overwhelmed him. He had never thought he'd experience something so
wonderful down here.
As he and Tenel Ka stared upward, wordlessly sharing the experience, an
unexpected volley of blaster shots streaked across the jungle like
fireworks. A sparking white-hot globe of fire blazed toward them like a
meteor-the stormtroopers had shot a dazzling flareball that spewed light
in all directions.
The flareball crashed into the crook of a nearby tree and lodged there
like a tiny sun, sputtering as it burned hot and bright. The flare
sharpened the shadows and washed the humid air with garish light,
stripping away the cloaking darkness.
Jacen saw to his dismay that four stormtroopers were standing on a
single wide branch and aiming their weapons at the exhausted Jedi
trainees, though the brilliant flareball had dazzled their eyes as well.
Tenel Ka shoved Jacen away from her.
'Hide!" she said, and dashed off into the thick branches. Jacen ducked
just as a blaster bolt sheared off a steaming chunk of wood Above his
head.
A rustling noise through the branches told him that Lowie and Sirra had
also fled. He heard somebody else, but he could see only the four
stormtroopers. He wondered if it could be Zekk . . . and he wondered if
his dark-haired former friend would show them any mercy.
"Oh, blaster bolts," he said as another shot tore through the air too
close to him.
"Hah-no kidding," he muttered to himself.
In the strobing light he could discern only brilliant colors dancing
before his aching eyes. Then he glimpsed the flickering movement of a
slender figure suddenly sprouting a bright turquoise blade-Tenel Ka with
her lightsaber . . . and she was just beneath the four stormtroopers!
The Imperial troopers saw her, too. They shouted excitedly and took
aim-but too late.
With a single stroke, Tenel Ka slashed through the bough that supported
the stormtroopers. Her rancor-tooth lightsaber flared, and sparks spat
off in all directions as her blade severed the centuries-old tree
branch.
Tenel Ka dove out of the way. Wood cracked, vines snapped, and leaves
were torn asunder under the enormous weight of the surprised Imperial
soldiers. They fired randomly, shouting in panicked bursts through their
comlink helmets as the branch fell away, spilling them into the forest
floor below. The four stormtroopers toppled to their deaths, blaster
rifles still firing.
Looking fiercely satisfied, Tenel Ka deactivated her lightsaber and
clipped it to her belt. Jacen, standing within her view, gave the
warrior girl a round of silent applause.
Farther down, in the shelter of a curved and stunted tree, Lowbacca
crouched close to his sister Sirra as the thick branch bearing the four
hapless storrntroopers plummeted past them through the darkness. With
his dark-adapted Wookiee eyes, he could see Sirra sniffing the air,
waiting.
Sirra seemed preoccupied with testing the air and studying her
surroundings. Then Lowie caught a twinge of scent-the frightening,
tingling aroma of a syren plant, a large one, farther below.
With a quiet groan, he searched the area with his golden eyes until he
saw the monstrous carnivorous flower in the thick underbrush of the
ground level, its glossy yellow petals spread wide, its blood-red
central stalk giving off a tempting scent. Sirra maneuvered herself
until she was above the dangerous plant, then sought a safe way to get
down to it.
Suddenly, Vonnda Ra leaped out of nowhere and slammed into Lowie, her
hands crackling with evil lightning force. Jolts of searing electricity
coursed through Lowie, and hisfur began to smoke even as he staggered
backward with a bellowing roar, stunned and disoriented.
In a blur of claws and teeth, Sirra leaped into the fray, flashing her
ferocious Wookiee fangs. Her strong arms pushed Vonnda Ra away from her
sizzling evil power.
Sirra cried out in pain and stumbled, then regathered her strength,
launching off with powerful leg muscles into a full-body tackle of
Vonnda Ra. Together, they went over the edge of the slippery,
moss-covered branch and out into open air, tumbling and slashing.
Lowie shook himself and leaped into motion, rushing toward his sister.
He reached out and caught the falling Nightsister's black cape, but the
tough, slick fabric slipped through his fingers.
Sirra and Vonnda Ra fell.
Lowie howled in despair as the two combatants careened directly toward
the waiting jaws of the syren plant.
Struggling as they dropped, Sirra managed to get on top. With an impact
heavy enough to knock the wind out of a gun dark, they crashed onto the
broad, deadly petals.
Vonnda Ra's back struck the soft sensitive tissues inside the syren
plant's open maw first. Sirra instantly pushed herself up to her feet,
but the huge petals squeezed together in a reflexive, hungry action.
Roaring, Lowie leaped off the high branch, frantic to do something. His
attention fixed on the glossy petals as they contracted, folding around
its two new victims. High above, Jacen and Tenel Ka yelled down to him.
