buttons," Anakin said gruffly. Tahiri nodded.
"Okay, so now we know that there are traps built into the wall,"
Anakin said.
"And we know that a wrong move could hurt us," Tahiri added. "We also
know that it is impossible to move the biggest stones with our minds. The
only thing I've been able to move is all this glittery gold stuff," Tahiri
said as she brushed off her jumpsuit. It was covered in golden dust.
"You look like a magic fairy," Anakin laughed. Even Tahiri's eyelashes
were glittering with dust.
"Watch it or I'll cover you with this stuff," Tahiri giggled back.
Just to prove her point, she ran her hands along the wall to pick up
glitter and then shook them over Anakin's head. His hair sparkled.
"Very funny," Anakin said as he tried to shake the glitter off.
"Hey, Tahiri, what if this glittery gold stuff really is magic?"
Anakin asked.
Tahiri made a face at her friend. "Next thing you're going to say is
that the glitter is the way we will unlock the wall," she added with a
laugh.
"I think it is, Tahiri. This golden stuff is the only thing we've been
able to move. Let's try rubbing it along the stones to see if we can
highlight any cracks or pathways that we haven't seen."
"It's worth a try," Tahiri agreed.
Anakin moved to the far left wall and began to rub the golden glitter
along the stones. In most spots it rained down to the floor and formed
piles of gold. Tahiri had begun to rub the glitter along the same wall from
the other end.
"It's not showing us anything," she grumbled.
"Keep trying," Anakin said. As he reached the center of the wall,
Anakin began to notice that a thin line of gold was sticking to some of the
stones. He bent down and continued to rub the glitter on them.
Tahiri had almost reached the spot where he was rubbing. She crouched
by the bottom stone.
"So the glitter sticks in some spots," Tahiri began. "But I don't see
a doorway."
Anakin moved back and looked at the lines where the golden dust had
stuck.
"Tahiri," he said in an awed voice, "step back and look."
Tahiri moved away from the wall.
"Holy bantha!" she cried. "Anakin, it's the outline of a child!"
Anakin nodded at his friend. Before them a single golden line traced
the form of a child on the stone wall. Tahiri raced forward and tried to
push the outline in. The stone wall didn't move.
"How do we open it?" Tahiri asked in a desperate voice.
"Look, Tahiri," Anakin replied. "To the right of the figure is another
outline-it looks like a handprint, doesn't it? Maybe that's what triggers
the secret door."
Tahiri moved to the golden hand and gently placed her own palm over
the print. Nothing happened. "You try, Anakin," Tahiri whispered.
Anakin stepped forward and placed his palm on the golden print. Again
nothing happened.
"What do we do now?" Tahiri asked her friend. "We seemed so close to
unlocking the wall...." Tahiri's voice trailed off as she watched her
friend race toward the stone stairway.
"Where are you going?" Tahiri cried.
"I'll be right back," Anakin called. Moments later Anakin returned to
the room with the small bone Tahiri had discovered on the stairway. "Maybe
our hands aren't exactly the right shape," Anakin offered in a breathless
voice.
Tahiri nodded in excitement. Anakin walked toward the golden figure,
the Massassi child's hand stretched out before him. He placed the skeletal
fingers against the wall, and they clicked dully against the stones. Then,
as the fingertips of the bony hand touched the golden print, they began to
the wall.
"It fits," Tahiri yelled. With a loud click and a gentle hiss of air,
the door swung open. A golden light flooded the room. It was much brighter
than the glitter. Anakin and Tahiri moved forward, holding hands as they
walked inside the secret room.
A gigantic crystal globe was in the center of the chamber. It reached
to... the whole room. The globe was filled with swirls of golden glitter.
It looks like a sparkling dust storm on Tatooine, Tahiri thought. She moved
to touch the globe. Before Anakin could warn her to be careful she was
tossed back into the stone wall. Anakin raced over to his friend.
"I'm okay," she said as she rose to her feet. "Guess there's some kind
of force field around that thing. Oh no, what's this creature?" Tahiri
cried, jumping backward.
Anakin peered over to the spot where his friend had fallen. Curled up
- at the base of a stone block was a small creature. He hadn't seen it at
first because its fur was the exact brown and golden color of the stone
wall. It seemed to be sleeping. Its closed eyes were large and so round
that the lids stuck out several centimeters. The creature's body was about
one meter long and its floppy ears draped down to the stone floor. Anakin
bent to touch the being's fur. It stuck straight out but was surprisingly
soft.
"Anakin, I think it's waking up," Tahiri warned. Anakin backed away.
