"And those would be lucky ways for you to die," Luke continued. "Fast and decisive. It"s more likely that most of you will just wither away. Like Ithia there." Luke turned in a slow circle, making eye contact with as many of the Kel Dors as he could. "Who is your best fighter?"
One said, "Ithia." Two or three, including Ithia, said "Chara."
Luke nodded. "Charsae Saal, because he has decades of experience. And because, having only recently come here, he is not a listless, lifeless reflection of his former self. But he has still been fading for years. He"s been preparing himself for death all that time. My bet is that he"s a shadow of his his former self. And that my son, his junior in experience by many, many years, can take him." former self. And that my son, his junior in experience by many, many years, can take him."
Ben froze, trying desperately not to look like a woodland creature caught in the spotlight beams of an oncoming speeder. Aware of numerous Kel Dors now looking at him, he offered them a scowl, a tough-guy posture.
"And what is it that you bet?" The Hidden One was seated on his throne again. His voice was cold.
"If Ben fails, I abandon the subject for as long as I live in these caverns."
"Very well." The Hidden One waved at Chara. "Do it."
Chara nodded, decisive. "Yes, Master."
The Kel Dors drew back from the center of the chamber, leaving the area ringed by columns empty but for Chara, Ben, and Luke.
Ben turned to his father. "You"re doing it to me again," he whispered.
"I am, aren"t I? I"m a terrible dad." Luke gave him a rea.s.suring smile. "You"ll do fine."
"What if I lose?"
"Two things. First, you"ll still demonstrate to all these people just what it"s like to be alive. Second, I promised that I"d abandon the subject ... not that you you would." would."
"Hey, you are are sneaky." sneaky."
"Besides, you won"t lose. Unlike them, you have something to fight for."
Ben handed Luke his lightsaber.
Luke looked at the weapon. "Are you sure?"
"I"m not going to convince anybody of the value of life by cutting him in half. Win or lose, I"m doing it without my lightsaber."
Luke nodded and withdrew to the circle of pillars.
Ithia presented Ben with a staff, a meter and a half of hardwood-gnarled, black, and polished. Then she withdrew as well.
Ben and Chara faced each other from opposite sides of the open s.p.a.ce.
Luke leaned against the nearest pillar, trying to look relaxed but feeling no more nonchalant this time than during the fight Ben had waged their first night on Dorin.
Ben faced his opponent, features set in the neutral expression he always a.s.sumed when he didn"t want anyone to know what he was thinking or feeling. Chara"s eyes were on the Hidden One.
The Hidden One looked at the two opponents, made a little expression of displeasure, and said, "Go."
Ben and Chara moved toward each other. When about a meter and a half separated them, they began circling.
Chara lashed out, the lower end of his staff flashing up toward Ben"s groin. Ben reacted almost too late, parrying awkwardly. Chara responded with reflexive speed, striking down at Ben"s collarbone with the other end of his weapon. Ben caught that blow, too, interposing his own staff mere centimeters from his skin; the blow hammered Ben"s weapon down into his flesh. It staggered him, and as he stumbled backward, Chara swept with his staff, catching Ben"s ankle and hurling him to the stone.
Ben continued the roll into a backward somersault and came up on his feet. He bounced up and down on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet like a prizefighter anxious for action. Luke could tell that he was testing his ankle, determining how forcefully it had been struck.
There was more than just vigor to Ben"s bounce, though. Luke could feel the boy getting mad-angry with himself for being the first to fall, angry with his father for putting him in this situation, angry at the Kel Dors for forcing Luke"s hand. Luke restrained himself from sending calming thoughts through the Force. This was Ben"s fight, and the many Baran Do Sages present would be able to detect any interference from Luke.
Ben and Chara came together for another exchange. This time Ben managed to get a grazing shot against Chara"s bicep before the more experienced fighter struck him. Chara"s riposte connected with Ben"s staff, raised in an across-the-body block, and was still strong enough to take Ben off his feet.
Again Ben rolled backward to get up, but this time Chara gestured, an exertion through the Force, and Ben"s somersault continued out of control. Ben smacked up against one of the support pillars, his back and head hitting the stone hard enough to make Luke wince.
