Chapter 8

"Run, Luke. RUN!" Obi-Wan yelled. He shoved Luke down the path towards the hut and turned to face the oncoming dragon. As the boy disappeared down the path behind him, Obi-Wan began shouting and waving his arms as he ran in the opposite direction. His plan was to get the beast to follow him giving Luke more time to get away. Thankfully, it worked.

Usually his first instinct would have been to try calming the animal using the Force, but he could sense immediately that this wouldn't work. It was far too agitated and angry. Then he noticed a crevice between some rocks as he ran by. He jumped into it just as the dragon was about to strike. Despite his quick actions, one of it's gigantic claws caught his leg and left a deep jagged gash in his calf. It couldn't reach him in the small space and roared in protest.

Using the Force, Obi-Wan pushed the huge creature back from the rocks and held it frozen in place. It struggled against the invisible bonds that held it, snarling loudly. He knew he needed to do something quickly as he couldn't hold it still much longer. The cut in his leg was excruciatingly painful and bleeding profusely.

It was becoming hard to focus, the loss of blood was making him dizzy. Darkness began clouding the edges of his vision. He was loosing his grip. The dragon roared ferociously and it's muscles tightened, ready to pounce. Obi-Wan braced himself, sure that this was it, when suddenly the creature stopped mid-roar and fell to the ground dead.

He looked up in surprise. There, between its two enormous horns was Luna. She held his lightsaber in both hands, buried up to the hilt between the monster's eyes. With a gasp she let go and Force jumped down beside him.

"Luna…" He reached out his hand and suddenly stumbled. Her terrified face was the last thing he saw before loosing consciousness.

….

Beru had just started chatting about her latest trip to Anchorhead when Luna was overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread. Some thing was terribly wrong.

"Ben…" She whispered. Grabbing Obi-Wan's lightsaber from it's place inside the storage chest, she left a confused Beru in the hut and hurried in the direction of the canyon. Halfway down the path, she met Luke running as fast as his short legs would carry him.

"Luna! Luna!" he shouted. "There's a krayt dragon!"

Panic gripped her. "Run to the house Luke as fast as you can, and stay there!" She began sprinting and soon came into the canyon. The sight before her made her heart freeze in her chest. There was Ben, stuck between two boulders with his arms outstretched, holding the huge animal with the Force. The right leg of his trousers and a large amount of the sand beneath him was red with blood. Through their bond she could feel his strength failing. The pain was intense. She had to do something fast!

Without a second though, she ran towards the dragon. It was so focused on Obi-Wan that it didn't notice her. Using the Force, she leapt through the air and landed on the creature's head. Immediately she ignited the lightsaber and, using every ounce of strength she had, drove the blade deep through its leathery skin and into its head. It was dead before it hit the ground. Desperate to get to Ben, she jumped down and ran the short distance across the sand.

"Luna…" He stumbled towards her and fell.

"Ben!" Panic began to set in as she looked at the amount of blood he had lost.

She quickly tore the blood soaked trousers open and looked at the injury. Bile rose in her throat at the sight. It was bad. Looking around for anything to stop the bleeding, she quickly unbuckled his belt and made a tourniquet. Once that was done, she wrapped the sand scarf she had been wearing around the open wound.

It took a while, but she managed to levitate Obi-Wan back to the hut. Beru gasped when she saw them.

"Oh, no! Luna, what happened?"

She told the story as they set about cleaning the wound. They applied bacta and bandaged it tightly. He began to come around during all this activity and Luna breathed a sigh of relief. She helped him sit up and got him some pain killers and a glass of water. He swallowed them gratefully.

"Where's Luke?" Obi-Wan asked. "Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's fine." she answered. During all the excitement, Luke had stood silently against the wall watching everything with eyes as big as saucers. The poor thing was terrified she realized.

Obi-Wan smiled at him warmly. "Come here, Luke. It's alright." He came slowly across the floor twisting his hands together nervously.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes. It's just a little cut. A few hours in a healing trance and I'll be good as new."

"I didn't mean to call such a big lizard. It was an accident!" Luke's chin began to quiver and large tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I know, Luke. It's alright. Accidents happen sometimes. Next time we just have to be more careful, that's all."

Luke threw his arms around Ben and hugged him tightly. "I'll be more careful. I promise!"

"I know you will be." Obi-Wan ruffled the boy's hair affectionately.

…

"I can't believe you killed a Krayt dragon! Are you sure you're alright? In your condition you shouldn't be exerting yourself like that." Obi-Wan said as they lay in bed together that evening. His leg still hurt, but it was much better than it had been.

Luna, who had spent the afternoon meditating with him to increase the power of his healing trance snuggled against him. "I'm fine. I know it wasn't the best idea, but I couldn't help it. If anything had happened to you…" she choked up, unable to continue. He held her close and kissed her gently.

"You were amazing with Luke today." she said several minutes later. "Seeing you comfort him like that when you were in such pain yourself…"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "It wasn't his fault. It's an easy mistake to make when you're first learning."

"I know. But not many people would be so understanding." She guided his hand to her abdomen and pressed it against the tiny swell that had just become evident that week. "You're going to be a wonder father."

Feeling the physical evidence of their child filled his heart to the brim with love. The thought that it could all have ended this morning if things had gone differently was absolutely terrifying.

"I don't want to wait anymore Luna. Let's get married as soon as my leg is healed. I don't care if i have to perform Jedi mind tricks on every government official in Mos Eisley, I want you to be my wife."