Stars in the Darkness - Part Twenty-Nine
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"Focus, Anakin. Use the Force. Let it calm you. If you are not calm, you may miss something."
Anakin shot a quick frustrated look at Obi-Wan from across the terminal station. The two were inside one of the situation rooms located at the base of the central spire near the Temple's Holomap Room. From here, Jedi were able to use computer stations to access the Judicial Department's SSN, the Safety and Surveillance Network. The SSN was linked to thousands of databases on Coruscant.
Anakin, upon leaving Obi-Wan's quarters, had wanted to rush out of the Temple, lightsaber in hand, to search for Onara and Ben. And, considering his own sense of growing dread, so had Obi-Wan. But he had forced himself to remain calm and to think instead of just feel.
Coruscant was a city-wide planet and there were thousands upon thousands of places Onara and Ben could have gone to. If Obi-Wan and Anakin hoped to find them before Lursan got to them, they couldn't just hop in a speeder, racing around on the slim hope they'd chance across them.
Therefore, Obi-Wan had reined in Anakin's typically impulsive need for action and taken him to the situation room. Once there, he had directed his padawan to search the SSN for flight records of all air-taxi traffic within the vicinity of Onara's apartment while Obi-Wan concentrated on the banking and credit database. He hoped to find evidence Onara had used her credit chit that morning.
"Master, if Onara and Ben took an air-bus, looking at air-taxi transactions isn't going to help us find them."
Obi-Wan kept his eyes on the screen, his gaze darting across the scrolling streams of data.
"I'm well aware of that, Anakin. Just keep looking."
Anakin released an exasperated breath, but continued to look through the databases. As Obi-Wan scanned the credit chit and bank transactions, he drew in a quick, sharp breath.
He paused the flow of data across the screen and closed his eyes. Another wave of foreboding washed over him, thicker and darker than what he'd felt earlier that morning. And in his mind's eye he saw Onara and Ben, but there was a shadow surrounding them. Pain, sharp and thin as a stiletto, pierced his heart.
_Focus, Relax, let the Force flow through you and guide you._
Obi-Wan softly repeated the mantra to himself. Once he was sufficiently calm again, he opened his eyes and went back to scanning the financial transactions, all the while aware time was passing and the danger surrounding his beloveds was growing.
Then, his heart lurching in his chest, Obi-Wan saw a record showing Onara had used her credit chit twice that morning. Once was for passage on an air- taxi and the second time was for two tickets to the...
"Monument Plaza Amusement Complex," Anakin cried from across the terminal, his blue eyes blazing with triumph. "An air-taxi took them there this morning, Master."
"Yes, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, rising swiftly from the terminal.
He ran through the door of the situation room, Anakin behind him.
-------------
"I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but if you don't have the proper authorization I can't let you have a speeder."
Obi-Wan exchanged a frustrated glance with Anakin. After leaving the situation room, they had raced to the Temple's speeder port. Speeders were housed there for use, but typically, unless it was an emergency, Jedi were encouraged to use air-taxis or public transport to get around Coruscant. Recent budgetary cuts, enacted by the Senate over the last ten years, had cut deeply into the Temple's resources. Therefore, the number of speeders available were limited and proper authorization from the Jedi Council was required to use one.
Obi-Wan did not have the desire nor the time to go through the Council, or to wait for an air-taxi or use public transport. Monument Plaza was on the other side of Coruscant. He and Anakin needed to get there and they needed to get there fast.
He looked back at the speeder port manager. He was a rotund human male with a bulbous nose and watery green eyes. He was not a Jedi, as the Order usually hired non-Jedi to staff and supervise support services such as these.
Glancing uneasily over at Anakin, who was waiting, and most impatiently for his body was visibly quivering with agitation, Obi-Wan surreptitiously waved his fingers at the port manager, knowing he was violating any number of Jedi rules and protocols.
"You don't need to see our authorization," he said.
The manager blinked, then nodded. "I don't need to see your authorization."
"We can take any speeder we want," Obi-Wan went on.
"You can take any speeder you want," the manager repeated. Then he turned and went back into his office.
Obi-Wan ran to a nearby speeder, Anakin loping at his side.
"Don't say a word, Anakin," Obi-Wan warned as they approached a gold and black speeder.
"I wasn't going to, Master. Not a word," but Obi-Wan could hear a hint of approval in Anakin's voice.
