The Hunger

by John Whitman

  would have thought possible. A lifetime of hard living in the dismal climate

  of Dagobah had strengthened them until they were all muscle-thin and hard

  like wire cable. Zak and Tash had a hard time keeping up as they slogged

  their way through the mud.

  They were both concentrating so hard on keeping up with Galt and his

  companion that Zak almost missed it-a small figure, sitting serenely on a

  log, with a gentle smile on his face.

  "Yoda!" he called out.

  The two Children were so startled they nearly dropped Traut.

  "The imp!" Galt shouted in pure terror. "It's the imp! Run! He will

  kill us all!"

  CHAPTER 12

  Zak pointed at Yoda. "That's the imp you were talking about? But he's

  harmless. He's just-"

  "Run! Run!" Galt screamed. Still holding Traut, he and his companion

  bolted through the mist.

  "Wait!" Zak called.

  "You could not catch them," Yoda said gently. "They know the swamp too

  well."

  "So you are Yoda. Zak told us about you," Tash said. "I'm Tash."

  "Yes, you are," Yoda agreed.

  Zak wiped at his face where mud, or something worse, had stuck to his

  skin during the spider battle. "Are you really the imp that Galt has been

  talking about?" he asked.

  "Come with me," Yoda said. He hopped off his log and waddled away.

  Watching him move away this time, Zak sensed that Yoda was old. Very, very

  old.

  "Where are we going?" Tash asked.

  "Not far," Yoda said. "Just around this tree."

  Once again moving with surprising speed, the little creature

  disappeared around the bulk of a giant gnarltree. Zak and Tash hurried to

  catch up. As they rounded the tree trunk, they saw Yoda standing beneath a

  clump of its roots.

  Then they realized that they weren't tree roots.

  They were the legs of a giant spider.

  No, no, no! Zak thought. Galt was right. Yoda was evil. He had lured

  them into the spider's jaws.

  But the spider didn't attack.

  Even so, Zak didn't trust it. He backed away, and Tash followed his

  example. After they had taken a few steps, they stopped. The spider remained

  where it stood, and Yoda squatted beneath it, an amused twinkle in his eye.

  "Why isn't the spider attacking us?" Tash asked finally. "Or you?"

  "Why should it?" the little creature said.

  "The spiders attacked us before," Zak replied. He took a nervous step

  closer.

  "Because they thought you were food," Yoda said. Tash, too, edged

  forward.

  "What's different now?"

  Yoda spread his little hands. "I have taught them otherwise."

  Zak noticed something strange. The closer he got to Yoda, the more at

  ease he felt. It was like edging toward afire, except that instead of giving

  off heat, Yoda gave off a feeling of peacefulness and safety. Something told

  Zak that the giant spider was feeling exactly the same thing.

  "Will it bite?" he asked, still eyeing the spider nervously. "Is it

  poisonous?"

  Yoda chuckled to himself. "Still he worries! No, no poison in the

  spiders. Come, come! Time is short."

  Tash's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. Softly, she said, "You're a

  Jedi. A Jedi Master. I can feel it."

  Yoda's smile widened. "Your feelings serve you well."

  "But . . . But . ," she stammered, "there aren't any more Jedi!"

  "That will be true, if the Emperor has his way," Yoda replied. Then he

  shrugged. "We shall see."

  "What are you doing on Dagobah?" Zak asked. "Shouldn't you be helping

  the Rebellion?"

  "What would I do there that I do not do here?" Yoda asked.

  Zak was flabbergasted at the question. "You could help them fight! You

  could use the Force against the Emperor!"

  Yoda closed his eyes briefly and muttered to himself. "So young, this

  one." Then he opened his eyes. "I am here because you are here. You are here

  because I am here. I have something to give each of you."

  Zak felt his heart leap. Each of you. Yoda was a Jedi and he was going

  to give them each something. Not just Tash.

  "Tash," the Jedi said, "you must walk with me. You have searched long

  for answers to questions about the Force. Some you must learn in later

  years. But some will I answer for you now."

  Yoda summoned her forward.

  "And me?" Zak asked eagerly.

  Yoda paused, as if he'd forgotten something. Then he pointed to the

  ground, where a familiar bright yellow flower grew out of a clump of grass.

  "Zak, pick that flower."

  Zak drew back. "But that's a meat flower. I've already been bitten by

  one of those, and it hurts!"

  Yoda sighed. He shuffled forward and reached down, digging into the

  dirt around the meat flower until he'd freed the plant and a small patch of

  mud that surrounded its roots. He scooped it up, roots, soil, and all. It

  did not bite him.

