Star Wars: Jedi Prince 2: The Lost City of the Jedi (4 page)

"What are you doing here, Baji?" Luke asked.

"A Ho’Din healer am I

May these plants never die

From them comes health

The only true wealth."

Baji held up the purple flower just beneath Luke’s nose. Luke cautiously took his hand away from his lightsaber and touched the flower. He took in its sweet, strong fragrance.

Baji explained:

"A Ho’Din healer never lies

Kibo plants cure the eyes

So rare and hard to find

For the blind man, so very kind."

Suddenly Luke noticed a silvery gleam of light shining from behind a shrub. It was something made of metal, and it was moving.

Could it be a weapon?

Luke leapt to his feet, drew out his lightsaber, and turned on its power. It was now a deadly, glowing sword, ready for battle.

"Come out from behind there, whoever you are!" Luke said.

There was the sound of crinkling leaves. Whoever was hiding in the brush was trying to crouch and keep out of sight.

"Show yourself," Luke said. "This is your last warning!"

A silver, boy-shaped droid instantly popped up from behind the bush. "This is highly irregular!" the droid exclaimed. "Do you always threaten innocent droids who are merely taking a walk in the forest?"

"Why are you spying on us?" Luke asked. "Who are you?"

"I’m not programmed to give out my name to strangers," the silver droid said.

"That’s just what I’d expect a spy to say," Luke replied.

A boy who seemed to be about twelve or thirteen poked his head up alongside the droid.

"Don’t blame Chip," the boy said. "I was the one who said we should come here. But I’m warning you, if you’re a soldier of the evil Empire, you’ll never take me alive!"

Luke grinned. "I’m not an Imperial soldier," he said. "I’ve probably fought more Imperial stormtroopers than you can count. What’s your name?"

"Ken," he replied.

"Ken what?"

The boy shrugged. "Just Ken. I was never given a last name by the droids."

"What droids?" Luke asked suspiciously.

"Chip, and the droids who live near my dome-house, of course," Ken said, touching the silvery crystal he wore around his neck. Then he squinted and looked Luke in the eye. "Do you always ask strangers so many questions?"

Ken brushed the leaves and thorns off his clothes and stepped out from behind the branches. Chip, whose feet were tangled in a vine, struggled to get free of the twisted plant.

"Here, let me help," Luke offered.

FWOOP!

With one quick stroke of his lightsaber, Luke cut the vine between Chip’s feet, setting the droid free. Then Luke returned the lightsaber to his belt.

"Thank you," Chip said. "That’s much better. But just in case you were wondering, I was about to get untangled all by myself."

"And now we’d appreciate it if you’d tell us your names," Ken said.

Baji spoke first:

"Baji is my name

From the planet Moltok I came."

"And I’m Commander Skywalker," Luke volunteered, "Jedi Knight and Alliance pilot, from Tatooine."

Ken’s mouth fell open in shock, his sparkling blue eyes gleaming with wonder.

He dropped down on one knee and bowed his head, as if he were a serf who expected to be knighted by a great king. "Commander Luke Skywalker," he said, "I can’t believe it. I thought it was you, but I said to myself no, it couldn’t be. This is the greatest honor of my life!"

"You’ve heard of me, then?" Luke said.

"Heard of you! I’ve studied you! I know almost everything you’ve ever done!"

Luke smiled and put his hands on his hips. "Really now? I don’t think even I remember everything I’ve ever done."

"Yoda was your Jedi Master!" Ken said. "And before you met Yoda, you learned about the Force from Obi-Wan Kenobi! And you saved your sister, Princess Leia, from Darth Vader, who was really your own father, who turned to the Dark Side when-"

Now it was Luke’s mouth that fell open in shock. Who was this boy?

"This is highly irregular," Chip interrupted. "Why just this morning, HC was correcting Ken’s homework, and Ken seemed to know almost nothing about you, Commander Skywalker. He thought you were the pilot of the Millennium Falcon, instead of Han Solo. But now that he’s run away from our underground home, he suddenly thinks he knows everything and doesn’t need his droid teachers anymore."

"Why have you run away from home?" Luke asked.

"You’d run away from home, too, if your only friends were droids."

Puzzled, Luke knitted his brows and put a hand on Ken’s shoulder. "The home that you ran away from, Ken-is it an underground city that was built long ago by Jedi Knights?"

