Shadow Academy

14

Lowie crouched atop the sleeping platform in his own cell, back pressed to the corner, shaggy knees drawn up to his chest. He wallowed in abject misery and self-recrimination; occasionally he let out a groan.

How could he have been so stupid? He had let the riptide of Brakiss’s teaching draw him further and further into his sea of anger until he had been immersed in it, swept away by its current.

Jacen had not given in. And seductive as Brakiss’s teachings were—Lowie refused to think of him as Master Brakiss—Jaina had not succumbed to them either; she had merely stood up and spoken for what she believed.

A growl of self-reproach rumbled deep in his throat. He alone, who had always prided himself on his thoughtfulness—on his dedication to studying, to learning, to understanding—had allowed himself to be influenced by the poisonous teachings. He would have to be more careful in the future. Resist, block out the words.

If Jacen and Jaina could stay strong, then so could Lowie. Jaina had not given up. She said she had a plan, and he would need to be ready to do his part when the time came to escape. Lowie drew comfort from the thought of his friends’ strength. He could resist giving in to his anger. He pounded a furry fist against the wall at his side and bellowed his defiance. He would resist.

As if in response to his challenge, the door slid open and two stormtroopers stepped in, followed by Tamith Kai. Lowie wrinkled his nose, noting something else that had entered his room uninvited: the unpleasant smell that hung about them, an odor of darkness. The stormtroopers each carried an activated stun wand, and Lowie guessed that they expected him to cause further trouble.

“You will stand,” Tamith Kai said.

Lowie wondered whether he dared resist. A prod from one of the stormtroopers’ stun wands answered the question for him.

Tamith Kai’s violet gaze raked up and down Lowie for a moment, and then she blew out a short breath, as if about to start a difficult task that she had set herself.

“You are not yet skilled in the ways of the Force,” she said, not unkindly, “yet you have the capacity for great anger.” She nodded with approval. “This is your greatest strength. I will teach you now to draw upon that anger, to bring forth your full power in the Force. You will be surprised at how it will accelerate your learning.”

She turned to the stormtroopers. “Remove his belt.”

Lowie put a protective hand to the glossy braids that encircled his waist and crossed over his shoulder. He had risked his life to acquire these fibers from the syren plant as part of his rites of passage into Wookiee adulthood; then he had painstakingly woven them into a belt that symbolized his independence and self-reliance.

He opened his mouth to snarl an angry objection but stopped short, realizing that this was exactly the response Tamith Kai hoped for—to goad him into anger. He would not be so easily fooled this time. He stood, resolute and passive, while the stormtroopers removed the precious belt.

She motioned for him to precede her from the room. One of the stormtroopers administered an encouraging prod. Tamith Kai’s smile mocked Lowie. “Yes, young Wookiee,” she said, “your anger shall be your greatest strength.”

They led him to a large, unfurnished chamber. Bright orange and red light glared down from unfiltered glowpanels set into the ceiling. The chilled air stank of metal and sweat. When the door slid shut with a hiss and a clang, Lowie looked around. He was completely alone.

Lowbacca stood waiting for what seemed like hours, alert, prepared for whatever Tamith Kai might use to provoke him. His golden eyes roved the blank walls with suspicion.

Nothing happened.

As he waited, the lights in the room seemed to glow brighter, the air to turn colder. Finally, he sat down with his back pressed to one wall, still wary, still watching.

Nothing.

After a long time, Lowie straightened up with a jerk, realizing that he had been about to doze off. He eyed the walls again, looking for any changes, and found himself wishing for even the annoying Em Teedee to keep him awake—and to keep him company.

Sound exploded in Lowie’s head, high-pitched and excruciating, awakening him from a fitful sleep. Garish lights flashed overhead, blinding in their intensity. Lowie sprang to his feet.

Trying to focus his eyes, he looked around for the source of the siren and pressed his hands over his ears, groaning in pain. But he could not block out the sound that sliced into his brain as a laser would slice into soft wood.

Without warning, all sound ceased, leaving a vacuum of silence. The glowpanels stabilized, returning to their former level of brightness.

Tamith Kai’s face appeared behind a broad transparisteel panel in the wall that Lowie had not noticed before. Still groggy from his interrupted sleep, Lowie threw himself against the panel in frustration. Tamith Kai’s pleased chuckle sobered him instantly. “A fine start,” she said.

Lowie backed into the center of the room and sat down, wrapping his long hairy arms around his legs, afraid to make any further response lest he lose his temper again.

Her taunting voice echoed through the empty chamber. “Oh, we are far from finished with our lesson, Wookiee. You will stand.”

Lowie pressed his forehead to his knees, refusing to look at her, refusing to move.

“Ah,” the voice continued, “perhaps it is for the best. The fire of your anger will burn brighter the more fuel I add.”

The high-pitched sound drilled into his brain again, and flashing lights assaulted his eyes. Lowie concentrated, focused his mind inside himself. He mutely endured.

The lights and sound ceased as a heavy black object fell from an access hatch onto the floor beside him. Deep in concentration, Lowie didn’t flinch, but he looked up to see what it was.

“This is a sonic generator,” Tamith Kai’s rich, deep voice announced. “It produces the lovely music you’ve been enjoying today.” An undercurrent of cruel amusement rippled through her words. “It also contains the high-intensity strobe relay for the glowpanels. To complete your lesson for the day, all you need do is destroy the sonic generator.”

Lowie looked at the boxy object: it measured less than a meter to a side, was made of a dull burnished metal with rounded edges and corners, and had no handholds whatsoever. He reached for it.

“Rest assured,” Tamith Kai’s voice came again, “even a full-grown Wookiee cannot lift it without using the Force.”

