45. Carpets
17th day, 8th month, standard year 24936
Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.
My arm hurts and my shoulder hurts and my neck hurts and furthermore, my mind is spinning...
*****
18th day, 8th month, standard year 24936
So, I suppose you probably would like to know what that was about? It's quite a long story, and I can't even remember some bits of it.
It started not long after we landed on Zorgan. We met the planetery leaders, and were shown to a room. Amiri was still sulking a little about the Vulna thing. I remember that very clearly. Master was talking to her.
"Come now, Amiri. You don't usually act like this. It's foolishness..."
"And would you be all calm and pleasant if it was Qui-Gon who they didn't trust?" she snapped.
I hurriedly tried to find a way to defend my Master without insulting Amiri. "Er....they probably don't trust me anyway. I seem to have a kanck for trouble...don't you think?"
Amiri gave me a very small smile. "Maybe you should go to bed, Qui-Gon. After all, it is getting a bit late and you're tired from the trip..."
"Amiri," my Master glared at her. "One, he can decide himself if he's tired, and two, he is not your Padawan, he's mine. You have your own Padawan."
"...who is currently sitting at the Temple and wondering why the blasted Council don't trust him not to screw up a simple mission."
I hurried off to bed.
Gods I hate it when they argue! For a start, I'm always caught in the middle. It mostly seems to be me they argue over, and I can't stand it. Is it me, or do they turn into a couple of self-centered swampbugs when they argue? Yes, they do. And I'm sure they would kill me if they saw that.
But anyway.
They next day, three-quarters of the way through negotiations (I was, I'm ashamed to say, counting now the minutes until I could get out of there) I heard a creaking sound. The others heard it too. Then a whole section of the ceiling came crashing down on us...and a group of people came jumping down from the floor above. There were screams. Master, Amiri, and myself were up from our chairs in a second, igniting our lightsabres.
"We don't want Jedi here!" the person who appeared to be the leader yelled. It was a female voice. "I don't want Jedi here!"
Blaster shots were fired. We deflected them harmlessly away.
"We don't want anyone dead," one of the other attackers murmured. It was hard to tell if he meant it or not, because in the next second he'd fired at me. I deflected the bolt and suddenly there was real complete chaos.
"Padawan! Amiri! Get all these people out of here!" my Master screamed.
People were already running for the doors. Me and Amiri moved to defend them. The split second everyone was out, I ran to my Master to help him. He was doing fine on his own, though.
Amiri wasn't. She...well, she doesn't like killing. I don't like it either...I really don't like it...but she hates it. I don't know if she's ever killed before. And I don't like to say it or write it or think about it...but well, we have to.
Don't we?
Amiri's a Jedi...she is, she's all the good things we should be...kind and intelligent and friendly and sweet. It's just...I don't actually think this is a good life for her. She's a better person than she is a Jedi.
I wonder if she'd be furious at me for saying that.
So, trying to avoid killing the man shooting at her, Amiri soon found herself thrown to the ground, with a blaster pointed at her head.
"Won't this be something to tell," the man said. "Telling my grandchildren that once I killed a Jedi..."
"No!" I yelled, and at the same time the only woman, who appeared to be the leader, marched up and knocked the blaster out of his hand.
"No. Keep her alive...for now."
I noticed a small silver whistle around her neck. She lifted it to her lips and blew. The men grabbed Amiri and picked her up. I called on the Force. They flew across the room, dropping her. The woman screeched.
I heard noises of a ship outside and Master's yell of "Padawan!", but then, I heard a hard thump and everything went black.
-----
When I woke up I was lying on a soft fluffy carpet.
Seriously.
It was pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing. I searched for my lightsabre, and couldn't find it.
"Amiri?" I called. I didn't get an answer. I felt sick. She has to be alive, I thought. I'd know if she wasn't. I think.
"Amiri! Master!"
Still no answer.
"Master Dooku! Amiri! Where are you!?"
A high-pitched, creepy voice, clearly not Amiri's, answered.
"I'm over heeeeere, little Jeddddddiiiiii."
"Who's there?"
"It's meeeee, of course. Your fwiend." And suddenly I realised that whoever this was was standing in front of me.
"Get away!"
