Before - Legends Tale of a Jedi: Volume 1 - Complete

Holy monkeys! How did I miss not one but three posts!!?? And what delicious posts they were! Ben'al in all of his glory! Wonderful action as usual Red and I am eagerly waiting for more!

 

Wow, RRK, you've been posting so fast I can't keep up!!!!

Let's see. Chapter 3 - Oh, my. The use of glass to slice the dark one to ribbons was effective but I just can't picture our modern Jedi doing that (well, maybe Anakin after he falls). Very graphic and to the point! Brilliant job on that.

Chapter 4 - Ben'al and Amare - well, they remind me of Obi-Wan and Siri, the give and take of almost-friendship and attaction! And the Jedi of this time are still skewed, not placid ones here - only blood and death. Makes me wonder what the Jedi of Ep 3 will be like after fighting a war...

Chapter 5 - More beautiful and deadly description. The way you've shown how beautiful the place is and how deadly! Wonderful.

Chapter 6 - Poor Ben'al to have to leave his Master that way. Great job yet again!

Looking forward to more. Lovely!

 

Keep it coming red! Get's more interesting the farther along it goes.

 

Wow- it's great to see Ben'al in action

 

oh, the frustration Ben'al must be feeling to not be able to help his master, but instead to be bound to duty. Things are about to get very bloody I think.

MORE!! plesae. I LIKE this posting every day. Gives me something to look forward to in the evenings after I come home from work. Thank you Master.

 

Wow! This fic has such great action, magnificent Red, Ben'al is magnificent! 7

 

obi ew? Holy monkeys! ?? That?s a new one!

dianethx? Wow, RRK, you've been posting so fast I can't keep up!!!! ?? Yup, I ?ve been a little crazy this week trying to put out as many posts as I can to get this volume done. I am going to make this a little easier on myself and have the next volume completely written and edited at least once before I start posting it. Hopefully in a few weeks since it will be short and?sweet? Hopefully with coming volumes (and posts) you will find that these Jedi are not quite as different or cutthroat as they first appear.

ca tron? Keep it coming red ! Get's more interesting the farther along it goes. ?? I?m trying?trying?trying! That and it is kind of fun to be back on track.

PadawanKitara? Wow- it's great to see Ben'al in action ?? That?s nothing! Wait until you see some of the upcoming posts.

Wookiee? Things are about to get very bloody I think. ?? You think? Have you been reading my notes again, Padawan?

jedi7?Wow! This fic has such great action, magnificent Red, Ben'al is magnificent! ?? Thanks!

Thank you everyone! Another post today but I think there might not be a post on Saturday. I am going to be really busy the rest of today and most of tomorrow won?t have much access to my computer and the next post is much longer than the previous ones. But I will get it knocked out and up sometime on Sunday because?well, bad things are going to happen.

 

Chapter Seven

Cruel laughter peeled through the crisp and slightly dusty air as Ater rose smoothly from the floor. Red lips shined under the purple veil as she slowly turned to face the two female Jedi. Hatred burned in dark eyes. ?Do you believe yourself a threat to me?? her bile filled voice rasped. The shift and hum of her saber moved swiftly through the air as she brought the weapon about, the menacing glow cutting hard lines into the flowing black robes the Fury wore. ?A Jedi who will not use a blade and a pathetic padawan??

?I do not need a weapon to fight you, witch,? Sollus growled as she boldly stepped forward. Thrusting her ginger colored paw into the air, the light sleeve of her warm gray tunic fell back revealing the faded blue under tunic. The lioness wordlessly called to the Force. All around them, the room began to rattle as loose objects shook, moving toward the center of the chamber as if drawn by a powerful magnet. Drawing her fist tight the room exploded as dozens of objects broke free of gravity and flew at the Sith.

Ater easily responded to the multi-fronted attack with quick movements of her blade, spinning about in a flurry of movement, striking through the objects that flew at her from all directions. The pieces were sent harmlessly to the ground. When the last of the pieces had been easily deflected, the Fury turned to the master and snarled mockingly, ?Is this all you have, Jedi??

?No,? Amare snapped, coming at the Sith?s unprotected side, easily cutting through defenses. With a determined stroke, the tip of the padawan?s lightsaber pierced the black shroud. She felt the instant the blade burned through flesh driving deep into the Sith?s ribcage.

A shriek, like steel upon steel, tore through the chamber as the blade tip protruded through Ater?s back.

The Force was on fire with the dark one?s rage as she turned on the apprentice. Her clawed hand ripping deep into the saber wound on Amare?s arm that Sceadu had earlier inflicted. The padawan nearly lost her grip on the blade as pain ripped through her. Raising her sharp fingers, the Sith struck out, catching Amare?s cheek.
With a surprised cry, the Jedi fell backward, the blade deactivating the instant her hold was lost and tumbled to the floor. The warmth of blood flowed down the side of her faced from four long scratches that marred her pale skin. Pressing her hand to the cool marble floor, Amare started to push herself back up.

