CHAPTER
NINE
Moving
as fast as his aching feet would allow him, Jacen made his way through the
dirt-caked and sometimes rocky forest floor, all the while trying to keep up
with Tenal Ka's faster–than–lightspeed pace.
More than eight hours ago, he had been
walking through the streets of Dienya with Tenal Ka, when through the strong
connection in the force he shared with Jaina, he heard his twin sister crying
out, bringing him to his knees in pain. Less than a minute later, he received a comm call from Tahiri saying
Jaina and Zekk were in trouble.
The Raging Rancor had been a
thirty-minute walk from Jacen's position, but running, he and Tenal Ka managed
to make it there in fifteen minutes flat. Joined by Anakin and Tahiri, they made their way into the cantina only
to discover they had gotten there too late.
An obvious struggle had taken place
judging by the scorched blaster marks on the ceiling and walls, probably from
Jaina and Zekk deflecting shots with their lightsabers. In one corner there had been a bothan, who
looked to be the owner of the place, grumbling to himself as he cleaned up the
remains of a broken table.
The group had made their way to where
Zekk and Jaina appeared to have made their final stand, and looked for any
clues that might lead them to their missing friends. Save for Jaina's lightsaber, they did not finding anything of
significant importance, and certainly nothing that would lead them to the beings
that had attacked them.
Through questioning those who were
present at the time of the attack, including the bartender – even though they
had to empty their pockets most times to get the smallest tidbit of
information, and most of the time it turned out to be useless anyways. When that ran out they had to suggest
that each patron tell them everything they knew. By combining that with questions about a man named Karsay, who
Tahiri and Anakin had found out was the person behind the attack on Zekk on
Yavin Four, they managed to come up with the location of Karsay's fortress,
along with a few other surprises. The
most surprising one being that Karsay was a force user, with quite a few of his
followers possessing some sort of force talent as well.
Karsay had located his fortress –
which use to be a warehouse of some sort – far away from any sort of
civilization. The only way to get there
was from the air or on foot through the forests. There were too many parts of dense foliage to risk taking a
speeder through.
Tenal Ka and Jacen had volunteered to
take the tougher route, so Anakin had flown them in the Lightning Rod
over the forest, letting them off no more than half a day's walk from the
fortress.
Of course, Jacen mused, the
way Tenal Ka walks will cut down the amount of time down considerably. Not that he was complaining or
anything. In fact, he more than
appreciated her stamina and athletic skills at a time like this. While this non-stop hike through sometimes
treacherous terrain was no problem for her, it pushed Jacen to his limits. If Tenal Ka could keep going though, then so
could he. After all, with his sister
and Zekk's life likely depending on their little rescue operation, Jacen was
more than willing to stand a little discomfort. He could rest all he wanted when this was over and Jaina and Zekk
were safe again.
They had agreed on the drop off spot
of a half day, to ensure they avoided detection by any sensors that would alert
the fortress to their presence. Anakin
and Tahiri planned to get the Lightning Rod as close to the fortress as
they dared, and then land the ship. That way, if they needed to make a quick getaway, like they usually did,
the ship would be near by.
Together, Tahiri and Anakin would
scout the perimeter of the fortress for any guards and look for a back door to
get them in undetected. Then they were
to wait there for Jacen and Tenal Ka to arrive. The four of them together stood a better chance at a successful
rescue mission than half that number. The plan was for Jacen and Tenal Ka to slip in the back door while Anakin
and Tahiri created a diversion out front. In theory, it seemed like a simple enough plan, but past experiences had
taught Jacen that things hardly ever went as planned.
Jacen felt this time would be no
different. He feared his impulsive
younger brother might take matters into his own hands if he and Tahiri arrived
first. Anakin had a tendency to act
first and think second.
Heading up a steady incline, Jacen
stumbled on some loose rocks. Without
too much trouble he regained his footing, and looked up to see how far Tenal Ka
had gotten ahead of him. It was not as
far as he thought.
To any casual observer or person that
did not know her well, Tenal Ka would appear as limber as ever, not breaking a
stride. Jacen, though, knew her better
than most people and had noticed her speed had declined ever so slightly in the
last ten minutes. They had been
'walking' for more hours than Jacen cared to think about, and although it was
perfectly normal to feel even a little bit tired, Tenal Ka would never admit to
it out loud. It went against her
nature. She had become more open since
she and Jacen had finally become a couple, but she would never admit to any
physical activity being beyond her capacity to handle. So it was up to Jacen to show the warrior
girl that she too had her limits, without actually saying the words and
damaging the pride of the woman he loved.
