The Shattered Peace Page 7

  together as they evaded the darts. They managed to get them in a rough

  circle where Qui-Gon had indicated.

  Qui-Gon leaped into the air and grabbed a high branch. As he swung,

  he aimed his light-saber at the net holding the boat aloft. With a series

  of rapid cuts he sliced through the thick netting. The boat, along with

  supplies, began to tip. With a final thrust he cut the last cords, and the

  boat crashed to the ground below.

  The kidnappers saw it coming and dropped flat to the ground. The boat

  reversed in the air and fell over them, forming a solid cage. Supplies

  rained down on the boat - food, breathing tubes, utility packs, and

  medpacs.

  "Stay under there or we'll blast you," Drenna warned in a loud voice.

  She raised an eyebrow at Qui-Gon.

  He jerked his head toward the beach, and they took off. Most likely

  the kidnappers would be afraid to follow - at least for a while.

  Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan supported Leed as they ran to the shoreline. They

  dove into the warm sea. Leed gained strength as he swam, with Drenna

  helping him along.

  Drenna pointed to land in the distance. "There," she said. "That's

  the mainland. We can get to a main road from there."

  They struck out toward land. Leed flagged as they got nearer, and

  Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had to tow him ashore. He collapsed on the sand and

  took deep breaths.

  "Thank you," he said when he could speak. "I could not have escaped

  on my own." He gave them a weak smile. "As I'm sure you can see."

  "Do you know who the kidnappers were?" Qui-Gon asked.

  He shook his head. "They did not speak. They would not answer my

  questions. I don't know why they took me, or what they were planning to do.

  "

  "I am glad you're safe," Drenna told him, gazing at him anxiously.

  "But you're so weak."

  "It's the paralyzing dart," he said. "I'll be better soon."

  "We must get to a main road and find a way back to the main city and

  our transport," Qui-Gon said. He turned to Leed. "Your father is

  threatening to invade Senali. He means it this time, I fear."

  "Taroon is furious," Drenna put in, her eyes flashing. "He thinks you

  and I arranged the kidnapping. No doubt he will tell his father this."

  Leed's eyes were clear. "I must return," he said.

  "We are close to a road that often runs supplies to the city," Drenna

  told the Jedi. "We can hitch a ride from a passing transport."

  "Then let's go," Qui-Gon said.

  Luck was with them. They flagged down a transport, and the driver

  quickly agreed to take them back to the floating city. There, they hurried

  to the Jedi's starship. Leaving word for Meenon that Leed was safe, they

  took off for Rutan.

  "I'm glad you are coming with me," Leed told Drenna. "This won't be a

  pleasant trip."

  "I wouldn't let you go alone," Drenna said gently. "You need care."

  "I'd better contact your father," Qui-Gon told Leed. "There's no time

  to lose." Quickly, he accessed the comm unit and contacted King Frane. He

  told him that they were on their way to Rutan.

  "I'll believe it when I face him on his own royal land," King Frane

  said, brusquely cutting the connection.

  "So much for thank-yous," Obi-Wan muttered.

  "He is still worried about his son," Qui-Gon said gently. "He hides

  his fear well."

  "He hides his manners better," Obi-Wan replied.

  They landed the craft on the palace grounds and made their way to see

  the king. He was pacing anxiously outside the Great Hall. When he saw Leed,

  his forbidding expression gave way to one of delight.

  "Ha! I was afraid something would go wrong!

  My son, my son!" King Frane hurried forward and hugged Leed. He let

  him go and mopped at his streaming eyes with the edge of his tunic. "How I

  missed you. Thank the stars you have come home."

  "I came home to talk to you, Father," Leed said. "Not to stay."

  Instantly, King Frane's face grew red. "Not to stay?" he shouted.

  "That's impossible! You are here. You will stay!"

  "Father, can we talk without shouting?" Leed asked.

  "I am not shouting!" King Frane bellowed. Then he lowered his voice.

  "It's just that I must speak up, because apparently nobody listens to me."

  "I have listened to everything you and Taroon have said," Leed

  responded steadily. "I have tried to find a way to do my duty. But Father,

  I know that if I return it will break my heart. I can't rule this world - I

  don't know it. I don't love it the way I love Senali. You sent me there and

  made sure I was taken care of. You succeeded. I made a new family there. I

  belong there. But I assure you I don't mean to be a stranger to my blood

  family or to Rutan. Senali is close - "

  "It's close, but who wants to go there?" King Frane said furiously.

  "Obviously, you have been swayed by forces on Senali. I'm sure if you spend

  time on Rutan you will forget these foolish ideas."

