Is the tension getting to you?
****Lovers walking along the shore
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
- The Windmills Of Your Mind
****The boy knelt beside Caleb, keeping his face downcast. His hands lay limply by his side and trembled slightly as Caleb spoke. Qui-Gon found he had to concentrate hard on what Caleb was saying otherwise his mind would revert back to Obi-Wan's predicament.
"As you see, this the slave that I was talking about earlier. He is coming along wonderfully. Unfortunately, when I first received him he was rebellious and I had to punish him several times. As you can no doubt see."
Qui-Gon could see. Old and new scars littered the boy's back – obviously whip marks. Although he had gotten used to seeing them on River's back, to see them on his thirteen-year-old Padawan's back gave him an extreme shock. Parts of his back were still healing, covered in scabs and dried black blood. River had refused to let Qui-Gon heal his scars. Saying that it was good to remember his past, so he could appreicate his future. Qui-Gon was going to damn well heal his Padawan's scars. All of them.
Qui-Gon wrenched his attention back on the man in front of him, "When he transgressed, I'd give him a beating and see if that'd teach him. But this boy is stubborn. Physical punishment to his body didn't do anything. Not long after I acquired him I showed him the true consequences of his rebellious nature and executed a slave in front of him. It slowed him down for a while, but then he attempted escape." Caleb laughed at the gleeful memory.
"He didn't get far. The guards caught him and brought him back to the compound. I then made sure that he would never attempt escape again." Caleb rubbed his hands, re-living the memory of severing the boy's tendons.
"How did you manage to do that?" Qui-Gon was dreading the answer. (I don't want to know. I do not want to know. How can a person be so damn cruel? He makes me sick, I feel like I'm going to be sick. Obi-Wan look at me! Look at me! Recognise me!! Please!! Give me a sign! I've found you and everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine. I'm going to take you away from here and you'll remember everything. I promise!! What has this animal turned you into? What has he done to you?!?)
"Oh, it was quite simple actually. I just cut his Achilles tendons. That made sure that he'd never be able to run." Caleb relaxed back into his, expecting praise.
(You bastard. You absolute bastard.) Qui-Gon felt physically sickened, the man had permanently crippled his Padawan. The man didn't have any right to touch his Padawan in any way. What Qui-Gon actually said was: "Oh. What a fantastic idea but then the slave would be useless to you."
Caleb gave a toothy smile, "Well, yes. But it depends in what way you class 'useless'. It was one of the points that broke him. That and the time he spent in the Sands."
"The Sands? What did you do there?" Qui-Gon wanted to strangle the man in front of him.
"After his tendons healed, or rather, didn't heal, we took him out to the Sands for further punishment. Attempted escape is not tolerated. He is the only slave that has been spared his life. It took his ankles around three weeks to heal. During that time he was kept in cold, dark cell. We made sure that there was no light and the only water he had was the condensation on the walls. Occasionally, to keep him alive we'd throw him in some food. He was kept naked; to strip him of any self-esteem and during that time he re-learnt how to walk. After his ankles healed, we took him out into the Sands and kept him there for four days."
"What are the Sands?" Qui-Gon had to physically stop himself from leaping over the desk and smashing the smug smile off the man's face.
"The Sands is our desert. It's just like the desert. Sand, sun, hot, heat and no water. The physicians and I decided that since physical pain didn't seem to bend him – we'd try mental pain. After losing something so precious as the chance of freedom, thrusting him into these situations would either leave him dead or broken. It broke him. I actually nearly lost him, as the guards stupidly stuffed around with his water but that's all in that past. I now have a Jedi slave that does everything that I command of him." Caleb finished off his story by placing his hands behind his head and giving Qui-Gon a smug smile.
Qui-Gon's head was reeling as he looked back down at the boy kneeling in front of him. (I'm so sorry Obi-Wan. I'm so sorry. If I had've known I would've come earlier. I'd do anything to be in your position. It's not fair, this is not fair. You shouldn't be there. You should be able to recognise me, you should, you should……I should not have left you. You are but a child. This is my fault, this is all my fault.) Qui-Gon put his head in his hands, momentarily forgetting where he was.
"I'm sorry……..? Are you okay?" Caleb leaned forward, concern written on his face. It would not do to lose such a wealthy client.