Obi-Wan didn't often bend the rules, but he never failed to notice Anakin seemed to take great delight in his having done so. He opened the door of the passenger seat, then noted Anakin was staring at him.
"You drive, Anakin."
Anakin looked at him for a moment, then nodded, leaping into the driver's seat. Obi-Wan had often chided Anakin for his reckless driving, but he was well aware his padawan was the superior pilot and he was relying on Anakin's skill to get them to Monument Plaza in record time.
The disturbance in the Force was now a high-pitched scream, and it was all Obi-Wan could do to keep himself from crying out in anger and despair. They were in danger, his beloveds. He could feel it.
Anakin revved up the speeder and, activating its lifts, drove it towards the port doors. They swung open, the bright sunlight and the noise and clamor that was daytime Coruscant, spilling over them.
"Punch it, Anakin."
Anakin did so, his face grim and determined, and the speeder flew up into the air, streaking among the metal canyons and chasms.
-----------
"Can I ride again, Mama?"
Onara smiled at Ben from where she was sitting on a bench across from the carousel. He was riding on the back of a plasteek guarlara, one of a number of creatures from across the galaxy that were on the huge carousel. The guarlara was a regal, equine-like creature, native to Naboo. Ben had the reins in his hands and was flapping them as if trying to get the ebony- colored guarlara to move.
Onara and Ben hadn't been inside the amusement complex long before coming across the carousel. The Bimm had been right. They were the only ones inside, except for a few maintenance droids. Upon seeing the carousel, Ben, his hand pulling Onara along, had run over to it and quickly climbed up onto the guarlara.
Once Onara was certain he was secure on it, she had stepped away and instructed the carousel to start turning. Music, lively and bright had played, and Ben had laughed joyously as the guarlara had rose and fell on the carousel as it turned around.
Onara got up from the bench and walked over. She gently tousled Ben's dark hair and stroked his somewhat flushed cheek, which she knew was a result of his excitement. She had hoped this excursion to the amusement complex would take his mind off what happened last night with Dalan, and it seemed to have worked. Ben hadn't stopped smiling since they'd left the apartment that morning.
"All right, darling, you can ride one more time, but there's lots more to see. Why don't we try some of the other attractions before others arrive."
"All right, Mama."
Onara stepped away and instructed the carousel to begin turning again. Then she went back to the bench and sat down. Feeling a slight chill, she crossed her arms over her chest. Then she sighed and, although her eyes were on Ben as he rode around the carousel, her thoughts were elsewhere.
Awakening before dawn, her arms around Ben, Onara had gently moved away from him and left his room. As she walked through the darkened apartment, she saw Keria's velvet wrap where she had thrown it across the couch. Onara smiled and hoped she'd had a good time on her date. She approached her bedroom, then noted there was a light on in the kitchen.
Entering it, she saw Sinja-Bau sitting at the table, a cup of tea between her hands. The ex-Jedi looked up and smiled at Onara.
"Good morning, Onara."
"Good morning, Sinja-Bau," she replied as she walked over and sat at the table. Then she saw, with a sinking heart, shadows under the woman's blue- green eyes.
"Did you not sleep well?" she asked softly.
Sinja-Bau looked down at her tea cup. "No, I'm afraid not."
Onara reached over and put her hand over Sinja-Bau's, squeezing it gently.
"Please, don't be upset about what happened with Dalan. Once he's sobered up, he'll realize you were only trying to protect me."
Sinja-Bau shook her head. "No, you don't understand, Onara. It's not about Dalan. It's about me."
"You? I don't understand."
"When I threw Dalan against the wall, I used the dark side of the Force."
"The dark side?"
Onara was not as knowledgeable about the Force as she probably should have been, being the mother of a Force sensitive child, but she knew enough about it to know that for a Jedi to use the dark side of the Force was very dangerous. Obi-Wan had called upon it when he had brought her consciousness back from the abyss, and he had nearly been expelled from the Jedi Order as a result. And there also was the psychological and spiritual costs.
Sinja-Bau had once told Onara stories of Jedi who had succumbed to the dark side, and of the terrible evil and horror they had inflicted, not only up others, but upon themselves. Onara inwardly shuddered at the thought of this woman, who was the closet thing she had to a mother, falling victim to such a fate.
She squeezed Sinja-Bau's hand again. "But, you're all right now. It was only a momentary thing."
