Fiction
Archive... Krath High Priest Mairin |
Desire
and Darkness A slender,
dark-haired woman sat behind a broad mahogany desk and gazed up at the
ceiling. She was distracted
these days, as though hearing a call of some discordant song, lost in a
world of her own. She had
felt this way since the recent troubles on the ISD Challenge.
Her home, or so she had thought, had become almost like a prison
cell since then. She no
longer knew who to trust, who to believe.
Although the tormentor, the insidious cancer that had nearly torn
her ship apart was gone, still his subtle malaise remained… deep
within herself. A
sudden burst of anger, and the High Priestess flung a heavy crystal
ornament across the room, watching with vicious pleasure as it shattered
into a thousand tiny pieces, crystal dust showering over her thick lush
carpet. So let them all
die. Her cruel smile would
have struck fear into the heart of any normal man, as she remembered the
terrible wounds that had been inflicted on Locke Setzer prior to his
“retirement”, but not Chancellor Shadonyx.
He leaned in the doorway watching her, a similarly cruel smile
playing about his own lips. The
scowl that covered the beautiful woman’s features shocked him. She had seen him. “Good
morning, my dear,” he murmured, and glided gracefully across the
broken ornament, esconcing himself in a chair opposite her desk and
observing her quietly. “Come
to tell me you fixed your screw-up have you?” she demanded haughtily.
She glared at him for a moment, and in response to his equally
haughtily raised eyebrow snapped, “The medals?” “Oh,
that trivial little matter.” Shadonyx
ran his finger delicately along the edge of her desk as though expecting
to find some dust. “Yes,
that’s all sorted.” “Good,”
she retorted, and stared intently at her computer screen for a moment.
Five seconds later had her staring back at Shadonyx.
“Are you still here?” she demanded. The
Chancellor gave a disarming shrug and a somewhat out of character cheeky
grin. “Rather looks that way,” he smirked. “Masterful way of getting rid of that nasty Commodore of
yours by the way.” “You…
you… GRRR!” “I
must admit, it was a brilliant way of getting rid of him.” He paused
infinitesimally as he leaned across her desk.
“You do know if you ever do that to me, I’ll hunt you down
and drown you in your own blood, right?” Mairin
picked an imaginary lintball from her tighter than strictly necessary
black trousers. “I know.
That’s why I’d come up with something untraceable for you.” “Oh
pish posh,” commented Shadonyx. Two
wolfish grins met across the table, and the Priestess’s mood lightened
for the first time since the Chancellor had entered the door.
“So what has my luminescent Priestess been up to recently?" “Bah,
flattery will get you nowhere,” she responded with a grin.
“I’m waiting for Sebastian to bring me those books I
ordered.” A pause.
Shadonyx gazed at her, scrutinising her appearance.
A lithe grey cat leaped into the woman’s lap, distracting her
attention from him. “Hello,
Avalon,” she murmured. “Decided
to grace me with your presence?” The only response was a purr.
Shadonyx looked at the woman again, as though attempting to
divine something from her. “Are
you done staring yet?” she asked. “Not
quite,” he answered levelly. Mairin
looked up at him. “Come
on then, big eyes,” she said, smiling.
“What’s the reason for the stare?
Green-eyed monster got you?” “Not
in the slightest. Of
course,” he added, “you know that this d’Alavel is besotted with
you, the insolent whelp. As if a woman like you and a man like him could ever…”
He left the thought unspoken. “Yes,”
she responded. “Desire
and darkness. They do not
always mix, my friend.” “You
say that almost as though you regretted it,” accused Shadonyx, eyes
flashing. Her violet eyes flashed darker, her jaw set with rage.
“My apologies. I have touched a raw nerve,” he murmured.
A look up at the door showed a young man standing there, about to
knock. “You might as well
come in, d’Alavel,” he snarled.
“Your mistress has been expecting you.” “I
can come back later if I’m interrupting,” interjected Sebastian
gently. Shadonyx glared at
him haughtily. He was a
tall, extremely handsome young man of mid to late twenties, possibly
early thirties. His eyes
glowed golden in a pale face, and dark hair fell to his shoulders, tied
back loosely in a ponytail. He
wore a tightly fitting black sweater, showing off every last muscle.
