[Junior Jedi Knights] - 02(12)

“Anakin!” Tahiri gasped. Anakin leapt out of the water, grabbed a spear, and launched himself onto the reel. He stood on the creature’s slick body and tried to stab through its thick scales. With a sharp crack, his spear broke in two. The reel began to roll, bearing down on Tahiri. Anakin was tossed to the rocks. There are all kinds of strength, he thought as he got to his feet. He could see Tahiri’s face, barely visible within the snake’s coils. It was a face contorted with pain. Soon, the reel would crush her. Anakin closed his eyes. He reached out with the Force and pried into the snake’s body. The creature was cold-blooded, and Anakin immediately felt chilled. He felt the reel’s cartilage, its muscles, even the beating of the creature’s heart. He focused on the heart. Focused on slowing its beat. He felt the constricting coils begin to relax, to loosen.

Slower, slower, slower, he thought, until he opened his eyes, startled. The heart had stopped completely. Tahiri lay in the relaxed coils of the dead reel. Anakin climbed over rows of coils to his friend.

“Tahiri, are you all right?” he asked. Slowly Tahiri opened her eyes. She’d passed out from the grip of the snake. She stared at Anakin, not comprehending. Then her eyes grew wide and she let out a cry.

“It’s all right,” Anakin said as he helped her throw off a thick violet coil and stand up. “Are you okay?” 54

“Feels like one of my ribs might be cracked,” Tahiri said with a grimace of pain. “But other than that, I’m fine.” She gave Anakin a little smile. “How’d you get it to let me go?” she asked.

“My spear wasn’t any use, so I closed my eyes and used the Force,” Anakin explained. “I found its heart and focused on slowing it to weaken the snake. I guess I slowed it so much that it stopped, and the reel died.”

Anakin fell silent. He was surprised at his own power. Sannah walked up to the two Jedi candidates.

“I don’t understand how you defeated the reel, but we are thankful. Tonight,” she said with a grin at the dead snake at their feet, “we will all eat well.”

The thick shaft of sunlight that had glanced off the algae on the top of the pool began to fade. The rocks surrounding the cove of water darkened into a rich purple hue. Young Melodies still perched around the pool, rocks and spears in hand. Since the reel died, the cove had been quiet. One of the Melodies tied on a filter and slipped into the pool. “It is done,” he cried as he resurfaced.

The Melodies moved down from the rocks and gathered by the pool. The changelings surfaced one by one, still groggy from their metamorphosis. Hands pulled each from the waters, revealing shimmering tails striped with blue, green, purple, pink, and orange. The changelings were carried back into the tunnels of the mountain.

“Where are they taking them?” Tahiri worriedly asked Sannah.

“They have changed,” Sannah replied. “They are being taken to the crystal waters where the elders live. But we must move them quickly - they are still very weak and can’t be out of the water for too long.”

Anakin and Tahiri stood breathlessly at the edge of the pool. Lyric hadn’t emerged yet. Then Anakin saw Lyric’s bright red hair. She swam slowly to the side of the pool and allowed a group of Melodies to pull her from the waters. Her orange jumpsuit had disappeared, and her body was completely changed. Where her legs had been, a shimmering, multicolored fish tail now appeared. Several long gill slits lined her ribs, and her fingers were now completely attached by glistening pick webs. Lyric smiled weakly at her friends as they helped carry her through the mountain. The passageway they traveled wound up into the mountain. The Melodies carried the changelings carefully, half running through the steep tunnels. Then suddenly their pace slowed.

“Why are we stopping?” Anakin called out to the group in front of him.

“Raith,” was the frightened reply. Anakin and Tahiri gently put Lyric on the rocks, then raced past the group of Melodies in front of them. They ran down the tunnel, following the stricken cries of a male Melodie. As the tunnel veered left, they stopped short. The raith had already bitten one of the Melodies. The boy lay wounded, but alive. Now the foul creature crouched on its haunches, snarling at the female Melodie that had moved to stand between it and the boy it had wounded.

It was Sannah.

“Sannah, don’t move!” Anakin cried.

But his warning was too late. The giant black rodent gave a throaty growl and launched toward the young girl, teeth bared. She dove sideways, flipping in the air, and landed on her feet. The infuriated raith charged again. This time Sannah whirled sideways, spear raised. The sharp tip glanced off the raith’s flank, and it whined at the burning pain. But it wasn’t a mortal wound and the creature turned again, thick brown threads of drool flying from its jaws as it snarled at Sannah. When it charged again, Sannah leapt back, and the raith’s jagged teeth snapped on thin air. Then, using the split second the creature took to regain its balance, Sannah charged. Her spear ran straight through the belly of the raith. The massive black rodent fell dead at her feet.