Star Wars - The Wrath of Darth Maul Page 4

  Maul broke free, gripped the chain, and swung out, twisting his body in midair so he landed on his feet beside the acid-filled vat. He faced Sidious. Although he did not know his own age, he was now nearly as tall as Sidious’s hip. He said, “Master, do the Sith Lords still exist?”

  “I would not rule out the possibility,” Sidious said. “Just remember, the Jedi do not tolerate Force users outside their order. It is because of them that you and I live in secret. Had they discovered you on Dathomir before I, they would have attempted to mold you into one of their own. A mindless, obedient servant for the Republic. Had they failed, they would have destroyed you. Now that you know the truth, how would you describe the Jedi?”

  Maul thought for a moment, then said. “They are cowards, Master. Cowards and tyrants. They are weak.”

  Sidious smiled. “Do not underestimate the Jedi. Even though they have a fatal flaw, they are formidable.”

  “What is their fatal flaw, Master?”

  “Compassion.” Sidious looked at the chain that Maul had left swinging back and forth over the vat of acid “You took much too long to free yourself. You will do the exercise again. But this time the droid will lower the chain faster.”

  Maul bower, “Yes, Master.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “I have a surprise for you, Maul,” Sidious said as he handed a cylindrical metal object to the boy. “Do you know what it is?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious,” Maul said as his eyes widened with awe. “It’s a Lightsaber. I’ve seen them on holovids.”

  They were on the planet Tosste, standing at the center of a grove of gnarled black trees at the edge of a desolate field, not far from Sidious’s cruiser. Sidious had been bringing Maul to Tosste regularly over the past year, as the wide-open spaces allowed opportunities for training that could not be conducted on Mustafar's volcanic surface. Maul would run for great distances and perform long jumps. Under his Master’s supervision, he fired ranged weapons and explosives and also practiced using the Force to lift and move objects. Maul never knew when Sidious would bring him to Tosste, or what plans Sidious might have for him there, but he always looked forward to any trip away from Mustafar.

  Maul turned the lightsaber over in his hand, testing its grip. He held it away from his body, just as he had seen Jedi hold their weapons in the educational holovids he’d studied in Mustafar’s training room. Sidious said, “What do you think?”

  “It weighs less than I thought, Master.”

  “It’s a training saber. The same kind used by Jedi younglings.”

  Maul wondered how his Master had obtained the weapon. But he didn't ask.

  “That’s the activation switch,” Sidious said, pointing to a green switch on the lightsaber’s grip. “Press it with your thumb.”

  Maul thumbed the switch. A brilliant amber blade of pure energy flashed out from the emitter at the end of die grip, accompanied by a loud hum. Holding tight to the grip with both hands, Maul could feel the power of the weapon. He grinned, unable to conceal his delight.

  “That’s it,” Sidious said. “Feel the energy? Now, go on...” Sidious made a waving gesture. “Test it.”

  Stepping away from Sidious, Maul made a tentative jab at the air, then swung the lightsaber back and forth. The weapon’s hum changed pitch as the blade moved. Maul also noticed how the lightsaber illuminated the surrounding trees. He shifted his stance and faced a thick, twisted limb that jutted out from one of the gnarled trees. He looked to his Master.

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Sidious said. ‘“Will a training saber cut through that tree?” Sidious shrugged. “A Jedi would hesitate to share this information, but... well, I am not a Jedi. Training sabers can be adjusted for greater power, but the process is a bit time-consuming. You might try this instead.” Sidious readied into a deep pocket, removed another lightsaber, and held it out to Maul.

  Maul looked at the weapon in his Master’s hand. He switched off the training saber, barely noticing how its humming sound fizzled out, and exchanged it for the proffered lightsaber. He noticed that the grip was heavier than the training saber’s. He thumbed the activation switch.