With an effort Qui-Gon pulled himself together, "Yes, I am fine. I've just got a bit of a headache and seeing your accomplishment, just astonished me, to say the least. I have never even heard of a tame Jedi. Aren't you afraid of this Jedi's powers? I see that you haven't even placed a force suppressor on him."
"Well, that is the best part." Caleb leaned forward and whispered confidentially into the older Jedi's ear. "The slave has amnesia and doesn't remember anything of his past life! But I understand. Wait here and I will call up a protocol droid that will assist you to your room." Caleb spoke briefly to a commlink on his desk and within seconds the door slid open revealing a shiny robot.
"Sir?" The droid questioned in its metallic voice.
"Assist this man to his quarters. Make sure that he and his slaves are comfortable." Caleb instructed. He turned to the older man beside him. He smiled as he noticed that the man seemed entranced in his relatively new 'toy.' He cleared his throat and spoke when the older Jedi didn't looked up. "This droid will take you to your room. Please do not hesitate to call for anything. By the way, there are also painkillers in the cupboard in the refresher." He laughed at the confused expression on his client's face. "For your headache. Please, relax yourself. It will take around a week for me to compile your order. You are allowed to go wherever you want and do anything you want." With a curt nod he dismissed the man in front of him and watched as the man slowly left the room, his eyes still on the young boy kneeling beside him.
The door slide shut and Caleb ruffled the boy's hair, "Well, I think that went pretty well my young slave. He seemed entranced by you did he not?"
Obi-Wan looked up, a question in his eyes.
Caleb nodded, "Speak."
"Yes, master." The boy's voice was barely a whisper. "That seemed to go well."
"I am greatly impressed by your obedience slave. You are coming along nicely." Caleb sighed in pleasure.
If anything, the boy seemed to sink lower into his depression. "Yes master. I am learning quickly." (And painfully) Obi-Wan added mentally. Only a short couple of months ago, Obi-Wan would never have dreamt acting like this but what was the use anymore? Nothing beckoned to the boy in the future. For Obi-Wan there was no future. He wasn't going anywhere. Not with feet that didn't function. Not when the slightest disobedience ended in the taking of some poor innocent slave's life. Obi-Wan had truly given up hope.
"Good. I have one order for you. The man will probably want to talk to you about your….er……ordeals. He was extremely interested in your treatment. It is not often that one meets a professional in the same sort of hobby that one is interested in. You are to not speak with him. At all. You are not to speak to any of his entourage. Do you understand?"
"Yes master." Obi-Wan hesitated then plunged on, "What if they speak to me?"
Caleb steepled his fingers, "You are to say nothing. You are not even allowed to touch them. You are to take on a vow of silence concerning that man and his slaves. You will not talk to his slaves either. Do you understand?" The man's voice had turned as hard as steel and the young Jedi knew from experience that he was being deadly serious.
"Yes master." Obi-Wan sighed inwardly and bent his head to stare at the ground.
"Excellent. You may now go to bed." Caleb dismissed him as he rose from his chair and proceeded to his private room. 'Bed' was not the word for it. Obi-Wan had to sleep on the ground at the entrance of his master's room.
Like a dog.
Obi-Wan stood weakly and followed in his master's wake. "Yes master." Softly spoken and dull eyed the boy lay down in his rightful spot and curled up into foetal position.
As the artificial lights were turned out and night lengthened, Obi-Wan cried himself to sleep.
****"It's him!!! It's him!" Qui-Gon could not keep his voice down as he told River and Billy. "The man has got him in his chamber like some kind of animal. I can't believe that he could be so cruel, the boy is only a child. They can't do that, it's not allowed!"
"But of course it happens. You know that Qui-Gon. You found that out when you took me in." River interrupted and tried to calm down the man. "Sit. Centre yourself and tell us what happened in there."
"You have been listening too much to what I say." Qui-Gon's eyes were glazed and focused on something not visible in their current reality. "Caleb is treating him like a dog."
"Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon you must listen to me!" River was getting impatient. "What is of his condition?" It was an evil question but it had to be answered.
Qui-Gon's eyes went from glazed to hard, "He is……..not good."
"In what way? Physically or mentally?" River pressed on, knowing how much the answers meant.
Qui-Gon sighed, "Both." He knew that he had to answer but every word seemed to twist a knife into the older Jedi's heart. "He has been beaten several times, but I can heal his physical wounds. It is his mental and spiritual state that worries me more. The boy has been……..broken."
