Zak looked around for the hole that led out of the cave. He must have fallen farther than he"d thought, because it was nowhere in sight.
He started to walk blindly through the darkness, holding his hands out to keep from b.u.mping into things.
"Tash? Yoda!" he called again, but no voice answered. Had they forgotten about him? Had they been captured by the Children?
Zak shivered. The cave was as cold as ice. And darker than he had ever imagined any place could be. He was sure he would freeze to death if he didn"t find his way out soon.
But how?
If Tash were here, she would use the Force. But Tash wasn"t here.
Zak had only himself to rely on-unless he could use the Force, too.
The thought seemed so ridiculous Zak almost laughed at himself. He had never even thought about using the Force, let alone tried it. I don"t even know what the Force feels like.
But that wasn"t true.
He had felt it twice already. When Tash had used the Force on Nar Shaddaa, he"d felt a tingling sensation rush through him. Then, in Yoda"s presence, Zak had felt the calm, peaceful feeling of the Force gathering around the Jedi Master.
That"s what the Force feels like, Zak thought.
Remembering, he felt it again. A warm tingle pa.s.sed over his skin, the feeling of a gentle touch. But what was touching him, he realized, was everything. That was the Force-the energy that connected all living things. That must be how Jedi used the Force to move things and to find things. If the Force touched all objects, it could lead him from one place to another. Even out of the cave.
Before Zak knew it, his feet were moving. He no longer held his hands out in front of his face. He knew he wouldn"t b.u.mp into anything.
In moments, the darkness thinned. Zak saw a shaft of gray light ahead. He"d found the entrance to the cave.
But before he could reach it, a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Boba Fett had found him.
CHAPTER 19.
"Don"t move. Don"t shout," the bounty hunter ordered.
"You"re still here?" Zak said. Somehow, he had thought Boba Fett was gone for good.
"Still here," Fett said. "The job isn"t done."
"But . . ." Zak tried to find words. "Did you see anything? Here in the cave. Did you . . . see anything?"
"Nothing."
"I thought-I thought maybe you had a vision-"
"Nothing," Fett repeated. "Now move."
The bounty hunter shoved Zak forward into the light. Together, they scrambled up and out of the cave into the gray gloom of the swamp.
The Children were gone, but Yoda and Tash were waiting for them.
Fett indicated that Zak should stand next to Tash and Yoda. He hefted his blaster, growling, "No more malfunctions. Sit."
They sat. Tash and Zak looked frightened. Yoda smiled as if he didn"t understand what the blaster could do. "Now we wait for Hoole."
"I"m here."
Hoole"s voice came from the left. Boba Fett whipped his head around and saw Hoole standing there, alone. Sensing a trap, the bounty hunter launched himself backward as blaster fire peppered the ground-from his right.
Fett rolled into a crouch and sent three shots shrieking into the swamp brush to his right, then dove behind a nearby log.
Platt, Tru"eb, and the remaining smugglers appeared from behind a gnarlwood tree, blasters blazing. Energy bolts shattered the log, disintegrating it. But as wood dust floated to the ground, they saw that Boba Fett had vanished.
"Tactical retreat," Zak guessed.
"Are you all right?" Hoole asked, reaching Zak and Tash in an instant. He glared at Yoda. "If they are hurt, I will-"
Yoda slipped into his fool act, cackling like an idiot. "Hurt?
Hurt? It is I that is hurt. My home, this is. My home, you trample! Go away!"
"Uncle Hoole, we"re fine," Tash said.
Platt scanned the area. "Tru"eb, run a quick perimeter search.
Let"s make sure Fett"s really on the run."
As the smugglers turned away, Tash whispered, "Uncle Hoole, we have a lot to tell you."
"Tash," Zak asked. "All that time you spent with Yoda. Did he . . .
Did he teach you to be a Jedi?"
"This creature?" Hoole asked, pointing at Yoda. "A Jedi?"
Tash looked at the Jedi Master. "Can I tell him, Yoda?"
The little creature"s eyes grew soft. "Yes."
Zak swallowed, expecting to hear that Tash had learned some great secret, that she was going to become a Jedi and leap light-years beyond him. He wondered if they would still be friends after she had mastered the Force and he was still just Zak.
"He told me," Tash said, "absolutely nothing."
