A big hello to all of you who have read and reviewed my little story. I'm sorry it's taken so long to post this chapter, but real life took over for a few weeks, and it took me awhile to finish writing it. In the meantime, I've been thinking over the story and the plot has become somewhat more involved while the plan and purpose have evolved into something into a slightly different focus. As all writers know, the story sometimes takes over and insists on telling itself. So I will try to have the next chapter up soon, but I can't make any promises. As always, comments and reviews are welcome.
Disclaimer: I don't own any the characters created by George Lucas and Jude Watson.
Ennis' "secret room" turned out to be a long-abandoned storage space, tucked unobtrusively away beneath one of the unused servants' stairways. Just as the child had said, the small closet connected to a slightly larger open area, thick with dust and cobwebs that had remained undisturbed for more years than Obi-Wan cared to guess… until the night before, anyway. There was no mistaking the signs that a struggle had taken place. Several heavy tables of rough-hewn wood were overturned, and the coating of inch-thick dust on the floor had been marred by the footprints of what appeared to be a macabre and violent dance, showing further evidence that the royals had not made the escape easy for their captors. Unfortunately for the Jedi, the marks of resistance only served to obliterate a clear path to the room's cleverly concealed exit.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes and allowed the Force to move through him, and Obi-Wan immediately followed suit. Together they let the rising tide direct them as they carefully searched the ancient stone walls of the space. Fingers slid probingly over the uneven surface of each wall, feeling for a catch, seam, or other indication of a concealed passage. At last, Qui-Gon's hand brushed against a slender chip of rock wedged between two larger slabs. It was so small that even the careful observer would only have discovered it by a lucky chance. The Force surged around him as he began to press and jiggle the tiny latch. Finally, he heard a soft click and the wall shifted slightly to the left, separating an inch from the connecting wall at Qui-Gon's right.
Obi-Wan rushed to the corner and peered through. The space into which he looked was cloaked in inky blackness and a dank, musty odor rushed out to meet him.
"Master, how do we get through?" he inquired. The small opening would barely admit a tiny mouse, let alone the rescuers.
"There must be some sort of hinge system," Qui-Gon mused. Again, he and Obi-Wan allowed the Force to flow between them as they pushed the wall forward. It didn't budge. Qui-Gon frowned, "It can't be too difficult," he said. "The attackers were able to open it pretty quickly while the family fought back. Let's try rolling it further to the left."
They braced themselves and began to push as Qui-Gon had directed. Silently, the wall moved, making a space wide enough for the two Jedi to slip through easily. Almost instantly, the darkness swallowed them. In the temporary blindness, Obi-Wan was struck by a new sensation.
"Master,' he spoke urgently, "I feel much fear here."
Though he couldn't see his Master, he felt Qui-Gon turn toward the sound of his voice. "Yes, I feel it too. The Living Force is speaking to you." He sounded pleased. Then he pressed his Padawan further. "The fear doesn't surprise me. I would expect to feel that. It's what I don't sense that has me puzzled. Do you feel it?"
Obi-Wan focused more deeply on the emotion contained in the Force. As he let himself sink into it, Qui-Gon waited patiently beside him. At last, Obi-Wan spoke. "There is no anger. The men who did this were not acting from anger against the Tieri's; they were motivated by something else."
"Very good." The approval in Qui-Gon's voice sent a surge of warmth through Obi-Wan. He had done well. "The kidnappers themselves were probably hired to abduct the Tieri's. That means their motivation isn't personal. That makes it more likely that only a small group, or even one person, has reason to get rid of the family. That should narrow down the investigation a bit." Qui-Gon peered into the darkness. "In the meantime, we'll need glow rods. We've got to track the kidnappers before the trail gets cold."
Obi-Wan felt as though they had been following the track of the missing Tieri's for hours. Initially the way had been smooth, merely a long-abandoned passage that had been well constructed in its time. Of course the years of disuse had taken their toll, but at least the ground was even, descending in regular intervals to lower levels of the palace. He and Qui-Gon had mused that each level must have a similarly concealed entry point, though they had no time to examine the matter thoroughly. Their path was clear. The Tieri's had not been removed from the palace by any known exit, and searching for them there would simply waste valuable time.
