Chapter 8
A frustrated cry echoed throughout the throne room as Makono threw a dinner goblet at the far wall. It bounced off the stone and clattered noisily along the floor until a servant ran into the room to pick it up before making a hasty retreat.
"Gone? How in the gods name could he be gone? That Jediya didn't look strong enough to wrestle with a felina let alone escape from here!" Makono growled at the guard who was cowering in front of him. "I will have someone's head for this!"
"It was Cotar's duty to guard the prisoner at that time!" the aide blurted out, eager to direct Makono's anger anywhere but at himself.
Makono paused his pacing in mid-step. "Cotar? Now why," he said dryly, "am I not surprised?" Makono had the people who worked for him under surveillance almost all the time, and usually unknown to the subject being observed.
The Rey's aide stood silently, waiting to see if his leader's rant would continue or if he would give out directions to be followed. He tried not to let his relief show when Makono composed himself and began giving out orders.
"I think it is time for Cotar to pay us a little visit. Why don't you go find him?" A toothy, false grin accompanied the voice.
"Yes, sir," the aide bowed and ran from the room, not wanting to give the Rey cause to become angry again.
**********
Obi-Wan held his saber ready in one hand and motioned for Anakin and Suriyama to stay back with the other. He crept around the corner as stealthily as a wraith, trying to avoid attracting attention to himself as much as possible.
For the first time on this mission, I think the Force may be with me. As he approached the guard's blindside, he reached out his hand and clenched his deactivated lightsaber tightly. Swiftly and soundlessly he brought it down on the guard's head. He caught the unconscious body before it could hit the ground and create any noise, and then dragged it over to a dim corner.
Upon seeing his Master dragging the unconscious soldier, Anakin motioned for Suriyama to follow him. She started walking after him, but then walked right by him and over to Obi-Wan, stopping to pick up the guard's discarded blaster. Anakin rushed up to her and grabbed her arm.
"What do you think you're doing? You don't have any combat skills! You have to be more careful!"
Shrugging off Anakin's hand, she expertly checked the sights on the blaster and made sure it was set to kill, not stun. "And what, let you protect me? I seem to remember seeing you running from a group of men in an alley not so long ago, only to be rescued by your Master and myself."
"You rescued me?" Anakin was incredulous.
"Yes, I did," she said, an icy tone creeping into her voice. "And if you weren't so pigheaded and egotistical you might have realized that a little sooner!"
"Will the two of you please shut up?" Obi-Wan hissed at them.
Anakin shot an annoyed look at his Master's back and then fell in step behind him. "Get in front of me!" he whispered harshly at Suriyama.
"Just keep walking, Padawan Jediya. Someone needs to watch your back."
What nerve! Does she think that I don't know what I'm doing?
Obi-Wan turned around to his apprentice. "She doesn't think that at all, Ani. She's simply smart enough to know when to stay focused on the task at hand."
The reprimand stung Anakin and his jaw fell slightly open. "I'm sorry," he began, but found himself abruptly cut off.
Obi-Wan was holding up his hand again, telling his party to stop. Farther down the corridor there was a loud commotion. Suriyama peered around the two Jedi, only to see her father being grabbed on each arm by one of Makono's guards and dragged toward the stairs. Cotar was struggling against the two holding his arms and arguing with another larger guard the entire time, trying to convince them that he had done nothing wrong. Suriyama opened her mouth to yell, but Anakin whirled around and clamped his hand down over her mouth.
"Shh! If you say anything they may kill him out right."
She nodded her head, her dark eyes echoing her realization of the danger her father was in. Anakin removed his hand.
"But we can't just let them take him!" she whispered.
Obi-Wan turned around to face his two younger companions. "For now we will have to. They will be taking him to Makono. I know that trying to rescue him there will not be much better than making an attempt right now, but it will give us the chance to distract the Rey. If he is concentrating on you," he pointed to Anakin, "and Suriyama trying to rescue her father, then he hopefully will not notice me sneaking up on him."