Groggy, Ben shook his head. As Chara advanced, staff up and back for a thrusting, spearlike blow, Ben"s eyes cleared and snapped into focus.
He shoved off from the pillar, an exertion in the Force allowing him to slide forward as though the surface under him were oil instead of rough stone. Chara"s thrust cracked into the pillar where his head had been. Ben"s kick unloaded into Chara"s gut, taking the Kel Dor clean off his feet.
Ben bounced upright, seemingly unslowed, and Chara was up a fraction of a second later. Luke wanted to cheer. He could feel his son"s emotions, feel that Ben was in control, intense but focused. Win or lose, he was fighting like a Jedi, not a furious teenager.
Now the fight was on in earnest. The two combatants moved their staves at such speed that onlookers unused to combat could not possibly follow their movements. Theirs was a dance-like rhythm, now one of them the aggressor and driving the other back, now the other. Chara hammered again at Ben"s damaged ankle, hurting it further, and Ben now limped as he moved. The next time Chara tried targeting the same injury, Ben leapt clear over the blow and swung his staff at extension, its end catching Chara full on the crown of his head, knocking the Kel Dor down.
"Chara!" That was one of the Baran Do, a female, shouting encouragement. Another yelled, "Chara, kayamash kayamash!"
Now Luke no longer bothered to conceal his smile. They were feeling it, these long-dead Kel Dors-feeling blood circulate through their veins, feeling adrenaline pump. Suddenly they were sports fans, rooting for a favorite son.
Ben felt it, too. He looked around, clearly realizing that he was the outsider competing with the beloved champion. It seemed to discourage him not a bit; and Luke felt the moment that the meaning of it all clicked into place in Ben"s mind. Now the boy had everything: emotion, focus, and purpose. Ben returned his attention to Chara.
Chara was up fast, but obviously woozy. Ben approached again, limping, an aggressor closing in for the decisive blow.
Luke"s attention was drawn to the Hidden One. The Kel Dor ruler was leaning forward, whispering intently to a servant, a young woman. He nodded, encouraging her to act. She moved away around the periphery of the crowd and headed toward the main exit. The blast door opened for her. Luke felt a trickle of danger, but he could not leave these events in order to follow the girl.
Ben and Chara exchanged blows and blocks, feints and ploys at lightning speed. They circled, struck, parried, dodged, all to the percussive accompaniment of staves hammering against each other.
Ben took a glancing blow to the side of his left knee. His riposte caught Chara in the ribs. Chara pinned him against a pillar. Ben shoved Chara clear, feinted with a staff blow, and spun into a side kick that caught Chara in the center of the chest, making an audible crack crack. Chara slammed to the stone again and was slow to rise.
The chants of "Chara ... Chara ... Chara ..." continued, but the chanters sounded more uncertain, as if not sure they should encourage their champion to take more damage.
In the Force, Luke could feel the change. Ben, hurting from several blows, remained focused, razor-sharp. Chara was losing the will to win.
They came together again. Ben let Chara get inside his guard and lock up his staff. It was not, as it first looked, a mistake of inexperience. Chara yanked, an attempt to disarm Ben, but Ben offered no resistance. Ben"s staff went flying, but Chara stumbled backward, off balance. Ben followed, hammering Chara in the chest and stomach with a boxer"s barrage of blows. As Chara tried to rally, bringing his staff up, Ben struck at the weapon itself, breaking it in two. The open-palm blow continued onward to crack against Chara"s chin.
Chara went down. This time he did not immediately struggle to rise.
The crowd went mostly quiet. A few Kel Dors offered little groans of disappointment.
Ben limped to where his weapon lay. He picked it up and, impa.s.sive, turned to face the Hidden One. Ithia moved up to kneel beside Chara, who was moving at last, attempting to rise; she helped him sit up but did not allow him to stand.
The Hidden One stared at Ben. His expression was unhappy, but Luke suspected he actually felt some measure of grim satisfaction. "You win." The Hidden One"s tone was flat, almost emotionless. "Your father may continue his tedious complaints so long as he has breath within his body. But he"s still wrong about what we"re doing here. About the life within us."
"No, Master." That was Chara, his voice pained. "He may be right."
The Hidden One turned to glare at him. "Not you, too."
