Fretch made a sick gurgling noise.
“Either of you ever call Kilindi a slave again.” Maul said, “I’ll tear your arms off and feed them to you.”
Maul released Fretch’s broken fingers and headed back for Trezza’s shuttle. He boarded the shuttle and took a seat in the passenger compartment across from Kilindi and Trezza. Trezza was consulting a timetable on his datapad, oblivious to what Maul had just done to Fretch. After the shuttle lifted off. Maul was not at all surprised to see they were headed for Blackguard’s Gorge.
Trezza looked up from his datapad and said, “Kilindi, have you met Maul's Master before?”
“No, Master Trezza. But I have seen him on occasion, when he’s visited the Academy. May I ask are... we going to his retreat?”
“Indeed, we are.” Trezza looked at Maul and said, “I remain astonished that your Master managed to obtain Blackguard’s Castle. The previous owner made it clear to everyone in the Orsis system that he had no intention to sell.”
If Trezza had asked Maul how his Master had obtained the castle, Maul would have respectfully and truthfully answered that he did not know. Because Trezza’s comment had not been a question, Maul remained silent. He knew Kilindi was also wondering why they were traveling to meet with his Master. He glanced at Kilindi, who was peering through a viewport to see the land below.
Snaking between the treacherous cliffs of two snow-capped mountains, Blackguard’s Gorge was a long valley that had been named, according to legend, after an ancient space pirate who had used the gorge as his hideout for decades. The only structure in the gorge was Blackguard’s Castle, a modest fortress that hugged the shadowy vertical slab of a steep cliff. The castle was essentially invisible to the naked eye, because its rough exterior blended in perfectly with the colors and textures of the mountain. Even the landing pad, at a glance, resembled nothing more than a wide shelf of broken rock.
Trezza’s shuttle touched down on the landing pad, and a tall, wide rock made a rumbling sound as it traveled on ancient mechanism, sliding back from the mountain wall to reveal a concealed hangar. Exiting the shuttle, Kilindi was the first to spot Maul’s Master. He was standing in the spacious hangar’s entrance, holding a walking stick in one hand and wearing the sensor bracket that concealed the upper half of his face.
“Greetings,” Sidious said to the group. “Please, come with me. Our guest is waiting inside.” He tapped his walking stick across the landing pad, motioning the others to follow him.
Guest? Maul was intrigued. Except for him and occasionally Trezza, Maul was unaware of anyone ever visiting
his Master at the castle.
Sidious’s cruiser was parked on the far side of the hangar, which also housed a technical station, assorted tools and supplies, and a few empty cargo containers. The walls were solid rock. Sidious grinned impishly as he led Trezza, Kilindi, and Maul to the center of the hangar. Maul had a strange feeling inside the hangar, a feeling he couldn’t quite define. Almost like... we’re being watched.
“You didn’t tell them about our guest, did you?” Sidious said to Trezza.
“No,” Trezza said, shifting his datapad so he held it behind his back. He looked at Maul and Kilindi. “Recently, the Orsis Academy faculty and I realized we had a problem. A problem concerning you two.”
Maul sensed Kilindi was alarmed by Trezza s announcement. He found it hard to understand why she couldn’t at least pretend to remain calm.
“Perhaps I should rephrase that,” Trezza continued. The problem was not with you, but with our existing fatuity. There was little more that the instructors could teach either of you about stealth tactics or hand-to-hand combat techniques, and yet you have two more years ahead of you at the Academy. In short, you require greater challenges than the other cadets. Now, I mentioned this problem to a certain businessman,” Trezza gestured to Maul’s Master, who smiled sheepishly, “Maul, your Master suggested a former instructor who only recently became available again. Your Master also made a generous donation to enable Orsis Academy to secure this instructor. And now, it is my honor to introduce both of you to-”
Sidious cleared his throat loudly. Reaching up to adjust his sensor bracket, he said. “Excuse me. Master Trezza, but I’m very curious about something. I wonder how Maul and Kilindi will react if they meet their new instructor without knowing any more details in advance.”
“But of course,” Trezza said. “Why don’t you and I move over beside your cruiser and give these young people some room? May I guide you?”
Sidious tapped his walking stick against the floor and said. “That’s very kind of you, but I do know my way around here.”
Star Wars - The Wrath of Darth Maul Page 7