"Yes, a momentary thing, but what's disturbing was how easily and quickly I was able to call upon the dark side. We Jedi are trained from childhood on how to resist its lure, for the dark side is a easy and seductive path, but never have I felt its power so strongly. The dark side is growing, Onara, I can feel it."
"What will you do?"
"I must go see Master Yoda. I need his guidance, and I must tell him what happened."
"But, you're no longer a member of the Order. They won't punish you for it, will they?"
"They have no jurisdiction over me, but, perhaps," and Sinja-Bau paused, looking somberly over at Onara, "that is something I should look into remedying."
Onara felt a twinge of pain, fully aware of what Sinja-Bau was intimating, and suddenly afraid of losing her.
"Sinja-Bau, you're like a mother to me, as well as a dear companion. And you know how much you mean to Ben, but, whatever decision you make, know I will support you fully in it."
Sinja-Bau covered Onara's hand with her other one. "My dear, sweet Onara, I have not regretted one moment I've spent in your household. I will never have children, but I look upon you as my daughter and Ben as my grandchild. I love you both so much."
Sinja-Bau stopped, her voice choking. Onara rose from the table, walked around it and put her arms around the older woman, kissing her cheek.
"Go and see Master Yoda. Put your heart at rest. And know whatever you decide, Ben and I will always love you and wish you well."
Sinja-Bau had thanked Onara and, soon after, left for the Jedi Temple. Onara had showered and changed and then waited for Ben to wake up, which he did an hour later. The two had breakfasted, greeting a sleepy Keria who had returned to bed, and then left the apartment.
Now, as Ben continued to ride the carousel, Onara wondered how Sinja-Bau's meeting with Master Yoda was going. She hoped the ex-Jedi found the answers and reassurance she seemed to need so desperately. Then her reverie was broken by Ben's voice.
"Hi, Master Lursan."
Onara looked over at Ben. He was waving in her direction, but his gaze was behind her. She turned around and was shocked to see Lursan walking towards them.
She slowly rose from the bench, trepidation stealing over her as Lursan came closer. The Ahjane businessman was smiling, but Onara felt a chill slither down her spine when she saw his gray eyes. They reminded her of the sea just before a storm hit.
"Lady Lenor," Lursan said as he stopped in front of her. Then his gaze slid over to Ben who was still riding around on the carousel. "And young Master Lenor. Or should I say Kenobi." And he looked back at Onara, his smile widening, but his eyes growing colder.
"Lursan," Onara said, but her heart was beating so fast she could hardly speak. She was suddenly afraid, terribly afraid, though she did not yet know why. "What are you doing here? Is Dalan with you?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I left him at my penthouse. He was in quite a state when he arrived last night. I gather you and he did not share a pleasant evening yesterday."
"No, we did not."
Onara backed a step away from Lursan, but he moved closer to her.
"A pity," he remarked, but Onara heard no pity in his voice. "He loves you so much. It's a shame you could not remain faithful to him."
"I have remained faithful to him. Is that why you're here? To talk about my marriage to Dalan?"
"No, that is not why I'm here," Lursan said, following Onara as she, unconsciously, moved closer to the carousel, which she could hear was beginning to slow down.
"Then, I don't understand. What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Lursan repeated.
His eyes slid over to where Ben was sitting on the guarlara, smiling at them both as the carousel spun slower and slower.
Onara's breath caught in her throat, her heart thudding, for the look Lursan gave Ben was nothing short of predatory. He looked back at her, his eyes glittering.
"Were you aware, Lady Lenor, that I knew your grandmother, the Lady Tsara?"
"My grandmother?"
"She hired me to kidnap your son."
Now Onara felt fear skittering through her chest with steel claws. "She hired you? You're...you're Red Tide?"
Lursan nodded. "Yes. I was its leader. I sent my son and a number of my men to your father's manor at the behest of your grandmother to kidnap your son so she could raise him to be some kind of overlord of Ahjane. But, as you well know, we were not successful. And my son, my only child, died that night, killed by the apprentice of your lover. As a result, my wife died soon after from grief."
"But...but..." Onara stammered, too overwhelmed to speak, aware only of a dawning horror.
"Yes, you understand now, don't you, my lady," Lursan said smiling, his eyes glimmering with hate. "I have come for my blood payment."
He looked over at the carousel, which had stopped turning. Ben was still sitting on the guarlara, but Onara saw he was now trying to get off it to come over to them.
"Ben!" she screamed, grabbing Lursan's arm. "Ben, run! Run!"
