"So what you're saying is that the Keyla are going to kill him if he doesn't pass their standards?" Alexis demanded. Held by the throat, the Gungan frantically tried to remove her hands from choking off his air supply.
"Alexis . . . I think you should let the guy breathe . . . " said Mik.
"Give me one good reason why . . ."
"Because in order to participate in an interrogation - vocally, that is,, a living being must be able to take in oxygen and exhale without any or little obstruction," answered O3T.
"True." Alexis released the Keyla warrior's throat. He glared at her hotly, now that he was free.
((Do you doubt your friend's ability? I would. Only the best of warriors get through the Trial alive,)) he hissed. ((And from what I saw of his fighting skills tonight was pathetic. He will not last a minute.))
Alexis clenched her fists and Mik creased his brow in worry as O3T relayed back what the warrior had said.
Alexis snarled something at the warrior in Huttese. Mik raised an eyebrow. O3T gave an squeal of indignation. Never had the droid's translating system felt so befouled in all of its existence . . .
"Watch your mouth, young lady," said Hali, weakly from where he lay.
Mik and Alexis rushed to his side, while the warrior snarled in frustration at his immobilized state. This was a chance to escape but for the pain, he could not even bring himself to crawl on hands and knees away from the humans.
"Are you allright?"
"Nevermind me. It's just a scratch. What's going on? Where's Jar Jar?"
"Greetings, Master Jonareh."
"And who the hell fixed him?"
" 'Glad to see you're allright, O3T', " sniffed the droid in what sounded very much like a wounded tone. "'Oh, you too, Master Jonareh,' " it went on sarcastically.
"They've taken Jar Jar to Reiadmoss." Mik informed Hali. "As our captive has told us."
"Captive?" Hali asked, curiously. Mik inclined his head to the Gungan laying wounded about twenty feet away. "Help me up." Mik and Alexis helped Jonareh to his feet and once he could stand, he walked towards the warrior who glared at him, defiantly.
Hali glared right back.
((You and I,)) said Hali, crouching down until he was level with the Gungan's face, ((are going to have a little heart-to-heart chat.))
* * *
Jar Jar was miserable. He hurt from the saddle digging into his stomach and the bonds were chafing at his skin. Kojo was still up ahead, walking silently and sullen. Raell would not let him walk, no matter how Jar Jar had begged. He had been riding this way for more hours than he could bring himself to count.
Raell suddenly reached back and put his hand between Jar Jar's shoulderblades, gently shaking him as if to wake him. ((We're here.)) he said, softly.
Jar Jar looked up and saw only ruins of an ancient Temple, just as he had expected to see.
((Where is everybody?)) Jar Jar asked, perplexed. This didn't look like a city to him.
((Quiet.)) Raell cupped his hands around his mouth and gave a long, wistful, trilling. The call of a forgotten race.
An answer - or maybe an echo - came back to them. ((Come on,)) Raell urged his kaadu. The three Gungans made their way into a corridor of darkness that showed itself between one stone and a pillar - but only if you looked at a certain angle. The creeping mist covered any sign of their passage.
Hands reached out in the darkness - cold hands. They gripped Jar Jar and although he struggled, held him tight. His bonds were cut and he fell to the ground and cried out as cramps seized his body.
Roughly he was lifted to his feet and held with his back to a wall. Without warning, either sand or dirt - Jar Jar couldn't tell - was thrown into his frightened eyes. Jar Jar struggled, even as his eyes streamed tears from the stinging particles in his eyes.
He was walked through the dark corridor and it wasn't until the unmistakable heat of a lit torch hit his skin that he realized he was blind.
Frantically, he reached up to rub whatever the substance was out of his eyes. A hand grabbed his wrist and forced it down. A voice whispered in his haillu - Raell. ((Don't. It will only make it hurt worse. It's only temporary, don't worry.))
The grip on his wrist loosened when he obediently let his arm relax. Jar Jar had sometimes wondered how people without eyes felt about blindness. Now he knew and he knew how the darkness - if you weren't used to it all your life- was terrifying beyond words. He managed to force himself not to sob from the fear, but it still showed in his face and in his aimlessly staring eyes.
