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Maybe the blood in my eyes was someone else’s. I hoped. How horrible that I had to hope that there was someone else nearby who was bleeding.
My fingers slid across the damp stones. Where was Sheya? I’d heard her crying out not that long ago. My hand fell against the wall I’d been thrown against. As slick as the floor with the driving rain that had slammed the door open to let him in, like a little disowned storm cloud. Was he jealous of Sheya? Of Khoun? Or of any of the other people he’d thrown around the practice room? One knee close to my chest. Ringing beats against my skull.
“Sheya!”
I flinched away from my own voice, slinging one arm over my head. Lightning flashed in the storm outside.
“I’ve got her. She’s…” Khoun’s voice from behind me.
I waited, hesitant. What was she? Where was the end of the sentence? “Khoun?”
Thunder interrupted. Air thick with water and copper whistled in between my teeth. I had to get up. My head spun and rang and my vision blurred to nothing as blood rushed to my head. The wall slipped away from my fingers. Everything shook. A white flash made me screw my eyes shut. Khoun and Sheya were behind me. Just had to… stay on my feet long enough…
A doorway took shape in the rough fabric of darkness. I could see a little bit. Still red in my eyes. Maybe it was just me. Could being slammed into a wall… do that to your eyes?
“Come on, Sheya. Stay with me.” Khoun’s voice again. I turned. The floor rocked like a ship flying through a gravity well. No lights. He’d broken those when he stormed through. A flash of lightning lit up Khoun’s ashen face hovering over Sheya.
Four steps away. I managed two before I collapsed. The floor was less damp here. Khoun’s head moved.
“He cracked her skull, I think…”
Footsteps. We shrank together against the wall. Was he done with his rampage yet? Had Master Luke managed to calm him down?
The figure who hurried into the room, shoulders falling, was larger than Ben. “You need to get out of here.”
“Master Luke?” I pushed my back against the wall. Red blots still swam in my vision, and dear Force, it was so cold… “Is Ben okay?”
He flinched away, his dark outline shrinking in on itself.
“Master Luke, Sheya can’t… she’s badly hurt.” Khoun slumped against the wall. Just a dark outline too. I was seeing less and less.
“I can carry her. Can you walk?”
“I think so…”
Khoun’s shadow figure shuddered upright as Master Luke got closer. I put both hands to the wall. My vision blurred again as soon as I tensed. No use… I fell together in the corner.
“Hey. Hey!” A hand on my shoulder, shaking me.
I shook my head. “Can’t see… head hurts too much.”
“I’ll find a ship.” Master Luke. “Khoun, stay here, keep talking. I’ll come back and help carry once Sheya’s safe on board.”
“Yes, Master Luke.”
Footsteps shook the floor. My fingers went to the gaps between the tiles. The rain was still driving in, little droplets of ice cold water stinging my hands. Darkness cleared to reddened blots as Khoun crouched over me… gasping for whatever air that didn’t burn his lungs.
“I’m cold…”
“You’re gonna be okay.” He gabbled over my mumbling, shaking his head. His hand was still on my shoulder. “Just stay awake. Master Luke’s here, he can make sure we’re safe.”
A flash of lightning lit up Khoun’s face. He was smiling. But desperate. “Ben… where did he go?”
Khoun shook his head. “Master Luke said we needed to go. If he hasn’t already talked to Ben…”
Footsteps again. Not like Master Luke’s.
Khoun turned his head. His hand fell from my shoulder. It left a cold outline in my tunic. “Ben?”
“No.”
But that was Ben’s voice. “Ben, what are you…” I sank back, spine aching against the wall, took a deep breath. “… doing?”
Khoun’s hand found mine, turned it from the floor. Across the room a shape of darker black stood in one of the doors. Ragged red light lit the black clothes. Red light from what looked like a lightsabre hilt.
“Ben… no…”
“Talk to Master Luke.” Khoun’s fingers wrapped tighter around my hand. “Please, Ben. You know…” He hesitated. I thought I heard a gulp. “What the Sith did. What the Empire was. Master Luke, he saw it. He can help you…”
“No. He cannot.” The red light… it didn’t look like a real lightsabre blade. Too rough and wild. Like the dark side that it wasn’t good for us to touch. It was getting closer. Khoun shrank back against the wall, next to me. Almost close enough to feel his pulse. “After all… he said he’d be here to help you, didn’t he?”