Star Wars_ The Old Republic_ Revan - Drew Karpyshyn [50]
Scourge broke into a run, charging at his enemy the instant he understood the nature of the trap. Xedrix had kept him talking while he gathered his power for a single, lethal attack.
Xedrix raised his left hand and unleashed his power in a storm of purple lightning. Scourge instinctively used the Force to throw up an invisible barrier to shield himself. The bolts arced through the air, ripping through the shield to engulf Scourge in electric agony.
He screamed, his voice rising above the hiss and crackle of the fiery energy coursing through his veins. Every nerve in his body exploded in excruciating pain as the lightning seared his flesh, cooking him in his own armor. He fell to the floor, curled into himself, his skin blistered and burned. The whole thing had taken only a few seconds.
“You didn’t realize Nyriss sent you here to die, did you?” Xedrix mocked. “She never expected you to kill me. You were nothing but a message, a warning.”
Ignoring the terrible pain, Scourge somehow forced himself to his feet. Xedrix raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
“Is that what you call the attempts on her life?” Scourge gasped. “A warning?”
Xedrix laughed again. “You think I’m the one who hired those inept assassins? Nyriss has you twisted in knots. She’s using you for a game far beyond anything you can imagine.”
Scourge shook his head, trying as much to shake off the residual effects of the lightning as to deny Xedrix’s words.
“You feel your strength returning, do you?” Xedrix observed. “Think carefully before you challenge me again. I might not let you live next time.”
“Why did you let me live?” Scourge wanted to know.
“You have potential,” Xedrix said. “And thanks to you, I have need of some new apprentices. I could find a use for someone with your talents.”
“You want me to betray Nyriss?”
“What do you owe her?” Xedrix demanded. “She used you. She sent you here to die just to make a point.”
Scourge didn’t answer. Instead, he was thinking back on everything that had happened since he’d first entered Nyriss’s service. Nyriss had admitted to hiring the mercenaries to test him, but even after that, he’d still suspected Sechel of plotting to kill him. Had the conniving adviser merely been following Nyriss’s orders all along?
“Nyriss betrayed you. Swear loyalty to me and I promise you the chance for revenge.”
Everything Xedrix said made perfect sense, but on some deep, primal level Scourge felt he was being twisted and manipulated. The old human’s words seemed to slither into the cracks and crevices of Scourge’s mind, burrowing into his thoughts.
No! his mind screamed in silent protest. It’s a trick!
But was it? Nyriss had convinced him he could kill Darth Xedrix, but a single burst of dark side lightning had nearly killed him instead. The only reason he was still alive was because Darth Xedrix was toying with him.
What if he’s not toying with me? Scourge suddenly wondered. What if he tried to kill me but failed?
Nyriss had said that Xedrix was old and frail. She’d claimed the Force had ravaged his body; she’d said he only held on to his power through reputation and cunning. What if he was relying on those same tools right now?
Scourge reached out with the Force again, trying once more to catch a glimpse beneath Xedrix’s veil. To his surprise he sensed something this time. Fear. Desperation. And almost no trace of the dark side burning inside his enemy.
All the pieces clicked into place. Nyriss was right: Xedrix was a shell of what he had once been. The entire time Scourge had been battling the two apprentices, Xedrix had been gathering his strength for a single surprise attack. When his apprentices fell, he’d stalled for even more time by taunting Scourge. And he still hadn’t been able to gather enough power to kill his enemy.
The blast of lightning had taken everything the old man had in reserve. In Xedrix the flame of the dark side had become