“Stay together,” Soara said.
The tomb was massive. Two stone creatures guarded it, teeth bared, claws in attack position. Now Anakin recognized them as tuk’ata. Obi-Wan pressed against the stone door, and it groaned as it opened. They walked inside, keeping close together, their lightsabers held in position, serving as illumination as well as defense
The tombs ran along the wall, slabs of stone with life-sized carved stone figures resting on top representing the dead Sith Lords. The whispers in the air grew louder. Anakin felt them against his skin like little puffs of foul air.
Trespass don’t we power Sith darkness command merciless…
Anakin heard random words, hissed in hate. He called on the Force to help him turn the words into meaningless static.
The darkness was absolute. The glow of their lightsabers barely penetrated it. They walked another few steps.
Suddenly, Darra cried out. A human skeleton rose out of the dark corner and slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. The bones trapped her like a cage. She tried to slash at them with her lightsaber but couldn’t move her arm.
Soara’s lightsaber whipped through the air. In seconds, the bones were dust. She stepped forward to help Darra.
“Careful - ” Obi-Wan began.
It was too late. An energy net fell from the ceiling, trapping Soara and Darra. At the same time, blasterfire pinged throughout the tomb in a zigzag fashion. They couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
Obi-Wan leaped to protect Soara and Darra. Tru and Ry-Gaul moved forward, trying to detect the source of the fire. Anakin followed while Ferus and Siri slashed at the energy net, trying to release them.
From the rear of the tomb, a fireball erupted. It rolled toward them, fast and deadly.
“We have to get out of here!” Obi-Wan shouted.
Soara began to kick free of the net, grabbing Darra’s arm and hauling her out. The Jedi hurtled toward the door. It was sealed tight.
They were trapped.
CHAPTER TWENTY
There was nowhere to go but up. The heat of the fireball singed them as they leaped. It hurtled under them and smashed against the door. The Jedi were able to hang in the air, using the Force, for the crucial seconds they needed. They watched in astonishment as the fire blasted through the closed door. Corrosive, annihilating, the fire ate through stone.
The Jedi landed on the still burning ashes and made it outside. The fire burned itself out until it was just a pile of ash on the floor.
“Are you all right?” Soara asked Darra.
Darra nodded, but she still looked shaky from the electrical pulses in the stun net.
Obi-Wan knew one thing. They could not search every tomb like this. They would lose their energy, lose their focus.
He faced the tombs. He reached out, feeling each dark place, sending his concentration to every corner.
He felt him again. Omega was close now to his goal. Obi-Wan smelled his triumph.
He turned. “There.” He pointed down the row. “Zan Arbor and Omega are in there. They’ve gone to meet the Sith.”
Singed by the fire, bloodied by the tuk’ata, they moved as one body toward the tomb Obi-Wan had indicated.
Anakin knew he was there. The Sith was somewhere in the vast tomb. He was waiting. He was watching. But Omega didn’t interest him. The Jedi did.
When they entered, it seemed even darker than the first tomb had been. The air was close and smelled of decay. The tombs here were in worse shape, crumbling, some of them decayed so much that they could see the bodies inside wrapped in shrouds.
Obi-Wan held up his lightsaber. From its glow they could see pictographs on the walls, images scrawled in red that had faded. Images of deeds done by the Sith. Wars. Massacres. Anakin turned his face away.
Join us darkness conquer dominance glory..
Anakin saw one of the shrouds rise. The layers of gray, shredding rags fell away. He gasped in shock. It was his mother, Shmi.
“Annie,” she called. “Annie.”
“Mother.” The word was wrenched out of his belly. How much had he longed to say that word again, to see her again? It was the Jedi who kept him from her, the Jedi who had taken him away….
“Anakin!” Obi-Wan’s voice was sharp. “It’s a vision. Nothing more.”
Anakin swallowed. The shroud was back in the crypt. He gazed at the others, embarrassed. Ferus looked at him with pity. Pity! His hatred for Ferus flooded him again. He had embarrassed himself in front of Ferus!
The visions came to all of them then. Sith Lords rose and walked toward them, their mouths gaping, their hands grasping, and then disintegrated onto them with foul smells and tastes. The Jedi walked on, through the corpse visions, through the whispers, through the taunts.
You are blind and you are fools and you understand nothing….