The Day of Reckoning(14)

“No, Obi-Wan, it was much more than you deserved,” Qui-Gon corrected. “I have come to see that my reaction was due to my own failings, not yours. I haven’t had a chance to tell you that. I -” Qui-Gon stopped suddenly. “He’s here,” he murmured.

Then Obi-Wan felt it, too. The disturbance in the Force was like a whisper of poison gas that snaked under a crack in the door and then filled the room. He stood and turned toward the door.

The durasteel door suddenly hissed open. Xanatos stood in the doorway. His black cloak was thrown back, his legs casually apart, his hands on his hips.

“Enjoying yourselves?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at them and smiling.

Qui-Gon faced him, not speaking.

“Ah, the silent treatment,” Xanatos said with a sigh. “And here I was hoping that we could have a chat. There’s not much time. Your punishment has been decided.”

“But we didn’t have a trial,” Qui-Gon said quietly.

“Oh, but you did,” Xanatos answered. “You were both considered too dangerous to attend.”

“We have the right to attend our own trial! That isn’t fair!” Obi-Wan exclaimed.

Xanatos shook his head. “Ah, I remember being that young. Back when I thought that life would treat me fairly. Before I met you, Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“Life does not treat you fairly or unfairly,” Qui-Gon said. “It merely is. It is up to each of us to be fair, or unfair.”

“It’s never too late for some great Jedi wisdom,” Xanatos said scornfully. “And it is always the same - nothing but riddles. Well, figure this out, Jedi - since you did not appear at your trial, I showed up in your place. I was the star witness against you. I had evidence of your crimes, records of the many worlds that brought charges against you, tales of the times you had escaped justice throughout the galaxy. And at last justice found you on Telos. It also helped that a grieving father was in the courtroom, distraught at the death of his son at the hands of your accomplice.” Xanatos gave a heavy sigh. “Poor Bruck. I always thought he just needed a little push to succeed. How was I to know that Obi-Wan Kenobi would deliver it?”

Xanatos raised one hand and then slapped it into his palm with a sharp crack. It was eerily close to the crack of Bruck’s head hitting the rocks below the waterfall. Obi-Wan tried not to wince. He would not give Xanatos that satisfac tion. But inside, he felt the shock of it. Helplessness and guilt swept over him as he recalled Bruck’s lifeless, unseeing gaze, the arm flung out as if in a last, desperate cry for help.

“The court may have listened to your lies,” Qui-Gon said quickly, sensing Obi-Wan’s distress and trying to deflect Xanatos. “But when the Temple learns -“

Xanatos laughed. “By the time the Temple learns of your fate, you will already be dead. That is your punishment, Jedi. You have been sentenced to death.”

Suddenly Xanatos leaned forward. His blue eyes burned like the hottest part of a flame. His pale skin seemed to tighten over his bones. His face looked like a skull with eyes of fire.

“And I will be there to watch you die,” he hissed in Qui-Gon’s face. Chapter 9

They did not get a chance to say another word, or call for help. Xanatos made sure that an entire troop of guards surrounded them. They were led through the prison corridors to the courtyard in front.

The sun was low in the sky. The two adjacent prison towers cast two long ominous shadows across the courtyard. A crowd filled the yard and spilled out into the street. When they saw the prisoners, they erupted in catcalls and jeers.

“They love the executions,” one of the guards murmured to the other.

Qui-Gon felt a sinister energy emanating from the crowd. Telos had never had public executions. Such displays were limited to more primitive worlds. What had happened to peaceful Telos? It only took one man to corrupt it, if that man was as sly and powerful as Xanatos.

Qui-Gon felt reassured by the presence of his lightsaber underneath his cloak. Still, he did not know when he would get a chance to use it.

A scaffold slowly rose on repulsorlifts until it floated high above the crowd. Two burly guards stood next to two durasteel hinged slabs. A chute ran from the slabs to the edge of the platform. Vibro-axes were leaning against the slabs. Qui-Gon saw in an instant how the execution would take place. He and Obi-Wan would be forced to lie on the slabs. They would be beheaded by the vibro-axes, the hinges would drop, and their heads would roll down the chute and come to rest facing the crowd.

It was gruesome, but quick.

Qui-Gon saw Obi-Wan swallow. For the first time, he was seriously worried. He had thought that at any moment an opportunity would come for them to escape. But how could they make their way through the crowd? Even if they could deal with the guards and Xanatos, the crowd would rise against them.