Yes… Shadonyx could see what the High Priestess saw in this
particular lackey. The
twinge of jealousy surprised him, but as he stalked from the room he
felt it calm, and lay itself deep within him, a kernel of malign thought
that would resurface again when the time was right. Mairin
gazed up at Sebastian for a moment.
Her violet eyes swam like twin flowers in a field of golden
grain. Sebastian bowed,
feeling uncomfortable, and sat down in the chair so recently vacated by
the Chancellor at her indication. Wordlessly, he reached into the bag he had brought with him
and drew out four ancient tomes. “Excellent,”
the woman purred, and leaned across the table to take them from him. Sebastian
sat and watched as she leafed carefully through the books, touching the
anicent vellum on which they were enscribed, inspecting the bindings and
the pages for any sign of forgery.
“They are authentic,” he said softly.
“Their previous owner… passed away.” A
raised eyebrow was the only response.
“How many credits did we agree for these?” she demanded. “Fifty
thousand, my lady.” The
High Priestess reached into her top drawer and drew out a credit note,
signed it with a flourish and then handed it over to him.
“Thank you. And
your next order?” “I
thought I might join you,” she rejoined. “I
beg your pardon?” Sebastian
stared at her with shock registered plain on his features.
His palpable desire for her already half-choking him after only
minutes in her presence, the concept of spending whole days in her
company with only his crew to distract him from her enchanting beauty
was more than the soul could stand to believe. “I’ve
decided to join you on this next little expedition,” she confirmed,
smiling. “I need a break, Sebastian.
I need to get back out into the really real galaxy and do some
butt-kicking. You don’t
mind, do you?” Sebastian’s
heart nearly melted. He
could say nothing but yes. *** “Are
you entirely sure that this is a good idea, Seb?” asked his co-pilot.
She was a small woman, as besotted with Sebastian as he was with
Mairin Astoris – not that he knew of course.
Laila Maine was smart enough to at least keep that silent. She had almost revealed her thoughts however when she had
returned to the ship on Lantare to find the Krath witch she loathed so
deeply sitting in the lounge of the YT-2400, christened Firebird by
Sebastian, busy fine-tuning a lightsabre.
The sheer coldness of anger that had washed over her had been
enough to cause the woman to look up, give her a calculated look, and
then return to the delicate repositioning of an adegan crystal within
the sabre casing. “I
could hardly say no, could I?” snapped Sebastian, concentrating on
pre-takeoff checks. Laila
scowled at him. “You
perfectly well could,” she snarled back.
“The woman pays us to find books, not junket around getting
herself in our way. You
know what they say about those Krath.
Noses stuck in books twenty-four hours a day.
I bet she doesn’t even know what she’s doing with that
lightsabre she’s footling around with out there.” “That’s
not the impression I get, Maine.” “You’re
batty about the evil witch,” retorted Laila.
“You’d get any impression she chose to plant in your mind.” “Is
it your time of the month or something?” demanded Sebastian bitterly.
Laila’s barb had struck home and it stung like poison. A
third member of the crew popped his head around the cockpit door and
gave a cocky salute. He was
burnt brown from the hot Lantare sun, and his nose was peeling.
Laila frowned at him. Rekio
had always been the swashbuckler of the team, dashing and debonair,
likely to get himself killed if he thought too hard about anything.
He was a man of action, foolhardy, funny, and quirky. He tweaked her braided hair playfully. “I see we have a new member of our team,” he commented
casually. “Damned fine
one too. Where’d you pick
up that piece, Seb?” “The
nearest brothel, Rekio, where the hell do you think?” snarled Laila. “Oh…
oh you mean,” Rekio started, dropping his voice to a whisper.
“That’s her?” “No
it’s a flying rancor, bantha-for-brains.
Who do you think it is? Jabba
the Hutt?” “Is
it your time of the month or something, Laila?” said Rekio, without
batting an eyelid. Sebastian
covered the smirk on his face with a well-placed hand and tried to keep
his amusement out of his eyes. Laila
merely made a jerking motion with her hand in Rekio’s general
direction. The
fourth and final member of Sebastian’s crew stuck his head around the
door, caught the motion and grinned.
“Been up to your old tricks, Rekio?” he chuckled. “No,
Laila’s just being her usual prickly little self, isn’t she, Seb?” “Oh,
that would explain it then,” said Pip with a lopsided grin.
He was the weapons and explosives expert of the team, and he
claimed with pride that there was nothing in the galaxy that he
couldn’t blow up with perfect precision.
