Chapter 10

A moment too late

Kanan's pov

"Kanan stop your pacing that is not going to help anyone and it is going to run you down. I know we struck out with the first few slave campsites we hit but this next one is the biggest one on the planet, I hoped not to hit it as that would let them know what we are doing, not that it matters any more. This place, if any where on this planet has information on where Ezra is, it will be there. You never know Ezra may even be there" said Hera calmly not trying to get me more worried than I already was but it wasn't working.

"Then we should have gone there first" I yelled out, ignoring almost everything she just said. She didn't feel what I feel right now, the pain he is in, the fear, how his force signature is little more than a point of light, too light for me to follow. My son was dying, I could feel him slipping away, and I couldn't stand it.

I could see that Hera wasn't moved by my little out burst. I knew I would have to explain why I was acting this way but I didn't have any idea how to do that, how do you explain the feelings that you are feeling aren't always your own. Ezra is and always will be part of me as I will always be part of him, no matter what may come of us in the future. Hera knew a little of what a Jedi could do but had little knowledge on what a Jedi and his padawan could do,which was so much more, so I would have to choose my words carefully.

"You don't understand Hera, it is hard to explain what I feel right now but I will do my best. I can feel Ezra, there is an ability that Jedi have so that we can find each other and before you say you knew this, the ability is strongest in masters and their padawan learners. As it is I know he is here but his signature, the thing I can trace him by, is getting weaker by the moment, and right now it is too weak for me to pin point his position" I said.

"Don't worry Kanan we will find him no matter how that is and until we do Ezra's strong will, will keep him safe and help him to survive until we get there" she said calming me with her words and her touch, then she looked up as the phantom pulled into the dock.

"Hera we have dropped off all the ex - slaves we had rescued to fulcrum's ship. Why do they get to know who fulcrum is before we do?" said Zeb as he came into the cock pit with Sabine in tow.

"That's just the way it is and how they want it for now" replied Hera.

I could feel that Zeb and Sabine were frustrated by this, and I would tell them if I knew but right now we had other matters to attend to, now that we were back together, it was onto the next site and hopefully my padawan because that right now is where my frustration lies. The little information we had only fueled that frustration, fueled my anger at the people that had taken him from me and our family.

The slaves... children and some young adults that we could see were working on the surface were in bad shape, there would be no help from them and what we could see of the tunnel leading into the mountain...I knew any slaves in there would be in a worse shape than that of the surface slaves. I sent out a wave of force signature along the bond trying but failing to get any response to it,but then I got a small flicking response coming from the tunnel.

"Well did you get anything chief?" asked Zeb standing to me as we stood on a hillside above the campsite.

I could see Sabine scanning the area and I could also feel Hera's worry and her hope as she stood by Sabine, we were not going to leave her out of this one, not when we all knew that this could be our last chance to save Ezra. Not that we...I would ever stop looking for him, dead or alive I would have him back. I knew this line of thinking was against all that I was taught in the temple and by my master but maybe it was time for the Jedi to learn new rules.

"A small flicker nothing strong enough for me to trace though" I said

Just then Sabine said " Kanan look at that boy near the tunnel entrance, he seems to be acting differently to all the others. He looks like he is looking for something or some one".

"You could be right, let's go and make a friend" I replied, something told me that this kid could lead me to mine.

Zeb and I made our way to the tunnel following the boy's movements, down the work elevator with the mining trucks that looked like ones I had seen before but even as we were doing this I was sending calls out for Ezra along the bond and as before I only got flicking signals from him but at the moment that was enough to calm me, as I knew he was still alive.

"What are you looking for?"asked a voice.

We were now on the same level as the boy and could see him speaking to another slave. Maybe we would get the information without anyone knowing that we were here until it was too late for them to do anything about us. The boy looked like he still want to keep going on what ever he was doing but it looked like the other wasn't going to let him.

"Please Derrick, can you help me?" said the small child to the older one.

The one called Derrick was dark haired maybe one or two years older than Sabine, much older than Ezra, looked stronger too, better taken care of than most of these slaves. Head slave maybe? some one to keep then younger child slaves in line, maybe we should try and capture him, he might have the information on the children in here, Ezra would come under his rule as well as any of the guards or masters.

"What are you looking for Caleb?"asked Derrick again this time kneeling so that he was on the boy's eye level.

"I am looking for a boy. he has blue = black hair, kind of small only a little taller than me but he has bright blue eyes. He saved me Derrick and I was taking care of him but when I went to get something to clean some of his wounds with he disappeared, only blood and scratches on the ground where he was. I believe that something bad has happened to him and now it is my turn to save him. Have you seen him, I have to find him." said Caleb.

"No I haven't seen him but sounds like if they couldn't get him to rise of the ground, if he was that badly beaten...he would most likely been thrown on the bone pile, it's something I have seen before, try there" answered Derrick before standing up and walking off.

We watched as the boy sped off in the other direction. We followed him for the boy that Caleb described to Derrick could only be Ezra. No one else even came close to looking like or acting like him and if he was badly hurt it would explain why I couldn't trace him, even now when we were so close to him, but some part of me was hoping he was just playing that he was hurt and he was going to escape from here.

As we neared a huge hole in the ground, my bond with Ezra reacted. He was here but like before the signature was flicking, fading, Ezra was dying, I knew it for sure now. I had to act now or I would loose him. I could see the boy looking down into the pit, then I see him freeze in shock, Ezra must be in there but how were we going to get in there when we could see the guards coming up the tunnel with what looked like another dead child, I sent a small flick of the force in that direction and found that child was dead.

I turn my head to Zeb and told him quietly to take care of the guard. Then I ran out from our hiding spot behind the rocks and dashed into the hole. I could see that this pit was full of bones, scraps of clothing, and half rotting bodies of other children that had been thrown in here but there was only one child that mattered to me, my child, my Ezra.

After a few minutes of searching, I found him. He was still breathing but it was fast, labored and there was a small trail of blood coming from his mouth. I gently pick Ezra up, moving so slowly so that any injuries that he had were not made worse by my movement of him. Just then Ezra moans and his eyes flutter open, they looked dead like it was hard to even do this little bit of movement. I could see his mouth moving but there wasn't much sound coming out of it as I smooth back his hair and clean the blood from his face.

"K...K...Kan" Ezra whispered trying desperately to say my name, I could feel how much he wanted to know that I was real.

"Shhhh Ezra my son...I am here, I am real and its time to go home" I said sending warmth and comfort down our bond as I lifted him up more and force jumping out of the pit.

"Kanan go take Ezra and this child to the ghost, we will execute the rest of the plan and free the others" said Zeb pushing the child Caleb to my side.

I nod and placed Ezra and Caleb into a nearby cart and took off. As I was running told Caleb to keep an eye out for guards that might stop us but it was like the force was with us, letting us get to the elevator and out onto the surface. I could hear Ezra was gasping for breath and all I could do was to send him as much strength as I could but that might not be enough, Ezra was still fading.

Hera was there when we got to the ghost, opening the ramp as we got close, but as I lifted Ezra out of the cart, I could tell it was too late, Ezra was...Ezra was gone and all I could hear was Hera screaming cry.

An: don't kill me.