Vengeance - Chronicles of Marna Veign book 2

[4C-696E]

As the subject states, this is book 2 of the Chronicles of Marna Veign, Vengeance. It takes place three months after The Plan for Power. I will warn you up front, this story is not very far along with either planning or writing, but I wanted to go ahead and post some of what I already have. It will take longer to post, as the Plan for Power was nearly done when I started posting, and this one is just starting.

And now, I give you:

The Chronicles of Marna Veign
Book Two:
Vengeance

[4C-696E]

Marna Veign stood in the dungeon cell of an ancient castle. The cell she was in had three walls built of a grey stone, the fourth was made of bars with a door built into it. Rain came down on her through a grate at the top of the dome ceiling. Dirty lake water came in through the barred windows and was starting to rise. Just outside the cell was a table with rusty old keys on it.

Marna walked over toward the keys and reached an arm through the bars. If she could only get the keys, she would be free. Reaching as far as she could, her fingers barely brushed the keys. They were just out of reach. If it wasn’t for her connection to the Force, she would have given up. Instead, she concentrated, then reached her arm out once more. The keys flew into her hand, and she quickly used them to open the cell door. Ignoring the loud squeak of the hinges, Marna ran up the stairs that led out of the dungeon and to freedom.

“Help me! Help!” a familiar voice called out from the dungeon Marna had just left.

Marna stopped and looked back down the stairs. In the seconds it took her to climb the few stairs she had, the dungeon had been plunged into darkness. An eerie red glow lit the area, reflecting off the water, making it appear as blood. Marna ran back down the stairs into the waist-deep water.

“Dayne! Where are you?” she called out.

“Help! Help me!” came the reply.

Marna looked toward the voice. In the dim light, she could see Dayne up to his neck in water. He reached desperately through the bars.

“Help!” he called out again, panic in his eyes.

“I’m coming, Dayne!” Marna cried out to him.

She ran through the water and reached for Dayne, grabbing his sleeve. Dayne grabbed her wrist and held on tight. He stood and the water, the bars between them, everything disappeared except Dayne and Marna. Dayne quickly grabbed Marna’s other wrist so they were facing each other. His grip tightened to the point Marna’s arms started to hurt.

“Dayne, you’re hurting me. Let go.” she told him.

Instead, he smiled an evil smile and his face started to change to that of another. The pressure on her arms changed, and when she looked down at them, she saw something scary. Dayne’s hands were melting into her wrists. She tried to pull away, but couldn’t. When she looked back at Dayne’s face, she found herself looking into the face of Jerill Durrango, the man who had held her captive and nearly turned her to the Dark Side. Marna screamed and struggled to free herself, but the more she struggled, the greater his hold on her.

Marna heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting, and she turned to see the blue blade cutting through the darkness. She called on the Force, calling the lightsaber to her, and the blade flew through the air, cutting Jerill’s arms and freeing Marna from his grasp. Now free, Marna turned and ran blindly. Jerill’s voice cut her to the core.

“You’ll never be rid of me!” his voice rang out after her.

Suddenly, larger than life, Jerill’s face appeared right in front of Marna. She stopped short and tripped, falling into a bottomless abyss. She screamed as she fell.

Marna jolted awake and she found herself safely in her quarters in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She was breathing heavily and was covered in a cold sweat. It took her a moment to realize it was just a dream. But a lot of it came from memories.

Three months earlier on her first mission with Tahsh Hapay, Marna had been abducted and locked in a dungeon in a castle in a lake. The very dungeon cell from her dream. She had been offered freedom if she would only give in to the Dark Side. Jerill used everything to get her to turn, and after announcing that Tahsh had been killed, he nearly won. If Dayne hadn’t been there to help her, she would have fallen. As it was, she held on, and nearly drowned. Dayne, as well as the Jedi Knight Kane Elandin, had rescued her from death in the nick of time. But three months later, she still had an underlying fear of deep water.
Marna stood and walked to the sink in her room. She splashed water in her face to help her more fully wake up.

