Path to War (The Chosen Twins Book #2)

Chapter 6 - Through the Sky

Anakin Skywalker

We sprint into the room just in time to hear Artoo shrieking a warning of the danger, as he shines a small spotlight onto the bed. Two small poisonous centipede-like creatures are crawling up the blankets towards Padme.

Leaping across the room, I ignite my lightsaber, cutting through the two creatures barely in time.

"Droid!" cries Obi-Wan suddenly. I spin around to see him running for the window, where a droid is hovering right outside, clearly the culprit for the creatures being here. He promptly jumps right through the window, taking the blinds and all the glass with him, and grabs ahold of it.

"You could have used the Force, you know!" Aniya shouts after him as the droid, dropping slightly from the weight holding onto it, zooms off into the night sky, disappearing from sight of the window. This is not good. I need to get out there fast. Before he ends up falling to his death.

"Stay here," I command Padme, "Watch her, Artoo!" Aniya and I race for the door, nearly colliding with Dorme, Captain Typho, and several other guards as they run into the room.

"See to her!" Aniya hollers over her shoulder as we dart around them and take off running again. There's a sudden crash behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to see Aniya face planting on the floor. She must have knocked herself off her feet while running too fast. Still clumsy sometimes, just like ten years ago. I guess some things never change, even when you're a Jedi. I just hope she's alright. Clearly, her injuries earlier are far more major than she let on. Not that I'm surprised.

I keep on running, not bothering to wait. She can catch up to me. Getting outside is more important. It's hardly any time before I reach the landing doc where there is a large assortment of speeders. But it's not nearly fast enough. Obi-Wan could be anywhere by now, and he's practically defenses up there since he has to use both hands to hold onto the droid. As I'm scrambling into the first open speeder I can find, Aniya Force-jumps across the platform, gracefully landing in the passenger side of the speeder and sitting down.

The second she's safely inside, I fire up the engine and zoom into the air in pursuit. "Where's Obi-Wan going to sit?" I object, looking at her. Maybe I should have gotten a speeder that could hold more than two people, but this was the closest one in sight that would actually work.

"I don't know. I was hoping you'd have something in mind," Aniya replies. As we fly through the traffic, I reach out for Obi-Wan's Force presence. He should be somewhere right around here, though I can't see him.

"You'll have to sit in his lap," I decide with a smirk as I increase the speed, swerving in between other crafts and lines of traffic. We're rapidly getting closer to him.

"No way!" cries Aniya in horror.

"Either it's that, or you fly, and I'll have to."

"Fine," she grumbles, glaring at me.

Reaching farther into the Force, I finally manage to feel my master's presence. Looking up, I spot Obi-Wan and the droid he's hanging onto just in time to see it get hit by a blaster bolt and explode. I hastily guide the speeder over to where he's falling. "Hitchhikers usually stand on the platforms," I quip as he lands on the back of the speeder, and Aniya huffs in irritation as she knows what's about to happen, "A novel approach, though. Gets the attention of the passing traffic."

"We nearly lost you," comments Aniya as Obi-Wan manages to clamber to front part of the speeder.

"What took you so long?" he demands as he and Aniya try to get themselves into a decent sitting position in a racing speeder.