Blood-Sport

[Darth Callidus]

The Cauldron of Rattatak (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cauldron) was abandoned, an empty monument to the battles of days gone by. The bleached bones of the defeated that littered the pit had long since been picked clean and discarded by scavengers. Yet, something had drawn the carrion crows back and they wheeled over head, cawing out their demands for flesh.

The crowds did not hold the only vigil on the Cauldron. The viewing boxes, once crowded with up-jumped generals and war barons from the Outer Rims, were almost empty – save for two distinguished visitors. They looked down on the empty stands, where an audience of thousands could have sat, and the empty pit, where hundreds of warriors had given their lives in the name of entertainment.

Without turning towards his apprentice, Darth Callidus spoke.

“She's here.”

[Baska Tankreyd]

When Baska had received a message from Darth Callidus to meet at the Cauldron of Rattatak, which had sounded more like a summon, Baska had accepted it. She was curious as to what would unfold there, but she was a woman of her word and she had told her fellow Sith Master that she would be available, should he have needs of her abilities and knowledge. She had heard of this place on Rattatak but had never gone there before. There was a first time for everything in this galaxy and it had piqued her curiosity.

The blonde (http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/38200000/lagertha-season-3-lagertha-lothbrok-38234296-4912-7360.jpg) felt the faint echoes from the past as her footsteps led her into the arena, some were still vigorous and it made her smile as she fed off of them. Licking her lips, she then looked into the direction of the two strong auras in the area. One she recognized, the other was unknown to her. She pressed on to make her way across the remains of an older age litering the ground, her blue eyes eventually found her newfound ally and his companion.

[Darth Anxia]

The dry winds of Rattatak blew in through the open viewing box stirring the dark hood pulled low over the eyes of the seated Sith. So far their only companions had been the occasional distant squeak of rodents, and the ghosts of slain warriors of old. No apparitions had yet appeared carrying their severed heads or anything so macabre as that. Yet, there was a sense of it in the air all the same. From the bones that littered the dusty surface of the arena alone, the place qualified as a mass grave, as well as a sporting venue. Blood and pain had been bought and sold here. Entertainment.

There had been a time, when she had been a young woman in the bosom of her own biological family, when she had longed to be put loose into such mayhem. Her skill with a blade, her speed and accuracy, had made her a challenge. She had been frequently put on display, each time she started to hate it more. Being their polite entertainment. The princess with a sword! She had fantasized about flicking her blade a few inches to the side, spilling red blood upon black sand. About suddenly swinging her sword right through a throat, cleaving the head and tossing it at her father. Behind the mask, she now smiled at the memory. That was how she had met him. Her eyes, distinctive even in the shadows, slid toward her master's voice.

Within moments, she was visible, crossing the arena toward them. She was obviously as aware of them as they were of her. Anxia did not know yet what to make of this woman. She was not so eager to have another repeat of the debacle of her master's former apprentice. His gods damned Hammer. Violet eyes narrowed.

Still, Creas had been, and remained, her worthy sister. Perhaps...

"I can't wait."

[Darth Callidus]

Rising from the cracked stone chair, the masked Sith Lord paced towards the viewing window. His eyes were fixed on the figure in the distance, a ghost of the past made into flesh. A long, long time ago, he stood where Baska was now, awaiting - whether she realised it or not - a similar fate.

"My apprentice, Anxia."

As the Force carried his words to Baska's ears, Callidus gestured for his most faithful apprentice to join him.

"Indulge me, Baska... and test her skills."

[Baska Tankreyd]

Baska's eyes remained fixated on the duet of Dark Siders. She nodded towards the other woman as Callidus made the introductions. When he expressed his interest in her testing his apprentice's skills, she was curious about how far the woman had been trained. For sure, she expected to have a well educated opponent in this. And the thought of testing this woman through duel was an opportunity whose sound she liked.

Her hand rested on her unsheathed sword. While she had built herself a lightsaber many years ago, she was mostly seen traveling the galaxy with her regular weapon, one she had claimed from an old site when she was only a Sith cub in a manner of speaking. She had her lightsaber on her person and knew that this duel would embrace many aspects of combat and character skills, but for now, she would stick to her sword.

Without a word, for she spoke only when needed, she beckoned the other woman to join her in the arena, right before she freed her weapon and held it in her hand, ready for whatever would come.

