Chapter 8 – My Weakness, His Escape

Deep within the prison, someone began to laugh. It began as a chuckle, but soon because a fully fledged.

"You declare this a draw, Qui-Gon, but we both know that it is I who has won." The Jedi laughed, clutching the keys he had stolen from me. I didn't even know he had them until much later.

Eventually the Guards who were supposed to watch the Jedi returned. The long wait had made them suspicious. They looked into the Jedi's cell to see the man fully dressed and masked.

"Tell your master I will not betray the League," He declared. He took the sheet of paper and held it over the candle flame until it caught alight.

"Where is Desel?"

"Who?" The Jedi asked; the master trickster.

"He was here earlier."

"There was nobody here and now if you will excuse me, I must rest before I face my trial." The Jedi turned from them and lay down on the cot. Slowly, the Guards returned to their card game, none mentioning the disappearance of Leon Desel.

When I had left the prison, light had started to creep into the night sky. An hour later and the sun was slowly rising, dawn descending upon the city. With calculated movements, the Jedi picked up the candleholder and carefully weighed it is his left hand, and in his right he held a dagger that had been concealed within his boot. He opened his cell door. From where he stood, he could see the door that led to the outer hall and could lead to freedom.

He threw the candleholder and it hit the oak door. The loud thump caused the five Guards to look around in surprise. Three of them stood, swords drawn, to investigate. As they passed the pillar, the Jedi ducked into the Guardroom. Before the other two men realised he was there, he had plunged his dagger into one of their chests and snapped the other's neck with his bare hands. It had all happened in a second. The other three turned to see their prisoner standing over their comrades' bodies; their swords in his hands.

Three to one are good odds, especially if three are guards. Guards are trained to defend against prisoners and would-be liberators, to stop terrorists from freeling the Fallen. They never had a chance, because their opponent was the Jedi. With years of experience, the Jedi used both swords he held against the Guards, and very soon the room was filled with cries of wounded and dying men.

Without a backward glance, the Jedi left them.

Using the stolen keys, the Jedi unlocked the door and went into the passage where the condemned were housed. As he passed each cell door, the Jedi unlocked and opened them. The Jedi walked to the end of the hall, a trail of prisoners following him.

"There is trouble my way, don't follow me," he told them and ducked away, down a tunnel in the opposite direction of the nearest exit. Of the twelve men and women he freed that night, only three were ever recaptured.

The Jedi knew the layout of the prison. He'd been there before and had memorised its structure. The Jedi ran through the prison, a shadow in a rapidly lightening world. The prisoner escape alert rose just as the Jedi arrived at the Guards' stable. Without looking back to see if he was being pursued, he jumped onto an already saddled stallion as dark in colour as the silk cloth hiding his face.

He pulled sharply onto the reigns making the horse rear up. With master skill, the Jedi pushed the horse into a run and crashed through the thin wooden gate between the Guard entrance and the street. He exploded onto the road and took off at high speed.

-

I arrived at my home probably just as Obi-Wan was freeing the condemned prisoners. I took off the beggar clothes and pulled out one of my finest suits. With deliberate care I fixed myself up as the gentleman that I was. The suit was black just as all my other clothes were. Using the scissors I had used earlier I trimmed my hair so it was neater and then pulled it back into a ponytail. I looked as I had before, before everything, before Coruscant.

I decided that needed to change. Perhaps I could buy a suit of dark green, like my Obi-Wan's eyes.

I glanced at the gold pocket watch I had taken from my keepsake box. It had been my father's and I had not used it in many years, about the time I was no longer proud of what it was I had become. My father was a good man and it only reminded me of my failure. It was gold and diamond encrusted; it was very extravagant for a man like me. I was, however, a Lord and Coruscant, if it taught me anything, had shown me that even if the rich lived in splendour, the poor did not necessarily suffer; a balance could be found.

I had learnt much in Beli'ay, I realised, and I knew I was a different man for it; a better, kinder, more loving and compassionate man and certainly more free. Ah yes, freedom. It's like a drug and I am already addicted, my craving for it made worse by a love so deep and true but ultimately unrealistic. Maybe in a dream it could be true and maybe that was what the Jedi and his League were all about.

