Jedi Quest 0: Path to Truth (star wars) Page 3

  Something was different this time. Qui-Gon's eyes were not filmed with pain. They were clear. They were holding a message. A warning. A plea. Obi- Wan did not know, "What is it, Master? What are you telling me?"

  Qui-Gon shook his head helplessly. His hand trembled as he reached out to Obi-Wan. His fingers could almost touch Obi-Wan's tunic. As they came closer, the image dissolved into shimmering sparks of light.

  Obi-Wan was so shaken he fell to his knees as Qui-Gon had. He felt the dampness of his cheeks, marked by tears. He had been given a message, but he could not decipher it.

  All he knew was that he had just faced his greatest fear. Since Qui- Gon's death, he had been afraid that he would let down Qui-Gon even as he struggled to uphold his legacy. Was Qui-Gon warning him that he was in danger of failing, after all?

  Chapter 3

  Visions and voices. Shadows and echoes. What was so hard about this?

  Anakin strode confidently into the depths of the cave. Jedi appeared and disappeared. Voices murmured at him to retreat, that he did not want to face what he had come to face. That despite his connection to the Force, he would never be a true Jedi.

  Anakin shook off the voices. He knew the differences between things he could fight and things he could not. Why be afraid of shadows?

  Then he stopped dead. He saw himself.

  He was seven or eight years old and wore the rough garments of a slave. He sat in a corner by the cave wall, tinkering with an unseen object. Anakin heard the sound of a bell. A musical sound, light and pleasing.

  Suddenly, the bell rolled directly toward him. He flinched and it stopped at his feet. Blood poured from the opening and spilled over his boots.

  It isn't blood, he told himself. He could hear his racing heart pound in his ears. Shadows and echoes. That's all it is.

  He was relieved when the vision of himself disappeared. A moment later a woman emerged from the darkness, her hair down around her shoulders.

  Shmi.

  "Mother. Mom — "

  She did not hear him or see him. She ran straight past him. Tendrils of hair stuck to her cheeks. Her face was shiny with sweat. The sweat of terror. He smelled her terror, felt the air move his hair.

  He turned, but she disappeared. Then when he turned forward, there she was. She ran toward him again, her face stretched by horror.

  This he could not bear. Anakin squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, another figure had joined Shmi. A huge man, more like a creature than a human. Anakin could not see his face, which was in shadow.

  He grabbed Shmi roughly and threw her to the ground like a pile of rubbish.

  "No!" Anger pounded in him, and he rushed forward. He seemed to hit an invisible wall and bounced back. The shadowy figure raised a hand to Shmi.

  She curled up in a ball to absorb the blow. Her knees were drawn up and her head was tucked down. There was something familiar about the posture that caused dread to fill Anakin.

  "No!" Anakin shouted.

  Shmi looked directly at him for the first time. He saw the fear, the terror. This seemed familiar to him as well, as though it were a memory rather than a vision. But had he ever seen his mother afraid? Not that he could remember.

  He wanted to bury himself in her arms, feel her strength, but he could not. He could not make the fear on her face go away. Was he seeing something that had actually happened? Or was he seeing the future? At that thought, his own fear rose.

  Anakin felt the fear as a living thing, an oozing organism that filled his body and threatened to choke him. He fought against it. Fear would make him soft. He would make the fear hard. He would twist it and make it into a weapon. A weapon of anger. Anger was productive.

  Obi-Wan had told him to accept the fear. He could not do it. If he breathed it in, it would fill his lungs and choke him. But anger he could direct.

  "I'll kill you!" he shouted to the shadowy figure. The shadowy figure laughed.

  "I will!" Anakin ran at the shadow and could not reach him. The vision disintegrated into particles of light.

  With a last despairing look, Shmi disappeared as well.

  In frustration, Anakin slammed his hand against the cave wall. Blood began to ooze from fissures.

  You cannot save her, a voice said. No matter how many times you tell yourself you will. It is a dream. She lives the nightmare.

  "Stop," he begged. "Stop."

  As if the cave itself had heard him, everything stopped. The cave wall was smooth again. What had looked like blood was now just moisture. The darkness fell around him like a heavy blanket.

  Shakily, Anakin moved forward. He felt sweat trickle down his forehead and cheeks. Ahead he saw a faint gleam on the floor of the cave.

  "The crystals," a voice said.

  He turned. It was Obi-Wan. His Master smiled at him. "It's time."

  Anakin's step quickened. He leaned down to examine the cave floor. The crystals grew in intricate formations. Even in the dark cave, they glowed.

  He passed his hand over them without touching. He felt vibrations emanate from them. Slowly, he chose the three that seemed to speak to him. To his surprise, it was easy to break the pieces free. He placed them in the pouch hanging from his utility belt.

  "Before you begin, you must meditate," Obi-Wan said. "Go into a trance state, Anakin. Cleanse your mind. Then your feelings will guide your intent."

  Anakin sat on the floor of the cave. He emptied the contents of the pouch onto his lap. He held the three crystals in his palm. They had a strange warmth.

  Accessing the Force was not difficult for him, even now. He felt it rise around him from the dirt and rocks and air, and especially from the crystals themselves. He felt comforted by that sureness.

