Promises Read online

  who growled and snarled madly.

  "Tahiri," he said roughly, "are you all right?"

  "Fine," Tahiri replied in a voice still coated with sleep. Together

  they were pushed toward Sliven, who sat alone in the sands.

  What is going on? Anakin thought, trying to control the confusion he

  felt at their treatment.

  "It must be time," Tahiri replied.

  Anakin saw that pale pink scribbles of dawn had bathed the golden

  sands in soft rose. Some wake-up call, he thought grumpily. Sliven nodded

  once at Anakin and Tahiri, then allowed five Raiders to take them to their

  waiting banthas. The large animals stood silently, their long, shaggy brown

  coats curling down to the sand. The Jedi candidates were barely settled

  aboard Bangor when a loud grunt signaled the banthas to ride. Anakin noted

  that Tahiri didn't look back at Sliven as they started across the dunes

  with a dull kick of sand. He didn't see Tionne watching as they raced off,

  a small humanoid Jedi Knight surrounded by a crowd of Raiders. If Anakin

  had seen Tionne, he would have been alarmed at the look of worry and fear

  written across her features. A day passed, then another. The only sounds in

  the desert were the crunch of ban.tha hooves. The terrain stretched out

  endlessly as Bangor followed the five Raiders deeper into the desert. The

  group stopped twice each day-once during the sweltering heat of midday to

  sip water and eat brown lumps of food, which tasted vile and which Anakin

  didn't want identified, and at night, when the suns set and the desert

  became so cold that his fingers grew numb.

  Then Anakin huddled with Tahiri beneath the thin blanket the Raiders

  provided. That afternoon, the group had climbed quickly through low, sand-

  colored mountains. Anakin had sensed fear in the fierce Raiders. He'd been

  too hot and tired to ask Tahiri 'what they could possibly be afraid of.

  Now, as they lay against Bangor for warmth beneath the dark covers of the

  night sky, Anakin was once again too exhausted to talk. He watched Tahiri

  scratch her bantha's scruffy neck. The creature stared at Tahiri with soft

  brown eyes, and Anakin could sense the bond between them. He fell off into

  a dreamless sleep. Thoughts of how he and Tahiri were going to survive in

  the desert without food and water slid unanswered to the sand. They would

  wait in this spot until tomorrow. There was no water in the Dune Sea. Not

  that Anakin had expected any as they traveled through the sea-a vast desert

  expanse that stretched thousands of kilometers. It was hard to believe that

  an area could be more barren than the desert and the Jundland Wastes.

  But the Dune Sea was, Anakin thought bleakly as he scanned the never-

  ending sand. Midway through the third day, the Raiders began to travel more

  slowly, cautiously. What could be dangerous out here? Anakin wondered. His

  thoughts were cut short when one of the Raiders barked and all the banthas

  halted. Must be time for lunch, he thought without relish. Anakin slid off

  Bangor and gave Tahiri a hand down. The heat of the day hadn't lessened

  with the onset of afternoon. Tahiri's hair was matted down with sweat, and

  her lips had begun to crack from the beating rays of the suns. As the two

  children sank to the ground, one of the Raiders grabbed Bangor's lead rope

  and drew the bantha toward him. Then, in a flash, the Raiders remounted

  their banthas and tore away from Anakin and Tahiri, bathing them in a

  prickling shower of sand. Neither moved as they watched the Raiders race

  into the distance. They saw Bangor struggle to pull away from the line, to

  return to Tahiri, but he was held firmly to the group. The Raiders topped a

  dune and disappeared from view.

  Anakin scanned the Dune Sea through squinting eyes. He and Tahiri sat

  in the center of an unending desert. Above them the twin suns of Tatooine

  beat down relentlessly. There were no life-forms in sight. Just sun and

  sand. Sand and sun.

  "Any suggestions?" Anakin asked Tahiri.

  "By night, the tracks left by the banthas will be covered by blowing

  sand," Tahiri began. "Let's follow them until they disappear. At least

  that'll head us in the right direction."

  "It's a start," Anakin said feebly. "What about food and water?"

  Tahiri replied, "That will depend on what we come across."

  There was a hard glint in her green eyes. Anakin couldn't help

  remembering something he'd read about the Sand People. Survival was the

  rule. Survival at all costs. He began to trudge beside Tahiri. They rose

  and fell over the dunes, their eyes never leaving the bantha prints, which

  were already beginning to fade beneath the blowing sands. Hours passed, and

  the twin suns of Tatooine began to set. And then, without warning, the

  trail disappeared and Anakin and Tahiri were left alone, truly alone.

  Or were they? Anakin wondered as a sense of danger raced down his

  spine like lightning. Were they alone?

  The sand beneath Anakin's feet began to shift. Before he had the

  chance to run, the desert floor rumbled and shook. Tahiri lost her balance

  and fell beside him, then began to roll downward, toward a pit of sand

  several meters away that neither Jedi candidate had noticed in the fading

  light.

