Chapter 23
One of the Troopers came closer. One of the creatures, already attached to a frame of some sort, was tied to him. The result was nearly instantaneous. Suddenly, it was as if the Force had been ripped from his grasp. Without it, he felt weak. Weaker than he would have ever thought possible, he was unsure if he would be able to stand another second. It was as if a great burden had been placed on his shoulders and he was powerless to remove it. Then he realized that he was not quite alone. He felt something he had never realized before: though he no longer seemed capable of using the Force to fuel himself, he was not completely alone, as one might have expected. He sensed someone through a tie that was not quite tangible, but he knew with sudden clarity that it had always been there. He had always been linked to another, but whom? All that he had been through in the last couple of days was starting to takeits toll, now that he had nothing substantial enough to sustain him. He experimentally decided to try to push some of his discomfort through the new bond he had found…
Suddenly, he cried out. He had been tired before, but now he found himself utterly exhausted. To top it off, he now felt a pain in his side. Reaching down, he felt nothing, but the pain was still there. As his senses returned, he realized that he was no longer in a cave, the last place that he remembered being. He opened his eyes to find the same two that had been chasing him, along with a girl who seemed to exude power, and a few others, staring at him.
"Are you alright?" one of them asked him now.
He paused, thinking. He felt fine, mostly. He looked down at his side, feeling it with his hand again.
"Did you hurt yourself?" another asked.
He shook his head, a puzzled frown evident on his face. "I am all right, I think. What happened?"
"We were looking for you. When we saw you, you started to run away from us. The question is, why were you running away from us? You finally stopped inside one of the caves, but apparently you collapsed shortly afterwards."
"Why were you chasing me?" he demanded.
There was silence in the room for a minute, as each stared at him, wondering at the hostility he seemed to be harboring.
"Luke?" the girl cautiously questioned him.
Lonny did not respond.
"Luke? Is everything alright?" she persisted.
Finally, he realized that she seemed to be addressing him. He looked at her, confused as to why she was calling him 'Luke' and why she seemed to know him, when he obviously had no clue as to who she was. Finally, he whispered, "Who is Luke?"
Seeing her hopeful face fall, he wondered what was going on…