Part 4 (2/2)

”Jedi don't have nightmares,” he replied tersely.

”I heard you.”

Anakin didn't doubt that she had. The nightmare had been the worst one yet. He opened his eyes and said, ”I saw my mother.” Turning to face Padme, he fought to keep his voice from trembling. ”She's suffering, Padme. I saw her as I see you now.” He let out a long sigh, barely releasing the pressure that was building up within him. He feared that last night's dream was not a premonition, but a vision of events that had already transpired. ”She's in pain,” he continued. ”I know I'm disobeying my mandate to protect you, Senator, but I have to go. I have to help her!”

”I'll go with you,” Padme said.

”I'm sorry,” Anakin said. ”I don't have a choice.”

He hadn't expected the possibility that she might go with him to Tatooine. I can continue to watch her. Obi-Wan wouldn't approve, but. . . it's not his decision.

Without notifying Obi-Wan or the Jedi Council of his plans, Anakin, Padme, and R2-D2 left Naboo in a slim H-type Nubian yacht. The fragrant scents of Padme's lush, fertile homeworld were still fresh in Anakin's nostrils when he sighted the scorched, barren sand planet.

Descending through the atmosphere, they flew to the Mos Espa s.p.a.ceport. After landing and securing the s.h.i.+p in one of the deep, open pits that served as landing bays, Anakin hired a droid-powered rickshaw to carry him and Padme to Watto's junk shop. R2-D2 motored along behind them.

Anakin wasn't sure how he'd react when he saw Watto again. Although his former master had been kinder than other slave owners, Anakin had always resented the fact that Watto refused to free his mother. Watto isn 't entirely to blame, Anakin mused, wondering just how hard Qui-Gon had tried to liberate Shmi. Slavery is allowed here, and Watto is just a businessman.

Soon they reached Watto's shop, where they found the old Toydarian seated out front. Not surprisingly, Watto did not recognize the tall young Jedi who stood before him, but when Anakin said he was looking for Shmi Skywalker, Watto made the connection.

”Ani?” Watto gasped in disbelief. ”Little Ani? Nahhh!” His eyes went wide, then he flapped his wings and shouted, ”You are Ani! It is you! You sure sprouted, huh?”

Watto then informed Anakin that he'd sold Shmi years earlier to a moisture farmer named Lars, and that he' d heard Lars had freed and married Shmi. Fortunately, Watto's records provided the location of the moisture farm, which was near a small community called Anchorhead.

After returning to their stars.h.i.+p and blasting out of the landing bay, Anakin, Padme, and R2-D2 soared high over the northern Dune Sea. It was only a matter of minutes before they touched down at the edge of the farm, which consisted of moisture-collecting vaporators spread out around a small, domed structure. The dome was an entrance to an underground homestead and an adjoining courtyard that rested in an open pit. R2-D2 stayed with the s.h.i.+p while Anakin and Padme walked toward the dome. Once there, they were greeted by a fully plated protocol droid.

”Oh!” exclaimed the droid when he noticed the two humans approaching. The droid had been making a minor adjustment to a binocular Treadwell droid, but now turned to face Anakin and Padme. ”Um, uh, h.e.l.lo. How might I be of service? I am C...”

”Threepio?” Anakin said, wondering if his mother had been responsible for putting the metal coverings on the droid's body.

Confused, C-3PO tilted his head slightly. ”Oh, um ...” Then it hit him. ”The maker! Oh, Master Ani! I knew you would return. I knew it! And Miss Padme. Oh, my.”

C-3PO led them down a flight of steps to the courtyard, where a surprised young man and woman emerged through an arched doorway. The couple wore drab desert robes that were common on the sand planet. The man was st.u.r.dily built, with strong farmer's hands.

C-3PO said, ”Master Owen, might I present two most important visitors.”

”I'm Anakin Sky walker,” Anakin said.

”Owen Lars,” Owen said, sounding slightly unnerved. Gesturing to the woman beside him, he said, ”Uh, this is my girlfriend, Beru.”

Beru smiled shyly, and exchanged greetings with Padme.

Keeping his eyes on Anakin, Owen continued, ”I guess I'm your stepbrother. I had a feeling you might show up someday.”

Anxious and impatient, Anakin scanned the courtyard and said, ”Is my mother here?”

”No, she's not,” answered a deep voice from behind. Anakin and Padme turned to see an older man whose grizzled features betrayed that he was obviously Owen's father. He was seated in a hovering mechno-chair, and his robe was pulled back to reveal that his right leg was a bandaged stump. ”Cliegg Lars,” he introduced himself as his chair carried him slowly forward. ”Shmi is my wife. We should go inside. We have a lot to talk about.”

