The creature staggered. Anakin was able to slash at the creature's neck before he was thrown off. The tuk'ata screamed, rearing, and Anakin and Obi?Wan leaped out of its way. It toppled and thrashed and then was still.
They were already moving, turning to charge one of the tuk'ata who was after Tru. With a roar, it turned on them instead, circling and striking, trying to get claws and teeth embedded into Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan used his liquid cable launcher and anchored it on the creature's horn. Using the cable, he swung up and out, his lightsaber a blur of motion as he attacked again and again. The creature howled, trying to claw Obi-Wan away. Anakin was able to deliver the death blow in the chest.
Obi-Wan swung off the creature and landed, his boots thudding on the dirt. The cries of the tuk'ata mingled with the buzz of lightsabers as the Jedi met their attacks with moves and counter-moves. The tide of the battle was turning. Five tuk'ata lay dead, and two were mortally wounded. Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to team up with Ry-Gaul and Tru first alternately feinting to confuse the creature, and then slicing it into several pieces.
Soara and Darra, working together in their usual flawless teamwork, had somehow kept two tuk'ata at bay. Wounded, the two counterattacked, but Darra and Soara were too fast, too agile, and too strong.
At last all the tuk'ata lay dead or dying, their cries echoing off the stones of the mountain.
"So much for legends," Anakin said, sheathing his lightsaber.
Now they were able to simply walk through the narrow passage and enter the valley. But the dark side slammed into them, a body blow. For a moment, they paused to fight the feeling, pulling in the Force to cushion it.
The mausoleums marched down the valley. Hewed from slabs of the mountain, polished by slaves, and then battered by the elements over hundreds of years, they were still enormous, high and wide, with columns and turrets. Mammoth statues, similar to those in the landing hangar, posed like guards outside the tombs. On the cliff summits, ancient statues of horrible creatures perched, appearing ready to strike. It was a valley designed to strike fear into every heart.
"We'll have to search every tomb," Soara said. "Oh, good," Darra breathed under her breath. Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin. "You're hurt," he said, concerned.
"It's nothing."
"This is only the beginning of the battle, Anakin," Obi-Wan warned sternly. "Let me treat it."
Anakin bared his arm. Quickly, Obi-Wan administered bacta. The burning sensation lessened somewhat. Anakin felt the coolness of the medicine on his skin. Gratefully, he shrugged his arm back into his tunic. He thanked his Master with his gaze.
He heard something — whispering voices, just as he'd heard upon his arrival. He could see that the others heard them, too. Low, guttural, insistent. Yet what were they saying? It was impossible to tell. Something evil. Something he did not wish to hear.
"They are waking," Ry-Gaul said.
"They know we're here," Siri agreed.
The dead Sith Lords, slumbering inside the huge stone mausoleums, had felt the Jedi presence. The dark energy poured out of the tombs. Anakin could taste it all, anger and cruelty and pain.
"Let's try the first tomb," Obi-Wan said.
He's not there! Anakin wanted to cry. But he didn't know how he knew it. He couldn't trust it. It could be the Sith, trying to confuse him.
Frustration coiled inside him. He hated this feeling. He wanted to be able to trust what he knew. And he wanted to know everything. That would be true power.
"Stay together," Soara said.
The tomb was massive. Two stone creatures guarded it, teeth bared, claws in attack position. Now Anakin recognized them as tuk'ata. Obi-Wan pressed against the stone door, and it groaned as it opened. They walked inside, keeping close together, their lightsabers held in position, serving as illumination as well as defense The tombs ran along the wall, slabs of stone with life-sized carved stone figures resting on top representing the dead Sith Lords. The whispers in the air grew louder. Anakin felt them against his skin like little puffs of foul air.
Trespass don't we power Sith darkness command merciless…
Anakin heard random words, hissed in hate. He called on the Force to help him turn the words into meaningless static.
The darkness was absolute. The glow of their lightsabers barely penetrated it. They walked another few steps.
Suddenly, Darra cried out. A human skeleton rose out of the dark corner and slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. The bones trapped her like a cage. She tried to slash at them with her lightsaber but couldn't move her arm.
Soara's lightsaber whipped through the air. In seconds, the bones were dust. She stepped forward to help Darra.
"Careful — " Obi-Wan began.
It was too late. An energy net fell from the ceiling, trapping Soara and Darra. At the same time, blasterfire pinged throughout the tomb in a zigzag fashion. They couldn't tell where it was coming from.
Obi-Wan leaped to protect Soara and Darra. Tru and Ry-Gaul moved forward, trying to detect the source of the fire. Anakin followed while Ferus and Siri slashed at the energy net, trying to release them.
From the rear of the tomb, a fireball erupted. It rolled toward them, fast and deadly.
"We have to get out of here!" Obi-Wan shouted.
Soara began to kick free of the net, grabbing Darra's arm and hauling her out. The Jedi hurtled toward the door. It was sealed tight.
They were trapped.
Chapter Twenty
There was nowhere to go but up. The heat of the fireball singed them as they leaped. It hurtled under them and smashed against the door. The Jedi were able to hang in the air, using the Force, for the crucial seconds they needed. They watched in astonishment as the fire blasted through the closed door. Corrosive, annihilating, the fire ate through stone.
The Jedi landed on the still burning ashes and made it outside. The fire burned itself out until it was just a pile of ash on the floor.
"Are you all right?" Soara asked Darra.
Darra nodded, but she still looked shaky from the electrical pulses in the stun net.
Obi-Wan knew one thing. They could not search every tomb like this.
They would lose their energy, lose their focus.
He faced the tombs. He reached out, feeling each dark place, sending his concentration to every corner.
He felt him again. Omega was close now to his goal. Obi-Wan smelled his triumph.
He turned. "There." He pointed down the row. "Zan Arbor and Omega are in there. They've gone to meet the Sith."
Singed by the fire, bloodied by the tuk'ata, they moved as one body toward the tomb Obi-Wan had indicated.
Anakin knew he was there. The Sith was somewhere in the vast tomb. He was waiting. He was watching. But Omega didn't interest him. The Jedi did.
When they entered, it seemed even darker than the first tomb had been.
The air was close and smelled of decay. The tombs here were in worse shape, crumbling, some of them decayed so much that they could see the bodies inside wrapped in shrouds.