Chapter 13

Nerca, why didn't you come all the way out with the truth? Oliso thought at Nerca's back, marching through the woods to plant the imitation of the Cosmic Dragon.Nerca had not told the other Jedi about the strange tattoos, her illness, or the real reason that Oliso knew. She could see that Jesbra was satisfied with the explanation and she had felt Lexoc refrain from asking more questions, and Keldu had no real reaction except for a small bit of surprise.

Though all of her friends were content with Nerca's story, Oliso was not.

Oliso had always wanted complete, straight out, plain and simple truth from others and for herself. But in this case, she saw that it was probably better for Nerca to come out with the rest of the truth instead of Oliso stating that Nerca hadn't told everything. That one would really upset Jesbra, and she would rather not deal with Nerca and Jesbra bickering again.

Oliso's mind left the thought there as she continued to follow Nerca and Lexoc, with Keldu and Jesbra tagging along behind. Several more minutes passed before Nerca finally stopped, checked their surroundings, and spoke.

"This is far enough," she said, dropping the giant imitation of the Kindred Knights' Cosmic Dragon. Nerca began final checks on the equipment and then turned to face her friends.

"How do you propose we find these 'Mettranaloovye'?" Jesbra asked Nerca.

"Simple, either by Jedi tracking or," Nerca drew the same small datapad that she had used to rewire the Uunjaian tracker from her belt, "use this small datapad that I equipped with a tech-scanner."

"Probably Jedi tracking," said Lexoc. "No doubt the Mettranaloovye have cloakers on their fortress, and guards will be easier to sense if we are focused on the Force."

"True," Oliso agreed.

"Jedi tracking it is," Nerca said, pocketing the datapad and closing her eyes.

Oliso too closed her eyes and began to draw on the Force. She felt Jesbra, Keldu and Lexoc do the same. Oliso's eyes opened, her senses enhanced by the Force. She immediately began scanning the ground for signs of footprints, tracks and feeling for the special touch of a recent presence, where someone had laid a hand on a tree or stopped to sit down on a rock.

The first things Oliso saw were small trails left in the tall grass, probably left by a speeder bike. This was a clue that was so small only tracking equipment or a very skilled eye could spot it. Oliso could see that the others had spotted it as well and were beginning to walk slowly in that direction. She followed, still scanning the ground for clues.

The Kindred Knights were able to follow that same speeder trail for quite a while, occasionally seeing a footprint in wet mud, crunched leaves or a snapped twig. Oliso was about to suggest that they leave the speeder trail when ahead Lexoc stopped and spread her arms for the others to stop as well.

"There's a large pit here," she said, lowering her arms.

Oliso looked but saw nothing but a small clearing in between four or five extra large trees and many smaller ones, but she could feel it. A large pit that had deceived many who had tried to find these Mettranaloovye, a deep pit that had taken multiple lives. So many had tried to find the Mettranaloovye and had fallen directly into a lethal trap.

A cool, whispering wind swirled across the clearing, carrying dead leaves, billowing Oliso's hair, and creating an eerie scene as the late sun flooded through the trees, contributing to the eerie cast. She closed her eyes and let the deception, death, eagerness, surprise and all of the feelings that those who had died felt before tumbling to their doom, fill her senses. Then without opening their eyes the Jedi joined hands, and reached out to all of those who had been affected by the deaths, in their own way of mourning.

After opening her eyes and shaking the feelings from herself, Oliso spoke. "How do we cross?"

"It's to long to jump," Nerca said.

"Walking around will take too long," Keldu added.

Nerca turned away from the others, looking at the disguised and covered pit. She turned back with a wide smile on her face. "Then we'll have to go over it."

"Over it?" Jesbra asked, voicing Oliso's—and probably Keldu and Lexoc's too—thoughts. "How?"

Nerca smiled again, a smug grin that split her face from ear to ear. "Vines." She pointed indicating the many thick vines dangling from the trees.

Jesbra started to protest, but Oliso saw her visibly decide that now was not the time to argue. "All right, let's go."

Nerca led the way up the nearest tree, with Oliso, then Keldu, Lexoc and Jesbra following. Oliso scrambled up the tree with ease, as all of the Kindred Knights did. Nerca stopped ahead, climbing out onto a branch near the top, and Oliso kept up. As Nerca grabbed a thick vine and started swinging like a wild animal, Oliso tried to suppress a laugh as she did the same.

She was almost across the pit when she heard a snap behind her. She turned just in time to see both Jesbra and Lexoc go tumbling down into the deadly pit.