Han turned to her, flashed a weak smile. "I know," he called softly. "You love me. I've always known." He waved good-bye, and jogged off into the deeper shadows.

She heard his running footsteps for several moments after. Leia sat on the gra.s.s in the light from the doorway and wept. Chewbacca and Threepio came out; Chewie put a hairy paw on her shoulder. Leia waited for Threepio to say something. He always told comforting lies in desperate situations. But the droid remained silent.

Oh Luke, Leia thought. Luke, I need you.

Chapter 25.

As Luke's life drained away, a soft buzzing filled his ears. His muscles relaxed like never before. Overhead, rancors still tossed stones. He saw a blinding flash as one boulder hit an Imperial walker, and the machine split, giving off a fierce actinic glare as it burst.

Overhead, part of the mountain exploded outward, tearing away. Luke could see Nightsisters there, climbing the steep cliffs, halfway suspended by use of the Force, like great black arachnids dangling from their webs.

A sharp ache throbbed through his temples, and Luke turned to his side. A boulder dropped beside his arm, shattered, and distantly he could still hear screams and, mingled with them, Teneniel's voice.

"The Jai never die," she said. "Nature cherishes them. Nature."

A body fell beside him with a thud?the corpse of a clan sister, her metal helmet askew, the tiny gems and skulls bobbling. The sun was getting brighter, he noticed as he watched the dark red blood draining from her mouth.

Luke did not feel like he was dying so much as expanding. He could hear noises all around, minute digging sounds of some salamander scratching beneath the rocks, worms burrowing beneath his head, a bush scratching a rock as it tussled with the wind. Everywhere was life, everywhere he could feel it, see the light of the Force glowing around him, in the trees, in the rocks, in the warriors above him on the mountainside.

The salamander raised its head above the soil, and it glowed with luminous Force. h.e.l.lo, my little friend, Luke thought. The salamander had green skin and fierce little black eyes. It opened its mouth, and a white mist came out, stroked Luke as if it were a finger, and Luke understood that he was seeing Force, not just feeling it. A gift, the lizard whispered. This is a gift for you, and the gentle light stole over him, reinforced Luke's waning Force. Above him, the bush that scratched the rocks seemed to twist, and twigs of light bent down to cradle his head.

Here, here it is, the bush whispered. Life. A nearby rock glowed white, and on the distant plains, one of the Blue Desert People raised its head as it fed in the rushes by the river, and its red eye stared across the leagues. Friend, it said, offering support.

Luke seemed to hear Teneniel's words, "Nature cherishes them," and he did not know if he was subconsciously controlling the Force, or if the life around him actually sought to heal him, but he saw the Force all around him, and he grasped those threads more easily than he'd ever done before.

To control the Force, to use the Force, was not such a violent thing as he had imagined. It was everywhere, more abundant than rain or air, offering itself. He had hoped someday to become a Jedi Master, yet now realized that there were levels of control he had never envisioned, far beyond anything he had dreamed.

The sweet power stole through him, and he did not know if he commanded it, or it commanded him. He knew only that he felt something heal in his head as ruptured veins closed, and then the vision ended.

He lay for a long time with his eyes closed, unable to do more than breathe, and wait for the Force to strengthen him.

Leia called his name, and Luke's eyes snapped open. The sky was so magnificently black that it seemed a perfect night had fallen. There were no more chaotic sounds of battle. On the mountains, he could see lights, torchlights in the hands of villagers, and one person walking down the treacherous mountain path, torch in hand. He thought Leia must be up there. "Leia," he called. "Leia?"

On the mountainside, the torchbearer held the torch aloft, looked down over the cliff. "Luke?" Han called. "Luke, is that you?"

"Han," Luke called weakly. He lay back in the blackness, felt at his side for his lightsaber, mustered energy to thumb the switch, hoping Han would see its light.

Distant voices came to him indistinctly. Someone grabbed him, shook him.

A bright light shone in his eyes, and Han said, "Luke! Luke! You're alive! Hang on. Hang in there."

Han sat for a moment, holding Luke's hand, and Luke could feel Han's terror. "Listen, buddy," Han said. "I've got to go. Leia is waiting for you up top. Take care of her for me. Please, take care of her."

Han tried to pull away, and Luke could sense the terror and desperation that raged in him. "Han?" Luke said, grasping his wrist.

"I'm sorry, friend," Han said. "You're not in any shape to help me, this time." Han pulled away, and Luke felt as if he were swirling in darkness.

After what seemed an eternity, someone grabbed him, lifted him up. Luke managed to open his eyes, but could keep them open for only a moment. He was in the hands of peasants, a dozen rough peasants in simple leather tunics, torches held high. Han told them with deep concern, "Get him out of here! Carry him back up to the Millennium Falcon!"

The voices buzzed in his head, questioning. "Yeah, yeah, the Falcon, my s.p.a.ceship," Han said. "Take him there. I've got to go!"