  "What's happening?" Anakin yelled.

  Tahiri's hands clawed at the sand as she continued to slide away from

  her friend. Her small fingers ran through the grains like water. Then her

  legs dropped over the edge of the pit, and in a flash she disappeared from

  view. Anakin threw himself forward, staring into the pit. Tahiri's fall had

  been broken by a small dirt ledge, a meter from the edge. Anakin reached

  for her, his fingers just managing to grasp her hand. He tried to pull her

  back up the sandy hill, but it was all he could do to hold her in place.

  Tahiri's frightened green eyes locked on. Anakin's. He pulled harder, and

  slowly he began to draw her out of the pit. Tahiri dug her knees into the

  dirt walls and scrambled up the sliding terrain.

  Suddenly, Tahiri's feet shot out from beneath her. She struggled as

  she lost her footing, then gave a small cry as she slid back down to the

  ledge.

  "Give me your hand!" Anakin called to his friend.

  Tahiri reached up again. But something made her turn the instant

  before their fingers met. When she did, fear rolled over her in a tidal

  wave and she dropped to her knees and out of Anakin's reach. A thick, puce-

  colored tentacle emerged from the depths of the pit and snaked through the

  air. Tahiri froze in terror.

  The tentacle whipped through the pit, searching for the prey it had

  sensed. Three more tentacles snaked upward and joined the first.

  "Tahiri, grab my hand!" Anakin cried. Still his friend didn't move. I

  can't reach her, Anakin thought with growing frustration and terror. Anakin

  crawled forward on his stomach, dug his toes into the sand, and leaned:into

  the pit.

  He reached down and grabbed at Tahiri's jumpsuit. The creature in the

  pit sensed his movement, and tentacles lashed toward the Jedi candidates.

  Anakin stopped breathing, his fingers frozen on Tahiri's suit. The

 
tentacles brushed along the walls of the pit, searching, searching. I've

  got to get her out of here, Anakin thought. He could barely control his

  panic as he watched the tentacles draw nearer. Tahiri slowly turned to her

  friend.

  "What is it?" Anakin mouthed to Tahiri. Tahiri shook her head. She had

  no idea what the creature was, only that it wanted to wrap them in its

  tentacles and draw them downward. It doesn't matter what it is, Anakin

  thought. He could sense the creature's hunger.

  "Climb," Anakin mouthed to Tahiri.

  She didn't move. She was frozen in panic, her green eyes were fixed on

  the tentacles as they danced through the air. Anakin tightened his grip on

  Tahiri's arms until she turned to face him again.

  "Climb," he said again. This time his ice blue eyes flashed, and his

  word was a command that rang with the power of the Force. Immediately,

  Tahiri turned and began to scramble up the dirt and sand wall behind her.

  Anakin drew her up, helping her keep her balance when she slid. He could

  sense the creature's tentacles moving toward them. The moment Tahiri's

  hands reached the edge of the pit, Anakin leaned back and yanked her out.

  Then they ran. Anakin and Tahiri ran until the creature and the pit

  were four dunes behind them and their lungs ached. And when they fell to

  the sand, gasping for breath and sweating in the stillness of the desert

  night, they didn't notice the cold. All they saw was the beauty of the

  stars, and all they felt was the relief of their own freedom. And when

  sleep swept over them like the blowing of the desert sand, they gave

  themselves up to its hands.

  Anakin awoke, facedown, in the warm desert sands of Tatooine. He felt

  his belly rumbling in hunger, and his throat burned with thirst. Sand clung

  to his eyelashes and crusted along his mouth. He reached up to wipe the

  grains from his face. His senses came alive. He smelled their company

  before he saw them.

  "Anakin, we've got a slight problem," Tahiri said softly as she rolled

  to face her friend. She motioned with her head toward the brown-robed

  creatures that stood in a circle around them.

  "What are they?" Anakin asked as he wrinkled his nose. Whatever the

  beings were, they smelled rotten, he thought.

  "Jawas," Tahiri whispered. Anakin remembered hearing about the

  scavenger race from his uncle Luke. Jawas were rodent - like beings that

  traveled in bands, searching for wrecked ships to salvage, vehicles to

  steal, and discarded hardware to collect. Anakin studied the meter-tall

  creatures. There were ten of them, and they jabbered and pointed at him and

  Tahiri, their yellow eyes glowing.

  "I think they're trying to figure out if we're worth something or if

  they should just leave us in the desert," Anakin said. If the Jawas left

  them, he thought, he and Tahiri would die of thirst, hunger, and exposure.

  The Jawas moved toward the two Jedi. Tahiri rose to her feet.

  "Careful," Anakin whispered.

  "They aren't really dangerouLs," Tahiri said softly.

  "In fact, they usually like humans, because we're the ones they sell

  their scavenged material to."

  "I'd be willing to bet that we don't exactly look like paying

  customers," Anakin grumbled as he stood up. The Jawas quickly decided that

  Anakin and Tahiri weren't worth bothering with and began to walk away.

