Jaina knew, but as the pack of monsters continued to flow from the
hills, she realized it would never be enough. This migratory pack
consisted of hundreds upon hundreds of members, each hungry from its
long charge through the rocky hills.
Jaina's lightsaber blazed violet in her hand, and her friends drew
their weapons as well. Anja rushed up, looking flushed and full of
adrenaline; she danced from foot to foot, as if anxious to attack
anything that came close. But the moment the knaars fell upon the
nearest guard and tore the old woman apart, the other villagers turned
and fled, forgetting to put up even a pretense of a fight.
Instantly Jaina saw that the battle was hopeless. Even with their
lightsabers, even with the Millennium Falcon's blasters, they couldn't
possibly drive the knaars away. Their best choice was to flee and hope
to find a place of refuge or a protected area in which they could make
a stand.
And their only path to escape lay through the detonator-salted
fields.
The Falcon blasted two of the leading knaars. Several of their fellows
fell upon the bodies, stripping the meat off the bones of the dead
predators. But scores of knaars kept coming.
The Falcon fired again. Heedless of this minor interruption, the
monsters surged forward, slashing with claws, snapping their jaws at
their helpless prey. Jaina, with her companions and the remaining
villagers, turned and ran headlong into fields full of burrowing
detonators.
As the Millennium Falcon took off with a roar, Zekk heard the villagers
crowded in the back of the Falcon moan with fear. His attention,
though, was focused on the sparks and flashes of light that signified
lightsabers as the young Jedi Knights fought down below.
"Zekk, get into the gun well and start blasting those creatures!"
Han Solo shouted.
"I hope your laser cannons are fully charged," Zekk said, climbing down
into the gun well. He dropped into the chair, strapped in, and powered
up the Falcon's weaponry.
Han soared low to the ground, swooping back toward the ramshackle
village. The reptilian predators prowled along, moving with the speed
of hunger, cunning evident in their intelligent yellow eyes.
"There are so many of them!" Zekk muttered, seeing the sinuous shapes
dart forward like purplish-blue shadows. One of the creatures grabbed
a young man and swallowed him in a single gulp before Zekk could aim
the laser cannons. He wondered if that victim had been one of the
brash young men who had tried to act so brave when the knaars were
first coming.
Zekk targeted and fired, blowing the reptilian creature to sizzling
bits. He rotated in the gun well again, seeking another target. It
was difficult to zero in on the dark shadowy monsters-and he didn't
dare risk hitting one of the people.
Below, a knaar advanced along the pale wall of a building. One
villager had tried to take shelter around the corner, in the doorway.
The knaar approached, sniffing, its claws extended. Zekk targeted and
fired.
The frightened villager scrambled to one side as the smoking body of
the enormous reptile slumped to the ground in front of him, its fanged
mouth open wide.
A shot now fired from the other gun well, striking one of the saurians
in its lower leg. The moment it collapsed, honking and howling in
pain, other knaars fell upon their wounded companion.
"Hope you don't mind, Zekk," Anakin said through the comm system.
"I've had a bit of target training myself, but the twins get to
practice more often."
The knaars continued to sweep forward. Two new ones seemed to appear
for every one Zekk blasted.
Han Solo circled around and came back for another run. His concerned
voice came over the comm system. "What's she doing?"
Zekk looked down and saw by the glow of the lightsaber blades that the
young Jedi Knights had turned and headed with the remaining villagers
into the barren fields that were full of burrowing detonators.
He thought of Jaina down there fighting against monsters and running
into even more dangerous territory. His heart sank, but he gritted his
teeth and grabbed the firing controls. If he couldn't pull off a
spectacular rescue, at least he'd do his part to keep her safe-or as
safe as she could possibly be under the circumstances.
Jaina planted her feet firmly on the rough ground and held her
lightsaber high. The slavering knaar in front of her did not seem at
all intimidated by her violet Jedi blade. The reptilian creature gave
a high-pitched bellow, then reached forward with its claws, snapping
with powerful jaws that looked strong enough to rip a repulsorpod from
a starship engine.
Jaina swung forward and down with her crackling lightsaber, cleaving
the monster from its shoulder down to the center of its rib cage.
The creature thrashed and fell down as smoking blood bubbled from its
dying heart.
Anja continued to let out loud whoops and shouts of challenge. She ran
faster than the knaars, darting from one to another, wounding them with
her lightsaber and diving out of the way as their claws slashed at
her.