  "I will not forget them," Leed said, exasperated. "They are part of

  me."

  King Frane visibly calmed himself, dropping his hands to his sides

  and taking a breath. "Leed, I must speak to you as a king as well as a

  father," he said in a voice that struggled to be steady. "I do not want to

  bully you into doing your duty. That is an option that is open to me as

  king. But as your father I prefer a more reasoned way. You will break my

  heart if you do this. You will kill my love for you."

  "This is your way of reason?" Leed asked in astonishment.

  "Hear me," King Frane said, holding up a hand. "Our family line has

  ruled for a hundred years. The firstborn child of the king or queen has

  taken his or her place without fail. Do you realize what you do when you

  break that chain? Do you take your responsibility to your family and your

  world so lightly? How can you decide at this young age what is right for

  the rest of your life?"

  King Frane's words struck Obi-Wan as none had before. When he'd left

  the Jedi, he had not fully realized that he'd not only broken a bond

  between himself and Qui-Gon, but had violated a deep tradition between all

  Masters and Padawans. He had come to see how important his place in that

  tradition was.

  Should Leed return to Senali and turn his back on generations who had

  prepared the way for him? Suddenly, Obi-Wan wasn't sure.

  "You expect me to rule a year from now," Leed countered. "I will have

  to make such important decisions for all Rutanians. If you trust me to do

  that, you should trust my own mind now."

  King Frane's temper grew, no matter how he tried to suppress it. "You

  turn your back on those Rutanians you speak of so lightly."

  "No," Leed said firmly. "I cannot be a good ruler. This I know. So I

  turn the honor aside to one more worthy."

  "Your brother?" King Frane asked in disbelief. "Taroon is soft. He

  has no head for leadership. Who would follow him? As soon as he was picked

  up from that awful planet, I sent him back to school, where he belongs."

  "You do not give him a chance," Leed said.

  "I don't have to!" King Frane said, his voice rising again. "I am

  king! I c
hoose! And I choose my firstborn, as my mother chose me, as my

  grandfather chose her!"

  Leed did not answer. His mouth set stubbornly.

  King Frane did not speak for a moment. Father and son faced each

  other. Neither flinched.

  Obi-Wan glanced at Qui-Gon, but as usual the Jedi gave no clue as to

  what he was thinking. He was merely waiting for the situation to resolve

  itself as it would. He was so calm! Obi-Wan could feel the tension coiling

  inside him. He sought for the Jedi composure and could not find it. He

  could only find confusion.

  At last King Frane spoke. "This discussion is over," he said stiffly.

  "I will not accept disloyalty and betrayal. You must take up your legacy.

  My son must rule after me. I am doing what is right for you."

  "You can't make me do this," Leed said firmly.

  King Frane's laughter had a harsh sound. Obi-Wan tried to listen as

  Qui-Gon would. He realized that the laughter was fueled by bewilderment and

  hurt, not contempt. "Of course I can! I am king!"

  "What about Yaana?" Qui-Gon spoke up. "We have brought Leed to you.

  Now you must deliver your part of the bargain and free her."

  "I made no bargain," King Frane said, his eyes glinting dangerously.

  "But you did," Qui-Gon said steadily.

  "Well, perhaps I did, but I am breaking it," King Frane said,

  watching Qui-Gon warily.

  "Yaana stays in custody until Leed agrees to begin royal training."

  "So that is how you'll force me!" Leed cried. "You'll hold an

  innocent girl hostage! You are no better than a bully!"

  King Frane's expression instantly changed to rage. "Yes, I will do

  this," he bellowed furiously. "Have you not been listening, you fool? I am

  king! I can do what I want. I know what is best for Rutan!"

  King Frane stalked off, followed by his cluster of advisors and

  guards. Leed gazed after him, a look of disgust on his face.

  "You see why I did not want to return?" he said. "He has found a way

  to keep me here against my will."

  "So it appears," Qui-Gon said neutrally. "What do you mean?" Drenna

  asked.

  "If we return Yaana to her father, King Frane has nothing to bargain

  with. He will have to face Leed as father to son, not king to subject."

  "But she's in prison," Drenna objected.

  "That is the difficulty," Qui-Gon agreed.

  "Not necessarily," Leed said slowly. "I think I know how to break her

  out."

  CHAPTER 13

  "I'll explain on the way," Leed said. "I know where Yaana is being

  held. Can we take your transport?"

  Qui-Gon nodded. "Let's go."