  "Recently fed, has this," Yoda explained. "So it has no reason to

  bite."

  "But-"

  "The meat flower is like all things that live in the Force. It bites

  only to eat. It eats only to survive. This is your reminder." Yoda handed

  the meat flower to Zak.

  Bewildered, Zak accepted the flower, careful to keep the roots encased

  in their little globe of mud. Yoda kept staring at him, so, not knowing what

  to do, Zak carefully lowered the flower into the wide pocket of his trousers

  as though planting it there. He felt totally ridiculous, but Yoda nodded at

  him.

  "Good," the Jedi said. He turned away. "Tash, come."

  "Can't I come?" Zak asked.

  "No, no," Yoda said matter-of-factly. "Back to the village must you

  go."

  "What!" Zak squeaked, ashamed at how shrill his voice had suddenly

  become. "Why? I want to come with you!"

  "Because these words are not for your ears." Yoda turned back and gave

  him one more glance. "For everything there is a reason. Go to the village.

  Hurry home."

  Then Yoda tugged at Tash's sleeve and pulled her into the mist,

  chuckling quietly. Tash looked back over her shoulder at her brother. Her

  face was a mixture of wonder, confusion, and sympathy for Zak.

  It's not my fault, her expression seemed to say.

  Then she was gone.

  And Zak was alone.

  CHAPTER 13

  The walk back to the village was cold, wet, and miserable. Zak trudged

  forward, not caring where he stepped or what sort of creature crossed his

  path. He barely noticed when an armor-backed dragonsnake swam through a

  water channel half a meter from his feet. He walked right beneath the coils

  of a tree snake, its body as big around as both his legs.

  He felt crushed.

  Zak had thought he had some sort of connection with Yoda. When the Jedi

  Master had said they'd meet again, Zak had thought something special would

  happen. But all he'd done was serve as Yoda's errand boy, bringing Tash to

  meet him.

  Tash! She got everything. She got to be older. She got to be smarter.

  She got to use the Force.

  Feeling worthless and abandoned, Zak made his slow way back into the

  village.

>   Clomping unhappily into the collection of mud huts, Zak saw no one but

  the painfully thin Children huddled around a fire in the village center.

  Warm, pleasant smells cut through the rotten-wood odor of Dagobah, causing

  Zak's stomach to growl.

  He was very hungry.

  Galt stood up from the fire, where the pot of stew still bubbled. "Zak,

  are you all right?" he asked earnestly. "I was scared the imp had stolen you

  away."

  "He's not dangerous," Zak replied. "How is Traut?"

  "We put meat-flower grass on his wounds. He is resting."

  Zak sniffed the food smells. "For people who don't eat much, you've

  certainly had a lot to cook lately."

  Galt grinned. "We've been able to find food lately."

  "I guess we brought you good luck," Zak said absentmindedly.

  "Yes, you did." Galt handed Zak the bowl of stew he was holding. "Would

  you like some? It will make you healthy and strong."

  "Yeah, I'm starved." Zak took a bowl. His mouth was already watering.

  But then he handed it back. "In a minute. I want to check on Traut first."

  "He is resting," Galt said again.

  "I'll just look in on him quickly. He saved my life. Which hut?"

  Galt glared into the bowl of stew. "That one," he said at last,

  pointing to a hut across the village. Zak started toward it with Galt

  following him. "But he is sleeping."

  "I'll bet he is," Zak said as they reached the hut. "That bang on his

  head must have knocked him out."

  "And his arm," Galt added.

  Zak stopped in the doorway. "What about his arm?"

  Galt shook his head sadly. "The spider wound was very bad. There was

  nothing we could do for it."

  "What are you talking about? His arm was fine." Zak ducked his head and

  peered into the hut. In the gloom he could see Traut lying unconscious on a

  moss bed. The Children had pressed a wad of damp grass against his forehead

  to help the cut there heal, but that was hardly noticeable. What caught

  Zak's attention was a compress of rags, grass, and leaves that had been

  wrapped around the smuggler's left shoulder.

  Beneath the homemade bandages, Traut's left arm was missing.

  "We had to take it off," Galt sighed. "We had to do it before the

  spider's poison reached the rest of his body."

  Zak was horrified. "Spider . . . poison?"

  "It kills," Galt said. "We saved his life."

  Zak started to say that the spiders weren't poisonous Yoda had said

  so-but he held his tongue. He didn't want to have to explain Yoda to Galt.

  But why would Galt say the spiders were poisonous if they weren't?

  "Will you eat now?" Galt asked.

