his attempt to rein in his nephew. "Still, you used your minds and the
Force well."
So well, Luke thought in amazement, that he could hardly fathom the
strength still to be developed in the candidates. Anakin's face beamed up
at his uncle.
"Now get well, or Leia will never forgive me," Luke instructed. Luke
Skywalker sat beside his nephew as he slept. He wondered if the strange
feeling of untold danger he'd sensed before sending the children to
Tatooine had been a premonition of the promise Tahiri had chosen to keep.
Luke closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. At least the children
were safe.
He was in the depths of the Palace of the Woolamander. The damp,
rotting smell of evil flowed in invisible currents along the crumbling
stones. He moved toward the small room, bathed by a sickly sweet smell that
oozed around his head, filled his ears, and attempted to enter his mouth.
Still, he was calm.
He knew what had to be done. When he reached the room, he walked
toward the crystal sphere. The swirling golden sands cast a yellow gleam
along his extended arm. He opened his hand and placed his right palm on the
surface of the globe. A jolt of pain began at his fingertips and traveled
the length of his arm in a white-hot torrent. And then the voices began.
"You will fail," they called from the darkness. "You will be swallowed
by the dark side. Swallowed into the belly of evil, where you will live
forever, tortured and twisting in agony. It doesn't have to be that way,
boy," a single voice said from the darkness.
He recognized it. It was the evil follower of Exar Kun. The being that
had haunted his dreams.
"Join us now, and the glory of the dark side will be yours. You
already belong to us," the figure hissed. "You just don't know it yet." He
let the voice fall from him, until it lay in an oily black pool at his
feet. Then he extended his other palm to the globe, and let the now
familiar pain cascade through his left arm. This time it did not stop at
his shoulder. Instead, it continued to course through his body, wrapping
his torso in a vice grip of pain.
"I am coming," Anakin called out to the children inside the globe
through clenched teeth. "I am coming, and nothing can stop me."
"Anakin?" Tahiri called from the side of his sleeping pad. "Anakin?
Are you all right?"
Slowly, Anakin woke. He stared up into the worried eyes of his friend.
She looked better. There were still traces of bluish rungs beneath her
eyes, and her sunburned face was beginning to peel, but the light was back
in hE!r emerald green eyes.
"Are you all right?" Tahiri bubbled. Without waiting for an answer,
she continued. "I was so worried. I mean I was pretty sick too, but Master
Luke said that you had an infection and a fever. Do you still have one-a
fever, I mean?"
Anakin grinned. He hadn't heard Tahiri's customary chatter since
they'd begun their adventure on Tatooine. It was nice to see that she was
back to normal.
"Bantha got your tongue?" Tahiri teased.
"As usual, I was just waiting for the chance to get a word in
edgewise," Anakin replied.
Slowly, he sat up. He felt better, much better. He moved toward the
open window and stared out into the jungle. "Are you ready, Tahiri?" he
finally asked.
"Yes," Tahiri replied from behind him.
"Are you?" Anakin nodded.
"Are you certain you are strong enough?" a deep, raspy voice called
from the corner of the room.
It was Ikrit. The Jedi Master, his white fur and the stones of the
Great Temple strangely blending, scurried from the corner and leapt onto
the window ledge. "After all," he rasped, "this is only one battle of good
versus evil. There will be others, if you are not up to the fight."
Anakin stared into Ikrit's round, brown eyes. Eyes that told nothing.
Eyes that waited passively for their decision.
"There are some battles that have to be fought, regardless of the
risks or odds. Light versus dark, good versus evil. Those battles can't be
ignored,"
Anakin said softly.
"What if we're not strong enough?"
Tahiri asked with uneasy concern.
"I believe that we are," Anakin replied. "If we ignore the workings of
the dark side of the Force, then we allow evil to triumph. And if that
happens, it won't just mean the lives of the children trapped within the
globe-it will cast a shadow of darkness on our own lives."
Tahiri nodded.
"Evil can't be ignored," she agreed. "Regardless of the risks."
"Then may the Force be with you," Master Ikrit rasped.
With that, he scurried out the window, made his way down the pyramid-
shaped wall of the Great Temple, and disappeared into the jungles of Yavin
4.
"I guess Master Ikrit won't be coming with us," Tahiri said.
"We're on our own," Anakin added softly. "Whatever happens, we're on
our own."
Anakin turned back to the jungles and let the sweet scent fill him. He
thought about his dream, and what it meant. It was the second time he had
dreamed about the follower of Exar Kun. The second time he'd defeated Kun's
follower by using the Force to control his inner self and make the evil
figure's threats useless.
