Part IV -- Alliance
"Stand back!" Vader ordered Jenny as Luke sprang from the diggle's back, drawing his blaster. He activated his lightsaber and prepared to block the boy's fire.
"You know him?" Jenny asked, backing away.
"An old friend," he replied.
Luke squeezed several rounds off, the crimson bolts streaking toward Jenny. Vader swept the bolts away with his saber. A look of surprise came across young Skywalker's face, then he fired again. Again Vader deflected the shots, which kept heading Jenny's way. What was he trying to accomplish by murdering his Companion? Did he hope to strand Vader in Xanth?
"What's going on?" Luke demanded, shaking his weapon.
"That's what I'd like to know," the diggle snapped, abruptly assuming the form of a disheveled, dark-haired wench.
"Skywalker," Vader purred, lowering his blade slightly. "We meet again."
"Unfortunately," Luke replied, a bitter note in his voice.
"You mean you know this dung-head?" said the woman quite loudly.
"Metria!" Luke shouted. "Don't insult him!"
"Oh, the iron-face is a friend of yours?"
"No! He'll kill you if you..."
"Nothing can kill a demon, Skyhopper," she replied smugly.
"Who is he, Lord Vader?" asked Jenny. "He's actually quite dashing."
"He is my son, Luke Skywalker."
Luke scowled at those words. So the boy had yet to accept the truth, still preferring Obi-wan's filthy lies over his honesty. All the better, for once he could convince Luke he'd been played for a fool, a seed of hatred could be planted in his soul to further his conversion.
"That metal-man's your FATHER?!" Metria said incredulously, one eyebrow arcing so high it slid clear off her forehead. Demons seemed to be odd creatures indeed.
"No," Luke said firmly. "He's not my father and never will be. My father was Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, betrayed and murdered by HIM!"
"So you still refuse to accept the truth," Vader observed. "Deny it all you want, Luke, but denial will not alter the facts."
Luke raised the blaster again.
"I'm afraid it's useless to shoot," Vader went on. "If you haven't noticed, I am quite able to defend myself from blaster fire."
"What's a blast-her?" asked Jenny.
"Looks like a Mundanian weapon," Metria observed. "But it only shoots females. How chauvinist!"
"No, it will shoot anything," Luke corrected.
"Not here in Xanth," Vader told him.
"Why not?"
"Like the ass-ass-in droids and the wormholes, it's all in the name. In Xanth, a blaster becomes a blast-her."
Luke groaned. "Wish I still had my lightsaber. That seems to work properly here."
"Because it already resumes its name," Metria added.
"It what?" demanded Vader.
"Picks up, begins, copy, similar..."
"Resembles."
"Whatever."
"But if he's your father, why are you trying to blast him?" asked Jenny.
"He's not my father!" Luke shouted again.
"He has been brought up to consider me an enemy," Vader told the elf girl. "He was lied to all his life and thinks I killed his father."
"Why would Obi-wan lie?" demanded Luke.
"A good question," Vader noted. "Perhaps you should ask your new Jedi Master, whoever he or she is." And he motioned for Jenny and Sammy to follow him as they continued down the path.
"That's so sad," Jenny said forlornly. Being the naive child she was, she was so far happily unaware of the darker details of the story. "Why would someone tell such awful lies about you?"
Vader did not reply. He knew full well why Obi-wan had invented that tale -- to protect Luke from pursuing his father and falling to the dark side. He curled his lip in disdain. Fool. In lying to Luke, he had only betrayed the boy's trust. Now Luke had learned the truth, and anger and hatred were slowly beginning to claim his heart. If Vader could foster those feelings a little more...
"Walk a little slower," Vader advised, putting out a hand to slow her down.
"Why?" she asked.
"Luke will wish to accompany us," he replied. "For all his surface bravado, he believes my words, at least in part. He will have questions and will want to seek the answers out."
"Oh good!" Jenny said cheerfully. "Then you two can make up!"
The girl was wrong in that respect, but at least he had an ally in his objective. If all went well, he would still gain something in this oddball quest -- Skywalker.
***
Luke stood silently, clutching his useless blast-her in one hand, staring at the receding form of the Dark Lord. What was he doing here? And why? He'd been playing the game to forget about Vader!
"Forget about him," Metria advised. "He's your component."
"My what?"
"Part, gizmo, software, adversary, foe, competition..."
"Opponent."
"Whatever."
"He's not just my opponent in the game. He's the most evil man in the galaxy!" He kicked a rock, which blared out an obnoxious song as it rolled away.
