Star Wars: I Am a Slave ✓

Chapter 43 - We Have What We Want

Rey sprinted through the forest, dodging roots and hamster holes. She felt it. She felt everything starting at once. A power was chasing her—no permeating her—and she was scared! She did not want this!

"Vrt-dweet-beep-boop," interrupted her chaotic thoughts. She turned to see BB-8 speeding across the forest trail to her.

"What are you doing?" asked Rey, confused. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I do not need a droid to worry about, too. He has to get back to the Resistance, so they can find Luke— But why? Can one man really make the difference in this freedom. Surely, if he thought he could do anything to help, he would be here already. Or maybe he isn't all-powerful like they all seem to think. That student who turned . . . that was Luke in the vision! The creature who spared me—that was his student! How do I know this? I don't want to know this! Leave me alone!

"You have to go back," insisted Rey. BB-8 responded insistently. "No, you can't—you have to go back, you're too important. They'll help—"

A squadron of TIE fighters roared overhead, firing at the castle! They're in danger. Han and Finn—they're in danger! I have to warn them! I have to save them! She turned and ran back toward the castle.

As she raced toward the castle, she stopped as one of the towers toppled, crashing through the statue of Maz in the courtyard. A large Upsilon-class shuttle flew in from behind the castle, landing in front of her. A sense of foreboding accompanied it—a sense of destiny. She felt it again—that connection—but Han is nowhere in sight, and this is different. It's the shuttle! Someone's on the shuttle. I have to run. I can't stay. I can't—

A filtered radio call broke the silence. She turned to see a stormtrooper about 30 meters away from her, turned the other direction. Oh, no! Blaster. Blaster. Rey lifted the small blaster from her waistband and aimed it at the stormtrooper, pulling the trigger. The weapon clicked, but nothing happened. She quickly pulled the weapon back, and with shaking hands released the safety.

The stormtroopers audio feeds picked up the weapon's clicking and her heavy breathing. He turned to her, raising his F-11D blaster. She dodged just before his blast sped past her head, and then she fired. Her first shot veered to the left, but her second shot nailed him in the chest. Wow! I didn't know it had that much power! Rey thought. . . . I just killed a man.

A feeling of revulsion spurted through her body until BB-8 warned her of another attacker. She turned to her left, and, clenching her teeth in concentration, she hit another stormtrooper. His partner, however, fired back. Rey dodged the blast again, turned, and ran back into the forest, following BB-8.

A few hundred meters into the forest, she stopped to catch her breath. I can't keep running. They've seen me. BB-8 has a better chance on his own, now that I've been marked. He's got to make it to the Resistance. She told BB-8, "You have to keep going. Stay out of sight. I'll try to fight them off." The little droid sped off down the trail as Rey returned toward the castle yet again, taking cover behind a moss-covered tree.

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As she waited, she heard sounds—a startled bird flying through the trees, a slight mechanical whirring, and then that sound from the vision—that unmistakable sound of a lightsaber. No! She stepped back, raising her blaster, looking around her in a 270 degree path, backing up into the forest. she found herself in the middle of burnt-out tree trunks. It was like something out of a dream, and she felt the darkness of the place pressing in on her. She felt the evil.

The crackle of the lightsaber pierced the forest—the lightsaber from the vision. No! I don't want this! Leave me alone!

"Rey, this is your destiny! You must face him," said Ani. "I won't let him harm you."

The creature in the black mask from her vision, the last one, the one that let her get away, appeared from behind the tree. Rey fired. He blocked the bolt with his lightsaber. She fired again, but he deflected. And now, as fired over and over again, he just dodged the blasts. He knew when and where they would strike before she even fired.

Rey turned and fled as he advanced on her, climbing a small mound in the forest. Trying to hide. Trying to gain an upper ground advantage. He followed her, persistent. As she fired, she felt the pull to this creature. She was at once revolted and entranced.

Suddenly, he lowered his weapon and raised his left hand. Rey felt her right arm pull back, paralyzed. She started hyperventilating and tried to fight against the paralysis. I can't move! What sorcery is this? How is he doing this?

He approached, just watching her struggle. He's happy. He's happy about this! What sick monster is this? As he interrogated her, he walked around her. Then he suddenly turned and lowered his lightsaber at her face. One move, and she would be dead. Why doesn't he just kill me now. Thrust the lightsaber and push me into it. Just get it over it. And then he asked, "The droid? Where is it?"

"Don't tell him, Rey. Don't tell him," instructed Ani. As if I would tell him that! Really, granddad!

The creature extinguished his saber and moved back in front of Rey. He raised his black gloved hand, reaching out toward her face—no, toward her mind. Get out of my mind! Granddad! Help! Don't let him see! Help me!

The creature intoned quietly, "The map. You've seen it." If Rey were not held in stasis by this strange power, she would have collapsed.

"Sir, Resistance fighters," interrupted a stormtrooper. We need more troops."

The monster ordered, "Pull the division out. Forget the droid. We have what we need."

Rey's eyes grew bigger still in terror. She wanted to die. Granddad, why didn't you protect me! Grand— Rey fell into unconsciousness into the arms of the creature in the black mask.