Vader's Fortress Page 5

  they were brought into the fortress," Ikrit said.

  "Our hall was a bit nicer than that," Tahiri said. "More useful, at

  least-don't you think so, Uldir?"

  The older boy nodded, and his face turned slightly red.

  "We, um, found a few old refresher units. They haven't been used in

  years, I guess, but they were clean and they worked just fine."

  After the other companions had made use of the refresher units, the

  groups split up again. This time the passage that Tahiri and Uldir took was

  wide and long. The smooth walls were unbroken by doorways, and the hall

  appeared to stretch out of sight ahead of them. Uldir picked up his speed.

  "That's a long way to go in five minutes," he said.

  Suddenly Tahiri stopped still.

  "Wait," she said. "Don't go any farther. Something's wrong."

  Uldir stopped and put his hands on his hips. "What now?" he asked.

  "Something feels wrong," she answered.

  "Like what?"

  "The stone beneath my feet... it looks the same, but it-it feels

  rough. It feels different."

  "That's it?" Uldir groaned in exasperation. "We have to turn back to

  meet the others in less than two minutes and you're worried about the floor

  being rough?"

  "Yes. I mean no-I mean, it's more than that," Tahiri said. "Can't you

  feel it?"

  Uldir stopped and ran his hand along the floor, feeling the texture.

  On hands and knees he crept forward, one arm outstretched. Then, all of a

  sudden he cried out and scrambled backward a few steps. Tahiri rushed

  forward, afraid he was hurt.

  "What is it? What's wrong?"

  Uldir was shaking and looking at his right hand.

  "It-it disappeared!" he said. "Right there. I stuck my hand out ahead

  of me and it disappeared. Then I pulled it back, and there it was again."

  Tahiri sat beside him on the stone floor and looked at his hand. It

  seemed to be fine. She took the pack off her back, pulled out a heavy

  square packet of Imperial rations, and gingerly tossed it down the hallway

  ahead of them. It disappeared completely-swallowed up by the floor. Uldir

  threw a package of rations. The packet vanished. Then, a split second

  later, in a flash of sparks, the long hallway ahead of them disappeared as

  well. Instead of stretching into the distance, the passage came to a dead

  end at a flat metal wall.

  Between Tahiri, Uldir, and the wall was a wide, deep pit.

  "It was a hologram!" Uldir said.

  "The whole hallway."

  Together they crept to the edge of the pit and looked down. Ten meters

  below, the bottom of the pit was lined with sharp spikes as tall as Tahiri

  herself. The floor was littered with bones, and a packet of Imperial

  rations was speared on the tip of one spike. Tahiri felt a little queasy.

  Uldir gulped and sat up.

  "I guess we'd better go back and tell the others," he said.

  Both of them turned around to head back, and then froze-for there,

  snarling at them in the middle of the corridor, stood three of the most

  hideous creatures Tahiri had ever seen.

  Standing by the fallen statue of Darth Vader, Anakin looked uneasily

  at his wrist chronometer.

  "Uldir and Tahiri should have been back by now," he said.

  Artoo-Detoo made a soft wailing sound. Tionne's silver brows drew

  together in a worried frown.

  "It's not like Tahiri to be late. Not unless..."

  "Not unless she's in trouble," Anakin finished for her.

  "Mmm. Then we should not delay," Ikrit said.

  "I sent them down that hallway there," Tionne said, pointing toward

  one of the many wide corridors. Without thinking, Anakin ran toward the

  hallway.

  Ikrit bounded after him.

  "Caution, boy," the Jedi Master said. "If our friends are in trouble,

  we will not help them by rushing into the same danger. Let the Force guide

  you."

  Anakin slowed to a walk. He could feel his face flush and he felt

  silly, because of course Master Ikrit was right. Tionne and Artoo caught

  up, with them a moment later as they stood looking down the long bare

  corridor.

  "But... it's empty! I was sure this was the passage I sent them to

  explore," Tionne said.

  "The hallway looks pretty long," Anakin said. "Maybe it branches off

  somewhere. Anyway, I can feel that this is where they are."

  Ikrit's floppy ears stood up straight and he closed his blue-green

  eyes.

  "Yes, this is the way they came," he said.

  All of a sudden a loud growl rolled up the hallway toward them. Anakin

  heard Tahiri scream,

  "Help!" She sounded close by, but he still couldn't see her.

  "All right, let's go," said Tionne. "But be careful: something is

  definitely not right about this corridor."

  They had taken only a few steps down the hallway when everything

  seemed to change around them. Anakin could now see the end of the corridor

  only ten meters away. Between him and the end of the corridor were Tahiri

  and Uldir. Unfortunately, between them and Anakin were three snarling

  beasts of a kind Anakin had never seen before. Each of the scaly six-legged

  beasts had a ridge of spikes that ran along the back of its head and down

  its snout. Spines bristled all over their short heavy tails. Their scaly

  skin looked as if it was covered with reddish-brown rust, and their

  bellowing, growling voices sounded rusty too. Saliva dripped between double

  rows of sharp teeth as the creatures snapped at Tahiri and Uldir.

