Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 05_ Darkest Knight - Kevin J. Anderson [44]
Beside him, Sirra also sniffed the air and spotted the deadly plant. She growled in anticipation, her patchwork-shaved fur standing on end. But Lowie put a hand on her arm, shook his head, then gripped her arm @y.
He could tell his sister wanted to secure the precious syren fibers and prove her bravery as soon as possible.
Sirra groaned in disappointment, but she clearly understood. their priorities. Behind them, several levels up, the pursuing stormtroopers fired again, this time at some large creature crashing through the tree levels.
Far too dangerous. The Imperials were too close.
With a growl Sirra took the lead, and Lowie guided his friends behind her.
As she raced through the morass of branches, ducking her head to keep her red-gold braids from snagging on thorns or low-hanging limbs, Tenel Ka reveled in the calisthenics that pushed her body to its limits. But she would have preferred to do it without the threat of sudden death from the blaster of a stormtrooper.
Her reptilian armor covered only her torso, leaving her limbs unprotected from scratches and insect bites-but she did not allow such minor inconveniences to bother her.
As the companions ran deeper into the forest, Tenel Ka took care to maintain her balance and watched out for her friend Jacen.
Though he was highly skilled in sensing strange life-forms, Jacen was not as physically capable as she was. This was the chase.
The hunt. Here she was in her element.
But at the moment Terrel Ka was not the stalker, but the prey.
Her reflexes were sharpened by her inability to see through the forest shadows. Her lightsaber could have lit the way, but she didn't dare ignite it for fear of drawing attention to their position. At the moment her focus had to be on simply running.
All around, she detected looming dangers that grew worse, more foreboding, as they leapt from one level to the next, descending into thicker and thicker primeval wilderness.
Tenel Ka sensed that the two Wookiees felt the increasing threat; Lowie and Sirra moved more cautiously, supporting each other as they used their night vision to choose a path.
At a broad, open intersection of wide branches, the Wookiees paused, panting for breath. Jacen slumped beside Tenel Ka, utterly exhausted. The knew they couldn't y stop for long.
During the brief rest, Tenel Ka remained standing. She turned in a slow circle, granitegray eyes narrowed, sharply attentive for movement, for predators lurking in the surrounding trees. Her Jedi senses detected no dangerous animals, only a tingling underlying threat that grew more and more powerful.
Just then, a leathery plant tentacle wrappedquickly around Tenel Ka's waist and drew itself snug. Thin thorns dug into her flesh through her reptilian armor. She cried out-and suddenly the air around them came alive with whipping, writhing vines from above.
Both Wookiees howled and thrashed. Jacen yelped. The thorny vines yanked him into the air, legs kicking, hands flailing. In an instant Tenel Ka snatched out her lightsaber andignoring the threat of revealing their position to the stormtroopers-ignited the glowing turquoise blade. Her arm swept sideways, severing the vines that grasped her waist.
Jacen yelled again and managed to get his lightsaber out, too. Swinging it above his head, he slashed through the vicious plant stems with a sizzling, wet sound. The spicy smell of burned sap cascaded into the air.
Lowbacca roared and ignited his Jedi weapon, striking left and right with the molten bronze blade. Hungry tentacles snaked toward him, eager to pull the Wookiee upward to where the knotted cluster of vines came together in a cavernous opening that emitted.a sound like rocks grinding together, a slavering gullet ready to smash them into digestible pieces.
Two of the vines caught Sirrakuk and wrapped themselves tightly around her arms.
She bared her Wookiee fangs and, bunching her powerful muscles, ripped