"Rock 'n' roll," Metria noted. "Like I said, forget him. Just go for the prize before he gets there first."
Luke didn't reply or even move.
"Hello? Skyskipper?"
He continued to stare after Vader, who had almost disappeared from view. He lied. Vader lied. That could be the only explanation.
And yet... he hadn't sensed deception in his declaration on Bespin. The Force usually told him when someone was being dishonest. True, using the Force to discern Vader's integrity hadn't exactly been foremost in his mind at the time of their duel, but he still should have felt something amiss.
Yet he hadn't felt anything amiss when Obi-wan had told him Vader murdered his father. That made no sense. Either Vader lied or Ben had lied. Both couldn't be truthful. So who was the liar? And what reason would they have to lie? Vader's objective was obvious -- he hoped to lure Luke to the dark side. But why would Obi-wan lie? And if he'd lied about his father's identity, what else had he been untruthful about?
Who was he? The son of a Jedi? Or Sithspawn?
The only available source of answers was walking away at that moment.
"Wait!" he shouted, running after the Dark Lord.
Vader and Jenny turned at his call.
"Wait up for -- yiiiiiikes!" he yelped, fitting a good six "i's" into the word, as his world turned upside down in an instant. Belatedly he realized he should have looked where he was going, for he'd just stepped into some kind of snare. Now he hung by one ankle upside-down two meters over the ground, swaying like a pendulum.
"What's going on?" demanded Vader, approaching Luke.
"He stepped in a snare from a snare drum," Jenny realized. "See?"
Luke turned his head. Off to the side of the path, partially concealed by some low-growing pillow bushes, was a large cylindrical object, metallic with a skin-like covering stretched taut over the top. The snares in question circled its sides, awaiting those unlucky enough to step in them. Even as he studied the snare drum, the snare holding him rotated so he now hung over the drum.
Metria popped into view, looking exasperated. "If I weren't your Companion, I'd just leave you to rot. But since Grossclout would turn my head to mush if I let anything happen to you, I suppose I have to help you down."
"Allow me," Vader replied, igniting his lightsaber.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." began Jenny, but Vader had already cut through the snare. Luke landed heavily on the drum, sending a mighty BOOM through the surrounding jungle.
"Nice one, Later," snorted Metria.
"Vader," Vader corrected.
"Whatever," she said crossly. "Nice one. You sounded the drum's alarm. Whoever set the trap knows he's promiscuous."
"He's what?!"
"Easy, eager, free, escaped..."
"Loose?" Luke offered.
"Whatever."
Vader snarled. "I can't talk to this woman."
A party of men burst into view -- short, ugly, purple-skinned men armed with clubs, spears, and knives. Luke looked around and gulped -- they were surrounded.
"Goblins!" Jenny cried.
"Humans!" the ugliest of the group sneered. "Big juicy-looking ones, good for the cooking pot!"
"Except that one!" another cackled, pointing at Vader. "Too tough to eat! We'll bind him and throw him in the Region of Fire to watch him squirm!"
"And that one!" still another giggled, leering at Metria. "We'll have some fun with her before we boil her!"
"Normally I'd be glad to show you a good time," Metria told them. "But I'm busy leading a Mundanian through a game right now, so get lost."
The goblins looked taken aback by this statement but recovered quickly. "Sez who?" demanded one.
"Sez this," she replied, becoming a small but ferocious-looking dragon. She let out a good-sized roar and snorted smoke at them.
Their attackers didn't need to be told twice. They scattered.
Jenny grinned. "I think we all make a pretty good team."
Luke and Vader exchanged reluctant glances.
"Oh, sure, great team," Metria grumped, resuming human form. "The cat finds something, Jenny tells us what it is, Skychopper uses it to get himself in trouble, Hater botches it up even more, and I have to fix it." She huffed, making her bosom heave enchantingly.
"Are Players allowed to travel together?" asked Vader, ignoring her.
"There's no rule forbidding it," Jenny said brightly, "and the last time I was a Companion, two Players worked together and even fell in love."
"Big incentive," Luke muttered.
"If you didn't wish to accompany us, why did you follow?" inquired Vader.
"I... I suppose I do want to go with you," Luke replied. "We have a better chance of surviving here if we're a team." And I have questions, he added silently.
"Then it's agreed," Vader announced. "We will travel to the Castle of the Good Magician together."
"Wonderful," Metria said sarcastically. "How am I supposed to have some privacy to show Skyracer my panties?"
"Shut up, Metria," Luke hissed.
