would have thought possible. A lifetime of hard living in the dismal climate
of Dagobah had strengthened them until they were all muscle-thin and hard
like wire cable. Zak and Tash had a hard time keeping up as they slogged
their way through the mud.
They were both concentrating so hard on keeping up with Galt and his
companion that Zak almost missed it-a small figure, sitting serenely on a
log, with a gentle smile on his face.
"Yoda!" he called out.
The two Children were so startled they nearly dropped Traut.
"The imp!" Galt shouted in pure terror. "It's the imp! Run! He will
kill us all!"
CHAPTER 12
Zak pointed at Yoda. "That's the imp you were talking about? But he's
harmless. He's just-"
"Run! Run!" Galt screamed. Still holding Traut, he and his companion
bolted through the mist.
"Wait!" Zak called.
"You could not catch them," Yoda said gently. "They know the swamp too
well."
"So you are Yoda. Zak told us about you," Tash said. "I'm Tash."
"Yes, you are," Yoda agreed.
Zak wiped at his face where mud, or something worse, had stuck to his
skin during the spider battle. "Are you really the imp that Galt has been
talking about?" he asked.
"Come with me," Yoda said. He hopped off his log and waddled away.
Watching him move away this time, Zak sensed that Yoda was old. Very, very
old.
"Where are we going?" Tash asked.
"Not far," Yoda said. "Just around this tree."
Once again moving with surprising speed, the little creature
disappeared around the bulk of a giant gnarltree. Zak and Tash hurried to
catch up. As they rounded the tree trunk, they saw Yoda standing beneath a
clump of its roots.
Then they realized that they weren't tree roots.
They were the legs of a giant spider.
No, no, no! Zak thought. Galt was right. Yoda was evil. He had lured
them into the spider's jaws.
But the spider didn't attack.
Even so, Zak didn't trust it. He backed away, and Tash followed his
example. After they had taken a few steps, they stopped. The spider remained
where it stood, and Yoda squatted beneath it, an amused twinkle in his eye.
"Why isn't the spider attacking us?" Tash asked finally. "Or you?"
"Why should it?" the little creature said.
"The spiders attacked us before," Zak replied. He took a nervous step
closer.
"Because they thought you were food," Yoda said. Tash, too, edged
forward.
"What's different now?"
Yoda spread his little hands. "I have taught them otherwise."
Zak noticed something strange. The closer he got to Yoda, the more at
ease he felt. It was like edging toward afire, except that instead of giving
off heat, Yoda gave off a feeling of peacefulness and safety. Something told
Zak that the giant spider was feeling exactly the same thing.
"Will it bite?" he asked, still eyeing the spider nervously. "Is it
poisonous?"
Yoda chuckled to himself. "Still he worries! No, no poison in the
spiders. Come, come! Time is short."
Tash's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. Softly, she said, "You're a
Jedi. A Jedi Master. I can feel it."
Yoda's smile widened. "Your feelings serve you well."
"But . . . But . ," she stammered, "there aren't any more Jedi!"
"That will be true, if the Emperor has his way," Yoda replied. Then he
shrugged. "We shall see."
"What are you doing on Dagobah?" Zak asked. "Shouldn't you be helping
the Rebellion?"
Zak was flabbergasted at the question. "You could help them fight! You
could use the Force against the Emperor!"
Yoda closed his eyes briefly and muttered to himself. "So young, this
one." Then he opened his eyes. "I am here because you are here. You are here
because I am here. I have something to give each of you."
Zak felt his heart leap. Each of you. Yoda was a Jedi and he was going
to give them each something. Not just Tash.
"Tash," the Jedi said, "you must walk with me. You have searched long
for answers to questions about the Force. Some you must learn in later
years. But some will I answer for you now."
Yoda summoned her forward.
"And me?" Zak asked eagerly.
Yoda paused, as if he'd forgotten something. Then he pointed to the
ground, where a familiar bright yellow flower grew out of a clump of grass.
"Zak, pick that flower."
Zak drew back. "But that's a meat flower. I've already been bitten by
one of those, and it hurts!"
Yoda sighed. He shuffled forward and reached down, digging into the
dirt around the meat flower until he'd freed the plant and a small patch of
mud that surrounded its roots. He scooped it up, roots, soil, and all. It
did not bite him.
"Recently fed, has this," Yoda explained. "So it has no reason to
bite."