The creature opened one large eye, which was at once a swirl of brown,
green, and blue. It studied the two friends. "Do you think it's dangerous?"
Tahiri whispered.
Anakin shrugged. He wasn't sure. Then the being stretched and yawned.
"He doesn't seem too worried about us," Anakin said.
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!" the creature sat up and whistled in a high-
pitched voice. Anakin raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!" the creature whistled again. Then it curled up
its small hands and pounded its chest. "Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!"
"I think it's trying to tell us its name is Ikrit," Tahiri said with a
giggle. "Okay, so your name is Ikrit. Pleased to meet you. I'm Tahiri and
this is Anakin Solo," she said in a polite voice. It was really kind of
cute, she thought.
Ikrit stared right at her with its large round eyes. Now they were
pure green, just like her own. For a second she could have sworn it winked
at her! Then Ikrit rose and scurried on all fours around the golden globe.
It looked like it was checking to make sure the globe was all right. It sat
down in front of Anakin when - it was done. Then its fur changed color. It
was now frost white. Anakin turned back to the globe.
What was it? And why did he feel so sad when he looked at it? Anakin
closed his-eyes and tried to use the Force to understand the golden globe.
For a moment he thought he heard whispers. His eyes flew open. Maybe he and
Tahiri were not alone. But no one else was in the room except the creature
Ikrit. Anakin closed his eyes again. This time he was sure he heard
whispers. The whispers and cries of children. He turned to Tahiri to tell
her. She looked frightened.
"Anakin, I know this is going to sound crazy," Tahiri whispered, "but
I think I saw a hand pressed against the inside of the globe."
Anakin turned back to the globe and peered into the golden light. He
could not see a
nything.
"And that's not all I have to tell you," Tahiri said in a small voice.
Anakin turned to face his friend.
"The hand was a child's."
Anakin whirled back to the globe. He still couldn't see anything.
"Tahiri, I can't see anything, but I believe you. Something is inside
that globe. When I close my eyes and reach, out to it with the Force I can
hear children whispering and crying," Anakin said.
Tahiri looked at her friend in horror. She wanted to break the globe
open and free whoever was inside of it. But neither of them could touch the
globe without being thrown back by its powerful force field.
Ikrit began to leap and jump in the air.
"What's it doing?" Tahiri asked.
"I think it's just playing," Anakin said. Ikrit leapt onto Anakin's
shoulder and covered the boy's eyes.
"Hey, quit it," he said.
But Ikrit wouldn't get down from his shoulders. It yanked at Anakin's
hair and tweaked his nose. Anakin reached up to pull the creature down. His
wrist - chronometer flashed in the golden light. Ikrit turned Anakin's
wrist so that he could play with the instrument.
"He must like how it flashes in the light," Tahiri said.
"Oh, my gosh!" Anakin cried when he saw the time flashing. "We've been
here for six hours! Everyone at the academy must be out looking for us.
We've got to get out of here. If they find us in this secret room,
everything will be lost."
"What will be lost?" Tahiri asked. "And how do you know?"
"It's just a feeling, a terrible feeling that if we are discovered
here we will fail in whatever we are meant to do. And we will fail more
beings than just ourselves," Anakin replied. "It's that feeling of dread,
and the voice inside my head."
"What does the voice say?" Tahiri questioned.
"It says get out of here now!" Anakin cried.
The two friends raced out of the room, with Ikrit at their heels.
Tahiri and Anakin charged up the stone stairway. It was easier this time;
they were covered with enough golden glitter to light their way.
Ikrit followed behind them, and every few minutes he whistled, "Ikrit,
Ikrit, Ikrit."
"We know your name already," Anakin grumbled at the creature. Its
large eyes, now the same ice blue as Anakin's, stared at the boy.
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit," it whistled again. But this time Anakin felt
like the creature was laughing at him. On their way up the stairs Tahiri
stopped to replace the old bone she had found. She held it up. Its shiny
white surface was lit by golden light. It's almost beautiful in a sad way,
Tahiri thought. Anakin put his hand on her shoulder.
"We've got to get out of here," he said softly. Tahiri put the bone
down gently, and they began to once again race up the stairs. It hadn't
seemed such a long way down, Anakin thought as he struggled to catch his
breath. The creature Ikrit didn't even look winded.
Strange, Anakin thought. That thing had been locked up inside the room
with the golden globe. Who knows how long Ikrit had been sleeping there-a
year? A thousand years? Had it eaten in all that time? Now it was racing up
the steps with them. And it didn't even look tired!