A few minutes later, in the hollowed-out dining chamber, Anakin and Padme were seated at a rectangular table with Cliegg and Owen. ”It was just before dawn,” Cliegg recounted. ”They came out of nowhere. A hunting party of Tusken Raiders.”

Anakin felt his stomach clench.

As Beru set a tray of beverages on the table, Cliegg continued, ”Your mother had gone out early, like she always did, to pick mushrooms that grow on the vapora-tors. From the tracks, she was about halfway home when they took her. Those Tuskens walk like men, but they're vicious, mindless monsters. Thirty of us went out after her. Four of us came back. I'd be with them, but after I lost my leg ... I just couldn't ride anymore . . . un-until I heal.”

Anakin lowered his gaze to the untouched beverages on the table. His facial muscles twitched nervously as he thought, If only she 'd left Tatooine with me. If only I hadn't left her behind.. .. Anakin hadn't had much time to develop an opinion about Cliegg Lars. Initially, he had felt some sense of grat.i.tude to the man who'd helped liberate his mother from Watto. But because Cliegg had taken his wife to live in this desolate area where Tuskens roamed, Anakin couldn't help feeling a bitter anger. If only you hadn 't brought her here!

”I don't want to give up on her,” Cliegg said, ”but she's been gone a month. There's little hope she's lasted this long.”

Making every effort to control his rage, Anakin rose and stepped away from the table.

”Where are you going?” Owen asked.

Anakin shot an accusatory glare at Owen and replied, ”To find my mother.”

CHAPTER 8.

The suns were beginning to set as Anakin stood outside the entry dome at the Lars family homestead. Owen had offered his swoop bike to Anakin, andthe bike was now parked in the air a short distance from the dome. I shouldn 't be angry with Owen and Cliegg for giving up, Anakin thought. They cared for my mother, but they're only human. They can only do so much.

Padme emerged from the entry dome and went to Anakin. He knew she wanted to help, but he also knew there wasn't any way he was going to risk her life any more than he already had. ”You're gonna have to stay here,” he said. ”These are good people, Padme. You'll be safe.”

”Anakin...”

They embraced. Anakin almost wished he could have frozen that moment, just to keep Padme forever close to him. But darkness was coming up fast, and his mother was still out there somewhere. She's alive, he felt. I know she is!

Releasing himself from Padme's arms, Anakin walked to the swoop bike. ”I won't be long,” he said. He swung himself onto the bike, fired the engine, and tore off across the desert floor.

With the hot wind whipping at his robe, Anakin crossed into the Jundland Wastes, where Tusken Raiders were known to hide and hunt among the towering rock formations. He didn't wonder why the Tuskens had taken his mother, or why they hadn't killed her as they had the other farmers. For all he knew, the Tuskens were acting out some profane ritual. Their motives were not his concern. He just wanted his mother back.

He also wanted her back in one piece. He thought about what the Tuskens had done to Cliegg Lars, and he launched the bike faster over the Wastes.

He was about 150 kilometers from the Lars homestead when he sighted the tall silhouettes of sandcrawlers against the twilight sky. It was a Jawa camp. Although Jawas feared Tusken Raiders as much as anyone on Tatooine, Anakin knew the small, glowing-eyed scavengers would be more willing to provide information if he gave something in return. In exchange for a mult.i.tool and a portable scanner that he found in his borrowed bike's pannier, the Jawas told him he should head east to find a Tusken camp.

Tatooine's suns had long since set and the moons hung low over the horizon when Anakin saw the cl.u.s.ter of flickering campfires at the bottom of a deep valley. Leaving the swoop bike on the edge of a high cliff, he kept to the shadows as he ventured down into the valley and moved silently toward the camp.

The camp consisted of about two dozen tents made of skins and salvaged bits of wood from Tatooine's long-dead forests. Two Tuskens stood a short distance from one tent, guarding it. Anakin reached out with the Force and sensed his mother was inside. Without drawing any attention to himself, he maneuvered around to the back of the tent, used his lightsaber to cut a hole through the taut skin covering, and stepped inside.

Anakin found his mother at the center of the tent, tied to a frame made of thin wooden sticks. A small fire burned in a nearby pot and cast warm, wicked shadows across the tent walls. Shmi wasn't moving. Scared as a child, Anakin said, ”Mom?” No response. He could see from the dried blood on her face and arms that she'd been terribly beaten. ”Mom?” Still no response. She was barely alive. She moaned as he slipped her wrists free from the leather strips that had bound her to the frame. He gently lowered her to the ground, cradling her upper body in his arms. ”Mom?”

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