Chara struggled to rise. Abandoning her futile attempt to keep him still, Ithia helped him to his feet. "Master," he said, "I am this boy"s superior in fighting skill. I am strong in the Force. But he won. He won through the will to win. Through conviction, through strength of purpose. I lost because I lack these things."
"Perhaps you do." The Hidden One sounded scornful. "But it is because you have listened to him." He gestured at Luke. "He has confused you, diverted you from your purpose. Once he is gone, you will return to the correct path."
Luke stepped forward to stand beside his son. "Gone? So we can leave?"
The Hidden One shook his head. "No one leaves. I have made that clear already. No, you are not going to leave. But very soon, things will return to normal." He took a deep breath, a.s.suming a regretful expression as he looked among his people. "I"m sorry. But the Skywalkers are clearly too dangerous to live among us, and they know too much to be free."
Luke returned Ben"s lightsaber to the boy. "So you"re going to kill us."
Burra, the ancient Kel Dor, shook his head vehemently. "That is not our way, Master."
"I will not do it," Ithia said. Others echoed her sentiment.
The Hidden One glared down at Luke. "Do you see what you"ve done? Until your arrival, they were satisfied. Obedience to our goal, our destiny, was our first concern. Now you"ve made them, made them-"
"Alive?" Luke kept his tone quizzical.
The Hidden One glared at him for a moment, then turned his attention to the Kel Dors. "Of course we will not murder them. That is not our way." As a sigh of relief circulated among his followers, he added, "I have informed those above that the Skywalkers died in a collapse of the cave they were excavating. Above, they now know not to send down any more oxygen-nitrogen canisters. We will not kill the Skywalkers ... but in the matter of a day or two, once their remaining canisters have been depleted, the atmosphere of Dorin will."
ANOTHER MURMUR ROSE. BURRA CALLED OUT, "MASTER, NO".
But the Hidden One brushed his hands together as if ridding himself of imaginary dirt. "It is done. No rebellion on this matter will be tolerated. Or effective. I had the comm encryption codes advanced. Should one of you be foolish enough to try to send unauthorized messages to those above, your words will not be understood." He looked at Luke and Ben. "Now, finally, like us, you must resign yourself to death."
Ithia stepped forward. Her voice was soft, a plea. "Master, please. Reverse your decision. And I wish you would consider something that has been troubling me for years now, something that I have tried to bring up with you many times, something you have never been willing to hear."
"Which is what?"
"Our purpose here." She paused for a moment as if trying to gather the right words. "Our lives here only have meaning if the worst occurs-if the Baran Do are wiped out above and must be restored. If that never happens, our lives here are wasted."
"Which is why we choose to be dead before we descend to this place." The Hidden One sounded annoyed. There was no sign on his face that Ithia"s words had meant anything to him.
"Master ..." A look of great sadness crossed Ithia"s face. "You"re wrong wrong. You"re wrong in what you"re doing to the Skywalkers. And I think it"s time for you to understand, and admit, that this experiment is a failure."
"This is no experiment." The Hidden One was suddenly on his feet, his voice raised in a shrill shout, his anger so potent that all present except Luke and Ben took a step backward. "It is our way, and it will continue to be our way, and it is time for you to be silent and obey."
"Like the dead." Sorrowfully, Ithia shook her head. "No, Master."
The Hidden One stood on his platform, breathing hard, and then stepped down to the stone floor. "I see. I cannot let these humans remain among us even for the time it would take them to suffocate. Their influence is too strong." He raised his hands. Little crackles of electricity flickered between them. "I will show you life. I will show you the Force." will show you life. I will show you the Force."
"Ben," Luke whispered. "Stand back."
It happened all at once: the Hidden One gesturing toward Luke, Ben leaping away, lightning flashing from the Hidden One"s hands. It was not the purplish lightning of Emperor Palpatine, which had so nearly cost Luke his life nearly forty years before; it was all brilliant whiteness.
Luke had his lightsaber activated and up in time. The lightning crackled against his glowing blade. The strength behind the attack, of the Hidden One"s energy and anger, took Luke off his feet and threw him backward. He slammed into a pillar, feeling jolts of pain in his spine and the back of his head.
But the lightning did not reach him. His blade kept it at bay. And, bracing himself with the Force, Luke took a step forward.
