Recovering from a moment of shock, Anakin moved to flank Obi-Wan. The zombies had strength beyond the living. They were half-rotted, a horrifying sight. Anakin did not look at their dead gazes. He went after them ruthlessly, his lightsaber deflecting their fire while he cut them to ribbons.
They were an obstacle, nothing more. A sorcerer's trick from long ago.
He would not let their gruesome appearance or their grasping bloodied hands deter him.
He had to be in on the capture of Omega. Working together, he and Obi- Wan deflected fire while they moved toward a steadily retreating Omega. Zan Arbor had disappeared. For Anakin, she had ceased to matter.
Then the darkness came alive with visions. The Sith Lords, mighty in their armor, terrifying in their decaying, bloodied faces. They rushed at the Jedi, only to disappear in a shower of splintered shadow. Anakin tried not to flinch, to keep his eyes on the blaster fire, but the confusion was everywhere.
The dark side of the Force was like a presence, interfering with concentration and sapping energy. The Jedi reached out to one another, calling on the Force to battle the dark side, the undead who kept on coming.
Anakin saw Shmi rise and fall, rise and fall. He felt the familiar need, the familiar guilt. The feelings overwhelmed him and Obi-Wan had to leap in front of him to protect him from a detonator heading his way. Obi- Wan swiped it out of the air.
They didn't choose me, and yet I fight for them, Anakin thought in anger. They chose Ferus, and yet I must fight to protect him, protect them.
My Master didn't protect me, why am I doing this?
A phantom Sith Lord smiled at him. Reached out a hand.
"Anakin." Obi-Wan's voice was close. "Keep your focus."
His focus. Yes. Of course the dark side would go after him, not just with phantom Sith, but phantoms in his brain. Thoughts that weren't his.
Anakin reached out to the Force to help him battle the voices. He felt his head clear.
Tru had leaped up on a tomb to fight two zombies. With his flexible arms and legs, he moved like a rolling wave. He took down three thermal detonators that were flying through the air. He swung his lightsaber in an arc. It flickered. Anakin watched in horror as it buzzed, the shaft flickering again and again. It was losing power!
Tru was in the middle of them. Obi-Wan hadn't seen it. He had charged forward, the way to Omega now clear.
Everything in Anakin screamed to follow Obi-Wan, to be in on the capture of Omega. Except one thing. Friendship.
But he had hesitated too long. As he watched, Ferus and Tru exchanged a glance. Simultaneously, Ferus and Tru flipped their lightsabers through the air. Tru caught Ferus's, and Ferus caught Tru's.
Re-energized, Tru went after the undead, hacking off limbs and disabling the living corpses. Ferus dropped to a backup position with the half-powered lightsaber.
But suddenly Omega appeared again. He had sneaked around the back of the tombs. Zan Arbor reappeared at his side. Anakin realized that they were trying to trick the Jedi. They had set up most of the firepower in the middle of the tomb. While the Jedi expected them to retreat to the rear, they were actually about to escape through the front door.
He saw it again, the flicker at the end of his vision, a cape furling as fast as a serpent's strike. The Sith stood at the entrance to the tomb.
Waiting. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood.
Zan Arbor hurried toward him.
Anakin wrenched his attention back to Tru. Because Ferus was watching Tru's back, he was the only one in Omega's path. The Jedi Masters had all been at the fore of the fight. Ferus's lightsaber flickered in the dark.
Seeing that he was in trouble, Darra Force-leaped toward Ferus, her lightsaber held high, determined to save him.
Anakin saw the smile on Omega's face when he fired.
The bolts hit Darra straight in the chest. She fell, still keeping her body between Omega and Ferus.
Soara cried out. Anakin felt the moment spin out into impossible time, time that froze everything, even his heart.
He saw the blue shimmersilk move like a breeze as Zan Arbor took advantage of the distraction to dash for the entrance. Blue Force-lightning erupted in the darkness, a barrier shielding her from the others, giving her space to run.
He saw Tru's mouth open in a howl. He saw Ferus drop to his knees and crawl toward Darra, saw him take a blaster bolt in the shoulder and keep on going. He saw Siri leap forward to defend all of them, saw Soara fly through the air in a great Force-leap to be near her Padawan. Saw Darra's head turn toward him, her cheek against the dirt. Saw the cloudy film in Darra's eyes, the shock of catching the blow. He saw, as if it were a physical struggle, her gathering her courage to accept the blow.
He saw all this, and still he didn't move.
And then Omega moved, reversing course once again, quickly retreating away from the tomb.
Anguish on his face, Obi-Wan turned away from the Jedi and followed him.
Real time came rushing back, and there was not enough of it.
Anakin turned away from Darra and raced after his Master.
Chapter Twenty-one
The tomb narrowed at the rear. The stench almost made Anakin gag. It was as though everything foul was concentrated back here. He could barely make out Obi-Wan ahead, running, attacking the undead that guarded Omega, circling him constantly like a cloud of rotting flesh.
Anakin put on a burst of speed. His Master was battling with incredible speed and accuracy. Anakin could feel the Force like a great pulsing, speeding, enveloping wave that barreled Obi-Wan toward his opponent. Toward his destiny.
My destiny, Anakin thought. Mine!
He focused so much on his Master, on his need to catch him, that he blundered into an energy trap.
Anakin was caught. He couldn't move. Frustrated, enraged, he slashed at the invisible cage with his lightsaber. He could not free himself. He kicked. He hammered. Caught.
He had met a power greater than his. Impossible!
"Master!" he called, but Obi-Wan didn't hear him. The energy trap sucked his voice out of the air and imprisoned it.
I just need the Force. Obi-Wan said a Master can summon the Force and fight this. I am as good as a Master. I can do this.
Strange, though. He could reach out for the Force, but visions got in the way. And not visions from the dark side. Visions of what had just happened. Tru's mouth, open in a howl of anguish and disbelief. Darra, falling, eyes wide with the shock.
Darra, her head turned toward him, her cheek in the dust of the tomb.
He had seen her like this before, when she'd been wounded on Haariden.
He had felt her wounding then was his fault. Unsure of her abilities, sure of his own, he had leaped to protect her and crashed into her instead. He had thought himself the better fighter, and because of that, he had pushed her into blaster fire.