  Anakin stood perfectly still.

  "What are they?" he asked Tionne. He tried desperately to use the

  Force to send a calming message to the animals, but they ignored him.

  "They look like drakka boars from Randon," Tionne said.

  "The traders from that planet use these creatures to guard their

  greatest treasures." Anakin shouted to his friends above the roars and

  snarls of the drakka boars. "Can you move farther away from them?"

  "No room," Uldir shouted back.

  "There's a deep pit behind us," Tahiri added.

  Anakin groaned. "I wish I were as good at using my mind to talk with

  animals as my brother Jacen is. I tried to quiet their minds, but those

  drakka boars don't seem to hear me."

  Ikrit spoke. "I have the gift of speaking to beasts, as your brother

  does. I too have tried to contact them, but their minds do not hear."

  Tionne closed her eyes and concentrated.

  "Those can't be drakka boars, then," she said finally. "These

  creatures are always mind-linked to their masters, but I can't sense any

  minds at all."

  "Nor I," Master Ikrit said.

  The guard animals snarled and moved closer to Uldir and Tahiri, who

  took a few steps backward.

  "If none of us can reach their minds," Anakin said, "then maybe they

  don't have minds we can reach."

  "That's it!" yelled Uldir. "Just like the hallway!"

  "You mean holograms!" Tahiri gasped. "Anakin, is there a way to find

  out if the beasts are holograms?"

  "Artoo, can you shine a bright light at those drakka boars?" Anakin

  asked.

  Artoo-Detoo tweedled and bleeped. A moment later the little droid shot

  a br
illiant beam of light up the corridor. The drakka boars did not cast

  shadows. Instead, their outlines became dim and the bright light passed

  directly through them.

  "They are not real," Ikrit said. "These holograms were put here to

  make us afraid."

  Uldir snorted. "Well, it worked, furball. We were definitely scared."

  "Do you think it's safe to come out, then?" Tahiri asked.

  "Just a moment," Tionne said. Drawing her lightsaber, the instructor

  switched it on and moved slowly up the hallway toward the pale holograms.

  She held perfectly still for a moment and then, with a move so fast Anakin

  could hardly see it, she slashed upward. Something gave a loud pop and

  sparks sprayed down from the ceiling around Tionne. The images of the

  drakka guard boars flickered and went out. In fact, all the holograms were

  gone now.

  "That holographic projector won't be able to fool us again," Tionne

  said with a nod of satisfaction.

  "And we have also learned something," Ikrit said.

  "You mean that we should trust our Jedi senses and not just our eyes

  and our ears?" Anakin asked.

  "That is true enough," Ikrit said. "But remember that the more tricks

  and traps we find, the closer we are to the treasures your grandfather

  wished to guard."

  "Then that would mean-," Tahiri began.

  "Look," Anakin said. He went over to the wall and traced his finger

  along the outline of a doorway that had been hidden by the hologram.

  Placing a hand against one side of the stone door, he pushed. It

  budged. He pushed again, but nothing more happened.

  "Do you think there's a password or an access code?" Tahiri asked.

  Then, without quite knowing why, Anakin pressed one hand against the

  door and said, "I am Anakin. Let me in."

  Without a creak or groan, the door swung open. Carefully, checking for

  traps as they went, Anakin, Tahiri, Uldir, Tionne, Airtoo, and Ikrit

  entered the tiny secret chamber. The small room was perfectly round, with a

  high domed ceiling. A soft bluish light radiated from the walls. There was

  nothing in the room except at the very center. There, in a ray of bright

  white light, stood a crystal column as clear as water. On the very top of

  the column, about at Anakin's eye level, lay a lightsaber.

  Glancing at Tionne and Ikrit to make sure that it was okay, Anakin

  reached out and took the hilt of the lightsaber in his hand. The handle

  felt warm and heavy and perfectly balanced. It was solid and well used, but

  not ancient. Anakin knew he wasn't ready to be trained with a lightsaber

  yet, but this one held a special interest for him. Obi-Wan Kenobi had been

  Darth Vader's Jedi teacher, and his uncle Luke's first teacher, too. Anakin

  ran a finger up the ridged handle and over the power stud, but did not

  press it.

  "Here," he said, handing it to Tionne. "I think this is what we came

  for."

  Tionne smiled and took it from him. "It was the weapon of a great

  Jedi."

  "Mmm. It is better that such things never fall into the wrong hands,"

  Ikrit said.