She let the other carnivores do the rest of the work for her. She
needed only to wound a beast, then the other knaars would tear it to
pieces for the meat.
Anja's hair flew in the wind, barely held in place by the leather
band.
Sweat dripped down her temples onto her flushed face, but she was so
full of adrenaline she seemed incapable of slowing down.
Lowbacca let out a loud Wookiee roar as he and Jacen motioned the
villagers to follow them into the treacherous cropland. The villagers
dropped their fanning implements and ran. Panicked, some of them
dashed right past the young Jedi.
"Wait! We have to find a safe path for you!" Jacen yelled. But one
middle-aged woman clutching a satchel of valuables over her shoulder
tore ahead in blind terror as she fled from the knaars.
"No! Wait!"
She ran through the uncleared cropland. Jacen felt an intuitive stab
and a chill at the back of his neck-a premonition-just before she
stepped down on one of the hidden burrowing detonators. The explosion
ripped the night with a flash of brilliance and a boom of echoing
thunder. The woman fell instantly, but the monsters charged toward the
fields and Jacen could not take a moment to determine whether or not
she had survived. The villagers screamed in despair, caught between
their fear of the minefield ahead and the rampaging predators behind.
Lowie roared something at Jacen about the Force and gestured to the
ground. Em Teedee quickly translated. "Master Lowbacca suggests that
by using your Jedi senses, you could perhaps determine the locations of
the burrowing detonators and thus avoid them. That would give us the
best chance of survival."
Jacen realized that his Wookiee friend was right. If he coul
d calm
himself enough to use the Force, he might be able to map out a safe
path that the villagers could follow-a path that the knaars would not
understand.
"And I do suggest you be careful," the little droid added. "I have no
desire to become a useless lump of floating metal with no one to
translate for."
As his eyes adjusted to a darkness lit only by the green glow of his
lightsaber and Em Teedee's optical sensors, Jacen trotted ahead as fast
as he dared, keeping his eyes to the ground. Stretching out his free
hand before him, he sensed ripples in the dirt, tiny echoes of
movementand then he spotted a slight trembling where the mechanical
explosives had tunneled beneath the surface. Across the fields he
could see a checkerboard pattern of places to avoid, and places where
it was safe to walk.
"Follow us!" he shouted, holding his emerald lightsaber like a beacon
overhead. "We can see a path!"
The ginger-furred Wookiee bellowed a confirmation, raised his own
molten-bronze blade, and sprinted ahead on his long legs. A magenta
glow from Tenel Ka's rancor-tooth lightsaber indicated another safe
path.
Jaina and Anja remained behind to guard the group's retreat and to slow
down the charging beasts. Overhead, the Millennium Falcon's engines
rumbled in the air. Laser beams lanced out from both gun turrets,
striking knaars. Still more of the migratory pack surged like a
camlyorous flood out of the rocky hills.
The villagers ran onward, grasping at any shred of hope as they
followed Jacen and Lowie through the minefield. Fortunately, the
knaars did not understand the explosives. They surged forward on their
scaly, muscular legs, ready to snatch anyone who fell behind.
Two of the largest knaars, their silvery razor frills raised and yellow
eyes glowing like lamps in the darkness, circled around to the left to
charge ahead of the fleeing group and cut off their retreat. Tenel Ka
turned to face them, glaring with her granite-gray eyes as if daring
them to approach.
The two reptiles kept moving, staying close together. When the larger
knaar stomped on one of the burrowing detonators, the explosion knocked
both creatures aside, tearing open their rib cages. They lay wounded
on the ground, honking and roaring in pain. Tenel Ka would have
dispatched them herself, but their noises only served to attract other
hungry knaars. Before long, under the double moonlight of Anobis, the
two predators fell silent as their roars were replaced by the wet
sounds of tearing meat and gnashing fangs.
The Falcon soared above the knaars, blasting more of the creatures.
One of the villagers tripped. Before he could scramble to his feet
again, two monsters fell upon him. When another young man turned back
with a shout and tried to defend his friend, the knaars attacked him as
well.
At the last instant, when it seemed the young man was surely doomed,
Anja appeared beside him. Her lightsaber swept out in a blazing swath
of acid yellow to lop off both forearms of the predator. The sizzling
stumps of its clawed hands fell to the ground, and the monster roared,
flailing about, unable to grasp anything. In blind rage it chomped at
the nearest creature-another knaar. The two reptiles tore at each
other, wrestling one another to the ground. In moments, other
predators came in to finish off both of them.