Billy closed her eyes in horror, "No. Not O-Obi-Wan. He was always so…..hopeful. So eager to leave, to escape. Why? What would make him give up?"
"He is crippled." The sentence was rough.
"What??" River was astonished, he had never heard of that taking place in the slaver's world. Everything there depended on profit. A crippled slave was a useless slave and a useless slave was a dead slave. "You didn't mention that before Qui-Gon."
"It doesn't matter. When I take him back to the Temple, the healers will re-grow the muscles and tendons."
"But you don't see Qui-Gon. It does matter. That would probably be the main reason why the boy is the way he mentally is."
"What? I don't understand." Qui-Gon looked from River to Billy's faces in confusion.
"When I was with Obi-Wan in the factory the only thing that kept him going was the thought of escaping one day." Billy tried to help.
"Surely just because he is crippled, that would not break him?"
"To lose the function of anything is a big loss. Put yourself in his position. He now has no chance of escape - that has been denied to him. There is no way that he is going to get out of here. With the abuse and cruel treatment heaped upon him by Caleb, what would be the point of going on? He has no memory. He does not think that anyone waits for him beyond the barbed wire and electro-shields. No one cares for him within this compound. The slave 456, believes that he is going to spend the rest of his life in this place, with absolutely no chance of escape and having to obey Caleb or pay the price of physical beatings."
Qui-Gon bowed his head then snapped it back up to look at River squarely, "Then he shall know. I will take him out of this place if I have to buy him." He looked at Billy and she nodded slowly.
"Tomorrow, we will talk to him."
****Obi-Wan scurried from his master's room to the door in an effort to quickly get to the kitchen. It was breakfast time.
As he closed his master's door and stepped out into the hall he breathed deeply and ran as fast as his crippled legs allowed him down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen. He was late and Caleb did not like it when he was late.
Just like every other room, his master's room did have a self-contained kitchen but Caleb preferred his food piping hot and delicious from the kitchen downstairs. He did not like it when it was cold.
(There is a lot that my master does not like…)Obi-Wan blasphemously started a thought then stopped it, almost afraid that Caleb would be able to read his thoughts and punish him for them.
As he limped awkwardly around a corner he ran smack-bang straight into one of Caleb's friends. The slave dropped quickly to his knees and bowed his head.
"I'm sorry sir." Obi-Wan panted out and winced as the man swung his foot viciously into the youth's side.
"Watch it slave, or else I'll report your behaviour to your master." The man snarled and continued on his way, not noticing the way that the boy had blanched and started trembling at the use of the word 'master'.
"Y-yes sir." Obi-Wan stuttered and waited until the man had turned the corner before shakily continuing his way.
He received his master's tray from Kali and was on his way back home when he stumbled into another person. He fell and dropped the tray.
(Oh no. Caleb will not be happy. I'm going to be punished again. Again….) His head jerked up as a familiar voice rang in his ears.
"456!" Billy rushed to his aid and stopped surprised as Obi-Wan violently pulled back. "456, what's wrong?"
Obi-Wan's head was reeling at the turn of events. (NO! Billy couldn't have been captured! Caleb wouldn't have bought her! How the---) his thoughts were shattered as someone grabbed his arm and he was enveloped in a huge bear hug.
"Padawan!" The strange word was muffled as Obi-Wan struggled fiercely to get out of the strong embrace.
"Padawan?" Obi-Wan pulled out and stood panting as he looked up at his attacker. It was a tall, long brown haired man. His mind gave a twitch and made a half-hearted attempt to search through its memory banks. The young slave pushed the weird feeling out of his mind.
"456. It's me, Billy. Don't be afraid, it's ok." Obi-Wan looked up slowly and gasped at what he saw. It truly was Billy, but she changed. Changed for the better. The hollows from her cheeks were gone, they were tinged with a flush of pink. As she stood up, Obi-Wan allowed his eyes to rove over her, taking in the changes. She was good deal fatter. Not fat but not skinny. She was exactly what a normal person should look like. Whoever she was with, she was getting regular meals. Her hair had grown longer and hung halfway down her back. The ends had bleached almost blond and she had small plaits dangling in it. It was brushed neatly and Obi-Wan noticed for the first time that Billy had soft curls towards the bottom of her hair. He had never noticed that before because it had all been a heap of dreadlocks. Her skin glowed – not a speck of dirt could be seen on her. She even smelt slightly like flowers. Billy was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.
