"I love you," he said. "I'll always love you." He turned around and ran away and leaped up at a huge quivering gold sphere.
He disappeared beneath its surface.
"Papa!" Anakin buried his face against Chewbacca's fur and bawled.
It was so beautiful--! Jaina wondered if Papa would come out of the sphere all covered with gold like Threepio.
Lusa ran up beside Chewbacca. "Jaina!
Isn't this fun? It's fun to kick Proctors." "I'm so glad to see you! They didn't cut off your horns!" "No--but they were going to feed me to that monster, that monster can eat people." "F-feed--?" Jaina whispered. She stared at the gold sphere where Papa had disappeared, and she was afraid she knew what had happened to her mama and Uncle Luke.
* * * Tigris fell back against the dais. Waru's transformation roiled and shook above him. Shock paralyzed him. He had not ever expected to see his mother again. Hethrir had told him she was dead.
She had been executed for betraying the Empire.
For refusing to support the Empire Reborn.
And Tigris had been glad.
Before him, she fought Hethrir bitterly.
He should help his lord. But he could not move.
Hethrir snatched his lightsaber from beneath his robe. Instead of turning itself on at his command, it reacted with an electronic screech and an assault of sparks and ozone. Hethrir cursed and dropped it. It spun across the floor and crashed into the wall. It shattered, melting the stone beneath it.
Rillao clawed at Hethrir's face. The second, smaller lightsaber fell from his belt.
Rillao leaped away from Hethrir. They faced each other, panting, scraped, bleeding. Rillao feinted, and when Hethrir leaped to the attack, she ducked away from him and grabbed the fallen lightsaber.
She did not engage it. She slipped it beneath her robe. In her moment of inattention, Hethrir leaped onto her back. She staggered.
He choked her with his arm, and when her knees trembled, Hethrir bared his sharp teeth. He would bite her spine, snap it, paralyze or kill her-- "No!" Tigris shouted. He grabbed Hethrir's robe and pulled him back. The Lord's teeth snapped together, biting air, gashing his own lip. Rillao escaped his grasp and fell forward, panting.
"Foolish boy! Foolish! She's a traitor!" Blood gushed down his chin.
"Please don't kill my mother, my lord." Hethrir snorted in disgust. "She's a traitor! She betrayed the Empire--she betrayed you!" Rillao struggled to her feet. "You are the traitor," she said.
Tigris glared at her, furious. "How dare you say that to Lord Hethrirffwas She looked at Tigris sadly, then faced Hethrir again. "You could not tell him, could you, Hethrir?" "Do not speak my name!" he said.
To Tigris, she said, "He is a traitor to you." Tigris shook his head, confused.
"Hethrir is your father."
Han swam toward Leia and Luke, flailing through the thick light. He swam forever, until his muscles ached.
Waru was far larger inside than outside. The creature's circulation whirlpooled around a central point of darkness. It looked like the black hole and its accretion disk.
Han wondered, Could the black hole open a portal to another universe? Is that where Waru came from?
Nothing could escape the black hole's gravity... but the singularity distorted time and space around it-- None of that mattered. All that mattered was getting to Leia, to Luke. They swam back to back, fending off creatures that looked now like knife blades, now like streamlined predators with hides of molten gold. Han plowed through the ring of attackers, succeeding in his blind rush because Waru's predators were so intent on the prey at the center of their circle.
"Han--!" Leia's warm fingers wrapped around his. He melded into a circle with his love and his friend. They swam, back to back, kicking, twisting, fighting.
The whirlpool swept them around and pulled them inward, toward the point of utter darkness.
"Swim!" Han yelled. He knew--How do you know? he asked himself, and answered, I don't know, I only know what I know--t if they touched the darkness, they were doomed forever.
He thought he could hear the ghosts of the people Waru had killed.
He kicked, a swimming kick. He tried to propel himself and Leia and Luke away from the center, out of the maelstrom, to Waru's molten skin. Leia joined his efforts.
But Luke floated between them, strangely quiescent, holding them back.
"Give yourself to me, Skywalker," Waru said.
"I'll show you--I'll open you to the greatest power you can imagine." Luke slipped away, diving toward Waru's trap.
* * * "It's lying!" Leia cried. She felt her brother falling. He drew her with him, tempted her with him.
He slipped away from her. She swam after him. The whirlpool drew them deeper.
"It's the truth," Waru said. "I am truth." The siren song of Waru's voice soothed Leia's fears. Her fingers slipped from Han's grip, and when she tried to find him again, the golden light blinded her.
The whirlpool held her hand.
Chapter 13
Jaina rode Chewbacca's shoulder, with Jacen beside her. Chewie hugged Anakin close against his chest with one arm. With his free hand, the Wookiee grabbed one of the Proctors by the scruff of his neck and shook him. The Proctor grabbed his lightsaber but Jaina was not even afraid of it.
She knew it would explode as soon as he tried to turn it on. He did, and it flashed sparks and burned his hand and fell to the floor in pieces. Jaina was glad.
Chewbacca shook him again.
