Trychon's mind raced with a hundred questions. Was this Vikon's doing? If not, was it really a part of the prophesy and due to chance? If it was Vikon. why weren't he and Raezyr given warning or instructions? Bugs? Really? Did that third line mean he couldn't use the force against this threat? Not that it mattered, he decided... he had to play by the rules of the elders as much as he despised it.
What was he supposed to do against a fleet of insects?
As they got further down the path, what originally appeared to be an unnatural cloud over the field began to shift and move in ways that assured Trychon that it was indeed unnatural. In smaller groups, black beetles began to fly by Trychon and Brother Ocker. Trychon threw his left hand out and snatched one out of the air, and examined it more closely. It was a black insect roughly twelve centimeters from tail to the tips of its horns. He'd seen these before, but not quite this size.
The beetle flapped its wings once and turned, almost as if to look at Trychon. Then for just a moment, all Trychon could see was a dark set of eyes burning into his mind. MAKE IT LOOK GOOD... APPRENTICE!
Trychon was pretty sure then that Vikon might have something to do with this occurance after all.
Trychon found himself opening his eyes to see his hand laying prone on the ground. The beetle took off and rejoined the cloud, which appeared to be closing in. It seemed that Trychon had fallen to one knee during Vikon's message to him. Ockler rushed to his side and inquired him if he was alright.
"I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's something powerful. I recommend that you give me some space. I will do what I can, but I'm not sure what that will be." Trychon told the monk. He considered telling him to go get more of the repellant, but he needed at least a little audience, and so far, the miner was it.
As Brother Ockler backed away, the cloud of beetles began to separate. A portion slightly smaller than half of the overall mass began to fly away from Trychon before changing directions to come around and head straight for him. Ocker began to run in the other direction, as fast as his smaller legs could move him.
Trychon reached into his tunic and pulled out his weapon's hilt. He had no clue whether it would do him any good at all in the situation he found himself, but it felt good to hold it for the first time in weeks anyway. He ignited the switch, and was rewarded with the familiar snap-hiss and hum of his blade extending. He admired the black blade for the last few seconds before the swarm reached him, and he was fairly sure he heard Brother Ocker turn around and gasp at the blade as well. He grinned briefly, hoping that weapon use wouldn't earn a council rebuke in a situation like this.
Trychon stared into the oncoming onslought of wings as he began to spin the blade in circles on both sides and to his front, merely hoping to deflect as much as he could. As his weapon began to intercept the creatures, the air around him was filled with not just the zapping noise of sliced insects, but overwhelming noise of the hard wings flapping around him.
In moments, Trychon felt not only the impact against his lightsaber of literally hundreds of the bugs, but also the impact of dozens of them at a time off his limbs and chest. They were using their own carapaces as projectile weapons against him with no regard for their own life. Trychon wondered as he was battered backward whether that was an lower lifeform intinct, or the influence of a Sith Master. The flight of his blade began to falter as his arm and hand took a battering from the sides, and more and more bodies slammed into his chest. As he neared the end of the first wave of the cloud's assault, he was forced to shut down his blade before he lost control of it entirely. The last handful of the beetles rammed him backwards and as he fell to his back, he felt sure that if the reckless abandon wasn't a sign of Vikon's hand, the seemed hive intelligence mindset was, though he doubted he would ever know for sure.
The remaining cloud coalesced once again and seemed to hesitate a few moments, as though waiting to see how the Sith would respond. Trychon coughed as he got to his feet and reached into his pouch. He hadn't brought much of the insect repellant, just enough to sprinkle here and there in Violet's garden to protect it while still allowing germination. He certainly didn't have enough to get rid of this many beetles, and he wasn't sure if it would have any effect at all. He pulled out a small handful and rubbed it quickly over his head, chest and limbs.
He grabbed most of what was left in the small pouch in his off hand while he ignited his saber again with the other. He had just moments before a second attack came from the swarm. Thankful that the wind was slightly at his back, he tossed the herbal mix into the oncoming cloud before beginning his defensive saber moves again with a few adjusted moves.
The swarm was visibly moved by the new tactic, with many of the beetles turning around outright, and most others taking a wider berth around his body. He was able to pick off a much higher percentage of his attackers, with more purposeful swings and less blind luck. Before the entire group had gotten to or around him, it began to head back to meet up with the main swarm. Trychon had only taken a few direct hits that time. He held his weapon at a ready position and observed the movements of the cloud.
When the first feelings of relief began to sink in as he watched what appeared to be a general retreat, he heard a new noise. Just beyond the hum of thousands of little wings, he began to hear a lower pitched and more steady noise. In the distance he watched as a few small specks from the center of the swarm began to get larger and larger as the low hum gained volume.
