He fought without urgency just yet, circling Malorum, challenging him, watching him for weaknesses. Ferus ticked them off in his head. Malorum relied on agility but had little grace. He had strength but did not know how to use it effectively. But most of all - and this was what Ferus was sure would defeat him - Ferus could feel Malorum’s emotion in his style. Anger fueled his attacks. It was a mistake many made. Not a Jedi.
After feints and attacks, they came to a long passage with curving walls. A series of energy gates ran down it. Electron rays pulsed in a rhythmic fashion. Ferus remembered this from the story he’d heard as a Padawan. The energy gates had slowed Obi-Wan and he’d been unable to come to his Master’s aid in his final battle with Darth Maul. In those crucial seconds, he’d watched Qui-Gon receive the fatal blow and fall, right before his eyes.
Here he was in the middle of a battle, and he was suddenly pierced with a sharp sympathy for Obi-Wan. For the past weeks he’d been intimidated by the Jedi Master, irritated by his silences, upset at his decisions. Now he fully realized how little he understood of what lay beneath.
I can’t imagine what he’s seen. How he’s suffered. What he’s lost.
He made it through the first energy gate but suddenly they buzzed shut behind and ahead of him. Malorum was in the next chamber. How odd it was to see your enemy and be unable to move.
He could just make out Malorum’s words.
“You can’t stop me,” Malorum said. “You can only slow me down.”
“Oh, I’ll stop you,” Ferus replied. “Even though I’ll miss our conversations.”
The energy gates sprang open. Ferus jumped forward, swinging his lightsaber. Malorum parried and came a little too close to connecting to Ferns’s shoulder. He had to leap backward, and the energy gates shut again.
“I’ve learned from the best,” Malorum grunted through his teeth.
“SIN Tachi. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Soara Antana. Yoda himself.” Ferus didn’t know if Malorum could hear him, but he felt the names of his teachers resonate inside him like a powerful chant. “You don’t know what the best is.”
The energy gates opened again and Ferus surged forward, driving Malorum backward. “Want to be a Sith, Malorum?” he taunted. “Is that it? Palpatine’s puppy is tired of biting ankles?”
Rage darkened Malorum’s face. Good. Exactly what he’d hoped.
Malorum sprang forward in a fast combination that Ferus had a tough time parrying. The dark side of the Force hummed with him now as his anger grew.
Okay, maybe it was time for a new strategy.
Malorum reversed directions and was able to run out onto a catwalk. Ferus leaped to follow him. He wondered if Malorum was heading for an exit. He knew if Malorum was able to get out of here, he would lose him. It was almost as if Malorum knew the way and was leading him on. Maybe he was trying to lead him back to the Imperial army, hoping they were still fighting.
They fought furiously now, using every inch of catwalk. They fought around the deep central core, hundreds of meters down. Ferus used his advantage of Force agility to leap and somersault, giving power to his thrusts. He fought using the lightsaber only, saving another kick or an elbow for when he needed it, when Malorum wouldn’t be looking for it.
He pushed Malorum back, forcing him to rely on balance to avoid falling into the pit below. Malorum twisted and turned, but he was beginning to sweat.
Ferus saw his chance. He left himself slightly open, and Malorum charged. As he came in, Ferus slammed his elbow directly into Malorum’s forehead. It stunned him for a split second, and Ferus used the hilt of his lightsaber to smash Malorum’s lightsaber out of his hands. The lightsaber shot outward, directly over the pit.
Malorum’s mouth opened in a cry that echoed off the walls. “No!” he shouted. Ferus could feel the Force pulsing as Malorum leaped into the air, straining to catch the lightsaber as it spun. Straining to harness the Force to push the lightsaber hilt toward him and carry him safely to the next catwalk.
Don’t . . strain … Ferus watched Malorum make the elemental mistake of any early-year Jedi student.
He saw that Malorum was blinded by need. If he lost the lightsaber, he would be disgraced. He would never be a Sith.
Malorum’s lightsaber dropped like a stone. Still in midair, Malorum lost his grip on the Force. His cape flapped around him, and Ferus saw the panic in his eyes.
Then he dropped down, down, down, into the central core. And Obi-Wan’s secret went with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The battle was over. Smoldering stormtroopers lay on the streets. Fallen officers were in the building where they’d taken refuge.