His tousled blonde hair and baby blue eyes coupled with a
boyishly charming grin frequently led to him being nicknamed “the
Angel”. Those that called
him by that name had never seen him bloodstained and battle weary as had
his companions. Armed to
the teeth, he was a fearsome opponent.
“Who’s the hot chick in the lounge, by the way?” he threw
in. “Man, what wouldn’t
I give to bang that, I tell you!” Sebastian
gave Pip the most expressive glare he could muster up.
“That’s Jedi Adept of the Dark Side, High Priestess of the
Krath, Mairin Astoris. You
might want to watch what you say about her.” “Um…
oops?” offered Pip. He
grinned again. “Come on, Seb, you can hardly blame me.”
His cheeky grin coaxed a rueful smile out of Sebastian.
“Besides, there’s no need to get pompous.” “Point
taken,” said Sebastian. He
seemed to have relaxed slightly, but his hands shook as he reached to
the controls. Laila shook
her head at him. “I’ll
fly,” she said. “Why
don’t you boys go play the gracious hosts with Miss High Priestess in
there. Gull some money out
of her playing Sabacc or something.
You know how all the girls love a rogue.” “Sure,
princess,” grinned Rekio. Sebastian’s
smile of gratitude was enough for the moment to calm Laila’s jealousy
and anger. He still cared
about her. Maybe one day,
she thought, the pang of rage returning, he would realise that it was
her he loved, not some jumped up Jedi princess who thought more of
herself than anyone else. “Lay
in a course for Naboo, Laila,” instructed Sebastian.
“I’ll brief everyone properly once we get there.” “Naboo? But we’ve just come from there!
That woman wants us to go back?
Sebastian, that’s suicide!” “We’ll
be fine,” responded Sebastian, calmly. “Their
security forces nearly caught us once already.
Going back again so soon is ridiculous.
Is that what she ordered us to do?” “We
get paid for danger, Laila. And
no. This was my choice.” “Showing
off? What?
How can you put all our lives in danger like this?
What about her life – have you thought about that?”
Laila realised that she was shaking with rage, and put her hands
flat on her thighs, holding them still. “That’s
my concern and hers,” snapped Sebastian.
“Lay in the course.” As
soon as he had left the cockpit, Laila punched in the course for Naboo,
hurting, angry, raging, bitter. He
had never ignored her opinion like that before.
Something didn’t feel right about this at all, and Laila raged
ever hotter as she guided the ship into the air and pushed it into the
cold blue tunnels of hyperspace. How
dare he treat her like that? *** The
YT-2400 set down gently on a long rolling plain covered in tall grass,
and the small party disembarked, settling down on the ground near the
craft, staying within its shadow as they went over plans and prepared
their equipment. Laila sat
slightly apart from the rest of the group, listening and watching, but
not part of their discussions and planning.
She was essentially the getaway driver, not needed on this
expedition by dint of the extra woman being here.
She had been… demoted. Hatred
lanced through her. Hatred
tinged with the subtle and dangerous hint of despair that only the woman
truly in love can know, the one who will fight and die to protect the
one she loves, would kill the one she loves rather than see him with
another. Love, or at least
the love that Laila Maine knew, was total, utter, consuming, and above
all things completely selfish. Her
brown eyes rested on Sebastian. He
was laughing, his smile wide and the sound he made filled with joy.
The Krath woman at whose joke he laughed was smiling, eyelids
lowered, the very image of the coquette who knows her arrow-eyes have
smitten the target. Laila
scowled, staring at them in the long grass, shutting out the images of
Rekio and Pip, busy checking their equipment, so that the picture
imprinted on her mind was that of two people, a man and a woman,
laughing, seemingly in love. Was
it just her imagination? Laila
thought she could almost see the sparks of unfulfilled desire flying
from the two. Just what was it, Laila thought sadly, that Mairin Astoris
had and she did not? *** Benjamin
Arsenen watched his father training the two bewitchingly beautiful young
girls. Galadriel, the
elder, who was sweet and patient and kind as the day was long,
idealistic, longing to join the Rebel Fleet as soon as she was old
enough, training with the blue sabre.
Mairin, the younger, given to tantrums of sheer temper, petulance
and rage, as idealistic as her sister, yet longing for something Ben had
never been able to elucidate from her, training with the red.