Ben's head snapped up at her cry, his blue-gray eyes widening. Lursan was thrown slightly off balance as Onara pulled at him, but he quickly recovered. He struck her savagely across the face, but she did not let go of his arm.
"Run, Ben, run!" she screamed, her face blooming with pain, blood streaming down the side of her mouth
"Mama!"
Ben slid off the guarlara, and Onara saw with horror he was running towards them.
"No, Ben, no, Run! Run away!"
Lursan hit Onara again, hard enough she fell to the floor. But she leapt up and, striking out with her hand, punched him hard in the chest. Lursan grunted, surprise on his face. Onara attacked him again, using everything she had learned from Padmé and her handmaidens, but she knew it was not enough. Certainly not against the leader of the Red Tide. But with hope, she thought desperately, as she struck out at Lursan again, she could give Ben time enough to get away.
Lursan grabbed her arms and, raising his leg, kneed her hard in the stomach. Onara doubled over, nearly retching. She saw Ben out of the corner of her eye. Hope bloomed in her chest. He was running away from them now, down the corridor to the left.
Lursan, noting the fleeing Ben, snarled and made to go after him, but Onara, with a strength she had not known she possessed, threw herself at him, fighting with all the power and might of a boar-wolf protecting its young.
Then, suddenly, as she struggled with Lursan, pain unlike anything she had ever felt in her life exploded along her side. She staggered, heat and cold surging through her veins. Then she felt a wetness seeping down her side.
She glanced down, shocked to see blood flowing down her tunic. She raised her head and looked over at Lursan. He held a dagger in his hand. Blood was on it. Her blood.
Onara sank to her knees, the pain throbbing, pulsing inside her, and her life's blood with it. As she trembled uncontrollably, a darkness stealing over her mind, dimming both sight and sound, she wailed, the maddened howl of all parents down the ages who had failed to protect their young. Her baby was alone, unprotected, with a cold-blooded killer in pursuit of him.
She fell heavily to her side, the blood streaming out of her and onto the floor.
I'm dying, she thought, but with the last of her strength, a strength born of anguish and a desperate hope her son would survive, Onara drew in just enough breath to call out one final time as she watched Lursan run after Ben.
"Run, Ben. Oh, run, darling, run!"
To be continued....
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"Focus, Anakin. Use the Force. Let it calm you. If you are not calm, you may miss something."
Anakin shot a quick frustrated look at Obi-Wan from across the terminal station. The two were inside one of the situation rooms located at the base of the central spire near the Temple's Holomap Room. From here, Jedi were able to use computer stations to access the Judicial Department's SSN, the Safety and Surveillance Network. The SSN was linked to thousands of databases on Coruscant.
Anakin, upon leaving Obi-Wan's quarters, had wanted to rush out of the Temple, lightsaber in hand, to search for Onara and Ben. And, considering his own sense of growing dread, so had Obi-Wan. But he had forced himself to remain calm and to think instead of just feel.
Coruscant was a city-wide planet and there were thousands upon thousands of places Onara and Ben could have gone to. If Obi-Wan and Anakin hoped to find them before Lursan got to them, they couldn't just hop in a speeder, racing around on the slim hope they'd chance across them.
Therefore, Obi-Wan had reined in Anakin's typically impulsive need for action and taken him to the situation room. Once there, he had directed his padawan to search the SSN for flight records of all air-taxi traffic within the vicinity of Onara's apartment while Obi-Wan concentrated on the banking and credit database. He hoped to find evidence Onara had used her credit chit that morning.
"Master, if Onara and Ben took an air-bus, looking at air-taxi transactions isn't going to help us find them."
Obi-Wan kept his eyes on the screen, his gaze darting across the scrolling streams of data.
"I'm well aware of that, Anakin. Just keep looking."
Anakin released an exasperated breath, but continued to look through the databases. As Obi-Wan scanned the credit chit and bank transactions, he drew in a quick, sharp breath.
He paused the flow of data across the screen and closed his eyes. Another wave of foreboding washed over him, thicker and darker than what he'd felt earlier that morning. And in his mind's eye he saw Onara and Ben, but there was a shadow surrounding them. Pain, sharp and thin as a stiletto, pierced his heart.
_Focus, Relax, let the Force flow through you and guide you._
Obi-Wan softly repeated the mantra to himself. Once he was sufficiently calm again, he opened his eyes and went back to scanning the financial transactions, all the while aware time was passing and the danger surrounding his beloveds was growing.
