At this point, Obi-Wan was getting a little tired of bounty hunters.
Obi-Wan put his hand on Dane's back. "Stay down," he ordered him swiftly. "We will take care of this."
Dane nodded and covered Floria protectively with his own body.
Anakin's lightsaber blazed in his hand. Obi-Wan nodded and they raced toward the advancing droids, swinging their lightsabers to deflect the blaster bolts. They had to be careful. A stray bolt hit Dane, who was out in the open.
Anakin leaped toward the first droid. He cut it down in one stroke. Blaster bolts melted the snow around him, but Anakin was already twisting in midair to get out of the way. He landed in precisely the right spot to launch another attack.
He had factored in the icy skin on top of the snow, but his foot still slipped slightly. Anakin took a moment to get his balance. He had forgotten about the thermal detonators. Obi-Wan saw two balls whizzing toward Anakin. There was no time for him to reach the spot. He reached down and scooped up two large rocks. He threw one with each hand. Each rock flew unerringly toward its target, hitting the thermal detonators in midair, causing them to veer off course. They sailed by on either side of Anakin's head and fell twenty- five meters away. Too close.
Obi-Wan charged forward. The remaining two droids were trying to outflank the Jedi. He fanned out and Anakin did the same. Then they ran toward each other, each targeting a droid as they jumped, their lightsabers held high. The droids fell with a sizzle in two smoking piles into the snow.
Obi-Wan could see their attacker now. It was another bounty hunter. He was tall and lean and dressed in plastoid armor. Two harnesses were slung crosswise around his body, filled with a variety of weapons. Attached to his belt were more thermal detonators.
He flipped one toward the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Anakin could not deflect it with their lightsabers. They would not be able to get close enough. They had exactly six seconds to move out of the way.
Obi-wan reached for the cable line on his belt. He lassoed the detonator and jerked the line, sending it in the opposite direction, back toward the attacker. He saw the attacker bare his teeth in an admiring smile at the Jedi's skill even as he reached up to catch it in his bare hand. Then he flung it backward, where it detonated harmlessly.
The attacker did not have to move. His weapons could be launched from a distance. But Obi-Wan and Anakin had to maneuver through thick snow to get to him. Anakin had his cable line out and was ready to lasso the next detonator. Obi-Wan ran through the snow. The wind had formed deep drifts, and he had to use the Force to guide him. He used his lightsaber to melt the snow when it piled up against him.
The detonators flew toward them furiously. Occasionally they could hit one with a rock or lasso one. But mostly the two Jedi had to outrun them.
Obi-Wan's legs were beginning to tire from struggling against the snow. He could hear the rasp of Anakin's breath. How long could they keep this up? Obi-Wan wondered.
Beside the attacker, Obi-Wan saw steam rising from the snow. He caught a glint of water and realized it was a thermal spring.
"Anakin, head right," he called to his Padawan.
They moved silently to the attacker's right. Every time they moved, they brought him closer to the spring.
Ten detonators left on his belt. Obi-Wan took a chance and leaped, ducking to avoid a detonator headed his way. It exploded and he felt shock ways against his skin. He landed on the snow awkwardly and slid down the slope toward his attacker.
Anakin leaped in order to land in front of him, blocking his descent. Two detonators headed their way, and Obi-Wan lassoed one and sent it crashing into the other. The two smoking orbs fell into the deep snow.
"The thermal pool," he said to Anakin. "Drive him toward it."
Anakin nodded. He looked tired. Obi-Wan was, too. Yet he knew that beyond their fatigue lay their stamina.
When they were close enough, Obi-Wan risked a leap straight at their attacker. He knew he would cause him to back up, and the attacker did. He slid on the ice and fell back, crashing into the spring.
The attacker slipped beneath the surface of the water, then emerged, treading water. He shook the hair out of his eyes and gazes at Obi-Wan with a hostile look.
Obi-Wan stood at the edge. He held out a hand. "You have about ten seconds."
"Yes."
The attacker knew the extreme heat would cause a fusion reaction. The thermal detonators would blow.
His eyes were a vivid color between silver and lilac. There was a scar on his upper lip. His hair was long and tied back with a silver cord.
"Come on," Obi-Wan said, keeping his hand steady. We won't hurt you."
"Not you, but another," the bounty hunter said. "If I return to him without you, he will kill me anyway. I will have an easier death this way. You don't know his power. It comes from the pyramid itself."
"You don't have to return to him," Obi-Wan said.
"Ah. But he will find me." The bounty hunter closed his eyes.
Obi-Wan reached out over the water. "You must give up!"
"I cannot," the bounty hunter replied, his eyes still closed. "And I must tell you this — neither will he."
Obi-Wan leaped into the pool. But it was too late. The thermal detonators exploded. Water rose and hit Obi-Wan in the face. He choked and slipped beneath the water, then surfaced, struggling against the waves created by the explosion. Smoke rolled toward him.
The smoke cleared. Deep below the clear surface of the water, he saw the bounty hunter's body spiral down, down, to a bottomless pool beneath.
Chapter Fifteen
Anakin hurried over to the thermal pool. His Master had hauled himself out and stood at the edge. The steaming water pooled at his feet, melting the snow.
Through the smoke and the steam, he could see the sadness on his Master's face. The Force was strong here. His Master was reaching out to it and gathering it around, as though warming himself. Obi-Wan's gaze was far away.
"Master? Are you all right?"
"I am saying good-bye to a being I did not know," Obi-Wan said softly.
The reverence in his tone surprised Anakin. "He could have killed you."
"Yet he did not. There is always a need for grief when a being dies, Padawan. Qui-Gon taught me that." Obi-Wan looked down into the steaming pool. "I saw someone take his own life in a pool like this one. It was Xanatos, Qui-Gon's greatest enemy. A being who hated Qui-Gon and who would stop at nothing to destroy him. Still, when he took his own life, Qui-Gon stopped to mourn his life's passing. I will never forget it."
Anakin nodded, though he did not understand. His greatest enemy so far in his life had been a slave trafficker named Krayn. When he had died, Anakin had not paused to mourn. Far from it. He had rejoiced in his death. It could only be good for the galaxy that such a terrible being had ceased to exist.
Something to meditate on in my next session, he thought. I'll add it to the list. The difference between Anakin's thoughts and Obi-Wan's lessons was sometimes more than he wanted to examine. It was a struggle to reconcile them.