The Crystal Star (3 page)

had lost two hours or if he had observed what had happened and could confirm her suspicions about

these events.

Andof course she wanted to reassure him, to tell him she did not blame him--A wave of fury rushed

across her, so powerful that she gasped.

She did blame him. She was furious at him. There was nothing at all in the world that she could say to

him.

Leia rose and backed out of the room. She closed the door, turned, and very nearly ran into Dr. Hyos.

"Oh--! I saw you sleeping, I didn't want to wake you." "Did you speak with Chewbacca?" "No, I--"

How could she admit how she felt about her husband's oldest friend? "Isn't he sedated?" "Of course. He

is badly injured." "Have you treated Wookiees before?" "No, Chewbacca is the first of his kind to visit

our world." "Then how did you know how to treat him?" "It's my job to know. I have never treated a

human, either, but when your mission was announced, I made it my business to learn something of the

people who would visit us." "He's lucky," Leia said. He has no worries, she thought, just oblivion. By the

time he's healed, and awakes, I'll know... and I'll have lived through every hellish moment.

"He's very badly hurt," Dr. Hyos said.

"And he lost a great deal of blood. If he were lucky, he would not have been injured." "Can you wake

him? Just for a moment? If he saw something, anything--" "The page saw nothing. She heard nothing. I

doubt Chewbacca saw anything either. It would be a great risk to wake him." "But he might--" "An unnec

risk." Dr. Hyos turned Leia toward the front of the surgery and led her away from Chewbacca's room.

"You've had a long, terrible day," the doctor said. "Try to rest. A coup abduction is never easy. But

tomorrow--" A high keening sound cut off her ^ws. She hurried into a nearby room. Leia followed, all

too aware that the wyrwulf followed too. Its claws clacked loudly on the floor.

The page stood in the center of the room, still wearing the soft hospital gown, steadied in her upright

position by a harness. The doctor stopped beside her, stroked her soft short hair, soothed her. They

spoke to each other in their own language, whistles and warbles that passed beyond the range of Leia's

hearing. Soon the page dozed again. Dr. Hyos left her, looking worried.

"Will she be all right?" "Are you still here?" "Will she?" "The bomb damaged her hearing." "But you were

talking to her--she heard you. She'll heal, won't she?" "I fear she will never recover the highest range.

And yet she will live." "I'm glad," Leia said.

"Are you?" Dr. Hyos exclaimed.

"That she'll live? Of course!" "Our hearing is more sensitive than yours, and more delicate. Our most

intimate communications take place in the upper ranges," Dr.

Hyos said softly. "Imagine your body numb.

Imagine all your senses reduced by half.

All. Perhaps you humans could endure such an existence, but her future will be... difficult." "Oh," Leia

said. "I didn't know. I'm so sorry." She glanced toward the page with renewed sympathy. "Wouldn't she

be more comfortable lying down?" "Adults don't sleep lying down." The wyrwulf raised its head and

gazed at Leia.

"Go," Dr. Hyos said kindly. "Rest."

Leia flung herself onto her bed with a cry of despair. How had she survived this intolerable, interminable

day? Her muscles ached with tension that she could not dispel. She regretted, as she had regretted so

often in the past, the duties that had kept her from studying the way of the Jedi.

I'll bet Luke just says to his body, Enough, no more being stiff, Leia thought uncharitably. Or he says to

himself, I don't feel any pain, and he doesn't.

How can I wait till morning to hear from the kidnappers?

She believed the chamberlain's assurances that a coup abduction was not meant to hurt its victims.

And yet she believed her children were in mortal danger. If the kidnappers had, somehow, allied

themselves with a practitioner of the dark side.

It must be. The chamberlain and Dr. Hyos, whom Leia thought admirable, considered coup kidnappers

honorable. But the kidnappers of Leia's children were ruthless and cruel: they had injured Chewbacca

and the page when they were already unconscious, helpless.

The pressure bomb! Leia thought. It wasn't detonated to aid the kidnapping--it was detonated to destroy

evidence. Evidence that someone used the dark side..

She lay on her back and let the tears come.

