Promises

  Star Wars

  Junior Jedi Knights

  3

  Promises

  by Nancy Richardson

  OCR: Ãîëîäíûé Ýâîê Ãðûçëè

  upload: 29.XII.2005

  The figure loomed above him. Anakin tried to shield his eyes from the

  brilliant glare of the golden globe. Tried to see the being whose body was

  outlined with a shimmering blue line.

  "Young Anakin Solo," a voice whispered, a hand beckoned.

  Anakin followed the glow of the being away from the globe. As he

  walked, he felt darkness pulling at the loose cloth of his orange jumpsuit.

  Fear fluttered in his belly, but he followed, using the Force to calm the

  racing of his heart. The figure stopped before carvings in the crumbling

  stone walls of the ancient Massassi Palace of the Woolamander. The hand

  flickered with pale blue sparks as it swept over the message. Anakin's eyes

  scanned the symbols. He and Tahiri had finally been able to read them after

  returning from Yavin 8.

  Anakin read their message out loud.

  "Peace to all. We are the Massassi. Our children have been imprisoned

  by the evil Jedi Knight Exar Kun. Locked deep within this palace, hidden in

  the glittering sands of a golden globe, they await. The crystal that holds

  them prisoner can only be unlocked by children, strong in the Force and

  dedicated to the battle of good over evil. If you are the ones, enter the

  globe and lead our children to freedom."

  The figure nodded, then fell to its knees before Anakin, head dropped.

  Anakin sensed its torment.

  "Tahiri and I are the ones," he heard himself say. "Don't be afraid-

  we'll fight this battle."

  The pale blue line around the figure began to spark and flicker until

  it faded into the darkness. The being still knelt before Anakiin, unmoving.

  Anakin bent down and reached out his hand. The figure slowly lifted its

  black hooded head and let out a roar filled with hatred and darkness.

  Anakin leapt away as it began to laugh in rolls of icy thunder. Eyes the

  color of blue gray burning coals fixed upon Anakin, held him with their

  power. The figure rose, unfolding into a creature twice its original size.

  It continued to laugh, and Anakin felt swallowed by the darkness of

  its hollow cries. He ran, not knowing which way he traveled in the cavity

  of the palace. The black-robed being followed, howling in mad glee. Anakin

  reached the secret room that housed the golden globe he and Tahiri had

  discovered months earlier.

  They had instantly sensed its evil, and pledged to understand, unlock,

  and free the prisoners that cried from its core. His back to the globe,

  Anakin watched as the black-robed figure approached, once again fixing him

  with those burning eyes. He backed up until he couldn't move any farther

  without touching the globe. There was a powerful field around the crystal

  sphere. Tahiri had tried to touch it and had been thrown against the stone

  walls of the room. Anakin wasn't going to make the same mistake. He held

  his ground.

  "I'm going to fight you," Anakin shouted. "Tahiri and I will use the

  Force to break the evil curse. We're the ones the Massassi wrote about:

  `strong in the Force and dedicated to the battle of good over evil'! You

  can't stop us-"

  "Why would I want to stop you, boy?" the figure laughed. "I am you!"

  The creature threw back its hood, and Anakin stifled a scream that

  welled up from the very core of his being and threatened to escape his

  trembling lips. He stood looking at his own face. Only his eyes were

  different. Instead of being a pure ice blue, they had been replaced with

  burning gray coals that smoked and sparked.

  "Didn't you hear me, boy?" the figure snarled. "I'm you, you fool. You

  knew, you've always known that you were meant to serve the dark side - to

  use the Force for evil. It's in your blood. Your grandfather served us

  well, helped us defeat the Jedi Knights. You were named after him, after

  Anakin Skywalker who became Darth Vader. Stop fighting us and embrace the

  dark side...."

  "It won't work," Anakin said calmly, summoning up the Force to control

  himself. "I know who you are."

  The figure hissed, recoiling from the power in Anakin's voice.

  "You're a follower of Exar Kun, the evil Jedi Knight who enslaved the

  Massassi race thousands of years ago by imprisoning its children in the

  golden globe. You're not me, and you never will be," Anakin went on,

  walking toward the robed figure. "Tahiri and I are going to fight you, and

  break the curse of the golden globe."

  "This is not over, young Anakin Solo," the figure said angrily. Then

  its form began to waver in the golden light of the globe. Moments later, it

  had completely disappeared. Anakin turned back toward the globe. He

  listened to the cries of the children from inside its swirling sands. Soon,

  he thought. Soon Tahiri and I will come to this place and attempt to enter

  the globe and lead you to freedom.

  "Soon, soon, soon..."

  "Soon what?" Tahiri asked as she shook her best friend awake. "Anakin,

  wake up, you've been dreaming."

