The Trail of the Jedi Page 5

  He wanted them close. But it was better that they think it was in their best interests to stay with the Jedi.

  “I think you’ve got us there,” Dane told him. “Lead on.”

  With Floria and Dane in tow, Obi-Wan and Anakin began a systematic search. They walked outward from their ship in widening circles.

  “The power source for that size sleeper bomb has to be a generator that’s fairly large,” Obi-Wan said. “I’m guessing it’s on a cruiser of some kind.”

  “If the power source is on a cruiser, the bounty hunter could be long gone,” Floria called to them as she brought up the rear.

  “Not if the prize is as big as you say,” Obi-Wan answered.

  Their route took them over a rocky hill and down into another low-lying meadow. The ground was mushy beneath their feet. Ahead lay a boggy field full of shoulder-high bushes with bright yellow flowers.

  Floria reached out to pick one. “Ow!” She sucked her finger.

  Now they could see that red thorns surrounded the bright flowers.

  “I guess we have to turn back,” Floria said hopefully. “We’ll be torn to shreds if we try to make it through these bushes.”

  Obi-Wan hesitated. Floria was right. But their only chance of finding the power source lay in examining the surrounding area.

  “Master,” Anakin said quietly.

  Obi-Wan heard it, too. The faint whine of a cruiser engine. He searched the sky and saw nothing.

  “Everyone get down low,” he said.

  They crouched underneath the bushes in a hollowed-out spot while Obi-Wan and Anakin scanned the sky.

  The cruiser darted into view, a flash of silver against the blue.

  “Fast, agile,” Anakin reported, squinting at it. “Laser cannons mounted on either side of the bridge.”

  “It’s Mol Arcasite’s cruiser,” Dane said. “I recognize it. She had it techno-tweaked by Sienar’s Advanced Projects. Uh-oh.”

  The cruiser had made a sharp turn and now headed straight toward them.

  Dane looked around. “What are we going to do? There’s no place to hide. And if we go back we’ll be caught in the open.”

  Obi-Wan withdrew his lightsaber and activated it. He leaned forward and expertly sliced through the thorny bush. The bush melted away.

  “Those things sure come in handy,” Floria said admiringly.

  The cruiser darted lower. The laser cannons suddenly burst into a clatter of rapid fire.

  “Move!” Obi-Wan urged as the fire scorched the bushes behind them. He darted through the hole he’d created with his lightsaber, swinging it in a short arc in order to clear the way farther into the brush.

  Anakin pushed Floria through and waited for Dane to dart in before following. Obi-Wan used the lightsaber with a fine-honed precision, cutting a hole in the bush just below the surface so that the bushes would seem intact from the air. There would be no telltale path to advertise their progress.

  Obi-Wan moved fast, but in a wide zigzag over the length of the field. They grew tired and sweaty and were scratched by the long, sharp thorns. Still, Obi-Wan pushed on, making Mol Arcasite dive again and again over the thorny field. At times the cannon fire was so close Obi-Wan could feel the heat from the blaster bolts.

  “Is this a plan?” Dane asked. A long scratch went from his ear to his nose. “Because it doesn’t seem like a plan. Are you trying to tire out a cruiser?”

  Obi-Wan didn’t answer. He had brought them to the edge of the field. Ahead was another rocky hill, the beginning of the foothills to the mountains.

  “Stay here,” Obi-Wan told Floria and Dane. “Anakin, follow me.”

  He stepped out into the open. He held his lightsaber high.

  “She’s had to fly low and buzz us continually,” he told Anakin. “I see some slight smoke from the forward laser cannon.”

  “She could be overheating,” Anakin said. “That’s why you kept her moving.”

  “Exactly. Now let’s keep going.”

  It was a challenge, but the Jedi moved fast, using the natural formation of the steep hill and the surrounding boulders for cover. Again and again, Mol Arcasite dived toward them, laser cannons blasting, but they used the deep rocky overhangs for cover.

  “I’m going to try something,” Obi-Wan told Anakin. “Keep her occupied down here.”

  As soon as the cruiser banked and turned for another approach, Obi-Wan leaped up to an overhang, then jumped to the next, and the next. Now he was above the low-flying cruiser, which was angling in to attack Anakin.

  Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber. The bright blue glow attracted Mol Arcasite’s attention. She reversed course and came at him, cannons blazing. Obi-Wan leaped toward the ground, bypassing the ledges he’d used to climb up. Cannon fire shattered the rock as the cruiser dived to follow him. An avalanche of rocks rained down on the body of the cruiser.

  Obi-Wan landed lightly next to Anakin. “Good work, Master,” Anakin said, watching the cruiser. “More smoke coming from that left side. That cannon might overheat.”

  “Good. Now for the final blow. Follow me.” Obi-Wan jumped back up the hill. Anakin followed, moving from ledge to ledge until they had reached the top. Below them, shadows cast by an overhang concealed a thick fall of snow. In the shelter of the rock, the snow had not melted with the morning sun.

  “When the cruiser returns, activate your cable launcher and jump,” Obi-Wan told Anakin.

  Anakin nodded, guessing his Master’s plan.

  “If it doesn’t work, we’ll be hanging there, perfect targets,” Obi-Wan said. “So keep a free hand for your lightsaber.” He kept his eyes on the cruiser. “Ready—go!”

  The Master and Padawan swung off the mountain on their cable launchers. The sudden move caught Mol Arcasite by surprise. The cruiser dived after them, firing rapidly.

  The noise and heat of the blaster bolts released an avalanche of snow and chunks of ice. The large blanket fell directly on the cruiser, blinding Mol Arcasite momentarily. Obi-Wan and Anakin hung on to their cable launchers as the snow showered down past them. The cruiser wobbled crazily, heading straight for the stone side of the mountain.

  At the last moment before the cruiser hit, a cargo door opened and a swoop zoomed out. They could see that Mol Arcasite was astride it.

  The cruiser crashed into the mountain with a whoosh and roar of fuel. Obi-Wan and Anakin kept under the shelter of a ledge as flaming metal rained down below.

  The swoop took off into the distance, became a black speck, and disappeared.

  Obi-Wan and Anakin lowered themselves to the ground. Floria and Dane rushed toward them.

  “That was incredible,” Floria said. “You defeated Mol Arcasite! I’m not betting on Hunti Pereg anymore.”

  “You’re rid of Mol Arcasite for good,” Dane told them. “She’s good, but she’s known for not sticking around if her first strike fails badly. She just lost a ship. Her own survival is her first priority.”

  “That doesn’t sound like good business for a bounty hunter,” Anakin said.

  “She seldom fails,” Dane said. “So it doesn’t matter. No doubt she has a backup plan. She’ll be onto her next assignment by nightfall.”

  “So we’ve got one paralyzed bounty hunter, and another one took off,” Obi-Wan said. “That leaves two.”

  “So what next?” Dane asked. Now he looked interested in the Jedi’s strategy.

  “We know that Wren didn’t leave the clues for us to follow,” Obi-Wan said. “The question is, who did?”

  “I’m betting on Teleq,” Dane said. “It’s just his style. He’s clever, and he’s fond of traps.”

  “Whoever it is doesn’t know that we know we’re being hunted,” Obi-Wan pointed out. “As a matter of fact, he’s probably still leaving clues for us to follow.”

  “So what should we do?” Floria leaned forward eagerly.

  Obi-Wan noted her eagerness. Now Floria was on their side. Or else she was hoping that once the Jedi eliminated all the
other bounty hunters, she and Dane would find a way to take the prize.

  One way or another, it didn’t matter. He wanted to keep Floria and Dane close.

  “We give him exactly what he wants. We follow them, of course,” Obi-Wan said.

  Chapter Ten

  Obi-Wan and Anakin retraced their steps, climbing the mountain again. Floria and Dane trudged behind them, unused to the quick pace the Jedi set.

  “I’m beginning to think I’d rather take my chances with the bounty hunters,” Floria grumbled.

  Anakin stopped in order to fall into place next to her. “How did you and Dane get into this line of work?” he asked. “Where are your parents?”

  “Where are yours?” Floria snapped. Suddenly her face shut down and became defensive and angry.

  “My mother lives on Tatooine,” Anakin said. “She is a slave.”