"But-"
"The meat flower is like all things that live in the Force. It bites
only to eat. It eats only to survive. This is your reminder." Yoda handed
the meat flower to Zak.
Bewildered, Zak accepted the flower, careful to keep the roots encased
in their little globe of mud. Yoda kept staring at him, so, not knowing what
to do, Zak carefully lowered the flower into the wide pocket of his trousers
as though planting it there. He felt totally ridiculous, but Yoda nodded at
him.
"Good," the Jedi said. He turned away. "Tash, come."
"Can't I come?" Zak asked.
"No, no," Yoda said matter-of-factly. "Back to the village must you
go."
"What!" Zak squeaked, ashamed at how shrill his voice had suddenly
become. "Why? I want to come with you!"
"Because these words are not for your ears." Yoda turned back and gave
him one more glance. "For everything there is a reason. Go to the village.
Hurry home."
Then Yoda tugged at Tash's sleeve and pulled her into the mist,
chuckling quietly. Tash looked back over her shoulder at her brother. Her
face was a mixture of wonder, confusion, and sympathy for Zak.
It's not my fault, her expression seemed to say.
Then she was gone.
And Zak was alone.
CHAPTER 13
The walk back to the village was cold, wet, and miserable. Zak trudged
forward, not caring where he stepped or what sort of creature crossed his
path. He barely noticed when an armor-backed dragonsnake swam through a
water channel half a meter from his feet. He walked right beneath the coils
of a tree snake, its body as big around as both his legs.
He felt crushed.
Zak had thought he had some sort of connection with Yoda. When the Jedi
Master had said they'd meet again, Zak had thought something special would
happen. But all he'd done was serve as Yoda's errand boy, bringing Tash to
meet him.
Tash! She got everything. She got to be older. She got to be smarter.
She got to use the Force.
Feeling worthless and abandoned, Zak made his slow way back into the
village.
Clomping unhappily into the collection of mud huts, Zak saw no one but
the painfully thin Children huddled around a fire in the village center.
Warm, pleasant smells cut through the rotten-wood odor of Dagobah, causing
Zak's stomach to growl.
He was very hungry.
Galt stood up from the fire, where the pot of stew still bubbled. "Zak,
are you all right?" he asked earnestly. "I was scared the imp had stolen you
away."
"He's not dangerous," Zak replied. "How is Traut?"
"We put meat-flower grass on his wounds. He is resting."
Zak sniffed the food smells. "For people who don't eat much, you've
certainly had a lot to cook lately."
Galt grinned. "We've been able to find food lately."
"I guess we brought you good luck," Zak said absentmindedly.
"Yes, you did." Galt handed Zak the bowl of stew he was holding. "Would
you like some? It will make you healthy and strong."
"Yeah, I'm starved." Zak took a bowl. His mouth was already watering.
But then he handed it back. "In a minute. I want to check on Traut first."
"He is resting," Galt said again.
"I'll just look in on him quickly. He saved my life. Which hut?"
Galt glared into the bowl of stew. "That one," he said at last,
pointing to a hut across the village. Zak started toward it with Galt
following him. "But he is sleeping."
"I'll bet he is," Zak said as they reached the hut. "That bang on his
head must have knocked him out."
"And his arm," Galt added.
Zak stopped in the doorway. "What about his arm?"
Galt shook his head sadly. "The spider wound was very bad. There was
nothing we could do for it."
"What are you talking about? His arm was fine." Zak ducked his head and
peered into the hut. In the gloom he could see Traut lying unconscious on a
moss bed. The Children had pressed a wad of damp grass against his forehead
to help the cut there heal, but that was hardly noticeable. What caught
Zak's attention was a compress of rags, grass, and leaves that had been
wrapped around the smuggler's left shoulder.
Beneath the homemade bandages, Traut's left arm was missing.
"We had to take it off," Galt sighed. "We had to do it before the
spider's poison reached the rest of his body."
Zak was horrified. "Spider . . . poison?"
"It kills," Galt said. "We saved his life."
Zak started to say that the spiders weren't poisonous Yoda had said
so-but he held his tongue. He didn't want to have to explain Yoda to Galt.
But why would Galt say the spiders were poisonous if they weren't?
"Will you eat now?" Galt asked.
The sight of poor Traut was enough to make Zak lose his appetite. But
his body was still hungry. He felt as if he hadn't eaten in years. With his
stomach growling, Zak allowed Galt to lead him to the open fire, where
several of the Children were still huddled on the ground, licking the last
drops of stew from crude bowls.