"Hey," Jacen shouted up ahead to her,
"maybe we should take a break,"
After walking in silence for so long
with nothing but the sounds of nature around them, Tenal Ka was startled at the
sound of Jacen's voice, but managed to recover quickly.
She eyed him over; noticing the
varying degree of rips and tears in his pants and jacket. He looked exhausted, although she sensed
that had not been the reason behind his asking for a brief rest. Scowling, Tenal Ka realized that it was
because he thought she needed a break. True, her pace had slackened slightly in the last little while but she
thought the change had been unnoticeable.
"Jacen, I do not require rest," she
assured him.
"Well, maybe you don't," he said
sitting down and leaning against a tree trunk, "but I do. Some of us around here are only human,"
She could not help but smile as she
went to join him. He was willing to put
aside his own pride rather than embarrass her into admitting she was a little
fatigued.
"I thought I'd never see that smile of
yours again," Jacen said to her as she took a seat on hard ground beside him,
tossing her braided hair out of her face. She took off the survival pack she was carrying and put it down beside
her.
She quirked an eyebrow up at him. "I would not be myself if I did that all the
time,"
He grinned. "That's true. I mean
people might start thinking you're possessed or something if you smiled all the
time."
She let out a small, very un-Tenal Ka
like giggle at his comment. It had been
so long since the last time they had sat down together and just talked, that
she had almost forgotten how easily he could make everything else going on
around them seem unimportant.
He was staring at her now, and she was
afraid that if he stared into her eyes long enough he would find out the truth.
Abruptly, she picked herself up off
the ground, brushing off stray insects that had made their way onto her bare arms
and legs. "I will scout ahead to see
how far we have come, while you wait here," she said in a gruff tone. She sprinted off further into the depths of
the forest, until it swallowed her up and Jacen could no longer see her.
Leaning back against the tree, he waited for her to return.
A dark gray object caught his eye, and
he noticed Tenal Ka had left her pack behind. It was no big deal since she would be returning shortly, but for some
reason Jacen could not stop the overwhelming urge inside of him to open the
pack and go through it. He knew it
would be an enormous invasion of her privacy, and she would probably never
forgive him if he did it, but in the back of his mind he had a hunch that in it
he would find the answers to her strange behaviour in recent days.
Showing a lot less restraint than a
Jedi Knight should, he grabbed the pack and opened it, rummaging around inside
for anything out of the ordinary: canteen of water, food rations, extra
throwing knives in their sheaths, a small cylinder container…
He
snatched the bottle out of the bag. The
label read: Acetaminophen Ranitidine. He unscrewed the cap to find the container
full of medium sized indigo coloured capsules.
"What in force's name is she doing
with this?" He muttered to himself. Jacen was no medical expert but he knew a
prescription for medication when he saw one. Unfortunately, he had no idea what these pills were for. Curious as ever, he searched the rest of the
pack but did not find anything else of interest.
Suddenly, overcome with guilt for
invading Tenal Ka's privacy without a second thought, he quickly put the
container of pills back in her pack, and carefully laid it where she had left
it.
And not a moment too soon.
As quiet as a predator stalking its
prey, Tenal Ka made her way back to the spot where she had left him. Had he not been able to pick up on her
presence so easily through the force, her sudden appearance would have made him
jump right out of his skin.
"We still have a significant amount of
ground to cover," Tenal Ka said the moment she reached his side, "I could not get a glimpse of any clearing,"
She bent down and opened her pack,
sifting through the items until she pulled out her canteen. Jacen gave a guilty start when she opened
the pack, but quickly covered it up before she could notice.
"I guess we better get moving, huh?"
Removing the canteen from her lips,
she said, "this is a fact," then placed the canteen back into her pack and
swung it over her shoulders.
Jacen picked up his own survival pack
that he had brought along and started after her.
He
found himself struck with the realization that he had been wrong. After going through her belongings he found
himself with still no answers and even more questions. His sister had been right. Tenal Ka's distant behaviour had nothing to
do with him, at least not directly as far as he knew. The only thing he knew for sure was that whatever was going on
with Tenal Ka was a lot more serious than he had originally thought.