  "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Obi-Wan murmured to Qui-Gon

  as Leed and Drenna hurried ahead. "We're not supposed to break the laws of

  a planet."

  "Well, we're with the prince," Qui-Gon observed. "Officially, he's

  now in royal training. We have his permission."

  "But if we help Leed, we'll be taking sides," Obi-Wan pointed out.

  "No, we're rescuing a hostage," Qui-Gon corrected. "King Frane has no

  right to hold Yaana in prison. She's only ten years old."

  Obi-Wan fell silent. There were times when he had to struggle with

  Qui-Gon's decisions. His caution would lead him to choose a different way.

  But it was at such times that he was learning to let go and trust his

  Master. He knew that it was unjust to hold the girl.

  "Don't worry, Padawan," Qui-Gon told him. "I am beginning to see how

  this situation can be resolved." He smiled. "We just have to break someone

  out of prison first."

  "That's all?" Obi-Wan said. He returned Qui-Gon's smile. Whenever

  they got out of rhythm, Qui-Gon managed to get them together again, either

  with a small joke or a gentle correction.

  Obi-Wan jumped into the pilot seat of the starship. On Leed's

  direction, he punched in the coordinates for the landing platform on the

  outskirts of the city, close to the prison.

  "So tell us why you think you have a way to rescue Yaana," Qui-Gon

  said to Leed as soon as they were under way.

  "It was last summer on my visit," Leed began. "I was already trying

  to tell my father that I preferred Senali to Rutan. Of course he wouldn't

  listen. There was a grand hunt that day, and I refused to participate. So

  he threw me in prison."

  Qui-Gon looked at him, startled. Drenna gasped.

  Leed gave a faint smile. "Just for a day. He said it was for my royal

  training. So that I would know how Rutan treated its prisoners. It wasn't

  too bad. Of course everyone knew who I was, so I was given the best cell

  and no one mistreated me. But an interesting thing happened while I was

  there. A bird got into the exhaust system and began to fly around the

  place. It kept tripping the sensors. The guards could not seem to catch it

  or shoot it, and the sensors kept alerting the main system that a massive

  prison breakout was in progress. It took them awhile to figure out it was

  the bird - at first they thought the system had been triggered by a

  prisoner. But every time they checked out a sensor and did a cell check,

  everything was fine. The problem was that the system calls for an automatic

  notification to the king's guard when there is trouble at the prison. My

  father kept getting notification that a major breakout was going on, and

  then was told that it was nothing. The hunt was disrupted, and he was

  furious. They finally had to confess a bird was tripping it. He told the

  prison to turn off the system and catch the bird, or he'd fire every single

  one of them."

  Drenna laughed. "I like the idea of one tiny creature causing all

  that trouble."

  Leed grinned at her. "I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it

  myself. They turned off the system until they caught the bird. Everyone

  forgot about me - I was in the warden's office, since they were about to

  release me. That's when I noticed something. When the guards change shifts,

  they remove their weapons belts if they are leaving and the guards on the

  new shift buckle on their own weapons belts. They do this in the weapons

  supply room, which is kept locked. When they shut the system down, the

  weapons supply room goes into automatic lockdown. That's in case there's a

  real breakout. They don't want the prisoners to get access to weapons."

  Qui-Gon had already reached Leed's conclusion. "So if the system was

  shut down during a changeover, there would only be a reduced guard staff on

  duty with no access to additional weapons."

  "Three guards per block, to be exact," Leed said, nodding. "It's a

  flaw in the system. I tried to tell my father upon my return, but... well,

  let's just say he wasn't in the mood to listen."

  "I don't understand," Drenna said. "How can we get a bird to invade

  the system?"

  Qui-Gon smiled. "We don't need a bird. I think Leed has an idea."

  "When I arrived, they pretended I was a lawbreaker, just as my father

  wanted," Leed said, leaning forward with his excitement. "I was led to the

  booking area, then the holding cell. I had to pass at least ten to fifteen

  sensors during the whole process." Leed looked at Drenna. "Who has the best

  ai
m on Senali?"

  "You do," she said promptly.

  He shook his head, smiling. "Who tied for first place with me last

  year in the All-World Games?"

  "I did," she said with a grin. "Almost beat you, too."

  "You'll be our bird," he said. "All you need is this." He handed her

  a tiny dart shooter. "With some Jedi help, and a bit of bluffing on my

  part, I think we can bring this off. You can shoot darts at the sensors as

  you move through the hallways." He reached in a pocket of his tunic and

  withdrew some darts. They were tiny and made of transparent material.

  "These will stick in the wall, but no one will be able to see them."