* * *
((Sit here,)) the guard said, dragging Jar Jar by his chained wrists into a vast room. If there was any sort of light, Jar Jar thought bitterly, he wouldn't be able to see it. His dream of darkness would last longer than any night. ((The Boss will be here shortly,)) the guard told him and left.
Jar Jar made no response. The guard cut his bonds and left the room. Jar Jar rubbed his chafed wrists. He did not realize he was no longer alone until a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Startled, Jar Jar yelped and struck out, his flailing arm, connecting with something solid. The figure he had struck gave a cry of pain and fell forward. Jar Jar could not see, but he had never wanted to find an exit so badly in his life. He stumbled toward what he thought was a door and instead collided with another figure which shoved him roughly to the ground and kicked him hard in the ribs. Jar Jar gasped and curled up, defensively, waiting for more blows. They never came.
((You're as strong as I had hoped,)) spoke a cold voice. Jar Jar looked up at the sound, though he couldn't see what he looked at.
((Afraid of darkness, are you? It's all part of a game we play here; a test for new warriors. To see if they can find their opponents. I thought I'd test it on you to see your reaction. Impressive. Even blind, you defend yourself. Many others have been known to cower and beg for mercy, using their blindness as their excuse.))
Jar Jar struggled as he felt cold fingers descend upon his face and for a moment, he was terrified that the fingers were going to gouge out his eyes and make him blind forever. Instead, his eyelids were forced open and something was poured over his irises. Jar Jar whimpered at the sting. He closed his eys, the left-over liquid running out in tears.
When he opened them again, shapes and colors swam blearily, slowly taking form. Somebody reached down -- Jar Jar did not make out that it was a hand until it was two inches from his face. He stiffened in anticipation of another blow.
The fingers tenderly ran over his bruised cheek, then withdrew. ((Lift him to his feet.)) Jar Jar felt the ground drift back from beneath him and he was now facing a pair of pale blue eyes - as pale and clear as water splashing through the air.
((Your name, young one?))
((Jar Jar Binks,)) he mumbled thickly, tasting blood.
((I am Doss, ruler of the Keyla. You have been taken here to be trained in our ways.))
((Why?)) Jar Jar asked. The blue eyes - the only thing his swimming vision could really make out - narrowed. ((I mean, why do you want me?))
((Commendable. You are clever - letting us take you here as a prisoner and brave to pretend innocence. You never would have found this place in the company you were traveling with. Why have you come seeking us?))
((I haven't come seeking you. The humans . . . they wanted to come here. I'm just their guide.))
((There is time for lying, and a time for telling the truth.)) The blue eyes flashed in fury, or so Jar Jar imagined. ((Humans, pah. That's an obvious cover. Why would you even associate with them unless you all had the same goal?))
((What's wrong with humans? They've accepted me more than my own people.)) Jar Jar replied, with a hint of bitterness. Doss' eyes regarded him keenly.
((Ah, so you are an outcast. We are all outcasts. All of us have come here in pursuit of a second chance. Some of us murdered, some of us stole. Some of us loved the wrong person. And some of us, like yourself, have come shielding their reasons. We are kin; you and all here. If you came to join us, as I hope you are, then we are willing to accept you.))
Jar Jar closed his eyes in pain. Acceptance . . . he'd craved that for many years, but found that in his case, it was either rare or non-lasting. No matter how he tried to avoid it, something about him always seemed to put an end to whatever friendships he began. Take Alexis and Hali, for example. Look at the trouble they were in now. Did they think he was dead? Most likely they thought he ran off in fear. The very idea of it made Jar Jar cringe.
The Boss put a hand on Jar Jar's shoulder. ((You are tired, child. Show him to a room where he may rest,)) he told one of the guards.
Jar Jar went with them quietly, knowing there was nowhere to run if he broke free of their firm hold on his arms.
* * *
((I will not help you.))