"I yield!" the Proctor screamed.
"Please, stop!" Chewbacca shook him again and let him fall. The Proctor cowered on the floor.
All the children were running around, shouting and screaming, holding on to the Proctors' legs, sometimes biting them, tripping them and running away.
Lusa and Mr. Chamberlain's wyrwulf played with them together. Lusa rushed up and turned to kick, while the wyrwulf crouched behind the knees of the Proctor. The Proctor would step back and fall over the wyrwulf. Lusa and the wyrwulf laughed and howled and ran away.
If the Proctor did not step back, Lusa kicked him. Sometimes she kicked even when she did not really have to.
The Proctors had bullied some of the guests into a corner of the theater. Jaina did not know why they were trying to keep the guests inside. Maybe Hethrir wanted to feed them to the gold monster.
A lot of the guests had escaped, leaving the children behind.
The Proctors could have escaped if they had let all the guests run away. They might even have won the fight. There were a lot more of them than of Jaina's friends. But without the use of their lightsabers, and without Hethrir to tell them what to do, they were lost.
Chewbacca picked up another Proctor and shook him and dropped him on the floor. When he tried to stand, Chewie picked him up and shook him again and held him higher and dropped him again. He stayed where Chewie put him.
The person who had come down the hill with Papa and Uncle Luke let several of the Proctors rush her, then spun and ducked out of their way.
When the Proctors ran into each other, she grabbed their arms and twisted them and made the Proctors fall down. She ripped their sleeves to the elbows and tied their arms together behind their backs. She ripped their pants halfway up their legs, and tied their knees together.
Chewbacca and Papa's friend advanced on the last two Proctors. The Proctors brandished the handles of their useless lightsabers. Jaina was glad the Proctors could not turn their lightsabers on in this strange place. But she was sorry too, because it meant she could not do anything to help.
I wish I had four legs and hooves, she thought. Like Lusa! Or big fangs like Mr.
Chamberlain's wyrwulf!
The last two Proctors dropped their lightsaber handles and fell to their knees.
As Papa's friend bent to tie them, Jaina slipped from Chewbacca's back, climbing down his fur, and ran to Lusa. She embraced her.
Lusa bent down and hugged Jaina, and rubbed her forehead, and her horns
, against the top of Jaina's head. Lusa's horns had broken through their velvet. Now instead of being soft red-furred knobs, Lusa's horns were transparent, as bright as diamond, cool and ridged and smooth.
"Thank you, Jaina. Thank you, thank you," Lusa whispered.
Jaina started to cry.
A few of the guests tried to sneak out of their corner. Chewbacca snarled at them. They cowered away from him.
Unafraid of Chewbacca's roaring, the children all clustered around him. Papa's friend joined them.
"Do you remember me?" she asked Chewbacca.
"I've changed, but I'm Xaverri." He snorted in surprise, then put one huge gentle hand on her shoulder. She patted his wrist.
"Papa," Anakin wailed. "Papa, come back!" They all turned toward the molten sphere.
Anakin stretched out his hands, yearning toward the shining surface.
There was no sign of Papa or Mama or Uncle Luke.
"We have to rescue them!" Jaina said. She ran toward the golden sphere. Lusa leaped in the air and followed.
Chewbacca roared in distress. He ran after Jaina and scooped her up. She struggled, but he hugged her and she cried against his rough fur.
"Chewie, what are we going to do?" He faced the dais and roared.
Anakin shouted again. "Papa! Mamaffwas "Uncle Lukeffwas Jaina and Jacen cried.
"Mama! Papaffwas "Solo!" Xaverri shouted.
Lusa joined them in calling out, and the wyrwulf howled again. The other children crept around them and gathered around Chewbacca's feet, and they yelled too.
Tigris stared at Hethrir, stunned. "My father--?" "A traitor, and a liar," Hethrir said.
"What do you expect, from someone who would abandon her oath to the Empire? To Lord Vader. To meffwas "What of your vows to me?" Rillao asked sadly.
"You gave up any right..." Tigris realized that his mother was telling the truth. Hethrir had been caught in a lie.
Tigris had never before seen him at a loss for ^ws.
"Were you so disappointed in me," Rillao asked, "that you couldn't acknowledge our son?" "Our son," Hethrir said, with pure contempt, "deserved no acknowledgment. He can never fulfill my legacy. He is ordinary." Tigris's face burned with humiliation.
Hethrir turned away from Rillao, from Tigris, and leaped onto the dais.
"Waru! The time has come! You have Skywalker!
Keep your promise to me, Waru! Make me omnipotent!" Tigris tried to follow him, but Rillao grabbed him and held him and stopped him.
"Let me go!" "He isn't worth your loyalty! He isn't worth your life!"
Han struggled to keep his grip on Leia's hand, struggled to swim up out of the whirlpool.
"Swim!" Han shouted. "Please, Leia, I love you, swim!" But she was captured by Waru's promises, by Luke's fascination. Her fingers slipped from his hand. Her beautiful hair waving around her, hiding her like a cape, she dove and descended into the golden light.