[Darth Anxia]

Baska..

Anxia looked down on the woman, from her position in the box above. She seemed ready to comply with the request from Callidus, that was something. It seemed she would get her wish after all, this Cauldron would sing with battle once more.

There was no reason to hide in this company. Bracing one gloved hand on the edge of the box, Anxia vaulted right over the side unconcerned about the considerable drop. The Dark side pulsed. The wind kicked up, in sync with her fall, spiral plumes of dust rising up across the sand covered surface. The Sith Knight floated to the ground, her boots touching down without a sound. She drew her sword from her left hip in a right handed grip. Before she moved another step, she turned back toward the box and bowed.

Then to this.. Baska, she did not bow, but she did incline her head politely to the woman. She could sense that this was not going to be the easy prey she had faced before. Her power ebbed and flowed, though Anxia sensed it was powerful beyond the control she maintained presently. Her master had found a worthy test..

Inspired, she proceeded stalking forward. Her blade swinging upward in a two-handed grip, bringing with it the lash of stinging sand for the woman's face. There were no rules in this arena..

[Baska Tankreyd]

While Baska could relish in vicious blood spelling and intense torture of her victims, she tended to distabilize them with how still she could be, as she was now. Her focus was on Anxia, taking in every piece of information the woman's movements and aura could give her. A - well trained - predator by nature, the blonde knew the importance of observation and timing.

She admired the fluidity of movement her opponent displayed and knew that it was likely one of her strengths. Baska looked as if she wasn't going to react to Anxia's approach, but nothing could have been more far from the truth.

Blinking and using the Force to prevent the sand from blinding her, she raised her blade in a mirror two-handed grip, to block Anxia's. But her true attack was how she lashed out tendrils of dark energy on the other Sith's mind, wanting to tear it apart from inside.

[Darth Anxia]

Anxia had known going in that it would not be easy. Baska had remained distractingly still, but it was clearly part of her strategy. She was prepared for any eventuality in a battle of weapons, the sudden attack of the Dark side upon her mind however she was less prepared for.

Retaining the sword in her right hand, two fingers of her left hand rose to her temple instinctively. As though, the contact there would compel her brain to work harder to resist the intrusion. As though, it would help at all. She did not cry out, but the compulsion to do so was there. Pain assaulted her, but far more distressing was the battering ram of the woman's will as it seemed intent upon ripping all of her mental shields down, discovering her inner most thoughts.

No.

You cannot. You will not.

The shields of her mind were thrown up with renewed vigor. No imagery of a solid stone wall to protect her secrets. No iridescent bubble surrounding her consciousness. There was simply blackness.. A shroud, chilling as the bones upon the ground.

Her thrust followed through, connecting with Baska's block, but Anxia would not be stopped. Her body was under the direction of the Dark side, it guided her lithe form in it's dance. The muscles of her wrist rotating, pressing forward eagerly. She slid her weapon against the length of the other woman's sword, metal singing against metal, before she slammed hard against it once more, intent upon knocking it away and punching the ancient metal through the blonde's flesh.

[Baska Tankreyd]

When Anxia raised her mental shields and all she met was darkness, Baska felt her vigor renewed. This was so much better to work with to the Sith assassin than some imaginary walls to tear down. This woman had skills and she liked that. It made her more eager to push harder and in cleverly devious ways.

Though she didn't lash out mentally for a few moments, focusing on the physical aspect of their fight, finding that on this ground, Anxia's style while more elegant than her own, was complimentary. There was some uncanny dance at play and Baska appreciated that as she parried the next blow, before countering it with a feint lunge that turned into an upward blow aimed at the other Sith's chest.

In the meantime, she was weaving another mental jab, one she crafted from her knowledge of Darth Callidus, both recent and from the past. She directed the illusion of a hint of a dark laugh coming from Anxia's master, filling the illusion with vibrating doubt. She knew little of Anxia, but she didn't think the other woman wished to be badly seen by her Master.

[Darth Callidus]

High above, the Sith Lord was a silent sentinel. His masked face was impassive as he watched the two women come to blows, but beneath the mask his mind was anything but still. His senses stretched out across the length and breadth of the Cauldron, feeling the ebb and flow of the Dark Side.

