• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

The animal’s embossed saddle was empty.

Barriss surfaced not far away, easily visible in the swirling tide because she was waving with her activated lightsaber. Kyakhta cursed violently. It struck Luminara that the Padawan was being carried downstream faster than the turgid current warranted. She pointed this out to Bulgan.

“It’s the gairks!” the despondent Alwari told her. “They’re dragging her away!”

Luminara’s expression twisted. “Dragging her? With what? They have no hands.”

By way of answer, the guide opened his mouth to form a wide, gaping O. Suddenly chilled by more than the river water, Luminara understood.

The instant he’d seen Barriss knocked off her mount and swept downstream, Anakin had gone in after her. He hadn’t thought about it. The action was entirely reflexive. He knew that if the circumstances had been reversed, she would now be the one swimming hard to catch up with him. When he saw that she was unaccountably receding away from him, he redoubled his stroke. He was a strong swimmer, having grown fond of the skill when he had been confined indoors during winter months. Before long he was close enough to exchange words.

“You okay?” he called out to her. “How are you, Barriss?”

“Wet,” she shot back. “Very—wet.”

“Can you swim with me to shore?” Raising a hand, he pointed to where the others were already beginning to emerge on the far bank.

“I’m afraid I can’t,” she told him. “This situation sucks.” At his look of incomprehension, she gestured downward with her free hand. “I mean literally.”

Taking a deep breath, he ducked under the surface. The crystal-clear water offered little in the way of obstruction to his vision. He saw her legs, kicking hard but driving her nowhere. Behind her in the water was a single gairk, mouth agape, gills expanded to the maximum. It was taking in water in a steady stream and expelling it through its gills as it applied suction to drag her steadily downstream. Bursting back to the surface, he gestured reassuringly.

“Hang on. I’ll take care of this.” Taking another deep breath, he dipped back down and swam straight toward the creature, ignoring her legs in passing.

It did not try to dodge. It didn’t have to, since he found himself intercepted in midwater. Looking back, he saw that not one but three of the creatures had taken up positions behind him. No two of the twisted maws were exactly alike, but when the three put their heads together, the differently shaped jaws fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. They were now applying suction to him—in unison. A fourth joined in. He felt himself being drawn inexorably back toward that unified dark maw. It now struck him, as it had Luminara, that they had no teeth. They didn’t need them. By joining their jaws together to create greater and greater amounts of suction, they literally inhaled their prey.

The technique was uncomplicated. Jolt travelers off larger, inconsumable crossers like the suubatars, get them in the water, drag them downstream away from help, and then ingest them at leisure. Only, he and Barriss were not helpless grass grazers. The need for air was becoming imperative. Kick as he might, he found himself unable to free himself from the force of that quadruple suction. What was it Obi-Wan had often told him? If you can’t defy the storm, go with it.

Turning, he kicked not away from his assailants, but directly toward them. Dark maws yawned expectantly. Lack of oxygen was beginning to blur his vision when he drew close enough to strike out with the lightsaber. As their flesh was parted, the four conjoined gairks separated, and the drag on his body evaporated. With the last remaining oxygen in his lungs, he kicked for the surface, breaking it with a gasp and sucking gratefully at the fresh air. Nearby, he saw Barriss swimming not for the nearby shore, but toward him.

“You all right?” she inquired. She seemed unjustly composed.

“I was coming,” he wheezed, wiping water from his face, “to rescue you.”

“I appreciate the gesture,” she