Star Wars - Episode I Journal - Anakin Skywalker Read Online Free PDF

standing I would have been skewered. In a flash the dark figure jumped to the ground and ignited a lightsaber. A split second later he and Qui-Gon were exchanging earthshaking lightsaber blows.
    Even the worst Podrace was less scary and dangerous than this. I didn’t know who that dark warrior was, but he attacked Qui-Gon so viciously that the Jedi Knight could barely fend off the blows.
    This warrior was strange and evil-looking. Shaped like a Human’s, his face was covered with red and black markings. Short, pointed horns grew out of his head.
    Qui-Gon looked as if he was in trouble, but I knew there was no way I could help. He yelled at me to go to the ship and tell the others to take off.
    That I could do. I pushed myself off the sand and started to run. Right up the boarding ramp and through the Nubian’s hatch. Padmé and a man in a captain’s uniform were inside. I blurted out what was going on and what Qui-Gon had said.
    They hurried away toward the flight deck. I stayed near the hatch and watched the battle outside. Not that I could see much. Just the cloud of dust and the brilliant flashes of the lightsabers.
    As terrifying as it was, it also gave me a moment to wonder. I’d heard from the spacers who passed through Mos Espa that Jedi were the most powerful fighters in the galaxy. But that thing in the dark cloak seemed at least as strong as Qui-Gon. What could it possibly be?
    With a slight jolt, the Naboo spacecraft lifted off the ground. For a second I thought we were going to take off without Qui-Gon. But the ship rose only a few meters and then started to move… straight toward the battle.

    The ship turned slightly and I tried to watch the battle through the window. Meanwhile, the pilot was steering the ship toward them. The hatch was still open. I quickly understood the plan. They weren’t leaving Qui-Gon—they were going to pick him up! I just hoped they’d figured out how to do it without picking up that dark warrior, too.
    We were higher now. Maybe a half dozen meters from the ground. Suddenly Qui-Gon appeared out of the cloud of chaos beneath us! He’d jumped up to the ramp!
    But an instant later, the dark warrior appeared on the ramp, too!
    Qui-Gon swung his lightsaber as hard as he could at his attacker.
    Crack! The whole ship shuddered from the impact.
    I watched in amazement as the warrior fell back to the ground. He landed on his feet and glared up at us with the most evil yellow eyes I’d ever seen. Just the sight of them made me shiver.
    The hatch snapped shut. I barely had time to grab a handhold before the ship rocketed upward.
    I caught my breath and watched the sky change. Below us, Mos Espa was no larger than a sandbox and getting smaller all the time.
    Then the sky turned from blue to black and I was staring down at a bare, sand-colored planet. Beyond it glowed my familiar twin suns. Everywhere else, the sky was awash with sparkling stars.
    For the first time in my life, I was in space.

Eighth Entry
The Queen

    I could have stayed at that window staring out at the stars for a long time. But I was worried about Qui-Gon. The Jedi Knight had collapsed on the floor inside the hatch. Artoo-Detoo was already there. A young man I hadn’t seen before was there, too. One look at his clothes and lightsaber and I knew he was also a Jedi.
    Qui-Gon was breathing hard. His face was wet with sweat and streaked with dust and dirt. I asked if he was all right and he said he thought so, but I could see that he was shaken. The dark warrior had come as a complete surprise.
    The younger Jedi asked Qui-Gon what he thought the warrior was. Qui-Gon said he wasn’t sure, but that the warrior was well trained in the Jedi arts.
    That puzzled me. How could you be well trained in the Jedi arts and not be a Jedi? But even more confusing was what Qui-Gon said next—that he thought the warrior had come after the Queen.
    I asked Qui-Gon if he thought the dark warrior would follow our ship. He answered that we