Star Wars_ Darth Bane 03_ Dynasty of Evil - Drew Karpyshyn [89]
The four guards up here had been alerted by the blaster shots being fired down below; unlike the first wave they weren’t caught off guard by his violent entrance. Weapons already drawn, they opened fire.
But Bane’s visceral, primal assault on the squad in the room below had fueled the cycle of rising emotion and mounting dark side power. He met their assault with an explosion of crackling energy that rippled out in a violet wave from his body at the center.
The incoming bolts were absorbed harmlessly into the ionic storm, the blasters themselves melted in the hands of their owners. The stench of burned flesh mingled with their screams of agony and the relentless, hammering song of the alarms, further feeding Bane’s power.
Crouched on one knee, he clenched both fists then threw his arms out to either side, fingers splayed wide. The resulting Force wave pummeled the guards, sending them hurtling backward so they bounced off the walls hard enough to leave cracks in the stone.
Bane rose to his feet in the center of the carnage. Half a dozen bodies lay strewn about him, bones shattered, internal organs crushed into pulp. One choked out a pink, frothing spray with his final breath; all the others were still.
To his dismay, he saw neither Caleb’s daughter nor the Iktotchi among the dead. He had sensed a few guards fleeing the room as he had charged up the staircase, but he hadn’t felt either of those two women among them. He also didn’t recognize any of the corpses as the dark-skinned woman who had saved him, though he was—for the moment—less interested in her.
He had found Serra once before. During his first meeting with Caleb, the healer had tried to trick him with a simple illusion to hide his daughter. But Bane had sensed the little girl cowering behind the façade; he had tasted her fear. Yet it was more than that. Like her father, the girl had power that could be sensed through the Force.
You can’t hide from me. I will find you.
Calling up the long-buried memory, he reached out with his mind, concentrating on picking out her unmistakable presence.
She’s here. Still in the facility. But she’s not alone.
His awareness had spread through the halls of the dungeon, whispering over the minds of all who walked the halls. He had sensed Serra, along with several other powerful individuals. Yet there was one in particular that had drawn his attention.
Zannah. What is she doing here?
Was his apprentice somehow involved in his capture? Had she come here to rescue him? Or maybe to stop him from escaping?
Whatever the explanation, Bane knew one thing for certain: He didn’t want to face Zannah right now. Not while he was still recovering from the toxins Serra had used to render him helpless, and certainly not without his lightsaber.
She was searching for him; he could feel her reaching out, drawing ever closer. Still, there were ways to counter her efforts: subtle manipulations of the Force could confuse and misdirect her.
Fooling Zannah while tracking Caleb’s daughter at the same time was possible in theory, though few individuals had the discipline to maintain the balance between two such mentally intensive tasks. But Bane’s will was as strong as his body.
If he was quick, cunning, and careful he had a chance to find his quarry while still getting out of the prison alive.
Tears of anger, shame, and frustration were streaming down the princess’s face. She had held them in check as she had passed the guards, but with nobody around to see her she had finally let them go.
Her plan to avenge her father’s death and free herself from the traumatic memories of her childhood had so far failed miserably. She had wanted the Sith Lord to admit he was wrong. She had wanted him to apologize and ask forgiveness for Caleb’s death. She had wanted him to beg her for mercy.
She had convinced herself that if this happened it would help her deal with the senseless death of not just her father,