?Your lives are all forfeit! You will never escape alive!? Ater howled as she raised her blade to drive it into the fallen apprentice.

Horror flooded Amare?s lavender eyes as she spied her weapon lying a short distance away. It might have been a thousand miles away for what it was worth.

?No!? Sollus cried out as she rushed the Fury, tackling her. The sheer power of the Paka?s impact sent Ater flying backward, away from Amare. Both slammed into the ground with a thud and crack of bones as the Jedi pushed the Sith into the reflective floor. The crimson of the lightsaber was extinguished upon impact. Feral noises escaped Ater as she struggled to reposition the hilt but Sollus? powerful hold pinned her.

The two grappled for the weapon before Sollus? gained the upper hand and managed to push the emitter down toward Ater?s chest, mere centimeters from the wound her apprentice had inflicted.

?Where are they taking the Chancellor?? she demanded as she pressed the emitter end into the Sith?s chest.

?You will never get there in time! You and your apprentice will die!? the maddened Sith spat. ?All the Jedi will die!? The dark energies that flowed about the chamber seemed to seize as the Jedi Master was swept up and pitched across the room.

Sollus slammed into the wall shattering the tile behind her before sinking to the floor.

As Ater rose, a flash of green cut through her back, the Sith stumbled but the fiery blade did not retreat from its protrusion of her abdomen. She howled as she pulled herself free. ?Pathetic child,? her voice trembled as she turned to the p

 

So glad Sollus wasn't hurt bad! I enjoyed the look at the relationship between her and Amare. Descriptions as always were to die for!

 

Gets more and more interesting.

 

Sollus doesn't use a lightsabre?

 

*hurriedly thrusts paper notes behind back*

Who?! Me?! Read your notes? Oh, no Master, I would never do that *hides hands with crossed fingers behind back

GOOD fight scene, and the moments between the Master/Padawan were very well written.

 

Oy vey. So many posts, so little time to respond.

My apologies for not keeping up lately - DRL has been more brutal than usual. But your posts have been spectacular! The descriptions are phenomenal and the Jedi and Sith are so well captured. The war between them is so brutal and bloody.

You've said that there's very little "official" information on this time period. GL would be crazy to look any further - it's been written here in all its incredible glory. Great, amazing job, Red!

Shaindl

 

UGH!!!!!

My Saturday was far more occupied than planned and I didn't get any writing done. I spent the night and all of Sunday sick and didn't want to write. I felt better until 5 minutes after I got to work. My computer promptly went FUBAR. It decided five letters and 2 numbers no longer existed and refused any attempts to type or use them. Unfortunately they also were letters commonly found in all of my passwords.

On top of that I have so much work I have to do this week and am stuck spending the next two days rebuilding it from scratch. It is slow and painfully boring...these are going to be the longest two days...

UGH!!!

When I am not so frustrated, or feeling so violent toward computers later, I will get to work on the next post....hopefully I will get it up tomorrow evening.

Thanks for the replies!

 

*pats Master consolingly on the back*

Poor red.

Now see, if you used a PC then you wouldn't have all these strange problems

 

The wait is killing me!

 

Excellent fight scene - as always.. I liked the use of the Force to move objects (a la Vader in TESB). This story is wonderful. Keep it up!

 

It seems I spend a lot of time appologizing for delays. But I am working on a post now, it will be up tomorrow some time and I am going to push through another string of daily posts. Including tomorrow's there are eight posts left to this volume. [face_shocked]

So much for the 5-10 posts I had planned on in the beginning.

 

Just read the last few posts. I liked them a lot

The lightsaber battle was great, and I liked the line..

Pale blues and greens faced off against a menacing crimson glow.

 

obi-ew? So glad Sollus wasn't hurt bad! I enjoyed the look at the relationship between her and Amare. ?? I thought I would be different and not kill of interesting characters that I just introduced.

ca tron? Gets more and more interesting. ?? If this is interesting then you ain?t seen nothin? yet!

PadawanKitara? Sollus doesn't use a lightsabre? ?? Interesting?

Wookiee? Who?! Me?! Read your notes? Oh, no Master, I would never do that *hides hands with crossed fingers behind back ?? The day I believe a grinning Wookiee is the day I challenge Han to an honest game of Sabbac.

Shaindl? My apologies for not keeping up lately ?? I know the feeling big time. No big deal.

Wookiee?again? Now see, if you used a PC then you wouldn't have all these strange problems ?? No, I would just have a ton of other problems.

