Welcome to part 3!
Obi-Wan abruptly woke, the familiar feeling of nature calling surging through his body. Grumbling sleepily he threw off the covers and rose to his feet, clipped his light saber to his belt and left via the tent flap. He had learned almost immediately the harsh lesson of never leaving to go anywhere unarmed, a light saber was a Jedi's life and should always be with them.
The cool evening air bristled through his short padawan-style cropped hair, sending his growing learner's braid to whip against the side of his head as he strolled forward into the night. Glancing upwards as he strode towards a wooded area, Obi-Wan marvelled at the sight that greeted him. Even though he thought the entire tribe's lives as uncivilised he had to admit the night sky was a sight to behold. In all his life he had never seen such beauty, the stars in the night sky had always been hidden on previous worlds, their atmosphere's ruined by pollution of industrialisation. This planet was untouched, hence the sky was clearer than Obi-Wan had ever seen, only a few clouds spoiling the view, and he had to admit the view was stunningly breath-taking.
As if in answer there was a rumble of thunder from up above and the heavens opened, Obi-Wan sighed as the cool rain water tumbled and stuck to his clothes, his skin. The sooner he got back inside shelter the better.
A short while later, business done, Obi-Wan started to head back towards his tent oblivious to the attention of a young girl nearby. He only noticed the teen's presence when it was too late, she had launched herself into his path and was in the process of pulling him towards a secluded area where he had just come from.
"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan squeaked, pulling away from the girl abruptly.
"I've seen the way you look at me, I wanted to see you before you go!" The excited girl replied whilst redoubling her efforts to pull the very confused padawan further out of the village's encampment.
"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm going to bed." Obi-Wan exclaimed before more forcibly removing himself from the girl's grip, careful not to hurt her in the process.
Before he could make it more than a few steps the girl was on him again, pouncing in front of him whilst grabbing his face. Obi-Wan hadn't even had a chance to think of his next steps to dislodge the crazy teen without harming her before the girl's lips were suddenly closing around his.
"Hmppppphhh…"
Obi-Wan's protests were quickly cut off as the chief's daughter gripped his hair and continued to press herself against the startled padawan. Obi-Wan panicked, he had never been in a situation like this before and his mind instinctually leapt to the conclusion that he needed to get this girl off of him now! The pouring rain did nothing to detract the girl from her quest, it dripped off both of them as their clothes got more and more soaked by the second.
"What do you think you're doing?!" An angry bellowing voice that sounded very much like chief Toko himself.
Oh not good… Qui-Gon was going to murder him, there was no question here. He didn't even know how this situation had come about, let alone trying to explain it! The teen backed away quickly after Obi-Wan had managed to pry himself from her iron grip, face flushed hair in complete disarray.
"It's not what you think I…" Obi-Wan started before being cut off abruptly as the chief recognised who he was talking to, venomous gaze flicked him up and down before he cried out something in their native tongue.
Before Obi-Wan could think of any further defence he panickedly witnessed hoards of other tribes people scampering out of their own dwellings, spears in hands. It wasn't long before he was completely surrounded, all the men waiting on the chief's orders. Obi-Wan's hand strayed to his saber hilt, if this was going to go bad he would have to hope this would scare them away, he certainly didn't want to hurt anybody over a misunderstanding though. The daughter was now cowering at her fuming father's side, muttering something in his ear that made the elder man even more irate.
"What is the meaning of this?" The authoritative voice of Qui-Gon Jinn sliced through the atmosphere like a knife through butter.
Every man in the area had picked up on the dangerous undertone lacing the question, the tall Jedi master loomed over each and every one of them, challenge swimming in his eyes. If one thing was to be said about Qui-Gon, he certainly was protective over his students. His long strides had him at Obi-Wan's side in a few moments, hand also hovering over his saber standing protectively in front of his apprentice.
"Your boy was assaulting my daughter!" Chief Toko accused, whilst pointing at Obi-Wan's frozen form.
"I didn't do anything I swear!" Obi-Wan started to try and explain, the entire situation was getting out of control.
"Liar!" The chief screamed, obviously not interested in the padawan's version of events.
Qui-Gon took one long scrutinising look at Obi-Wan which made him flinch before his master's gaze turned into one of understanding, he must have been looking for the memory of what had happened. The rain continued to pour, thunder becoming more prominent by the passing minute, lightning even lit up the night sky, illuminating the hunters on the field.