[Darth Anxia]

Her sword moved as an extension of her own arm, far too well trained to be done in by a clever feint. Anxia moved as someone who had choreographed this entire battle herself and already knew just when to bend like a bow, gracefully arching her body backward to avoid a horizontal slash aimed for her armored ribs. Just where to step to give herself the advantage, pivoting on the booted balls of her feet like the most renowned ballerina of the Coruscanti Opera.

The second blast of mental attack was far stronger than the first. More personal this time, designed just for her.

How sweet. Behind her mask, Anxia gritted her teeth in unamused agitation.

Unfortunately for Baska, Anxia knew her master too well to be fooled. It might have misled someone else, but not her. Not when the sound of her master's voice was sufficient to heat the blood in her veins, just from thoughts of their passion alone. From this mimicry of a laugh, she felt absolutely nothing.

She dared much, this vixen..

"Get... out of my..head." Anxia fought back, once again regaining control of her own mind, wresting it back from Baska, but it was only her second attack and already her head felt like it might explode with pressure.

Unwilling to be so quickly bested, her footwork became more aggressive, pushing forward relentlessly. The sound of metal striking hard against metal rang through the otherwise deserted arena. Her attacks came swift and fast, a series of strong X's backing her opponent where she wanted her. When she was presented with the next forward lunge of Baska's weapon, Anxia jumped above the strike, landing atop the flat of the blade, the embrace of the Dark side making her feather light. For the space of a heartbeat, she remained there, the expression in her violet eyes clearly one of amusement, and then she used the blade to spring above her opponent, flipping to land on the arena's steps, just behind her.

[Baska Tankreyd]

This woman was good, really good. Baska marveled at the existing skills and all the potential her opponent possessed. It must be a wondrous experience to mold and shape such dark material. She could see why Callidus trained her. Such qualities weren't so often found in the galaxy. The blonde hadn't taught any apprentice over the years. She had examined and tested a few potentials, but their remains had littered petty grounds when they hadn't proven worthy of her.

When the other woman fought back and showed difficulty moreso with the mental attacks than the physical ones, the Sith Master was delighted. While her combat profficiency could keep up with Anxia's, her mental vices and weapons were her favorite ways to play and assess dominion over another being. Anxia's pain rippling through the threads of energy tying the fighters together was like a delicious meal to the blonde.

She chose to keep up with the masked Sith as they carried on with a more physical time in their fight. On that ground, their moves were quite synched and it added to her positive view on Anxia's skills, because the Master knew she was quite the sword-wielder.

The moment Anxia used her sword to propel herself into the stands, Baska saw the perfect opening for her next vicious assault. She had noted how illusions didn't work so well with the woman, but it allowed her to go for some of her favorite games of grab and pull, messing with one's emotions.

She could have moved up quickly to join Anxia up in the stands, but she took her time. Not out of fear, but so she could pluck at the woman's pain and press with the Dark Side into her psyche, pushing her mind to a breaking point.

[Darth Anxia]

Anxia knew it was coming this time, but preparation did not necessarily make it any easier to defend against. The mental attacks from Baska came more relentlessly as their fight went on. Anxia was clearly weakening each time she defended against one, but her opponent showed no such signs of tiring. It infuriated her, made her continue to push herself even though she knew she was not going to win. Baska had obviously been training longer, and had acquired access to more skills in that span of time than she had. She had so many questions, but they were of no importance now. All that mattered was this test..

She was not going to go down easily.

Her left hand shot forward, heel first. It was as though a a giant unseen hand had plunged down violently into the dark, still pool of the Dark side of the Force. Instantly, the steps below the one Anxia stood upon began to crumble and shift away, providing nothing but a slope of unstable shifting rock for Baska to traverse.

[Baska Tankreyd]

Anxia was strong and creative, qualities that the Sith Master valued a lot. In a sea of weaklings plaguing the galaxy, including treacherous so-called followers of the Dark Side, finding people who had true potential and knew how to wield it was a breath of fresh and deviant air to the blonde.

She felt her opponent's pain and it drew her to hit even more vigorously. She lashed out, tendrils of evil energy piercing into Anxia's mind as she pushed forward. She had noted that the other woman favored aerial fighting and was good at telekinesis, so she knew that her slow approach would probably earn her traps and tricks but she was prepared. She hadn't been a prominent bounty hunter for years before becoming an accomplished Sith to fall prey so easily.