But before Ken could answer, they heard a crunching noise in the forest. It was the sound of approaching footsteps.

Baji stepped back cautiously as Luke reached for his lightsaber again. Suddenly a very large and powerful-looking droid pushed aside some branches and walked toward them.

The droid’s body was white, and his radiant red eyes shone like rubies. His strong, dignified metal face even had a metal beard.

"Dee-Jay!" Ken exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He was so surprised, he accidently dropped his computer notebook to the ground.

"You have a great deal of explaining to do, young man!" Dee-Jay scolded. "The rules were made to protect you, to keep you safe until you are old enough."

The towering, white droid then turned to Chip. "And you, Chip," Dee-Jay continued. "You’ve broken my trust."

"I did my best to talk him out of coming Topworld," Chip explained timidly. "But he’s a disobedient boy, with a head as hard as stone. He never takes orders, you know."

"I’d be happy to take orders from Commander Skywalker," Ken said. He glanced at the last of the Jedi Knights. "Commander Skywalker, I want to sign up with the Alliance. Will you take me with you? I want to fly in starfighters, and fight the Empire, and-"

Before Ken could say anything more, and before Luke could reply, Dee-Jay raised his hands, releasing a foggy white smoke from his fingertips.

FWISHSHSHSH!

The smoke spread instantly, creating a thick, blinding mist.

Luke coughed as he breathed the white smoke and fanned the air with his hands. Rubbing his eyes, he strained to see. But he was enveloped in the misty cloud. Luke called out for Ken. But when the mist began to clear, Ken, Chip, and Dee-jay were gone.

"I’ve got to find Ken!" Luke exclaimed. He was convinced that Ken could show him how to find the Lost City of the Jedi that Obi-Wan Kenobi had spoken about in his dream. Luke now understood why the Force had led him to this spot.

Baji turned to Luke and spoke discouraging words:

"Jedi Knight

Your search is in vain

Gone they are

Deep into the forest of rain."

But Luke was determined to try to find out where they had gone. He began looking for a trail, for some hint of their path.

It wasn’t until Luke was out of sight that Baji discovered the computer notebook that Ken had dropped on the ground. He opened it. On the inside cover, the boy had written: This notebook belongs to Ken

Dome-house 12

South Jedi Lane

"Approaching the Null Zone, your Lordship," said Imperial Commodore Zuggs, the beady-eyed, bald officer who was piloting Trioculus’s Imperial strike cruiser.

"Keep the cruiser’s eye sensors tuned to look for Space Station Scardia," Trioculus ordered.

"Very well, sir," Commodore Zuggs replied.

Space Station Scardia was the cube-shaped distant outpost in the Null Zone where the Prophets of the Dark Side lived. At that very moment, inside the huge cube, Supreme Prophet Kadann awaited Trioculus’s arrival.

Wearing his glittering, flowing prophet’s robe, the black-bearded dwarf strolled slowly through one of Scardia’s many corridors, on his way to the Chamber of Dark Visions. He was calmly sipping his tea, boiling tea that would have scalded the tongue of any ordinary man.

Kadann’s tea was made from fungus-infested bark that came from the forest moon of Endor, where the furry Ewoks lived. Some said that it helped him dream of the future.

But Kadann’s prophecies didn’t always come from dreams. The inspiration for Kadann’s prophecies more often came from his secret network of very ruthless and efficient spies.

They dutifully brought him secret information. This outpost was, for all intents and purposes, the Imperial Bureau of Investigation.

Information from spies helped Kadann figure out what was likely to happen. And if his prophecies didn’t come true by themselves, then Kadann and the other Prophets of the Dark Side used their great influence to make them come true, using bribery, sabotage, and treachery-and sometimes even murder. In that way they kept their power and influence in the Empire.

When Trioculus and Grand Moff Hissa landed inside Space Station Scardia, they were met by a welcoming committee of Prophets of the Dark Side, including other dwarfs like Kadann, all the way up to High Prophet Jedgar, who was seven feet tall. The things they all seemed to have in common were their beards and gleaming black robes.

"Trioculus, Grand Moff Hissa, I trust that our worthy visitors suffered no ill effects from gamma radiation when you reached the Null Zone," High Prophet Jedgar inquired in a soothing voice. Jedgar always played the role of gracious host whenever anyone arrived at Space Station Scardia.

