The man nodded. "He killed Lergan and Hansh. Fried them with lightning from his fingers."
I knew it! Johun thought triumphantly. I knew it!
"He had a lightsaber, too," the woman added. "Sliced Pad and Derrin wide open." She hesitated for a moment, shuddering at the memory. "Rell got his head cut clean off."
Johun was about to ask for more details, but the sound of a rapidly approaching ship momentarily distracted him. He glanced up to see a Bivouac troop transport swooping in for a landing. Seconds after it touched down, three Republic soldiers jumped out, weapons at the ready. He recognized the senior officer in the trio:
Major Orten Ledes, one of the highest-ranking non-Jedi in the Army of Light's Second Legion.
"These the prisoners?" the major asked gruffly, pointing his blaster rifle at the mercenaries.
Johun nodded. Ledes gave a tilt of his head, and his subordinates moved in quickly to slap restraints on the enemy soldiers. Neither made any attempt to resist. Once their wrists were secured they were frisked and stripped of their weapons, then marched off toward the vessel. The whole encounter was conducted with the efficiency and competence that were the hallmarks of all troops serving under Major Ledes's command.
"You picked up Irtanna's message?" Johun asked as he watched the Sith minions being led away.
"We were in the area" the officer replied. "Farfalla sent me to come get you."
Something in his tone caught the young Jedi's attention. "Am I in trouble?"
The officer shrugged. "Hard to say. You Jedi tend to keep a tight rein on your emotions. But I bet the general wasn't too happy when he found out you disobeyed a direct order and snuck down here."
"Don't worry," Johun replied confidently. "He'll change his tune when he hears what those prisoners have to tell him."
Bane throttled back the swoop bike's engine as they approached the small clearing that served as the Valcyn's landing site. Originally presented as a gift to Lord Qordis, the vessel had been commandeered by Bane when he left the Academy on Korriban to seek out the knowledge of the ancient Sith. Qordis had never dared to try to take it back, and his cowardice had simply confirmed Bane's decision to abandon his studies and turn his back on the Brotherhood.
He brought the swoop to a stop twenty meters from the ship. Zan-nah released her grip on his waist and jumped off, then stood staring at the vessel.
Bane wasn't paying attention to her; the last ten minutes he'd had trouble focusing on anything but the pain carving up his skull. He'd hoped delving into the depths of the shimmering orb left behind by the thought bomb might somehow relieve the headaches, but if anything they'd gotten worse since their visit to the cave.
At least he'd been able to confirm that Kaan was truly dead. That made it easier for him to dismiss the ghostly form that materialized just then on the far side of the clearing. Pale beneath the late-afternoon sun, it was undeniably the image of the man who had founded the Brotherhood of Darkness.
Bane knew it was nothing but a hallucination, yet there was something compelling about the figure as it crossed the clearing to stop a meter or so away from the ship. The spirit turned and fixed him with a steady gaze, then reached out a beckoning hand.
"She's beautiful," Zannah breathed. Darth Bane snapped his head around in surprise. But his apprentice was staring raptly at the Valcyn herself. When Bane turned his attention back to where Kaan had been standing, the specter had vanished once again.
"I never thought I'd be leaving Ruusan in a ship like this," Zannah said.
"You aren't," Bane said as he stepped off the swoop. There was nothing he could do about the hallucinations other than act as if they didn't exist.
The young girl turned to look back at him, confused. "We're not taking your ship?"
"I am," her Master replied. "But you must find your own way off this world."
It took a moment for his words to register with the girl. When they did, her expression became one of utter shock. "I… I can't come with you?"
The big man shook his head. Spurred on by Zannah's discovery of the ancient tome in the Sith camp, he'd come up with a plan. He was heading to Dxun, Onderon's oversized moon, to seek out the lost tomb of Freedon Nadd. But he had other ideas for his apprentice,
"But… why not? What did I do?" the young girl choked out, clearly on the verge of tears. "Why are you leaving me?"
"This is part of your training," Bane explained. "To understand the dark side you must suffer through hardship and struggle,"
"You don't have to abandon me to make me suffer," she countered. "Take me with you."
"The strength of the dark side lies with the power of the individual" he reminded her. "The Force comes from within. You must learn to draw on it yourself. I will not always be there to teach you."
"But you said there were always two," Zannah insisted. "One to embody the power, the other to crave it!"
She learned quickly, and Bane was pleased to see she had already committed so many of his lessons to memory. But reciting the words meant nothing if she didn't understand the truth behind them.
"Why do you follow me?" he asked, posing a question to lead her down the path of wisdom.
Zannah thought about her answer for several seconds, carefully considering everything he had already taught her. "To unleash my full potential," she said at last, "To learn the ways of the dark side."
Bane nodded. "And when I no longer have anything to teach you? What will happen then?"
Her brow furrowed in concentration, but this time the answer wouldn't come. "I don't know," she finally admitted.
"There will come a time when your training ends" he told her. "There will come a day when you have learned all the lessons, when all my knowledge of the dark side will be yours. On that day you will challenge me for the title of Master, and only one of us will survive the encounter."
The girl's eyes opened wide. Then they narrowed as she focused intently on what he was saying.
"You have the potential to surpass me," he continued. "If you achieve your potential I will cease to be of use to you. You will need to find new sources of knowledge. You will have to seek out a new apprentice so that you may pass on the secrets of the Sith Order to another.
"When your power eclipses mine I will become expendable. This is the Rule of Two: one Master and one apprentice. When you are ready to claim the mantle of Dark Lord as your own, you must do so by eliminating me.
"The confrontation is inevitable," he concluded. "It is the only way the Sith can survive. It is the way of the dark side."
Zannah didn't say anything. From her expression Bane saw she was still struggling to comprehend why her Master would train her knowing that she would ultimately betray him. But she didn't need to understand. Not yet. Right now she needed only to obey him.
"Make your way to Onderon," Bane instructed her. "I will meet you there in ten standard days." After I find Nadd's tomb on Dxun.
"How am I supposed to get there?" she protested.
"You are the chosen one, the anointed heir to the legacy of our order. You will find a way."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you will have proven yourself unworthy of being my successor, and I will seek out another apprentice."
There was nothing more to say. Bane turned his back on her and headed for his ship. Zannah merely watched him go, not speaking. As he walked away, he could feel her anger building, becoming a raging inferno of hate as he climbed into the cockpit. The heat of her fury brought a grim smile to Bane's lips as he fired up the engines.
The Vakyn took to the air, leaving Zannah behind-a tiny figure on the planet's surface staring after the ship, standing motionless as if she had been carved from cold, hard stone.
Chapter 6