Promises Page 7

  his attempt to rein in his nephew. "Still, you used your minds and the

  Force well."

  So well, Luke thought in amazement, that he could hardly fathom the

  strength still to be developed in the candidates. Anakin's face beamed up

  at his uncle.

  "Now get well, or Leia will never forgive me," Luke instructed. Luke

  Skywalker sat beside his nephew as he slept. He wondered if the strange

  feeling of untold danger he'd sensed before sending the children to

  Tatooine had been a premonition of the promise Tahiri had chosen to keep.

  Luke closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. At least the children

  were safe.

  He was in the depths of the Palace of the Woolamander. The damp,

  rotting smell of evil flowed in invisible currents along the crumbling

  stones. He moved toward the small room, bathed by a sickly sweet smell that

  oozed around his head, filled his ears, and attempted to enter his mouth.

  Still, he was calm.

  He knew what had to be done. When he reached the room, he walked

  toward the crystal sphere. The swirling golden sands cast a yellow gleam

  along his extended arm. He opened his hand and placed his right palm on the

  surface of the globe. A jolt of pain began at his fingertips and traveled

  the length of his arm in a white-hot torrent. And then the voices began.

  "You will fail," they called from the darkness. "You will be swallowed

  by the dark side. Swallowed into the belly of evil, where you will live

  forever, tortured and twisting in agony. It doesn't have to be that way,

  boy," a single voice said from the darkness.

  He recognized it. It was the evil follower of Exar Kun. The being that

  had haunted his dreams.

  "Join us now, and the glory of the dark side will be yours. You

  already belong to us," the figure hissed. "You just don't know it yet." He

  let the voice fall from him, until it lay in an oily black pool at his

  feet. Then he extended his other palm to the globe, and let the now

  familiar pain cascade through his left arm. This time it did not stop at

  his shoulder. Instead, it continued to course through his body, wrapping

  his torso in a vice grip of pain.

  "I am coming," Anakin called out to the children inside the globe

  through clenched teeth. "I am coming, and nothing can stop me."

  "Anakin?" Tahiri called from the side of his sleeping pad. "Anakin?

  Are you all right?"

  Slowly, Anakin woke. He stared up into the worried eyes of his friend.

  She looked better. There were still traces of bluish rungs beneath her

  eyes, and her sunburned face was beginning to peel, but the light was back

  in hE!r emerald green eyes.

  "Are you all right?" Tahiri bubbled. Without waiting for an answer,

  she continued. "I was so worried. I mean I was pretty sick too, but Master

  Luke said that you had an infection and a fever. Do you still have one-a

  fever, I mean?"

  Anakin grinned. He hadn't heard Tahiri's customary chatter since

  they'd begun their adventure on Tatooine. It was nice to see that she was

  back to normal.

  "Bantha got your tongue?" Tahiri teased.

  "As usual, I was just waiting for the chance to get a word in

  edgewise," Anakin replied.

  Slowly, he sat up. He felt better, much better. He moved toward the

  open window and stared out into the jungle. "Are you ready, Tahiri?" he

  finally asked.

  "Yes," Tahiri replied from behind him.

  "Are you?" Anakin nodded.

  "Are you certain you are strong enough?" a deep, raspy voice called

  from the corner of the room.

  It was Ikrit. The Jedi Master, his white fur and the stones of the

  Great Temple strangely blending, scurried from the corner and leapt onto

  the window ledge. "After all," he rasped, "this is only one battle of good

  versus evil. There will be others, if you are not up to the fight."

  Anakin stared into Ikrit's round, brown eyes. Eyes that told nothing.

  Eyes that waited passively for their decision.

  "There are some battles that have to be fought, regardless of the

  risks or odds. Light versus dark, good versus evil. Those battles can't be

  ignored,"

  Anakin said softly.

  "What if we're not strong enough?"

  Tahiri asked with uneasy concern.

  "I believe that we are," Anakin replied. "If we ignore the workings of

  the dark side of the Force, then we allow evil to triumph. And if that

  happens, it won't just mean the lives of the children trapped within the

  globe-it will cast a shadow of darkness on our own lives."

  Tahiri nodded.

  "Evil can't be ignored," she agreed. "Regardless of the risks."

  "Then may the Force be with you," Master Ikrit rasped.

  With that, he scurried out the window, made his way down the pyramid-

  shaped wall of the Great Temple, and disappeared into the jungles of Yavin

  4.

  "I guess Master Ikrit won't be coming with us," Tahiri said.

  "We're on our own," Anakin added softly. "Whatever happens, we're on

  our own."

  Anakin turned back to the jungles and let the sweet scent fill him. He

  thought about his dream, and what it meant. It was the second time he had

  dreamed about the follower of Exar Kun. The second time he'd defeated Kun's

  follower by using the Force to control his inner self and make the evil

  figure's threats useless.