To the twenty-one year old Benjamin, inexperienced, enamoured of
life as it continued around him, excited by the recent victory of the
Rebel Fleet over the Imperial Navy at this very planet, the seventeen
year old Mairin was the only thing, the only being, that had any
meaning. Even his mother,
supposedly the most important woman in a young man’s life, could not
persuade him to give up watching the girl like Narcissus watching his
own reflection. But
Mairin Astoris, fondest desire of his heart, paid him no more attention
than anyone else. It was
Galadriel, her sister, who gazed at him with longing in her eyes.
The longing in Mairin’s was directed elsewhere, but, blind with
love, Benjamin did not see it. Instead
he spent time with Galadriel, speaking to her, hearing her hopes her
dreams, and forgetting them as soon as he had heard them, longing to be
with another. Caught in the
throes of first love, the most painful of all loves, the one whose
memory never leaves, its imprint forever engraved on the heart, Benjamin
knew no greater sorrow than to be near the object of his desire, near
enough to touch her, to inhale her delicate fragrance, but never
acknowledged, and knew no greater pleasure than the same. Yet
whilst Benjamin Arsenen, son of her tutor, went through the agonies of
first love, the object of his desire was not without her own pangs of
youthful emotion. Even as he loved her, she loved another, one who was entirely
unattainable, forbidden, and would take her down a path that had long
been forseen by another. Benjamin’s
childish love for the beauty of Mairin was destroyed by events that were
to follow – the birth of a son none other than his own half-brother,
the murder of his father, an accusation and an escape.
But something, something deep down inside, remained. Although the tormentor, the insidious cancer of the love that
had nearly torn him apart was gone, still her subtle malaise remained…
deep within himself. *** “Naboo
is so beautiful at this time of year,” proclaimed a young, hazel-eyed
woman. The lightsabre at her belt proclaimed her part of the new
Jedi Order, and her Republic Fleet uniform proclaimed her important.
Captain Galadriel Astoris had the world at her feet.
She turned to the company of soldiers that she had with her, and
directed them to various areas of the palace.
On her watch, the important senator who was coming to Naboo would
not be disturbed. Senator
Gracchus Vorsilian had fought long and hard in the old Imperial Senate
to secure the freedom of the galaxy from the control of Emperor
Palpatine, the usurping former Chancellor of the Senate himself.
Threatened with death from an angered Emperor, he had fled to the
Rebel Fleet, hoping to secure for himself safety and the chance to
influence the future. He
had done so, and with the Senate now re-established in its home on
Coruscant, he had decided it was time to come to this far-off world to
see for himself the places where the formative elements of the Galactic
Empire had met and fallen into the toils of Palpatine. The
newly elected Queen of Naboo looked forwards to his arrival, and his
trusted attaché, Captain Astoris, had been sent ahead to set up his
quarters in the palace, and to ensure that security measures were in
place. As one of the
Republic’s senior Senators, Gracchus was a prime target for hostile
manoeuvres. All seemed
quiet, but Galadriel was perturbed by news of a possible unauthorised
YT-2400 entering the system and landing on the planet.
She had sent her husband, and second-in-command, Captain Benjamin
Arsenen, to reconnoitre the area where the ship was said to have set
down. Wordlessly
he had gone. After another
of their frequent arguments, Galadriel found herself too worn out to
even think about what was wrong with their relationship.
It seemed like four years after the events that had ripped both
their families apart and driven them into each other’s arms, the past
came back to haunt them again and again, driving wedges between them
where once it had brought them closer.
She began to think that nothing would ever heal the rifts between
them She
was not the same girl she had been, and now, at twenty-two, she felt
like an old woman, worn out with caring too much for others, worn out
with sorrow; worn out with guilt. Above
all, she was worn out with something that she hid well from every other
person in the galaxy, including herself.
She was worn out with anger. Galadriel
paced in the cloister of the palace, mulling over the past.
She was angry with her father for dying at Endor.
He had been the catalyst for all the terrible things that had
happened. She was angry
with her mother for trying to keep Mairin from the Dark Side.
It had been her destiny, and she had gone that way without being
able to help herself. She
was angry with herself for ending up with a man who didn’t love her,
angry with Benjamin for not loving her.
She was angry with Mairin for having been the one Benjamin had
always loved, she was angry with her for bringing shame on their family
name. She was angry with
Mairin for causing the stain of guilt she bore. |