  Floria’s face softened slightly. “Oh. I’m sorry. Our parents are dead. I don’t come from Aaeton. That was a lie. Dane and I are from the Inner Core world of Thracior. We grew up in peaceful times, but five years ago the warlords of Thracior began to argue over territory. Raids began between the different tribes. My mother was a Hnsi, my father a Tantt. They were killed because they intermarried. The Hnsis burned our house down and killed our baby sister. Dane and I escaped.”

  Floria told the story in a monotone, her eyes on the mountain trail. Ahead of them, Dane did not turn or acknowledge he was listening, but Anakin saw his neck flush red.

  “Dane and I had to make our way as best we could,” Floria said. “We had lost everything, so we had to work. We found jobs in a café at a space station, washing up and serving food. Our boss was a very cruel man. We discovered he was wanted by the security forces of a nearby planet. We tricked him into getting caught. We got the reward, but we had to leave the planet. So we kind of fell into bounty hunting. We’ve been moving around the galaxy ever since.”

  “When you find something you’re good at, you stick with it,” Dane said with a cocky assurance Anakin did not quite believe.

  “It sounds like a hard life,” Anakin remarked.

  Floria cocked an eyebrow. “And is yours so easy, Jedi?”

  Anakin took the question seriously. “In a way, it is,” he said slowly. “I know I am being of service. That makes the path easy to walk.”

  “Well, I’d rather go down my path in a nice, techno-maxed cruiser,” Floria said. “So I guess I’m stuck with bounty hunting.”

  “Here we are,” Obi-Wan called from a short distance ahead. “We left the path here, when we thought someone was following us.”

  “That was me,” Floria said.

  Obi-Wan nodded. “Let’s find the next clue, Anakin.”

  Anakin left Floria’s side. He pushed their conversation out of his mind. Earlier, finding clues had been fun. Now, it would be serious.

  It didn’t take long to find the next clue. After a fork in the path, they found a few crumbs from a blumfruit muffin left near a flat rock alongside the trail.

  “He is clever,” Obi-Wan told Anakin, squatting by the clue. “He is leading us on without tipping us off. But we know that Wren would never have left this clue.”

  Anakin briefly tasted the crumbs. He looked up at his Master, his face grave. “These are from the Temple.”

  “Are you sure?” Obi-Wan asked.

  Anakin nodded. “I’d know Jedi Knight Alicka’s muffins anywhere. This must mean that—”

  “The bounty hunter definitely has Wren. He has raided his survival pack.”

  They hurried on. They had lost a good deal of time, and Anakin could tell that his Master was worried about Wren’s fate.

  They followed the path until it curved along a ridge that overlooked a meadow full of tall, slender, flowering trees. From above, the flowering branches formed a solid carpet of pink. Anakin stopped and examined a large boulder on the side of the trail. He hopped from one boulder to the next.

  “This way,” he called to Obi-Wan. “He went down from here to the meadow.”

  He looked back up at his Master. Obi-Wan’s gaze swept the trees below. “Wren is near. I can feel it. Let’s proceed carefully.”

  They made their way carefully down the slope, jumping from rock to rock. Floria and Dane followed at a distance. When they reached the meadow, the perfume of the flowering trees hit their nostrils. Under any other circumstances, Anakin would have paused to drink in the beauty of the spot. After growing up on a desert world, he was often overwhelmed by simple things such as flowers and grasses.

  The trees had slender triangular trunks, but the branches were thick and wide. The flowers were so large and dense that the top of each tree was a waving mass of frothy pink.

  Anakin scanned the meadow, alert for trouble. But instead, he saw Wren sleeping under a tree.

  “Master—”

  “I see him.” Obi-Wan paused. “Something is…not right,” he murmured. “I get no sense of the Force from Wren.”

  Anakin frowned. His Master was right.

  Obi-Wan took a step forward. But it was not in the direction Anakin had been looking.

  “Master?”

  Anakin saw that his Master had headed toward Wren. But this was a different Wren, sleeping under a different tree.

  And then Anakin saw another Wren, and another, and another. None of them was the real Jedi. They were merely projections of his image.

  “Holograms,” Obi-Wan said.