  Just then Artoo-Detoo beeped an alarm. At the same moment, a puff of

  smoke erupted in the doorway, and a dark-haired man with a neat beard,

  tawny eyes, and a deep purple cloak stood before them. The man threw back

  his head and laughed, although Anakin couldn't see what was so funny.

  "The powerful Mage of Exis Station thanks you," he said. "I would

  never have found the lightsaber without your help." He snatched the weapon

  from Tionne's hand. "But I'll take it now."

  As usual, Tahiri's curiosity got the better of her. It didn't occur to

  her until much later that she should have been terrified of this strange

  dark man brandishing a lightsaber.

  "Who are you?" she asked. "How did you get here? And why did you take

  that lightsaber? Only Jedi use lightsabers, and you don't look like a Jedi.

  You're not going to kill us, are you? Well, aren't you going to say

  anything?"

  Every eye in the room turned toward Tahiri. Anakin coughed a couple of

  times, his brows raised in surprise. Tionne and Ikrit remained silent, but

  Artoo-Detoo gave a loud shrill of alarm. Uldir let out a low whistle. The

  strange man blinked rapidly several times, as if trying to think of the

  proper thing to say.

  "I-well, I..." Then he seemed to recover from his surprise. "Behold,"

  he boomed in a rich voice, "I am the Mighty Orloc. Who are you?" He drew

  himself up to his full height and pulled back the hood of his deep purple

  cloak. The silver spangles along its edge glittered in the soft blue light.

  Tionne's hair glowed silver-blue as she gazed calmly at the newcomer.

  "We'll be happy to introduce ourselves to you, `Mighty' Orloc, if

  you'll be polite enough to give our lightsaber back. We need to take it to

  the Jedi academy to share with the other Jedi and students."

  The strange man ignored her and continued in a louder voice.

  "I am the invincible Mage Orloc of Exis Station, and I claim this

  lightsaber as my rightful weapon. It is a fitting blade for-"

  "Mage?" Tahiri interrupted. "You mean like a magician?"

  Out of the corner of her eye, Tahiri could see that Ikrit had climbed

  up onto Tionne's shoulder and was whispering something in her ear.

  "I...," Orloc seemed to have forgotten what he was about to say. He

  blinked furiously again and then recovered. "Yes, I am the most powerful

  Mage in all the Galaxy, and-"

  "But magic is just tricks," Tahiri said. "Tionne and Ikrit are real

  Jedi. If you're only a magician, you don't know how to use the Force."

  Orloc waved a hand, dismissing her comment.

  "No, I did not need to learn such things as they teach at your Jedi

  academy. I studied on my own. "I have magical powers far greater than your

  puny Jedi tricks," Orloc went on, clutching the lightsaber handle to his

  chest.

  "But you aren't a Jedi," Tahiri persisted. "And a lightsaber is a

  Jedi's weapon."

  At the edge of her vision she saw Ikrit and Tionne with their eyes

  closed. She guessed that they were reaching out with the Force toward the

  Mage's mind, perhaps to pull the lightsaber from his grasp. But whatever

  their plan, Orloc had already made his move. The lightsaber was no longer

  anywhere in sight, and the Mage's face grew stormy.

  "I have need of it," he said.

  "Then why don't you build a lightsaber of your own, like Jedi do?"

  Anakin asked in a reasonable voice.

  "Silence, fool!" Orloc thundered, pointing at Anakin with one hand.

  Fire flickered at the Mage's fingertips, but it was not the electrical

  energy that came with extreme power from the dark side of the Force. It was

  something Tahiri had never seen before. The Mage took a step backward

  toward the rounded wall. He gave a bark of laughter.

  "With my powers I see and know many things you do not," he said.

  Orloc's hand shot out and touched something on the wall, and instantly one

  of the flagstones beneath Tionne's feet turned downward at a sharp angle,

  forming a kind of slide or chute. Taken by surprise, Tionne lost her

  balance, fell to the f
lagstones, and slid out of sight into the darkness,

  with Ikrit still on her shoulder.

  Then, without a sound, the flagstone slipped back into place, leaving

  the floor as smooth and solid as it had been before. It had all happened in

  only a second or two. Tahiri cried out.

  "What did you do with them?" Uldir yelled, his voice cracking with

  anger. Anakin rushed forward and pushed against the floor at the point

  where Tionne and Ikrit had disappeared. Tahiri ran toward the Mage with the

  idea of grabbing the lightsaber and forcing Orloc to help them find Tionne

  and Ikrit. But before she could reach him there was a blinding flash of

  light. Thick white smoke ballooned up from the spot where Orloc had been

  standing. His laughter rang through the room. Tahiri reached out her arms

  to grab his cloak, or his leg, or whatever she could get ahold of, but

  there was nothing there. By the time the smoke cleared, Tahiri, Anakin, and

  Artoo were completely alone. The three junior Jedi exchanged worried

  glances.

  "Are... are they dead?" Uldir asked in a tone that said he feared the