A dream for peace and freedom, a world without injustice and a country no longer shadowed by the evil of one man. A dream that almost lives. Hope must be kept as well as faith.

Once changed, I left my house again and signalled for my carriage. Palpatine would expect me to interrogate the Jedi which I intended to do, if he was still there. I had no idea how fast the Jedi and the League could work; was each rescue meticulously planned or was it all improvisation? Knowing the Jedi as I did, he was a serious young man, learned and mature with a devilish streak so wide I was surprised no one else noticed it, that it was a combination of both or neither.

Riding up to the prison was a real pleasure. I could hear the chaos a block away and had to fight hard not to laugh. I could not see the reason for the disturbance, nevertheless I knew damn well what it was. That was certainly quick and successful, judging by the level of bedlam. My carriage pulled up to the prison's Guard gate. I set my face into an expression of anger and stepped from the carriage.

I was almost knocked over as a large black horse came crashing through the gates; the figure on its back was cloaked. He nodded. He pulled up sharply on the reins and for a fraction of a second we stared at each other.

I just know he was grinning.

He turned from me and galloped up the street.

"Guards, after him," I shouted in my most commanding voice. Of course, I didn't realise that the Guards were also trying to round up the other prisoners the Jedi had set free. It may not have been planned, but the Jedi's escape was very effective.

I watched the dark figure disappear from view with a group of Guards and soldiers scrambling to their horses to chase him. They didn't have a hope. By the time they were mounted and giving chase, the Jedi was gone. Gone from sight back into the romantic stories he had been stolen from or maybe a nearby bolthole.

With an air of annoyance, I entered the prison and demanded to be taken to his cell.

I was led there immediately and came face to face with the death the Jedi had left behind. The Jedi stories maybe romantic but they were not a fairy tale. I stepped over the bodies and entered the cell I had not left and hour previously.

"He escaped using these," I was told and the warden held out a large bunch of keys.

'Ooops.' I remember thinking.

There on the wall, scribed into the plaster with a sharp dagger was a final message. One for me and for Naboo.

I left as quickly as I had arrived, leaving the only place the Jedi was ever held against his will. Against his will? He allowed it; there was no place he could not go and no prison that could hold him. I returned to the palace repeating the last message to myself as I went. Those words remain there to this day. Since those days, the rebellion has picked up the Jedi's messages and used them as their own. They appear on walls throughout Naboo.

On that wall were the words that the Jedi stood for above every other, words of a legend, of a good man.

On that wall was written,

'Peace over anger.'

'Love over hate.'

-

It took me a couple of hours to go through the motions of mounting a hunt, get the escaped prisoners and question the remaining Guards. I took my time, not in any hurry to face Palpatine and the ever-angry Maul. I couldn't put it off forever and late afternoon once again found me in the cool halls of the palace, making the usual trek to Palpatine's office.

Mace Windu was on duty, just as he had been when this had first started, when I was sent to Coruscant.

"He'll be with you shortly," He told me and this time when he spoke there was no trace of distaste, and I believe there was even a small amount of respect hidden deep within his voice.

"Thank you."

"Not your fault, Lord Jinn," he continued. "The Jedi gets to us all, sooner or later."

I whirled around to stare at him. He was serious until he could not hold it in any longer and his face broke out into a smile.

"All of us?" I asked stepping closer.

"Certainly," He replied and then whispered, "For the Fallen."

"How long?" I gasped. "How many?" I knew the League was everywhere, but could not quite believe what was happening.

"Me? A couple of years. There are more out there, you realise, and ever more who join the rebellion every day." He continued to grin at me. "It's a whole new world on the other side, isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Welcome, Friend."

It was a mark of how much Obi-Wan trusted me to allow the League to reveal themselves to me. I smiled, one of genuine warmth and comradeship.

The door the Palpatine's office opened and Maul waved me in. I didn't look back at Mace but I felt safe knowing he was there and now that I was a member of the League, I would never be in the kind of danger I had been in before. Oh no, I'd have a whole new kind to deal with.

