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Kenobi has been haunting his sleep as of late. Maul drinks in the shade of a filthy canvas stretched over a frame just outside the cantina. He’s been up for hours now, but his constant companion ever since he landed on Tatooine, his torment, still lingers in the bags under his eyes. There are still people milling around the settlement, doing their business before the suns get too high. The voices are merely white noise against the dark stillness that consumes his thoughts. The shrieks and visceral growls jangle through his whole body. He wants to curl up in a hole and wither away, he wants to destroy the galaxy.
He eats the food placed in front of him instead. A younger version of himself would have quelled his troubled hearts by calling upon the Force, to find purpose and clarity in his rage. Now it’s more like static, growing ever louder, calling for vengeance.
Damn Ezra Bridger. Petulant boy that he is, he could not see the greatness that lay before him. The coldness in his eyes as he spurned the baring of Maul’s soul in order to save his friends. So be it. He knows beyond a doubt the boy will still be of use to him. Their paths are too entangled, with Obi-wan Kenobi at the center, for it to be otherwise.
A Bith and a human come out onto the patio and sit at a table not to far from him. Maul lets a growl rumble in his throat. But this is Tatooine, where warnings to stay clear are as commonplace as sneezing. Maul continues to eat and to drink until he can breathe easily once again, his pulse slowing to something more regular. He must take comfort in his pride. He will never give up his hunt now that he’s caught the scent.
Across the way is a row of bombed out houses. Maul passed it on his way in. There was a canine creature then, a barghest, sitting outside what used to be the door, and there it sits still. Pathetic creature, Maul thinks, watching it snarl at anyone who draws too near, but too unwilling to leave its spot to ever attack. Barghests aren’t native to this planet, but Maul isn’t surprised to see it given cosmopolitan nature of the populace. They’re fierce-looking beasts, dark fur like bristles sprouting from its black leathery skin, massive teeth, and three pairs of brilliant red eyes.
Laughter escapes from Maul’s lips, though he’s not sure what amuses him. He stands up from the table, puts his hood up over his head, and emerges into the baking sun. He approaches the barghest carefully, just standing out of range. The beast curls its lip as it growls at him, revealing thick fleshy gums. Maul crouches and watches it closer. He imagines those teeth embedded in Kenobi’s neck. In Palpatine’s wrist. Pressing its jaws together until it breaks their delicate bones and the blood flows on and on. His talent with a lightsaber and hand-to-hand combat cannot give him the visceral feedback that comes with truly breaking someone. His hand curls with pleasure at the image.
The growls from the barghest have been joined by a wet-sounding burbling. Closer to the building the dog guarded, Maul can see the ephemera of a life that no longer exists.
“Spare me your threats, cur. Your master has no more need of you,” Maul sneers. He rises to find shade once again. Once the worst of the heat is over, he will start making his way across the sands to the next settlement. Mos Zabu, if his maps were accurate. And perchance there, a clue as to Kenobi’s whereabouts.
Skulking down the thoroughfare, he feels a growing panic and clutches at his lightsaber. It only just quiets his mind. He ducks into the nearest overhang and settles on the stoop to wait. He pulls out his holocron and rubs at its points. He reaches out with his mind to meet the Force that channels itself through the little pyramid. Kenobi’s presence is no stronger than it has been since he landed here, but it’s still there. He’s still waiting for Maul to find him and end him. Maul welcomes the beginning of the end.
Such is his attention diverted that he is taken by surprise when a body falls against him. He opens his eyes to find the barghest has broken rank and has followed him. It’s laying down on the silty sand ground, body pressed against Maul’s ankle. Maul scowls and lashes out, pulling his leg away from the dog with a curse.
The dog does not move, however. It looks back at Maul with its six eyes, blinking slowly. Its tongue lolls out of its mouth as it pants in the heat. Maul hears the sound of running footsteps coming up the alley. As they pass, he sees it’s only an urchin, holding something tightly to her chest as she runs. The barghest growls at the girl as she nears, and the girl flings herself to the other side of the alley, as little space that is, never breaking stride. Once she’s gone, the barghest looks back at Maul.
Maul’s scowl softens, but he still frowns. Why is it here. He carefully holds out the back of his hand to the dog. The dog sniffs it, licks it just enough for Maul to know they have no quarrel between them.
He pulls out his map, one of several, and retraces his journey thus far–from landing his craft, to every outpost, settlement, and moisture farm he stumbled across. His wanderings have no clear pattern, just feelings.
The barghest yawns loudly and gets up. It stretches and starts walking away. When Maul can no longer see it, he feels a familiar twang of disappointment that he instantly crushes. He focuses instead on Kenobi, stoking those eternal embering coals of hatred. It isn’t much, but it has sustained him longer and through worse.
He is not expecting it when the barghest comes back with something in its mouth. The dog drops the canteen before Maul, along with the severed hand that must have been holding it. Maul looks from his gift up to the barghest’s face. So plainly on display is the barghest’s desire to please, desire for praise. Idiotic in its brazenness. Maul lifts the canteen and hears the sloshing of drink inside. He lifts it to his lips to discover it’s only water. He looks down at the hand as well. It belonged to a Nikto, a thirsty one at that. Maul holds the hand out to the barghest, and the barghest becomes visibly excited, sitting upright, shifting on its front paws in anticipation of a treat. Maul humors the dog, throws the hand and watches as the creature speeds after it, catching it in its mouth before it hits the ground. The barghest brings its prize back to Maul, settles down again and begins licking at it.
“Good dog,” Maul murmurs. He drinks from the canteen, and waits.
His eyes are still heavy with the lack of undisturbed sleep, and the light nap he takes does nothing to ease them. When he opens his eyes again, the barghest is still there, watching him intently. Maul stands up, and begins the next leg of his long journey.
The barghest comes along.