Reformed? The wait is killing me! ?? Sorry about the wait! I am going to try to push through the next group of posts to finish this tale off in the next week or so. Then off to the next volume that will be much calmer?in that there will be no Sith killing, demons will still be running amuck though.

dianethx? Excellent fight scene - as always.. I liked the use of the Force to move objects ?? They have all of these wonderful Force abilities, I figured I would use them.

Keeper of Swords? I liked them a lot The lightsaber battle was great ?? Thanks!

Thank you everyone for all the kind replies, they really do mean a lot.

 

Chapter Eight

Given wings by the Force, the Jedi apprentice bypassed all the lift shafts and enclosed spaces preferring to keep to the maneuverability of the open areas. Footsteps echoed throughout the chambers as an unsettling stillness claimed them. Ben?al Houk leapt from level to level via the large openings and riser platforms that cut through the various floors of the complex docking structure.

So focused on his goal, that he rushed ahead, leaving the older Horus behind as he zeroed in on the powerful Dark Force signature that beckoned seductively to him. Pausing in the center of a darkened chamber, the lights of a maintenance station spilling across the duracrete floor all the illumination available, the padawan reached out. ?I have you now,? Ben?al whispered as he mentally pinpointed the well of energy just a few levels down.

Horus huffed loudly as he lumbered toward the still youth, his desperation to keep caught up evident in his determined face. ?It is a trap,? he said in exhale but his words went unheard as the young Jedi was in motion again.

Beyond the darkness, beyond the suffocating evil that moved silently through the air, Ben?al could sense pain. Agony bleeding into the Force as a life was torn apart by the agents of evil. The cold tendrils that pressed at his mind, seeking a way to break through heavy shielding were nothing compared to the pain that charged the very air like static electricity. Nothing could hide it from him.

The Chancellor was so close; he could feel it. All he wanted was to save this man and leave the Sith to their palace of death. There was nothing more that could be done there; they were outnumbered fighting a battle that was already over. Escape was all they had left but he knew they could not?would not?leave without the arrogant politician.

?Slow down, boy,? the Bothan called out but Ben?al ignored it as he continued on.

Shadows moved forcing the padawan to stop mere meters from a lift platform set into the bay floor.

?Throwing yourself into the viper pit will accomplish nothing,? came the terse voice as Horus caught up and activated his pale blue blade. With a swift action, he struck to Ben?al?s side causing a soft urk sound before a black shrouded figure collapsed to the floor before him.

All around the two Jedi, dark figures melted from the edges of their vision. Shadowed devils pounced on them, quick to overwhelm the outnumbered Jedi. Ben?al and Horus vanished into a flurry of activity as blue and green swept about dispatching their attackers with swift strokes of light.

All the young Jedi could sense was the overwhelming lust for slaughter pressing in on him. They wanted his death as powerful blows rained down on him from all directions. The air was fouled with their hate and each breath came shallow and tremulous as he feared being poisoned by it.

With ease offered by a lifetime of use, Horus quickly put down two lightsaber wielding attackers. From the back of his utility belt, his large, furred hand grabbed a thin vibroshiv. Brandishing both weapons, the great Bothan master marched toward the closest sword-bearing attacker.

With his back toward Horus, Ben?al defended against a figure whose face and exposed skin were wrapped in dingy yellow bandages. The creature howled like a banshee as it flew at the Jedi slicing wildly through the air with a heavy silver sword. Bounding to the side, Ben?al gracefully struck out, the tip of his blade piercing the Sith?s upper chest just as the sharp sting of the metal sword grazed his arm just above the elbow. Grunting in surprise, he knocked the blade away and drove his weapon through the attacker. Shrugging off the pain, he moved forward with a divine purpose as he continued to meet with one after another.

Dark side followers fell all about as he cleared the space allowing better maneuverability and speed. His stark blue eyes were daring as he bid another faceless figure to attack. A grin painted his lips as he moved over the rough floor with lightning speed decapitating

 

Wow! You weren't kidding when you said Ben'al had an arrogance problem were you? The action had me on the edge of my seat! Bet the Jedi Master has some harsh words for my hero IF he makes it out of this alive!

 

?I have you now,?...awesome quote.

And Terrific Action!!

 

*picks her jaw off the floor*

Fantastic, very fast paced yet providing a wealth of detail and character relationship.

Loved it!

 

The arrogance, the good looks, the melting pit-like situation--is there anything Obi-Wan and his ancestor don't have in common?

Oh yeah--a WIFE!

So Ben'al is full of pride when it comes to the white threads? Hmmm, bad Jedi. But it sounds like he'll soon be on the receiving end of a nice, long lecture *cringe*

And hey, when are you going to tell us what happened between Ben'al and Amare?

Dude, people need to stop updating when I'm not around to read (kidding!!)