Anakin only hoped he'd be able to do the same in the Palace of the
Woolamander. There was no doubt in his mind that the spirits of Kun's evil
followers would be there for real, attempting to stop them from breaking
the curse and freeing the globe's children, trying to turn Tahiri and him
to the dark side.
And what about entering the globe? Anakin wondered. Had his dream been
right? Was it a matter of enduring the pain of the powerful field until it
lost its strength and let Anakin inside the sphere? Anakin turned to Tahiri
to tell her about his dream, and to try to figure out how they were going
to lead the Massassi children to freedom. They were in this together, and
they would succeed together, or never leave the palace alive.
They knew the way. Hidden by darkness, Tahiri and Anakin raced through
the jungles of Yavin 4. The first time they'd snuck out of the Great Temple
to raft the river, they hadn't known where they were going. This time, they
were guided by their memories and their convictions. They felt the weight
of the Palace of the Woolamander before it loomed above them, a crumbling
site of darkness and buried evil. Neither spoke as they entered an opening
that had once been a majestic portal, or when they saw the familiar
Massassi symbols carved along the walls of the palace.
The time for talk or solving riddles was long past. The time for
action was at hand. Anakin flashed his light beam toward a broken wall that
hid the crumbling stairway they'd descended a month before. Several large
woolamanders scurried out of the hole and into the darkness. Neither Anakin
nor Tahiri jumped in surprise. There were bigger things to be afraid of.
"Ready?" Anakin asked Tahiri.
She moved forward and climbed through a hole in the crumbling wall.
Anakin followed. Hand in hand, they began to descend the spiral stairway.
The voices began.
"Go back," they called as the Jedi candidates climbed down the stairs.
"This is a dark place; you are not welcome here," they rumbled.
"We've been here, and heard that before," Tahiri shot into the
darkness. "It didn't work the first time, so just give it a rest."
"Orphan child, you cannot break the curse," a voice said from the
darkness.
"Now that's new," Tahiri murmured under her breath. She and Anakin
continued to descend.
"Orphan child, you are a sister of the darkness," the voice hissed to
Tahiri. "We are your family; your home is with us. Leave the boy. He is not
one of us. He doesn't care about you."
Anakin recognized the voice from his dreams. He felt Tahiri's anger
growing.
"Tahiri, that's what they want," he whispered urgently. "They want you
to strike out against them, to use the Force in aggression. Remember, a
Jedi never acts from anger, hatred, or aggression."
"Your mother, Cassa, was one of us. So was your father, Tryst," the
voice lied. "Join them and finally understand who you really are."
"I am Tahiri Veila, daughter of Cassa and Tryst," Tahiri began softly
as she and Anakin continued to descend. "I'm Tahiri, chosen daughter of
Sliven of the Tusken Raiders. My path is one of light. I am a Jedi
candidate."
Anakin felt Tahiri's anger ebbing. Her hand, which had moments before
clung tightly to his, relaxed.
"Boy," a familiar voice called from the gloom. "You aren't like your
little friend. You are part of the history of the dark side. Your
grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, served Emperor Palpatine well. The seed of
evil is planted within you. It is your birthright-don't fight it," the
voice insisted.
Anakin felt the words slither around his body like snakes. All the
fear he had about who he was, and the burden of carrying the name "Anakin,"
fought to rise to the surface. He felt an overwhelming need to strike out
against the evil follower of Kun. But instead, he laughed. It was a small
laugh at first, but it grew stronger as Tahiri joined in. And the louder
the Jedi students laughed, the weaker the voice became, until it went out,
like a flame before a hearty wind. Anakin and Tahiri reached the base of
the stairs and walked toward the doorway they'd entered before to discover
the globe.
But nothing could have prepared them for what they saw and heard.
Nothing.
The children were crying. Anakin could hear their strangled sobs the
moment lie stepped inside the room. Countless ghostlike hands were pressed
against the inside of the globe, torn away by the madly swirling sands,
only to reappear moments later in silent pleas for help.
"The followers of Exar Kun are trying to destroy the children before
we can free them," Anakin said in horror.
Tahiri ran toward the globe before Anakin could stop her, and struck
it with her fists. The field repelled her efforts, tossing her through the
air. Her body somersaulted once, then struck the stone wall. Anakin raced
over to his friend, who lay crumpled on the floor. He helped her to sit up,
and watched as she shook her head slowly from side to side to clear it from
the blow. Tahiri looked up at Anakin with agonized green eyes.