  "Now begin." Obi-Wan's voice was soft.

  His Master gave him a gentle, encouraging smile. But suddenly, Obi- Wan's face changed. Strange markings covered his skin. Horns sprouted from his bald head. The smile became a smirk, and Anakin saw blackness and evil.

  It was Qui-Gon's murderer. Obi-Wan had described him in detail.

  Anakin sprang to his feet, scattering the crystals.

  "Did I startle you?" the Sith Lord asked. He began to circle around Anakin. "Perhaps you need to work on those Jedi reflexes. You're almost as clumsy as Qui-Gon."

  Rage pumped through Anakin. Qui-Gon had risked so much to take Anakin away. He had been the one to see that Anakin could be a Jedi Knight. Anakin owed him everything. He reached for his training lightsaber, but it flew out of his hand.

  The Sith laughed. "A child's toy. Try this." He threw something at Anakin. It was a fully fashioned light-saber, beautifully balanced, with an austere hilt. Just the kind of lightsaber Anakin would make.

  He activated it, and the laser glowed red.

  "Why do you fear your anger?" the Sith Lord asked. In a casual gesture, he activated his own double-edged lightsaber. "Why do you fear your hate? I can feel it. You hate me. It is natural." He bared his teeth.

  "After all, I gutted your friend like an animal."

  With a howl torn from his belly, Anakin threw himself at the Sith.

  Their lightsabers tangled. Their faces were close. He could smell the Sith's foul metallic breath.

  "You see?" Anakin's enemy purred. "You see what anger can do? It gives you power. It is something you can use, like a weapon. You thought the same thing a moment ago. You will twist your fear into a weapon. Why deny it?"

  "No," Anakin said, driving his lightsaber toward the Sith again. "I will learn to let my anger go. I am a Jedi."

  "Fool," Qui-Gon's killer hissed. "There are other paths to power."

  "It isn't power I seek," Anakin said, his lightsaber tangling with the Sith's again. The shock of the blow made him grip his lightsaber with both hands.

  "Then you lie," the dark Lord said, stepping back. "How else will you save that poor, weeping mother you abandoned if you do not have power?"

  Anger surged again. Anakin whirled, his lightsaber circling, his body taut
. The blow passed through his enemy.

  The Sith laughed. "Don't you remember, boy? I am just a vision. Your vision. I am the Master you secretly want. I am the one who will deliver to you what you most desire."

  "No!" Anakin screamed. He launched himself forward. Again and again he tried to strike a blow, using every technique he had mastered. The Sith's own lightsaber whirled in a circle, deflecting Anakin's moves.

  With a cunning twist, the Sith flipped Anakin's lightsaber from his grasp. It spun in the air, then disintegrated into pieces. Then he reached out a hand. Anakin felt the Force move against his body. He flew through the air and hit the cave wall. His head hit the hard stone and he slid down. When his head cleared, he found himself sitting on the floor, the pieces of the lightsaber in his lap.

  "The dark side can deliver what you most desire," the Sith Lord said, leaning over him. Anakin could feel his hot breath on his cheek. How could a vision have breath?

  "Admit it," Qui-Gon's killer said. He raised his lightsaber for the killing blow.

  Anakin summoned up the last shreds of his defiance. He stared down his foe. "I have created you. I can make you go."

  His arms still over his head, his lightsaber pulsing, the Sith smiled.

  "But I will return. I dwell inside you."

  He disappeared, and there was only blackness. Anakin looked down. A completed lightsaber lay in his lap, the very lightsaber the Sith had tossed to him. Was it real? He picked it up and turned it in his hand. He gripped it, and it seemed solid against his fingers, a perfect fit. He activated it, and the shaft of the laser glowed blue, surprising him.

  Anakin stood, locking his knees so that his legs wouldn't tremble.

  When he was sure he was in complete control, he hurried back to the mouth of the cave.

  Obi-Wan was sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose, waiting for him. Surprised, he rose to his feet when he saw Anakin.

  "Are you real?" Anakin asked.

  "Yes, I am real." Obi-Wan gripped Anakin's arm. "You see?"

  Then he caught sight of the lightsaber. Anakin had deactivated it but held it loosely by his side. "What's this?" He held out a hand, and Anakin gave it to him. He gave Anakin an incredulous look. "You made this?"

  "I… I must have," Anakin said. He did not want to tell Obi-Wan about his vision of the Sith. "You appeared to me. You told me to go into a trance state. I felt the Force very strongly."

  Obi-Wan handed the lightsaber back to Anakin. "This is a good sign, Padawan. You let your feelings guide you. Look what you accomplished. When you allow your instincts to take over, they will not fail you. Remember in the battle of Naboo how you destroyed the Droid Control ship? The Force is always with you."

  Anakin nodded. He took comfort from the pleasure and pride in Obi- Wan's voice. Every Jedi went through trials to build a lightsaber. He had overcome terrible visions. He had won. He would not think of the words that the Sith Lord had spoken.

  Obi-Wan's comlink signaled. He spoke into it and listened intently.

  Then he cut the communication and turned to Anakin.