  "Strange that they're walking," Tahiri murmured.

  "They usually travel in sandcrawlers."

  "What are sandcrawlers?" Anakin asked with interest.

  "They're huge ore haulers that human miners brought to Tatooine years

  ago. They expected to make a fortune in the Wastelands. But they discovered

  that there's not much worth mining out here. So, they left the haulers and

  the Jawas took them. Jawas use the sandcrawlers to find and collect metals

  and wrecked machinery. The deserts here are full of junk. Galactic battles

  have been fought near Tatooine for hundreds of years. And whatever falls

  from space and lands here is preserved by the dry climate. Jawas find

  wrecked ships, droids, and other machinery, which they fix and sell in Mos

  Eisley or to moisture farmers in the desert."

  Tahiri watched silently as the Jawas walked away from them.

  "Anakin, let's follow them," she suggested with a glint in her eye.

  "Wherever they're camped, there's got to be food and water."

  Anakin and Tahiri began to tag along with the Jawas. If they noticed,

  they didn't turn around.

  "At least we're heading toward the Jundland Wastes," Anakin noted with

  a nod toward the mountain peaks that had appeared as they crested a dune.

  "So why do they smell so bad?" Anakin asked Tahiri as they trudged

  through the sand.

  "Sliven once told me that the Jawas love their smell," Tahiri began.

  "They use scent to identify each other, to sense health, anger, or sadness.

  To us, they stink. But to them, scent is information."

  "I wonder what information they got about us," Anakin said. He didn't

  need Tahiri to answer. Fear, hunger, thirst, confusion; that about summed

  up their smells. Over an hour later, the Jawas stopped walking.

  "Must be home sweet home," Anakin said as he spied what had to be a

  sandcrawler. The machine was a dull brown, its hull ravaged by wind storms

  and the suns' rays.

  "If they've got that thing, why walk for hours in the sand?" Anakin

  asked Tahiri.

  "It must not be working," Tahiri said as she squinted at the

  sandcrawler.

  "Sandcrawlers are pretty old. And even though Jawas are good

  mechanics, sometimes a machine just stops working and can't be fixed."

  "I bet I could fix it," Anakin said softly as he walked toward the

  vehicle. The Jawas let out alarmed cries and raced to block Anakin's path

  to the sandcrawler.

  "That is," Anakin added, "if they'd let me near it."

  "Hey, guys," Anakin said with a smile. "I'm not going to hurt your

  sandcrawler, I just want to try to fix it for you."

  He watched as one of the Jawas lifted a canteen to his lips and drank

  deeply before passing the water to another.

  "How about if I fix it, and you guys give my friend and me some of

  that water?" Anakin wheedled. The Jawas didn't reply. In fact, they ignored

  him. Anakin thought about the time Tahiri had been drowning in the river on

  Yavin 4 and he'd used his voice and the Force to command her to struggle,

  to swim. Could he do the same thing with the Jawas?

  Tahiri saw the glint in Anakin's ice blue eyes.

  "What is it?" she asked. "I was just thinking that maybe I could use

  the Force to command the Jawas to let me into their sandcrawler. If I can

  fix it, maybe they'll give us a ride to the Jundland Wastes, and some food

  and water... It's a dumb idea, right?" Anakin said in embarrassment.

  Tahiri replied slowly.

  "You've done it before, and I think it's our best chance. You've got

  to try."

  Tahiri gave a sharp whistle and the Jawas turned to face the Jedi

  students.

  "Here goes nothing," Anakin murmured as he faced the Jawas. "Let me

  into the sandcrawler," he said in a soft voice. The Jawas jabbered, but
/>   still blocked Anakin's path. It was clear that the sandcrawler, working or

  not, was their most valued possession.

  "Let me pass," Anakin said more strongly. One of the Jawas moved

  aside, but the others let out a string of sounds and the creature stopped

  in his tracks. It's not working, Anakin said to himself in frustration. His

  throat burned from speaking, and his head felt light with hunger. I've got

  to calm myself, got to believe that I can succeed, he thought. Anakin

  closed his eyes, and the next time he spoke his voice carried the power of

  the Force.

  "LET ME PASS, NOW!" he called. The Jawas moved aside. Anakin walked

  toward the vehicle, his ice blue eyes glinting in the midday sun. He

  climbed inside and disappeared from view. Tahiri trotted after her friend

  and followed him inside the sandcrawler. It reeked. Anakin tried not to gag

  at the stink inside the vehicle. He sensed that Tahiri, too, was trying not

  to let the smell overcome her. Anakin had never been inside a sandcrawler,

  but he'd also never seen anything mechanical that he couldn't figure out.

  When he was only two, he'd amazed his brother and sister, the twins Jaina

  and Jacen, by taking apart a droid. and putting it back together. He

  quickly found the control panel deep within the vehicle and began to

  tinker.

  "Can you fix it?" Tahiri asked her friend. Anakin ran his hands along

  the tangle of cables and wires that trailed from the control panel.