Star Wars_ Darth Bane 02_ Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn [129]
“Caleb saved me?” Bane muttered softly. “How did you convince him?”
Zannah hesitated, not sure what to tell him. Darovit and Caleb were just outside the door; they could walk in at any moment. But even if they caught her telling Bane about the message drone, why would they care? The deed was done. Her Master was still too weak to stand, and by now the Jedi were probably less than a day away from Ambria.
“We had to tell the Jedi you were here. I sent a message telling them a Sith Lord had killed five Jedi on Tython. I told them you were with Caleb on Ambria, injured and helpless. They’re coming for you.”
Anger flashed through Bane’s eyes and he tried to sit up, but only managed to raise his head a few centimeters off the pillow before falling back. Realizing he was helpless, her Master stared at her with accusing eyes.
“You exposed me,” he said. “You betrayed me.”
“I had to keep you alive,” she explained, falling back on the argument she had used to make her final decision. “You still have so much to teach me.”
“How can that happen now?” he demanded angrily. “The Jedi will never allow it.”
Zannah didn’t have an answer she could give him. Bane closed his eyes, though whether in defeat or thought she couldn’t say. She could just make out Darovit and Caleb talking in low voices outside by the fire.
Bane’s eyes opened a few seconds later, burning with a fierce intensity.
“Darth Zannah, you are my apprentice. The heir to my legacy. You can still claim the destiny that is yours by right. You can still ascend to the rank of Sith Master.”
He was speaking louder now, his strength slowly returning. Zannah wondered if the men outside could hear him.
“Take your lightsaber and strike me down! Claim my title as your own. Slay the others and flee this place before the Jedi arrive. Seek out a new apprentice. Keep our Order alive.”
Zannah shook her head. Caleb had already considered that possibility, and effectively eliminated it. “Our ship is disabled, and the Jedi will be here in a matter of hours. Even if I flee into the desert, they will find me before I can escape this world.”
“I never thought you would fail me so utterly,” Bane told her, turning his head away from her in disgust. “I never thought you would be the one to destroy the Sith.”
She didn’t say anything in her defense, and a few seconds later Bane turned back to face her once more, casting his eyes to the lightsaber on her belt.
“I don’t want to live as a prisoner to the Jedi,” he said, his voice low, as if he now knew there were others who might overhear. “You can end this before they arrive.”
Zannah shook her head. She hadn’t gone to all the trouble of saving her Master’s life just to kill him now. “While you live there is still hope, Bane,” she said quietly, worried what Darovit or Caleb would think if they heard her words. Yet she had to offer some type of reassurance to her Master. “The Sith may yet rise again.”
Bane shook his head, though it took a monumental effort. “The Jedi will never allow me to escape. They will sense my power, and keep me under the constant guard of a dozen Jedi Knights until the Senate decides to execute me for my crimes. Kill me now and deny them their justice.”
Zannah had spent the past two days by Bane’s side, waiting for him to wake again. It had been clear he would live, but she’d wanted to speak with her Master to be certain his mind was still intact. She’d wanted proof that all his faculties—his intelligence, his cunning—had survived his ordeal. She had it now, ironically expressed in his desire to die.
“A Sith never surrenders, Master,” she told him.
“And only a fool fights a battle that cannot possibly be won,” he answered sharply. “The Jedi will be here soon. Act now. Strike me down!”
She shook