31.   Elektra.

 

Apparently I’m in some kind of a dungeon, although it doesn’t look at all like the one inside Mount Kolvir where, deep under the Castle, the Grand Pattern of Amber is located.  The corridor’s brightly lit by what appears to be a continuous light panel in the ceiling, and smooth walls are covered by some kind of hard plastic material.  The only thing reminiscent of a dungeon, as it supposed to be, is the cold bare stone floor.  The rooms or cells on both sides, all unlocked and empty, contain a variety of restraining devices and other strange looking apparatuses, for torture perhaps, but I’ve no time to examine them.  The corridor’s curved and it occurs to me that it might run in a circle enclosing the whole dungeon or a level of it.  This proves incorrect, however, as, after passing perhaps a dozen or so cells, I run into a solid metal wall.  Perhaps it’s a semi-circle and this end of it seems rather abandoned at the time.  I start in the opposite direction, passing once again the empty cells, the cell of the rat-face’s departure on his one-way journey, our original cell – two dead bounty hunters are still on the floor, where they fell.

 

The other side seems to be populated – most cells are locked and although it’s hard to distinguish anything in their darkness through the small barred portholes in the doors; female whimpers and rustling of chains can be heard.  Most probably slavegirls used for toys by the bounty hunters while waiting to be sold – the fate that’s doubtless been intended for us.  I can’t sense Scarlett’s presence among them however.  For a moment, I entertain the idea of releasing the captives to just further increase their wardens’ confusion, but I’ve neither keys – if indeed the doors are opened with a key – nor time to fiddle with locks.  Also, they don’t really have any place to go and most probably would be recaptured shortly and severely punished…  Another solid wall in my way interrupts my considerations.

 

This is getting very odd – the place must have some form of access…  Perhaps I was right about the circle after all, with just a small addition of it being separated into sections by these walls, which – as they apparently have no doors – must be recessive altogether.  Perhaps the walls are being engaged now for a purpose… but of course… for a purpose of isolating me.  Suppose, the bounty hunters can observe me via some hidden surveillance devices and, unwilling to risk their lives any more, await… for what? …Suppose, a delivery of some seductive or outright poisonous chemical agent that can be released into the corridor through the ventilation system, as there must be one.  Well, they just might be up for a few more surprises!

 

Penetrating Shadow walls is rather easy, yet requires one small prerequisite that I sadly lack – to know what’s on the other side.  To simply destroy it in the same way as I’ve done with my bonds earlier would just flood the place – thus far no one’s managed to circumvent the law of the mass conservation.  So away it goes, into another Shadow… I start mentally dragging the wall onto the Pattern when I suddenly feel a dull aching near the base of my neck.  Scarlett!  There she is, in another cell identical to the rest of them, surrounded by the bounty hunters…  Thanks Unicorn, I’m just in time!

 

Out of my eye’s corner, I notice a man dressed in white quickly leaving the room when Scarlett pulls me through – of course, there’d be no reason for me to pull her into my trap.  I drive my fist into what seems to be a midsection of the creature closest to me dropping it to the floor, but that’s as far as the battle goes.  The rest simply run away, leaving behind their downed comrade and whatever weapons they had pointed at Scarlett.  We hug each other, reunited at last, both of us shaking with excitement and terror.  There’s no time to waste, so I tell her just the essence of what I’ve learned, mainly that we’re about to fight the Jedi and their leader Skywalker.

 

“But Skywalker’s just been in here,” she exclaims.  “The white-robed one… What an evil man!”

