[Galaxy Of Fear] - 11(17)

She paused. Going back through the ruins was out of the question. What about going around? That would take too much time.

That only left one direction: forward.

At least, Tash thought, I know where I can find some help.

As fast as her feet would carry her, she ran for the Dantari camp.

The camp was in shambles.

Tents had collapsed. Cooking pots had been overturned, contents spilled on the dusty ground. Near the center of the camp one of the Dantari had set up a wooden frame, a drying rack for animal skins. Now it lay broken, shattered in several pieces as though trampled by a panicked crowd.

There was not a single Dantari in sight.

“Hello?” Tash called out. But it was useless. There was no place to hide on the open prairie. If anyone had been around, she would have seen them.

“What happened here?” she said out loud.

Nearby, a flock of startled fabools flapped their way heavily into the air. Otherwise, there was no sound.

Tash had once watched some Dantari on a hunting party. She remembered how they tracked their quarry by its footprints, studying the tracks of various animals until they had chosen the one they wanted, then figuring out in which direction it had gone. She looked down at the ground, trying to study the footprints. At first it seemed useless. There were dozens, maybe hundreds, of prints of bare feet crisscrossing each other. That would be the Dantari. She spotted a few of her own, and the print of a boot she guessed was Zak’s.

Then she spotted another bootprint. This one was much larger, at least the size of someone like Uncle Hoole. But Hoole didn’t wear boots, which meant someone else had been in the camp.

One of the Rebels?

Tash walked around, looking for more clues, but found nothing. She could make no sense of what happened. She was still walking around, staring at the ground, when a huge figure rose up out of the grass in front of her. She stifled a cry.

It was Maga.

The Dantari pointed a thick finger at Tash. “You are to blame!”





CHAPTER 11


Tash was too exhausted and bewildered to respond. She had no idea what Maga meant. All she knew was that he had tried to kill her-or at least he had hoped she would become lost or injured in the Jedi ruins. Since then, her entire world seemed to have turned upside down. Tash wanted to scream and yell at Maga.

She held back. She knew it wouldn’t do any good. Maga would not understand. Besides, there was a wild look in his eyes and she didn’t want him to become violent.

As calmly as she could, she said, “What are you talking about?”

“You came here!” Maga thundered. “You brought the other humans. You brought the man with no face!” Man with no face? What was Maga talking about? She wanted to sit down in the dust and cry, but she couldn’t. She had to stay focused.

“I haven’t been back to camp since I went into the ruins, Maga,” she said firmly.

“You lie. With my own eyes I saw you. You brought the man with no face. The elders welcomed him because he was with you. Then he took them all prisoner!”

Tash swallowed. “Someone took all the Dantari prisoner?”

“Your friends! The other humans and the dark man with no face.”

Tash groaned. If Maga said that one more time she was going to scream.

“It wasn’t me, I swear,” she said as calmly as she could. “Maga, you told Zak there was something strange about those Jedi ruins.”

“The place of fallen rocks,” the Dantari said.

“Right, the place of fallen rocks,” she agreed. “Well, things have been strange ever since we went in there. I was attacked by someone who looks just like me. That must be the person who helped kidnap your people.” She blinked. “Why weren’t you captured?”

Maga scoffed. “I am the garoo, wise man of my people. It is my job to know things. I did not trust the others from the beginning. But no one would listen to me. They believed only you.” He spat that last word like a curse.

“It wasn’t me,” Tash repeated. Her voice was almost a whisper.

Once, in school, Tash had been accused of cheating on an exam. She knew she was innocent, but her teacher had been so sure of her guilt that Tash had almost begun to doubt herself.

She had that feeling again now, only it was worse, because someone who looked like her actually was committing these acts.

Tash felt a pang of guilt. Even if her mysterious evil twin was causing the trouble, Tash knew she was partly to blame. Because of Tash and her uncle, the Dantari had stopped respecting their tribal wise man.

“When the elders would not hear my warning, I left camp in anger,” Maga explained. “Then I saw the strangers attack. The dark man with no face, he had power. Greater than a garoo. Greater than you or Hoole. He captured many.”