Chapter Eighteen
Anakin woke up slowly. He tried to rub the goose egg he could already feel forming on his head only to find that he couldn't because his hands were tied together. He tried to do something, anything, but it seemed like the concussion was messing with his powers. "Shit." Anakin groaned. From what he could tell he was in some sort of basement.
"Arrgh, where are we?" Newt groaned. He too also tried to rub his head but quickly discovered that his hands were also tied together.
"I don't know." Anakin said and took a more careful look at the basement that they woke up in. And then Anakin stilled. There was an altar in the middle of the room and lit candles around the perimeter but that wasn't what made him pause. It was the banner that hung above the altar. More specifically it was the symbol on the banner.
It was then that they heard the basement door creak open and footsteps, slow and heavy on the stairs. "Well, well, well. I see that my lovely guests have woken up." The killer crooned in delight.
"If you would call people you knocked over the head and tied up in your basement guests." Anakin spat.
"Anakin." Newt said warily.
"Ohh don't worry Newt. I'm not going to kill you, well not yet at least." The killer smirked and circled Anakin and Newt predatorily. "I have plans for you yet."
"And what plans would those be?" Anakin asked slowly. He already had a pretty good idea based on the decor but he had to know for sure.
"Normally I wouldn't tell you Jedi scum anything, but since you'll be dead soon, it doesn't really matter now does it?" He said as he idly twirled his knife.
"Jedi?" Newt asked in confusion.
"What do you know about the Jedi?" Anakin asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He said cheerily.
"I would have thought that you would know the answer to that question. I did make sure to put a lot of thought into the decor." He gestured grandly to the banner in the middle of the room.
"I don't know what you've heard, but I'm not one of the Jedi. Not anymore. I escaped." Anakin said. "And Newt has nothing to do with any of this."
"I don't understand any of this." Newt interjected but Anakin and the killer ignored him.
"You should know as well as I do that that doesn't mean anything to the Sith." He smiled darkly.
"Sith?" Newt asked in growing confusion.
"But don't worry," He smiled sharply. "That won't be a concern of yours soon enough."
"What are you going to do to us?" Anakin asked.
"Oh? I thought I already said. I'm going to murder you in a ritual that will allow the Sith to finally destroy the Jedi." He sing-songed. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I do have somethings to take care of before the sacrifice." And with that he spun around and skipped back up the steps and slammed the door behind him.
"Anakin," Newt whispered. "What is going on? What's the Jedi and Sith?"
"Cults." Anakin answered shortly.
"Cults?" Newt repeated.
"I grew up in one. It's how I lost my hand. Padmé got pregnant and that's when I decided I couldn't stay with the Jedi anymore. I don't know much about the Sith, but they are basically the 'evil' counterpart of the Jedi." Anakin explained.
"What does he want with us?" Newt asked in confusion. "I know that he wants to sacrifice us. But why us?"
"There is one ritual I heard about when I was very young. It is supposed to give the Sith the power of the Force and make them powerful enough to destroy the Jedi. I think it required a Jedi and someone innocent in the ways of the world, but it could not be a child." Anakin replied.
"Me? I'm the innocent?" Newt asked with a kicked puppy look.
"Do I really need to answer that?" Anakin asked.
"What do we do?" Newt asked.
"I'm working on it." Anakin sighed.
"I believe in you." Newt smiled brightly.