Eventually the way became more difficult, and it soon became evident they were no longer within the palace walls. The path, which had been paved with evenly placed stones, gave way to hard-packed dirt strewn with jagged rocks, deeply embedded in the same positions they had held for centuries. The two Jedi had to remain focused in order to avoid tripping over the obstacles. They had been steadily progressing for several miles when the path forked.
Qui-Gon lifted a hand to order a halt and closed his eyes. He gathered the Force around him, drawing on the emotions that had led them to this point. At last he looked at Obi-Wan, a frown wrinkling his forehead. "The kidnappers split up at this point. I can't tell for certain which way the family was taken." Obi-Wan wanted to groan at this bit of news, but he smothered the desire and waited wearily for his Master to make a decision. He was feeling the effects of a long and trying day, and he didn't relish the idea of trekking down the wrong passage for no one knew how many miles.
Qui-Gon stared into the darkness for a few moments more before announcing his decision. "We'll split up as well. There's no way to know how far these tunnels run," he echoed Obi-Wan's thoughts, "and the wrong decision could spell disaster. If we separate, one of us is certain to head in the right direction." At this, he looked hard at his Padawan, as though trying to gauge his strength and readiness.
Obi-Wan straightened his shoulders in response to his Master's unspoken question. He needed to be strong now. "I can do this, Master. I'm tired, but I'm ready."
"Good," the tall man responded, and Obi-Wan was relieved to hear the confidence his Master had in his answer. "Contact me if you discover anything. I will do the same. We must be swift. Time is running out." And with that, he followed the left fork, leaving the unknown right to his young apprentice.
He wasn't absolutely sure how much distance he had covered since he had separated from Qui-Gon, but Obi-Wan guessed it must have been at least seven or eight miles. He had nearly been ready to admit defeat when he'd come across the first signs that someone had recently passed through the dank passage. A little girl's doll had been abandoned by the side of the path. Obi-Wan had hurriedly raised Qui-Gon on his comlink and shared the discovery. His Master had instructed him to continue his pursuit while Qui-Gon followed the tracks in his own tunnel. So Obi-Wan had kept going, pushing through his fatigue and hunger, forcing himself to reach for the Force's strength and guidance.
Gradually, the way had become less dry, and the young Jedi could hear the sounds of water trickling down the walls and landing with soft plops in the small pools that now dotted the landscape. The passage was still shrouded in complete darkness, but Obi-Wan's eyes had long ago adjusted to the dim light of his glow rod. He found that it provided him with more than enough illumination to see his surroundings. He felt the space about him opening up as he kept on with his ceaseless search. The tunnel was widening, and its ceiling now vaulted high above the reach of his vision. And then he heard it…
Far off, the faint sound of a young child crying came to him. He slowed his pace, and reached for his comlink again, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't reach his mentor. He was tempted to give in to the frustration that seized him at this new development, but he stopped himself. Qui-Gon would not have turned off his comlink without good reason, and even if Obi-Wan could reach him, it would take the Jedi Master several hours to cover the miles that now lay between them. He would have to face whatever lay ahead on his own.
The cry sounded again, and Obi-Wan reached deeply into the Force to search the track in front of him. The child couldn't be more than a quarter of a mile further. He didn't know what to expect when he found her. Was she near her parents? How many guards were keeping watch? Had she been abandoned in the dark? Obi-Wan ran a hand through his ginger-colored hair. He needed answers, but he had no easy way to get them. At last, he extinguished his glow rod. He would move forward slowly, letting the Force speak to him and lead him around obstacles. The element of surprise was more important than the ability to see with ease.
As his eyes adjusted to the new blanket of darkness, Obi-Wan was surprised to find a faint light coming from the direction of the child's cry. When he felt ready, he began to move forward again, but he had only taken a few steps when the sound of weeping abruptly stopped, replaced by low, angry tones.
Obi-Wan crept forward, rounding a bend in path, and was surprised to find that he had been closer to the child than he'd thought. Immediately before him opened a giant cavern. For the most part, it, too, rested in darkness, but at the far end a makeshift camp had been set up, a glow pole standing at each end to give the space light. He saw a barrel-chested man leaving through a wide opening at the other end of the cavern. The faint glow of the poles showed him to be unkempt and scruffy, but Obi-Wan was too far away to make out his features clearly. Once he had gone, the cavern seemed deserted, but Obi-Wan wasn't going to take any chances.
