The Crystal Star (40 page)

"Give yourself to me, Skywalker," Waru said.

"I'll show you--I'll open you to the greatest power you can imagine." Luke slipped away, diving toward

Waru's trap.

* * * "It's lying!" Leia cried. She felt her brother falling. He drew her with him, tempted her with him.

He slipped away from her. She swam after him. The whirlpool drew them deeper.

"It's the truth," Waru said. "I am truth." The siren song of Waru's voice soothed Leia's fears. Her fingers

slipped from Han's grip, and when she tried to find him again, the golden light blinded her.

The whirlpool held her hand.

Jaina rode Chewbacca's shoulder, with Jacen beside her. Chewie hugged Anakin close against his chest

with one arm. With his free hand, the Wookiee grabbed one of the Proctors by the scruff of his neck and

shook him. The Proctor grabbed his lightsaber but Jaina was not even afraid of it.

She knew it would explode as soon as he tried to turn it on. He did, and it flashed sparks and burned his

hand and fell to the floor in pieces. Jaina was glad.

Chewbacca shook him again.

"I yield!" the Proctor screamed.

"Please, stop!" Chewbacca shook him again and let him fall. The Proctor cowered on the floor.

All the children were running around, shouting and screaming, holding on to the Proctors' legs, sometimes

biting them, tripping them and running away.

Lusa and Mr. Chamberlain's wyrwulf played with them together. Lusa rushed up and turned to kick,

while the wyrwulf crouched behind the knees of the Proctor. The Proctor would step back and fall over

the wyrwulf. Lusa and the wyrwulf laughed and howled and ran away.

If the Proctor did not step back, Lusa kicked him. Sometimes she kicked even when she did not really

have to.

The Proctors had bullied some of the guests into a corner of the theater. Jaina did not know why they

were trying to keep the guests inside. Maybe Hethrir wanted to feed them to the gold monster.

A lot of the guests had escaped, leaving the children behind.

The Proctors could have escaped if they had let all the guests run away. They might even have won the

fight. There were a lot more of them than of Jaina's friends. But without the use of their lightsabers, and

without Hethrir to tell them what to do, they were lost.

Chewbacca picked up another Proctor and shook him and dropped him on the floor. When he tried to

stand, Chewie picked him up and shook him again and held him higher and dropped him again. He

stayed where Chewie put him.

The person who had come down the hill with Papa and Uncle Luke let several of the Proctors rush her,

then spun and ducked out of their way.

When the Proctors ran into each other, she grabbed their arms and twisted them and made the Proctors

fall down. She ripped their sleeves to the elbows and tied their arms together behind their backs. She

ripped their pants halfway up their legs, and tied their knees together.

Chewbacca and Papa's friend advanced on the last two Proctors. The Proctors brandished the handles

of their useless lightsabers. Jaina was glad the Proctors could not turn their lightsabers on in this strange

place. But she was sorry too, because it meant she could not do anything to help.

I wish I had four legs and hooves, she thought. Like Lusa! Or big fangs like Mr.

Chamberlain's wyrwulf!

The last two Proctors dropped their lightsaber handles and fell to their knees.

As Papa's friend bent to tie them, Jaina slipped from Chewbacca's back, climbing down his fur, and ran

to Lusa. She embraced her.

Lusa bent down and hugged Jaina, and rubbed her forehead, and her horns, against the top of Jaina's

head. Lusa's horns had broken through their velvet. Now instead of being soft red-furred knobs, Lusa's

horns were transparent, as bright as diamond, cool and ridged and smooth.

"Thank you, Jaina. Thank you, thank you," Lusa whispered.

Jaina started to cry.

A few of the guests tried to sneak out of their corner. Chewbacca snarled at them. They cowered away

from him.

Unafraid of Chewbacca's roaring, the children all clustered around him. Papa's friend joined them.

"Do you remember me?" she asked Chewbacca.

"I've changed, but I'm Xaverri." He snorted in surprise, then put one huge gentle hand on her shoulder.

She patted his wrist.

"Papa," Anakin wailed. "Papa, come back!" They all turned toward the molten sphere.

Anakin stretched out his hands, yearning toward the shining surface.

There was no sign of Papa or Mama or Uncle Luke.

