Part 30 (2/2)
Outside the sick house the fast-falling night was strobed with brilliant flashes of blasterfire, and the cool air s.h.i.+vered from the constant concussions. Standing on the front step, Obi-Wan stared across the village to the distant s.h.i.+eld, still holding. Still protecting them.
”How long before it fails?” he asked, very quietly, so the villagers gathered on the square nearby wouldn't hear him.
”I don't know. ” Anakin shoved his hands into his pockets. ”You going to say I told you so?”
”I'm too tired, ” said Obi-Wan. ”Come on. Let's eat. ”
With the village's food and water supplies so perilously low, Jaklin and Rikkard had declared that all meals would be cooked and served from a central location. A makes.h.i.+ft kitchen had been set up on the square, and teams of people cooked and cleaned there from dawn till dusk each day. Tables and chairs had been hauled out of the cottages and arranged in a large outside dining area. With nearly all of Torbel's power being diverted to the s.h.i.+elds, the food was cooked over open pits and the dining section lit with burning torches.
Under different circ.u.mstances it might have felt festive.
This early, most of the diners were children. A few adults sat with them, helping the youngest and keeping order among the rest.
Gazes lifted from plates, watching the Jedi make their way to the serving area. Anakin felt fear, bewilderment, uncertainty, hope-a tangle of raw emotion in each unblinking stare.
He could easily have staggered beneath the weight of their regard. Should I hare sided with Obi-Watt, and surrendered? Have I condemned all these younglings to death? There was no point in having second thoughts, because there was no going back. Still, he couldn't help it. Every frightened face, every caught breath and tear reproached him.
There was still no sign of the droids' bombardment easing. Blat... blat... boom... blat... boom... boom... boom...
127.
”Don't listen to it, ” said Obi-Wan as they reached the serving area. ”Don't think about it. We are where we are, Anakin. Best to focus on what we can do next, not what we've already done and can't change. ”
”That's easy for you to say, ” he muttered. ”But I...”
”Teebs, ” Jaklin greeted them, looking up from her meager scramble of eggs. Like everyone in the village she was dirty and tired.
”You want feeding?”
”Jaklin, ” said Obi-Wan, and reached across the bench to take her wrist between his lingers. ”How are you? Any sign of greensickness?”
She pulled her wrist from his grasp. ”No. Any sign of the help you promised?”
So bitter, she was. Having been overruled by her fellow villagers, by Rikkard's blind faith and his sense of obligation, she resented every sacrifice Torbel was making because they hadn't given themselves up. Resented them for the nine funeral cremations the day after the droids' attack. Resented them most of all for Brandeh, her murdered friend.
”Not yet, but soon, I hope, ” said Obi-Wan, refusing to be baited. ”Jaklin, you must come to the sick house if you start to feel unwell. ”
”I'm fine, ” she snapped, slopping eggs and a miserly portion of wilted greenstuff on a plate. ”How's Rikkard?”
Obi-Wan took the plate she shoved at him, and then a chipped cup with its mean ration of water. ”Like Arrad, he's holding his own. ”
”Not dying?” She partly filled a second plate, her chin trembling. ”Word was he'd likely not make it to sunrise. ”
Anakin took his plate from her. ”Don't let yourself get caught up in rumor, Teeba. If Obi-Wan says Arrad's not dying, then he's not. ”
She shoved her serving spoon back into the sloppy mess of scrambled eggs, poured him some water and thrust the cup in his face.
”And why should I believe one word out of your mouths? With us trapped here like beetles, waiting to be squashed. ”
The other two women working service with her slowed their cleaning to listen. Anakin opened his mouth to answer hotly, tired of her hostility, but Obi-Wan nudged him silent.
”We understand your anger, Jaklin, ” he said, his voice cracked with weariness and strain. ”Nothing has worked out the way we wanted it to. ”
Her eyes were dulled by too much fear and not enough sleep. ”How much longer?” Her voice was a fierce whisper. ”You said if it came to it, you'd hand yourselves over. How much longer must we suffer before you do the right thing?”
”Jaklin...”
”I'm the only leader now. With Rikkard greensick the weight bears down on me. And I give you Jedi fair warning-if the help you promised isn't here within a day then I'll see you'll make good on your word. You'll give yourselves up. ”
”Teeba, ” said Obi-Wan. ”We hear you. ”
As they retreated to eat their insufficient meal, Anakin looked at him. ”How soon before you can get Rikkard back on his feet?
Because she wasn't joking, Obi-Wan. She'll throw us to those droids, and then what?”
”Rikkard's very ill, ” said Obi-Wan, heading slantways across the square, away from the dining area and back to the street. ”It might be days before he's well enough to think about us. ”
”Obi-Wan, you heard her! We don't have days!”
Obi-Wan shrugged. ”Anakin, we don't have days regardless of what Jaklin decides. ”
It was true. Though every mouthful was rationed, Torbel's food supplies were rapidly dwindling. The water pump had been damaged so badly not even he could repair it. The sick and wounded were barely holding their own. And they were burning through the stockpiled liquid damot.i.te so fast he almost didn't dare look at the capacity gauges.
It's a miracle the villagers have remained this calm. But I don't think it'll he long before they start to panic. And when they do...
128.
”You think we should give up?”
”Not yet, ” said Obi-Wan, after a moment.
”Then what do you want to do?”
For safety's sake two battery-powered lights marked the street corner. Obi-Wan stopped, then lowered himself onto the front step of the nearest dark, empty building.
”Let's just eat, shall we? The food's marginally better when it's not stone-cold. ”
Which might be true, but it wasn't saying much. Nothing short of a miracle was going to make Jaklin's dreadful eggs palatable. Anakin eyed the scrambled mess with acute dislike, then forked up a mouthful and swallowed it, gagging.
”You know, I'd almost be willing to give myself up right now if it meant never having to eat this ootlish again. ”
Obi-Wan chuckled. ”Trust me, Anakin. You haven't suffered until you've eaten raw gundark. ”
”You never ate raw gundark!”
”Are you calling me a liar?”
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