Into the Void: Star Wars (Dawn of the Jedi) Read Online Free PDF Page B

realizes that he is also afraid, and she feels
     a rush of protectiveness.
    “The splashing of water can sometimes smother their song.”
    “Really?”
    “Don’t you listen in
any
of our lessons?” She grabs Dal’s hand and tugs, but already his eyes have taken on
     a hazy sheen, the corners of his mouth lifting in a lazy smile. “Dal!”
    “I’m fine.…”
    A single hook hawk drifts down, slow and casual, still singing as it aims its claws
     for Dal’s eyes.
    Lanoree punches wildly, and in her panic she feels the Force flailing within her.
     It is against everything she has learned, but she does not have time to berate herself—her
     fist ruffles feathers, and she feels the cool kiss of the hawk’s claws across her
     knuckles.
    It screeches in anger as it flaps back, and in that moment she manages to calm, focus,
     and flow with the Force.
    When the bird swoops down once more and turns its beak toward her eyes, Lanoree reaches
     out and Force-slaps it aside. This time her hand hardly touches the creature, barely
     a kiss of feathers across her fingertips. But the impact is much greater. Bones crackle,
     and with a single weak cry its body disappears into some undergrowth, leaving only
     a few feathers dancing on the air.
    “Come on!” she says, dragging Dal with her.
    The hook hawks are still singing, and their voices silence the rest of the forest.
     A cool cascade, a pleasing symphony, and though Lanoree tries to close herself to
     their influence she can feel a distance growingaround her. She is dragging Dal along, and when he trips and falls, his hand is jerked
     from hers.
    She turns back, and her brother is lying on his back, smiling up at the Stark Forests’
     canopy. They will never reach the stream in time. The hook hawks are coming close.
     This is all on her.
    Lanoree feels like screaming in fury and fear, but instead she finds serenity and
     balance. She draws her consciousness inward and crouches, breathing deeply. Perhaps
     the hook hawks see this as her succumbing to their charms. But they could not be more
     wrong. As the first of the birds swoop, Lanoree stands and sends an air-splitting
     Force punch their way. Two creatures are knocked from the sky with broken wings and
     ruptured innards, and a third is smashed into a tree trunk in an explosion of feathers.
     The surviving birds change their song to one of panic, and fly up through the canopy
     and away.
    Lanoree smiles at Dal, who is still shaking with fear. His eyes are distant.
    “But they were so …” he says.
    “Beautiful? A trick. They’d find beauty in your flowing blood and open flesh.” Pleased
     that she has protected them, yet wary of pride, Lanoree helps Dal stand.
    “Your hand,” he says. It is bleeding. He tends his sister’s wound silently, dripping
     in medicines from his rucksack that will clean the talon cuts. Then he wraps her hand
     in a bandage. All the while, Lanoree listens for a return of the hook hawks, and a
     small part of her
wants
them to come back. Her heart is beating fast, and she delights in her success. But
     the birds have finished hunting for the day.
    Dal leads the way through the diminishing forest, and as dusk starts to fall they
     see the sparse desert landscape visible on the horizon. The edge of the forest leads
     down a gentle hillside, and the boundary between forest and desert is a gradual lessening
     of undergrowth, a greater spread of creeping sand. They pause for a while, filling
     their water canteens.
    And as they move out into the desert they are cocooned within a deep, encompassing
     silence.
    Lanoree speaks her own name, and feels it only as a vibration in her chest and jaw.
     It is as if the desert does not wish to hear. She looks atDal and he is wide-eyed and afraid, and Lanoree thinks,
I have already saved him once
. Pride swells once again. She tries to push it down, because pride is distracting.
    That first night they camp on the cooling sands. They have eaten and are