Chapter 16

Nerca could hardly believe the Mettranaloovye—or someone associated with them—had dragged Lexoc and Jesbra out of there without leaving any sort of a trace. Nerca had felt Keldu's effort to reach them then the tiniest feeling of Jesbra's presence come back as she tried to reply.

At least that meant they were alive.

Someone connected to the Mettranaloovye was the one cutting them off; Nerca could feel it. And it was a presence she had felt before, but she didn't quite know how.

It was bugging her endlessly, tormenting her and teasing her saying, "You know me, but you can't identify me!"

The Mettranaloovye's presence filled the room and vibrated off the walls in a feeling like experiencing an intense heat. It felt as if it cut off her Force sense at the walls.

She could see Oliso's eyebrows knitting together on her fore head as she too thought about this other presence. Oliso came closer to Nerca and whispered.

"I know this presence, but I don't know how," she said. "It is one of anger and the dark side, but I don't think I know any one who went to the dark side who felt like this."

"I thought so to."

Keldu interrupted their whispering. "How are we going to get out of here?" she said loudly.

"Get out? Why?" Nerca asked striding closer to Keldu. "They fell down here."

"Well there's no way to go any where from here."

"True," Oliso said, coming forward to join them.

Nerca sighed. "I guess so." She surveyed the pit looking for escapes. Nothing. Only the holes in the roof over head. Their lightsabers would short out in the mud, the vine mat was far over head and their cable launchers wouldn't grab onto the mud walls or the vine mat.

They should have thought of that before they came down!

Then Oliso smiled. "I have an idea. But you might not like it very much…"

Nerca turned to directly face her. "What?"

-----

"Watch your foot!" Nerca shouted at Oliso, above her.

Oliso had thought up to make a human pyramid and somehow, against her will and expressed opinions, Nerca had wound up at the bottom. Oliso was perched on Nerca's shoulders and Keldu on her shoulders. Their tower was unstable... Nerca really hoped Keldu hurried.

Keldu would climb out and drop down a vine, allowing Nerca and Oliso to climb up. They would find some way to follow the Mettranaloovye's trail and rescue their friends.

Thick, dark, warm mud rained down on Nerca's head as Keldu made the leap from Oliso's shoulders to the mud wall. Her fingers gripped the edge of the mud and held her up. The remaining tower of Oliso and Nerca staggered then balanced.

"Nice Keldu," Nerca said shaking the mud from her golden hair. "I've always wondered how I'd look as a brunette."

"Sorry," Keldu called as she scrambled to the top of the ledge. She swung herself over and disappeared from sight. Nerca could her searching for a vine that would be long enough, strong enough and thick enough for Nerca and Oliso to climb.

The thick green vine swung over the dirt cliff and landed neatly in Oliso's hands. A great weight lifted from Nerca's shoulders as Oliso climbed upward. Nerca stepped back as Oliso climbed higher and higher pushing off against the wall. She disappeared quickly and the vine was again lowered. Nerca didn't waste time climbing the whole vine. She made a Jedi-sized leap half-way up the mud wall, her boots sinking into the mud in a jump that no ordinary human could have made. She grabbed the vine and pulled herself the rest of the way up.

Once she cleared the edge, her eyes adjusted easily to the light outside the dark pit. Easier than they should have. It was dark in the forest, for the night had fallen very quickly. How long had they been down there?

Uunja's twin, fuchsia-colored moons gave off the only light and even that was small. The night of that world was extremely different than most others Nerca had visited over the years. Instead of being pitch black or even gray, it was purple from the moons and dark green from filtering through the tall trees. Instead of being cool, it was rather humid. In the night, more animals would be out and walking across the speeder tracks the Jedi were following, making it more difficult to follow them.

The Jedi would have no trouble in the dark, especially since this night wasn't exactly dark, for a Jedi who had the Force as their ally didn't need eyes.

But what got to Nerca was that they had been down there for so long and now the Mettranaloovye probably had out night patrols. Nerca wouldn't mind fighting off a couple of attack droids, track droids or even a couple of guards, but it probably wasn't wise to give off their position.

"Now what?" Nerca asked Oliso and Keldu. "They'll have night patrols no doubt."

"Yes, but we need to keep moving." Even as she spoke, Oliso began walking again. Nerca followed without speaking.

They had to find Lexoc and Jesbra fast. More and more could happen in this time… Jesbra and Lexoc could be moved off-planet, injured, interrogated, harmed in any manner of ways…

Those thoughts kept nagging at and pestering Nerca.

Not to mention Nerca had a growing sense of something that was just waiting to go terribly wrong.