Junior Jedi Knights 5. Vader's Fortress by Rebecca Moesta

Author:Rebecca Moesta [Rebecca Moesta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Star Wars
ISBN: 1572971738
Published: 2019-02-07T23:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Standing by the fallen statue of Darth Vader, Anakin looked uneasily at his wrist chronometer. “Uldir and Tahiri should have been back by now,” he said.

Artoo-Detoo made a soft wailing sound.

Tionne’s silver brows drew together in a worried frown. “It’s not like Tahiri to be late. Not unless . . .”

“Not unless she’s in trouble,” Anakin finished for her.

“Mmm. Then we should not delay,” Ikrit said.

“I sent them down that hallway there,” Tionne said, pointing toward one of the many wide corridors.

Without thinking, Anakin ran toward the hallway. Ikrit bounded after him. “Caution, boy,” the Jedi Master said. “If our friends are in trouble, we will not help them by rushing into the same danger. Let the Force guide you.”

Anakin slowed to a walk. He could feel his face flush and he felt silly, because of course Master Ikrit was right.

Tionne and Artoo caught up with them a moment later as they stood looking down the long bare corridor. “But . . . it’s empty! I was sure this was the passage I sent them to explore,” Tionne said.

“The hallway looks pretty long,” Anakin said. “Maybe it branches off somewhere. Anyway, I can feel that this is where they are.”

Ikrit’s floppy ears stood up straight and he closed his blue-green eyes. “Yes, this is the way they came,” he said.

All of a sudden a loud growl rolled up the hallway toward them. Anakin heard Tahiri scream, “Help!” She sounded close by, but he still couldn’t see her.

“All right, let’s go,” said Tionne. “But be careful: something is definitely not right about this corridor.”

They had taken only a few steps down the hallway when everything seemed to change around them. Anakin could now see the end of the corridor only ten meters away. Between him and the end of the corridor were Tahiri and Uldir.

Unfortunately, between them and Anakin were three snarling beasts of a kind Anakin had never seen before. Each of the scaly six-legged beasts had a ridge of spikes that ran along the back of its head and down its snout. Spines bristled all over their short heavy tails. Their scaly skin looked as if it was covered with reddish-brown rust, and their bellowing, growling voices sounded rusty too. Saliva dripped between double rows of sharp teeth as the creatures snapped at Tahiri and Uldir.

Anakin stood perfectly still. “What are they?” he asked Tionne. He tried desperately to use the Force to send a calming message to the animals, but they ignored him.

“They look like drakka boars from Randon,” Tionne said. “The traders from that planet use these creatures to guard their greatest treasures.”

Anakin shouted to his friends above the roars and snarls of the drakka boars. “Can you move farther away from them?”

“No room,” Uldir shouted back.

“There’s a deep pit behind us,” Tahiri added.

Anakin groaned. “I wish I were as good at using my mind to talk with animals as my brother Jacen is. I tried to quiet their minds, but those drakka boars don’t seem to hear me.

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