Not pillars, Zak thought as they walked right under one of the huge, curving roots. More like lots of twisted, k.n.o.bby legs. Did that mean the trees could walk?
"So what"s this little creature look like again?" one of the smugglers asked, resting his blaster rifle on his shoulder.
Zak described Yoda"s wrinkled, greenish skin, pointed ears, and tufts of wiry gray hair.
The other smuggler laughed. "Sounds like your mother-in-law, Traut!"
The smuggler with the blaster rifle grunted. "This Yoda sounds better-looking."
"You"re married?" Zak asked. "I didn"t think smugglers got married."
"Sure," Traut said. He held up his left hand. On the second to last finger was a silver ring. It was called a promise ring, and meant he had promised himself to someone special. He smiled at Zak. "You think smugglers can"t fall in love?"
Zak was about to respond when Traut"s eyes went wide, staring in sheer terror at something over Zak"s shoulder.
Zak forced himself to turn around. Then he saw it, too.
There was a giant spider standing right behind him.
CHAPTER 11.
The spider was white and almost four meters tall. Its eight k.n.o.bby legs were bent into vicious hooks. It bobbed up and down on those legs, then lunged forward to pounce on its prey.
Zak jumped back just in time and the spider"s pincerlike mouth bit into the soggy ground.
"There"s more of them!" Traut yelled.
All around them, giant white spiders crawled out of the shadows beneath the gnarltrees. Their hundreds of scurrying feet made an eerie thudathudathudathudathuda sound on the carpet of moss that covered the ground, and their jaws clacked hungrily.
The smugglers fired their blasters. Chunks of white flesh blew off the nearest spider, and thick green liquid, almost like sap, splashed out of the wound. The spider squealed, but instead of backing off, it charged forward.
"Blow off its legs!" Traut yelled.
The two smugglers poured blaster fire at the oncoming creature. The firestorm was so loud Zak and Tash clapped their hands over their ears to shut out the scream of energy bolts and the shrieks of the wounded spider. Bits and pieces of spider legs flew in all directions, and with a final squeal the spider fell to the ground.
At least a dozen more scurried forward.
"Back up!" Traut ordered. He pushed Zak and Tash behind him and moved away from the spiders. But after only a few steps, Zak felt his back pressed against the cold bark of a gnarltree.
"So much for our retreat," Traut groaned. He looked at the tree.
There was a hole in the bark large enough for a small human to pa.s.s through. Some tree-dwelling creature had carved a home in the gnarltree.
"You two!" He pointed at Zak and Tash. "In there!"
The smugglers lifted Zak and Tash and slid them one at a time into the hole. But as soon as the two armed men had turned their backs, the spiders charged. Through the open hole, Zak saw the smugglers turn and open fire. The nearest spider blew apart, and a k.n.o.bby leg flew through the air toward the hole. Zak ducked as spider pieces spattered against the tree.
Zak and Tash huddled together in their dank hiding place as the sound of clacking spider jaws, blaster fire, and screams continued outside.
Then all sound stopped with terrible suddenness.
Zak and Tash looked at each other in the gloom of their hiding place.
"Are they-?" Tash started to ask.
A voice came from outside. It was Traut"s voice, ragged and tired.
"Who"s there? Who are you?" he shouted angrily. Then his voice calmed down. "Oh, it"s you. We were just-agghhh!"
Traut"s final scream filled the air. A flying creature, startled by this last sound, flapped away into the distance. When the sound of its wings faded, true silence settled over the swamp.
Zak scrambled up and out of the hole. He dropped to the ground. All around him was the aftermath of a gory battle. Spider parts were everywhere. Green spider blood ran down the bark of the trees. Nearby, one giant spider flopped around on its two remaining legs, then sagged down into the mud and lay still.
Traut"s body lay on the ground nearby, bleeding from an ugly wound to the head. The other smuggler was gone.
Tash dropped down beside her brother. "Did the spiders . . . did they take him?"
"I don"t know," Zak whispered. He pointed to a wide, shallow line that had been drawn through the mud. "It looks like something dragged him off in that direction."
"F . . . Fe . . ."
"Traut"s alive!" Zak rushed to the smuggler"s side. His eyes were closed, and half his face was covered in blood. His mouth struggled to work. "F . . . Fe . . ."
"Fett?" Tash guessed. "Maybe that"s who he saw just now."
Zak wasn"t so sure. "Traut sounded like he knew the person he saw.
And if it was Fett, why wouldn"t he take both bodies?"
Something rustled through a nearby bush and a sickly white form pushed its way forward. "More spiders!" Zak hissed. He and Tash started to back away.
The figure that stepped through the bushes was as pale as a spider, but it walked on two legs. It was Galt, followed by another of the Children.