The cropland stretched ahead, seemingly forever. Jacen continued to
run, finding it easier to pick his way around the burrowing detonators
now. He saw some active ones shifting their positions underneath the
soil.
Beyond, the thick forest looked like a goal line. If only they could
get to the shelter of the trees, perhaps they could fight better than
out in the open. But Jacen couldn't be sure. For now they were just
running.
He couldn't imagine how the group could possibly turn aside all the
knaars, even with five active lightsaber blades and assistance from the
Millennium Falcon.
Two more explosions ripped the night, and Jacen was relieved to see
that it was only more reptilian predators stumbling upon the
explosives. He looked to one side and saw a bobbing metallic sphere.
Em Teedee had detached himself from Lowie's belt and drifted ahead on
his microrepulsolets, flitting from side to side in front of the beasts
like a remote practice drone.
One of the largest knaars lumbered forward, attracted by Lowie's
molten-bronze lightsaber blade. The Wookiee stopped his headlong run
and whirled to face the monster. The knaar charged forward, exposing
its razor teeth.
Em Teedee flitted in front of the monster's jaws, distracting the
creature so that it snapped at the silvery sphere and diverted its
fiery gaze from Lowbacca. Lowie used the moment of distraction to
strike sideways, severing the knaar's body at the waist; its head still
twisted and snapped even though it had no body to move.
The surviving villagers kept running. Ahead of them, the forests
loomed taller. Dozens and dozens of the saurian giants had been
killed, but though the pack seemed to be thinning a bit, Jacen did not
feel at all relieved. The Falcon circled by again, blasting away.
More of the monsters died. The people continued to stumble along on
the haphazard path the young Jedi Knights picked for them through the
booby-trapped field. Many villagers were in shock, just following,
placing one foot in front of another, unable to fully face their
peril.
Jacen sensed their fear and could only hope the situation would change
once they entered the thick trees. "Hurry up. Get to the forest!" he
shouted. With despairing sighs, the people nearest him tried to
increase their pace, but they were too exhausted. Weak from
malnutrition and years of living in fear for their lives, several of
them stumbled and fell, only to be helped to their feet by their
equally exhausted companions. Jacen could tell that everyone's energy
reserves were running out.
If they had to continue this battle, they would not make it much
farther.
The Falcon swept overhead, strafing the oncoming monsters. Jaina and
Anja fought behind the others, attacking more of the knaars. The air
was filled with the snarls of the predators, the sizzling buzz of the
lightsabers, and the despairing cries of the staggering villagers.
Then, to Jacen's surprise, the migratory knaars faltered in their
advance, honking at each other uneasily. Many in the pack were covered
with blood from their victims, both human and reptilian. But they all
paused in their tracks as if unwilling to come any closer to the
forest.
Jacen, sensing the monsters' hesitation, desperately tried to use his
Jedi senses in another way. The knaars were at the edge of their
territorial range. Jacen could feel that they had never come this far
before, that the forests ahead were a great unknown, and that the
predators had little desire to keep following. He sent out his
thoughts, giving the knaars a vague feeling that they had come far
enough, that they should turn and go home.
They smelled the blood in the air, dimly understood that a great many
of their number had already died on this trek.
The knaars honked at each other in a rudimentary form of
communication.
With sagging shoulders and trembling knees, the villagers turned to
watch in shock as the predators ground to a halt, snapping sharp teeth
into the air as if they had reached some invisible boundary.
Lowie gestured with his big hairy arms to keep the people moving toward
the forest during this unexpected respite. "Dear me! How very odd! I
do hope the knaars don't change their minds and attack again," Em
Teedee said.
The Falcon circled back and blasted one motionless knaar who stood in
the lead. The other reptiles howled and snapped their jaws in defiance
of the disk-shaped ship that cruised overhead. Then they turned about,
moving much slower now, and began their trek back through the
minefield. The stragglers stopped to snort among the scraps of meat
that remained on the carcasses they'd left behind during their chase
after the fleeing villagers.
Jacen stood at the edge of the forest, surveying the tall dark trees
and the shadows beyond. Farther in the distance, beyond the forest,
steep mountains with winding switchback roads led up to the open
tunnels and cliffside stone villages of the miners.