Anakin heard Artoo-Detoo bleeping before he saw him through the hole
in the wall. He wondered if the droid had been calling to them the whole
time. For a moment he felt guilty. After all, it was Artoo who had
discovered the hole in the wall. saved them from drowning in the river. And
it was Artoo who had discovered the hole in the wall. Maybe I've been too
hard on the droid, Anakin thought. As Anakin climbed through the He
wondered if the droid had been calling to them the whole time.
For a moment he felt guilty. After all, it was Artoo who had saved
them from drowning in the river. And it was Artoo who had discovered the
hole in the wall. Maybe I've been too hard on the droid, Anakin thought. As
Anakin climbed through the hole he softly whispered an apology to the
droid. For a moment Artoo was silent. But when the droid saw Ikrit bounce
through the wall he immediately began his beeping and blipping.
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit," the creature whistled. Ikrit jumped onto the
rounded top of the droid. Artoo whirled in circles, trying to throw Ikrit
off. But Ikrit remained calmly seated on the droid. Tahiri, Anakin, and
Artoo, with Ikrit still sitting on Artoo's head, raced toward the front
hallway of the palace. Anakin heaved open the door and they stepped out
into the jungle.
It was still raining softly. But the storm had ended. The winds had
stopped tearing through the jungle, and the night sky was almost clear
enough to allow the stars to be seen. Anakin turned to have one last look
at the Palace of the Woolamander. He stared at the dark letters carved
above the doorway.
"I wish I knew what those letters meant," Anakin whispered to himself.
Maybe, he thought, they had something to do with the golden globe.
"Stop staring at those symbols," Tahiri said to her friend as she
tugged on his arm. "We will never have the chance to find out what they
mean if we don't get back to the academy."
"What's the rush," Anakin said. "Chances are pretty good that they're
going to be really upset we've been gone so long."
Tahiri scowled at her friend. "We should at least try," she scolded.
Quickly Anakin, Tahiri, Artoo, and Ikrit walked back into the jungle.
The rain had soon soaked them. Puddles of glittering gold water pooled at
Anakin's and Tahiri's feet. The rain was washing all the gold off their
hair and jumpsuits. Neither of the friends noticed. It was dark, and they
wondered if they would be able to find their way back to the Great Temple
through the jungle now that they had lost their raft.
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit" the strange white creature whistled. Anakin
turned and saw that Artoo was stuck in a large hole.
"Must be a runyip hole," Anakin grumbled as he and Tahiri struggled to
lift the droid.
"What are runyips?" Tahiri asked as she pushed a wet strand of blonde
hair from her face.
"My brother Jacen told me about them. They're jungle animals," Anakin
explained. "They have claws on their toes that they use to dig for food. A
runyip must have dug this large hole to hide from the storm."
At that very moment a shaggy creature with brown and green fur stuck
its long nose out of the hole. Artoo bleeped in surprise. Tahiri leapt
backward.
"They only eat plants," Anakin laughed. The runyip popped out of the
hole and darted into the jungle. Anakin watched its white - spotted tail
bounce into the distance. Then he turned back to the droid and helped lift
him out of the hole.
"Which way should we go?" Anakin asked his friend.
Tahiri shook her head. "Well, I guess we should head this way,"
Anakin said as he pointed into the jungle. "I'm not sure it's the
right way back to the academy, but it's better than just standing here."
"Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit," the furry animal on Artoo's head whistled.
"That's a lot of help," Tahiri muttered.
Artoo began to beep-beep repeatedl
y. Then he rolled away from the
group.
"Artoo is saying no," Anakin said as he stopped in his tracks. "We
must be heading the wrong way-let's follow the droid."
Tahiri nodded. Tahiri and Anakin began to follow Artoo. For several
minutes Tahiri was silent. This was a rare occurrence, but Tahiri was
thinking. How were they going to persuade Luke Skywalker not to kick them
out of the academy? They had broken one of Luke's rules. Tahiri wondered if
she should take the blame for Anakin. She couldn't stand the idea that he
might get kicked out. It was vitally important for him to become a Jedi.
Anakin's whole family was strong in the Force. He was meant to be a Jedi.
If he was returned home he would be so ashamed, she said to herself. And
worst of all, he would never have the chance to complete the important task
that had drawn both of them to raft the river of Yavin 4.
If Tahiri was sent back to Tatooine no one would really care, she
reflected sadly. The Sand People would just take her back. It didn't matter
to them whether she was a Jedi or not. They only cared about searching for
water and other treasures. She was just another worker to them. That
thought made Tahiri a little sad. She wished that she had a family. People