Lowie tried to heft the object, found that she was correct. He closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing on the Force, and tried again. The generator hardly budged. Lowie shook his head in confusion. The weight itself, or the objects size, should not have mattered, he told himself. Perhaps, he reasoned, he was just too tired. Or perhaps Tamith Kai was using the Force to hold it down.

“Think, my young Jedi,” Tamith Kai chided. “You cannot expect to lift the heaviest object with your weakest muscles.”

Lights flashed again, and a dagger of sound pierced his ears. But only for a moment.

“Do not keep your anger pent up,” Tamith Kai’s voice continued as if there had been no interruption. “You must use it … release it. Only then can you set yourself free.”

Lowie recognized what she was doing, and the knowledge gave him strength. He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and concentrated, prepared to resist the lights and sound.

But he was not prepared for what followed.

From all sides, jets of icy water exploded from the walls, buffeting him with bruising force. He was drenched and shivering, but still the high-pressure streams pummeled him, invaded him. The prying liquid forced itself up under his eyelids, inside his ears and mouth, and streamed down his body, chilling him to the bone.

As unexpectedly as it had begun, the watery attack ended. Shuddering convulsively from the cold, Lowie looked down to find himself ankle-deep in water that was barely warmer than glacial runoff. Anger welled up within him, but he suppressed it, let it flow out of him as the water had streamed down his body. He tried instead to shift the sonic generator again, but to no avail.

As if Lowie’s effort had triggered it, the sonic generator began a fresh assault on his senses, strobing the glowpanels and flooding the room with high-pitched wailing until Lowie feared he would drown in it.

Instead, he concentrated on thoughts of his friends Jacen and Jaina. He would be strong.

When the generator paused, more fists of freezing water pounded him again from all sides.

How long these tortures alternated, Lowie could not say. After a time, it seemed his life had always been a litany of lights, sound, water, lights, sound, water …

And still he did not give in to his anger.

By the time Tamith Kai spoke to him again, he was curled into a tight, freezing ball of soggy misery, perched directly on the sonic generator in an effort to bring feeling back to his numb legs and feet.

“You have the power within you to end your ordeal,” her voice said with mock pity. “Alas, young Jedi, fortitude is only admirable when it gains you something.”

Lowie did not raise his head or acknowledge her words.

“You cannot help yourself in this way. You cannot help your friends. Your friends have already learned the truth of my words,” she went on.

Lowie’s head snapped up, and he voiced a growl of disbelief.

“Ah, but it is true,” she said, a note of encouragement in her voice. “Would you like to see them?”

Before he could utter a bark of agreement, a pair of holographic images spun in the air before his eyes. One showed Jacen wielding a lightsaber, a look of fierce enjoyment lighting his young features. In the other Jaina used the Force to toss aside heavy objects, her head thrown back with a challenging grin.

Lowie reached toward the luminescent images with a yelp of stunned disbelief—and fell face-first into the icy water that covered the floor. He hauled himself back to his feet, and the sonic generator resumed its torturous whine.

From deep within him, horror mixed with rage and a sense of betrayal, fanning the embers that had smoldered for so long. Flames of anger sprang up inside him, warming him with their undeniable heat, rising higher and higher until they burst from his throat in a howl of fury.

And he knew no more.

Lowie woke to restful darkness back in his own cell. The room was warm, and he lay on his sleeping platform covered with a soft blanket. His muscles ached, but he felt well rested. He moved a hand to his waist and found that he was once again wearing his webbed belt.

The voice of Tamith Kai spoke next to him. Lowie was not surprised to find the tall, dark-haired Nightsister standing beside him. In the dim light of the cell’s glowpanels he saw that she held an irregularly shaped metal object.

“You have done well, young Wookiee,” she said.

Lowie gave a sad moan as the memory of what he had done flooded back to him.

“With your anger you succeeded beyond my highest expectations,” Tamith Kai said, looking at him with obvious pride. “As a reward, I’ve brought you back your droid.”

Lowie’s mind faltered with confusion. Should he feel proud of what he had done? Should he be ashamed? He received Em Teedee from Tamith Kai’s hands with relief and clipped the little droid to its accustomed place at his belt.

“You will make a fine Jedi,” Tamith Kai said. She smiled conspiratorially. “After you unleashed your anger, we were unable even to repair the sonic generator, as we have every time before.” And then she swept out of the room, leaving him to his thoughts.

Lowie stood and groaned as his muscles refused to cooperate, and he slumped back onto the sleeping platform.

“Well, if you ask my opinion,” Em Teedee’s thin voice piped up, “you caused a great deal of your own pain through your needless resistance.”

Lowbacca growled a surprised reply.

“Who asked me?” Em Teedee said. “Well, I really don’t know why you should be so upset. After all, you’re here at the Shadow Academy to learn. Why, you’re very fortunate that they’ve taken such an interest in you.

“The Imperials are very perceptive, you know. So perceptive, in fact, that they saw my own potential and have included me in their plans. I am most honored.”

With an uncomfortable suspicion, Lowie barked a question.

“Wrong with me?” Em Teedee asked. “Why, nothing. Quite the contrary. As an expression of their complete confidence in me, Brakiss and Tamith Kai have had my programming enhanced. I feel much better now than I ever have. I am to be an integral part of your instruction here. You must realize that they have only your best interests at heart. The Empire is your friend.”

Lowie made a thoughtful sound as if accepting Em Teedee’s words—and reached down to switch the little droid off.

His head had suddenly become clear. Em Teedee’s words had crystallized something in his mind. He might have given in, but he had not given up. And if he knew anything about Jacen and Jaina, the same was true for them—at least that’s what he would have to hope.