Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 13_ Trouble on Cloud City - Kevin J. Anderson [37]
The rider tossed Jacen the loose end of a sturdy rope that he had tied about his own waist. Jacen clutched the rope, trembling as the realization that he had almost died caught up with him. He gasped, but for a long moment could say nothing more than "Thank you."
Seeing Jacen secured on the back of his mount, the rider gave the harness a light snap and nudged the thranta with his knees. The creature took off with glee, soaring toward a white cloud bank far from the gleaming technological island of Cloud City, which was now only a silvery sparkle in the distant sky.
As he sweated and shuddered, just trying to catch his breath, Jacen pulled himself forward and held on to the skinny thranta rider by the waist. He was a young male, earless, with smooth skin that was painted or tattooed in swirling colors and patterns that made the thranta rider himself look like an optical illusion. The rider glanced over his bony shoulder at his unexpected passenger, smiling and flashing ebony teeth like polished gems.
" That's not a very good acrobatic routine you have, my friend," the thranta rider said. "You really shouldn't jump unless you know your mount will be there to catch you." The rider's voice was high-pitched and musical, in contrast with the roaring air around them.
"I... I didn't mean to jump," Jacen admitted, then heaved a huge sigh of relief His entire body shuddered. "We were ambushed by assassins.
My two friends managed to catch themselves on an antenna beneath Cloud City, but I couldn't hang on."
"Ambushed and fell," the thranta rider said. He nodded, his face pinched and sorrowful. "Yep. I've seen that before." He flew on without further explanation.
Jacen held on tightly, gradually regaining his composure, and finally he introduced himself "I suppose I should tell you whose life you saved. I'm Jacen. Jacen Solo."
The thranta rider said, "My name is M'kim. I practice with the sky rodeo troupe, but I'm not a full-fledged member of the performing team... yet."
The boy snapped the reins of the thranta, and it dove like a meteor, then pulled up into a sharp loop in the air. Jacen was afraid he'd fall, but the thranta circled, somersaulted, and became level again.
At any other time, he might have enjoyed the brief rush of exhilaration, but he'd already had enough thrills for one day.
" So most days I come out with my friend here." M'kim patted the solid fleshy side of the flying creature, and the thranta ducked and bobbed in the air, showing off. "Just to practice."
"Hey, I'm certainly impressed," Jacen said. He held on, and found he was actually enjoying himself as the thranta soared and danced. Life seemed so sweet and exhilarating after his long fall and near brush with death.
Suddenly he realized with a sick jolt that if Lowie and Tenel Ka had managed to rescue themselves under Cloud City, they would believe he had fallen to his death. He couldn't let his friends live with such grief a moment longer.
" I've got to get back," he said, shouting into M'kim's ear hole. "I need to let my friends know that I'm alive."
But the thranta rider set his face in a grim expression and flew on, arrowing deeper into the clouds below, and away from Cloud City.
"If I take you back too soon," M'kim said, "those who tried to kill you might still be waiting. Better for now to let them think you're dead."
"But that means everybody else thinks I'm dead too," Jacen said.
"And my friends may need my help."
The thranta soared through a layer of mist that slapped Jacen in the face; he spluttered in the cold moisture and smelled a strong chemical tang of gases that drifted up from