Zak drew back. "But that"s a meat flower. I"ve already been bitten by one of those, and it hurts!"
Yoda sighed. He shuffled forward and reached down, digging into the dirt around the meat flower until he"d freed the plant and a small patch of mud that surrounded its roots. He scooped it up, roots, soil, and all.
It did not bite him.
"Recently fed, has this," Yoda explained. "So it has no reason to bite."
"But-"
"The meat flower is like all things that live in the Force. It bites only to eat. It eats only to survive. This is your reminder." Yoda handed the meat flower to Zak.
Bewildered, Zak accepted the flower, careful to keep the roots encased in their little globe of mud. Yoda kept staring at him, so, not knowing what to do, Zak carefully lowered the flower into the wide pocket of his trousers as though planting it there. He felt totally ridiculous, but Yoda nodded at him.
"Good," the Jedi said. He turned away. "Tash, come."
"Can"t I come?" Zak asked.
"No, no," Yoda said matter-of-factly. "Back to the village must you go."
"What!" Zak squeaked, ashamed at how shrill his voice had suddenly become. "Why? I want to come with you!"
"Because these words are not for your ears." Yoda turned back and gave him one more glance. "For everything there is a reason. Go to the village. Hurry home."
Then Yoda tugged at Tash"s sleeve and pulled her into the mist, chuckling quietly. Tash looked back over her shoulder at her brother. Her face was a mixture of wonder, confusion, and sympathy for Zak.
It"s not my fault, her expression seemed to say.
Then she was gone.
And Zak was alone.
CHAPTER 13.
The walk back to the village was cold, wet, and miserable. Zak trudged forward, not caring where he stepped or what sort of creature crossed his path. He barely noticed when an armor-backed dragonsnake swam through a water channel half a meter from his feet. He walked right beneath the coils of a tree snake, its body as big around as both his legs.
He felt crushed.
Zak had thought he had some sort of connection with Yoda. When the Jedi Master had said they"d meet again, Zak had thought something special would happen. But all he"d done was serve as Yoda"s errand boy, bringing Tash to meet him.
Tash! She got everything. She got to be older. She got to be smarter. She got to use the Force.
Feeling worthless and abandoned, Zak made his slow way back into the village.
Clomping unhappily into the collection of mud huts, Zak saw no one but the painfully thin Children huddled around a fire in the village center. Warm, pleasant smells cut through the rotten-wood odor of Dagobah, causing Zak"s stomach to growl.
He was very hungry.
Galt stood up from the fire, where the pot of stew still bubbled.
"Zak, are you all right?" he asked earnestly. "I was scared the imp had stolen you away."
"He"s not dangerous," Zak replied. "How is Traut?"
"We put meat-flower gra.s.s on his wounds. He is resting."
Zak sniffed the food smells. "For people who don"t eat much, you"ve certainly had a lot to cook lately."
Galt grinned. "We"ve been able to find food lately."
"I guess we brought you good luck," Zak said absentmindedly.
"Yes, you did." Galt handed Zak the bowl of stew he was holding.
"Would you like some? It will make you healthy and strong."
"Yeah, I"m starved." Zak took a bowl. His mouth was already watering. But then he handed it back. "In a minute. I want to check on Traut first."
"He is resting," Galt said again.
"I"ll just look in on him quickly. He saved my life. Which hut?"
Galt glared into the bowl of stew. "That one," he said at last, pointing to a hut across the village. Zak started toward it with Galt following him. "But he is sleeping."
"I"ll bet he is," Zak said as they reached the hut. "That bang on his head must have knocked him out."
"And his arm," Galt added.
Zak stopped in the doorway. "What about his arm?"
Galt shook his head sadly. "The spider wound was very bad. There was nothing we could do for it."
"What are you talking about? His arm was fine." Zak ducked his head and peered into the hut. In the gloom he could see Traut lying unconscious on a moss bed. The Children had pressed a wad of damp gra.s.s against his forehead to help the cut there heal, but that was hardly noticeable. What caught Zak"s attention was a compress of rags, gra.s.s, and leaves that had been wrapped around the smuggler"s left shoulder.
Beneath the homemade bandages, Traut"s left arm was missing.
"We had to take it off," Galt sighed. "We had to do it before the spider"s poison reached the rest of his body."
Zak was horrified. "Spider . . . poison?"
"It kills," Galt said. "We saved his life."
