Chapter 18: Mara Strikes Again

Forest life was soon back to normal. It would not stay that way for long.

Everyone noticed how often Ben looked west of the forest. There was a medium sized mountain about a mile away. There was a problem with this mountain. He could "see" it and sense it. He just couldn't put his finger on it. So, he decided to check it out.

Ben left without telling anyone where he was going, so a few hours later, Jaina asked, "Where's Ben?" and no one knew the answer. The next day, there was still no sign of him, and they were getting worried.

"Don't worry about him," Damien said, but he was slightly worried, too. He knew Ben could take care of himself, but what if something had happened to him?

And happened it had. Ben was unconcious at the bottom of the mountain.

It started like this. There had been Ysalamari crawling all over the place. He had to climb up the mountain like a normal person. When he got to the top, he knew something was wrong, though he could not sense it. It was instinct. There wouldn't be Ysalamari around unless…

Mara peeked out from behind a boulder. Ben was sitting at the edge of the mountain, leaning slightly over, looking down. She crept up behind him and was about to push him, but he stood up. Mara ran back to her hiding place. Ben was wobbly with the imbalance and since he was standing so close to the edge, he fell.

There was a break in the Ysalamari's field, and so Ben could slow his fall a little near the end of the fall, but it was a mountain and a few hundred feet from the ground level. He hit the ground hard, and lay there, unconcious.

The others back in the forest decided to form a search party. Misty had come back (much to Damien's disappointment) and decided to help them. Sarah (on Candy), Misty (on her bike), Jacen, and Jaina trooped into the forest.

After a while, they stopped to take a rest. Jacen looked into the distance. The mountain was there, but it looked like there was a great fog covering it. "It sure is foggy over there," he said.

"What?" said Misty, looking where he was looking.

"Yeah," said Jaina.

"What are you guys talking about? It's perfectly clear," said Misty.

"Wait a second!" said Sarah. "Did you guys notice how Ben had been looking over there before he left?"

"Yeah," said Jaina and Jacen.

"Let's go have a look over there," Sarah suggested. So they did.

They walked around the base of the mountain. "I hope Ben didn't climb up there," commented Jacen. "I'm tired already."

"Hey, you guys! Over here!" shouted Jaina from around a cliff. "I found him!"

They ran around the side of the cliff. Ben was still unconscious from the fall. They carefully hoisted him onto Candy, and they rode back to the forest.

Back in the forest, Ben was lying on his bed. Sarah reported that he was hurt badly, but it wasn't life threatening.

In a few hours, he woke up. He explained about the Ysalamari on the mountain. "Mara Jade is hiding out up there," he reasoned. "It's the only explanation."

In a few days, Luke had heard of Ben's fall. He flew down to Golda in his X-Wing.

This was exactly what Mara Jade wanted. She lured Ben up with the Ysalamari. She had planned to push him off, but he had fallen off before she could get to him, hurting himself. If Ben were badly hurt, or even better, killed, Luke would come. And Luke was the person Mara Jade was after.

The reason Mara was after Luke was because he had killed her master. She had been his first hand. Now she was after Luke for ruining her life.

Now Luke was in free range. But first, Mara had to make sure no one could save him. She sneaked into the forest that night and set up her invisible cage. It was entirely Force-proof, so they could not get out.

One by one, Mara caught the people who came outside. Everyone did, except Ryan, who was content enough to play inside by himself.

Soon, she had everyone except Luke, Ben and Ryan. Luke wondered why everyone had gone and not come back. He wandered outside. Mara caught him in the blink of an eye, because he was not expecting it. "I'll kill you later, Luke," she sneered, shoving him inside the cage.

Ryan wandered outside. He saw Mara standing there, and knew that's where everyone had gone. He ran inside and got a long chain from his cabin. He crept up behind Mara and wrapped the chain tightly around her neck. In a few minutes, she had passed out from lack of oxygen.

Pikablu popped out from underwater and helped Ryan figure out how to locate and open the invisible cage. Everyone was free.

"She should have killed me then," Luke said, laughing. Luke brought Mara back up to the mountain and left her there.