"But Master, you can't kill him! The Council doesn't sanction political assassination."
The Knight looked sternly at his pupil. "I would not even think of it, Anakin. I am only going to take him prisoner."
"Will you be strong enough, Jediya Kenobi? You still look ill."
"I'll be fine. Now come on. I think I remember the way to the throne room."
**********
"Now what have we here?" Makono asked as Cotar was dragged into the throne room. The Rey smiled to his guards and motioned for them to release their prisoner. Cotar shrugged their arms off and strode into the center of the room to kneel before Makono.
"Get up," came the Rey's voice icily. "It is too late for that now."
This caught Cotar off guard. "Wh-- what do you mean, my lord?"
"I have it on good account that you are the one who helped the Jediya escape. And," he continued, circling around the unfortunate guard, "I have known for sometime that you are an Arling sympathizer." He stopped in front of the kneeling Trian and peered down his nose at him. "You do know what happens to traitors, don't you?"
"Please, my lord! I have a daughter! She will be all alone if you kill me!"
"Ah, yes, your lovely daughter. I believe her name is Suriyama, isn't it? If she survived the attack that happened at your little house she should make a fine servant."
"I think not," a confident voice interrupted.
Cotar's jaw dropped and Makono spun around to see the source of the remark.
"Suriyama!" Cotar shouted.
"Get her!" Makono screamed. Uncertain as to where she was, the guards hesitantly hefted their blasters.
Using this hesitation to her full advantage, Suriyama stepped out from behind a thick curtain, leveled her blaster, and snapped off one clean shot at a guard standing behind her father. It caught him in the stomach and he went down immediately. All remaining blasters focused on her, but just then a shape clad in navy blue dropped down behind them from one of the higher windows.
"Oh boys, aren't you forgetting something?" Anakin smiled tauntingly as the surprised guards spun around.
Within seconds, a firefight had erupted. Anankin's blade flashed in blue arcs as he reflected the guard's bolts and Suriyama fired with pinpoint accuracy, taking down one guard at a time. She managed to open a passage in the barrage and dashed to her father's side.
"Father, are you all right?"
"I am now," he answered, giving his daughter a quick hug. She handed him a blaster she had picked up from a fallen guard and Cotar quickly joined in.
Makono, in the meantime, had made his was over to the throne. He fumbled around at the back of the elaborate throne until he managed to press the hidden button he was searching for. A grinding noise emerged from the wall behind the throne as the stone paneling began to slide open. The Rey did not hesitate and dashed for the opening.
"Going somewhere?" a familiar voice questioned. A green shaft emerged out of the darkness, stopping only inches from Makono's throat. Makono's choked on his breath from surprise. Obi-Wan stepped forward from the shadows and did not lower his lightsaber.
"Guards!" Makono screamed as he stepped backward from the advancing blade.
"Sorry, but your guards are a little, shall I say, incapacitated at the moment," Anakin piped up from the other side of the room.
Makono tried to speak, but his voice only came out in squeaks.
Obi-Wan motioned to the center of the room. "Now if you would be so kind as to sit down, we can begin. There is much that we have to discuss."
Chapter 9
After roughly half an hour of hearing his options, Makono decided that it would be in his best interests to step down from his throne. However, he refused to stop encouraging the persecution of the Arlings and most certainly refused to apologize for any wrongdoing that had happened under his rule. In the end, Obi-Wan settled for what he could get for the moment. He, Anakin, Suriyama, and her father escorted Makono and the remaining guards to the prison cells below were they would be dealt with by the Eloylian public's decisions.
Finally allowing himself to rest, Obi-Wan sank down into a couch in the throne room. There is still so much to be done, he thought, and I am desperately in need of a good night's sleep. But not quite yet.
"Anakin, go find Sekiro and bring him back here. There is one more thing that we must do."
