Chapter Four
The next day, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar went to the pit hangar before the Skywalker family. Watto spotted the tall Jedi immediately and flew over him to say with confidence, "I wanna see your space ship the moment the race is over."
"Patience, my blue friend," Qui-Gon said. "You'll have your winnings before the suns set, and we'll be far away from here."
"Not if your ship belongs to me, I think. I warn you, no funny business," Watto said, laughing.
"You don't think Anakin can win?"
"Don't be getting me wrong. I have great faith in the boy. He is a credit to your race. But, uh... Sebulba, I think, is going to win," Watto said happily.
"Oh no," Jar Jar exclaimed.
"Why do you think that?" Qui-Gon asked as they looked over to Sebulba. He sat on a specially made chair with two blue-skinned Twi-leks massaging him. He looked confident.
"He always wins! I'm betting everything on Sebulba!" Watto exclaimed, smiling widely.
"I'll take that bet," Qui-Gon said confidently.
"You'll what?" Watto asked. He thought he had heard wrong.
"I wager my new racing pod against say...the boy, his mother, and the girl."
"No pod is worth three slaves, not by a long shot," Watto insisted immediately. He wasn't even lying.
"Fine then, just the boy and the girl," Qui-Gon said.
"Oh, but she could make me so much money..." Watto muttered. Qui-Gon flinched, knowing exactly what he was referring to. A moment later, he took out a red and blue cube and said, "We'll let fate decide. I just so happen to have a chance cube here. Blue: the boy and girl. Red: his mother."
Qui-Gon nodded less than a second later. Watto threw the cube to the ground and watched it carefully as it rolled. The Jedi inconspicuously gestured with his hand, using the Force to direct the cube to land on blue.
"So it's the boy and the girl, then," Qui-Gon said.
Watto, if he could, would have turned red and exploded from his anger. "You won this small toss, Outlander, but you won't win the race, so it makes little difference!" Watto yelled as he flew away. The cube must have been loaded.
Seconds later, the rest of them arrived. As Watto flew by them, he said menacingly to Anakin, "You had better stop your friend's betting before I end up owning him, too."
"What did he mean by that?" Anakin asked. There was a meaning to his words. Perhaps he had bet the pod against something?
"I'll tell you later," Qui-Gon said dismissively, picking Anakin up to set him on the ground rather than the pack animal.
Anakin raced over to the pod with Padme and Kitster following closely. Sarali leapt down from her place and landed silently beside the Jedi. Her cloak fluttered behind her and the hood fell down to her back. "What did you do?" she hissed, her voice threatening and low.
Qui-Gon looked at her with a blank face for a second before he said quietly, "I betted the pod against Anakin's and your freedom."
He expected her to yell, or at least exclaim something. However, she did none of these things. Her eyes widened immensely, but she did not make a sound. Seconds later, she turned away from him and walked over to the animals. She took them away while Qui-Gon just stared at her for several seconds. What a remarkable young woman.
The rest of the time before the race, Sarali was completely silent. She certainly is stoic, Qui-Gon thought.
The pods were hauled into position as the two headed announcer introduced the contestants and their pods. During that whole procedure, Sarali double-checked the engines, making sure they were in racing condition.
Soon enough, the flag of each contestant was brought out in a long line. Threepio held Anakin's flag while creatures of all types held those of the other contestants.
In the midst of all this excitement, Shmi bent down in front of her son and said, "Be safe."
"I will, Mom. I promise," he said, meaning every word.
For a few moments, Shmi just smiled at him before she stood once more and walked over to the repulsorlift.
Seconds later, Sarali walked over to him and said, "Be careful out there, Ani. You and I both know of Sebulba's tricks." She smiled, though she was perfectly serious. Only her white teeth and her eyes glimmered out from beneath her hood.
"You know me, Sarali. I'm always careful," he said in return, smiling also.
Sarali patted him on the head before turning and walked away to the repulsorlift. As she stepped in, there was no expression on her face. Then again, that was to be expected as she certainly hadn't shown much emotion earlier.
From a distance, Sarali could see Qui-Gon lift Anakin into the pod before the announcer said that Jabba was in the arena. Hearing this, she tensed. Her hands gripped the edge tightly, and her long, white, sharp claws unsheathed. The Hutt slithered his way out onto his private balcony and said loudly in Huttese, "Welcome. Begin the Race!"
With that statement, the pod engines started. Pour couplings burst to life between the twin engines of most of the pods. A few were not built that way, so there was no energy beam between engines.
At this time, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar got into the repulsorlift as well. Seeing him, Shmi asked, "Is he nervous?"
"He's fine," the Jedi said, apparently calm.
"You Jedi are far too reckless," Padme said, turning to look at him. Who do you think you are, a Queen? Sarali thought. "The Queen is not-"
"The Queen trusts my judgment, young handmaiden. You should, too," Qui-Gon said, bending over to look her in the eyes. So there is a Queen. Methinks, she dost think too much of herself.
"You assume too much," Padme said, following him over to the side of the repulsorlift facing the pods. As they did this, the platform rose, giving them a full view of the stadium.
"Start your engines!" the announcer said. With that, the sound of the engines beginning to rotate was heard. Sarali looked over to Anakin's pod. His seemed to be running just fine.
