The Shattered Peace

11

Taroon gathered his pack hastily, grabbing his items and stuffing them inside.

“You’ll need a guide,” Qui-Gon said. “Perhaps Drenna will lead you back.”

“I do not need a guide,” Taroon said angrily. “She will lead me astray and leave me to die, no doubt.”

Drenna fixed him with her cool silver gaze. “Don’t be a fool. If you go alone, you’ll get lost. If you wait until daybreak, the Nali-Erun will lead you to the road.”

“That is more time than I want to spend on this vile planet,” Taroon said. “Every minute I am here is torture.”

Drenna shrugged. “Then swim to shore and find your way through the swamp. Drown or get lost. I don’t care.”

He glared at her, but she ignored him. Finally Taroon stomped off. He sat down on the dock at a distance from them, facing the horizon where the sun would soon appear.

Qui-Gon motioned to Obi-Wan. “We must contact Meenon and tell him that King Frane is threatening to invade.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “I hope he does not insult you the way King Frane did.”

Qui-Gon’s blue gaze was clear. “King Frane wraps his fear in insults. But what he said was true, Padawan. I should have been more alert. I had not thought it necessary to stay awake, or to trade shifts with you. I had not felt even a trickle of apprehension or danger.”

“I did not, either,” Obi-Wan admitted. “We were both wrong.”

“Then we must accept the consequences,” Qui-Gon said. “Now, let us face Meenon.”

Qui-Gon activated the holocom. He imagined that Meenon would have to be awakened, but the Senali leader appeared immediately.

“You do not need to tell me your news,” he said heavily. “King Frane has threatened invasion. You should be aware that if this occurs, he will bring catastrophe to the entire planet of Rutan. Senalis will no longer allow themselves to be ground under the boot of Rutanian forces. All Senalis will fight, just as we did in the great war. And we will triumph once again.”

Meenon’s harsh words were choked with anger. The wavering image was faint but conveyed every nuance of his expression.

“Many lives were lost in that war,” Qui-Gon said. “It left a devastated planet behind. It took generations before Senali recovered.”

“Yet we would fight again!” Meenon cried. “We will not stand for invasion!”

“I think calm is called for, as hard as it is to find it,” Qui-Gon said. “Neither Senali nor Rutan wants a war—”

Meenon held up a hand. “Stop. You don’t understand. King Frane has imprisoned my daughter, Yaana. The beloved daughter I entrusted to his care. He has thrown her in a filthy prison with criminals. He shall pay.”

This was bad news indeed. Qui-Gon had feared it. Each step King Frane took was leading his planet into war. He did not seem to care.

“I do not want a war, it’s true,” Meenon continued. “But only a foolish ruler would not be prepared to fight. My troops are being mobilized. We will meet their boot with our own force. We will not wait to be invaded. We will invade them!”

“I respect your anger and grief,” Qui-Gon said carefully. “But if there was a way to free your daughter and avert a war, would you take it? And, if you invade, how do you know that King Frane will not give the order to execute your daughter?”

Meenon hesitated. “I am not a bloodthirsty savage like King Frane,” he said at last. “Of course I would try to avert a war. I do not want to see the daughters and sons of Senali killed.”

“Then let us find Leed and free Yaana,” Qui-Gon urged. “Give us twelve hours. And help us. Tell us if there is some faction, some clan on Senali who could have done this. We saw them in the moonlight. Their skin was smeared with clay, and they wore headpieces of white coral—”

“The Ghost Ones,” Meenon interrupted. “I can’t say for sure, but it could be. They call themselves a clan but they have no ties of blood. We are not sure who they are. They have appeared only recently. They make trouble between clans. They are against the trade of royal children, of any contact whatsoever with Rutan. I do not know what they want to gain, but it could be the Ghost Ones who took Leed.”

“Do you know where they are?” Qui-Gon asked.

He shook his head. “They are nomadic. They have no single camp. You need a good tracker, one who can track over water.”

“You must find us one immediately and send the tracker here,” Qui-Gon urged.

“But you are with the best right now,” Meenon said. “Drenna.”

Meenon cut the transmission. Qui-Gon turned to search for Drenna. Taroon sat as far away as he could get from them.

The rest of the deck was empty. Drenna was gone.

“Where did she go?” Obi-Wan breathed. He had not heard her make a sound.

Taroon saw the Jedi searching the deck. He stood and rushed over to them.

“Now do you believe me?” he demanded. “She slipped away when you were busy and my back was turned. She is behind the taking of Leed. She’s gone to meet him!”

Qui-Gon scanned the dark lagoon. The dark purple sky was graying. On the horizon a faint line of light told him the sun was rising. He could smell the morning.

Far across the lagoon he saw a tiny ripple of movement. It could have been a fish, but he knew it wasn’t. Drenna was swimming. She was almost out of the lagoon, into the open sea.

Taroon followed his gaze. “After her!”

Drenna’s firm stroke slowed. She dove underneath the surface. When she reappeared, she changed direction slightly.