"We have to rescue them!" Jaina said. She ran toward the golden sphere. Lusa leaped in the air and

followed.

Chewbacca roared in distress. He ran after Jaina and scooped her up. She struggled, but he hugged her

and she cried against his rough fur.

"Chewie, what are we going to do?" He faced the dais and roared.

Anakin shouted again. "Papa! Mamaffwas "Uncle Lukeffwas Jaina and Jacen cried.

"Mama! Papaffwas "Solo!" Xaverri shouted.

Lusa joined them in calling out, and the wyrwulf howled again. The other children crept around them and

gathered around Chewbacca's feet, and they yelled too.

Tigris stared at Hethrir, stunned. "My father--?" "A traitor, and a liar," Hethrir said.

"What do you expect, from someone who would abandon her oath to the Empire? To Lord Vader. To

meffwas "What of your vows to me?" Rillao asked sadly.

"You gave up any right..." Tigris realized that his mother was telling the truth. Hethrir had been caught in a

lie.

Tigris had never before seen him at a loss for ^ws.

"Were you so disappointed in me," Rillao asked, "that you couldn't acknowledge our son?" "Our son,"

Hethrir said, with pure contempt, "deserved no acknowledgment. He can never fulfill my legacy. He is

ordinary." Tigris's face burned with humiliation.

Hethrir turned away from Rillao, from Tigris, and leaped onto the dais.

"Waru! The time has come! You have Skywalker!

Keep your promise to me, Waru! Make me omnipotent!" Tigris tried to follow him, but Rillao grabbed

him and held him and stopped him.

"Let me go!" "He isn't worth your loyalty! He isn't worth your life!"

Han struggled to keep his grip on Leia's hand, struggled to swim up out of the whirlpool.

"Swim!" Han shouted. "Please, Leia, I love you, swim!" But she was captured by Waru's promises, by

Luke's fascination. Her fingers slipped from his hand. Her beautiful hair waving around her, hiding her like

a cape, she dove and descended into the golden light.

"Leia!" He dove after her, toward the cold darkness.

Leia basked in the siren song of Waru's promises. The melody distracted her from the voice calling

behind her. She followed Luke toward--"Mama, Papa, Uncle Lukeffwas She hesitated. The whirlpool

pulled her into a spiral. She slowed, trying to remember what those ^ws meant. She swam a few strokes

as the ^wless assurances of Waru drew her deeper.

"Mama! Come back, Mamaffwas She remembered the sound of Jacen's voice, her joy when he kissed

her cheek, her wonder and delight as he and Jaina grew and changed and learned.

"Mama!" She remembered the glow of Anakin's spirit.

Leia stopped, floating, spinning dizzily.

The gold light opened beneath her, and pressed her down from above.

"Papa! Mama! Uncle Lukeffwas Chewbacca's roar pushed the children's voices through the light.

Below her, Luke hesitated in his headlong plunge. He was very close to the point of darkness.

If he touched it, he could never escape. He would be destroyed.

"Luke," Leia whispered. "Luke, we have to go back." Han appeared beside her, shining in Waru's

radiance. He took her hand.

"Luke--!" "Leave him to me," Waru said. "Leave him, and I will free you." "No!" Leia cried. "Give him

back to us, why do you want him?" "He can help me return to my home." Waru's voice softened. "Won't

you help me?

You know what it is to miss your home. I can see that. I've been away so very long." Waru's voice was

so sad that Leia let herself drift closer, deeper.

"How can we help you?" "Leia!" Han tried to draw her back.

"Don't listen!" "His power can help me open a portal--" Luke raised his head. His eyes were empty.

Leia gasped. She barely recognized him as her brother. She knew that if he helped Waru, he would be

destroyed. She tried to reach him, tried to pull him up out of the whirlpool. He struggled against her.

The darkness opened, expanding, reaching hungrily after them, swirling at Luke's feet.

"Uncle Lukeffwas Jaina cried.

Luke shivered. He closed his eyes. He shook his head.

When he opened his eyes, he looked confused, but he was Luke again.

"Where--? What--?" "Come with us!" Leia said.

Luke kicked fiercely. Leia and Han pulled him.

They escaped the night by a hairsbreadth.

Holding Luke in her arms, Leia gasped with relief.