  The sight of poor Traut was enough to make Zak lose his appetite. But

  his body was still hungry. He felt as if he hadn't eaten in years. With his

  stomach growling, Zak allowed Galt to lead him to the open fire, where

  several of the Children were still huddled on the ground, licking the last

  drops of stew from crude bowls.

  The pot was almost empty, but Galt scooped the last helping of stew

  into the bowl. The bowl came out almost full, with chunks of meat and brown

  sauce dripping down the sides.

  Zak took the bowl and a wooden spoon. He sat down and stirred the stew,

  then brought up a spoonful and opened his mouth to savor the first bite.

  The spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.

  Then the spoon fell out of his trembling hand.

  In the center of the spoon, swimming in brown sauce, was a small metal

  circle. Liquid slid away from it, revealing its design.

  It was Traut's promise ring.

  CHAPTER 14

  Zak flung the bowl of stew away, its contents splattering across the

  ground. The Children shouted in horror at his wastefulness.

  "What is wrong with you?" Galt screeched, leaping to his feet. "That

  was the last bowl! Food is not to be wasted!"

  "Look!" Zak said, pointing and trying not to gag. The promise ring lay

  on the ground nearby. "How did that get into the stew?"

  Galt picked up the promise ring and wiped the sauce from it. "What is

  it?"

  "It's Traut's promise ring," Zak said, his stomach churning. "It was on

  his left hand-on the arm that you cut off. But how did it end up in my

  stew?"

  Galt blinked like a night creature caught in the sun. "I took it," he

  admitted. "When we had to take the arm off, I noticed the ring. I knew it

  was important, so I put it in my pocket. It must have fallen out just now

  when I served your stew."

  Zak had been standing next to Galt when he filled the bowl, and he

  hadn't seen anything fall into the pot.

  But how else could the ring have gotten in there?

  "What is the problem?" a calm voice asked. It was Hoole.

  The Shi'ido and the smugglers had just returned to the village. They

  were muddy and miserable, with frustrated frowns wrinkling their faces. They

  had spent the day looking for signs of Boba Fett but had found nothing.

  Platt's eyes brightened when she saw the cooking pot. "Hey, smells

  great! What's for lunch?"

  "Nothing now," Galt said. "It's all gone. But we could cook something

  else up for you." He nodded to two of the other Children, who trotted away.

  "That would be great," Platt said. "We're starved."

  Hoole glanced left and right. "Zak, where is Tash?"

  Zak grunted. "She's still out there with Yoda."

  The Shi'ido frowned. "You left your sister out in the swamp with a

  strange creature?"

  "And where are my men?" Platt asked.

  Quickly, Zak told them what had happened in the forest. But when he got

  to the part about Yoda, he did not mention that the little creature was a

  Jedi. Jedi Knights had been hunted down by the Empire, and Zak didn't want

  to reveal this one to a group of smugglers he barely knew.

  Platt wasn't interested in Yoda anyway. "I'd better go check on Traut."

  "Tash isn't in any danger, Uncle Hoole," Zak said after the smuggler

  was gone. "Yoda is-"

  "You don't know that," the Shi'ido said. "One person has already lost

  his life out there in the swamp, and another is wounded."

  "But she wanted to go with him. She had a good feeling about him, and

  she's always right."

  Hoole's face was dark. "Why didn't you at least stay with her?"

  Zak looked down at his feet. "They didn't want me to."

  "And you allowed that to separate you from your sister?"

  "But you said so yourself. She's always right about things like-"

  "Zak," his uncle interrupted. "Tash may have some connection with the

  Force, but she is only thirteen years old. I expect you to look out for

  her."

  "Me, look out for Tash?" Zak was taken aback. "But she's older, and

  she's got the Force, and-"

  "And you are quite capable of keeping her out of trouble, just as I

  would expect her to keep you out of trouble," the Shi'ido said irritably.

  "Zak, you must stop acting as though you are nothing but a tagalong."

  Zak didn't know what to say. He felt embarrassed that Hoole was

  scolding him. But he was also thrilled by what Hoole was saying. That he

  should take care of Tash. That he was capable. Zak was still struggling with

  his conflictin
g emotions when Platt returned to speak with Hoole. He barely

  heard their conversation.

  "How is your companion?" Hoole asked.

  "Alive, but barely," Platt said. "These Children used some local plants

  to stop the bleeding, but he's in shock. I would be too if I'd lost an arm

  and a leg."

  "I need your help, Platt," Hoole said. "I need you and your men to help

  me find my niece. She is still out in the swamp."

  "Let's go," Platt said.

  "Zak, stay here. Do not leave the village until I return," Hoole

  ordered, then turned and strode off with Platt.

  It was only as they departed that Zak realized what Platt had said.