Chapter Seven

Cian tossed in her sleep. She was dreaming and in her dream a vast and pitiless darkness surrounded and tried to engulf her. Deep within that roiling, twisting murk she sensed an ancient and powerful rage which howled for vengeance down the corridors of the ages.

Eyes as red as blood and as callous as death searched for, then found her. Cian trembled in fear and terror as the gaze from those eyes latched cruelly onto her.

Yet, standing between her and that brutal merciless gaze was a shining blade of emerald light. It glowed within the darkness, brave and strong and bright but then, suddenly, as she watched with growing horror, the light slowly and gradually grew dim.

Cian shuddered awake.

"Qui-Gon!" she cried. She sat up, gasping and panting in terror. Something was terribly wrong. She felt it like a blade in her heart.

Cian!

Cian looked around, her eyes darting about the tent. Was she hearing things? It sounded like Qui-Gon. But she was alone.

Hear me! Cian!

Cian jerked to her feet. It was Qui-Gon! But where was he?

She grabbed her blaster and ran out of the tent. Qui-Gon was nowhere in sight. She ran to Landru's tent and looked inside. The professor was also gone.

"Qui-Gon," she called as she ran out of Landru's tent. "Where are you?" Cian ran wildly around the camp. "Professor Landru?"

Cian. Inside the temple. Hurry!

Cian ran to the temple entrance. She lit a small glow rod and held it in her hand as she peered into the darkness.

"Qui-Gon?" she called.

Cian! Hurry!

Cian ran. She searched through the passageways of the temple for what seemed like hours, guided only by Qui-Gon's voice in her mind. Then she saw, huddled against the wall, a figure crouched in the darkness.

She held her blaster in front of her as she approached the shadowy hulk.

"Qui-Gon?"

"Cian," he gasped.

Cian ran to him. He was pale and his breathing was labored. He leaned heavily against the temple wall, his lightsaber hanging listlessly in his hand.

"What happened?" she cried.

"Attacked...."

Cian put her blaster into the holster on her leg. She took Qui-Gon's arm. She could smell blood. He leaned on her and Cian struggled to hold his weight. Qui-Gon's lightsaber slipped from his grasp. Cian knelt down, picked it up and shoved it under her arm.

As Cian helped Qui-Gon out of the temple and back to the camp, panic rose in her throat. What had happened to him? Where was Professor Landru?

Sweat trickled down her face as she struggled to keep Qui-Gon from collapsing. She could feel his blood on her skin. It was so warm. And there was so much of it.

When they reached the camp, Cian lowered Qui-Gon carefully to the ground. She quickly removed his robe and tunic. She gasped when she saw the ugly stab wound in his side.

She ran to her tent, grabbed the medkit from beneath her cot and ran back to Qui-Gon. She knelt next to him. She tried to open the medkit, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't release the press-stud.

Stop it! she scolded herself.

She took a deep breath and willed her hands to stop shaking. Don't panic. Focus. You know what needs to be done. He needs you to be calm or he'll die.

Cian took another deep breath. Her fingers were steady as she found the stud and pressed it. She opened the medkit and set herself to treating Qui-Gon's wound.

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Aalea waited until the door had pressed shut behind Obi-Wan. She then closed her eyes and concentrated on the stone in her hand. Although it had been days since he'd last held it, Aalea could still feel Master Qui-Gon's life force within it.

A chill ran up her spine for she knew that what she was about to do was very dangerous. Most initiates her age could not even visualize the Force matrix, but Aalea had mastered the visualization some time ago. However, as was her habit when it came to things she knew would set her apart from others, she had told no one except Master Qui-Gon.

He had gazed thoughtfully at her for a moment, then taught her how to hold the matrix in her mind and use it to access the interstices of the Force. But, he had also warned her she must never access the matrix without his guidance.

"The Force is as infinite as space and time, Aalea. Without proper supervision you could be lost forever and never find your way back."