**********
It was morning outside in the city of Gatamo, and the citizens of the large city were busy carrying out their daily errands. However, as soon as the large holovid screen in the main square began to crackle and come to life, everyone forgot what they were doing and moved in to get a better view.
The static finally cleared out and the face of a wizened old Arling came into view. Whispers of confusion rippled through the crowd, but as soon as the man began speaking the square grew silent.
"Citzens of Gatamo, my brothers and sisters, I ask for your attention. As of very early this morning, while most of you were still in your bed, the Rey stepped down from the throne."
This comment sent everyone to talking again.
"Please, listen to me," the bearded old man continued and the uproar soon dimmed. There was something about the man's presence that commanded their attention. "I am here to say that his throne will not be assumed by anyone else. Eloyl will return to the democracy that it was before."
Much to the surprise of the people who were standing off to the side behind Sekiro as he made his speech, the crowd rippled with approval.
"Also, I ask you to put aside the prejudices that Rey Makono had imposed on your Arling brothers and sisters. We lived together as soul cousins before. We were happy then and we shall be happy now. Eloyl will be united once again."
The crowd was silent for a long time. Finally, one girl stepped forward from the throng of Trians, her long silvery hair blowing in the wind. She raised her arms to get their attention.
"The Arling elder is right! We can live together!" she shouted to them. One by one, the Trians began to voice their agreement. Before long, the entire crowd was cheering the reuniting of Eloyl.
The Trian girl smiled. Suriyama pushed her hair from her shoulders and turned around to wave at the screen. Sekiro smiled back.
**********
"You have done it, Jediya Kenobi. You have saved my people," Sekiro spoke slowly as he watched Suriyama disappear off the screen. She was working her way through the gathering and back to the palace.
"No, Sekiro. We saved your people," Obi-Wan spread out his arms to encompass the people in the room. Only seconds later, Suriyama stepped into the room.
Sekiro got up from his seat and turned to face her. "You are a most remarkable young woman," he stated, walking towards her and smiling gently. "From what I have heard, you are headstrong, yet you are also aware of your surroundings, brave, and most of all intelligent. I think you would make a fine Eloylian philosopher. And it has been some time since there has been a Trian philosopher, let alone a female one."
"M-me?" Suriyama stammered. "Oh but sir, surely there is someone else better suited for the job."
"No, there isn't," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You will do quite well. You will be a new breed of philosopher, to help lead this new era on our planet."
Suriyama beamed with pride.
"And," Sekiro continued, "I even have a robe that you can use, once a certain Padawan Jediya has it cleaned and repaired."
Obi-Wan's laughter echoed throughout the room as he clapped his blushing Padawan on the back.
"Don't worry, Sekiro, he'll return it to you." Obi-Wan then turned and began walking out of the room. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it is long past my bed time and I am desperately in need of some shut-eye."
Their laughter echoed after him as he shut the throne room door and collapsed on a couch in the hallway. He was asleep in minutes.
*********
"Master! Master, wake up!" Anakin shook his teacher's shoulder.
Obi-Wan groaned and rolled over, not wanting to open his eyes. However, he was pleased to note that he was now fully healed. His apprentice's badgering continued, so finally Obi-Wan rolled over again and opened his eyes.
"What is it, Ani?" The sounds of a great celebration reached his ears from outside the palace walls.
"I brought you some dinner."
The Knight's stomach growled appreciatively. He reached for the plate of meat and vegetables and began eating with zeal.
"This is delicious! What is it, Ani?"
"Grilled tigra steak with greens."
At the mention of "tigra" Obi-Wan spit out his mouthful of food, staring open-mouthed at his Padawan.
"Gotcha."
"Why you little womp rat!" Obi-Wan leapt off the couch and dashed after his rapidly fleeing Padawan, the plate of food clattering to the ground. Their shouts and laughter echoed down the hallway to join in with the revelry of the reunited citizens of Eloyl. The joy of these people, the loyalty of his Padawan, and the mere fact that he was alive were all the reward that Obi-Wan needed from this mission.