Zak"s face fell. "What?"
"Nothing," Tash said again. "We talked about the Force a little, but mostly he told me about Dagobah, and the plants and animals that are on it. He told me how the Children had survived, and what they needed to learn. But he didn"t teach me anything about being a Jedi."
"Then why?" Zak asked Yoda. "Why did you ask her to stay with you?"
Yoda put a gentle hand on Zak"s arm. "A chance, you needed. To do something for yourself."
Tash shrugged. "He told me he wanted you to go back to the village alone, to see this through without me. And without Uncle Hoole."
"A step, you have taken," Yoda said to Zak. "You need not be the best at everything to succeed at some things. This is as it was meant to be."
"You speak as though all this was planned," Hoole said.
Yoda looked at Hoole as though he, too, were a child. "The Force moves us all along our paths."
Zak shook his head. "Well, our path has been pretty crazy lately. I wish we could find someplace to settle down for a while."
"Yoda," Tash asked nervously, "could we . . . could we stay here? I want to learn to be a Jedi. Can you teach me?"
The Jedi Master looked up and away for a moment, as if seeing through the trees, out into the sky and the stars beyond. "That is not my destiny. Another student comes. Await him, I must."
"But will I ever learn?" Tash asked desperately.
"While the Emperor lives, no," Yoda said. "But the future is hard to see. The time may come. For both of you."
"Both of us?" Tash asked.
"Both?" Zak repeated.
"The Force connects you. Together will you grow. The path chosen for you has been dark." He looked meaningfully at Zak. "But remember the cave. Even in the dark, the Force will always be with you."
EPILOGUE.
The bounty hunter"s ship made another orbit, scanners sweeping over the swamp one last time. But there were too many life-forms on the planet. Fett could not isolate the ones he wanted.
He had decided the planet itself was too difficult a hunting ground. The swamp was too treacherous, the ground too uneven for him to bring down Hoole and the two children. He would wait until they tried to lift off. Then he would blow their engines with his turbolasers and use a tractor beam to haul them to the nearest Imperial outpost.
The comm unit bleeped. The call came on a private frequency, known to very few. Fett flipped a switch.
The voice of Darth Vader came over the speaker. "Abandon your mission. I have a new task for you."
"The job isn"t done," Fett said.
"It is for the moment," the Dark Lord replied. "I"m sure you"ll find this new task even more intriguing. I want you to track down a ship called the Millennium Falcon."
Beneath his helmet, Boba Fett smiled a hard, cruel smile. He knew the ship. He knew its pilot. "On my way."
Fett reached for the switch that would break the connection. He hesitated, wondering if he should tell Vader about this strange planet he"d discovered, about the three fugitives he had almost caught. It never occurred to him to mention the strange little creature.
But if he told Vader, the Dark Lord might send others to track the three fugitives. Fett would lose the bounty, and the pleasure of bringing them in.
He shut the comm off and set a course for the Imperial Fleet.
As Boba Fett"s ship tore into hypers.p.a.ce, the smugglers" ship lifted out of Dagobah"s atmosphere and into s.p.a.ce.
In the c.o.c.kpit, Platt was setting a course for the Sluis system.
"You can hitch a ride to just about anywhere in the galaxy from there."
"Thank you," Hoole said.
"But what should I do with the Children?" Platt asked.
After leaving Yoda, Zak, Tash, and Hoole had taken time to gather up all the skeletal survivors. It had taken many gentle words and comfort, but at last they"d gotten all the Children aboard Platt"s ship.
"We"ll find a home for them," Hoole said. "Though I"m not sure where."
Platt hesitated, then said, "I may have some contacts that can help you. People I"ve worked for in the Rebellion. Rebels have a soft spot for hard-luck cases like them."
"Maybe they"d have a soft spot for cases like us, too," Tash asked.
"I can put you in touch with the right people, if you want," Platt offered. "But the Rebellion isn"t exactly a holiday star cruise."
Hoole considered. "I am tired of running from the Empire. Perhaps it is time to stop running."
Zak looked out of the viewport and into s.p.a.ce. The whole galaxy seemed to stretch out before them. It was dark, and dangerous, and full of fear. But it was also full of stars, and the stars burned brightly.
"Okay," he said. "Let"s go."