[Junior Jedi Knights] - 01(15)

But just as he was about to be caught by a wave he was yanked hard from behind. Artoo had grabbed the back of Anakin’s orange jumpsuit with his metal hand and pulled him to safety.

Anakin then grasped one of Tahiri’s hands and dragged her into the raft. He turned to Artoo.

“Thanks,” he said softly. Artoo bleeped.

Anakin grabbed his paddle and began to furiously stroke. Tahiri lay in the bottom of the raft.

“Anakin,” she said with wonder, “you used the Force to get me to float and to give me the strength I needed to thrash my way to the raft. I was ready to give up, but your voice wouldn’t let me.”

Anakin gave his friend a smile. Then he turned back to the river.

“We’re almost at the shore,” Anakin said. “Tahiri, we’re going to have to jump out of the raft. The river is going too fast. There’s no way I can get the raft to stop.”

Tahiri sat up.

“What about Artoo?” she asked. “He can’t leap into the river.”

“We’ll have to do what we did in class the other day,” Anakin said. “After we jump I’ll think about him being light, and you try to lift him.”

There was no time to talk about it.

“Okay, it’s time,” Anakin said as their raft raced by the side of the river. “Jump!”

Both students landed hard on the bank of the river and then rolled to a stop.

“Now Artoo,” Anakin yelled to Tahiri. The droid was still on the raft. He was being swept quickly down the river. Anakin and Tahiri concentrated. Artoo floated in the air toward them. Suddenly he dropped in the water.

“Oops,” Tahiri muttered. Then she closed her eyes and focused. Moments later Artoo landed safely beside the two students. Both Anakin and Tahiri stared down the river as their silver raft continued to race along the waters.

“Guess we’re not rafting back to the academy,” Tahiri said under her breath. It had begun to rain-not just to rain, but to pour. “We’ve got to find some shelter,” Tahiri said to Anakin.

The three raced into the jungle in search of a place to hide from the storm. The weather was getting worse. The wind was so strong that it almost carried Tahiri away, and she had to wrap her arms around the trunk of a Massassi tree every time it blew.

“There’s nowhere to hide!” Tahiri cried.

Anakin grabbed his friend’s hand and pulled her deeper into the jungle. They were surrounded by Massassi trees, climbing ferns, and large, deep pink flowers. Jungle animals, their fur blue and gold, raced across the floor of the jungle. They must be the woolamanders that Jacen described to me, Anakin thought. But they usually lived in the tops of the Massassi trees, he remembered. Anakin guessed that the storm had brought the animals to the ground, that the woolamanders were looking for a safe place to hide too.

“Are those animals dangerous?” Tahiri asked her friend as they ran through the jungle.

“I think they’re called woolamanders, and if I remember right my brother said that they only eat plants,” Anakin shouted.

They saw hundreds of woolamanders as they ran. Several times the two friends had to stop to wait for Artoo, who kept getting caught on roots and shrubs. Meanwhile the storm was getting worse. If they didn’t find shelter soon they would be in real trouble.

“Hey, Tahiri! Look over there,” Anakin said. Tahiri saw the outline of a building. They ran through the jungle until they reached it. It looked kind of like the Great Temple, but much smaller. And it was in ruins.

“I think this is one of the structures that was built by the Massassi people,” Anakin said.

“Who are they?” Tahiri asked.

“They were a race who used to live on this planet,” Anakin explained. “They disappeared thousands of years ago.”

“Well, then they won’t mind if we go inside,” Tahiri giggled.

They ran to the palace. Anakin stopped outside the door to the crumbling building. High above him were dark letters carved into the tan stone. The letters were not Basic.

“I wonder what those symbols mean,” he said.

“Who cares-let’s get inside,” Tahiri yelled. Artoo bleeped in agreement, and the three headed through the doorway. Inside the palace it was dark. Tahiri heard the clicks of hundreds of scurrying feet.

“Anakin, do you hear that?” she whispered. Anakin pushed his wet hair out of his eyes and tried to see in the darkness.

“I hear it, but I can’t see anything,” he replied.

With a beep and a click, Artoo lit up the room with a beam of light.

“I knew there was a reason we brought him along,” Tahiri said. They stared around the room. Thousands of tiny black eyes stared back. Woolamanders were everywhere!