The droid reached up and pulled down the handle with his metal arm.
Instantly the doorway in the floor opened. Anakin looked down. A narrow
passage of stone blocks led away from the trapdoor.
"This must be the way," Anakin said as he slid into the passage. "Come
on, you two," he called from the darkness.
"You first," Tahiri said to the droid. Artoo beeped once and moved
forward to the trapdoor. He tipped slightly backward, then rolled into the
passageway and out of sight.
"My turn," Tahiri whispered. Then she, too, dropped out of sight. A
few minutes
later, hot, moist air hit the three as they entered the jungles of
Yavin 4.
"Follow me," Anakin called as he raced toward the river. Artoo beeped
several times.
"I think he knows where he's going, buddy," Tahiri said to the droid.
They began to follow Anakin. Tahiri had to stop a few times to help
Artoo, who kept getting tangled in the blueleaf shrubs. Anakin was already
by the long silver raft when Tahiri and Artoo got to the edge of the river.
"Told you the raft would be here," he said with a shy smile. Tahiri
hopped in and they lifted Artoo over the rounded sides of the raft, then
pushed it off from the bank. Anakin jumped in at the last second.
"Well, at least we're not rafting in a storm like we do in the dream,"
Anakin said as he began to paddle.
Tahiri sat in the front of the raft staring down at the water. This
place is amazing, she thought. Enormous Massassi trees hung down over the
river, their branches arching. The sunlight danced off the clear green
water. The only thing that keeps this afternoon from being perfect is
Artoo, Tahiri thought. Since they had begun rafting he hadn't stopped
whistling and beeping.
"Can't you make him be quiet?" Tahiri asked Anakin.
"He must have something on his mind, because he hasn't stopped
whistling for ten minutes," Anakin replied.
"I wish I'd had more time to figure out a way to understand him."
Tahiri turned back to face the droid. She was going to make Artoo be quiet,
even if she had to disconnect his speaker. But when Tahiri turned around
she couldn't say a word. She was too shocked by what she saw.
"Ah, Anakin, I t-t-think we m-might have a problem," Tahiri finally
managed to say.
"What's that?" Anakin asked as he paddled. "I think Artoo has been
trying to tell us to look behind the raft," Tahiri replied.
Anakin turned quickly. The sky of Yavin 4 had become black. Large
purple storm clouds rolled across it. In a flash the sun was covered and
Yavin 4 grew cold and dark. The wind rose, tearing over the river.
"What's going on?" Tahiri yelled to Anakin above the roar of the wind.
"I'm not sure, but I think this might be 'one of the terrible storms
Uncle Luke told me about when I got to Yavin 4. He said that every few
months strong winds and rains tear across the moon,"
Anakin told Tahiri. He didn't tell her that his uncle had also said
that perhaps the only safe place to be during the storms was the Great
Temple. Tahiri's sea green eyes grew dark, just like the water of the
river. She saw the waves begin to form.
"This is going to be just like my dream," she said in dread. "Only
this time I might really drown."
"Don't think that way, Tahiri," Anakin commanded. "Just hang on. I'll
try to paddle us to land."
Tahiri gripped the side of the raft. The water was now crashing over
them in giant waves. The raft tipped dangerously to one side. Tahiri's
blonde hair whipped around her face. For a moment she couldn't see. Artoo
beeped loudly behind her. Then a gigantic wave hit her and she toppled
backward. She couldn't see anything as she tumbled. Then she was in the
water. It was bitterly cold. Every time she tried to gasp for breath
another wave struck her. Tahiri felt herself beginning to drown.
Help me, Anakin, she screamed in her mind. But all she could see was
water. And all she could hear were her own cries.
"Grab the paddle, Tahiri!" Anakin screamed above the storm. He could
barely see his friend in the tumbling waves. Her orange jumpsuit flashed
between the rolls of water. He watched as Tahiri struggled toward him, her
arms thrashing wildly.
"I can't reach the paddle!" she cried.
"Try again," Anakin yelled.
Tahiri tried, but was once more swept beneath a wave. She was running
out of strength. Anakin didn't know what to do. He had power in his arms,
but that couldn't help his friend.
"There are all different kinds of power," a strange voice spoke inside
Anakin's head.
"What does that mean?" Anakin screamed into the wind. There was no
answer. He turned toward Tahiri. "Try again," he called. But this time his
voice wasn't a scream-it was a command, a command said with the power of
the Force. Anakin knew that some Jedi Masters could use their voices to
control people. Could it be that he also had that ability? He watched as
Tahiri thrashed toward the paddle he was holding out to her. She seemed
stronger than before, but Anakin wasn't sure how much longer she could hold
herself above the water. He closed his eyes and focused on Tahiri's body,
just as he had focused on the two-kilogram weight that he and Tahiri had
lifted in class. Be light, he commanded. Anakin opened his eyes and saw
that Tahiri's head and shoulders were now above the water. Before another
wave could sweep Tahiri away, she grasped the paddle.
