Lives & Adventures

by Ryder Windham

  Maul looked to Sidious. Sidious adjusted his goggles and said, “A demonstration? I suppose that does sound like a practical way for you to evaluate Maul.”

  Trezza led Maul and Sidious into a lift tube and they descended to the court. As Maul stepped out onto the same level as the cadets, he suddenly realized they were all taller than he. Every one of them.

  Seeing Trezza, the cadets halted their exercises, lowered their combat staffs, and bowed to him. Trezza gestured to Maul and said, “We have a new cadet. His name is Maul. I’m told he can fight.”

  One of the Rodians laughed out loud. Trezza shot him an icy look. The Rodian shut his snout.

  Trezza cleared his throat. “I’m looking for a volunteer. Will any one of you fight the new cadet?”

  Maul did not expect every cadet to raise an arm, tentacle, or equivalent limb into the air and shout in unison with the others, “I volunteer, Master Trezza!”

  Trezza looked at Maul. “Remember what I said about the rules on my property, son.”

  “Yes, Master Trezza.” Maul looked at Sidious.

  Sidious adjusted his goggles, leaned close to Maul, and whispered, “Select the largest and most muscular student. Introduce yourself. Hurt him. No killing.”

  As Maul’s gaze traveled across the cadets, he peeled off his black shirt, exposing his lean, tattooed torso. He was aware of the many eyes gazing at the bold red and black patterns on his bare flesh. He placed his shirt neatly on the ground. Stepping away from Sidious and Trezza, he overheard one cadet whisper, “Check out his ribs.”

  Maul breezed past the malodorous Rodians and came to a stop before a teenage Abyssin, a hulking native of the planet Byss. Distinguished by a broad head that held a single eye with a slit pupil over a broad, fleshy nose and a mouth full of sharp teeth, the Abyssin stood nearly two meters tall. Maul tilted his head back, looked up into the Abyssin’s eye, and said, “I am Maul. Your move.”

  The Abyssin’s nose twitched, and then he blinked his eye in disbelief. When he had volunteered to fight the boy less than a minute earlier, he had never imagined the boy would actually choose him. His eye flicked to see Trezza. Trezza nodded to him.

  The Abyssin shifted his feet. Maul stood his ground. All the other cadets stepped back, leaving room for the combatants.

  The Abyssin launched a sweeping kick that knocked Maul off his feet, and then lashed out with one hard-muscled arm that connected with Maul in midair. Maul flew across the courtyard and crashed to the ground. Both Rodians roared with laughter. Trezza did not reprimand them.

  The Abyssin leaped forward, landing on his powerful legs a short distance from his opponent, and waited for Maul to rise. Maul shook his head as if he were making sure nothing was loose as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground. Once he was on his feet, he turned to face the Abyssin again. Maul threw a jab at the Abyssin’s left thigh, just above his knee.

  If the Abyssin felt the jab, he didn’t show it. He pivoted on one foot and kicked out with the other, catching Maul in the stomach. The sound of the impact made a few cadets wince. Maul was again lifted off his feet. Hitting the ground, his body rolled like a broken doll past several cadets until he came to a stop near the feet of the female Nautolan. The Nautolan looked down at Maul’s small, tattooed back, then turned to face Trezza and said, “With all due respect, Master Trezza, this is not a fair fight.”

  “What’s that?” Sidious said as he tapped his walking stick against the ground. “Did Maul do something unfair?”

  “Not at all,” Trezza said. “He simply chose to go up against an older cadet.”

  “He does have spirit,” Sidious said. Then he muttered, “Curse these old goggles. I can’t see a thing.”

  Maul braced one palm against the ground. His arm trembled as he pushed himself up. The Abyssin stepped closer to Maul, moving up behind him. Maul started to turn to face the Abyssin, but then his legs buckled and he collapsed. Maul squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. He looked at a cloud overhead, then shifted his gaze to see the Abyssin. Maul gasped, “What’s…your name?”

  The Abyssin blinked at the boy for a few seconds but finally replied, “Dalok.”