Above her, the translucent stone ceiling shone with pearlescent light, its delicate, intricate carvings a

mystery to her as to everyone. The contemporary societies of Munto Codru used the ancient castles as

provincial capitals, or avoided them as haunted places. But a previous civilization had built the

labyrinthine palaces. The civilization had written its history on rock walls carved so thin that they looked

like water-worn glass. The civilization had disappeared, leaving only its castles and its unreadable stories.

The carvings blurred beyond Leia's hot tears.

In the outer room of Leia's apartment, the annunciator chimed. Leia dragged herself to her feet.

Perhaps there's a message! she thought.

She hurried out of her bedroom. Mr. Iyon stood in the doorway.

"You've heard?" "No, madam," he said. "Please, I assure you, they'll communicate by morning." "They

could be anywhere by then!" "No, they'll be near." "They aren't near!" Leia insisted. "Sir, we've waited

long enough. By now they've surely escaped!" "But, madam, escape is unnec--m convenient to stay near.

Especially with young children.

They could even be in the castle." "In the castle? How could they be? They aren't!" "What better place to

hide than right beside our ears? The castle is thousands of years old. Its basements and tunnels extend

into the ground--even into the mountain--" "I'd know! Don't you see, I'd know if they were near! We

must begin a search." Mr. Iyon gazed at her solemnly.

Gently he took her arm and guided her to a chair. When Leia was seated, Mr. Iyon sat facing her,

perched gingerly on the edge of the soft couch.

"If you order it, madam, I will of course obey--" "I do order it!" his--but I wish to be certain you

understand what you are asking." "I--" She hesitated. "You have more to tell me." He inclined his head in

a slow nod. He gazed at the elaborately patterned carpet.

"If anything disturbs the negotiations," he said, "everyone loses face. The kidnappers will be forced to

recoup." "By hurting the children?" "They would sacrifice their own ambitions, if they injured anyone of

noble birth." He stopped, and continued with difficulty. "But if you refuse to negotiate, the kidnappers

may feel inclined to make some sacrifice--ffdemonstrate their sincerity." Leia could not understand what

he meant. How could the kidnappers make a sacrifice, if their own traditions forbade them to hurt her

children?

"Your wyrwulf," she said. "You're afraid they'll sacrifice your wyrwulf." Mr. Iyon raised his head and

looked her in the eyes. He said nothing.

"But it isn't coup kidnappers!" Leia said. "Don't you understand, no one from Munto Codru is involved!"

"Are you certain, madam?" She was--she had been--but she was so tired, and she was so torn by grief,

so tempted to believe that in the morning, everything would be resolved, the children would be safe.

I won't answer yet, Leia thought. For a few minutes, I can think about what Chamberlain Iyon has said.

Mr. Iyon clapped his two left hands together. One of his aides entered, carrying a tray that bore a

delicate antique stone pot, a teacup, a plate of cookies. Light shone through the sides of the teapot, liquid

gold moving gently among carvings of the same vintage as the castle.

"I took the liberty of bringing you some tea.

It is soothing." She had eaten nothing all day. A moment ago she would have sworn she could never eat

again, but her dry mouth suddenly watered and her stomach growled, most inelegantly, when she smelled

the fragrant tea and the thin nut cookies.

"Thank you, Mr. Iyon," Leia said, grateful for the interruption. "But you haven't brought yourself a cup.

There's another, on the sideboard." "I've eaten already, madam." "I insist," Leia said, suddenly, reflexively

suspicious, and embarrassed at herself for her reaction.

The aide fetched another cup, poured the tea, and withdrew. Leia picked up her cup, and a cookie.

"These are Chef's best sweets," she said.

"Have you had them?" She bit into one, confident that the chef would no more let someone adulterate his

recipe than he would swing from the sconces above a state dinner. The cookie vanished in her mouth like

air, leaving a sweet, spicy flavor and taking the edge off her hunger.

"I cannot eat sweets, madam." He sighed.

"But I will join you in a cup of tea." He drank the cupful in one gulp.