I heard the sound of a switch being flicked. The lights came on. And I realised that far from being trapped in a cold, damp, nasty (despite having a soft fluffy carpet) prison cell, I was in fact in something that looked oddly like a storecupboard.
I looked around. The person standing in front of me was the woman from the negotiations, the leader. She was short, with very light blonde hair...it was almost white...and she wasn't even carrying a blaster.
"Are you by any chance operating on a very low budget?" I asked boldly.
"Shut your trap, brat."
"Where's my Master? And where's Amiri?"
"Your Master is not here," she said sweetly, and my heart did a backflip. "He wasn't captured. He got away, the irritating man." I let out a sigh of relief. "And if Amiri is the blonde girl...the quite frankly pathetic blonde girl...you'll be seeing her in a few minutes."
"Amiri isn't pathetic!" I said, without thinking.
"Ah, but the Force tells me about her, little brat. And I..." Suddenly her eyes were cold and hard. "...MUST NOT...LISTEN TO IT."
"What?"
"The Force, you idiot! It talks to me. It HAS to be the Force. What else could it be? Oh, my mother, she'd be so ashamed! Me, with the Force!"
I stared at her and she stared back. "So, to please my mother, I KILL! I'll kill you all. Or...I would kill you all. Not you two...you're LUCKY today."
I was truly frightened by now.
"My mother...she would be so angry I had the Force. Don't you agree, Jedi brat?"
I nodded.
"So I kill and torture Jedi to make her forgive me. Do you understand?" Her eyes were wide and pleading now.
There were footsteps behind her, and a man came into view. He was holding something...well, half holding, half dragging it. Then I realised it wasn't an it. It was Amiri.
The man flung her hard into the cupboard next to me. She just lay there.
"Don't you understand?" the woman said.
I got up and ran to them. I didn't have a weapon, but I could still hurt them...
And they slammed the door on me. I shoved it hard and tried to open it, but it was no good. They'd blocked it.
"Amiri!"
I ran to her and lifted her head.
"I'm okay..." she said with a sob. Then she slid out of my arms and onto the floor.
"Amiri!"
She wasn't dead, thank goodness. She was just unconcious. But she was covered in wounds, and bleeding everywhere. What had they done to her?
I had no time to think. I put all my energy into trying to heal her through the Force. Eventually she moaned and opened her eyes.
"Don't do that," she said weakly. "You'll tire yourself out."
"I have to heal you," I said.
"I'm not in danger...I don't think I am..." She gave another sob. "I just...I'm bleeding everywhere...it hurts so much." Crying, she lay back down on the carpet. It was covered in blood now. I felt sick.
"I'll get us out of here, Amiri." I promised. "Would you be able to walk?"
"You'll have to get out of this storecupboard first."
"How hard could that be?" I brushed the hair out of her face. "I'll be able to do it."
-----
I wasn't able to do it.
I used the Force on the door, pushing it again
and again, and even though it shook it wouldn't fall. There were no windows,
and Amiri's lightsabre was missing, too. I couldn't even escape from a
storecupboard. What sort of Jedi was I?
"Don't worry," Amiri said weakly. "I'll live."
"Yes, but you need to see a Healer. And you can't if we're stuck in here."
"You're wearing yourself out. Don't worry, we'll be fine..."
The door creaked.
"Are you sure?" I whispered.
The door opened, but it wasn't the woman. It was a young man. He was about seventeen. He had the same light hair as the woman...I guessed he was her son.
I guessed right.
Without stopping to think, I jumped up and grabbed him, holding his arms behind his back.
"We want to get out of here," I said quietly. "My friend needs to see a Healer."
"I know," he muttered. "Would you let go?"
I let go.
"Right. Introductions. My name is Lieson. I'm Drekka's son. Only by blood, however. I hate her more than I've ever hated anything and I want to stop her." There was no emotion whatsoever in his voice or eyes as he was saying that. "She's completely mad, barking, barking mad. But she does trust me. She wants me to torture you almost to the point of death, and then leave you on Coruscant for the Jedi to find."
Amiri gave a little gasp. I asked "Why?"
"It's quite a long story, and I don't think I have time to tell you right now. She thinks I'm taking you both to the Breathing Bridge...come on, let's go. Now."
Amiri stood.
"How do we know we can trust you?" I asked.
"You don't," he answered. "Come on, let's go."
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