  “All of them?” Anakin asked.

  He looked at his Master. There was no way to know.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Stay here and don’t try anything,” Obi-Wan warned Floria and Dane. “We will handle this.”

  “Be my guest,” Dane answered, his eyes darting to the many Wrens.

  “Teleq wants us to run into the meadow,” Obi-Wan murmured to Anakin. “He wants us to race from one image of Wren to another. So we won’t.”

  They didn’t need to. They would use the Force.

  Obi-Wan and Anakin reached out and gathered it around them. A fellow Jedi was in danger. That made their connection to the Force even stronger, made their ability to gather it more urgent.

  Obi-Wan felt the power of Anakin’s grasp of the Force. As always, it staggered him.

  He scanned the meadow once more, and this time he knew which of the images was not an image. Which one was Wren. When he looked directly at Wren, he felt the answering surge. Anakin had also honed in on the real Wren.

  The sound of Obi-Wan’s lightsaber leaving his belt was no more than a whisper. His leaving his spot was no more than a disturbance of the air. Yet he was gone, across the meadow, racing toward Wren. He could feel rather than hear Anakin behind him.

  Suddenly, Wren’s body snapped into the air. Obi-Wan watched, his heart in his mouth, as Wren was hoisted up into the trees. There was no question in Obi-Wan’s mind that Wren must have been given a paralyzing drug of some kind. He could tell by the boneless way Wren’s legs and arms flopped as if he were a puppet.

  Rage bloomed in his chest. Obi-Wan absorbed it and let it go. He did not need rage to fight this. He needed discipline. Calm.

  He anticipated the attack before it came. He had known Teleq was luring them on, but he did not care. He was ready to meet the bounty hunter.

  He had just not expected the attack to come from above. A shower of poisonous darts rained down from the trees.

  “Flechette canisters,” Obi-Wan told Anakin. He shifted his focus to the branches over his head. Now he could see Teleq. He was a long-limbed being with hooked fingers and toes, making him adept at climbing and swinging through the trees.

  Perched on the branches were also flocks of birds. Their feathers were the same bright pink as the flowering trees, allowing them to blend into their surroundings. They were almost as big as Anakin, with large wings folded back against their bodies.

  As Teleq moved from branch to branch, the birds began to squawk angrily. Obi-Wan leaped to catch a branch high overhead, then swung himse
lf up into the trees. A bird pecked his hand, drawing blood. He swung up to the next branch. The tree was easy to climb, since the branches were wide and flat. He could see Teleq trying to scamper away, firing another shower of darts at him over his shoulder.

  Anakin swung himself into a tree close by. He climbed up onto another branch, then another. High above the ground the branches were close together, and they would be able to leap from one tree to another to pursue Teleq.

  But where was Teleq headed? Obi-Wan wondered as he climbed. He watched Teleq jump to another tree and realized what he was doing.

  Teleq was leading them closer to Wren. The closer Obi-Wan got to Teleq, the more he would bring Wren into the range of fire of the darts. And Wren would be unable to deflect them.

  What is his objective? Obi-Wan wondered. How was he planning to catch the Jedi?

  The possibilities flew through Obi-Wan’s mind, presenting themselves so quickly it was as though they appeared all at once.

  Wren himself is booby-trapped.

  There is another trap in Wren’s tree.

  There is a trap on the logical progression to Wren’s tree.

  There is no trap. Teleq is planning a surprise move with the flechette canister or another weapon.

  The question is, how can I surprise him instead?

  Anakin leaped from his tree to the next one, deflecting a shower of darts with a series of quick lightsaber moves. Obi-Wan leaped to another tree, still considering his options. Suddenly his mind cleared, leaving a space without sound. He knew what would follow: Qui-Gon’s voice. Often, it arose in his mind just when he was most confused or uncertain.

  Use everything you have. Use the ground. Use the sky. Use what is around you.

  Another bird suddenly squawked by his ear. Obi-Wan deftly moved to the left as the bird struck out with a long, pointed beak. Another bird leaped closer on the thick branch, screeching at Obi-Wan. He realized that he had almost stumbled into a nest. No wonder the birds were so furious. He quickly jumped to the branch of the next tree.