Surprised, still suspicious, even wondering if she had made a mistake by eating the cookie, Leia sipped

her tea. She was amazed at her ability to perform any normal action. She felt like she should be running,

blaster in hand, chasing the enemy.

In the old days, she thought, we knew who the enemy was.

"It is good of you to bring the latest Coruscant fashions to Munto Codru," the chamberlain said, trying to

change the subject.

"News travels so slowly, this far from the center of government." "What--?" She remembered what she

was wearing: hiking trousers and a soft leather shirt and heavy boots. She started to explain that she had

not been able to face putting on another fancy court dress. Then she wondered if he was subtly chiding

her for her choice in clothing.

But he was perfectly sincere. Leia blushed.

She searched for a way to explain without having him suspect she was making fun of him.

"It isn't quite the height of fashion," she said. She sipped her tea again. "But it's comfortable, and--" She

shrugged.

Mr. Iyon yawned. His thin lips pulled back from his prominent teeth. He snapped his mouth shut.

"I beg your pardon, madam!" Leia accepted his apology with a nod, then she yawned too.

"We should have had pepper tea," she said, "instead of this. Delicious though it is." Leia struggled to

remember the question she was trying to answer. Mr. Iyon had said that the children must be near. Leia

doubted that was possible.

If they were hidden nearby, she thought, wouldn't I know it? Wouldn't I feel it? They must have been

stolen by a master of the dark side..

Maybe it isn't the dark side after all, Leia thought, desperately seeking comfort.

Maybe the castle's built on some unique mineral, maybe it disrupts my perceptions. If ysalamiri can

disturb the Force, why not a phenomenon from the depths of a planet?

Leia yawned again. Like a mirror image, so did Mr. Iyon. Sleep drew Leia irresistibly.

"We must..." Her ^ws trailed off. She could not recall what she had been about to say.

"Good night, madam," the chamberlain said. His voice was kindly. He rose, pushing himself from the

couch like a man exhausted, levering himself with all four arms. He stumbled once on the way to the

door. Leia was too sleepy to be surprised by his lapse in grace.

Her need for sleep overtook her dread. She told herself to get up, but the chair was so comfortable.

I'll just rest here a moment, she thought.

"Just like old times, hey, kid?" Han Solo said to Luke Skywalker.

Sitting in the copilot's seat of the Millennium Falcon, Luke grinned.

"Just like old times except the Empire isn't trying to shoot us out of the sky--" "You got that right." "And

Jabba the Hutt isn't after your hide for dumping that spice load--" "Yeah." "And nobody is trying to

collect old gambling debts from you." "Also true," Han said, thinking, But I might get around to running up

some new gambling debts. After all, what's a vacation for?

"Finally, you can't ogle every beautiful woman who comes by." "Sure I can," Han said, then hurried to

defend himself as Luke chuckled. "Nothing wrong with looking. Leia and I know where we stand with

each other, we trust each other, she's not jealous." Luke burst into outright laughter.

"And you wouldn't mind," he said, "if she flirted with the Kirlian ambassador.

Good-looking guy, that Kirlian ambassador." "Nothing wrong with looking," Han said stubbornly. "Or a

little innocent flirtation. But the Kirlian ambassador better watch his hands. All four of them. Hey, kid,

listen, flirting is one of the best inventions of civilization." Han grinned.

Luke hated it when Han called him "kid." That was why he did it. He stared out into hyperspace.

"You ought to do more flirting yourself," Han said.

"If I might be of service, Master Luke," See-Threepio said, leaning forward from the passenger seat. "I

have an extensive library of love poetry at your disposal, in several languages suitable for the human

tongue, as well as etiquette, medical information, and--" "I don't have time for flirtations," Luke said, "or

love poetry. Not right now..." Threepio sat back in the passenger seat.

At the corner of Han's vision, the droid looked like a shadow. To disguise himself, See-Threepio had

covered his glossy gold finish with a coat of purple lacquer. Han had not yet gotten used to the change.

"Don't be so damned dedicated," Han said to Luke. "Don't Jedi Knights get to have any fun? Little Jedi

Knights have to come from somewhere. I'll bet old Obi-wan--" "I don't know what Ben would have