Star Wars - The Lost City of Tatooine by David West Reynolds

Author:David West Reynolds [Reynolds, David West]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1999-07-17T11:37:42+00:00

“There’s no clear dividing line,” Luke said. “They just gradually change from one to the other. Strange. Why would the Sand People use the same cemetery as the Ghorfas they killed off?”

Walking far back in the shadows, Luke found tombs that were much more carefully built and detailed, with many pictures covering them. He knelt to examine them.

“Look at these pictures,” Luke said slowly. “They show early settlers coming to Tatooine and using big machines to suck all the water wells dry.”

Biggs knelt at another tomb. He could see from the cracks and the weathering on them that these in the back were definitely older, but the carvings looked much more advanced. And the pictures told a very clear story. “This one shows the Ghorfas dying of thirst,” he said. “They didn’t have enough water to stay in their city.”

Luke looked back at the stone work and the line of tombs. He saw how they gradually changed to the rough, crude Sand People graves with only symbols and no pictures.

“Biggs,” he said, “the Sand People didn’t kill off the Ghorfas. They were the Ghorfas. And the farmers who settled in this area before us destroyed their culture by stealing all their water.” Biggs understood. “They had to become nomadic,” he said, “And now they are the Sand People. They are the Tusken Raiders!”

“No wonder they hate us farmers,” Luke said. At that moment Luke heard the very last sound he wanted to hear: the low guttural growl of a bantha in the canyon. And then he heard a savage voice ring out. There were Tusken Raiders out there, and they had spotted the landspeeder.

Biggs and Luke sprinted for the speeder, adrenaline racing through their veins. They knew that they would certainly be killed if they were caught. As they vaulted into the speeder, they saw six Banthas and at least two dozen Sand People in the far end of the canyon.

Luke activated the jet turbines as the Raiders began to stream forward with hideous war cries. One of them hurled his gaderffii stick, a huge heavy metal club with a sharp pointed end. It hit the rear deck of the landspeeder and Luke could hear the windshield underneath cracking from the impact. But the turbines were suddenly at full blast and the hovercraft zoomed away.

They emerged into the rocky wastelands, only to find other Tusken Raiders lurking behind boulders. Luke repeatedly steered away from them, becoming hopelessly lost, until it seemed as if he and Biggs would never reach the dunes. And then there was sand ahead, and wide-open space, and the Desolation Canyons were behind them. They were safe. The two boys hardly spoke as they made their way back to the Douz outpost by the light of the setting suns.

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