 

Does it mean the creatures in the room were not the bounty hunters but the Jedi?  Scarlett doesn’t know the answer and neither do I, and our captive’s interrogation doesn’t produce any results except for unintelligible hisses and sobs, so we have to resort to the mind probe.  It turns out that I was right indeed – the underground dungeon consists of three circular levels, us being on the lowest one, and is accessed from the surface by means of elevators.  The creature’s in the bounty hunters’ employ, and any reference to Jedi and Skywalker brings his mind into a state of total terror.  The identity of the man in white robes is unknown to him – rather surprising, as according to Scarlett, he appeared to be in charge, but we’ve no time to dwell on these matters.  With the information just obtained, it’s not hard to find an elevator and punch in the right codes.  We ascend to what appears to be an administrative section, and make our way through a maze of empty offices cramped with paperwork and electronic equipment.  The bounty hunters or the man in white robes are nowhere to be found.  As we move along, the rooms become larger and more formally appointed which indicates that we have entered the formal part of the palace.  Finally we reach a large hall with a vaulted ceiling which ends in a rather impressive gate and then… the fury of Tatuine’s suns.  Both are high up, so it must be about midday or so.

 

There we stand, by the gate, silently watching a group of men in plain hooded garments, doubtless human, no more than a half-dozen of them, slowly but with great dignity and grace making their way through the sand toward us.  We both know who they are.  Only now it downs on me that I never bothered to pick up my things from the dungeon’s floor, and I wrap the agent’s cloak tighter around myself.  Scarlett’s knuckles turn white, her hand clenching her sword, her eyes never leaving the approaching Jedi until they are upon us.  Their leader pulls back his hood exposing a hard lean face with deeply set, penetrating blue eyes framed by the locks of blond hair.  This is a face of a man who has suffered a lot but would never cause unnecessary suffering…

 

“I’m Luke Skywalker, a knight of Jedi.  We bid you welcome.” 

 

We look at each other, Scarlett and I, then at Skywalker and his group, then at each other again.  I don’t detect a trace of the Pattern or the Logrus, but I do feel a presence of something perhaps equally powerful though not at all threatening, on the contrary, something very peaceful…  What was it that the agent has called it?  The Force…  I can hear the grains of sand still sliding down the dune from which the Jedi have descended.  Someone must break the silence before it becomes unbearable.

 

“I can’t honestly say that thus far we feel very welcome, knight.”

 

“Well, the bounty hunters are not exactly the best representatives of our world, and I’m sorry you had to encounter them.  I wish we could be here earlier.”

 

It’s hard to disbelieve the soft regret in his eyes and the kindness of his smile, but I must – the ends just don’t meet.  I return his smile, but mine is an icy cold one.   “It’s our understanding that the bounty hunters are in the employ of Bubba, who’s the ruler of this world and who’s also known as Skywalker, the knight of Jedi.”

 

“Bubba?  You mean Jubba?  Jubba the Hutt?  But he’s been dead since the time of rebellion…”

 

“Jubba the Hutt?”  Both Scarlett and I repeat after him in unison, with no comprehension.

 

“Yes, and it’s true that Jubba’s rumored to be alive and still in control, but I can assure you the rumor’s completely groundless.  I destroyed him myself after he’d attacked my friends and me with no provocation…”  His smile becomes broader.  “I can also assure you that someone of the Hutt species could be hardly mistaken for a human…”

 

“So… you’re saying there’s no Bubba… and that...err... Jubba the Hutt is dead?”  Pieces of the puzzle I’ve so carefully fitted together fall all out of their places into a shapeless heap.

 

“Most certainly… for a long time”

 

“So who’s running the place?”

 

“There was much to do after the rebellion had brought the empire down,” Skywalker sighs deeply.  “Only recently have I returned to Tatuine and there’re too many things not to my liking.  The trustees of the central bank have seized control of the planet.  It’s them who maintain the rumor of Jubba being alive, and meanwhile anonymously rule in his name.  But this isn’t going to continue for long.”  Skywalker’s eyes flash. “My pupils will be ready soon.”  He points to the rest of the Jedi.  “Then we shall restore the justice our world’s been deprived of for so long.”

Scarlett’s wide-opened eyes are full of disbelief and confusion.  What she must be thinking – I don’t want to know.  I’m just doing my best to avoid them and fight tears, feeling all too well the rush of blood in my face.  Then everything is very sudden and very fast.  Skywalker forcefully yanks me toward him, the light saber in his other hand swinging over my head, meeting Scarlett’s blade in the middle of the ark.  I fall to my hands and knees in front of the still motionless Jedi knights, desperately struggling to focus the rising tide of the Pattern energies flooding my mind onto Scarlett’s sword.