“I’ve got to figure out how to get over this.” she said to her reflection in the mirror.

Marna got changed into her bathing suit, grabbed a towel, and headed to the pools of the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

[Man in Black]

May 12, 2008 0:33:49 GMT -5 4C-696E said:

she still had an underlying fear of deep water.
Marna stood and walked to the sink in her room. She splashed water in her face to help her more fully wake up.

Fear leads, anger, anger leads hate and hate leads to drowning

Lol, I'm glad the adventures are back 4C! And I'm glad to know somebody else uses the term bathing suit. Everytime I say that Marii laughs at me and tells me I should say swim suit.

[4C-696E]

I've been working hard on it every break at work and have put one section on one page, just to help me be able to rearrange the timing between the heros and villans easier. So far, I've typed up 2 sections, but have written 15 sections. Now working on the first real exciting part of the story, while trying to think of what to do with it after that. ;D

***************************************

Tahsh Hapay sat at a table in the physical therapy area of the infirmary. She held in her disfigured left hand a device that measures grip strength, a brown glove on the table next to her hand. Tahsh had her eye on the reading she was hoping to get this time. For the last couple of months, she’d been determined to get her grip back from when a devil cat on Neuterian had badly injured her left hand. Once the hand had healed enough to stop hurting, she started working on her grip.

Tahsh tightened her grip on the device, squeezing as tight as she could. She looked at the results and was not happy with it. Still not even half way to the goal. She let go of the device and sat back in the seat, feeling defeated. She felt another Jedi enter the room and turned to see Geisha, her good friend and Jedi healer.

“No change since last time?” Geisha asked.

“Nope. No change.” Tahsh stated. “I don’t understand it, Geisha. I’ve been working constantly on getting my strength back in this hand, but however much I work at it, it’s no stronger than it was two months ago.”

“Tahsh, I did tell you that your hand will never get back to normal.” Geisha reminded.

“I can’t even hold my lightsaber in this hand!” Tahsh complained. “Isn’t there anything more I can do to fix that?”

“Short of amputating and replacing with a cybernetic hand?” Geisha asked. She thought a moment. “There may be something. There is a glove available with cybernetic components imbedded into it to help multiply the grip strength of the wearer. We’ll need to special order one made specifically to fit your hand.”

“What needs to be done?” Tahsh asked, very much interested.

“We'll just need to scan your hand and get the order put through.” Geisha replied.

Geisha left the room for a moment and returned with a portable scanner.

“Hold your hand as flat as you can with your fingers spread out.” she instructed.

Tahsh did as she was told, and Geisha passed the scanner over and under her hand. She pressed a few buttons on the scanner, entering some information into it.

“That’s all I need. I’ll get this ordered right away. It should be here by the time I get back from a mission I’m being sent on.” Geisha told Tahsh.

“Thank you, Geisha. This doesn’t mean I’m giving up on my hand.” Tahsh stated.

“It wouldn’t be like you if you did.” Geisha stated. “Of everything you’ve been called, I’ve never heard of you being called a quitter.”

Tahsh’s comlink sounded and Tahsh reached her right arm around to grab it.

“Yes? Tahsh Hapay here.”

“Tahsh Hapay, you and Marna Veign have been summoned by the Jedi Council. Please find your apprentice and report to the Jedi Council Room.”

“Acknowledged. We’ll be there as soon as I find her.” Tahsh replied, ending the communication.

Tahsh reached out in the Force through the newly formed connection she had with Marna and realized she was in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

“Let me know when the glove arrives.” Tahsh requested.

“Will do.” Geisha replied.

Tahsh nodded and put the brown glove on her left hand. She then left to get Marna.

[glow=red,2,300]1, 2[/glow]

[Man in Black]

Man, I need one of those gloves, or two of them actually.

[4C-696E]

I've been working a bunch on this story on my breaks at work, but haven't taken the time yet to type it up. I wanted to just let you know that I'm still working on Vengeance.