"There appears to be some sort of misunderstanding here, Chief Toko, if we could just sit down and talk about all of this reasonably…" Qui-Gon started before being cut off as he was forced to duck as a spear whistled past his head.
"Take them both!" The chief spat, annoyance building that he had missed his target.
Everything happened so fast, one minute Qui-Gon was negotiating a peaceful solution, the next all the men in the circle surged forward intent on subduing the Jedi. Obi-Wan went to grab his saber before Qui-Gon held his hand at bay conveying a thought, only if absolutely necessary. We do not want to harm these people.
Soon the surge were upon them, both Jedi were a blur of motion as they flipped the first men over their shoulders to crash unceremoniously into figures approaching from behind. They worked back to back, attempting to disarm each man from their deadly weapons whilst administering as fewer injuries as possible. The ground soon became a slippery mess, mud trudged up with the help of the thrashing rain and endless feet trudging everywhere, it was becoming hard to not topple over the mess that was now the ground. Obi-Wan winced as he wasn't quick enough for one man whose spear butt went crashing into his face, causing his nose to crush blood spurting out. Without the time to grab at it he instinctively reached out with his arm as the spear came up again, the man went flying back with such force he slammed into Chief Toko himself.
As Obi-Wan looked for Qui-Gon he observed the Jedi master subdue the remaining men that were still standing, they both locked eyes and a single message rang clear over their bond. 'Strategic retreat'. Without another thought both Jedi turned and ran at full pelt out of the village, out of respect they had parked their ship a good few miles outside of the settlements perimeter. In all honesty neither had thought they would be leaving in such a hurry!
Qui-Gon held up his arm to swipe away the incoming arrows and projectiles, the villagers obviously weren't going to give up, Obi-Wan soon heard their footsteps following and quickened his pace. Reaching up to his nose he grimaced as the blood seemed to be still flowing freely, it was extremely tender and very painful, probably broken. Qui-Gon sent a sympathetic look to his apprentice before glancing back to check on the progress of their pursuers, they were falling behind.
"Master, I swear I didn't do anything! She jumped on me…" Obi-Wan huffed as he continued to sprint behind the elder man, rain water dripping down his face mixing with the blood sticking to his nose.
"I know Obi-Wan, it's a shame Chief Toko is too quick to anger. He thinks you forced yourself on his daughter so I do somewhat understand his response." Qui-Gon smirked shaking his head, how had Obi-Wan been so oblivious to the girl's affections? Maybe he should have said something after all…
"Can't we just knock them out, Master? Then we wouldn't have to sprint back to the ship." Obi-Wan huffed, lungs burning from the pace they were keeping.
At least now he was completely awake, the fight had his blood pumping, adrenaline racing. The rain continued to pour down on them, littering the already treacherous path with extremely muddy sections.
"Don't even think about it, Padawan, there is no need for violence." Qui-Gon warned, racing further ahead as the sounds of the tribes people reached their ears once more.
"Tell them that!" Obi-Wan yelled back, indicating to their extremely ticked off assailants.
Qui-Gon shook his head eyes sparkling with mirth, if Obi-Wan didn't know any better he would say his master was actually enjoying the chase!
After another few minutes of harrowing sprinting the two Jedi made it to the top of the embankment leading to the location of their ship, Qui-Gon just about stopped Obi-Wan in time before the boy went tumbling down the incline. He had been looking behind him to check on the progress of their pursuers once again and hadn't been paying attention to the upcoming change in terrain.
"Be mindful of your surroundings," Qui-Gon chided gripping his student's shoulder tightly.
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan mumbled miserably, nose throbbing, shivering at the temperature and being drenched in the rain.
He observed Qui-Gon make an assessment of the incline, noting the exceedingly muddy surface. This would complicate matters, the slope was already steep and glancing around the only other way down to their ship was to move around the edge to a less steep incline. They didn't really have the time to do that however, so this slope it was.
However before either man could work out a safe route down, Obi-Wan felt a dangerous tremor in the force and glanced upwards to see a dozen sharp very deadly arrows rain down towards their position. Without another thought he pushed Qui-Gon over the ridge and toppled over the edge too following his master down the steep cliff edge…
uh oh the boys are going for a tumble!
Until next time...