Chapter 15: Breaking Point

Tahu stood on the sands of a far-flung island, flanked by Takanuva, with a fleet of Toa and Order agents at his heels. It was hard to believe that just weeks earlier, he’d been fighting for his life on Daxia. Now he was leading a battalion of every known Toa in the universe as they tracked Makuta’s Rahkshi further and further south. Where they were going, no one knew, but Makuta couldn’t be planning anything good for their destination.

As flying creatures, Rahkshi were notoriously difficult to track. Tahu had assigned every Toa capable of flight to search the skies, looking for sites where they might have landed. He was placing his bets, however, on this island. It was one of the volcanoes that he and Kopaka had quelled a few months ago, and the site of an old Brotherhood ruin. If the Rahkshi had passed through here, they were likely moving down the eastern island chain, and the Toa could save valuable time by narrowing down their search.

“I see them!” Takanuva called out, just as two blurs of motion came speeding towards them. On a dune up ahead, they stopped, revealing two figures: Kopaka Nuva and his new recruit, Chiara.

“Well? What did you see?” asked Tahu.

Chiara stepped down off the dune and handed Tahu a scrap of scorched armor. “They didn’t just pass through,” she said. “They left a rear guard. Of course, they didn’t last long against me and a Toa Nuva.”

Kopaka grunted. “She did all the real work.”

“Excellent!” said Tahu. “Then we know where to start looking. I’ll call back the western scouts immediately.”

“No,” said Kopaka. “That’s what Makuta wants.”

“What? That’s impossible,” said Tahu. “Trinuma did the numbers. That army is nearly all of Makuta’s forces - it’s too big to be some kind of distraction.”

“It’s also too big to require a rear guard,” said Kopaka. “They have us outnumbered; they don’t need to worry about an attack from behind. And there were only two dozen Rahkshi stationed in that ruin, barely enough to pose a threat to more than a few Toa.”

“You don’t mean…” said Tahu, putting the pieces together.

“It’s a false lead,” said Kopaka. “Makuta wants us to waste our time looking for Rahkshi in the eastern chain, but they’re not there. They came here to throw us off the trail, and have been moving down the western chain this whole time.”

“That’s just the kind of trick Makuta would pull,” said Takanuva. “Trust me - I’ve been in his head.”

Tahu frowned. All signs pointed to the eastern chain… but wasn’t that the hallmark of Makuta’s plans? You do what you think is right, and then find out you’ve been playing into his hands the whole time.

“All right,” he said, “I trust your judgment. Onua, relay these orders to the fleet: all ships in the eastern chain pull back, and travel to the western chain. We’ll reconvene off the shores of Artidax.” He turned to Kopaka. “Are you sure you eliminated all the Rahkshi on the island?”

“We cleared out the ruin. I can’t speak for the island.”

“Another order, then. Onua, keep one ship docked on this island, until Kopaka gives the send-off. Takanuva, you’ll stay here with him. I want you to sweep the island. Make sure no Rahkshi escape to warn the army we’re coming.”

He looked to the southwest and grimaced. “This will be Makuta’s last scheme.”

✴        ✴        ✴

Lariska’s last dagger arced gently across the room and sank effortlessly into the wall. With a mighty sigh, she dropped her throwing stance and stalked over to retrieve her daggers. Trinuma had failed to give her a new mission for weeks now. If this keeps up, I’ll start using civilians as target practice. Maybe then I can stop listening to all their useless gossip.

“A Nui-Rama doesn’t buzz on the Tren Krom Peninsula without Stelt hearing about it.” Even under Makuta’s reign, that saying held true. She had heard them whispering behind her back since she arrived. Haven’t you heard? The Shadowed One is dead. Makuta finally got him. Took out half of Xia to kill him; the whole island’s a wasteland.

Everyone seemed to expect Lariska to have some sort of reaction to this news. They must have been terribly disappointed when she simply nodded and returned to her room to practice her aim. If he’s dead - which I very much doubt - then what’s it to me? she mused. Makuta’s reign has changed things. It’s every Dark Hunter for themselves now. She yanked a dagger out of the wall, then whirled around and buried it up to its hilt, as if the wood were her enemy’s flesh. If he’s dead, then Makuta’s only saved me the trouble of killing him!

That was enough practice for the night; time to go up and see what miserable food the shopkeep had been able to smuggle down to the rebels. Lariska sheathed her daggers and darted up the stairs, looking for Trinuma. If there had been a supply shipment, he’d be the first to know.

Something moved in the corner of her eye. She whirled, a dagger already in her fingers, and a terrified Fa-Matoran screamed and ducked. Behind him, there were only the shadows behind the weapon racks, stretched and distorted by the base’s dim light. Lariska scowled at the Matoran and turned away, stalking through the base.

Again! This time, Lariska caught a glimpse: there was a figure moving in the shadows, hugging the wall, moving towards the staircase and the hidden door to the street. As she watched, the silhouette slithered up the stairs and disappeared through the closed door.