Galt looked completely surprised to see Zak and Tash standing in the middle of the battle scene. "Why are you here?" he asked.
Tash explained hurriedly, "We were hiding in that tree. The spiders attacked. Someone, or something, dragged the other smuggler away. But Traut"s still alive. We have to get him some help."
Zak remembered how easily Galt had carried the body of his dead companion out of the swamp before. "You two have to carry him back to camp!" he told the skeletal man.
"We will," Galt said simply. He and his companion lifted the wounded man by his shoulders and feet. Traut"s eyes fluttered, and he reached out, clutching Zak"s arm so hard that Zak felt the man"s promise ring press into his skin. He tried to speak, but swooned again.
"Hurry!" Zak said. "Uncle Hoole or Platt may be able to help him."
The two Children started off through the swamp, moving faster than Zak would have thought possible. A lifetime of hard living in the dismal climate of Dagobah had strengthened them until they were all muscle-thin and hard like wire cable. Zak and Tash had a hard time keeping up as they slogged their way through the mud.
They were both concentrating so hard on keeping up with Galt and his companion that Zak almost missed it-a small figure, sitting serenely on a log, with a gentle smile on his face.
"Yoda!" he called out.
The two Children were so startled they nearly dropped Traut.
"The imp!" Galt shouted in pure terror. "It"s the imp! Run! He will kill us all!"
CHAPTER 12.
Zak pointed at Yoda. "That"s the imp you were talking about? But he"s harmless. He"s just-"
"Run! Run!" Galt screamed. Still holding Traut, he and his companion bolted through the mist.
"Wait!" Zak called.
"You could not catch them," Yoda said gently. "They know the swamp too well."
"So you are Yoda. Zak told us about you," Tash said. "I"m Tash."
"Yes, you are," Yoda agreed.
Zak wiped at his face where mud, or something worse, had stuck to his skin during the spider battle. "Are you really the imp that Galt has been talking about?" he asked.
"Come with me," Yoda said. He hopped off his log and waddled away.
Watching him move away this time, Zak sensed that Yoda was old. Very, very old.
"Where are we going?" Tash asked.
"Not far," Yoda said. "Just around this tree."
Once again moving with surprising speed, the little creature disappeared around the bulk of a giant gnarltree. Zak and Tash hurried to catch up. As they rounded the tree trunk, they saw Yoda standing beneath a clump of its roots.
Then they realized that they weren"t tree roots.
They were the legs of a giant spider.
No, no, no! Zak thought. Galt was right. Yoda was evil. He had lured them into the spider"s jaws.
But the spider didn"t attack.
Even so, Zak didn"t trust it. He backed away, and Tash followed his example. After they had taken a few steps, they stopped. The spider remained where it stood, and Yoda squatted beneath it, an amused twinkle in his eye.
"Why isn"t the spider attacking us?" Tash asked finally. "Or you?"
"Why should it?" the little creature said.
"The spiders attacked us before," Zak replied. He took a nervous step closer.
"Because they thought you were food," Yoda said. Tash, too, edged forward.
"What"s different now?"
Yoda spread his little hands. "I have taught them otherwise."
Zak noticed something strange. The closer he got to Yoda, the more at ease he felt. It was like edging toward afire, except that instead of giving off heat, Yoda gave off a feeling of peacefulness and safety.
Something told Zak that the giant spider was feeling exactly the same thing.
"Will it bite?" he asked, still eyeing the spider nervously. "Is it poisonous?"
Yoda chuckled to himself. "Still he worries! No, no poison in the spiders. Come, come! Time is short."
Tash"s jaw dropped in utter disbelief. Softly, she said, "You"re a Jedi. A Jedi Master. I can feel it."
Yoda"s smile widened. "Your feelings serve you well."
"But . . . But . ," she stammered, "there aren"t any more Jedi!"
"That will be true, if the Emperor has his way," Yoda replied. Then he shrugged. "We shall see."
"What are you doing on Dagobah?" Zak asked. "Shouldn"t you be helping the Rebellion?"
"What would I do there that I do not do here?" Yoda asked.
Zak was flabbergasted at the question. "You could help them fight!
You could use the Force against the Emperor!"
Yoda closed his eyes briefly and muttered to himself. "So young, this one." Then he opened his eyes. "I am here because you are here. You are here because I am here. I have something to give each of you."
Zak felt his heart leap. Each of you. Yoda was a Jedi and he was going to give them each something. Not just Tash.
"Tash," the Jedi said, "you must walk with me. You have searched long for answers to questions about the Force. Some you must learn in later years. But some will I answer for you now."
Yoda summoned her forward.
"And me?" Zak asked eagerly.
Yoda paused, as if he"d forgotten something. Then he pointed to the ground, where a familiar bright yellow flower grew out of a clump of gra.s.s. "Zak, pick that flower."