[Junior Jedi Knights] - 02(19)

“Anakin, it’s not working!” Tahiri cried in terror.

The purella fixed her with gleaming orange eyes. It was poised to attack once again, jaws open wide, thick yellow saliva dripping in anticipation. Anakin stared beyond the creature, up into the recesses of the den. The rock above him was at least eight meters away.

“Use the Force to lift the web!” Anakin cried to Tahiri. He closed his eyes and focused on the energy field generated by all living things. Focused on the web, the air, the form of the purella, and his own body. In his mind he was one with the energy field, using it to cause the web to rise like an immense tidal wave. Anakin felt himself lifting, so high he imagined his body might smash into the rocks far above the web.

“Drop, now!” Anakin yelled to his friend. He pushed with his mind, and felt his body plummeting down, down, down, until he thought he might be swallowed up in the belly of the mountain. Anakin’s eyes flew open. He felt the web rising again from his and Tahiri’s efforts, falling and rising, and falling again. It was rebounding so quickly that his stomach rolled with nausea and his vision came in sharp flashes.

“Anakin, I think we did it!” Tahiri cried into the whirlwind. Anakin tore his eyes from the rocks above, which ebbed and flowed before his vision. A searing stab of fear shot through his belly. Where was the spider? Had she leapt safely from the web? Was she now calmly waiting on the walls of the den for the strands to stop rising? Then he saw her. The motion of the web had thrown the spider into the center of her own deadly snare. She’d landed on the bristles of her back, her red underbelly exposed to the air.

The creature writhed and twisted, trying to escape from the gumminess of her threads. As she struggled, the web wrapped around her spastic legs, tightening until their only movement came in twitches. Anakin could see one of the spider’s glowing orange eyes, and he didn’t have to use the Force to sense the creature’s rage. The web slowly came to rest, stuck to the lower rocks.

“We need to figure out a way to unstick ourselves,” Anakin said to Tahiri. Although they hadn’t become further ensnared in the web as it had rocked, both of them were still firmly glued down.

“Any ideas, Tahiri?” Anakin asked.

“How about this?” Tahiri said with a grin as she reached into her jumpsuit and pulled out her multitool. With a click, she snapped out the knife she’d used to cut down her trico filter. Using her free arm, she carefully began to cut around her body, and when she was free enough, she leaned over and began to cut through the thick strands around Anakin. Then she handed the blade to her friend so that he could cut around his other side, then lean back to cut the places around her body that she couldn’t reach without risking sticking herself on the web. It was slow, tricky work, but a half hour later, Anakin cut the last thread that held them in the web.

They dangled for a split second, then dropped the short distance to the rocks below. Anakin looked up at the purella. Her orange eyes glowered in rage, but she didn’t move. The spider was completely stuck in her own web.

“Let’s get out of here, Tahiri,” Anakin said softly.

The Jedi candidates climbed up the rocks and through the narrow crevice that the purella had carried them through earlier. As they left the spider’s dwelling, they were swallowed up by the darkness of the passageway. Tahiri reached through the gloom to find Anakin’s hand.

“Don’t worry,” Anakin said in the darkness, “I remember the way out.”

He gave Tahiri’s hand a squeeze, then led her through the steep tunnel. They walked softly, both worried that another purella might find them. But they managed to reach the top of the lower tunnel without encountering an orange-eyed predator. Still, they weren’t prepared for what awaited them as they rounded the corner.

Tahiri screamed as her body brushed against the thing at the top of the tunnel. It was warm, and alive, and she felt frustration and fear rise in her belly. Enough was enough; she was too tired and sore to defend herself against another attack.

“Don’t strike,” a soft voice cried. It was Sannah. She had returned to the lower tunnel. Sannah lit her trico torch, and Anakin and Tahiri saw the Melodie in its golden light. Her yellow eyes were large and scared.

“I couldn’t leave,” she began, nervously twisting her straight brown hair around pale fingers. “I had to know that you were all right.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Anakin said urgently.

Sannah nodded, then began to lead the Jedi candidates back to the middle passage of the mountain. She stopped once, frozen as she listened to the soft scratching of raith claws overhead. But the creatures didn’t sense the three children, and after the rodents had passed Sannah moved forward.