"Well?"

"I'm sorry, sir, it appears he picked a Guard's pocket and stole his keys. He let himself out."

"I trust the man has been punished?"

"The Jedi killed him." My first outright lie.

"Where were you, Qui-Gon?"

"I was at home, resting. I was expecting a day of long and physical interrogation. I wanted to be at my best when I went up against the Jedi." I looked the king squarely in the eye and declared. "I wanted to win, Your Majesty."

"Did you recognise him?"

"No, Sir. I do not believe he was any of the noblemen I met in Coruscant, however I was only in Beli'ay. There are others, as the country is a large one."

"Yes. Yes." Palpatine appeared to forget I was there until he spoke again. " You are still in charge of finding the Jedi, despite this recent farcical escapade. I still believe you to be the best man to bring me the Jedi. You are cunning in your own way and an equal to the Jedi. We will have him again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good. You will return to Coruscant." My knees went weak. "But this time do not limit yourself to the nobility that attend court. Broaden your search to the rest of the country."

Dantooine perhaps, I thought, with Obi-Wan at my side.

"Yes, sir."

"Travin can keep an eye on the capital and you, if the Jedi appears again in Naboo, will return immediately. We need to be quicker. I want you to appoint a deputy, someone who can take charge until you return; I suggest MacLeane. I've already told him. You may go." He said the final part all as one so I was unable to protest. I retired quickly, concerned by having MacLeane being more closely connected to me. The man was vicious and unmerciful in his pursuit.

I returned to my office and found MacLeane waiting for me.

"I take it you've heard?"

"Yes sir, I'll do my best to assist you." I walked into my office, MacLeane behind me. I noticed the painting had been replaced. "I thought it best to cover up the message. Best others not know about it."

"Yes, I suppose so." I had that feeling again, the one where I realise how blind I was before and now how wide my eyes had been opened.

"How long?" He did not pretend to not understand.

"A long time, Sir. Before I joined the NIA."

"But…"

"You picking me as a Lieutenant and Palpatine as a deputy were purely coincidence. We never planned it this way. I was just supposed to be someone on the inside."

All this time, right under my nose, and he had been so believable, so blood thirsty.

"Do you think me a fool?"

"No sir, the Jedi always said you were one of us, that you just needed time. The League is about many things; one of those is trust. We all trust the Jedi and believe in him, which is why we do what we do. You are beginning to understand that, are you not?"

It was what I had been missing for so many years. Why I had never come close to the Jedi. They trusted him; not just the League, but also the rebels and the Fallen. He could win because he had the people. I saw cracks in Palpatine's rule; for the first time I saw them and knew what the ending would be.

"Lets get back to work, MacLeane."

"For the Fallen."

"For the Fallen," I uttered back. It was the first time I spoke the words. "For the Fallen."

-

Obi-Wan still wears many masks, for them, for the world; but for me his face is bare. I will see him again, I am confident of that. We will steal time and hide in plain sight until an end comes to Palpatine's tyranny and Amidala is safely on the throne.

I chase the Jedi still, just as eagerly and earnestly, however, now when I catch him, I embrace love. And now he also lets me catch him and I let him escape. We two are alike and at night I whisper his name. In return I can hear a faint calling of my name from his lips.

The tale I have told you is true. After the events, I spoke with others who could trust me; who the Jedi had told they could trust me. Using their words and mine, I have told you the tale of his capture and escape, of our meeting and parting.

Is this a happy ending? Is this an ending at all? It is an ending because for now I have nothing left to say. It is also an ending that is incomplete. We are together as much as we are apart and as long as Palpatine is King we will remain so. Amidala is a rightful queen and I will do what I can to assist her. The Jedi remains free and I chase him still and I am a member of the League. I am still his hunter but I promise you this, it will not always be so. Soon the rebellion will be successful and I will return to Coruscant permanently and stand at his side where I know I belong. Until then, when I do catch him it is a quiet, secluded rendezvous after which we part again to continue the chase; to continue the charade.

I chase him and he lets me catch him.

This game could be more fun than the old one.