Vonnda Ra squirmed as the plant's trap squeezed tighter. Lowie saw his
sister's head disappear as the thick muscular petals swallowed her up.
Only one arm with patternshaved fur extended from between the deadly
flower's jaws.
Lowie reached the syren plant, then grasped the leathery petals with his
clawed hands, pulling, straining. The roots of the plant squirmed,
digging deeper into the forest loam.
Lowie didn't dare take out his lightsaber and slash the flower to
pieces, because he knew that would kill his sister as surely as the
plant would. He tugged, groaning, and the sealed petals peeled slightly
apart. The syren plant made a gurgling, gasping sound.
Sirra's hand still protruded from the opening, flexing and struggling,
as if she were in great pain.
While Jacen grasped a vine and began to climb down, Tenel Ka dropped
beside Lowie, one of her throwing knives in her hand. She stabbed at the
leathery wall of the plant, but her knife could not penetrate the tough
skin.
Then a burst of black lightning and static from within caused the plant
to convulse. Its petals flapped open again, as if in a gasp of agony.
Inside, Vonnda Ra struggled to her knees, teeth gritted together and
eyes blazing with the Dark Force concentrated in her.
Lowie took the opportunity to reach in and get a firm grasp on Sirra. He
pulled.
Laboring for breath, the young Wookiee moved as rapidly as she could
across the slippery, shifting petals. Tenel Ka grabbed for Sirra's
outstretched arm, and pulled. The syren plant began to contract. Jacen
gripped the edge of one waxy petal to slow its closing and murmured low,
soothing words to the plant. Lowie braced himself and leaned back,
dragging his sister away with all his strength.
Her feet slipped free of
the petals just as the syren plant clamped shut
again-with Vonnda Ra still inside.
Its deceptively beautiful, fleshy yellow etals squeezed with viselike
muscles, squashing its remaining prey. A few flashes of black lightning
flickered from within the plant, and Vonnda Ra gave one last, muffled
cry. The lumpy form caught in the folds of the flower struggled once,
twice, then subsided into stillness.
Lowie held Sirra, knowing she might be injured and might need help to
get back up to the higher levels. He noted with anguish the burned
patches on his sister's fur where nn a Ra's power had singed her-yet to
his amazement Sirra seemed happy, even delighted. She let out a roar of
greeting.
Her eyes sparkled as she lifted her other arm up so he could see what
she was clasping as if it were the greatest treasure she had ever held.
During her ordeal inside the syren plant, before it had opened long
enough for her to escape, Sirrakuk had managed to grasp a handful of the
gossamer fibers with her trapped hand and yank them free.
She held up the silken strands in triumph, and Lowie barked with proud
laughter. He embraced his sister and pounded her goodnaturedly on the
back with enough force to crack stormtrooper armor.
----------------MOVING TO A stronger branch and gripping the tree trunk
to ensure her balance, Jaina leaned over, anxiously peering into the
forest depths where Chewbacca had tumbled.
"Chewie!" she shouted.
She heard a Wookiee howl of pain rise toward her from the murky shadows
below.
He was still alive-and conscious-though she knew he must be injured.
Adjusting her grip on the vine-draped trunk of the wroshyr tree, Jaina
bent over and cast the pale, pink light of the swirling phosfleas into
the leaves below. As she had suspected, the light did not penetrate far
enough for her to locate her friend. "Chewie, I'm here," Jama yelled,
using the Force to amphf y her call. "Can you move? Can you climb back
up here?She heard a far-off rustling and crackling of branches, then a
loud yelp. Chewbacca groaned in dismay and then roared something about a
fractured leg.
His words doused Jaina's sense of relief like an icy torrent of rain on
a candle flame.
A wave of weakness spun behind her eyes.
Jaina clung to the tree, pressing her face against its rough bark.
Kashyyyk's jungle was dangerous enough for a healthy human with a
full-grown Wookiee guide, but Jaina had no idea how to get herself out
of the jungle-much less herself and an injured friend whom she'd
undoubtedly have to carry. And then how could she help her brother and
the others?
Meanwhile, she realized, Chewbacca's injury might even draw predators
hoping for an easy kill. . . .
The thought snapped Jaina out of her momentary weakness. She had to
think; she had to help Chewie. She was in training to be a Jedi
Knight-and this problem certainly couldn't be impossible to solve, she
told herself First things first. She had to get down to Chewbacca right
away. She felt ashamed that she had wasted precious seconds with her
panic.
"Chewie," she yelled again, 'keep calling to me until I find you."