Then, his heart lurching in his chest, Obi-Wan saw a record showing Onara had used her credit chit twice that morning. Once was for passage on an air- taxi and the second time was for two tickets to the...
"Monument Plaza Amusement Complex," Anakin cried from across the terminal, his blue eyes blazing with triumph. "An air-taxi took them there this morning, Master."
"Yes, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, rising swiftly from the terminal.
He ran through the door of the situation room, Anakin behind him.
-------------
"I'm sorry, Master Kenobi, but if you don't have the proper authorization I can't let you have a speeder."
Obi-Wan exchanged a frustrated glance with Anakin. After leaving the situation room, they had raced to the Temple's speeder port. Speeders were housed there for use, but typically, unless it was an emergency, Jedi were encouraged to use air-taxis or public transport to get around Coruscant. Recent budgetary cuts, enacted by the Senate over the last ten years, had cut deeply into the Temple's resources. Therefore, the number of speeders available were limited and proper authorization from the Jedi Council was required to use one.
Obi-Wan did not have the desire nor the time to go through the Council, or to wait for an air-taxi or use public transport. Monument Plaza was on the other side of Coruscant. He and Anakin needed to get there and they needed to get there fast.
He looked back at the speeder port manager. He was a rotund human male with a bulbous nose and watery green eyes. He was not a Jedi, as the Order usually hired non-Jedi to staff and supervise support services such as these.
Glancing uneasily over at Anakin, who was waiting, and most impatiently for his body was visibly quivering with agitation, Obi-Wan surreptitiously waved his fingers at the port manager, knowing he was violating any number of Jedi rules and protocols.
"You don't need to see our authorization," he said.
The manager blinked, then nodded. "I don't need to see your authorization."
"We can take any speeder we want," Obi-Wan went on.
"You can take any speeder you want," the manager repeated. Then he turned and went back into his office.
Obi-Wan ran to a nearby speeder, Anakin loping at his side.
"Don't say a word, Anakin," Obi-Wan warned as they approached a gold and black speeder.
"I wasn't going to, Master. Not a word," but Obi-Wan could hear a hint of approval in Anakin's voice.
Obi-Wan didn't often bend the rules, but he never failed to notice Anakin seemed to take great delight in his having done so. He opened the door of the passenger seat, then noted Anakin was staring at him.
"You drive, Anakin."
Anakin looked at him for a moment, then nodded, leaping into the driver's seat. Obi-Wan had often chided Anakin for his reckless driving, but he was well aware his padawan was the superior pilot and he was relying on Anakin's skill to get them to Monument Plaza in record time.
The disturbance in the Force was now a high-pitched scream, and it was all Obi-Wan could do to keep himself from crying out in anger and despair. They were in danger, his beloveds. He could feel it.
Anakin revved up the speeder and, activating its lifts, drove it towards the port doors. They swung open, the bright sunlight and the noise and clamor that was daytime Coruscant, spilling over them.
"Punch it, Anakin."
Anakin did so, his face grim and determined, and the speeder flew up into the air, streaking among the metal canyons and chasms.
-----------
"Can I ride again, Mama?"
Onara smiled at Ben from where she was sitting on a bench across from the carousel. He was riding on the back of a plasteek guarlara, one of a number of creatures from across the galaxy that were on the huge carousel. The guarlara was a regal, equine-like creature, native to Naboo. Ben had the reins in his hands and was flapping them as if trying to get the ebony- colored guarlara to move.
Onara and Ben hadn't been inside the amusement complex long before coming across the carousel. The Bimm had been right. They were the only ones inside, except for a few maintenance droids. Upon seeing the carousel, Ben, his hand pulling Onara along, had run over to it and quickly climbed up onto the guarlara.
Once Onara was certain he was secure on it, she had stepped away and instructed the carousel to start turning. Music, lively and bright had played, and Ben had laughed joyously as the guarlara had rose and fell on the carousel as it turned around.
Onara got up from the bench and walked over. She gently tousled Ben's dark hair and stroked his somewhat flushed cheek, which she knew was a result of his excitement. She had hoped this excursion to the amusement complex would take his mind off what happened last night with Dalan, and it seemed to have worked. Ben hadn't stopped smiling since they'd left the apartment that morning.
"All right, darling, you can ride one more time, but there's lots more to see. Why don't we try some of the other attractions before others arrive."
"All right, Mama."