  "We are wanted back at the Temple," he said. "The Council has a mission for us."

  A mission! The thought crowded out the disturbing visions. Anakin sprang to his feet. He clipped his new lightsaber onto his belt. At last he could be a true partner to his Master. He would not think of his disturbing trance, the mystery of how the lightsaber was made. It did not matter. This lightsaber had made him a Jedi.

  Chapter 4

  "You're fidgeting," Obi-Wan told Anakin.

  They stood outside the Jedi Council Room at the Temple. The small waiting area had comfortable seating, but Obi-Wan preferred to stand, and Anakin couldn't sit still. The minutes ticked by, and still they were not called.

  "Why do you think Chancellor Palpatine will be in the meeting?" Anakin asked, taking in a slow, deep breath to still his muscles.

  "I don't know."

  "But you suspect."

  "Speculation is a waste of time. Especially," Obi-Wan added, "when you are waiting for the Jedi Council."

  "You sound like a droid," Anakin grumbled. "Can't you tell me how you feel?"

  "I feel that you are overly anxious about this mission," Obi-Wan said.

  Anakin fingered the new lightsaber by his side. He wasn't anxious, but he was impatient. Obviously, the presence of Chancellor Palpatine meant that the upcoming mission was a crucial one. Obi-Wan just didn't want to tell him so. The fact that they were chosen also had to mean that the hesitations that Anakin knew the Jedi Council still held about him must be fading.

  The door to a conference room outside the Council Chamber swished open. Anakin's heart speeded up. Don't fidget, he warned himself as he stepped into the conference room.

  Obi-Wan moved to the center of the room, and Anakin took his place by his Master's side. Members of the Jedi Council surrounded them in seating that conformed to height so that each Jedi had an equal view. The floor-to- ceiling windows presented a panoramic view of the busy sky lanes of Coruscant. Anakin had learned not to be distracted by his keen interest in the many sleek transports that zoomed by. Even the flicker of a glance could catch the disapproval of Mace Windu.

  Chancellor Palpatine was standing near Mace Windu. He wore a robe of rich, deep maroon in soft vela cloth. An ornate overcloak of blue swept the tips of his boots. Anakin was reassured to see a welcoming expression on his kindly face. The Chancellor nodded slightly in recognition. They had met on Naboo just after Anakin had been accepted for Jedi training.

  "We have been asked by the Senate to undertake an escort mission,"

  Mace Windu began. As usual, he did not waste time on preliminaries. "The Council has chosen you to accompany a Colicoid diplomatic ship."

  "Dangerous, this mission will not be," Yoda said. "Yet delicate, it is."

  Anakin suppressed a sigh. It wasn't that he hoped for danger, exactly.

  But a little excitement would be welcome.

  "The Colicoids do not welcome the Jedi presence," Obi-Wan guessed.

  Anakin always admired how quickly his mind worked.

  Yoda nodded. "Yet know it is necessary, they do."

  "What is the threat to the ship?" Obi-Wan asked.

  Chancellor Palpatine gave a quick look to Yoda to ask permission to speak. Yoda blinked his large eyes in agreement.

  "The pirate Krayn is known to be in the area in which the Colicoids will be traveling," the Chancellor explained. "He's shown no hesitation in attacking diplomatic vessels in the past, but we think a Jedi team might be a deterrent." Palpatine shook his head gravely. "Krayn and his two associates, Rashtah and Zora, are ruthless. When Krayn hijacks ships, he not only steals their cargo, but sells their inhabitants into slavery."

  Krayn. Anakin tightened his muscles. What was it about that name that caused his body to react with fear? He felt suddenly cold. Only the discipline he'd learned from Jedi training helped him suppress his body's involuntary shiver.

  Krayn..

  Slave trader. Slave raider.

  The name on everyone's lips on that terrible day.

  Raider, trader, raider, Anakin's brain chanted nonsensically.

  Remembering hovered above him, just out of reach. He could only feel the dread it would bring.

  Then memory bloomed inside him. It filled his blood like a poison.

  Every detail rushed at him, just as he'd sworn to recall them that day.

  He remembered the cool, crisp day on Tatooine. A picnic. Flowers woven through Amee's braids. The sweet taste of fruit pastry. And then the sudden shock of hurrying through their row of quarters, seeing faces unrecognizable from terrible fear…

  He had burst into his quarters and seen his mother, her legs tucked up against her chest, as if protecting herself from a blow. She had looked up and he had glimpsed terror on her face… No! He had not meant to remember that!

  The cave! It had been a memory as well as a vision. Anakin understood that clearly now. The events clicked in wit
h frightening vividness. He had suppressed the memory with an act of will. But he had not been able to shut it out forever.

  Now memory had chosen to return at this moment, while members of the Jedi Council had their eyes on him. Anakin almost groaned aloud.

  Obi-Wan sensed something. He shifted his weight slightly, drawing a bit closer to Anakin. The unspoken message was clear: I am here, Anakin.

  Hang on.

  But Anakin was already conquering his shock. He told himself that he was meant to remember now, in this place. Shock hardened into resolve. He had felt Krayn in the cave. He might have been the figure chasing Shmi.