  A red beam flashed from the weapon’s emitter and hummed to life. Maul immediately sensed that the blade was even more powerful. He looked again at the gnarled tree’s limb, then glanced at Sidious. Sidious nodded. Maul jumped forward and sent the lightsaber’s blade in a downward slash through the limb. He had expected at least to hear some kind of a cracking noise as the limb separated from the tree, but the blade sliced through the limb with a continuous whoosh, as effortlessly as a bird’s wing slicing through air. And then the severed limb crashed loudly against the ground.

  “Well done,” Sidious said.

  Maul swept the blade through the fallen limb again and again. With each sweep, he marveled at how cleanly the blade sliced through wood. From what he’d seen on the holovids, he knew the weapon was just as effective with dense rock and thick metal.

  After he had reduced the tree’s limb to diced chunks, he turned his attention to the tree’s trunk and kept swinging. Sidious did not stop him.

  When Maul finished with the tree, he reluctantly returned the lightsaber to his Master. Sidious said, “Now, it is time for you to meditate.”

  “Yes, Master.” Maul turned and walked out of the grove, heading into the neighboring field. Sidious had trained him to relax his mind and body by closing his eyes and visualizing a dark, comfortable nothingness, leaving himself open to the power of the Force. Maul enjoyed meditating. It always left him feeling stronger.

  He had taken only a few steps into the field when his foot struck something that moved. He looked down and saw a dinko.

  From his studies, Maul knew about dinkos. They were nasty palm-sized creatures - not that anyone would want to pick one up. The dinko bad powerful, perpetually moving rear legs that were naturally equipped with serrated spurs, two pairs of grasping claws on its chest, and extremely sharp fangs. The grasping claws were especially feared, as dinkos used them to grab on to a victim’s finger or nose and would not let go unless surgically removed or killed. Even more notorious was the dinko’s stinking venom. Because dinkos were native to Proxima Dibal, a planet situated on the far side of the galaxy. Maul wondered how a dinko had ever arrived on Tosste.

  The dinko sprayed venom directly into Maul’s face. Maul flinched as the venom hit him, stinging his eyes. He howled, then brought his boot down hard on the creature. He felt a certain satisfaction as he removed his heel from the crushed dinko and inspected its remains. Pleased at the way he had dealt with the dinko, he turned to look back at his Master.

  “You flinched,” Sidious said without pleasure. “You were afraid of the dinko?”

  “Yes, Master. But I controlled my fear.” Maul stated his claim with great certainty.

  Sidious responded with a nod. But from experience. Maul knew his Master was displeased. He also knew a punishment would come.

  They returned to Mustafar. Maul ate his evening meal as usual. He was not confined to a sensory-deprivation suit or forced to sleep on a hard floor. The atmosphere controls in his quarters were not turned off.

  No punishment came the next day, or the next, or anytime soon. Eventually, Maul forgot about the dinko incident on Tosste.

  And then one night, after a particularly exhausting series of exercises. Maul went to his quarters in the training room. After he entered his quarters, the door hissed closed behind him. He undressed in the darkness. Then he turned back the coverlet that was draped over his sleep mat, and a dinko jumped straight at him.

  Maul was startled. He batted the dinko away hut missed when he tried to stomp it to death. He hesitated, fearing that its claws would tear into his bare foot.

  Another dinko jumped out from a corner. That dinko was followed by another, and then another. Maul realized the room was filled with the creatures.

  The boy ran to the door and slapped the button to open it. The door remained shut. He tried to
turn on the lights. The lights stayed off. In the darkness, one dinko jumped onto Maul’s shoulder and dug its claws into his ear. Another latched on to one of his toes. Maul cried and screamed as he tried to shake them off. The dinkos sprayed their venom and blinded him. The stench was nauseating. Maul threw his body against the walls in a desperate attempt to crush them.

  It took Maul almost an hour to kill all the dinkos. When he was done, he passed out on the floor of his gore-filled quarters.

  The door did not open until the next morning. It slid back to reveal Sidious standing in the doorway. He looked at Maul’s inflamed skin, swollen eyes, and bloody hands and feet. He said, “Do not flinch again.”