Then the hands lifted Luke, and the peasants carried him, and Luke let himself rest.

Chapter 26.

In the uppermost chamber of the fortress, Isolder found the sensor array window just where he had set it. The corpses of the Nightsisters lay scattered on the floor, and either that or the total darkness set his nerves jangling.

He reached to pick up the window, heard a rustling in the corner, played his light in that direction and pulled his blaster in one fluid move. It was Teneniel Djo, sitting in the darkness. She glanced at him, then turned away. Her cheeks were wet from crying.

"Are you all right?" Isolder asked. "I mean, do you still feel weak? Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?"

"I'm fine," Teneniel said, voice rough. "Fine, I guess. So, you are about ready to leave?"

"Yes." Isolder directed the light away so that it would not shine in her eyes. He wasn't sure yet of Han's plans, but at this point about the only thing that made sense was for them all to bug out, get off this rock.

Teneniel had taken off her helm and exotic robes, wore only boots and a simple summer tunic of orange hide, similar to the one she'd worn when they first met. She looked out into the starless sky. The fires below had died down, but the villagers' flickering torchlights still cast a soft yellow-orange glow.

"I'm leaving, too," she said.

"Oh," Isolder asked, "where are you going?"

"Back to the desert," Teneniel said, "to meditate."

"I thought you wanted to stay here with your clan. I thought you were lonely."

Teneniel turned, and even in the faint light he could see the bruise on her cheek. "The clan sisters all agree," she said. "I've killed in anger, violated my oaths. So now I must cleanse myself, or risk becoming a Nightsister. I'll be banished. At the end of three years, if I still desire to come back, then they will accept me." She wrapped her arms around her knees.

Teneniel's hair was brushed out straight down her back, cascading in tiny waves. Isolder stood for a moment, not knowing if he should say good-bye, or offer her a word of comfort, or if he should just pick up the window and hurry back to the ship.

He sat beside her, patted her back. "Look," he said. "You are a very tough woman. You'll be all right." Yet his words felt hollow. What did she have to look forward to? In three days, the Hapan fleet would come here, blow Zsinj's forces all to h.e.l.l. But by then this world would pretty well be ice. At the very least, the summer crops would be ruined.

But Isolder expected that beyond that, ecosystems would collapse, whole species of plants and animals would die off. Even if the orbital nightcloak were knocked out in three days, this planet might never completely recover.

And, of course, there were the Nightsisters. Few of the Singing Mountain clan survived, and they would be no match against the Nightsisters.

Perhaps these thoughts were making their way through Teneniel's mind, too, for she breathed raggedly. Her lower lip trembled and she tried to hold back a sniffle.

"Look," Isolder said. "A Corellian stock light freighter like Han's can carry up to six pa.s.sengers. That means there's an empty bunk, if you want it."

"But where would I go?" Teneniel said.

"To all those stars out there," Isolder said. "Just pick one out of the sky and go there, if you want."

"I don't know what's out there," Teneniel said. "I wouldn't know where to go."

"You could come to Hapes, with me," Isolder said, and he knew even as he said it that he wanted nothing else. He gazed at her long hair, at her bare legs. At this moment, even with all the craziness and death on this world, nothing else that happened on this planet was more important than her pain. At this moment, even though he was nearly engaged to Leia, he craved nothing more or less than to put his arms around Teneniel.

Teneniel looked at him angrily, and her eyes flashed. "And if I came with you to Hapes, what would I come as? An oddity? The strange woman from backward Dathomir?"

"You could come as a bodyguard," Isolder said. "With the Force as your ally, you could . . ." Teneniel frowned at the thought. "Or you could come as an adviser, a trusted counselor," Isolder said, thinking frantically. "With your powers, you would be my greatest a.s.set. With the Force, you could penetrate the subtleties of my aunts' plots, frustrate their plans . . ." Isolder had not considered it before, but as he thought, he saw that indeed she would be a great a.s.set to his people. He needed her.

"And what else would I be?" Teneniel asked. "Your friend? Your lover?"

Isolder swallowed, knew what she wanted. On Hapes she would be considered a commoner, without a t.i.tle or inheritance. If he married her, there would be public humiliation, embarra.s.sment. He would have to relinquish his t.i.tle, let one of his murderous cousins take the throne. The welfare of the Hapan worlds hung on his decision.

He put his hand on her back, hugged her good-bye. "You've been a good friend," he said, then he remembered that by her law, he was still her slave, "and a good master. I wish you nothing but happiness."

He got up, retrieved the sensory array window, looked back. Teneniel sat watching him, and Isolder had the creepy sensation that she was looking through him, reading his thoughts.

"How can I be happy if you leave me?" Teneniel asked.

Isolder did not answer. He turned his back, began to walk away, and she said, "You've always been such a brave man. What will you think of yourself now, if you turn your back on the woman you love?"

He halted, wondering if she had read his mind or if she was just reading his emotions. Can you hear me? he asked silently, but she did not answer.