"Hang on," Anakin instructed. He leaned over to pull his friend toward
him. A large wave hit the side of the raft. Anakin lost his balance and
began to fall into the river. For a brief flash his eyes met Tahiri's. They
were filled with fear. If Anakin fell into the river they might both drown.
Anakin knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on making Tahiri light or
giving her strength if he had to focus on keeping himself afloat. Anakin
watched the wild river dance before his eyes. He knew he was about to
plunge into the cold water. He could feel his body falling out of the raft.
But just as he was about to be caught by a wave he was yanked hard
from behind. Artoo had grabbed the back of Anakin's orange jumpsuit with
his metal hand and pulled him to safety.
Anakin then grasped one of Tahiri's hands and dragged her into the
raft. He turned to Artoo.
"Thanks," he said softly. Artoo bleeped.
Anakin grabbed his paddle and began to furiously stroke. Tahiri lay in
the bottom of the raft.
"Anakin," she said with wonder, "you used the Force to get me to float
and to give me the strength I needed to thrash my way to the raft. I was
ready to give up, but your voice wouldn't let me."
Anakin gave his friend a smile. Then he turned back to the river.
"We're almost at the shore," Anakin said. "Tahiri, we're going to have
to jump out of the raft. The river is going too fast. There's no way I can
get the raft to stop."
Tahiri sat up.
"What about Artoo?" she asked. "He can't leap into the river."
"We'll have to do what we did in class the other da
y," Anakin said.
"After we jump I'll think about him being light, and you try to lift him."
There was no time to talk about it.
"Okay, it's time," Anakin said as their raft raced by the side of the
river. "Jump!"
Both students landed hard on the bank of the river and then rolled to
a stop.
"Now Artoo," Anakin yelled to Tahiri. The droid was still on the raft.
He was being swept quickly down the river. Anakin and Tahiri concentrated.
Artoo floated in the air toward them. Suddenly he dropped in the water.
"Oops," Tahiri muttered. Then she closed her eyes and focused. Moments
later Artoo landed safely beside the two students. Both Anakin and Tahiri
stared down the river as their silver raft continued to race along the
waters.
"Guess we're not rafting back to the academy," Tahiri said under her
breath. It had begun to rain-not just to rain, but to pour. "We've got to
find some shelter," Tahiri said to Anakin.
The three raced into the jungle in search of a place to hide from the
storm. The weather was getting worse. The wind was so strong that it almost
carried Tahiri away, and she had to wrap her arms around the trunk of a
Massassi tree every time it blew.
"There's nowhere to hide!" Tahiri cried.
Anakin grabbed his friend's hand and pulled her deeper into the
jungle. They were surrounded by Massassi trees, climbing ferns, and large,
deep pink flowers. Jungle animals, their fur blue and gold, raced across
the floor of the jungle. They must be the woolamanders that Jacen described
to me, Anakin thought. But they usually lived in the tops of the Massassi
trees, he remembered. Anakin guessed that the storm had brought the animals
to the ground, that the woolamanders were looking for a safe place to hide
too.
"Are those animals dangerous?" Tahiri asked her friend as they ran
through the jungle.
"I think they're called woolamanders, and if I remember right my
brother said that they only eat plants," Anakin shouted.
They saw hundreds of woolamanders as they ran. Several times the two
friends had to stop to wait for Artoo, who kept getting caught on roots and
shrubs. Meanwhile the storm was getting worse. If they didn't find shelter
soon they would be in real trouble.
"Hey, Tahiri! Look over there," Anakin said. Tahiri saw the outline of
a building. They ran through the jungle until they reached it. It looked
kind of like the Great Temple, but much smaller. And it was in ruins.
"I think this is one of the structures that was built by the Massassi
people," Anakin said.
"Who are they?" Tahiri asked.
"They were a race who used to live on this planet," Anakin explained.
"They disappeared thousands of years ago."
"Well, then they won't mind if we go inside," Tahiri giggled.
They ran to the palace. Anakin stopped outside the door to the
crumbling building. High above him were dark letters carved into the tan
stone. The letters were not Basic.
"I wonder what those symbols mean," he said.
"Who cares-let's get inside," Tahiri yelled. Artoo bleeped in
agreement, and the three headed through the doorway. Inside the palace it
was dark. Tahiri heard the clicks of hundreds of scurrying feet.
