A/N - I'm back from travelling! This story is looking to be a few more chapters, hopefully things will start picking up Obi-Wan!
Chapter 4
Obi-Wan awoke to the harmonic sounds of birds chirping, bugs buzzing alongside the distant crackling of a dying fire, the embers finally losing their remnant spark's of heat. Blearily he opened his eyes, wondering where in the blazes he was before recognising the surroundings of what appeared to be a tent. All of the previous day's memories crashed back into his mind with force, the bumpy landing, the gruelling hike and of course the vicious attack in the river.
He glanced down letting the blanket fall from his chest and proceeded to finger the blood crusted bandage, wincing slightly when he pressed on the wound harder. All in all the healing process had begun well and the night's rest had obviously deemed to improve the level's of discomfort he felt with simple mobility. It would be sore and stiff for a few days to come but Obi-Wan had dealt with far worse.
Something on the edge of the tent caught his gaze, his light saber hilt! Qui-Gon must have retrieved the sacred weapon for him after the attack, as he remembered back to the night before Obi-Wan had an inkling his sleep was not a voluntary affair. He had slept far too long and fallen asleep far too early for that to be the case, he huffed in annoyance as the truth was learnt. His Master had mind-tricked him after all. The treacherous barve…
Sensing outwards Obi-Wan realised he couldn't actually feel his Master, the elder Jedi had no reason to be shielding so the logical explanation was that he was no longer in camp. Before Obi-Wan's brain wracked up a list of perilous reasons why he caught sight of a note taped to the front panel of the tent, peeling it off and recognising Qui-Gon's hand writing immediately his rocketing heart rate levelled out. It seems his worrying was misplaced, the Jedi Master was purposefully not here.
Good Morning Padawan, as you have probably already noticed I am not present at camp this morning.
I imagine you're just about managing to contain the panic, please put a hold on the search party nothing awful has befallen me. I have not been eaten by a beast or kidnapped by tribes people…
For today's task you only have one simple task, find and capture me.
I have set off into the wilderness at dawn so by the time you read this I will have had ample time to gain a significant lead, obviously I will be shielding our bond and will mute my presence so as to not make the task too easy. There will be visible clue's for you to follow so you will need to track my movements in order to find me.
Well what are you still doing sitting there?
Get a move on Padawan! May the force be with you…
Qui-Gon
Obi-Wan finished the note chuckling at his Master's accuracy that he would still be sat here, his laughter soon transformed into anxiousness however as the weight of the task became known. He hated tracking, and he would have to track the best, Qui-Gon. He had no doubt his Master would have left red-herrings in his wake, would attempt to throw Obi-Wan off the trail and would keep his force presence so shielded that Obi-Wan wouldn't be able to sense him if he was looking directly at the man. This was going to be damn-near impossible.
Obi-Wan Kenobi did not shrink away from a challenge however, he rose and dressed before striding out of the tent in search of a quick breakfast snack. This could turn out to be a rather long exercise. As he wolfed down the ration bar he scrutinised the clearing in an attempt to decipher which way the Jedi Master had headed in the first place, soon enough he spotted a disturbance on the ground and on closer inspection identified the mark to indeed belong to Qui-Gon. It seemed the elder Jedi had made the first clue fairly obvious, probably still feeling pity over Obi-Wan's near-brush with death the previous day. Obi-Wan knew the clues would not remain so easy, securing his saber at his hip and adjusting the setting to a training power he readied himself to set off, packing bottled water and medical supplies incase his wound reopened. Obi-Wan knew how to take care of himself in a place like this, he just rarely cared to.
Obi-Wan mused whilst packing the last things into his bag, this test was certainly a bright idea of his Master's. The perfect combination of testing tracking skills, perception, sheer stamina and of course saber skills along with tactical decisions for bringing his Master into custody. It certainly covered a lot and mimicked what a real life mission could bring, well a solo mission anyway. Qui-Gon would try his upmost to delay, trick and evade Obi-Wan for as long as possible.
Obi-Wan vowed to find the Jedi Master swiftly, the sooner he could be out of the sweltering heat the better. With that final thought and all necessary provisions packed Obi-Wan set off out of the camp, heading in the direction Qui-Gon had hopefully set off on, sense's out-reaching for any signs of life in the vast Jungle up ahead. This is going to be a very long day…
He followed broken tree branches, disturbed foliage, remainders of boot prints and of course vague remnants of his Master's force presence. Obi-Wan followed each clue further into the jungle expanse, scanning wide with his senses in the slight chance Qui-Gon would leave a slither of information. The only life forms he sensed in the immediate surroundings were habitual to the planet, some as small as lizards, others as large as he. Obviously Obi-Wan hid his presence from the larger predators and skilfully avoided them, he did not want a repeat of yesterday. He marvelled at the sheer amount of life he could identify around him, even the small creatures left an imprint on the living force. Usually he was so enthralled in a mission with all of the sentient life-forms that other creatures didn't even break through his awareness, he had never sensed so much life as he did here. Perhaps that was why Qui-Gon adored this so much…
So far he had been turned around more than once, realising the Jedi Master had been leading him on a false trail. He always backtracked to the last known true indicator, huffing slightly in annoyance over the extra ground cover this required all because his Master wished to trick him. Obi-Wan knew his Master well enough to recognise the tactics, he was hoping to disorientate Obi-Wan, potentially preparing for an ambush when the young Jedi was unfocussed and frustrated.