They all fled, plunging away from the pursuing night, fighting their way through Waru's illumination.

The whirlpool burst into chaotic eddies and erratic spirals, knocking Leia back and forth as she fled.

She reached toward the shimmering golden surface. Her fingertips brushed it, broke it, reached through

into the air.

Leia fell out onto the dais, drawing Han and Luke along with her. She lay on the stage, panting for breath.

She staggered to her feet and slid off the stage, wanting only to get away from Waru's touch. Luke lay

collapsed behind her.

She helped Han drag him from the altar.

Jaina and Jacen and Anakin ran to her and launched themselves at her. She knelt to hug them, tears

streaming down her face. Chewbacca loomed over her. Han swept Anakin into his arms, and Luke

picked Jaina up. Leia stood, still hugging Jacen, and Chewbacca wrapped his arms around them all.

The children were safe.

Waru's voice filled the theater. "You did not keep your promise, Hethrir. You did not give me the child.

You did not give me the Jedi.

I owe you nothing. I am hungry, Hethrir, I am hungry and lonely and dying, and I want to return home."

"No--!" Hethrir cried in terror.

The golden surface expanded, quick as a snake's strike. It broke over Hethrir, surrounded him, engulfed

him.

Hethrir disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a scream.

Something happened. All three children whimpered.

Lusa jumped straight up in the air. Rillao flinched, and Luke moaned, and Leia felt as if a gong were

ringing in her head. It was as if for an instant the Force had disappeared from the universe.

The feeling vanished, leaving Leia breathless and shaken.

Unaffected, unaware of the disturbances raging all around him and tearing at the fabric of space-time,

Tigris broke free of Rillao and jumped up onto the stage after Hethrir.

Rillao lunged and grabbed his ankle. She held on to him with tenacious desperation. Xaverri ran to help

her.

"Let me go!" Tigris struggled. Rillao was too shaken to hold him. He broke away just as Xaverri reached

for him.

Rillao cried out in despair.

Tigris flung himself against Waru's golden shell.

The gold yielded, then rebounded, flinging him away. Waru's shell rang, a great low-pitched bell. Tigris

fell to the stage.

The ringing slowly faded.

The only sound was Tigris's anguished sobs.

Waru's golden shell solidified.

It began to contract.

Rillao and Xaverri drew Tigris from the stage.

"Tigris," Rillao said, "my sweet son--" "Leave me alone!" he snarled. "Never say my name! Never!" He

ran a few steps, then stood, shaking, with his shoulders hunched.

"Mama?" Jaina said.

"I'm all right, sweetheart." Leia looked into Han's eyes, and smiled. She hugged Jacen, she held him with

one arm and touched Luke's face with her free hand, then squeezed Chewbacca's arm, as he held all his

human friends, his Honor Family, in a protecting embrace. "We're all all right. We're going home."

Jaina surveyed the theater from the vantage point of Uncle Luke's shoulder.

"All those Proctors escaped!" she said.

"And the other people, too!" Once the Proctors were tied up, the guests had fled. Xaverri had tied the

Proctors with their uniforms. They had ripped the cloth, untied each other, struggled free. They had all

run away. Bits of light blue uniform and the dead handles of lightsabers littered the floor.

Jaina was wrong about all the Proctors.

One was left, the one who had just been promoted.

No one had stopped to untie him, and he had not been able to free himself. He struggled, but could not

rip his knotted uniform.

"We should go after them," Papa said.

"They're no threat, without Hethrir," Xaverri said. "The ones you must worry about are those Hethrir

placed within the Republic." She smiled wryly. "But I suspect they will soon find themselves

unemployed." "We'll deal with them," Papa said. He sounded mad. "The guests, too, the damned slavers!

They all ought to be in jail!" "I will tell you where to find them," Xaverri said. "Soon. When I am done

with them. When you complete an important task: return these children to their homes." Her smile

vanished. Her voice was shaking. "These children still have homes." "Xaverri--" Papa said.

"Good-bye, Solo." She turned to Mama.

"Good-bye, Princess Leia. I'm glad to have met you." "Good-bye," Mama said. "Thank you, Xaverri."

"Good-bye, Xaverri," Papa said.

She strode away without another ^w, walking up the slope of the theater. She paused long enough to cut