The two were led to an outcrop of rocks in the shape of a arena. They walked in through a doorway of stone, with blood smeared on it.

"This has got to be the strangest planet I've been to," Taran said.

"Silence," ordered one of the guards. They pushed them into the sandy-floored arena. The arena was filled with hundreds of Nighsisters, all cheering for the event that was to happen in a few minutes. The walls of the arena were thirty feet up, too high for a Jedi to jump, and they were smeared with more blood. Piles of bones lay everywhere, some looking as if they had been there for years, others looking fresher. A large-sized gate stood at the other end of the arena, in which the inside was shrouded in darkness.

Sorla was standing on a balcony, watching the whole thing with three other women of the tribe, all of them looking older than she was. They were the council members and they too wanted to see nothing but the carnage their verdict would give. The guards walked out of the arena once they had put Anakin and Taran, and untied them, in the middle of the arena, facing Sorla and the council members.

As they were put there Taran's foot brushed aside some of the sand where he was placed. As he looked down he saw a green glint. Pushing aside some more of the sand with his foot he saw a green crystal. The crystal was small, only two inches in length and to centimeters in width, but it was in a hexagonal shape. On one side it was flat, but on the other it was pointed, the six points of the hexagon coming together as one. Seeing that no one else had seen it he covered it up with some of the sand, making a mental note to get it later, if he survived.

Sorla raised her hand and the crowd's chatter died. "Today, we will watch the execution of these two Jedi spies, who infiltrated our tribe's peaceful abode to sabotage us and all our efforts." The crowd began booing and hissing at the two in the arena.

"But today, their wrongs will be righted. They will be devoured by our own protector, Grom," she said. The crowd began cheering in earnest.

"Before they are killed, they are allowed to make a final request. What shall it be?" she asked. Taran stepped forward.

"If you may, may me and my comrade have our lightsabers back, that way our death will be more sportsmanlike and glorious for all to be appeased," said Taran. Anakin half-smiled. That kind of offer, if he was in Sorla's boots, would have worked. He saw what Taran was planning to do. To him, Taran was a very clever boy. The crowd cheered at the request. Sorla, not wanting to displease her sisteren, levitated the lightsabers down to them. But instead of placing them down to them, she levitated the two lightsabers down to the foot of the gate.

"Your request has been granted, and to make this even more interesting--," she clapped her hands together," you will do this without your Force powers." Two small gates opened up on the sides of the arena. Four furry, lizard-like, creatures walked out and began to circle the arena.

"These, if you do not know, are ysalamiri. They are capable of negating your Force powers, so that their won't be any tricks," she said. "Call out Grom!" she yelled.

"Grom! Grom! Grom! Grom!" the crowd chanted as the large gate was lifted up. Once it was completely up the crowd stopped cheering and seemed to wait. At once a large, loud, bellow echoed from out of the hole. The crowd began cheering hard when they saw the creature step up from it's and Anakin watched in horror as a gigantic, green and brown rancor stepped out into the light. Most rancor were about fifteen to twenty feet, but this one was so huge it was nearly as tall as the walls. It long arms stretched out to flew and then, seeing it's prey in front of it, began to walk slowly towards them.

"Do we have a plan?" Taran asked.

"Lure it out and get our lightsabers," said Anakin.

"Right, so who's the bait?" said Taran. Anakin looked at him. "Guess it's me," said Taran. Taran started walking to one side, catching the eye of Grom, who ignored Anakin, who was going the other way.

"No Force powers probably means no bending, this won't be too hard," Taran thought. As he backed over to the wall the rancor, by some miraculous reason, saw that Taran was just the bait and turned it's gaze on Anakin. Anakin didn't see ot coming as a large fist knocked him away, causing him to hit the wall and be temporarily stunned. The crowd's cheering heated up as the rancor stretched one of it's hands to pick up it's lunch. Taran, seeing that he need to save his friend, picked up a rock and threw it at Grom to get it's attention back to him. The good news was Anakin was saved for the moment, the bad news was the creature roared in fury at Taran and began to advance towards him.

Taran ran to the far side of the arena to get the rancor to follow him, allowing Anakin the opportunity to slip behind it unnoticed. This however trapped him in a corner as the rancor stretched it's arms out to block him in. The crowds cheering turned ecstatic as they prepared for the bloodfest they were about to experience. The rancor lifted it's arms, ready to smash Taran to a bloody pulp. Taran, seeing that it was the end for him, closed his eyes and raised his arms up as the rancor's fists came down on him. However, unbeknowest to Taran. when he raised his hands a wall of earth came out of the ground and formed a barrier between him and the fists. The fists collided down on top of the barrier, not touching Taran in the slightest.

Taran opened his eyes to see with shock that his bending was still working.

Taran, here!" Anakin shouted as he threw Taran's lightsaber to him. Taran caught it and activated it, a new defiance in his eyes.

"So that means that I can hammer away at this thing," he thought. He lifted up his arms and bended the sand in the arena into a massive sandstorm around Grom. The rancor lunged out blindly, deperately trying to find it's prey, but the sand had blinded it and it could not see that Taran was regrouping with Anakin on the other side.

"Anakin, I have an idea," said Taran, still looking at the rancor. He allowed the sand surrounding the to fall away. The rancor could see again and it turned around to see Taran and Anakin nehind him. It advanced towards them, but strangely Taran was walking towards it.

"Taran, what are you doing?" said Anakin. Taran just kept walking until he felt he was a good distance in front of the rancor. He raised his hands and the ysalamari were shot off into the air. The crowd fell silent for they knew what a Jedi could do with the Force against them. Sorla ordered the guards down to the arena to kill them, but they were too terrified of Grom to go. Taran raised his arms again, this time in Grom's direction. Anakin could sense what Taran was doing, he was getting into the rancor's mind.

"Attack these people, for they have caged you and your brothers and will keep doing so until you are dead. Attack now!" Taran said in the mind of the rancor. Grom, as if in a daze, paced around for a liitle. Then he roared and used his arms to climb on the wall into the stands. The Nightsisters screamed and ran in terror as Grom got on top of the stands, trying to grab them and kill them They all ran out of the arena, followed by Grom, who smashed the entrance to continue attacking them. Once he was out of sight Taran lowered his arms and fell to his knees, exhausted.

"That was really brave waht you did Taran," said Anakin as he helped Taran to his feet.

"Thanks, that was the first time I used the mind trick," said Taran.

"Come on, let's get out of here," said Anakin.

"Wait, there's one thing I need to do," said Taran. He went to the center of the arena, shuffled some sand away, and picked up the green crystal he had seen.

"So, you found one," said Anakin.

"I can sense that this one is good enough. It has some kind of quality that I'm sure Ahsoka will like," said Taran.

"Let's get the speeder and find Artoo," said Anakin. They ran out of the arena to the cave where the speeder was parked. To their horor they saw it wasn't there.

"They must have took it, probably stripped it down to keep us from escaping," Taran said sadly. Anakin yelled and banged his fist on the ground.

"We're stuck here," he said, feeling more defeated than he ever would be. As they lay on the ground, defeated, they heard the engine of a ship approaching. They looked skywards and saw the Twilight flying towards them. The ship kanded and the loading door opened to reveal a little blue astromech droid chirping happily to see them.

"Artoo, you are a life saver," said Anakin. He and Taran ran on to the ship. Once in the cockpit Anakin sat down and began to pilot the ship, rushing it off the planet as fast as possible. Once past the atmosphere into the space the Twilight lurched forward and was gone as it went into hyperspace.