  Maul twisted his neck away from the Abyssin and his horns dug into the ground. His chest shuddered and then his limbs went slack. He turned his head again, and his eyes rolled up into their sockets before they shifted back to stare in the general direction of the Abyssin. “Your name,” Maul repeated. “Please…tell me…what’s your name?”

  The other cadets quietly moved in around the Abyssin to get a closer look at the defeated boy. Seeing that Maul was thoroughly beaten, the Abyssin knelt beside him, leaned over his face, and said, “I just told you. My name’s Dalok. Are you all ri—”

  Maul grabbed the back of Dalok’s head, pulled Dalok’s face up against his own, and sank his teeth into Dalok’s fleshy nose. The startled Abyssin screamed. With his teeth and one arm, Maul held tight to Dalok’s head while he moved his other hand to grab Dalok’s throat.

  The surrounding cadets recoiled. Dalok tried to roll away from Maul, but Maul stayed on him, slamming and driving his knees into the nerve clusters in the Abyssin’s shoulders. Dalok was flat on his back as he convulsed, his arms flopping uselessly beside him. Dalok passed out.

  Maul rose to stand beside Dalok’s unconscious body. Turning slowly, he looked at every one of the surrounding cadets, letting them see the Abyssin’s blood dripping down his chin and notice that he wasn’t even breathing hard. He thought he smelled fear from the female Nautolan who had tried to call off the fight. He didn’t know how old she was, but noted she was slightly taller than he. When his yellow-eyed gaze fell on the Rodians who’d laughed at him, he spat at the ground.

  An astonished Trezza looked at the goggled man beside him. “You said Maul has been in a few fights. Just how many is ‘a few’?”

  “I’m not sure, really,” Sidious said with a shrug. “Obviously, I never actually saw any of his fights. Tell me, did he win this one?”

  “He almost beat his opponent to death.”

  “Did he, now?” Sidious chuckled as he elbowed Trezza. “I told you he was a bit wild.”

  The Nautolan moved past Maul, and one of her head tresses brushed against his arm. She knelt beside Dalok and checked his pulse. Looking to another cadet, who stood gaping nearby, she said, “His nose will heal but he needs a medpac.” As the cadet went for the medpac, the Nautolan turned to face Maul. Maul could see his own reflection in the Nautolan’s large black eyes. Although he could not comprehend why, he did not want her to be afraid of him.

  Keeping her eyes fixed on Maul, the Nautolan said, “You did know that Dalok’s an Abyssin, didn’t you? That Abyssins have regenerative abilities?”

  In fact, Maul was already aware of this, but that particular bit of knowledge had not crossed his mind when he’d challenged the Abyssin. He’d simply selected the largest and most muscular student, just as Sidious had instructed. Maul looked away from the Nautolan and let his gaze flick back and forth at the Rodians’ snouts. “No,” he lied. “I didn’t know.”

  The Rodians trembled. Maul knew he was going to enjoy his time at Orsis Academy.

  “I want to go swimming,” said the female Nautolan, whose name was Kilindi Matako.

  Maul did not know why Kilindi was talking to him. He had been at Orsis Academy for almost three years, and the other cadets always kept their distance from him during his recreation hours. He continued dragging his vibroblade along the edge of the long branch he was carving into a spear. But when Kilindi didn’t walk away, he realized she might be expecting a response, so he said, “Then you should go swimming.”

  They were in the open courtyard closest to the sea at Orsis Academy, near a gateway to a path that led down to a rocky beach. On the far side of the courtyard, a group of cadets was preparing for the upcoming martial arts competition against a rival military school.

  “I thought you might want to come with me,” Kilindi said.

  S
urprised, Maul cast a sidelong glance at her and said, “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I just thought you might. I thought maybe you liked to swim.”

  Maul’s jaw tensed as his memory flashed back to Mygeeto, a planet of ice and snow in the Outer Rim Territories. During a break from the Academy, Master Sidious had brought him to Mygeeto to exercise and test his Force powers. They had been walking by a lake that was covered by a sheet of dark ice. Even though Maul had worn heavy, insulated clothes, the frigid winds cut like lasers against his skin. He had just completed a series of exercises that had him running up sheer, icy slopes and then coming down as fast as he could. He knew he had performed well, and he’d hoped that his Master might praise him.