"Stand back!" Vader ordered Jenny as Luke sprang from the diggle's back, drawing his blaster. He activated his lightsaber and prepared to block the boy's fire.
"You know him?" Jenny asked, backing away.
"An old friend," he replied.
Luke squeezed several rounds off, the crimson bolts streaking toward Jenny. Vader swept the bolts away with his saber. A look of surprise came across young Skywalker's face, then he fired again. Again Vader deflected the shots, which kept heading Jenny's way. What was he trying to accomplish by murdering his Companion? Did he hope to strand Vader in Xanth?
"What's going on?" Luke demanded, shaking his weapon.
"That's what I'd like to know," the diggle snapped, abruptly assuming the form of a disheveled, dark-haired wench.
"Skywalker," Vader purred, lowering his blade slightly. "We meet again."
"Unfortunately," Luke replied, a bitter note in his voice.
"You mean you know this dung-head?" said the woman quite loudly.
"Metria!" Luke shouted. "Don't insult him!"
"Oh, the iron-face is a friend of yours?"
"No! He'll kill you if you..."
"Nothing can kill a demon, Skyhopper," she replied smugly.
"Who is he, Lord Vader?" asked Jenny. "He's actually quite dashing."
"He is my son, Luke Skywalker."
Luke scowled at those words. So the boy had yet to accept the truth, still preferring Obi-wan's filthy lies over his honesty. All the better, for once he could convince Luke he'd been played for a fool, a seed of hatred could be planted in his soul to further his conversion.
"That metal-man's your FATHER?!" Metria said incredulously, one eyebrow arcing so high it slid clear off her forehead. Demons seemed to be odd creatures indeed.
"No," Luke said firmly. "He's not my father and never will be. My father was Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, betrayed and murdered by HIM!"
"So you still refuse to accept the truth," Vader observed. "Deny it all you want, Luke, but denial will not alter the facts."
Luke raised the blaster again.
"I'm afraid it's useless to shoot," Vader went on. "If you haven't noticed, I am quite able to defend myself from blaster fire."
"What's a blast-her?" asked Jenny.
"Looks like a Mundanian weapon," Metria observed. "But it only shoots females. How chauvinist!"
"No, it will shoot anything," Luke corrected.
"Not here in Xanth," Vader told him.
"Why not?"
"Like the ass-ass-in droids and the wormholes, it's all in the name. In Xanth, a blaster becomes a blast-her."
Luke groaned. "Wish I still had my lightsaber. That seems to work properly here."
"Because it already resumes its name," Metria added.
"It what?" demanded Vader.
"Picks up, begins, copy, similar..."
"Resembles."
"Whatever."
"But if he's your father, why are you trying to blast him?" asked Jenny.
"He's not my father!" Luke shouted again.
"He has been brought up to consider me an enemy," Vader told the elf girl. "He was lied to all his life and thinks I killed his father."
"Why would Obi-wan lie?" demanded Luke.
"A good question," Vader noted. "Perhaps you should ask your new Jedi Master, whoever he or she is." And he motioned for Jenny and Sammy to follow him as they continued down the path.
"That's so sad," Jenny said forlornly. Being the naive child she was, she was so far happily unaware of the darker details of the story. "Why would someone tell such awful lies about you?"
Vader did not reply. He knew full well why Obi-wan had invented that tale -- to protect Luke from pursuing his father and falling to the dark side. He curled his lip in disdain. Fool. In lying to Luke, he had only betrayed the boy's trust. Now Luke had learned the truth, and anger and hatred were slowly beginning to claim his heart. If Vader could foster those feelings a little more...
"Walk a little slower," Vader advised, putting out a hand to slow her down.
"Why?" she asked.
"Luke will wish to accompany us," he replied. "For all his surface bravado, he believes my words, at least in part. He will have questions and will want to seek the answers out."
"Oh good!" Jenny said cheerfully. "Then you two can make up!"
The girl was wrong in that respect, but at least he had an ally in his objective. If all went well, he would still gain something in this oddball quest -- Skywalker.
***
Luke stood silently, clutching his useless blast-her in one hand, staring at the receding form of the Dark Lord. What was he doing here? And why? He'd been playing the game to forget about Vader!
"Forget about him," Metria advised. "He's your component."
"My what?"
"Part, gizmo, software, adversary, foe, competition..."
"Opponent."
"Whatever."
"He's not just my opponent in the game. He's the most evil man in the galaxy!" He kicked a rock, which blared out an obnoxious song as it rolled away.