A rustle had his attention peaking, something flared on the edge of his force awareness. His hand flew to rest on his saber hilt, spinning to scan every one of the surroundings, he felt the slight twinge again when he glanced in the direction of overgrown bushes. He furrowed his brows in concentration and delved deeper into the currents, feeling every single life form in the close vicinity, sensing such minute changes that when something flew out of the tree the flare disorientated him for a few moments. He had been so engrossed, so sensitised that the large action and sudden reappearance in the force almost blinded him. Obi-Wan would recognise the dirty tactic anywhere, Qui-Gon.
He withdrew his saber and just about managed to swing the azure blade up in time to stop a rather vicious blow from his Master's emerald weapon, sparks flew as the blades impacted, scorching and singeing either duellist. Qui-Gon's towering form pressed down on his opponent using his strength and stature to his advantage, Obi-Wan's mind registered just exactly where the Jedi Master had dropped from. He had pounced like a cougar from a high up tree, exactly above the area Obi-Wan had been investigating. The force had warned him of something peculiar in the area, Obi-Wan had not recognised the feeling at all as he had never been able to sense anything when his Master was shielding himself to that extent. It was at that moment Obi-Wan held a new respect for the living force, for his Master's seemingly innocent exercise. He was teaching Obi-Wan just exactly how powerful the force could be, even with a task he had always thought impossible such as detecting parts of Qui-Gon even with the man's impressive shielding.
Obi-Wan ducked and rolled away from the stand-still, realising he could not defeat his Master that way, as he did the emerald saber sliced extremely close to his neck leaving a slight searing over the sun-burnt skin. Obi-Wan hissed then rose to meet his opponent head on, adorning a slight smug grin over the fact that he had found Qui-Gon.
"I'm impressed Padawan." Qui-Gon began circling his opponent, keeping the emerald blade ready for any offensive action.
Obi-Wan matched each of Qui-Gon's steps, not allowing his concentration to fall over Qui-Gon's words, he could tell what the man was doing. He was hoping Obi-Wan's acceptance of the compliment would succeed in having him lower his guard, not bloody likely…
Qui-Gon struck out at Obi-Wan's neck region forcing the Padawan to raise his own saber swiftly, they parried blow for blow at alarming rates saber's always crashing together again in a shower of sparks. As the dance continued Obi-Wan gritted his teeth as a rather forceful blow struck from the side sent shockwaves up his entire right side, he jumped back out of the combat to re-centre.
As Obi-Wan eyed up his opponent looking for any weaknesses he could exploit he saw Qui-Gon grin, he was enjoying the mock battle just as much as Obi-Wan was. The thrumming sound of the saber's drowned out all other sounds, the surroundings melted away to just leave the two fighters in the centre of the galaxy. Nothing else mattered.
"You can't hide from me." Obi-Wan reminded the elder Jedi as the man glanced away looking for an escape opportunity, the both of them knew that Obi-Wan could find the Jedi Master now he knew what to look for, what the signs were in the force.
"True…" Qui-Gon started, a mischievous glint in his gaze which had Obi-Wan on edge. "However you still have to catch me Padawan mine."
Before Obi-Wan could prepare any defence he felt a tremendous force crash into his mid-section, toppling the young Jedi Padawan backwards and effectively stealing the breath right out of his chest. He gasped loudly as he fell backwards and jolted his shoulder injury, which until now he had been rather successfully been ignoring. To Obi-Wan's utter bewilderment the ground beneath him was not flat, in fact it seems Qui-Gon had force-pushed him over the embankment of a rather steep incline.
Suddenly the circling made sense Obi-Wan realised exactly what his Master had been playing at, he was lining Obi-Wan up for a fall. The fact angered Obi-Wan, even when he thought he had the advantage the Jedi Master had trumped him again, had been planning treachery all along.
Obi-Wan grunted and winced as he continued to tumble backwards down the incline, through thick scratchy bushes and deep puddles of mud. He reached out into the force in an attempt to slow his plummeting, reached out with hands in an effort to grab onto anything which would anchor his descension. Frustratingly Obi-Wan could already hear Qui-Gon scampering away, leaving a stink in the force which Obi-Wan could now clearly track. He heard the elder man's words in his mind before the bond was ruthlessly blocked once more, words which were almost the Padawan's undoing.
'You need to be more mindful of your surroundings Obi-Wan! Better luck next time Padawan…'
A/N - Now that I'm back updates should be regular again, I have got my other story revelation of the sith which will take my attention for some time but writing this era is just as enjoyable :)
Until next time...