  Instead, his Master raised a hand and used the Force to lift Maul’s small body, tossing him into the middle of the lake.

  Maul crashed through the ice and sank, his heavy clothes and boots pulling him down. As the freezing water bit into his face and chilled his blood, he feared he would die. And then his Master’s words came to him.…Turn your fear into anger.

  It was easy for Maul to be angry, especially with his Master. The dark side ignited and fueled his anger. He was enraged by the icy water and by the entire planet Mygeeto. He fought his way to the surface, kicking and clawing and bursting through the ice. And after he broke through the ice, while he was still gulping freezing water and struggling to keep his face above the surface, he saw his Master on the shore.

  His Master made no move to help him.

  Maul’s rage was incredible. His fury propelled his arms and legs, made him push through the water, kick his booted feet, and swim to shore. The dark side had set an inner fire to keep him alive, but he quickly realized that same fire did little to keep him warm. He was shivering fiercely as he arrived before his Master.

  And even then, his Master did not praise him, but merely continued their walk by the lake, with Maul staggering along at his side, hating the cold, hating the water, hating everything.…

  “Well,” Kilindi said, “I guess I’ll see you later.” She turned away from Maul and began walking toward the courtyard’s gate.

  “Wait,” Maul said. He switched off his vibroblade and set it down beside the spear he’d been working on. He said, “I like to swim.”

  Maul marveled at the way Kilindi moved through the sea, her long head tresses trailing behind her. He thought she was even more graceful in the water than she was on land. Not that he would ever tell her.

  He was standing in the sea, not far from the shore, just up to his waist, his bare arms held out stiffly at his sides. Kilindi was swimming about thirty meters beyond him, her strong legs cutting through the water without any obvious effort. He watched her submerge and was surprised when just a few seconds later she broke the surface a meter away from him.

  Gazing at Maul with her large, dark eyes, Kilindi said, “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Maul said.

  “But you said you liked to swim, and you’re just standing there.”

  Maul grimaced. “It’s been a long time. Since I’ve been in water.”

  “Oh.” Kilindi glanced at the shore. “Do you want to go back?”

  “No.” Maul moved his hands back and forth in the water. “I…I like being here.”

  Kilindi lowered her body so just her head and shoulders were above water. “I like it here too. There weren’t any seas like this where I grew up.”

  “I don’t understand,” Maul said. “You are a Nautolan. Your homeworld is Glee Anselm. An ocean planet.”

  “But I didn’t grow up there,” Kilindi said flatly. “You knew that, right?”

  Maul shook his head. Because he had not grown up on Iridonia or Dathomir, he felt foolish for having assumed Kilindi came from her people’s homeworld.

  “I thought it was common knowledge,” Kilindi said. “I’ve heard other cadets talking about it, so you were bound to find out. Before I came to the Academy, I was on Orvax Four. I was a slave.”

  Although slavery was outlawed on Republic worlds, Maul knew that it existed throughout the galaxy. His mind was suddenly filled with many questions about Kilindi’s past, but he said nothing, because he had no reason. He didn’t need his Master to tell him that the girl’s life should not be of any interest to him. And yet he was interested.

  “But all that’s behind me now,” Kilindi continued as she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. “My owners are dead.”

  Without thinking, Maul blurted out, “You killed them?”

  Kilindi lowered her head so she faced Maul again. “Yes. They were a large family. I killed them all.”

  Maul thought, Good.

  “Killing them was easy, but leaving Orvax was hard. Lots of slavers were hunting me. But Master Trezza heard about the killings and…well, he found me before anyone else did. He’s the reason I’m at the Academy. I’m his ward. You knew that, right?”

  “I knew you were Master Trezza’s ward,” Maul said. “That’s all.”

  “So now you know about me. What about you? Where are you from?”

  Maul looked down and watched the water ripple at his fingertips. “I can’t say.”

  Kilindi tilted her head curiously. “Because you can’t say, or because you won’t?”

  “Both,” Maul said, then shook his head. “We can’t talk about…me.”

