Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 10_ Jedi Bounty - Kevin J. Anderson [52]
"Remember how comfortable the tunnels were?"
Raynar said as they worked their way along the mountainside, trying to climb higher to safety, to the temperate zone. "The shade, the walls that were cool to the touch... the shadows, the air you could breathe.."
Jaina trudged ahead. "Sure. And Diversity Alliance soldiers hungry for our blood..."
"Well, that was one drawback," Raynar admit ted.
Jaina climbed up a rockface, along a cleft in the stones that provided some shade. She slipped briefly and, reaching out to steady herself, touched an outcropping exposed to the direct sunlight.
Jaina hissed in pain and snatched her fingers away. Red burn-welts sprouted on her skin.
"Working the mines is starting to sound like a vacation to me," she admitted. "We don't have any water out here, no food or protection....
" Raynar spoke in a whisper so he wouldn't have to inhale much of the hot air. "Maybe Lowie can still find us. You think he made it out in the Rock Dragon? You think Jacen is safe? And Tenel Ka?"
Jaina continued climbing upward, grimly seeking a cave or cleft that would offer them temporary shelter from the unending day's fire.
"We've had other plans that were a bit more successful," she said.
"I need to rest... just cool off for a little while," Raynat said.
Spying a crevice, Jaina ignited her lightsaber and hacked away at it, chopping out huge glassy lumps of stone. Raynar pulled the rocks aside to deepen the small alcove, to deepen the shadows.
Jaina's lips were chapped and dry. Her tongue felt thick and her throat was like sandpaper.
She was desperate for a drink, any kind of drink.
Dazzled by the brilliant sunlight, she fixed her eyes on the rock, daring to hope that she might accidentally break through to a natural spring in the mountainside.
The lightsaber sizzled as Jaina worked, shedding its eerie violet light into the alcove. Raynar helped until Jaina finally gave up, panting and shuddering with exhaustion. "Rest here--in shade--for a while," she gasped. Together, they crawled into their tiny shelter.
Raynar sighed. "It'll never get dark on this side of the planet. It always stays hot. Are you sure we can't just go back and surrender?"
"Absolutely not." Jaina fixed him with the most valiant stare she could muster. "We're Jedi Knights, Raynar. We'll think of something." She hunkered down against the rock wall of the new alcove. Even here in the shade, deeper in the rock, fingers of the throbbing heat reached toward them... but at least it was a few degrees cooler. "We'll wait here until we can figure out what to do."
Raynar sat next to her in silence.
Where the Diversity Alliance tunnels opened to the glaring sun ofRyloth, Hovrak stopped and paced. Many Twi'lek prisoners and defeated clan leaders had gone out this doorway, exiled to die in the Bright Lands.
But no one ever went out there voluntarily.
He had followed the stench of humans all the way here from where he had picked it up in the lower tunnels.
One of his lieutenants spoke. "Are you certain the humans came here, Adjutant Advisor?"
"Of course," Hovrak growled. "Can't you smell them?"
The scent of prey filled his nostrils, though blood still clogged his nose from where Tenel Ka had punched him the day before. Even injured, the wolfman could easily detect the stink of humans. They had fled out into the heat. They were fools to think they could survive in that environment.
One of the Talz guards spoke up next, his voice squeaking through the tiny mouth at the end of his proboscis. "They must have burned to death by now."
Hovrak bared his fangs and shook his furred head. "Others have made such erroneous assumptions but I will not be one of them. I won't be satisfied until I see their charred and dehydrated corpses frying in the sun.
The Adjutant Advisor gave an order and turned to stare out into the oppressive sunlight as his assistants scurried to follow his instructions.
Before long, several Diversity