[Junior Jedi Knights] - 03(16)

The dragon was rustling on the far side of the room. Now that he had Anakin, he didn’t seem to be in too much of a rush to eat him. Must be saving him for later, Tahiri thought with deadly calm. All the fear that had initially coursed through her veins had drained away. In its place, she felt the strength of the Force surging through her. There was no way she was going to allow the krayt dragon to hurt her friend. Anakin sensed Tahiri’s presence. He raised his face and peered into the darkness.

Slowly he rose to knees, then gained his feet. Tahiri stepped out of the shadows and moved to Anakin’s side. The side of his academy jumpsuit was drenched in blood, and Tahiri stifled a cry. Anakin grasped her hand tightly, and for a brief moment their eyes met. The look they exchanged was one of calm and resolve. They would fight this beast together.

The krayt dragon turned and rose on its hind feet. A thin screech rolled out. Its dinner was being threatened, and that made the reptile angry. Very angry. Slowly the dragon advanced on the Jedi candidates. And in a flash it had snatched Anakin and pinned him beneath its clawed feet.

“My voice didn’t work,” Anakin groaned to Tahiri.

“So we’ve got to try something else.” He stared into the razor teeth that; lined the creature ‘s jaws. “And soon, because its breath will kill me if its teeth don’t first.”

Tahiri stared desperately around the lair for a weapon. Her eyes stopped on a large boulder that jutted out on the far side of the room. Maybe I can distract him, she thought, and then we can try to run. Tahiri closed her eyes and focused on using the Force to pry the boulder loose.

Nothing happened.

“Any ideas?” Anakin gasped as the dragon stared down at him with hungry eyes.

“Believe and you succeed,” Tahiri murmured to herself as she continued concentrating on the rock. Moments later there was a thunderous crash.



The rancid breath of the reptile rolled over Anakin in hot waves. It opened its jaws wide, preparing to crush and consume him. Tahiri stood in the center of the dragon’s lair, her eyes closed. There was a thunderous crash behind the dragon, and clouds of dust and sand filled the room. The reptile whirled and raced toward the noise. It must think something is attacking from behind, Tahiri thought as she opened her eyes and watched. Anakin leapt to his feet and raced to Tahiri’s side.

“Run!” he cried as he tore toward the tunnel.

“No,” Tahiri called after her friend. “The dragon is too fast-it’ll just catch us and bring us back. We’ve got to stand and fight it.”

“But it’s too strong,” Anakin exclaimed.

“We can’t.”

The dust cleared, and Tahiri watched the dragon slither away from the boulder she’d dropped. The reptile turned back. to its prisoners, crimson eyes flashing that it would not let them get away. She noticed several large rocks lining the ceiling of the cave, only a few meters in front of where the dragon now stood.

“We have to trap it beneath those rocks,” Tahiri murmured. “Anakin, we’ve got to try to drop those boulders on it,” Tahiri said as she pointed to the outcropping of rocks. Anakin nodded, and the Jedi candidates began to focus. There wasn’t much time. Tahiri sensed that the dragon was about to dart forward.

She repeated part of the Jedi Code to herself: There is no try, only do. And, as the words faded away, so did her fear and frustration. Tahiri heard the boulders begin to move, a grating sound combined with dropping dust and pebbles. She opened her eyes and watched as the krayt dragon began to move forward.

“Now, Anakin!” Tahiri cried. “Drop them now!”

In a split second, five large boulders hurtled down through the air and landed with dull thuds on the krayt dragon’s tail. The reptile roared with frustration as it tried to reach the Jedi candidates. Its tail was firmly pinned beneath the boulders.

“Now let’s get out of here before the dragon gets those boulders off’ Anakin said,.

On their way out, Tahiri grabbed several abandoned canteens of water. Whoever had brought them into the dragon’s lair no longer needed them, and she and Anakin would need all the water they could find to cross the mesa region of the Wastes and the desert beyond, Tahiri thought. It took the night of their fourth day and all of the fifth to cross the mesa. They slept for two hours each during the hottest part of the day, one keeping watch, then the other.

Once, Tahiri spied a tribe of Raiders in the distance, but the group didn’t seem to notice them. By the evening of day five, Anakin and Tahiri reached the desert. They were almost out of water, now only taking small sips from the one battered green canteen they had left. Tahiri’s lips were cracked from the dryness, and her pale skin was red and burned from the harsh suns. Anakin’s gashes from the krayt dragon had stopped bleeding, but they had begun to fester, and infection had set in. He winced as he bent to put the water jug back in the pack.