  Anakin stared groggily up at Tahiri. Her green eyes were impatient,

  and he struggled to sit up.

  "What time is it?" he asked.

  "Time for us to have a serious talk," Tahiri replied. "We've got a

  problem. I've been called to see Master Luke Skywalker. And I know why.

  I've been at the Jedi academy for six months, and it's time for me to make

  my decision about whether or not to return to my tribe or remain here."

  "I thought you'd already decided to stay," Anakin said. Not only was

  Tahiri his best friend, but they were a team. A team pledged to solve the

  riddle of the globe.

  "I have," Tahiri replied. "But it's not that simple. Master Luke and I

  agreed with Sliven, the leader of my tribe, that I'd return to Tatooine to

  make my decision. I've got to figure out a way to persuade Master Luke not

  to make me return. Right?" Tahiri didn't wait for a reply. "I mean, we've

  finally translated the ancient symbols in the Palace of the Woolamander.

  It's time to enter the globe-I can't go to Tatooine now! Aren't you going

  to say something?" Tahiri asked.

  "I was just waiting for you to run out of breath," Anakin explained.

  He swept his long brown bangs out of his eyes and met Tahiri's questioning

  look. "I don't think it's going to be as easy as you think," he offered.

  "If you gave your word, and Uncle Luke did too, he's going to want you to

  return to Tatooine."

  "I'll take care of it," Tahiri said. "Don't worry, I'm not going

  anywhere." With that, she strode out of the room to meet Luke Skywalker in

  the Grand Audience Chamber.

  Anakin felt a sense of unease as his friend left. His dream had left

  him feeling anxious. The idea that someone might know about him and Tahiri,

  and their plans to enter the globe, hadn't occurred to him before. If Kun
's

  evil followers knew about them, it would mean that the battle in the depths

  of the Palace of the Woolamander would be all the more difficult. He

  thought about that first time he and Tahiri had found the palace, They'd

  snuck out of the academy and rafted the river. A storm had forced them to

  abandon their raft and seek shelter. They'd found the palace, its strange

  carvings, and then a hidden spiral stairway that led deep into the

  crumbling site. As they'd descended, evil had coated the stones like thick

  black fungi, and dark whispers and threats had streamed through the dank

  air.

  And then they'd seen golden glitter, speckled along the walls and

  seeping from behind a secret doorway. Anakin shook off the memory. Tahiri's

  right, I've got to stop daydreaming and focus on what's happening now.

  Anakin hoped that Tahiri would be able to persuade Uncle Luke to let her

  remain on Yavin 4 while making her decision. The time had come to break the

  curse. A moment of worry reached out with fluttering yellow fingers and

  touched Anakin's mind.

  We are the ones, he thought. But are we strong enough to enter the

  globe?

  Luke Skywalker studied the look of defiance. Green eyes flashed, and

  white blonde hair surrounded a stubborn nine-year-old face. Luke's blue

  eyes didn't falter as he waited for the child to speak. It would not be

  long. Tahiri was rarely lost for words. Luke thought about the time she and

  his nephew, Anakin Solo, had snuck away from the Jedi academy. They'd

  returned to the Great Temple in the middle of the night. Tired and dirty,

  Tahiri had immediately begun chattering, trying to take all the blame for

  the adventure, trying to keep Luke's punishment from extending to Anakin.

  What Luke hadn't told either of them was that they were two of the most

  promising students he'd ever seen. There was no way he would expel either

  student. They would make great Jedi Knights one day-if they could keep out

  of trouble long enough to learn to use the Force.

  Trouble seemed to find Tahiri and Anakin. Only last week they'd

  returned bruised and battered from Yavin 8, where they'd gone to help

  another candidate, a Melodie named Lyric, survive her changing ceremony.

  While on Yavin 8, the two candidates had fought giant black rodents,

  vicious snakes, and a red-bristled spider that trapped its prey in thick

  black webs and consumed it alive. Luke Skywalker believed that experience

  was the best teacher in the use of the Force, but Anakin and Tahiri always

  rushed headlong into dangerous situations.

  That worried Luke. Still, their ability to use the Force to control,

  alter, and manipulate the energy field generated by all living things was

  impressive.

  "I won't go," Tahiri said defiantly, stamping her bare foot down on

  the cool stones of the Great Temple. She'd refused to wear shoes since

  she'd come to Yavin 4. On her home planet Tatooine, gritty sand and a

  burning-hot desert were a daily reality, and foot coverings a necessity.

  "You won't make me go," Tahiri said again, although this time her

  voice faltered.

  "You're right," Luke replied. He moved to the large open window in the

  Grand Audience Chamber. Beneath him the lush jungles of Yavin 4 steamed in

  the midday sun. Majestic Massassi trees, their bark a rich purplish brown,

  reached up toward the pyramid-shaped Great Temple. The temple was the home

  of future Jedi Knights, beings from across the galaxy who studied at the

  academy in order to one day use the Force for peace and knowledge, and in

  the battle against evil.