She would have to move quickly. She felt around for a sturdy vine,
yanking one after another until she found a rough strand that would hold
her weight. Pressing the toes of her boots against the tree trunk, Jaina
lowered herself hand over hand, maneuvering around the splintered stumps
of branches broken by the Wookiee's fall. "I'm coming," she said, as
much to reassure herself as to comfort Chewie.
By the time she located the injured Wookiee, her feet ached, her palms
burned, and every muscle in her body shook with weariness. She
unstrapped the phosflea lamp from her waist and held it close to
Chewbacca's body to get a better look at him. The fuzzy light swirled as
she moved.
A quick examination of his injuries told Jaina that the news was grim.
The minor scrapes, bruises, and cuts could be dealt with easily enough,
but one leg was broken. Chewbacca would never be able to walk out of
here.
Jaina knew she was not equal to the task of transporting a wounded
Wookiee hundreds of meters up to the forest canopy, even if she used the
Force. She had barely made it this far herself.
Besides that, her brother and the others still needed her help. Jaina
didn't know what she could do for them.
She thought the problem over while she used a few of the meager
emergency supplies from their packs to clean Chewie's wounds.
He groaned and did his best to help her.
Clearly, Jaina had no choice but to abandon her search for the others.
Jacen, Tenel Ka, and the two young Wookiees were still fleeing from the
Imperials. Jaina was no tracker, and she had little chance of finding
them down here.
But she and her twin brother had always shared an uncommonly close
mental bond, just like the one their mother Leia shared with her twin
Luke. Perhaps if she sent out a cry for help, Jacen might be able to
find her.
Concentrating all of her mental effort, Jaina sent out a cry-"Help
me!"-that rang through her mind like a mallet striking a cymbal.
Opening her eyes, Jaina checked the fracture in Chewbacca's leg again.
The bone fragments had not torn through the skin, but the injury was
still serious. Jaina raised her phosflea light high and looked about for
any sturdy material she could use as a splint.
The pinkish glow fell on a pair of black boots. A familiar voice said,
'Did you call for help?"
Jaina started and nearly fell off the branch.
Growling, Chewbacca bared his fangs, though he could make no move to
attack.
"Zekk-what are you doing here?" Trying to check her astonishment, Jaina
stood and held the glowing light higher, but the leatherclad figure took
a step backward, keeping his face partly in shadow.
"I had business here on Yashyyyk."
'Imperial business?" Jaina asked, and bit her lip as soon as she had
said it. Her heart contracted painfully. 'What's happened to you, Zekk?
How could you stay with the Shadow Academy? I thought we were friends."
He ignored the question, and asked two of his own. "Why are you here,
Jaina? Why couldn't you have stayed awa3O I don't want to hurt you."
Chewbacca voiced a snarl of warning at these words, though at the same
time he hissed in pain from his injury.
"Then don't hurt me, Zekk," Jaina said reasonably. She took a step along
the branch toward her former friend. "I'm no threat to you. I'm your
friend. I care for you."
"Step back and stay out of my way," Zekk snapped. "It's already too late
for the others."
Jaina flinched and shut her eyes, feeling the blood drain from her face.
Could it be true? Had Zekk already killed Jacen, Lowle, Tenel Ka . . .
even an innocent stranger like Sirra?
No, she decided at last, it couldn't be. She would have felt it. Her
brother and her friends were still alive. They had to be. She couldn't
b
elieve that Zekk's heart had become so scorched and black that he could
murder someone he had once called a friend.
In an effort to distract him, as she had done with Garowyn, Jaina tried
her trick again. She used the Force to rffne the leaves in the branches
surrounding him, as if a chill wind were blowing through the
claustrophobic cage of the forest underlevels.
Zekk looked up, his green eyes bright even in the shadows. It took him
only a moment to realize what she was doing. His pale lips curled in a
smile, then he gestured with one hand.
The wind picked up, the branches cracked together, and a storin of
dislodged leaves and twigs whipped through the air with the force of a
small tornado.
Jaina shut her eyes, shielding them and shrinking back from the
whirlwind. Chewbacca yowled, but Zekk paid no attention to the Wookiee.
"I'm not impressed with your tricks, Jaina," he said. "Don't play games
with me." Then, with a whoosh, a sizzling brightness stabbed through her
eyelids. Jaina opened her eyes to see Zekk holding the weapon of a Jedi,
his face lit by its pulsating scarlet glow.
"Don't go for your lightsaber, Jaina," he warned.
She shook her head. 'I won't raise a weapon against you, Zekk. And I
don't believe you'd kill me either."
ZeWs face distorted with warring emotions.
"Then stay away from the Jedi academy. If you ever get out of here,