Hali sighed, wearily. ((Of course not.))
((Like I warned you, you wasted your time. Your friend is probably dead by now.))
((You really think they'd drag him there just to kill him?)) The warrior was silent and refused to answer him. Hali nodded, his suspicions affirmed. ((You don't know what's going on, do you? You're just obeying orders.)) Silence.
"Let him go, Alexis."
"What?"
"I said, let him go. He's not going to help us."
"But--" "Alexis. Would you believe him if he told us exactly what we wanted to know?"
Alexis realized then that Hali had not given up. He had something up his sleeve. She knelt down and untied the Gungan who got to his feet, glowering at them. Although wounded and weak, the gungan was surprisingly swift and he vanished into the shadows of the swamp, faster than their eyes could determine which direction he had taken.
"So now what? We follow him?" asked Mik. "He'll cover his trail. And there's probably more traps out there."
"Don't worry about the traps." Hali took out a small device from his belt. "Our Gungan friend has a tracing device on him. We're going to follow him as soon as he's gotten a twenty-minute start. If he senses that we're following him, he'll most likely take a harder path. Right now, it seems he's more concerned with getting home to Reaidmoss than making sure we don't find the place."
"And then what?" asked Alexis, getting her gear together. "Do you really think they'll just open the doors and let us in?"
"I'm thinking this up as we go along. If you can think of anything better, speak up now or forever hold your peace."
Alexis grinned and helped Hali to his feet. "It's going to be hell keeping one step ahead of these guys."
"Yep."
"Correction," started O3T, "The warrior is approximately forty-two yards ahead of us. We are currently zero steps ahead."
"Shaddap," muttered Alexis, falling into step behind Hali and Mik.
* * *
((You, get in there,)) the guard said, giving Jar Jar a push between the shoulderblades. The Gungan stumbled forward and nearly fell, much to the guard's amusement.
((You aren't very graceful, are you?))
((No. One of the reasons I was banned,)) Jar Jar replied. ((Among others,)) he muttered.
((The stone will change all that. You have no fighting skills, and no confidence in yourself, but there is something about you Doss sees . . . he thinks there is something worth paying attention to in you. I can't see it, and it seems you can't either.))
((What stone?)) asked Jar Jar. ((The Dmonai? It's not real . . . is it?))
But the guard had already shut the heavy door, leaving Jar Jar alone with his questions.
He laid down on the bed, and was surprised to find it more comfortable than he had expected. Perhaps it wasn't as soft as the childhood bed in his memories, but to someone who had been sleeping on the swamp floor a good deal of his life, it felt like lying on a cloud. Jar Jar closed his eyes for a brief moment of relaxation, trying to calm his nerves. He was asleep before he got a chance to re-open them.
* * *
"I don't understand this. His signal has stopped moving," Hali said, looking at the tracking device in his hand as he led his weary band forward.
"You don't think he found it and took it off?" Mik asked.
"Well, we'll find out soon. The signal is only a quarter of a mile away. Come on."
The grayish muck of the swamp clung to their legs as they trudged on. Alexis gritted her teeth, hating the feel of the slimy mud seeping into her boots, but she knew she had to keep on walking. Her friend was in trouble; trouble he never would have gotten into if they hadn't asked him to be their guide.
What was happening to him now? Was he dead? Being tortured? Alexis was so preoccupied with guessing Jar Jar's fate, she almost ran into Mik, who stopped abruptly with a curse.
Ten meters before them, a Gungan was strung up by its feet, a spear impaled through its neck. It's face was frozen in fear and Alexis had to look away. She shuddered and leaned on O3T for support as her knees threatened to give way.
Was this Jar Jar's fate?
"Oh fuck," Hali muttered. When Alexis brushed the tears clouding her vision, she saw what Hali had cussed about. A spear tip poked her gingerly in the throat and was accompanied by a gruff command. She had time to see Hali and Mik being tied and bound by two soldiers each before a sack was shoved over her head. She struggled by instinct, frightened by Hali's muffled yelling, Mik's sudden cry of pain, and O3T 's indignant beeping. Something hard slammed down on the back of her head and she knew nothing more but darkness.