Ducking hastily, he watched as the first of half a dozen pairs of large wings flew over him. These beetles were nearly identical in shape to their smaller companions, but easily over a meter in length. He felt a sudden sense of danger and leapt backwards as he turned to the side. One last giant beetle was flying right through where the back of his head had been half a second prior. Without even having thought about it, Trychon brought down his weapon in an overhead strike directly to the midsection of the giant insect. The blade was met with resistance and only cut inches into the body before the downward momentum carried the bug's flight into the ground where it tumbled and rolled to a halt, stirring but unable to move.
Surprised, but undaunted, he changed tactics on the fly as the others came around for a second pass. He rolled under the attempt and raised his blade to slice at the underbellies of two of the insects. His weapon met nearly no resistance at all from the new angle, and he didn't even watch as the pair dropped unceremoniously to the ground behind him.
He found the larger targets made for a simpler match in the end, making easy work of the remaining aggressors, a few with clean strikes and the others with topside attacks that did just enough damage to remove them as threats.
His back now facing away from the general direction of the swarm, he noticed that he had attracted a small crowd. For some reason though, they still held looks of shock on their faces, a few even had looks of dread. One little girl covered her mouth to stifle a scream, though she managed just a whimper. Her arm extended straight at Trychon before she turned and grabbed onto her father.
Confused, Trychon came to the only conclusion he could, and turned to look at the swarm. It had nearly disappeared into the distant forest, but it only took a moment for him to see the cause of the crowd's reaction. Only a few paces away, there was the largest insect Trychon had ever seen. He could only guess that this was the queen of the hive, or whatever the bugs may have. The head and body looked similar, albeit the size difference and an apparent lack of wings. All in all, the queen looked to be about three meters in length, though the back half or so was still obscured in the grain field it was emerging from. It didn't appear to be overly mobile, likely due to the unnatural size, but if it had a voice, Trychon guessed from the movements of the pincers that she would be screaming at him.
Not sensing an immediate attack likely, Trychon's thought reverted back to the lines from the prophesy, and also the admonishing tone of the Sith Master Vikon, who told him to 'make it look good.'
He took two steps towards the behemoth queen, and then jumped with the aid of the Force, off to the side as far as he could at a low trajectory, and trying to sell the move as though he'd been thrown or swatted aside, rather than simply moving. He remembered the reaction of Monahan to Trychon's fight with Raezyr weeks earlier. With any luck, they'd still only be able to sense that something had happened, and not who or exactly what. Then, all they'd have to do was buy into the silly 'Force-beetle' prophesy.
Having allowed his body to land roughly in the field, he got back up and charged the insect, who still hadn't moved. Preparing to strike, he instead once again threw himself into the distance. He gathered himself and approached slowly, this time acting almost as though he was trudging through a giant wall of gelatin, or as he was hoping it looked... against some giant invisible force.
When he got close enough, he brought his lightsaber down, expecting to cut into it with some resistance from the shell again. He was unable to hide his surprise when the lightsaber instead rebounded off the bug as though it were no more than a blunt object.
Thinking as quickly as he could, he once again jumped backward, jerking at his shoulder as though he'd been pushed. He landed in the dirt path this time, and had no choice but to simply roll in the dust and accept the damage, though he did absorb some of it in the force, he would have preferred he could land gracefully.
Despite his new nicks and bruises, he got up once more and again feigned as though he was pushing against an invisible force to reach the queen. When he was nearly there, he jumped up into the air, and raised his lightsaber high. As he came down, he brought the backside of the hilt down with as much strength as he could muster, and augmented it with a force blow. He had to hope once again that the council would not be able to discern precisely what had happened, and only that the Force was being influenced.
There was a deafening crack, and Trychon felt the insides of the insect shift heavily due to the force of his attack. Her body was forced into the ground, and her underbelly caved under the impact. There was no visible damage to the top of her shell, but the sound indicated that there was perhaps a microfracture of the impossibly tough outer skin.
Trychon stood to the side of the monster and stared at it to ensure that it remained motionless. Then he turned and looked at the swarm of beetles in the distance, which was not just going the other direction, but dissipating as though their cause was over.
He turned and looked at the crowd, which had gained a few since he'd last looked. A cheer broke out in most of the group and he smiled at them. The small girl walked up to him and asked to see the blade of the prophesy. Trychon responded that he didn't know about the prophesy, but he reignited the weapon anyway, drawing another small cheer.
He held the black blade in front of him, staring at it. Out of nowhere, three beetles charged forward, as though entranced by the glow of the otherwise dark weapon. There was a sound of a snap, crackle and pop, and they all fell to the ground in turn.
Trychon was fairly sure that the beetles had returned to normal, though he still wondered how Vikon managed the appearance of such enormous versions of the insects. He doubted he would get an answer out of the grumpy Sith Master.
No comments:
Post a Comment