The blaster fire was fast and it seemed to be everywhere at once.
Anakin did not give another second of thought to the numbers against them.
He focused so completely on the battle that everything else fell away but the movement of his lightsaber and his attention to where the blaster fire would strike next.
Smoke rose around them. The leaves began to scorch. Obi-Wan leaped to destroy a rocket headed straight for them. The midair explosion sent air thudding against Anakin's eardrums.
The squad suddenly concentrated a third of their troops to the left and made a surprise strike close to Darra. Anakin saw it coming before she did. She was only a split second behind him, already turning to deflect the blast of fire. She had to pivot on her left leg, leaving her right side slightly exposed.
"I've got it!" Anakin shouted to her. He leaped forward, his lightsaber moving in a constant arc.
But Darra had already compensated for her move. She had shifted and turned, and the two Padawans collided. Darra was thrown to the side.
Blaster fire ripped into her leg. She gave a cry and fell, and her lightsaber went flying, lost in the confusion of bodies.
"Anakin, cover me!" Obi-Wan roared.
He leaped and scooped up Darra with one arm, keeping his lightsaber moving, deflecting the fire. Anakin jumped in front of them, desperate to help his Master. Soara herded the scientists closer together and, with a heroic effort, charged straight at the troops. Anakin leaped over the scientists to join her.
The fury of their attack caught the troops off guard as blaster fire ricocheted back into their ranks. Their line began to waver. Anakin and Soara pressed the advantage while Obi-Wan and Darra retreated with the scientists.
"They're going to regroup," Soara told Anakin. "Let's go."
They turned and ran after Obi-Wan and the scientists, who were dashing through the trees.
"The village," Obi-Wan said to Soara. "We need cover now."
Darra said nothing. She slumped against Obi-Wan, and he lifted her into his arms. Her eyes closed and her lips parted. Anakin felt a deep shudder go through him. She looked as though her life energy was draining away. And it was his fault.
Chapter Three
Get in and get out. That was the goal of a rescue mission.
It never, in Obi-Wan's experience, worked out that way.
They had angered the Haariden patrol. Obviously the troops knew they were Jedi, but the Haaridens did not care. They were after revenge now.
Obi-Wan carried Darra along the twisting trail. They were close to the village and temporary safety. Every once in a while the patrol pursuing them would set off a rocket. It always fell short of their small band. But it was not a comfortable distance.
Obi-Wan remembered another world, another day. Qui-Gon carrying a desperately weakened Jedi Knight — his close friend Tahl. He remembered how Tahl's hand kept slipping off from around Qui-Gon's neck. It is too late for me, my friend, she had told him.
He had seen the refusal to accept the fact in Qui-Gon's eyes. At the time, as a Padawan, Obi-Wan had thought it impossible that a Jedi Knight could die.
Perhaps the first moment of his adulthood was the moment he had seen Qui-Gon's face when he realized that Tahl was dead.
Why am I thinking about death? Obi-Wan wondered.
It was this planet. Ever since he had landed on it he'd felt uneasy.
The darkness here was more than a result of cloud cover. It hung in the air. The Force dimmed with it. He knew it had affected his Padawan. Anakin was sensitive to the dark side of the Force. He felt it sooner and deeper than Obi-Wan had at his age.
Darra would be all right. A blaster wound to the leg was serious, but not life-threatening. Yet her limp body and her slip into unconsciousness worried him. There was a disturbance in her Living Force. He could feel it.
"The village is ahead," Soara said. He could see in her face that she, too, was worried about Darra. "They are not giving up."
"We must stop. Darra — "
"Yes. I must treat her."
The village had been large and prosperous. That was easy to see, even in the close darkness. Clouds covered the pale moon as they filed swiftly through the streets, looking for the best shelter they could find.
Soara and Obi-Wan chose a building packed in the middle of a crowded street. Thanks to a half-destroyed wall, they would have lookouts on all four sides. Yet there was enough shelter for Darra to stay warm.
They wrapped her in a thermal cape. Soara administered bacta to her wound.
"It doesn't look bad," Obi-Wan said.
A line appeared between Soara's eyebrows. "That is what worries me,"
she said in a low tone. "She should not be unconscious."
"Will you allow me?" Joveh D'a Alin spoke up gently. "I trained to be a medic before my scientific degree."
She came closer and bent to examine Darra. She touched her with gentle, expert hands.
"Without instruments it is hard to tell," she said. "It appears that she is in shock. Is it possible that the blaster bolts carried a chemical charge?"
"It is possible," Soara said. "It is what I feared."
Obi-Wan saw his Padawan swallow. Anakin's eyes looked dark in his pale face. Obi-Wan knew that his Padawan felt responsible. Anakin had leaped impulsively, not trusting Darra to evade the fire. As usual, his Padawan had thought that he was faster, stronger, than anyone else.
The problem was that it was often true. But not always "She needs care that we cannot give," Joveh D'a Alin said. Her gray eyes were compassionate. "But her vitals are still good. The bacta should help."
"We need to get her to the Temple," Soara said. She reached out and, with one finger, touched the dusty fabric in Darra's braid.
"Master, I will go," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan turned, distracted. "Go where?"
"To the Haaridens. I will negotiate a truce so that we can continue to the transport."
"What makes you think you will get within a hundred meters of a Haariden without being attacked?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin kept his gaze steady. "I am prepared to risk it." Obi-Wan shook his head. "No. That is not the solution."
Soara joined them, closing her comlink. "I've contacted the Temple.
They will pressure the Haaridens for a cease-fire. But it will take time.
No one is sure who is in charge on either side. They are sending a medic to us, but it will take two days." She glanced at Darra. "What if it's too late? Can we risk moving her? Can we carry her to the transport? It's still kilometers away."
Obi-Wan had never seen Soara look so uncertain. If his Padawan had been lying so still and pale, he would have felt the same way.
Tic Verdun spoke up. "We can all take turns. We aren't as strong as the Jedi, but we won't let you down." "Thank you," Soara said quietly.
"We have other options," Obi-Wan said. "I'll be back." Anakin took a step toward him. "Do you need me, Master?"