"They're dying in there!" she cried. "Anakin, we've got to do
something!"
The pain that extended from the globe through Anakin's right palm and
across his chest was sheer agony. He fought to remain standing, to absorb
the field as it coursed through his body like white lightning, to make it
harmless. His legs buckled from the torture, and he fell to his knees.
Tahiri leapt forward and tore her friend from the field's stranglehold.
They both fell back, Anakin breathing in rattled gasps as the pain slowly
subsided.
"There's got to be another way!" Tahiri said. "What if we both focus
on using the Force to weaken the field," Tahiri thought out loud. "Anakin,
you did it when you weakened the reel on Yavin 8," she continued. "Once the
field is weak enough, we can both enter the globe and find the children."
"You're right, Tahiri," Anakin replied, rising to his feet. "But I
don't think we should go inside together. We have no idea what it's like
inside the globe. If one of us fails, the other needs to be able to help,
or to go get help if there's no other choice."
Tahiri nodded.
eyes told Tahiri there could be no arguing. Anakin moved toward the globe.
Tahiri stood by his side. There were no more words. Both knew what had to
be done. They closed their eyes and reached out to the field with the
Force. The field sparked and flared as their minds tried to weaken it.
Anakin felt sweat roll down his forehead. His back cramped with effort.
And, just when he almost began to lose hope, he felt a tiny weakening in
the field.
"It's working," Anakin said through clenched teeth.
Tahiri squeezed his hand. She could feel it, too. Moments later, the
field's strength flickered, then faded to a soft buzz in Anakin's mind.
Without pausing, he reached toward the smooth sphere. He felt his hands
pass through the crystal, felt the stinging of the golden sands on his
flesh.
It's now or never, Anakin thought. He plunged forward, his body
entering the globe, then disappearing from view in the swirling sands. He
felt a sharp bolt of pain as his right foot slid inside the sphere. The
field had regained its power. It's like swimming through sand, Anakin
thought as he fought his way through the whirlpool of golden particles. The
sands stung and blinded him, and he covered his nose and mouth with the
sleeve of his jumpsuit so that he could breathe. Then he began to search
for the children.
Strange, Anakin thought; from the outside, the globe is no more than
four meters across, but inside it's huge. Anakin blindly struggled to find
his way through the globe. His body was tossed and tumbled in the mad
whirls of sand until he no longer knew up from down. He cried out to the
children, but there was no answer.
And then there they were, crowding around him, their small hands
reaching out, grasping the folds of his jumpsuit, touching his face, his
hair. There were so many of them, Anakin wondered how he could lead them
all out of the globe.
"Grab hands!" he called out. "All of you, grab hands."
They understood, and he felt two small hands slide into his. Anakin
battled through the storm as the sands filled his nose and mouth and
threatened to choke him. He had to lead them to the edge of the crystal,
through the field, he thought, his legs struggling as the sands thickened.
"Help me, Tahiri!" Anakin cried into the deafening churn and the sea
of frightened cries. He fell, and the sands tossed him in a dizzying rush.
"Anakin, where are you!" Tahiri screamed as her friend's fear reached
out from the globe and filled her senses. There was was no answer.
&
nbsp; "This is not the way it's going to end!" she cried into the darkness.
"Anakin!" Tahiri called over and over with her voice and the Force. A
glimpse of his orange jumpsuit appeared, then disappeared as the sands
violently whirled. "Anakin, I'm here!" Tahiri cried.
Anakin heard Tahiri's voice through the sands, and struggled toward
it, his hands still firmly clenching the small hands of two Massassi
children. He pressed forward, toward Tahiri's cries, until he ran headlong
into the crystal. Anakin pressed the backs of his hands against the globe,
letting the pain of the field course down his arms until he was certain
that Tahiri had seen him.
Then he focused on the field, once again using the Force to weaken it.
He sensed Tahiri joining her strength with his. Sands wrapped around
Anakin's legs like the tentacles of the creature on Tatooine and tried to
draw him back into the center of the globe. Anakin fought to keep his
footing, to concentrate on weakening the field. But he was growing tired,
and the current was close to toppling him and breaking his resolve. Before
him the field's strength began to flicker and falter.
There was no more time to wait. Anakin reached forward, ignoring the
ripples of pain that ran down his arms and made him cry out. He thrust his
fists through the field, feeling the dank air of the chamber beyond. Anakin