  Maul understood. He learned. He obeyed. And after his test against the dinkos, he never ever flinched.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Hold still,” said the six-legged droid as it wiped blood from Maul’s rib cage.

  Maul squirmed on the edge of the metal table and said through clenched teeth, “You have the bone-knitter on the wrong setting.”

  “No, I don’t,” said the droid as it moved the medical tool deeper into the wound on Maul’s left side. Then it repeated, “Hold still.”

  They were in the expansive training room in the Mustafar facility. Five months had passed since Sidious had begun training Maul in lightsaber combat. In recent days, the droid had been teaching him how to throw blades with great accuracy, and also how to dodge and catch blades that the droid threw at him while he did his exercises. As for running up walls and flipping backward to the floor, Maul had become so adept that he could do it with his eyes closed. However, he had been unprepared when, a few minutes earlier, he had kicked wailing pincers.

  The droid set aside the bone-knitter, then sprayed an exotic salve over Maul’s skin. “‘You should be relieved that Master Sidious was not present when you allowed me to break two of your ribs,” the droid said. “He would have been most displeased.”

  “I didn’t allow you to break my ribs,” Maul said as the droid began wrapping a bandage around his torso. “I thought you were standing near me to watch me exercise.”

  “Well, you know what Master Sidious would say.” Adjusting the pitch and tone on its vocabulator to perfectly mimic Sidious, the droid rasped. “To leave yourself vulnerable is an open invitation to death.” Switching back to its usual voice, the droid said, “Still, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was an accident.”

  The droid’s words surprised Maul. The droid had never before imitated Sidious or apologized to Maul. No one had ever apologized to Maul before. Maul said, “I will be more careful next time.” Then he looked at the droid’s red photoreceptors and added, “Do you have a name? I learned from the computer that many droids have names.”

  The droid responded with a chittering noise that sounded like a crass between grinding gears and laughter. “I was programmed and engineered for training and discipline. My designation is TD-D9. If you wish, you may call me Deenine.”

  “Thank you. Master Deenine,”

  The droid chattered again. “No. Just Deenine.”

  “Oh.” Maul was suddenly curious about the droid. “Have you always been on Mustafar, Deenine?”

  “No, I’ve visited other worlds. I’ve been to Coruscant, Naboo, and...” The droid flicked its photoreceptors to face Maul and said. “Forget I said that. You didn’t hear that from me.”

  “I won’t tell.”

  “Good. You may put on a shirt now.”

  Maul eased himself off the table and reached for the shirt he’d been wearing earlier. It now had a hole in it, where the droid’s pincer had torn through the fabric, and was stained with blood. But before Maul could pick up the shirt, the droid snatched it and added, “You may put on a clean shirt.”

  Maul walked across the training room and stepped through a doorway to enter his quarters. Nearly twice the size of his former room, his quarters had a lighting system that he could control, a sleep mat with a coverlet, and a small trunk for storing clothes. It also had a door that he could open from inside or outside. Except when Sidious or the droid locked him up, he was generally free to go to the training room at any time.

  But there was one thing his quarters lacked. A window.

  Maul’s former room had been in almost every way unmemorable, but it had had a view. He had spent many hours scanning the rocks for Mustafarians and their lava flea mounts, but his memories of that time seemed increasingly dim. Back then he had wished for a view of a different world. Now he wondered if he would ever see the lava flowing into the fiery sea again.

  He reached into his trunk and removed a clean black shirt. He thought it was strangely kind of the droid to suggest that he should wear a clean shirt. He had learned about friendship from an educational recording, which showed how some creatures lived and worked together without harming each other. He wondered if the droid might be his friend.

  Maul pulled the shirt on and felt a stab of pain at his left side. He gnashed his teeth and took a series of quick and shallow breaths through his nose, careful not to expand his lungs so much that they’d make his ribs hurt. He wondered how long it would take for his ribs to heal.

  As he exited his quarters, he said, “Deenine, when will my ribs-—?” He stopped short when he saw Sidious standing beside the droid. He had not heard Sidious enter the training room.