  Anakin only hoped he'd be able to do the same in the Palace of the

  Woolamander. There was no doubt in his mind that the spirits of Kun's evil

  followers would be there for real, attempting to stop them from breaking

  the curse and freeing the globe's children, trying to turn Tahiri and him

  to the dark side.

  And what about entering the globe? Anakin wondered. Had his dream been

  right? Was it a matter of enduring the pain of the powerful field until it

  lost its strength and let Anakin inside the sphere? Anakin turned to Tahiri

  to tell her about his dream, and to try to figure out how they were going

  to lead the Massassi children to freedom. They were in this together, and

  they would succeed together, or never leave the palace alive.

  They knew the way. Hidden by darkness, Tahiri and Anakin raced through

  the jungles of Yavin 4. The first time they'd snuck out of the Great Temple

  to raft the river, they hadn't known where they were going. This time, they

  were guided by their memories and their convictions. They felt the weight

  of the Palace of the Woolamander before it loomed above them, a crumbling

  site of darkness and buried evil. Neither spoke as they entered an opening

  that had once been a majestic portal, or when they saw the familiar

  Massassi symbols carved along the walls of the palace.

  The time for talk or solving riddles was long past. The time for

  action was at hand. Anakin flashed his light beam toward a broken wall that

  hid the crumbling stairway they'd descended a month before. Several large

  woolamanders scurried out of the hole and into the darkness. Neither Anakin

  nor Tahiri jumped in surprise. There were bigger things to be afraid of.

  "Ready?" Anakin asked Tahiri.

  She moved forward and climbed through a hole in the crumbling wall.
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  Anakin followed. Hand in hand, they began to descend the spiral stairway.

  The voices began.

  "Go back," they called as the Jedi candidates climbed down the stairs.

  "This is a dark place; you are not welcome here," they rumbled.

  "We've been here, and heard that before," Tahiri shot into the

  darkness. "It didn't work the first time, so just give it a rest."

  "Orphan child, you cannot break the curse," a voice said from the

  darkness.

  "Now that's new," Tahiri murmured under her breath. She and Anakin

  continued to descend.

  "Orphan child, you are a sister of the darkness," the voice hissed to

  Tahiri. "We are your family; your home is with us. Leave the boy. He is not

  one of us. He doesn't care about you."

  Anakin recognized the voice from his dreams. He felt Tahiri's anger

  growing.

  "Tahiri, that's what they want," he whispered urgently. "They want you

  to strike out against them, to use the Force in aggression. Remember, a

  Jedi never acts from anger, hatred, or aggression."

  "Your mother, Cassa, was one of us. So was your father, Tryst," the

  voice lied. "Join them and finally understand who you really are."

  "I am Tahiri Veila, daughter of Cassa and Tryst," Tahiri began softly

  as she and Anakin continued to descend. "I'm Tahiri, chosen daughter of

  Sliven of the Tusken Raiders. My path is one of light. I am a Jedi

  candidate."

  Anakin felt Tahiri's anger ebbing. Her hand, which had moments before

  clung tightly to his, relaxed.

  "Boy," a familiar voice called from the gloom. "You aren't like your

  little friend. You are part of the history of the dark side. Your

  grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, served Emperor Palpatine well. The seed of

  evil is planted within you. It is your birthright-don't fight it," the

  voice insisted.

  Anakin felt the words slither around his body like snakes. All the

  fear he had about who he was, and the burden of carrying the name "Anakin,"

  fought to rise to the surface. He felt an overwhelming need to strike out

  against the evil follower of Kun. But instead, he laughed. It was a small

  laugh at first, but it grew stronger as Tahiri joined in. And the louder

  the Jedi students laughed, the weaker the voice became, until it went out,

  like a flame before a hearty wind. Anakin and Tahiri reached the base of

  the stairs and walked toward the doorway they'd entered before to discover

  the globe.

  But nothing could have prepared them for what they saw and heard.

  Nothing.

  The children were crying. Anakin could hear their strangled sobs the

  moment lie stepped inside the room. Countless ghostlike hands were pressed

  against the inside of the globe, torn away by the madly swirling sands,

  only to reappear moments later in silent pleas for help.

  "The followers of Exar Kun are trying to destroy the children before

  we can free them," Anakin said in horror.

  Tahiri ran toward the globe before Anakin could stop her, and struck

  it with her fists. The field repelled her efforts, tossing her through the

  air. Her body somersaulted once, then struck the stone wall. Anakin raced

  over to his friend, who lay crumpled on the floor. He helped her to sit up,

  and watched as she shook her head slowly from side to side to clear it from

  the blow. Tahiri looked up at Anakin with agonized green eyes.