Trinuma had forbidden anyone to use that door without clearance, but he was a fool if he thought Lariska was bound by his orders. She slipped it open and crept into the alleys of Stelt, shutting it tight behind her. There - the figure was at the alley’s end, drifting around the corner. Quickly, quietly, Lariska followed, trailing the shadow through the midnight streets.

No small part of her was enjoying this. She hadn’t had such an elusive quarry since that night in Metru Nui… She put that memory out of her mind and darted behind an empty vendor stand, even as the shadow slipped up the street, towards the hill district.

She followed the shadow to one of Stelt’s great mansions. Not a single lightstone was lit; the house was a looming silhouette. The building towered over the garden of stones in its lawn, looking over the market district down below.

Standing on its lawn was the shadow. Now that he stood still, Lariska recognized him, and realized she had known all along. “You could have just spoken to me,” she growled, sheathing her daggers and following Darkness into the mansion. “He ordered you to toy with me, didn’t he? Another one of his little games.”

They moved up a long, sprawling staircase, along a cold, empty hallway, and through a heavy door into a darkened room; a study, perhaps. Darkness melted away as soon as she entered. Though she saw nothing, Lariska could feel a thick carpet beneath her feet, a wooden desk a few steps before her… and the calm, quiet breathing of a figure behind that desk.

“Welcome back, Lariska,” came the Shadowed One’s voice. “I’m sure my return comes as no surprise to you.”

“No pleasure, either,” said Lariska, pacing, as she always did, across the carpet. She stopped when she stepped in a pile of ash. “Why drag me out here in the dead of night?”

“I have a mission for you,” said the Shadowed One. “Perhaps your most difficult yet.”

“I’ve managed everything you’ve thrown at me,” said Lariska. Her pacing had taken her to the side of the room. There was a shelf there, hard and long, filled with stone tablets. “What’s one more mission?”

The Shadowed One laughed softly. “Let me give you a history lesson, Lariska. When Makuta Teridax struck down Mata Nui, he did so from a specific location… from which a single virus could throw the Great Spirit into a deep slumber. But he didn’t find that place himself.”

Lariska crisscrossed the carpet, avoiding the pile of ash, as the Shadowed One continued. “He sought the counsel of Makuta Mutran, who told him where to go, and how to poison the Great Spirit.” Somehow, she could sense the Shadowed One grinning. “Do you know how Makuta Mutran came by that information?”

“If I had to guess,” said Lariska, stretching her arms, “I’d say he tortured one of his subjects for it. But that seems too simple for one of your tales.” She had finished stretching, and now paced up to the front of the desk. “So go ahead… how did Mutran know where it was?”

“Two words,” said the Shadowed One. “Tren Krom.”

Lariska froze. “No.” The darkness seemed to close in around her as she realized what the Shadowed One wanted. “No! You’re not going to get any help from me,” she said, backing away.

“Why, Lariska,” said the Shadowed One, “I’m not asking for much. I just want you to think back, and remember.”

“Find Brutaka. He was there - he’ll know where you need to go.”

“But Brutaka isn’t here,” came the Shadowed One’s voice, echoing through the gloom. “For a precious few moments, Lariska, you had access to all the secrets of the universe.”

Images, feelings, memories were coming back, memories that she had locked away the moment she was off that island. “He saw into your mind, and you saw into his.” Now she could feel the stinging slime where the tendril had grabbed her, and the feeling - the feeling as if the edges of her mind were being burned away…

“I can’t imagine why you would let all of that go to waste,” he insisted, keeping his voice soft. “What are you afraid of, Lariska?”

Lariska cried out and lunged, slamming her dagger into the desk. “You don’t know what I went through!” she hissed. “I don’t think about that island. I’ll go mad if I do.”

She took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t risk your best operative for a fleeting chance of knowledge. You need me. We both know that.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I do need you, Lariska.”

When he spoke again, his voice was deathly soft. “Seize her.”

Four strong arms appeared out of the darkness and grabbed her. She whirled, yanking her good arm free and plunging a dagger into the creature behind her - and again - and again. Three lethal strikes to the torso, but he only grabbed her harder, almost crushing her within his arms. Even now, she couldn’t sense him breathing.

“Your daggers won’t do much against Sentrakh, my dear,” said the Shadowed One. His chair scraped the floorboards as he rose. Somewhere in the shadows, there was the sound of crackling energy. “You’re not familiar with my rhotuka power, are you, Lariska? I do prefer not to use it, but sometimes, circumstances force my hand.”

She struggled, thrashing and kicking with enough force to topple most giants, but Sentrakh held her tight. She felt him dragging her forwards, and latched her foot onto the shelf, trying to resist, but to no avail. Desperately, she sank her teeth into his arm, but he didn’t flinch.

“You’ve made it quite clear that you won’t willingly call on those memories,” said the Shadowed One. “Perhaps you’ll be more forthcoming in an… altered… state of mind.”

The rhotuka spinner let off a flickering orange glow, just enough to see the Shadowed One stepping towards her. Strange shadows danced across his face as he grinned down at her. “Lights out,” he hissed, and the rhotuka struck.