Labyrinth of Death | Chapter 13

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13


Radoth glanced at Borj’s body with a satisfied smile. He turned to Barras. “And I can’t have you telling the Sith Lords that I’m conspiring against them, can I? You’ll have to die too.” His eyes suddenly blazed with hate. “I never liked you, Barras. From the moment I met you in that corridor, I hated you.”
“No,” whispered Barras, stepping backwards again. His voice rose to a shout. “The Code says—”
“What do I care for The Code, you worthless dog?” Radoth stepped towards Barras, whirling his saber in a circle. “No one will know. No one.”
An evil smile suddenly appeared on Radoth’s face. He held up a vial of some green liquid. “Have you ever heard of the Sanjid virus, Barras?”
Barras grabbed up one of his blasters and pointed it at Radoth. The blaster clicked. Out of ammunition. And even if it hadn’t been, would it work?
Radoth shook his head. “You haven’t? Oh, what a pity. Well, now you get to see its effects first-hand.” Like a flash, his arm snapped out. The vial flew through the air.
Barras whacked the vial with his blaster. Shards of glass speckled the floor, and a strange green smoke rose. A smell, too, a sweet and sickly smell.
Radoth laughed and used the Force to pull a hatch in the roof open. “Play nice now!” He leapt out through the hatch. It slammed.
Barras backed away from the fumes, his heart beating fast. He knelt by the hatch he had entered by and pulled it open, then leapt through. His legs collapsed when he hit the ground, and he sprawled in a heap.
Why bother to live? There was nothing to live for, anyway.
Or was there?
Raenen.
Find Raenen.
He rose to his feet, glanced up at the hatch, and ran.

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“Raenen!”
His shouts echoed down the labyrinth’s corridors. “Raenen! Where are you?”
His helmet was still in the control room. He no longer had the light of his headlamps. He ran in darkness. “Raenen!”
He paused and placed his hands against the wall, breathing heavily. She had to be somewhere.
With renewed strength, he pushed off from the wall and again ran. “Raenen! RAENEN!”
His foot struck something, and he went sprawling. His jawbone hit the ground hard. “Oof!”
With a groan, he rose to his feet and turned. What had he tripped over?
He stripped off his gauntlet and felt the ground behind him. Moisture met his fingertips. He pulled back. Blood?
Again, tentatively, he reached out. The familiar feel of armour.
He lowered his head and sighed, a pang of sadness aching inside him.
His fingers crept across the trooper’s body and touched the helmet. With both hands, he wrenched off one of the headlights and flicked it on. He pulled off the trooper’s helmet and shone the light on the man’s face.
Falex.
Α deep groan sprang up inside him, and he rose to his feet and walked away, his breath coming in ragged pants. Radoth would pay for this treachery. Radoth would pay. He gritted his teeth. But first, he had to find Raenen.
He broke into a run, the light guiding his footsteps. “Raenen!”
His foot slipped, and again, he sprawled on the ground, but managed to protect his head from impact. “Not again!”
He clambered to his feet dazedly and shone the light on the ground. “Water?”
Barras sucked air into his lungs. “RAENEN!”
A faint cry answered him.
“Raenen? Where are you?”
The cry echoed again, distant, muffled.
Barras took off at a run, then skidded to a stop only a second later. “Dead end!” He kicked the wall. “Where are you, Raenen?”
He turned and ran back down the passage. His foot skidded on the water again, and he yelled, trying to stop from falling. He toppled forwards, his hands striking first. The light skittered out of his reach.
“Come back here,” grumbled Barras, crawling forwards and grabbing the light. “RAENEN!”
He rose to his feet again. “I know I heard something.”
Where was the water coming from?
His gaze flicked to the ground. He knelt and touched the wall. Through rivet-sized holes, water crept, accompanied by a continual blast of air.
“What’s this for?” he wondered aloud.
A muffled scream echoed through the passageway. Barras tensed. He knew that voice.
Raenen’s voice.

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Dmitri Pendragon
Blog Moderator