  "They're dying in there!" she cried. "Anakin, we've got to do

  something!"

  The pain that extended from the globe through Anakin's right palm and

  across his chest was sheer agony. He fought to remain standing, to absorb

  the field as it coursed through his body like white lightning, to make it

  harmless. His legs buckled from the torture, and he fell to his knees.

  Tahiri leapt forward and tore her friend from the field's stranglehold.

  They both fell back, Anakin breathing in rattled gasps as the pain slowly

  subsided.

  "There's got to be another way!" Tahiri said. "What if we both focus

  on using the Force to weaken the field," Tahiri thought out loud. "Anakin,

  you did it when you weakened the reel on Yavin 8," she continued. "Once the

  field is weak enough, we can both enter the globe and find the children."

  "You're right, Tahiri," Anakin replied, rising to his feet. "But I

  don't think we should go inside together. We have no idea what it's like

  inside the globe. If one of us fails, the other needs to be able to help,

  or to go get help if there's no other choice."

  Tahiri nodded.

  "I want to go in first," Anakin said softly. The hard glint in his

  eyes told Tahiri there could be no arguing. Anakin moved toward the globe.

  Tahiri stood by his side. There were no more words. Both knew what had to

  be done. They closed their eyes and reached out to the field with the

  Force. The field sparked and flared as their minds tried to weaken it.

  Anakin felt sweat roll down his forehead. His back cramped with effort.

  And, just when he almost began to lose hope, he felt a tiny weakening in

  the field.

  "It's working," Anakin said through clenched teeth.

  Tahiri squeezed his hand. She could feel it, too. Moments later, the

  field's strength flickered, then faded to a soft buzz in Anakin's mind.

  Without pausing, he reached toward the smooth sphere. He felt his hands

  pass through the crystal, felt the stinging of the golden sands on his

  flesh.

  It's now or never, Anakin thought. He plunged forward, his body

  entering the globe, then disappearing from view in the swirling sands. He

  felt a sharp bolt of pain as his right foot slid inside the sphere. The

  field had regained its power. It's like swimming through sand, Anakin

  thought as he fought his way through the whirlpool of golden particles. The

  sands stung and blinded him, and he covered his nose and mouth with the

  sleeve of his jumpsuit so that he could breathe. Then he began to search

  for the children.

  Strange, Anakin thought; from the outside, the globe is no more than

  four meters across, but inside it's huge. Anakin blindly struggled to find

  his way through the globe. His body was tossed and tumbled in the mad

  whirls of sand until he no longer knew up from down. He cried out to the

  children, but there was no answer.

  And then there they were, crowding around him, their small hands

  reaching out, grasping the folds of his jumpsuit, touching his face, his

  hair. There were so many of them, Anakin wondered how he could lead them

  all out of the globe.

  "Grab hands!" he called out. "All of you, grab hands."

  They understood, and he felt two small hands slide into his. Anakin

  battled through the storm as the sands filled his nose and mouth and

  threatened to choke him. He had to lead them to the edge of the crystal,

  through the field, he thought, his legs struggling as the sands thickened.

  "Help me, Tahiri!" Anakin cried into the deafening churn and the sea

  of frightened cries. He fell, and the sands tossed him in a dizzying rush.

  "Anakin, where are you!" Tahiri screamed as her friend's fear reached

  out from the globe and filled her senses. There was was no answer.

&
nbsp; "This is not the way it's going to end!" she cried into the darkness.

  "Anakin!" Tahiri called over and over with her voice and the Force. A

  glimpse of his orange jumpsuit appeared, then disappeared as the sands

  violently whirled. "Anakin, I'm here!" Tahiri cried.

  Anakin heard Tahiri's voice through the sands, and struggled toward

  it, his hands still firmly clenching the small hands of two Massassi

  children. He pressed forward, toward Tahiri's cries, until he ran headlong

  into the crystal. Anakin pressed the backs of his hands against the globe,

  letting the pain of the field course down his arms until he was certain

  that Tahiri had seen him.

  Then he focused on the field, once again using the Force to weaken it.

  He sensed Tahiri joining her strength with his. Sands wrapped around

  Anakin's legs like the tentacles of the creature on Tatooine and tried to

  draw him back into the center of the globe. Anakin fought to keep his

  footing, to concentrate on weakening the field. But he was growing tired,

  and the current was close to toppling him and breaking his resolve. Before

  him the field's strength began to flicker and falter.

  There was no more time to wait. Anakin reached forward, ignoring the

  ripples of pain that ran down his arms and made him cry out. He thrust his

  fists through the field, feeling the dank air of the chamber beyond. Anakin