 

There’re only two swords actually embedded with the Pattern, and therefore indestructible.  Grayswandir – the Night Blade, once wielded by Corwin, and Weirwindl – the Day Blade owned by my father.  Both are believed to be lost, but perhaps when all this is behind us and Dad’s the King, I shall search for the Day Blade.  Dad will most certainly let me keep it, and, as I’m not much for weapons, that’ll be my gift to Scarlett.  I don’t know anyone who deserves it more.  Also, it might somewhat compensate her for the little changes in the line of succession.  That’s if she ever finds out how close she really was.

 

Except for these two, a steel blade is no match for a light saber unless enforced with the strength of the Pattern, and that’s what I do, while Scarlett’s battling Skywalker on a strip of sand by the palace gate.  I saw what my cousin apparently didn’t – an energy bolt fired at me from the palace roof and Skywalker reacting with an incredible speed to deflect it with his saber.  But I don’t attempt to stop the fight.  I’m completely totally enraged, possessed by the boiling fury of a kind I’ve never experienced before, nor thought myself capable of.  All I’ve found in this pitiful Shadow is a complete failure!  What use of my impeccable logic when each and every premise’s been absolutely false, due to my ignorance and misunderstanding.  Bubba the Gut, uh?   Meanwhile some agent of some third-rate house has played me as a fool every step of the way…  Hell with this place!  Right or wrong I got to get out of here and to the Courts where things that really matter are.  So hell with the Jedi!  And if Darth Voor doesn’t show us the pathway when we’re through here, I shall kill him too… and very, very painfully.   

 

I slowly make it back to my feet.  The rest of the Jedi, whatever surprised they might be with Scarlett’s weapon’s performance, don’t interfere in the duel.  Doubtless they’ve full confidence in their leader, which I must admit is well deserved.  Clearly Scarlett’s met her match.  I keep channeling the Pattern’s power into her blade while the possibilities run through my mind.  If the rest are even half as fast as Skywalker is, there’s no way I can take them out in a hand to hand combat before one of them gets me with his light saber.  I can’t hope to disable these weapons, as I don’t understand the principles on which they function.  So I must get them all with one strike…  A plan takes shape in my head while I seemingly impassively watch the flight of hissing sparks when the tight beam of light guided by the mysterious Force meets the steel of Amber emanating the power of the Pattern.

 

There’s no such thing as a waterless inhabited world.  If there’s life, there’s water.  Deep in the ground, or what’s more important for me now, high in the air.  Spread over vast areas in small quantities, it never gets a chance to condense to the levels high enough to result in a rain… or a thunderstorm.  But if a chaotic movement of water particles could be replaced with the controlled one…  Scarlett’s swings are as fast as ever but I can feel she’s getting tired, unable to break through Skywalker’s defenses even once, though he doesn’t seem to have much success either.  Just a little bit longer…  A dark cloud, already forming on the horizon, glides on the wings of wind toward us…  And then both opponents lower their weapons equally astonished by a sight not seen on Tatuine for hundreds of years – a savage dance of lightning ripping the wall of a torrential rain.

 

Sandstorms are rather common on this world, so the Jedi, apparently having mistaking what was coming for one of those, weren’t particularly alarmed until too late.  They make no move to seek shelter.  They throw back their hoods exposing their faces to rain.  In flashes of lightning, I see those wet, bewildered, happy faces… of children.  There’s no time to think, of course, as a huge chain lightning slashes the sky toward them, but before any thought can form in my mind, my body leaps in the air, my hands gripping the lightning, as if the reigns of some cosmic horse I must stop, my outstretched arms absorbing the energy I’ve intended to kill them with…   And then, there’s much pain… and nothingness…

BACK                HOME               TABLE OF CONTENTS               NEXT