Onara stepped away and instructed the carousel to begin turning again. Then she went back to the bench and sat down. Feeling a slight chill, she crossed her arms over her chest. Then she sighed and, although her eyes were on Ben as he rode around the carousel, her thoughts were elsewhere.
Awakening before dawn, her arms around Ben, Onara had gently moved away from him and left his room. As she walked through the darkened apartment, she saw Keria's velvet wrap where she had thrown it across the couch. Onara smiled and hoped she'd had a good time on her date. She approached her bedroom, then noted there was a light on in the kitchen.
Entering it, she saw Sinja-Bau sitting at the table, a cup of tea between her hands. The ex-Jedi looked up and smiled at Onara.
"Good morning, Onara."
"Good morning, Sinja-Bau," she replied as she walked over and sat at the table. Then she saw, with a sinking heart, shadows under the woman's blue- green eyes.
"Did you not sleep well?" she asked softly.
Sinja-Bau looked down at her tea cup. "No, I'm afraid not."
Onara reached over and put her hand over Sinja-Bau's, squeezing it gently.
"Please, don't be upset about what happened with Dalan. Once he's sobered up, he'll realize you were only trying to protect me."
Sinja-Bau shook her head. "No, you don't understand, Onara. It's not about Dalan. It's about me."
"You? I don't understand."
"When I threw Dalan against the wall, I used the dark side of the Force."
"The dark side?"
Onara was not as knowledgeable about the Force as she probably should have been, being the mother of a Force sensitive child, but she knew enough about it to know that for a Jedi to use the dark side of the Force was very dangerous. Obi-Wan had called upon it when he had brought her consciousness back from the abyss, and he had nearly been expelled from the Jedi Order as a result. And there also was the psychological and spiritual costs.
Sinja-Bau had once told Onara stories of Jedi who had succumbed to the dark side, and of the terrible evil and horror they had inflicted, not only up others, but upon themselves. Onara inwardly shuddered at the thought of this woman, who was the closet thing she had to a mother, falling victim to such a fate.
She squeezed Sinja-Bau's hand again. "But, you're all right now. It was only a momentary thing."
"Yes, a momentary thing, but what's disturbing was how easily and quickly I was able to call upon the dark side. We Jedi are trained from childhood on how to resist its lure, for the dark side is a easy and seductive path, but never have I felt its power so strongly. The dark side is growing, Onara, I can feel it."
"What will you do?"
"I must go see Master Yoda. I need his guidance, and I must tell him what happened."
"But, you're no longer a member of the Order. They won't punish you for it, will they?"
"They have no jurisdiction over me, but, perhaps," and Sinja-Bau paused, looking somberly over at Onara, "that is something I should look into remedying."
Onara felt a twinge of pain, fully aware of what Sinja-Bau was intimating, and suddenly afraid of losing her.
"Sinja-Bau, you're like a mother to me, as well as a dear companion. And you know how much you mean to Ben, but, whatever decision you make, know I will support you fully in it."
Sinja-Bau covered Onara's hand with her other one. "My dear, sweet Onara, I have not regretted one moment I've spent in your household. I will never have children, but I look upon you as my daughter and Ben as my grandchild. I love you both so much."
Sinja-Bau stopped, her voice choking. Onara rose from the table, walked around it and put her arms around the older woman, kissing her cheek.
"Go and see Master Yoda. Put your heart at rest. And know whatever you decide, Ben and I will always love you and wish you well."
Sinja-Bau had thanked Onara and, soon after, left for the Jedi Temple. Onara had showered and changed and then waited for Ben to wake up, which he did an hour later. The two had breakfasted, greeting a sleepy Keria who had returned to bed, and then left the apartment.
Now, as Ben continued to ride the carousel, Onara wondered how Sinja-Bau's meeting with Master Yoda was going. She hoped the ex-Jedi found the answers and reassurance she seemed to need so desperately. Then her reverie was broken by Ben's voice.
"Hi, Master Lursan."
Onara looked over at Ben. He was waving in her direction, but his gaze was behind her. She turned around and was shocked to see Lursan walking towards them.
She slowly rose from the bench, trepidation stealing over her as Lursan came closer. The Ahjane businessman was smiling, but Onara felt a chill slither down her spine when she saw his gray eyes. They reminded her of the sea just before a storm hit.
"Lady Lenor," Lursan said as he stopped in front of her. Then his gaze slid over to Ben who was still riding around on the carousel. "And young Master Lenor. Or should I say Kenobi." And he looked back at Onara, his smile widening, but his eyes growing colder.
