Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 03_ The Lost Ones - Kevin J. Anderson [39]
He picked up the fallen glowrod and returned it to Tenel Ka. "Hey, are you all right?" She nodded curtly, and Jacen suspected that she was embarrassed at having been unable to handle a small flying rodent without his assistance.
As they resumed their search, he tried to get her mind off the incident.
"So, do you know why the bantha crossed the Dune Sea?"
"No," she said.
"To get to the other side!" He laughed out loud.
"Ah," Tenel Ka said, without even stopping to look at him. "Aha."
He had expected her to be subdued after the encounter with the winged rodent, but she continued at her usual pace. Jacen began to wonder if anything could penetrate her cool confidence. Though part of him admired her fortitude, another part wished that she had been more impressed by the way he'd gallantly come to her rescue.
At the next walkway, it was Jacen's turn to go first. The rickety bridgework was littered with the usual debris of rocks and plasteel. It creaked when he stepped out onto it, high above the ground.
"Be careful," Tenel Ka said from behind him, completely unnecessarily, as far as he was concerned.
"I think we're getting close to that old crashed shuttle," he said, choosing to ignore her remark. "I'm pretty sure it's just on the other-"
The walkway shuddered beneath him, and his heart gave a lurch as metal support struts sheared away with a shrieking noise. He grabbed the rusty rail.
"Hold still!" Tenel Ka called, but it was too late.
With a sound of popping bolts and twisting plasteel, the walkway sagged downward, split in the middle. As if in slow motion, Jacen watched large chunks fall away as the bridge floor beneath his feet tilted at a crazy angle.
A whizzing sounded in his ears, followed by a soft clank. He felt himself slide toward the deadly gap and he grasped the railing, but the corroded metal broke away in his hand. He yelled for help, reaching back for anything to hold on to-and felt a strong arm wrap around his waist, then found himself being swept forward. Almost before he realized what had happened, Tenel Ka had swung both of them across the chasm on her fibercord rope and deposited them onto a sturdy metal stairway on the opposite side.
With a creaking groan of protest, the remainder of the bridge gave way behind them and fell in ominous, eerie silence into the deep blackness below.
It wasn't until Tenel Ka released him that Jacen realized they had been clinging together for dear life. After what they had just been through, the metal stairway where Tenel Ka had anchored her rope seemed none too safe to Jacen. Nevertheless, the two young Jedi Knights stood in silence for a moment longer, staring down into the bottomless gap between the buildings.
"I guess we make a good team-always rescuing each other," Jacen said at last. "Thanks."
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and climbed down a few steps to a building entrance. Once inside, he sank to the floor in relief, reveling in its comparative solidity.
Tenel Ka lowered herself shakily beside him. In the dim light, her face looked troubled and serious. "I was afraid I might lose a friend."
You almost did, thought Jacen ruefully. But instead he said, "Hey, I'm not that easy to get rid of."
Although she did not smile, Tenel Ka's mood lightened. "This is a fact."
They came upon the crashed shuttle less than ten minutes after they resumed their search. When they saw it, they both spoke at once.
"Zekk's been here," Jacen said.
"Something is wrong," Tenel Ka said. Hearing her, Jacen realized that something was indeed wrong. Tenel Ka noticed his hesitation, and stepped forward. "It is my turn to go first. You may wait here, if you prefer."
"Not on your life," he shot back. "After all, I've got to stay close to you-just in case you need me to