"There were no problems at all," Grand Moff Hissa replied. "Our ship is properly insulated from every form of radiation, including gamma rays."

The three eyes of Trioculus were greeted by the dazzling glitter of archaeological treasures gathered from all over the galaxy. Kadann’s vast collection of stolen valuables decorated every room and corridor of the space station, all arrayed in beautiful display cases.

"Is it true that Kadann has been collecting rare artifacts his entire life?" Grand Moff Hissa asked.

"Quite so," High Prophet Jedgar replied. "The baubles and trinkets in these display cases were gathered over a long span of years indeed."

High Prophet Jedgar turned and led Trioculus and Grand Moff Hissa to the Chamber of Dark Visions, where Kadann would receive them.

There they found Kadann up on a podium, seated on his ornate prophet’s chair. Even with the podium, Kadann was so short he still didn’t come up as high as Trioculus’s chin.

At Kadann’s side was a low table with many small balls resting on it. The balls seemed to be made of chalk, and each one was a different color.

"Dark Greetings, Slavelord Trioculus," Kadann said.

"Dreamer of Dark Dreams, Supreme Prophet of the Empire," Grand Moff Hissa began,

"Trioculus is no longer merely the Chief Slavelord of the spice mines of Kessel. The Central Committee of Grand Moffs recognizes the mighty Trioculus as the Empire’s one true leader-our new Emperor."

"And what does the mighty Trioculus want of me?" Kadann asked, though he already knew the answer.

"I’ve come to ask you for your dark blessing," Trioculus said. "As you once gave your dark blessing to my father, Emperor Palpatine."

Kadann picked up a yellow ball and held it in front of him. He closed his eyes and crushed the ball, which turned to powder in his hands.

Trioculus put his lips close to Grand Moff Hissa’s ear. "Yellow is the color of a lie,"

Trioculus said. "What have I said that he doesn’t believe?"

"That you are Emperor Palpatine’s son," Hissa whispered. "Kadann knows the truth."

"Emperor Palpatine’s son does not look like you," Kadann declared boldly.

Trioculus placed his hands carefully on his hips. "You call yourself Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, Kadann, and yet you don’t know that the Emperor fathered a son who was born with three eyes?"

"Since you ask, I shall tell you exactly what I know," Kadann said, in a forceful voice that showed not even a hint of fear. "The Emperor had a son he rejected from the day that son was born-a son he sensed might grow to become even more powerful in the Dark Side than he himself. And so he banished his son to the planet Kessel, where he was forced to work in the spice mines like a common slave." Kadann stared at Trioculus and smiled slyly.

"Yes, his son was born with three eyes. In that you are correct."

Trioculus nodded with satisfaction.

"But where were those three eyes?" Kadann asked. "One was here." Kadann pointed to his own right eye with his forefinger. "And one eye was here." He slowly moved his forefinger to his left eye. Then Kadann moved his finger behind his head. "And his third eye was here, at the back of his head. With his third eye, he could see his enemies from behind."

Trioculus, whose three eyes were all at the front of his face, scowled.

"And you were one of those enemies, Trioculus," Kadann added. "As Chief Slavelord, you had authority over him."

Kadann picked up the red ball and crushed it in his hands. A breeze gusted through the chamber and blew the red-colored chalk onto Trioculus’s clothes, staining them like blood.

"You seem to be accusing me of being a murderer," Trioculus said in a quiet but furious voice.

"Are you not?" Kadann replied in a very low voice. "Do you deny murdering Triclops, the Imperial royal son?"

Trioculus hissed beneath his breath and clenched his gloved right hand.

"Your Lordship, I beg you, remain calm," Grand Moff Hissa whispered to Trioculus. "Kadann knows many things. Whatever happens, don’t become angry, or you will fail the test."

Trioculus gnashed his teeth and squeezed both of his hands into tight fists.

"The truth," whispered Grand Moff Hissa very quietly. "You must tell him the absolute truth. I promise, Kadann will understand."

"I may be a murderer," Trioculus said to Kadann, "but I never killed Emperor Palpatine’s son."

"Are you saying that someone else killed him?" Kadann asked with a cagey smile.

"Obviously your spies haven’t done their job, Kadann," Trioculus said, frowning. "They are telling you lies and misinformation. Perhaps Triclops would be better off if he were dead, but for the moment, he is still alive."