"Lursan," Onara said, but her heart was beating so fast she could hardly speak. She was suddenly afraid, terribly afraid, though she did not yet know why. "What are you doing here? Is Dalan with you?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I left him at my penthouse. He was in quite a state when he arrived last night. I gather you and he did not share a pleasant evening yesterday."
"No, we did not."
Onara backed a step away from Lursan, but he moved closer to her.
"A pity," he remarked, but Onara heard no pity in his voice. "He loves you so much. It's a shame you could not remain faithful to him."
"I have remained faithful to him. Is that why you're here? To talk about my marriage to Dalan?"
"No, that is not why I'm here," Lursan said, following Onara as she, unconsciously, moved closer to the carousel, which she could hear was beginning to slow down.
"Then, I don't understand. What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Lursan repeated.
His eyes slid over to where Ben was sitting on the guarlara, smiling at them both as the carousel spun slower and slower.
Onara's breath caught in her throat, her heart thudding, for the look Lursan gave Ben was nothing short of predatory. He looked back at her, his eyes glittering.
"Were you aware, Lady Lenor, that I knew your grandmother, the Lady Tsara?"
"My grandmother?"
"She hired me to kidnap your son."
Now Onara felt fear skittering through her chest with steel claws. "She hired you? You're...you're Red Tide?"
Lursan nodded. "Yes. I was its leader. I sent my son and a number of my men to your father's manor at the behest of your grandmother to kidnap your son so she could raise him to be some kind of overlord of Ahjane. But, as you well know, we were not successful. And my son, my only child, died that night, killed by the apprentice of your lover. As a result, my wife died soon after from grief."
"But...but..." Onara stammered, too overwhelmed to speak, aware only of a dawning horror.
"Yes, you understand now, don't you, my lady," Lursan said smiling, his eyes glimmering with hate. "I have come for my blood payment."
He looked over at the carousel, which had stopped turning. Ben was still sitting on the guarlara, but Onara saw he was now trying to get off it to come over to them.
"Ben!" she screamed, grabbing Lursan's arm. "Ben, run! Run!"
Ben's head snapped up at her cry, his blue-gray eyes widening. Lursan was thrown slightly off balance as Onara pulled at him, but he quickly recovered. He struck her savagely across the face, but she did not let go of his arm.
"Run, Ben, run!" she screamed, her face blooming with pain, blood streaming down the side of her mouth
"Mama!"
Ben slid off the guarlara, and Onara saw with horror he was running towards them.
"No, Ben, no, Run! Run away!"
Lursan hit Onara again, hard enough she fell to the floor. But she leapt up and, striking out with her hand, punched him hard in the chest. Lursan grunted, surprise on his face. Onara attacked him again, using everything she had learned from Padmé and her handmaidens, but she knew it was not enough. Certainly not against the leader of the Red Tide. But with hope, she thought desperately, as she struck out at Lursan again, she could give Ben time enough to get away.
Lursan grabbed her arms and, raising his leg, kneed her hard in the stomach. Onara doubled over, nearly retching. She saw Ben out of the corner of her eye. Hope bloomed in her chest. He was running away from them now, down the corridor to the left.
Lursan, noting the fleeing Ben, snarled and made to go after him, but Onara, with a strength she had not known she possessed, threw herself at him, fighting with all the power and might of a boar-wolf protecting its young.
Then, suddenly, as she struggled with Lursan, pain unlike anything she had ever felt in her life exploded along her side. She staggered, heat and cold surging through her veins. Then she felt a wetness seeping down her side.
She glanced down, shocked to see blood flowing down her tunic. She raised her head and looked over at Lursan. He held a dagger in his hand. Blood was on it. Her blood.
Onara sank to her knees, the pain throbbing, pulsing inside her, and her life's blood with it. As she trembled uncontrollably, a darkness stealing over her mind, dimming both sight and sound, she wailed, the maddened howl of all parents down the ages who had failed to protect their young. Her baby was alone, unprotected, with a cold-blooded killer in pursuit of him.
She fell heavily to her side, the blood streaming out of her and onto the floor.
I'm dying, she thought, but with the last of her strength, a strength born of anguish and a desperate hope her son would survive, Onara drew in just enough breath to call out one final time as she watched Lursan run after Ben.
"Run, Ben. Oh, run, darling, run!"
To be continued....