"Uh, this is gonna be messy. Me no watchin'," Jar Jar said nervously, covering his eye stalks with his hands.
Sarali turned to look at Jabba, as loth as she was to do that. Moments later, he bit off the head of a small creature and spit it at a gong, signalling the beginning of the race. The pods surged forward, crossing the starting line and beginning to run the track.
Two pods were left. Neither of them had worked properly. Sarali looked at one and instantly recognized Anakin's pod. Oh, no.
"Wait. Little Skywalker is stalled," the announcer said loudly. As the crowd jeered, the announcer continued, "But it looks like Quadrinaro's having engine trouble also."
"Come on, Ani," Jar Jar said in his higher than normal pitched voice.
Seconds later, Anakin's pod raced across the starting line and out onto the track. "Go, Ani! Go!" Jar Jar cheered.
"He will be hard pressed to catch up with the leaders," the announcer said.
Everyone on the repulsorlift watched the viewing screen Shmi held carefully. It showed Anakin's pod racing through the track. It was clear that he was trying his absolute hardest to catch up.
"Looks like a couple of Tuskan Raiders are camped out on the Canyon Dune turn!" the announcer said. That much was quite obvious for them as they saw bullets glance off the metal shell of Anakin's pod.
Seconds later, there was a large bang and Quadrinaro's two engines went flying off in separate directions around the stadium. "Oo! There goes Quadrinaro's power couplings!" the announcer said.
Moments after that, the leaders rushed through the arena, completing the first lap. As they did this, the announcer said in Huttese, "And in the lead: Sebulba!"
Seconds went by and there was no sign of Anakin. Sarali stayed completely calm. After all, he had started later than the others. "Look! Here he comes!" Padme said, looking over the edge to see his pod streak through the arena with a significantly closer gap than before.
Sure enough, the announcer said, "Looks like Skywalker's moving up the field."
Sarali and the rest quickly looked back down at the view screen. Anakin was passing the stragglers now. Even as he did that, one of the wires connecting his pod to the engines unhooked, leaving the pod dangling behind the other engine. The pod span over itself many times without hitting the ground. Somehow, he managed to get the pod to stop spinning. Despite that, he was still flying with one engine unhooked. Through the screen, they watched him reach out his arm while holding a tool. He grabbed the wire using that and hook it back onto the pod. From there, he only flew onward, passing still more pods in the process.
A bit later, Jar Jar yelled excitedly, "Here he comes!"
Not two seconds later, two pods streaked through the stadium, beginning the last lap. One was Anakin's. The announcers said excitedly, "At the start of the third and final lap, Sebulba's in the lead, followed closely by Skywalker!"
As the two pods continued their race, Anakin pulled his pod to be side by side with Sebulba's. The dug wouldn't let him get any farther forward than that. The two of them rushed onward like that before Sebulba began to crash his pod into Anakin's. That forced Anakin's pod off the track onto the service ramp. He flew up into the air and steered his pod back toward the track. He swooped in onto the course in front of Sebulba.
The two pods continued to race forward before one of Anakin's engines began to drag on the ground and smoke. This slowed him down to the point that Sebulba was able to rush forward and take the lead once more.
Several seconds later, Anakin's engine lifted up to be parallel to the other engine. He gunned forward, racing after Sebulba at top speed. Again, he came up to beside Sebulba and once again Sebulba tried to crash his pod into Anakin's. However, in doing that the two pods were hooked together. They both tried to pulled their pods apart, but Sebulba broke his power coupling in doing so. He spun out of control and crashed while Anakin raced forward over the finish line. He had won.
The crowd went wild, cheering and whooping at an enormous volume, but Sarali heard none of it. Her hands grasped the railing tightly. Her tail swished back and forth. Her ears were perked up to their fullest extent underneath the hood. Her face showed one emotion, and only one: shock.
The repulsorlift dropped back to the ground, allowing them to exit. Jar Jar, Padme, and Shmi all hurried over to Anakin. Qui-Gon began to follow, but as he walked around Sarali, he noticed that she hadn't moved at all. He put a hand gently on her shoulder. She whipped around, her eyes wide, though no longer with shock. She gasped twice before throwing her arms around him and saying fervently, "Thank you!"
A moment later, she let go of him and ran remarkably quickly over to Anakin. Qui-Gon followed a tad slower and lifted him from the pod to place him on his shoulders.
Anakin raised his arms over his head and began to yell in joy. The crowd paraded him around the stadium, cheering the whole while. In that time, Sarali helped Artoo bring the pod into the hangar.
Fifteen minutes later, Anakin raced into the hangar followed by Padme, Jar Jar, Qui-Gon, and Shmi. Once beside the pod, Jar Jar picked him up and said happily, "Good goin', Ani!"
When he set the boy down, Padme immediately came over. She knelt down and hugged Anakin before saying, "We owe you everything, Ani."
He was then passed along to his mother, who kissed his cheek and hugged him. "It's so wonderful, Ani! You have brought hope to those who have none! I'm so very proud of you." She kissed his cheek again before passing him off to Sarali.
Sarali squatted down and gave him one of her rare hugs. Anakin pushed her hood down to rub behind her ear for a second. That was his way of thanking her.