Zak started to say that the spiders weren"t poisonous Yoda had said so-but he held his tongue. He didn"t want to have to explain Yoda to Galt. But why would Galt say the spiders were poisonous if they weren"t?
"Will you eat now?" Galt asked.
The sight of poor Traut was enough to make Zak lose his appet.i.te.
But his body was still hungry. He felt as if he hadn"t eaten in years.
With his stomach growling, Zak allowed Galt to lead him to the open fire, where several of the Children were still huddled on the ground, licking the last drops of stew from crude bowls.
The pot was almost empty, but Galt scooped the last helping of stew into the bowl. The bowl came out almost full, with chunks of meat and brown sauce dripping down the sides.
Zak took the bowl and a wooden spoon. He sat down and stirred the stew, then brought up a spoonful and opened his mouth to savor the first bite.
The spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.
Then the spoon fell out of his trembling hand.
In the center of the spoon, swimming in brown sauce, was a small metal circle. Liquid slid away from it, revealing its design.
It was Traut"s promise ring.
CHAPTER 14.
Zak flung the bowl of stew away, its contents splattering across the ground. The Children shouted in horror at his wastefulness.
"What is wrong with you?" Galt screeched, leaping to his feet.
"That was the last bowl! Food is not to be wasted!"
"Look!" Zak said, pointing and trying not to gag. The promise ring lay on the ground nearby. "How did that get into the stew?"
Galt picked up the promise ring and wiped the sauce from it. "What is it?"
"It"s Traut"s promise ring," Zak said, his stomach churning. "It was on his left hand-on the arm that you cut off. But how did it end up in my stew?"
Galt blinked like a night creature caught in the sun. "I took it,"
he admitted. "When we had to take the arm off, I noticed the ring. I knew it was important, so I put it in my pocket. It must have fallen out just now when I served your stew."
Zak had been standing next to Galt when he filled the bowl, and he hadn"t seen anything fall into the pot.
But how else could the ring have gotten in there?
"What is the problem?" a calm voice asked. It was Hoole.
The Shi"ido and the smugglers had just returned to the village.
They were muddy and miserable, with frustrated frowns wrinkling their faces. They had spent the day looking for signs of Boba Fett but had found nothing.
Platt"s eyes brightened when she saw the cooking pot. "Hey, smells great! What"s for lunch?"
"Nothing now," Galt said. "It"s all gone. But we could cook something else up for you." He nodded to two of the other Children, who trotted away.
"That would be great," Platt said. "We"re starved."
Hoole glanced left and right. "Zak, where is Tash?"
Zak grunted. "She"s still out there with Yoda."
The Shi"ido frowned. "You left your sister out in the swamp with a strange creature?"
"And where are my men?" Platt asked.
Quickly, Zak told them what had happened in the forest. But when he got to the part about Yoda, he did not mention that the little creature was a Jedi. Jedi Knights had been hunted down by the Empire, and Zak didn"t want to reveal this one to a group of smugglers he barely knew.
Platt wasn"t interested in Yoda anyway. "I"d better go check on Traut."
"Tash isn"t in any danger, Uncle Hoole," Zak said after the smuggler was gone. "Yoda is-"
"You don"t know that," the Shi"ido said. "One person has already lost his life out there in the swamp, and another is wounded."
"But she wanted to go with him. She had a good feeling about him, and she"s always right."
Hoole"s face was dark. "Why didn"t you at least stay with her?"
Zak looked down at his feet. "They didn"t want me to."
"And you allowed that to separate you from your sister?"
"But you said so yourself. She"s always right about things like-"
"Zak," his uncle interrupted. "Tash may have some connection with the Force, but she is only thirteen years old. I expect you to look out for her."
"Me, look out for Tash?" Zak was taken aback. "But she"s older, and she"s got the Force, and-"
"And you are quite capable of keeping her out of trouble, just as I would expect her to keep you out of trouble," the Shi"ido said irritably.
"Zak, you must stop acting as though you are nothing but a tagalong."
Zak didn"t know what to say. He felt embarra.s.sed that Hoole was scolding him. But he was also thrilled by what Hoole was saying. That he should take care of Tash. That he was capable. Zak was still struggling with his conflicting emotions when Platt returned to speak with Hoole. He barely heard their conversation.
"How is your companion?" Hoole asked.
"Alive, but barely," Platt said. "These Children used some local plants to stop the bleeding, but he"s in shock. I would be too if I"d lost an arm and a leg."