  Kilindi shrugged, the movement making her head tresses jiggle. “Never mind. I won’t ever ask personal questions again. But I do have some advice for you.”

  Feeling suddenly irritated, Maul said, “Why should I want your advice?”

  “Because I know why you’re making your own wooden spear.”

  That got Maul’s attention. “I’m listening.”

  “Master Trezza invited you to go hunting wild kaabores with him and told you it’s a tradition at Orsis Academy for cadets to make their own wooden spears for their first kaabore hunt. But it’s really a test to see if you’re prepared for the unexpected. I’m guessing he’ll lead you straight to a pack of armored chargrecks. That’s what he did to me on my first hunt. See these scars?” Rising so her upper body was above the water’s surface, Kilindi turned to show Maul the three jagged marks across the back of her left shoulder. “A chargreck did that. Your wooden spear will be useless.”

  Maul eyed Kilindi suspiciously. “Would Master Trezza be very angry with you for telling me this?”

  Kilindi nodded. “Very.”

  “Then why? Why tell me?”

  Kilindi grinned. “Because I’m hoping you will tell me about the look on Master Trezza’s face when you pass his test.” And then Kilindi sent her body backward, sliding into the water and launching away from Maul. She took care not to splash him as she left.

  Maul lowered his body into the water up to his neck, then held his breath and kept his eyes open as he dropped below the surface. He could clearly see Kilindi, illuminated by shafts of sunlight as she undulated past a school of fish. He still hated the waters of Mygeeto, but he decided the sea of Orsis was not entirely unpleasant.

  He thought about what Kilindi had told him. He had been looking forward to his hunting expedition with Trezza, but now, even more so.

  Four days later, Maul was with Trezza in an outback to the north of Orsis Academy when Trezza pointed to the ground and whispered, “Look there. Kaabore tracks, and they’re fresh. I’m guessing there’s one just beyond those trees.”

  Maul shifted his long spear in his hands as he looked toward the trees. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Shall I try flushing it out, Master Trezza?”

  Trezza smiled. “Be my guest.”

  Holding his spear with one hand, Maul moved past the trees, down a short hill, and around some tall shrubby growths before he saw the five armored chargrecks that were waiting for him, just as Kilindi had anticipated. Each chargreck’s body was protected by incredibly strong segmented plates lined with sharp spikes.

  Maul reached to his belt with his free hand and grabbed a small packet.
All the chargrecks hissed and lunged at him at the same time. He threw the packet at them as he flipped backward. He was still arcing through the air as the packet exploded open with a quiet pop and deployed a wide electroshock net. The chargrecks hit the net and were instantly stunned. They thudded to the ground a split second before Maul landed on his feet.

  Maul glanced behind him. No sign of Trezza. He set his spear aside and moved fast. He deactivated the net, which he had taken from the Academy’s munitions room, then bunched it into a tight ball and stuffed it between the branches of one shrubby growth. He gathered his spear, then walked back up the hill and past the trees before he found Trezza. Trezza said, “Find anything?”

  “No kaabore, Master Trezza,” Maul said casually. “Just a few chargrecks.”

  Trezza’s reptilian gaze bore into Maul’s eyes. “Chargrecks? Out here? Are you sure?”

  “I think so, Master Trezza. That is, they looked like chargrecks.”

  “What happened? Did they run away?”

  “Oh, no, Master Trezza.” Maul shifted his spear from one hand to the other. “I killed them. I just didn’t think anything of it because I was looking for a kaabore.”

  Trezza glanced at Maul’s spear and then back at the boy’s face to see if he was lying. Trezza said, “You killed them? With that spear?”

  “No, Master Trezza. I killed them with my hands.”

  Trezza’s nose twitched, and he looked very confused as he said, “You didn’t use the Force. I’d have smelled it on you.”

  “I know you would have, Master Trezza.”

  Maul could hardly wait to tell Kilindi about how he had used the electroshock net, and also about Trezza’s reaction. But he wouldn’t tell her what Trezza had said about the Force. He always kept in mind his Master’s warning, that no one other than Trezza could know about his powers, because if anyone found out…