The Hidden One tossed his head. It was not just a gesture of anger; Luke felt the motion as a ripple in the Force. The air in the chamber responded, a wind springing up and roaring around the walls of the chamber, gaining speed and strength. It tattered the robes of the Kel Dors near the walls as it went. It veered from the wall over the throne and howled down at Luke, engulfing him, trying to drive him backward.
Luke gritted his teeth and rooted himself. Then, against the might of both wind and lightning, he took another step forward.
The Hidden One"s eyes widened. His head rolled around on his shoulders, and the roar of air across Luke intensified. It tore at his robes, causing them to stand out from his body, shudder, and snap in the wind.
Luke took another step forward. It was slow going, for the Hidden One"s power was great, but Luke now felt sure in his footing and in his own strength.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kel Dors retreating, some of them streaming out through the blast door, Ben waving them onward.
The Hidden One"s face, flushed fully red, was contorted in a mask of anger. He flicked his fingers and the lightning ceased. He moved his now freed hands in circular gestures. Luke felt the wind increase in ferocity. Most of it still whirled around the chamber before battering at him, but some, a diverted flow, spun in a tight circle directly in front of the Hidden One. As Luke watched, that errant stream of air swallowed up dust from the floor and walls, defining its outlines as a miniature funnel cloud, a few centimeters wide at its base and broadening to two meters at the ceiling. It writhed like a mortally wounded serpent.
With a gesture, the Hidden One sent the whirlwind straight at Luke.
Luke lunged at it, visualizing it, wrenching at it with the Force. His exertion was like a physical blow as he stepped into it. He felt the wind intensify for a bare moment, and then his telekinetic attack flung the whirlwind free. It rocketed off to the side and hammered into a pillar to Luke"s left.
Luke took another step forward. He was more than halfway to the Hidden One now. He deactivated his lightsaber. He could turn it on again swiftly enough if the Hidden One brought forth his lightning a second time.
The whirlwind moved from pillar to pillar as if leaping. When it was directly behind Luke, it lingered there. Luke kept his senses, both the physical ones and that of the Force, alert to its movements. It hammered at the pillar itself, and Luke could hear and feel the permacrete mounting at the summit begin to crack.
The mounting at the base broke, too, and the pillar toppled toward Luke. He heard Ben"s warning cry. He raised his left hand backward, using the same exertion he"d made a moment earlier against the whirlwind itself, and the pillar stopped, frozen in midfall. He gestured again and it reversed direction, toppling onto the empty floor.
And Luke took another step forward.
The Hidden One"s howl of outrage was like that of his own wind. The stone throne behind him rocked and rattled on its platform.
Luke made a sweeping gesture, bringing his rear hand forward, and with it came the toppled pillar, flying forward like a spear. As the throne launched itself toward him, the pillar met it in midair, shattering the stone seat into a dozen pieces, some smooth-cut and some broken.
Luke let the pillar fall to the floor. With a wave of his hand, he sent it rolling toward the Hidden One, who leapt sideways over it as it neared him.
Luke was already in motion as the Hidden One jumped. The Kel Dor"s concentration was broken, his control over the wind diminished, and Luke was able to race forward three steps in the time it took the Hidden One to clear the rolling pillar. As the Baran Do Master came down again, Luke kicked out, a spinning kick that caught the Kel Dor in the gut, throwing him backward. The Hidden One smashed up against the platform"s front, crushing in its wooden front panel.
Remarkably, he stood up from the impact, raised his hands for another attack ... and collapsed, falling onto his face.
The wind died. The rolling pillar fetched up against one that was still upright and stopped. All sounds died except that of the Hidden One"s strained, frantic breathing.
There were still a few other Kel Dors in the chamber, mostly Masters, and they began to move forward.
Ithia ran up to kneel beside the Hidden One. Chara, moving more slowly, joined her. After looking at the Hidden One for a few moments, they cautiously rolled him over onto his back. Ithia sat beside the platform and pulled him up so that he could be partially upright, propped against her.
She looked up at those in the chamber. "He is exhausted," she said. "He will recover."
The Hidden One said something, his voice so low as to const.i.tute a whisper, and then exerted himself to be heard. "I will do as you say."
Ithia looked relieved. "You will free the Skywalkers?"