  Tahiri walked over to Master Luke and stood beside his brown-robed

  form. She stared down at the jungle, at the greens, purples, and reds that

  made up a landscape she'd once dreamed about. Dreamed of in the heat and

  endless sand of her planet. Luke Skywalker understood Tahiri's frustration.

  He, too, was originally from Tatooine. He'd spent eighteen years working on

  his uncle and aunt's moisture farm. The boredom had threatened to suffocate

  him. But there had been something else, too.

  "I never knew my father," Master Luke said softly to his student. "At

  least not the man he was before he turned to the dark side to serve the

  evil emperor Palpatine. I never knew my father, Anakin Skywalker, when he

  was a Jedi Knight, determined to use the Force for good. And when I finally

  met what he'd become, Darth Vader, it was too late. It's true that he did

  turn from evil in his last moments, but there wasn't time for us to develop

  a relationship before he died."

  Luke paused for a moment.

  "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?" he asked Tahiri.

  "You were an orphan in a way, too," Tahiri began slowly. "But the

  difference is that I won't ever have the chance to meet either of my

  parents. The Tusken Raiders said they're both dead."

  "What about Sliven?" Luke Skywalker asked.

  "He's the leader of my tribe," Tahiri answered evenly.

  "Nothing more?" Luke asked.

  "I guess he's the only family I'll ever have," Tahiri replied softly.

  "Returning to Tatooine may be the last chance I'll have to see him."

  "You owe that to yourself, and to him," Master Luke said. "Still, it's

  your decision. I'm certain you'll make the right one." He turned and strode

  out of the chamber. It's not so simple, little one, he thought as he left.

  Not so easy to give up the only family, the only father, you've ever known.

  That in itself will test all of your power, and your ability to control

  your own inner Force.

  And perhaps, just perhaps, your decision to remain at the academy will

  change. If that happens, we'll lose a promising student. But, as much as

  this would disturb me, your happiness is more important. Luke took the

  turbolift down to the hangar. He found the supply ship captain, old

  Peckhum. Peckhum had just unloaded crates for the academy. Now he was

  preparing to take a delivery to a planet only hours from Tatooine.

  Luke asked Peckhum to prepare his ship for a detour to Tatooine the

  following morning. When Peckhum asked how many passengers, Luke didn't

  hesitate.

  Three, he replied. There was no way Tahiri would travel home without

  her best friend, Anakin Solo. And no way that Luke would allow them to go

  alone. Tatooine was too dangerous a planet. And Luke had a strange feeling

  that Tahiri's family, the Tusken Raiders, were dangerous as well.

  Anakin watched Tahiri nervously finger the rough sand-colored pendant

  that hung from her neck. Since they'd boarded the shuttle at the academy

  and shot into the darkness toward the Outer Rim Territories and the planet

  Tatooine, Tahiri had been silent. That worried Anakin. His best friend was

  rarely quiet. For a time, Anakin contented himself with thoughts of the

  golden globe, and the furry white Jedi Master named Ikrit that he and

  Tahiri had found sleeping at its base.

  Ikrit had discovered the globe over four hundred years ago. He'd

  immediately sensed that he could not break the curse, so he'd curled up

  beside the globe to wait for those who could. Although he knew little about

  the web of evi
l around the globe, Ikrit had a strong feeling that if an

  adult tried to free the golden sphere's young prisoners, the globe would

  shatter into a thousand shards of crystal.

  Anakin and Tahiri hadn't told Master Luke about the globe, its curse,

  or their plans to destroy the evil that had festered in the belly of the

  Palace of the Woolamander for thousands of years. This was something they

  wanted to try to handle themselves. Tahiri was still running her small

  fingers over the pendant. Anakin could make out two rough prints on the

  surface of the oblong charm. Tahiri felt his eyes, and turned to face him.

  "It was given to me by the leader of my tribe," Tahiri offered softly.

  She held the pendant up for Anakin to see. "There are two thumbprints in

  its center. Sliven told me years ago that they are my parents' prints."

  "He knew your parents?" Anakin asked in surprise.

  Tahiri had told him she knew nothing of her family before the Tusken

  Raiders.

  "I can only guess that he did," Tahiri replied. "But other than the

  pendant and those few words telling me who the thumbprints belonged to,

  he's never given me another clue as to who my parents were."

  "But why not?" Anakin asked.

  "I don't know," Tahiri answered. "I used to beg Sliven, really beg him

  to tell me about my mother and father. He would never answer, although I

  felt pain in his silence. After a few years, I stopped asking...." Tahiri

  trailed off.

  Anakin sensed his friend's torment, and her fear.