"Anakin, do you hear that?" she whispered. Anakin pushed his wet hair
out of his eyes and tried to see in the darkness.
"I hear it, but I can't see anything," he replied.
With a beep and a click, Artoo lit up the room with a beam of light.
"I knew there was a reason we brought him along," Tahiri said. They
stared around the room. Thousands of tiny black eyes stared back.
Woolamanders were everywhere!
"Yes, I'm sure of it-they don't eat people," Anakin said to Tahiri. He
had sensed her fear.
"Okay, but I still don't have to like them," Tahiri muttered.
"This must be the Palace of the Woolamander," Anakin said. "It was
named years ago by some guy who was exploring the planet. The woolamanders
must have been here then too."
"As long as we're here, let's explore," Tahiri suggested.
Why not, Anakin thought. It had been a long time since they'd snuck
out of the academy. Heck, Luke Skywalker was probably thinking up some kind
of punishment, or maybe even getting the shuttle ready to take them home.
It couldn't hurt to do a little bit of exploring.
of the Woolamander. Anakin noticed that the same letters he'd seen carved
above the door were repeated on the stone walls inside the palace. Tahiri
interrupted his thoughts.
"So what happened to the Massassi?" she asked.
"Nobody really knows," Anakin replied as he ran his hands along the
palace walls. "But there was one story about them that my father once told
me," he said. Anakin's voice echoed in the empty hallways as he began to
tell Tahiri the story. "Years ago there was a man named Dr'uun Unnh. He was
from the star system Sullust. Dr'uun Unnh was a Sullustan. Have you ever
seen one?" Anakin asked Tahiri. She shook her head.
"Well, Sullustans are humanoids with round ears, large round eyes, and
heavy cheeks that hang down their faces. Anyway, Dr'uun Unnh was a history
and nature lover, and he spent a lot of his life studying Yavin 4. He
studied all of the old temples on this planet. By digging beneath the
temples he learned about the Massassi. "According to Dr'uun," Anakin
continued, "over five thousand years ago the exiled Sith magicians - whom
nobody knows much about except that they're feared and that Darth Vader was
one - settled on Yavin 4. The magicians married the natives to create the
race of Massassi. A thousand years later an evil Jedi Knight named Exar Kun
came to Yavin 4 to enslave the Massassi, build more temples, and resurrect
the Sith teachings. Exar Kun was wiped out in the Great Sith War, which
pitted the Old Republic and the Jedi Knights against the followers of Kun,
who called himself the Dark Lord of the Sith."
"That story gives me the chills," Tahiri said. "Especially the part
about Darth Vader being part of the Sith."
"Yeah, me too," Anakin agreed. Tahiri and Anakin could still hear the
storm raging outside the palace walls. They turned a corner and stood
before a crumbling wall of stone blocks. "I guess this is a dead end,"
Anakin said. They were just about to turn around when Artoo's light stopped
at a hole in the wall. Tahiri walked forward and peered through the hole.
She could see a long stone stairway that wound down through the floor of
the palace. Before Anakin could stop her Tahiri had crawled through the
hole.
"Wait, Tahiri," Anakin called. "Someone built this wall so that we
wouldn't go down those stairs," he said. "Well, the wall is crumbling, so
maybe now we're meant to go down,"
Tahiri called back. Artoo began to beep and blip loudly. "I don't
think he wants us to go down there," Anakin said. "And he's not the only
one."
Anakin had poked his head through the hole and could actually sense
something evil floating up the
stone stairs. The hairs on his arms rose.
Artoo continued to beep - beep. Anakin crawled through the hole and joined
his friend. Tahiri hadn't started down the stone stairway.
"There's something evil here," she whispered in a small voice.
"Anakin, what if those Dark Lord guys are still here?"
"Maybe we should turn back," Anakin whispered.
"No," Tahiri said fiercely, her green eyes flashing. "We've come this
far. I'm not going to turn back just because I sense that something bad is
trying to scare us away. Anakin, you said that you felt like we were being
called to perform an important task, maybe it's something that will help us
become Jedi Knights. If that's true, there's no way I'm going to turn back.
" Tahiri began to make her way down the stairway. There were loose stones
and several times she almost fell.
"Tahiri, wait," Anakin called, but she kept moving. Anakin rushed down
after his friend. This is not the way I like to do things, Anakin thought.
I like to think, to figure out the choices. He slid his feet along the
broken stairs. He thought about the fact that Darth Vader had been a part
of the Sith. He always tried not to think of Vader as his grandfather. But
Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker, Luke and Leia's father. And that made