When nothing stable allowed her to progress, she quickly leaped to another area of the stands. It gave Anxia a brief respite from the mental attacks, because the blonde wasted no time and shifted gears, strongly pulling the other woman with ferocious use of the Force to her, weapon ready to pierce her or parry a blow.

[Darth Anxia]

The reprieve from the mental attacks alerted Anxia to the probability that this was a precursor to something else. Some other attack, and she was not disappointed. She could feel the cold embrace of the Dark side as it churned in her guts, a split second before she was torn forward toward Baska.

Anxia had an answer for that too. She did not resist the pull forward, but used it, readying her weapon to skewer right through the blonde and spill her blood upon the stands if she could. The thought brought a flicker of disappointment to her violet eyes. She had begun to appreciate the challenge of the woman. Her ability to puncture a mind and fill it with pain and fear was considerable. It would have been a privilege to learn not only to protect herself against such attacks, but also how to inflict them with such mastery.

She was actually relieved when her tactic was anticipated, and the fight once more resumed.

How about that?

Still unwilling to be defeated so quickly, Anxia worked to keep the fight playing to her own strengths, while being alert for further attacks on her mind. Recovering her footing, she immediately pressed forward with increasingly strong swings of her sword. The weapon growled, she could sense it's want to be sated, it's disappointment when it made contact with another blade, and not the flesh it so expertly sought. It was there in the vibrations of rage running up the blade, feeding it's own hunger, and Anxia's as well..

[Baska Tankreyd]

Her opponent was a remarkable duelist but she hadn't survived as long as she had without being used to fight against all kinds of opponents, many having sought to take her life for diverse reasons. So far, her blood hadn't spilled and she wasn't planning on letting that happen.

She could have relied on another mental lashing but truth was she embraced the sword fight and loved the physicality of it. Part of her wanted to observe how experienced the other woman was. She was curious about her and through her Callidus's hand was also studied. The Master's influence always reverberated through the students, magnified by a true potential such as Anxia.

Mokosh carried on, combat becoming more and more in sync as their blades clashed against one another, footing continuing in the stands. It had been a while since she had dueled such an inspiring fighter and she wasn't going to deprive herself from the dark pleasure and deadly dance.

Her own style was far less elegant than Anxia's but she didn't care. There was poise in the other woman just as there was a primal predator in her. She kept pushing back, using every opening she could to see how good Anxia was.

[Darth Anxia]

Against any other near-human duelist, Anxia was the best. The privilege of having trained with bladed weapons from her childhood gave her perfect form, but the privilege of the Force gave her much more. Her speed. Her accuracy. Her precognition arranging her footwork for her, steps ahead of any opponent. Such skills were not negated by the opponent being another gifted with the Force, but it did tend to give them the same sort of advantages, making her adjust her strategy accordingly. It was no longer merely a matter of disarming someone, or striking first blood. Her own defense must also be taken into account. There was a certain element of danger, even when sparring against someone she trusted, her sister Creas, or their master. Each time she knew there was always risk, but it did not hinder her. It excited her. The fear of failure, the threat of pain..

Beneath the mask, she bit her lip and continued the fight, wondering if she gripped the Sith sword, or if it were she held in it's grip. A bit of both she decided. A symbiosis.

It became apparent that even though Baska did not have the perfection of form hammered into Anxia, she was no less a solid fighter for it. What she lacked in effortless precision, she made up for with strength and viciousness. It was going to come down to one of them tiring, or someone making a mistake..

[Baska Tankreyd]

The thrill of danger was exhilarating and she couldn't deny how seductive it always was. She had made mistakes during her life, during her training. She had bled and screamed in pain and anguish. It was why she was so strong and had ascended as she had. Being a predator ready to do whatever it took to take down a prey was her way of life. It also made her prone to admire qualities in a challenging prey, such as Anxia.

She knew that mistakes weren't options right now. In the end, they never were, even when they could turn into lessons.

She had already lashed out mentally against her fellow Sith, and she would have to do it again, but in a more visceral and painful way. She kept parrying all the dangerous and expert blows Anxia was giving. She kept up with her as she was digging deep into her soul, ripping her heart open again in a way that always flooded her with primal pain.