Several minutes silently passed while the young Jedi crouched in the darkness, surrounding himself with the Force, but at last he heard a new sound. The area clearly had another occupant. A quiet whimper tore through the darkness, followed closely by another. Princess Calla. She was in this cavern. Obi-Wan inched toward the sound of her soft sniffling. Her fear seemed to reach through the Force to violently assault him with its ferocity. The sensation caught him off guard. Never before had he sensed such a thing from another being. He'd seen others' fear from the outside, as a detached observer. But somehow, he was now connecting with this little one's living Force. He felt as though he were inside her terror, experiencing it with her, following it to her.
"Mommy," she wailed pitifully, and Obi-Wan willed her to be silent. If he could reach her while her attacker was in the far passage, he might be able to escape without striking a blow. Whether she'd unknowingly sensed his wishes or not, Obi-Wan couldn't say, but the sounds of her distress grew fainter. He could still hear her drawing ragged breaths and choking back sobs, but her wails ceased. Good. If he could keep her quiet, this would be easier. Silently, he began to move toward her again, an invisible shadow slipping from boulder to boulder, crouching, crawling, weaving back and forth near the ground. Then his hand rested on something solid that lay on the hard-packed floor beside him, yielding slightly to his touch. Bile rose in his throat as his fingers glided across fine silky fabric, finding it drenched with a thick, cold dampness. He didn't need to look. He already knew.
Reaching down, he grasped the hand that rested beside the body, feeling its clammy, lifeless fingers. A woman's hand, still adorned with jewels. Knowing it was useless, he felt for the non-existent pulse. Nothing. Not a flutter, not a breath. The queen was gone, cut down in the prime of her life. Obi-Wan wanted to weep for the little one who, just minutes ago, had cried out for her mother in the dark. Her mother couldn't hear her, would never hear her again. Had the child seen what had been done to her mother? Was she forced to witness the inhumane slaying or had she been spared the sight? And where was her father? Had he survived, or was he, too, lying dead on the floor of this dark cave, discarded like his daughter's pretty doll?
At last, Obi-Wan was within sight of the child. She was seated in a dark corner, huddled up in her torn and dirty nightgown. She shivered, but whether from fear or cold or both, the Padawan was unsure. With a few quick movements, he stealthily moved in beside her. She gasped and shrank away, but he put a finger to his lips to quiet her.
"Princess Calla," he whispered in soothing tones, "my name is Obi-Wan. I'm here to help you." She looked at him through wide, terrified eyes, her pale cheeks smudged with dirt and streaked with tear tracks. Soft russet curls fell in tangled clumps around her shoulders, which shook violently with fright. Slowly and gently, he reached toward her, brushing her tousled locks away from her face and rested his hand on her arm. He couldn't explain it at that moment, but Obi-Wan felt something pass between them. The girl had no reason to trust him, yet she instinctively moved toward him, pressing against his arm for comfort.
"Bad men hurt Mommy and Daddy," she finally spoke tentatively, sounding lost and confused in this living nightmare in which she had found herself. "They won't wake up." She motioned a few feet away and Obi-Wan now saw the body of the fallen king. In plain view of the child's resting place, lay the form of a man. Tattered robes offered the only evidence of who he had once been. His face was bloodied and bruised, while deep gashes covered every visible inch of him. Obi-Wan was taken aback. This man hadn't been assassinated; he'd been brutally slaughtered, cruelly tortured. And all in front of his four-year old daughter.
He felt tremors begin in the little one as she looked on the remains of her father and quickly pulled her against him, wrapping her in his strong arms and using his own body to shield her from the ghastly vision. "Shhhh," he spoke tenderly. "I know you're frightened, but you must be quiet so I can get you out of here." She was silent, but the shaking continued.
"Can you help Daddy?" she finally asked, and Obi-Wan's heart throbbed with pain at the forlorn question. The child didn't understand.
"First, I need to help you. We're going to walk in the dark for awhile, so you must hold onto my hand very tightly. Can you do that?" Without a word, he felt her tiny fingers slip into his. He gave them a soft and reassuring squeeze before rising. "Then let's go." But it was already too late. Before he'd gone five paces, he heard the sound of approaching feet and a voice bounced off the cavern's walls.
"Well, what do we have here? A rescuer for the little princess, eh?" Rough hands grabbed him from behind even as he reached for his lightsaber. At his side, the princess shrieked.