Chapter Six

If Makuta was at all rattled by his fierce battle with Karzahni, he didn’t show it. Nor had he displayed any particular emotion when he and Matoro had met with Makuta Icarax, who had brought the Staff of Artakha to the waters above the Pit. He had simply taken the object from his fellow Brotherhood member and dismissed Icarax with a nod. Now he and Matoro stood over the shadowed remains of Toa Tuyet’s armor. A single fragment of the Nui Stone gleamed in the darkness.

“That is all the staff needs,” said Makuta quietly. “One piece, and its power will recreate the stone as it once was.”

“And what good will that do you?” asked Matoro. “What do you plan to do with it?”

“Very well, my curious little Toa,” Makuta replied. “Think on this. Tuyet, and later Nidhiki, were not the only Toa to ever turn bad. And if the next one should happen to fall under my sway, well, what better than to use the Nui Stone to increase his power a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold; imagine an all-powerful Toa at my command, wiping your kind from the face of this planet.”

Makuta aimed the Staff of Artakha at the Nui Stone fragment, and triggered its power. Slowly the pieces of the stone began to float through the water, drifting toward each other, joining together for the first time in a thousand years.

“I can’t let you do this!” yelled Matoro, charging forward.

Makuta waved his hand and a stasis field froze the Toa of Ice.

“And I can’t let you stop me,” said Makuta. “No one can stop me now.”

A blast of sheer, raw power struck the master of shadows squarely in the back. Makuta staggered, dropping the staff.

“Who dares?” he snarled.

“In my time, I’ve dared lots of things. Maybe too many things,” came the reply. “I fell a long way from the light, and I can never find my way back.”

Makuta whirled. Hovering in the water was Brutaka, former guardian of the Mask of Life, now mutated prisoner of the Pit. Wisps of energy were still drifting from his open hand. His body had changed, twisted spikes now jutting out of his armor, and what looked like a long dorsal fin running down his back. Brutaka stood, ready for battle.

“But the darkness is not so complete that I can’t recognize a monster when I see one.”

Makuta hurled a blast of shadow energy at Brutaka. The warrior sidestepped and dove past Makuta, snatching up the Staff of Artakha, even as he shouted, “Botar!”

Events happened quickly then. The Order of Mata Nui agent known as Botar appeared suddenly in the midst of battle, taking the staff from Brutaka. He spared a moment for a nod of thanks to his former teammate before vanishing once more.

“It’s gone,” Brutaka said to Makuta. “The staff is gone where you cannot reach it. You’ve lost.”

“If I have lost the staff, you are about to lose everything,” said Makuta.

Brutaka did not tremble at the threat, or back away. Instead he just laughed — a long, hard laugh with a little trace of madness in it. “You seem to have me mistaken,” he said, “for someone who has anything at all left to lose.”