To Be Continued . . .
"Alexis . . . I think you should let the guy breathe . . . " said Mik.
"Give me one good reason why . . ."
"Because in order to participate in an interrogation - vocally, that is,, a living being must be able to take in oxygen and exhale without any or little obstruction," answered O3T.
"True." Alexis released the Keyla warrior's throat. He glared at her hotly, now that he was free.
((Do you doubt your friend's ability? I would. Only the best of warriors get through the Trial alive,)) he hissed. ((And from what I saw of his fighting skills tonight was pathetic. He will not last a minute.))
Alexis clenched her fists and Mik creased his brow in worry as O3T relayed back what the warrior had said.
Alexis snarled something at the warrior in Huttese. Mik raised an eyebrow. O3T gave an squeal of indignation. Never had the droid's translating system felt so befouled in all of its existence . . .
"Watch your mouth, young lady," said Hali, weakly from where he lay.
Mik and Alexis rushed to his side, while the warrior snarled in frustration at his immobilized state. This was a chance to escape but for the pain, he could not even bring himself to crawl on hands and knees away from the humans.
"Are you allright?"
"Nevermind me. It's just a scratch. What's going on? Where's Jar Jar?"
"Greetings, Master Jonareh."
"And who the hell fixed him?"
" 'Glad to see you're allright, O3T', " sniffed the droid in what sounded very much like a wounded tone. "'Oh, you too, Master Jonareh,' " it went on sarcastically.
"They've taken Jar Jar to Reiadmoss." Mik informed Hali. "As our captive has told us."
"Captive?" Hali asked, curiously. Mik inclined his head to the Gungan laying wounded about twenty feet away. "Help me up." Mik and Alexis helped Jonareh to his feet and once he could stand, he walked towards the warrior who glared at him, defiantly.
Hali glared right back.
((You and I,)) said Hali, crouching down until he was level with the Gungan's face, ((are going to have a little heart-to-heart chat.))
Jar Jar was miserable. He hurt from the saddle digging into his stomach and the bonds were chafing at his skin. Kojo was still up ahead, walking silently and sullen. Raell would not let him walk, no matter how Jar Jar had begged. He had been riding this way for more hours than he could bring himself to count.
Raell suddenly reached back and put his hand between Jar Jar's shoulderblades, gently shaking him as if to wake him. ((We're here.)) he said, softly.
Jar Jar looked up and saw only ruins of an ancient Temple, just as he had expected to see.
((Where is everybody?)) Jar Jar asked, perplexed. This didn't look like a city to him.
((Quiet.)) Raell cupped his hands around his mouth and gave a long, wistful, trilling. The call of a forgotten race.
An answer - or maybe an echo - came back to them. ((Come on,)) Raell urged his kaadu. The three Gungans made their way into a corridor of darkness that showed itself between one stone and a pillar - but only if you looked at a certain angle. The creeping mist covered any sign of their passage.
Hands reached out in the darkness - cold hands. They gripped Jar Jar and although he struggled, held him tight. His bonds were cut and he fell to the ground and cried out as cramps seized his body.
Roughly he was lifted to his feet and held with his back to a wall. Without warning, either sand or dirt - Jar Jar couldn't tell - was thrown into his frightened eyes. Jar Jar struggled, even as his eyes streamed tears from the stinging particles in his eyes.
He was walked through the dark corridor and it wasn't until the unmistakable heat of a lit torch hit his skin that he realized he was blind.
Frantically, he reached up to rub whatever the substance was out of his eyes. A hand grabbed his wrist and forced it down. A voice whispered in his haillu - Raell. ((Don't. It will only make it hurt worse. It's only temporary, don't worry.))
The grip on his wrist loosened when he obediently let his arm relax. Jar Jar had sometimes wondered how people without eyes felt about blindness. Now he knew and he knew how the darkness - if you weren't used to it all your life- was terrifying beyond words. He managed to force himself not to sob from the fear, but it still showed in his face and in his aimlessly staring eyes.