  Sidious was holding Maul’s torn, bloodied shirt. Sidious looked from the droid to Maul and said, “Maul, tell me what happened.”

  Maul glanced at the droid, then said, “I was training. Master Sidious. I ran up the wall, and when I jumped away from it, Deenine stuck out a pincer and broke two of my ribs. It was an accident. Deenine didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  “Really?” Sidious said. “I didn’t know the droid was capable of doing anything accidentally. Or that you and... ‘Deenine’ were on familiar terms.” Still holding the torn shirt, Sidious faced the droid. “Is it true? Did you injure Maul by accident?”

  “No. Master Sidious,” the droid said. “When Maul leaped from the wall, I raised my pincer knowing that it would break his ribs if he did not adjust his body in midair.”

  “In other words, you lied?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious. I lied.”

  Sidious looked back at Maul. “Have you learned anything from this. Maul?”

  Maul glared at the droid. He felt betrayed and angry. He could not believe he had trusted the droid. Looking back at Sidious, he said, “Yes, Master Sidious. I have learned I must not trust anyone. I must be ready to attack and fight back at all times.”

  “Excellent,” Sidious said as he tossed the torn shin onto the metal table. “And because ‘at all times’ includes right now, you will now repeat the exercise you were doing with the droid. Only this time, you will avoid breaking any more ribs.” Sidious gestured to the nearest wall. “Begin at once.”

  The droid made a chittering noise, then said, “I beg your pardon. Master Sidious, but I suggest you allow Maul’s ribs to heal before he attempts to—”

  “I do not recall asking for anyone’s opinion,” Sidious said, keeping his eyes on Maul. “Especially an opinion from someone who is an admitted liar.”

  The droid offered no response.

  “Now, Maul,” Sidious continued, “what you said is absolutely true. You must be ready to attack and fight back at all times. If your bones were broken during a fight with an actual enemy, do you think that enemy would wait for you to heal before attacking you again?”

  “No, Master Sidious.”

  Sidious gestured again at the wall. “The droid will stand near while you run up the wall and leap back to the floor. At any given moment, the droid might attack. And the droid will not hold hack because you are already injured. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious.”

  Glancing at the droid, Sidious added, “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious.” The droid shuffled over to the wall and waited for Maul to run.

  Maul went s
traight for the wall. He tried to ignore his broken ribs, but with each step, he felt the sharp pain intensify. He did not cry out. He would give neither his Master nor the droid the satisfaction of hearing him cry. He was angry at both of them, especially at the droid. He let the pain feed his anger, let his anger feed his strength. He ran up the wall several steps before he kicked off, keeping his left arm close to his side to prevent the droid from striking his rib cage again.

  Maul did not think the droid would attack on his first flip away from the wall. He was still in midair when the droid lashed out with violent force. Maul felt his left arm snap as the droid’s swat knocked him clear across the room. Maul crashed into the opposite wall and then everything went dark.

  When Maul opened his eyes, he was lying on the sleep mat in his quarters. His upper left arm was heavily bandaged. He pushed himself up carefully. Every part of his body hurt. Moving his right hand over to his left side, he felt that the bandages were wet with blood. And then he noticed a familiar shadow fall across the floor from the doorway.

  “Master Sidious is very displeased,” said TD-D9 as it stepped into Maul’s quarters. “Very displeased with both of us.”

  Maul noticed the droid was carrying a medkit. He looked away from the droid and faced the wall. “Go away and leave me alone.”

  “Your bandages need to be changed.”

  “I said go away!”

  “But if don’t apply bacta, your wounds won’t heal. They’ll become infected and-—”

  “You keep your claws off me! I’ll take care of myself!”

  The droid chattered a mechanical sigh, then placed the medkit on the floor beside Maul’s sleep mat. But as the droid retreated for the doorway, it paused and said, “There’s something I want to tell you, Maul. I want you to know that I-—”