He thought of her long, naked legs; of the earthy smell of the hides she wore; of her copper eyes in a color unlike anything he'd seen among Hapan women; and of those full lips that he wanted to kiss so badly.

"Why don't you do it?" Teneniel asked.

"I can't," Isolder said, refusing to turn and look at her. "I don't know what you're trying to do to me. Get out of my mind!"

"I've done nothing," Teneniel said, her voice frank, innocent. "You're the one who has done it. You and I are connected. I should have realized that in the desert when I first saw you: I knew immediately that you had come to that spot looking for someone to love, just as I had. And I've felt the connection growing stronger for days. You can't fall in love with a witch of Dathomir without her knowing of it?not if she loves you in return."

"You don't understand," Isolder said. "If I tried to marry you, there would be public disapproval, repercussions. My cousins?" Isolder's blaster crunched in its holster and sparks flew from it. He looked down, saw it crushed into a ball, then looked up and saw the anger in Teneniel's eyes. A wind whipped through the room, tearing tapestries from the wall, lifting stones in a cyclone. The wind carried the stones and tapestries through the breach in the wall, sent them flying down over the cliffs.

"I'm not afraid of your cousins or public disapproval," Teneniel said.

"And I don't want your planets. Pick a neutral world for us if you like."

She got up, sauntered over to him, and stood before him, looking up into his eyes. Her breath whispered against his neck, and she leaned close to him. The very touch of her felt electric.

Isolder's heart pounded. "d.a.m.n you!" he whispered fiercely. "You're making a mess out of my life!"

Teneniel nodded. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him, and in that endless moment, he remembered being with his father at age nine, playing in a virgin ocean on Dreena, an uninhabited world in the Hapes cl.u.s.ter. And Teneniel's kiss seemed as clean as those pure waters, washing away his doubts and uncertainties.

He kissed her fiercely, backed away. "Let's go. We're in a hurry!"

Teneniel grabbed his right hand, as if to help hold the flashlight, and they ran together down the fortress stairs.

When the villagers brought Luke to Leia, she was sure he was dead. He had a ma.s.s of bruises beneath the eyes, a slash on his face where blood had dried. The peasants set him on the gra.s.s, beneath the Falcon's running lights, and Leia held his face in her hands.

He opened his eyes, smiled weakly. "Leia?" he coughed. "I heard you . . .

call me?"

"I?" she didn't want to worry him, wanted only to let him rest. "I'm all right."

"No," Luke said, "you're not. Where did Han go?"

"He turned himself in to Gethzerion," Leia said. "She was taking hostages, killing prisoners. He had to go. Zsinj will be picking him up in three hours."

"No!" Luke said, fighting to sit up. "I must stop her! That's why I came here!"

"You can't!" Leia pushed him back down as easily as if she were knocking over a child. "You're hurt. Rest now, rest! Live to fight another day."

"Let me rest, for three hours," Luke said, closing his eyes, breathing deeply. "Wake me in three hours."

"Just sleep," Leia said. "I'll wake you."

Luke's eyes snapped open, and he studied her face angrily. "Don't lie to me! You have no intention of waking me!"

Isolder came up from the front of the craft where he and Teneniel had been hurriedly trying to clean the dirt and gravel out of the sensor array. Isolder crouched down, with Teneniel at his back. "Hey, friend,"

Isolder said. "Leia's right. Take it easy. You're too weak to do much for us now."

Luke laid his head back, shut his eyes as if he could no longer stay awake, but his voice suddenly became strong and commanding. "Give me time. You don't know the power of the Force."

Isolder put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "I've seen it," he said. "I know."

"No! No, you don't," Luke said desperately, rising up with unexpected strength. "None of us do!" Luke sat up for a moment, fell back.

"Promise," he gasped. "Promise to wake me!"

Leia felt something, something in his words more than mere conviction?she felt something powerful in Luke, just under the surface, as if he were a raging fire. A new hope burned in her. "I'll wake you," Leia promised, and she stepped back, looked at Luke's battered form lying on the stretcher. She realized that she couldn't delude herself. Perhaps in a few days, a week, he really might be ready to battle Gethzerion.

Isolder put a blanket over Luke. "Teneniel and I can get him to a bunk."

Leia nodded. "Is the sensor array window back on?"

"Yes," Isolder said, "but I'm still having trouble with the long-range scanners."

Leia thought desperately. Everything in her cried out that she should go to rescue Han, but they didn't have enough time. If she used rancors, it would be a two-day trip. If they tried to fly the Falcon, even at top speed, they'd have a tough time making it more than halfway before the destroyers above homed in on their electronics and torpedoed the Falcon out of the sky. A thought struck her.

"Artoo, Threepio, come out here," Leia called into the ship.

Threepio hurried out. "Yes, Princess?how may I be of service?" Artoo rolled out, watching the edges of the gangplank with his electronic eye.