Standing prtoectively next to her was a young man who looked eerily like him. (Creepy) The man was older then him and his eyes were opened slightly wider then normal as the man took in the boy.
His reverie was interrupted by a elegant hand that stretched in his direction, "Let me help you up friend" Billy laughed but a frown quickly darkened her face as Obi-Wan scooted back, as far away as possible from the offending hand.
"456?"
(How can I tell them that I can't have anything to do with them, without speaking?) Obi-Wan desperately thought and shook his head, his eyes wide and showing white with his fear.
River watched, slightly jealous. (So this is the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi. I don't see anything to get highly excited about.) His thoughts were dark but he sighed and turned them around. (He means something to Qui-Gon Jinn; therefore he means something to me. Get over yourself River.)
Qui-Gon watched, his heart slowly ripping apart. His Padawan was a trembling ball of fear. He looked closer and tightened his teeth in anger. Anger which he quickly released into the Force so that it could not consume him and disrupt his thoughts. So he told himself. The boy was so thin that he could easily see every single rib and vertebrate as the boy cowered beneath him.
Billy knelt down and placed her hand on the young boy's trembling shoulder. "456, please, we don't mean to—"
"NO! Don't TOUCH ME!" The words erupted from the young slaves mouth before he realised what he'd said and he pushed himself away from the girl. Obi-Wan heart clenched then tightened. So he'd crossed the line. (Caleb can't punish me any worse then he has already done)
Obi-Wan spoke quickly, "Billy, what are you doing here? No don't answer that. I don't have much time. Do not speak to me. Do not touch me, you must not communicate with me in any way. Verbally, physically or mentally." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at the last word. (As if you can do that.)
"Why?" Billy asked confused.
"Because my master will get mad at me." Obi-Wan replied simply.
Qui-Gon felt his anger flare up as the boy used the title in such terrible way. Qui-Gon ruthlessly squashed it and knelt down beside the boy. "Obi-Wan……"
The boy looked at the older man puzzled, his mind reaching for some long distance memory but never quite getting there. "What? Who are you?" His eyes slowly devoured the man's face then switched back to Billy's face. "I am not afraid of what he will do to me, but I am afraid of what he will do to others around me in an attempt to control me. I must go now."
"No 456! You have to listen to what I have to say. I found out about your life!" Billy tried to excite the boy, without success. The boy remained depressed.
"I have no life." He dully said and tried to gather up the food. It was that moment that Caleb chose to enter the scene.
"SLAVE!!" His voice thundered and Obi-Wan flinched violently beneath Billy's hand. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?? I am HUNGRY!"
"I'm sorry maste---" Obi-Wan only got so far when a vicious backhand sent him head over heels.
"Punctuality is a necessity! Now, my food is cold!" The man's eyes hardened as he noticed the group around his slave, "Slave, you know the rules. Have you been talking to this group?"
Obi-Wan got back up to his knees and surreptiously wiped away a smear of blood from his bleeding lip, "Y-yes master."
"Go back to your room. I will deal with you presently." The man commanded and watched with a grim face as the young boy slunk away. He turned to the shocked onlookers, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from speaking to that particular slave. He is on a rigorous training plan and he was a stubborn one. I do not want him reverting to his old habits." He looked more closely at the group, his eyes looking carefully at Billy.
"My, she is a pretty one. I'm guessing that you're not willing to sell her?" His voice turned oily and Billy had to force herself not to squirm.
"No, she is not for sale." Qui-Gon's voice was hard, "Go easy on the slave. It was my fault. I talked to him."
Caleb nodded, "I will take that into consideration but he knows the rules." He turned and took the same path that the young Jedi had taken.
When he was out of view, Qui-Gon turned to River and said wearily, "I couldn't sense him. I couldn't sense him at all River. His signature has been completely dimmed. Even when he stumbled into me, I didn't feel him. What does that mean?"
River sighed, "Does it really matter?? Lets just concentrate on getting him out of here. What is it that you always say? Focus on here and now? Well, I think that now would be a good time for you to follow your own preachings, wouldn't you say?"
Qui-Gon looked up with weary resignation, "You know, I wish that Obi-Wan would pay the same attention that you do to me! But yes, you are right. Lets just work on getting him out of here."