"Rock 'n' roll," Metria noted. "Like I said, forget him. Just go for the prize before he gets there first."
Luke didn't reply or even move.
"Hello? Skyskipper?"
He continued to stare after Vader, who had almost disappeared from view. He lied. Vader lied. That could be the only explanation.
And yet... he hadn't sensed deception in his declaration on Bespin. The Force usually told him when someone was being dishonest. True, using the Force to discern Vader's integrity hadn't exactly been foremost in his mind at the time of their duel, but he still should have felt something amiss.
Yet he hadn't felt anything amiss when Obi-wan had told him Vader murdered his father. That made no sense. Either Vader lied or Ben had lied. Both couldn't be truthful. So who was the liar? And what reason would they have to lie? Vader's objective was obvious -- he hoped to lure Luke to the dark side. But why would Obi-wan lie? And if he'd lied about his father's identity, what else had he been untruthful about?
Who was he? The son of a Jedi? Or Sithspawn?
The only available source of answers was walking away at that moment.
"Wait!" he shouted, running after the Dark Lord.
Vader and Jenny turned at his call.
"Wait up for -- yiiiiiikes!" he yelped, fitting a good six "i's" into the word, as his world turned upside down in an instant. Belatedly he realized he should have looked where he was going, for he'd just stepped into some kind of snare. Now he hung by one ankle upside-down two meters over the ground, swaying like a pendulum.
"What's going on?" demanded Vader, approaching Luke.
"He stepped in a snare from a snare drum," Jenny realized. "See?"
Luke turned his head. Off to the side of the path, partially concealed by some low-growing pillow bushes, was a large cylindrical object, metallic with a skin-like covering stretched taut over the top. The snares in question circled its sides, awaiting those unlucky enough to step in them. Even as he studied the snare drum, the snare holding him rotated so he now hung over the drum.
Metria popped into view, looking exasperated. "If I weren't your Companion, I'd just leave you to rot. But since Grossclout would turn my head to mush if I let anything happen to you, I suppose I have to help you down."
"Allow me," Vader replied, igniting his lightsaber.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." began Jenny, but Vader had already cut through the snare. Luke landed heavily on the drum, sending a mighty BOOM through the surrounding jungle.
"Nice one, Later," snorted Metria.
"Vader," Vader corrected.
"Whatever," she said crossly. "Nice one. You sounded the drum's alarm. Whoever set the trap knows he's promiscuous."
"He's what?!"
"Easy, eager, free, escaped..."
"Loose?" Luke offered.
"Whatever."
Vader snarled. "I can't talk to this woman."
A party of men burst into view -- short, ugly, purple-skinned men armed with clubs, spears, and knives. Luke looked around and gulped -- they were surrounded.
"Goblins!" Jenny cried.
"Humans!" the ugliest of the group sneered. "Big juicy-looking ones, good for the cooking pot!"
"Except that one!" another cackled, pointing at Vader. "Too tough to eat! We'll bind him and throw him in the Region of Fire to watch him squirm!"
"And that one!" still another giggled, leering at Metria. "We'll have some fun with her before we boil her!"
"Normally I'd be glad to show you a good time," Metria told them. "But I'm busy leading a Mundanian through a game right now, so get lost."
The goblins looked taken aback by this statement but recovered quickly. "Sez who?" demanded one.
"Sez this," she replied, becoming a small but ferocious-looking dragon. She let out a good-sized roar and snorted smoke at them.
Their attackers didn't need to be told twice. They scattered.
Jenny grinned. "I think we all make a pretty good team."
Luke and Vader exchanged reluctant glances.
"Oh, sure, great team," Metria grumped, resuming human form. "The cat finds something, Jenny tells us what it is, Skychopper uses it to get himself in trouble, Hater botches it up even more, and I have to fix it." She huffed, making her bosom heave enchantingly.
"Are Players allowed to travel together?" asked Vader, ignoring her.
"There's no rule forbidding it," Jenny said brightly, "and the last time I was a Companion, two Players worked together and even fell in love."
"Big incentive," Luke muttered.
"If you didn't wish to accompany us, why did you follow?" inquired Vader.
"I... I suppose I do want to go with you," Luke replied. "We have a better chance of surviving here if we're a team." And I have questions, he added silently.
"Then it's agreed," Vader announced. "We will travel to the Castle of the Good Magician together."
"Wonderful," Metria said sarcastically. "How am I supposed to have some privacy to show Skyracer my panties?"
"Shut up, Metria," Luke hissed.