"Leia!" He dove after her, toward the cold darkness.
Leia basked in the siren song of Waru's promises. The melody distracted her from the voice calling behind her. She followed Luke toward-- "Mama, Papa, Uncle Lukeffwas She hesitated. The whirlpool pulled her into a spiral. She slowed, trying to remember what those ^ws meant. She swam a few strokes as the ^wless assurances of Waru drew her deeper.
"Mama! Come back, Mamaffwas She remembered the sound of Jacen's voice, her joy when he kissed her cheek, her wonder and delight as he and Jaina grew and changed and learned.
"Mama!" She remembered the glow of Anakin's spirit.
Leia stopped, floating, spinning dizzily.
The gold light opened beneath her, and pressed her down from above.
"Papa! Mama! Uncle Lukeffwas Chewbacca's roar pushed the children's voices through the light.
Below her, Luke hesitated in his headlong plunge. He was very close to the point of darkness.
If he touched it, he could never escape. He would be destroyed.
"Luke," Leia whispered. "Luke, we have to go back." Han appeared beside her, shining in Waru's radiance. He took her hand.
"Luke--!" "Leave him to me," Waru said. "Leave him, and I will free you." "No!" Leia cried. "Give him back to us, why do you want him?" "He can help me return to my home." Waru's voice softened. "Won't you help me?
You know what it is to miss your home. I can see that. I've been away so very long." Waru's voice was so sad that Leia let herself drift closer, deeper.
"How can we help you?" "Leia!" Han tried to draw her back.
"Don't listen!" "His power can help me open a portal--" Luke raised his head. His eyes were empty.
Leia gasped. She barely recognized him as her brother. She knew that if he helped Waru, he would be destroyed. She tried to reach him, tried to pull him up out of the whirlpool. He struggled against her.
The darkness opened, expanding, reaching hungrily after them, swirling at Luke's feet.
"Uncle Lukeffwas Jaina cried.
Luke shivered. He closed his eyes. He shook his head.
When he opened his eyes, he looked confused, but he was Luke again.
"Where--? What--?" "Come with us!" Leia said.
Luke kicked fiercely. Leia and Han pulled him.
They escaped the night by a hairsbreadth.
Holding Luke in her arms, Leia gasped with relief.
They all fled, plunging away from the pursuing night, fighting their way through Waru's illumination.
The whirlpool burst into chaotic eddies and erratic spirals, knocking Leia back and forth as she fled.
She reached toward the shimmering golden surface. Her fingertips brushed it, broke it, reached through into the air.
Leia fell out onto the dais, drawing Han and Luke along with her. She lay on the stage, panting for breath. She staggered to her feet and slid off the stage, wanting only to get away from Waru's touch. Luke lay collapsed behind her.
She helped Han drag him from the altar.
Jaina and Jacen and Anakin ran to her and launched themselves at her. She knelt to hug them, tears streaming down her face. Chewbacca loomed over her. Han swept Anakin into his arms, and Luke picked Jaina up. Leia stood, still hugging Jacen, and Chewbacca wrapped his arms around them all.
The children were safe.
Waru's voice filled the theater. "You did not keep your promise, Hethrir. You did not give me the child. You did not give me the Jedi.
I owe you nothing. I am hungry, Hethrir, I am hungry and lonely and dying, and I want to return home." "No--!" Hethrir cried in terror.
The golden surface expanded, quick as a snake's strike. It broke over Hethrir, surrounded him, engulfed him.
Hethrir disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a scream.
Something happened. All three children whimpered.
Lusa jumped straight up in the air. Rillao flinched, and Luke moaned, and Leia felt as if a gong were ringing in her head. It was as if for an instant the Force had disappeared from the universe.
The feeling vanished, leaving Leia breathless and shaken.
Unaffected, unaware of the disturbances raging all around him and tearing at the fabric of space-time, Tigris broke free of Rillao and jumped up onto the stage after Hethrir.
Rillao lunged and grabbed his ankle. She held on to him with tenacious desperation. Xaverri ran to help her.
"Let me go!" Tigris struggled. Rillao was too shaken to hold him. He broke away just as Xaverri reached for him.
Rillao cried out in despair.
Tigris flung himself against Waru's golden shell.
The gold yielded, then rebounded, flinging him away. Waru's shell rang, a great low-pitched bell. Tigris fell to the stage.
The ringing slowly faded.
The only sound was Tigris's anguished sobs.
Waru's golden shell solidified.
It began to contract.
Rillao and Xaverri drew Tigris from the stage.
"Tigris," Rillao said, "my sweet son--" "Leave me alone!" he snarled. "Never say my name! Never!
" He ran a few steps, then stood, shaking, with his shoulders hunched.
"Mama?" Jaina said.
"I'm all right, sweetheart." Leia looked into Han's eyes, and smiled. She hugged Jacen, she held him with one arm and touched Luke's face with her free hand, then squeezed Chewbacca's arm, as he held all his human friends, his Honor Family, in a protecting embrace. "We're all all right. We're going home."
Star Wars - Crystal Star Page 32