But this was different, she told herself. Master Qui-Gon was in danger. She could feel it. Even if Obi-Wan was able to convince someone to send help, she knew it could be days before such help arrived. And she could tell by the sound of Qui-Gon's voice that he didn't have much time.

Aalea clutched the stone in her hand and, as Qui-Gon had taught her, she visualized the matrix. The pulsating nexus of golden light filled her mind.

She then shifted her awareness to the residue of Qui-Gon's life force she could still feel in the stone. She stilled her mind, fell into the matrix and, with Qui-Gon's Force signature from the stone as her guide, began her search for him along the shimmering matrices of the Force.

-----

Cian had treated Qui-Gon's wound and stopped the bleeding, but she didn't like the look of him. He was still too pale and his pulse was thready.

Qui-Gon's eyes fluttered open. He gazed up at her.

"Cian," he whispered. "Poison... blade."

"Poison? On what blade?"

"Landru...stabbed...."

"Landru? You're saying the professor did this to you?"

He nodded. "Sith blade...."

"Why would Professor Landru do such a thing? I don't believe you!"

"Landru...not Landru. Be wary...of him...don't know...much time...I have. You...must...leave. Contact...the Republic."

"What do you mean you don't have much time?" Cian cried. "I stopped the bleeding. You're going to be all right."

Qui-Gon shook his head. "Poison...."

Cian looked frantically through the medkit.

"There must be an antidote for it in here!"

Qui-Gon grabbed her hand. "No antidote...leave...too late." He lapsed back into unconsciousness.

The blood pounded in Cian's ears and a cold fist of terror squeezed her heart. He couldn't die. He mustn't die. There had to be something she could do.

------

Aalea's awareness sped along the matrices of the Force. Lines of energy flowed past her; some were as bright as moonspun spiders' webs; others as dark as loops of blood.

Stars, planets and moons rushed past her and she was both elated and frightened for always before when she had done this, Master Qui-Gon had been with her, his awareness like a shield about her, comforting and safe, yet sometimes stifling; but now Aalea was alone and the entire universe stretched before her, infinite, unending, limitless.

Suddenly a wave of fear swept through Aalea. She was lost, adrift along the Force matrix. She could no longer sense the path which had been guiding her to Qui-Gon. An infinity of space and time stretched around her. Terror twisted her heart.

Desperately, as an icy black panic threatened to overwhelm her, Aalea quickly focused her awareness on her memories of Qui-Gon; the tickly feel of his beard when she kissed his cheek; the softness of his tunic on her face when she hugged him; the sound of his voice, firm, but warm, as he patiently explained some aspect of Jedi lore to her; and his eyes, she remembered especially the way they always lit up whenever she ran to him.

Aalea concentrated intensely on her memories of the Jedi Master as she tried to find her way back to the path which would lead her to him.

------

Cian hovered anxiously over Qui-Gon. His pulse was weakening and her medcoder told her he was slipping into shock. His breathing was becoming more shallow by the minute.

Her mind fluttered between panic and anguish. She clenched her hands. She had to try and heal him with her abilities. But what if she had to believe in the Force in order to do so?

Cian shook her head. She didn't believe in the Force. She couldn't believe in it. Her father had drilled that disbelief into her for as long as she could remember.

Even now she could still hear his voice: There is no such thing as the Force, Cian. All we have as sentient beings in this universe are our minds and our reason.

Yes, Father, Cian thought, but this man, this sentient being as you would call him, is going to die if I don't start believing in something you always told me didn't exist.

Cian placed her trembling fingers alongside Qui-Gon's forehead. She took a deep breath and called upon the Force. When she felt the first tendrils of its energy moving through her like the glistening branches from some cosmic tree, she flinched, her fear instinctual and automatic.

But, as Cian calmed herself and allowed the Force to flow through her, she sighed deeply, for it began to move through her like a silver river, swift, clean, and fresh and it felt to Cian as if all the joy and peace and love in the entire universe was something substantial into which she could dive and swim in forever.

Cian knelt closer to Qui-Gon.

"Hold on," she whispered. "Hold on." She closed her eyes and fell into the healing trance.

To be continued....