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The cropland stretched ahead, seemingly forever. Jacen continued to run, finding it easier to pick his way around the burrowing detonators now. He saw some active ones shifting their positions underneath the soil.

Beyond, the thick forest looked like a goal line. If only they could get to the shelter of the trees, perhaps they could fight better than out in the open. But Jacen couldn't be sure. For now they were just running.

He couldn't imagine how the group could possibly turn aside all the knaars, even with five active lightsaber blades and assistance from the Millennium Falcon.

Two more explosions ripped the night, and Jacen was relieved to see that it was only more reptilian predators stumbling upon the explosives. He looked to one side and saw a bobbing metallic sphere.

Em Teedee had detached himself from Lowie's belt and drifted ahead on his microrepulsolets, flitting from side to side in front of the beasts like a remote practice drone.

One of the largest knaars lumbered forward, attracted by Lowie's molten-bronze lightsaber blade. The Wookiee stopped his headlong run and whirled to face the monster. The knaar charged forward, exposing its razor teeth.

Em Teedee flitted in front of the monster's jaws, distracting the creature so that it snapped at the silvery sphere and diverted its fiery gaze from Lowbacca. Lowie used the moment of distraction to strike sideways, severing the knaar's body at the waist; its head still twisted and snapped even though it had no body to move.

The surviving villagers kept running. Ahead of them, the forests loomed taller. Dozens and dozens of the saurian giants had been killed, but though the pack seemed to be thinning a bit, Jacen did not feel at all relieved. The Falcon circled by again, blasting away.

More of the monsters died. The people continued to stumble along on the haphazard path the young Jedi Knights picked for them through the booby-trapped field. Many villagers were in shock, just following, placing one foot in front of another, unable to fully face their peril.

Jacen sensed their fear and could only hope the situation would change once they entered the thick trees. "Hurry up. Get to the forest!" he shouted. With despairing sighs, the people nearest him tried to increase their pace, but they were too exhausted. Weak from malnutrition and years of living in fear for their lives, several of them stumbled and fell, only to be helped to their feet by their equally exhausted companions.

Jacen could tell that everyone's energy reserves were running out.

If they had to continue this battle, they would not make it much farther.

The Falcon swept overhead, strafing the oncoming monsters. Jaina and Anja fought behind the others, attacking more of the knaars. The air was filled with the snarls of the predators, the sizzling buzz of the lightsabers, and the despairing cries of the staggering villagers.

Then, to Jacen's surprise, the migratory knaars faltered in their advance, honking at each other uneasily. Many in the pack were covered with blood from their victims, both human and reptilian. But they all paused in their tracks as if unwilling to come any closer to the forest.

Jacen, sensing the monsters' hesitation, desperately tried to use his Jedi senses in another way. The knaars were at the edge of their territorial range. Jacen could feel that they had never come this far before, that the forests ahead were a great unknown, and that the predators had little desire to keep following. He sent out his thoughts, giving the knaars a vague feeling that they had come far enough, that they should turn and go home.

They smelled the blood in the air, dimly understood that a great many of their number had already died on this trek.

The knaars honked at each other in a rudimentary form of communication.

With sagging shoulders and trembling knees, the villagers turned to watch in shock as the predators ground to a halt, snapping sharp teeth into the air as if they had reached some invisible boundary.

Lowie gestured with his big hairy arms to keep