“She has gone after them, it’s true,” Qui-Gon said. “But not because she’s one of them. She’s gone to track them.” He turned to Obi-Wan. “Put on your breather. We must catch her.”

“I am coming with you,” Taroon said.

“No. You could not keep up with us, Taroon. And your father wants you back on Rutan.” Qui-Gon put his hand on Taroon’s shoulder. “I know you want to find your brother. But you must trust us. Go back to Rutan. Do not aggravate your father. The worlds are too close to war. We will bring Leed safely to you.”

Reluctantly, Taroon nodded. He watched as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan donned their breathing devices and dove into the lagoon.

The water was chilly, but as they swam their muscles warmed. Every so often Qui-Gon would surface in order to scan for Drenna ahead of them. She was moving at an erratic pace, swimming quickly, diving, and sometimes changing direction. Every few meters she would dive again.

They caught up to her at last. She was underwater, swimming slowly along the lagoon bottom. When she saw them, she pointed overhead and began to shoot toward the surface.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan followed. The sun was now visible on the horizon and painted the lagoon with a faint blush of pink light.

“How are you tracking them?” Qui-Gon asked. “Can we help?”

“The rocshore fish,” she said. “When a boat passes overhead it blocks out light. The rocshores are very shy and bury themselves in the sand for some time afterward. That’s why you can’t hunt rocshores on boats. We are lucky the night was so bright. I’m following the mounds. They’re hard to see if you don’t know where to look. Just follow me.”

They dove under the surface again. Drenna swam along the bottom, her head swiveling to take in the sandy surface. Every so often she would come up for air and point in a slightly different direction. Obi-Wan had no idea what had triggered her movement. He found it difficult to see the mounds at all. Was Drenna leading them astray deliberately while the kidnappers got away?

There were so many times on missions that he did not know whom to trust. Qui-Gon seemed to have the gift to see beyond the surface into feelings and motivations that Obi-Wan missed. Qui-Gon never seemed to make a mistake. Only with his former apprentice, Xanatos, had he extended trust too far and met disaster. Xanatos was dead now. Obi-Wan imagined that one such miscalculation was enough for one lifetime. If he watched and learned from Qui-Gon, maybe he could avoid mistakes such as that in the future. Already his past experiences had made him more cautious than he’d been as a student. He was certain he had become a better Padawan as a result.

Drenna wound through the cluster of islands. Sometimes she had to backtrack, but Obi-Wan could see they were making steady progress. He was tiring, but he knew he had reserves of strength he had not yet tapped.

At last she signaled to them to come to the surface with her. A small island was a short distance away, and she jerked her chin toward it.

“I think they are on that island,” she whispered. “They dragged the boat up on that beach. They tried to cover the marks, but I can tell by the surface of the sand that it’s been swept with fronds. I say we circle around and go ashore.”

Qui-Gon scanned the island. “They are most likely in the center of the island, hidden by the trees.”

Drenna nodded. “If we’re lucky, they haven’t posted lookouts. They probably think they are safe. This island cluster is uninhabited. There aren’t any clans for many kilometers.”

“We’ll have to risk going ashore,” Qui-Gon agreed. “Don’t surface until we’re near land. We will follow you.”

Taking a deep breath, Drenna disappeared silently under the surface.

Obi-Wan followed Drenna with a new burst of energy. They were close now. If they could rescue Leed and return him to Rutan, war could be averted.

They surfaced silently and waded ashore, quickly dashing across the exposed beach to gain shelter under the branches of the sand-sweeping trees.

“It’s a small island,” Qui-Gon said quietly. “We won’t have to search long before we find them.”

Jedi learned early at the Temple how to move without sound, but Senalis were just as practiced at the art. The three of them moved through space without disturbing a leaf. They melted through the shade of the trees, their eyes searching for a telltale clue.

Suddenly Qui-Gon stopped. He held up a hand.

Obi-Wan saw and heard nothing. A stand of trees was ahead, the branches so thick the sun only penetrated in thin, watery fingers of light.

Qui-Gon pointed above, a finger to his lips.

It took Obi-Wan a few seconds to realize that the Senalis were sleeping over their heads, nestled into the thick branches of the trees. Preparing for the dawn raid must have kept them awake throughout the night. Their boat and supplies were suspended in a net high above the ground.

Leed was tied to a tree branch, his back against the trunk. His eyes were closed. His hands and feet were bound with cable wire. A leather gag was tied over his mouth. A deep reddish bruise was forming on his cheekbone. Dried blood caked his tunic.

Drenna didn’t flinch. Her jaw tightened, and she silently withdrew the crossbow that was strapped to her back. Qui-Gon withdrew his lightsaber. Obi-Wan followed suit.

Qui-Gon indicated with a gesture that they should try to free Leed without awakening his captors. Obi-Wan and Drenna nodded.

They made no sound as they moved forward, but one of the kidnappers awoke. They froze, but he casually looked down as he stretched. He stopped in the middle of a yawn, his eyes wide.

“Invasion! To your weapons!” he shouted.