The pot was almost empty, but Galt scooped the last helping of stew
into the bowl. The bowl came out almost full, with chunks of meat and brown
sauce dripping down the sides.
Zak took the bowl and a wooden spoon. He sat down and stirred the stew,
then brought up a spoonful and opened his mouth to savor the first bite.
The spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.
Then the spoon fell out of his trembling hand.
In the center of the spoon, swimming in brown sauce, was a small metal
circle. Liquid slid away from it, revealing its design.
It was Traut's promise ring.
CHAPTER 14
Zak flung the bowl of stew away, its contents splattering across the
ground. The Children shouted in horror at his wastefulness.
"What is wrong with you?" Galt screeched, leaping to his feet. "That
was the last bowl! Food is not to be wasted!"
"Look!" Zak said, pointing and trying not to gag. The promise ring lay
on the ground nearby. "How did that get into the stew?"
Galt picked up the promise ring and wiped the sauce from it. "What is
it?"
"It's Traut's promise ring," Zak said, his stomach churning. "It was on
his left hand-on the arm that you cut off. But how did it end up in my
stew?"
Galt blinked like a night creature caught in the sun. "I took it," he
admitted. "When we had to take the arm off, I noticed the ring. I knew it
was important, so I put it in my pocket. It must have fallen out just now
when I served your stew."
Zak had been standing next to Galt when he filled the bowl, and he
hadn't seen anything fall into the pot.
But how else could the ring have gotten in there?
"What is the problem?" a calm voice asked. It was Hoole.
The Shi'ido and the smugglers had just returned to the village. They
were muddy and miserable, with frustrated frowns wrinkling their faces. They
had spent the day looking for signs of Boba Fett but had found nothing.
Platt's eyes brightened when she saw the cooking pot. "Hey, smells
great! What's for lunch?"
"Nothing now," Galt said. "It's all gone. But we could cook something
else up for you." He nodded to two of the other Children, who trotted away.
"That would be great," Platt said. "We're starved."
Hoole glanced left and right. "Zak, where is Tash?"
Zak grunted. "She's still out there with Yoda."
The Shi'ido frowned. "You left your sister out in the swamp with a
strange creature?"
"And where are my men?" Platt asked.
Quickly, Zak told them what had happened in the forest. But when he got
to the part about Yoda, he did not mention that the little creature was a
Jedi. Jedi Knights had been hunted down by the Empire, and Zak didn't want
to reveal this one to a group of smugglers he barely knew.
Platt wasn't interested in Yoda anyway. "I'd better go check on Traut."
"Tash isn't in any danger, Uncle Hoole," Zak said after the smuggler
was gone. "Yoda is-"
"You don't know that," the Shi'ido said. "One person has already lost
his life out there in the swamp, and another is wounded."
"But she wanted to go with him. She had a good feeling about him, and
she's always right."
Hoole's face was dark. "Why didn't you at least stay with her?"
Zak looked down at his feet. "They didn't want me to."
"And you allowed that to separate you from your sister?"
"But you said so yourself. She's always right about things like-"
"Zak," his uncle interrupted. "Tash may have some connection with the
Force, but she is only thirteen years old. I expect you to look out for
her."
"Me, look out for Tash?" Zak was taken aback. "But she's older, and
she's got the Force, and-"
"And you are quite capable of keeping her out of trouble, just as I
would expect her to keep you out of trouble," the Shi'ido said irritably.
"Zak, you must stop acting as though you are nothing but a tagalong."
Zak didn't know what to say. He felt embarrassed that Hoole was
scolding him. But he was also thrilled by what Hoole was saying. That he
should take care of Tash. That he was capable. Zak was still struggling with
his conflictin
g emotions when Platt returned to speak with Hoole. He barely
heard their conversation.
"How is your companion?" Hoole asked.
"Alive, but barely," Platt said. "These Children used some local plants
to stop the bleeding, but he's in shock. I would be too if I'd lost an arm
and a leg."
"I need your help, Platt," Hoole said. "I need you and your men to help
me find my niece. She is still out in the swamp."
"Let's go," Platt said.
"Zak, stay here. Do not leave the village until I return," Hoole
ordered, then turned and strode off with Platt.
It was only as they departed that Zak realized what Platt had said.