((Sit here,)) the guard said, dragging Jar Jar by his chained wrists into a vast room. If there was any sort of light, Jar Jar thought bitterly, he wouldn't be able to see it. His dream of darkness would last longer than any night. ((The Boss will be here shortly,)) the guard told him and left.
Jar Jar made no response. The guard cut his bonds and left the room. Jar Jar rubbed his chafed wrists. He did not realize he was no longer alone until a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Startled, Jar Jar yelped and struck out, his flailing arm, connecting with something solid. The figure he had struck gave a cry of pain and fell forward. Jar Jar could not see, but he had never wanted to find an exit so badly in his life. He stumbled toward what he thought was a door and instead collided with another figure which shoved him roughly to the ground and kicked him hard in the ribs. Jar Jar gasped and curled up, defensively, waiting for more blows. They never came.
((You're as strong as I had hoped,)) spoke a cold voice. Jar Jar looked up at the sound, though he couldn't see what he looked at.
((Afraid of darkness, are you? It's all part of a game we play here; a test for new warriors. To see if they can find their opponents. I thought I'd test it on you to see your reaction. Impressive. Even blind, you defend yourself. Many others have been known to cower and beg for mercy, using their blindness as their excuse.))
Jar Jar struggled as he felt cold fingers descend upon his face and for a moment, he was terrified that the fingers were going to gouge out his eyes and make him blind forever. Instead, his eyelids were forced open and something was poured over his irises. Jar Jar whimpered at the sting. He closed his eys, the left-over liquid running out in tears.
When he opened them again, shapes and colors swam blearily, slowly taking form. Somebody reached down -- Jar Jar did not make out that it was a hand until it was two inches from his face. He stiffened in anticipation of another blow.
The fingers tenderly ran over his bruised cheek, then withdrew. ((Lift him to his feet.)) Jar Jar felt the ground drift back from beneath him and he was now facing a pair of pale blue eyes - as pale and clear as water splashing through the air.
((Your name, young one?))
((Jar Jar Binks,)) he mumbled thickly, tasting blood.
((I am Doss, ruler of the Keyla. You have been taken here to be trained in our ways.))
((Why?)) Jar Jar asked. The blue eyes - the only thing his swimming vision could really make out - narrowed. ((I mean, why do you want me?))
((Commendable. You are clever - letting us take you here as a prisoner and brave to pretend innocence. You never would have found this place in the company you were traveling with. Why have you come seeking us?))
((I haven't come seeking you. The humans . . . they wanted to come here. I'm just their guide.))
((There is time for lying, and a time for telling the truth.)) The blue eyes flashed in fury, or so Jar Jar imagined. ((Humans, pah. That's an obvious cover. Why would you even associate with them unless you all had the same goal?))
((What's wrong with humans? They've accepted me more than my own people.)) Jar Jar replied, with a hint of bitterness. Doss' eyes regarded him keenly.
((Ah, so you are an outcast. We are all outcasts. All of us have come here in pursuit of a second chance. Some of us murdered, some of us stole. Some of us loved the wrong person. And some of us, like yourself, have come shielding their reasons. We are kin; you and all here. If you came to join us, as I hope you are, then we are willing to accept you.))
Jar Jar closed his eyes in pain. Acceptance . . . he'd craved that for many years, but found that in his case, it was either rare or non-lasting. No matter how he tried to avoid it, something about him always seemed to put an end to whatever friendships he began. Take Alexis and Hali, for example. Look at the trouble they were in now. Did they think he was dead? Most likely they thought he ran off in fear. The very idea of it made Jar Jar cringe.
The Boss put a hand on Jar Jar's shoulder. ((You are tired, child. Show him to a room where he may rest,)) he told one of the guards.
Jar Jar went with them quietly, knowing there was nowhere to run if he broke free of their firm hold on his arms.
((I will not help you.))
Hali sighed, wearily. ((Of course not.))
((Like I warned you, you wasted your time. Your friend is probably dead by now.))