Feeling the torrent of pain crushing her and sharpening her senses and power, she suddenly threw it all at Anxia. While there was no way for the brunette to exactly know what the source was, the pain of loss and excruciating dolor went beyond anything that the Master had previously unleashed at the other woman.

[Darth Anxia]

Anguish.

That the pain was not her own did not escape Anxia's notice. She knew that what she was experiencing was yet another example of Baska's Darkside mastery. It mattered little. It was as good as her own in that moment. Some level of personal hell was being inflicted upon her, courtesy of the other woman. The vault doors of her mind began to splinter. Not yet enough to let anything come spilling out, but it was only a matter of time. For now, it was just enough to let that foreign influence in.

Suddenly every private fear she'd ever had was displayed in brilliant detail before her eyes, bleeding into the reality of the arena.

Her sword arm gave a telling, unsteady, swing.

The loss of everything she'd ever cared for, but worse.. just how simple for it to all come toppling down. One little slip and she could lose Hapes. What would that cost her? In a panic her eyes left the fight she should have been focusing on. Ready to turn and start explaining herself for how she has lost control of the Consortium. Her words fell upon ears deafened to excuses. What a complete disappointment. She who never failed had lost him everything. Battles raged. Her daughter was dead in her arms...

A cry like a wounded animal escaped her. It was a sound she'd never heard from herself, and that too frightened her.

She went down to a knee. One last twitch of her sword, an instinct perhaps of her arm, or of the weapon more likely. Even it was disappointed.

[Darth Callidus]

In decades gone by, the Cauldron would have roared in replied to Anxia's cry of pain. The masters of the fighting pit would profit nothing from the survival of the defeated. Watching from his position above the fight, Darth Callidus could almost hear the ghosts of the past, whispering their demands for bloody judgment: kill her... kill her... kill her. The Sith Lord tipped his head back, regarding his apprentice. Behind his mask, he licked his lips and tasted the fear, the desperation, in the air.

"Enough."

There was no urgency in Callidus's movements as he left the viewing box. The Sith Lord seemed almost to ooze down the tiered seating, dark and viscous, like boiling tar. When he reached the floor of the fighting pit, he stood beside Anxia's kneeling form.

"You are a formidable warrior, Qadira."

[Baska Tankreyd]

Her own pain that she had unleashed as a torrent of carnage and despair intertwined with the fierce anguish that plagued her opponent. Darth Mokosh bathed into it, reminiscing of the path she had embarked upon following her world turning to ashes. She had been a dark phoenix resurrecting into a deadlier predator. Smarter, stronger, she had never regretted taking the turn she had fallen head first into. The pain was still searing and a potent reminder of what being Sith meant, and she held it deep as a true gem of power.

And then acute perception and command collapsed into a single decision. She felt it, and it fueled her own pain. There was more than Anxia’s pain that lashed at her. The other woman was pregnant. She felt the glimpse of growing life. She lowered her own arm, a millisecond after Anxia fell to the ground. The split instant before Callidus told her to stop; she had made the same decision. Mokosh would go to the most vicious and bloody length to achieve her goals, but she would not harm a growing life. If things had been different, she would have maimed her opponent and carrier of life, but she would not harm the fetus.

She returned to a stoic stance, bowing her head to Callidus’s praise as he stood by the other woman’s side. She kept her understanding to herself.

Blue eyes remained on the other Sith, awaiting whatever may come next.

[Darth Anxia]

The anguish did not abate right away. It disoriented Anxia, but in that moment there was simply nothing she could do about it.

And she hated it.

Weak. Pathetic.

Tremors still rocked through her, each one carrying, contained in it's shiver, a fresh wave of unpleasant sensation. Paranoia most prevalent among them now. She sensed her master close, but with the foreign influence of the other Sith still fresh in her mind, she couldn't say what his intentions were. Fear taunted her telling her to prepare herself, she had just quite neatly been replaced with a superior apprentice. Maybe her bones would be found at the bottom of a cliff too?

Her stomach soured, gloved fingertips clawed through the dirt and grime, forcing herself to get it together. If she were going to be replaced, he'd have let Baska finish her off, surely. No. Had he stopped her...? Or had Baska stopped herself? Right now, she couldn't be sure of anything.

Her unsteady form arranged itself into a less ignoble position, though she did not rise.