Part 13 (1/2)
”There!” the seeker declared, stopping, its crooked finger stabbing through the holoimage. ”Jedi mind there. ”
Durd lurched forward to get a closer look. ”And where is there? Show me!” He peered at the holoimage, fuming. ”I can't tell. This map is useless, Barev. ”
”Leave it to me. General, ” said Barev, his voice hoa.r.s.e. ”I promise you I'll have an exact location by morning. ”
He shot the man a furious glare. ”See that you do, ” he spat, then left Barev to it. He hadn't checked up on Dr. Fhernan for hours... and if he didn't ride that woman closely he knew-he knew-she'd do her best to thwart him.
56.But I won't he thwarted. Not by her and not by Jedi sc.u.m. I will be triumphant, and Count Dooku will praise my name.
Ten bone-crus.h.i.+ng hours after burying himself alive below the surface of Torbel, Anakin stripped off his protective suit and gloves and let them fall to the rocky floor. His clothing was wringing wet with sweat, his soaked hair dripped, his eyes stung with salt, and every hurt was singing a chorus of complaint. So preoccupied was he with these simple, physical miseries that it took a moment for him to notice the disturbance in the Force.
Beside him, Obi-Wan jerked straight. ”Stang. Have we been found?”
They were alone in the equipment room, but voices and heavy footsteps were approaching-more miners finis.h.i.+ng up for the night.
”Don't know, ” Anakin whispered, and waited for his mine-dulled senses to sharpen. ”Don't think so. I think it's something else. ”
”What?”
He couldn't tell. All he knew was he felt danger, rising on a cold dark wind just out of sight. ”It's not what you felt earlier?”
”No, ” said Obi-Wan, after a pause. ”But I can't put my finger on it, either. ”
And that wasn't like Obi-Wan. It wasn't like him.
”Never mind, ” Obi-Wan muttered. ”Let's get back to Jaklin's cottage. We can meditate on this question there, in private.
Whatever the trouble is, it's a little way off yet. We have some breathing room. ”
Danger s.h.i.+vered through Anakin. ”Not much. ”
”No. But enough. ”
Barely. Except Anakin didn't say so, because Obi-Wan wasn't in the mood for contradictions. With their protective equipment neatly stowed and the sweat drying on their skin, they made their way out of the mine and into the gloriously fresh night air. Beautifully far away, so perfectly high overhead, the scattered stars twinkled, whispering promises of home.
Coruscant was out there. Padme was out there. There was a heart in his chest, beating, but it was only an echo. She was his true heart.
She was his home.
”Anakin?”
He glanced at Obi-Wan, whose face in the mine's sputtering floodlights looked bleached to the bone with fatigue. ”You can't do another ten hours tomorrow, ” he said, not caring in the least how such a p.r.o.nouncement sounded.
”I'll do what I must, ” said Obi-Wan. ”I swear, the way you talk you'd think I had one foot in my grave. ”
Their fellow miners were streaming into the night. They couldn't argue for long, which was probably a good thing. ”No, I don't think that, ” he said, while he still could. ”But...”
”Don't, ” Obi-Wan warned. ”Besides, you're imagining things. ”
No, he wasn't. He knew from Yoda, and from what he felt every day, that something in Obi-Wan had changed, thanks to Zigoola.
You can pretend all you like, Master. But we both know it's true.
A groundcar's tooting horn made them turn.
”I came out of the refinery and saw you, ” Devi said, slowing her vehicle to an idling halt beside them. ”It's only now you've finished?”
Anakin nodded. Odd, when everybody else was walking home, that she'd choose to drive. ”You're working late, too- and after a day in the power plant? Don't you get to rest?”
57.”It's long hours we're all working. ” She sighed. ”So much damot.i.te they want in the city. ”
”Do you know why?”
Somebody called out a good night. Devi waved back, smiling. ”No. I don't even think Rikkard knows. Can I take you Teebs to Jaklin's? You're staying under her roof tonight, aren't you?”
”We are, ” said Obi-Wan. ”And we thank you. But we'll walk, Teeba. After so long underground the fresh air is a relief. ”
She laughed. ”Bed is a relief. But walk if you like. ”
They watched her drive away, threading a path between the wandering groups of miners. Footsteps behind them had them looking around. It was Arrad. Stripped of his smothering protective gear, even in the fitful light it was clear he was his father's son.
”You'll be back tomorrow, ” he said, pa.s.sing them. ”Two days till the convoy and there's more damot.i.te needed yet. ”
Anakin grimaced. ”I can't wait. Because there's nothing I like better than smelling like a week-old bantha corpse. ”
”Yes, ” said Obi-Wan, his lips twitching. ”It is a rather unfortunate aroma. ”
”I hate to break it to you, cousin, but I'm not the only one with a problem. ”
”I know, ” Obi-Wan said, heaving a sigh. ”And no bath until tomorrow. Truly, this is a most uncivilized life. ”
Anakin threw up his hands. ”Now he notices. ”
”Come along, ” said Obi-Wan, and clapped him on the shoulder. ”I'm hungry, I'm stinking, and right now that pitiful mattress on the floor of Jaklin's storeroom looks to me like the height of luxury. ”
They could have joined some of the other villagers leaving the mine. There were nods, smiles, half-issued invitations. But by tacit consent they made their excuses, claiming the fatigue of a first day, and kept on walking, stretching their senses to the breaking point.
Only they couldn't put a name to the creeping dread they felt. All they knew was that fresh trouble stalked them... and there was nowhere to run.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
Back at the cottage, Teeba Jaklin gave them a measured once-over and grudging approval.
”I've had good reports, ” she said. ”Though Rikkard wasn't pleased it took you so long to reach the mine. ”