((You really think they'd drag him there just to kill him?)) The warrior was silent and refused to answer him. Hali nodded, his suspicions affirmed. ((You don't know what's going on, do you? You're just obeying orders.)) Silence.
"Let him go, Alexis."
"What?"
"I said, let him go. He's not going to help us."
"But--" "Alexis. Would you believe him if he told us exactly what we wanted to know?"
Alexis realized then that Hali had not given up. He had something up his sleeve. She knelt down and untied the Gungan who got to his feet, glowering at them. Although wounded and weak, the gungan was surprisingly swift and he vanished into the shadows of the swamp, faster than their eyes could determine which direction he had taken.
"So now what? We follow him?" asked Mik. "He'll cover his trail. And there's probably more traps out there."
"Don't worry about the traps." Hali took out a small device from his belt. "Our Gungan friend has a tracing device on him. We're going to follow him as soon as he's gotten a twenty-minute start. If he senses that we're following him, he'll most likely take a harder path. Right now, it seems he's more concerned with getting home to Reaidmoss than making sure we don't find the place."
"And then what?" asked Alexis, getting her gear together. "Do you really think they'll just open the doors and let us in?"
"I'm thinking this up as we go along. If you can think of anything better, speak up now or forever hold your peace."
Alexis grinned and helped Hali to his feet. "It's going to be hell keeping one step ahead of these guys."
"Yep."
"Correction," started O3T, "The warrior is approximately forty-two yards ahead of us. We are currently zero steps ahead."
"Shaddap," muttered Alexis, falling into step behind Hali and Mik.
((You, get in there,)) the guard said, giving Jar Jar a push between the shoulderblades. The Gungan stumbled forward and nearly fell, much to the guard's amusement.
((You aren't very graceful, are you?))
((No. One of the reasons I was banned,)) Jar Jar replied. ((Among others,)) he muttered.
((The stone will change all that. You have no fighting skills, and no confidence in yourself, but there is something about you Doss sees . . . he thinks there is something worth paying attention to in you. I can't see it, and it seems you can't either.))
((What stone?)) asked Jar Jar. ((The Dmonai? It's not real . . . is it?))
But the guard had already shut the heavy door, leaving Jar Jar alone with his questions.
He laid down on the bed, and was surprised to find it more comfortable than he had expected. Perhaps it wasn't as soft as the childhood bed in his memories, but to someone who had been sleeping on the swamp floor a good deal of his life, it felt like lying on a cloud. Jar Jar closed his eyes for a brief moment of relaxation, trying to calm his nerves. He was asleep before he got a chance to re-open them.
"I don't understand this. His signal has stopped moving," Hali said, looking at the tracking device in his hand as he led his weary band forward.
"You don't think he found it and took it off?" Mik asked.
"Well, we'll find out soon. The signal is only a quarter of a mile away. Come on."
The grayish muck of the swamp clung to their legs as they trudged on. Alexis gritted her teeth, hating the feel of the slimy mud seeping into her boots, but she knew she had to keep on walking. Her friend was in trouble; trouble he never would have gotten into if they hadn't asked him to be their guide.
What was happening to him now? Was he dead? Being tortured? Alexis was so preoccupied with guessing Jar Jar's fate, she almost ran into Mik, who stopped abruptly with a curse.
Ten meters before them, a Gungan was strung up by its feet, a spear impaled through its neck. It's face was frozen in fear and Alexis had to look away. She shuddered and leaned on O3T for support as her knees threatened to give way.
Was this Jar Jar's fate?
"Oh fuck," Hali muttered. When Alexis brushed the tears clouding her vision, she saw what Hali had cussed about. A spear tip poked her gingerly in the throat and was accompanied by a gruff command. She had time to see Hali and Mik being tied and bound by two soldiers each before a sack was shoved over her head. She struggled by instinct, frightened by Hali's muffled yelling, Mik's sudden cry of pain, and O3T 's indignant beeping. Something hard slammed down on the back of her head and she knew nothing more but darkness.