They walked down a long hallway, passing a pair of what seemed to be medium-sized dining and recreation rooms. Ahead, a large door at the end of the hallway slid open at their approach. Mara ushered him inside-
And into a scene straight out of ancient legend.
For a moment Luke just stood in the doorway, staring. The room was large and spacious, its high ceiling translucent and crisscrossed by a webwork of carved rafters. The walls were composed of a dark brown wood, much of it elaborately open-mesh carved, with a deep blue light glowing through the interstices. Other luxuries were scattered sparingly about: a small sculpture here, an unrecognizable alien artifact there. Chairs, couches, and large cushions were arranged in well-separated conversation circles, giving a distinctly relaxed, almost informal air to the place.
But all that was secondary, taken in peripherally or at a later time entirely. For that first astonishing moment Luke's full attention was fixed solidly on the tree growing through the center of the room.
Not a small tree, either, like the delicate saplings that lined one of the hallways in the Imperial Palace. This one was huge, a meter in diameter at the base, extending from a section of plain dirt floor through the translucent ceiling and far beyond. Thick limbs starting perhaps two meters from the ground stretched their way across the room, some of them nearly touching the walls, almost like arms reaching out to encompass everything in sight.
"Ah; Skywalker," a voice called from in front of him. With an effort, Luke shifted his gaze downward, to find Karrde sitting comfortably in a chair at the base of the tree. On either side two long-legged quadrupeds crouched, their vaguely doglike muzzles pointing stiffly in Luke's direction. "Come and join me."
Swallowing, Luke started toward him. There were stories he remembered from his childhood about fortresses with trees growing up through them. Frightening stories, some of them, full of danger and helplessness and fear.
And in every one of those stories, such fortresses were the home of evil.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Karrde said as Luke approached. He picked up a silvery pitcher from the low table at his side, poured a reddish liquid into a pair of cups. "I must apologize for having kept you asleep all this time. But I'm sure you appreciate the special problems involved in making sure a Jedi stays where you've put him."
"Of course," Luke said, his attention on the two animals beside Karrde's chair. They were still staring at him with an uncomfortable intensity. "Though if you'd just asked nicely," he added, "you might have found me quite willing to cooperate."
A flicker of a smile touched Karrde's lips. "Perhaps. Perhaps not." He gestured to the chair across from him. "Please sit down."
Luke started forward; but as he did so, one of the animals rose up slightly on his haunches, making a strange sort of choked purr. "Easy, Sturm," Karrde admonished, looking down at the animal. "This man is our guest."
The creature ignored him, its full attention clearly on Luke. "I don't think it believes you," Luke suggested carefully. Even as he spoke, the second animal made the same sort of sound as the first had.
"Perhaps not." Karrde had a light grip on each of the animals' collars now and was glancing around the room. "Chin!" he called toward the three men lounging in one of the conversation circles. "Come and take them out, will you?"
"Sure." A middle-aged man with a Froffli-style haircut got up and trotted over. "Come on, fellows," he grunted, taking over Karrde's grip on the collars and leading the animals away. "What hai we go for a walk, hee?"
"My apologies, Skywalker," Karrde said, frowning slightly as he watched the others go. "They're usually better behaved than that with guests. Now; please sit down."
Luke did so, accepting the cup Karrde offered him. Mara stepped past him and took up position next to her chief. Her blaster, Luke noted, was now in a wrist holster on her left forearm, nearly as accessible as it would have been in her hand.
"It's just a mild stimulant," Karrde said, nodding to the cup in Luke's hand. "Something to help you wake up." He took a drink from his own cup and set it back down on the low table.
Luke took a sip. It tasted all right; and anyway, if Karrde had wanted to drug him, there was hardly any need to stoop to such a childish subterfuge. "Would you mind telling me where my droid is?"
"Oh, he's perfectly all right," Karrde assured him. "I have him in one of my equipment sheds for safekeeping."
"I'd like to see him, if I may."
"I'm sure that can be arranged. But later." Karrde leaned back in his seat, his forehead furrowing slightly. "Perhaps after we've figured out just exactly what we're going to do with you."
Luke glanced up at Mara. "Your associate mentioned the possibilities. I'd hoped I could add another to the list."
"That we send you back home?" Karrde suggested.
"With due compensation, of course," Luke assured him. "Say, double whatever the Empire would offer?"
"You're very generous with other people's money," Karrde said dryly. "The problem, unfortunately, doesn't arise from money, but from politics. Our operations, you see, extend rather deeply into both Imperial and Republic space. If the Empire discovered we'd released you back to the Republic, they would be highly displeased with us."
"And vice versa if you turned me over to the Empire," Luke pointed out.
"True," Karrde said. "Except that given the damage to your X-wing's subspace radio, the Republic presumably has no idea what happened to you. The Empire, unfortunately, does."
"And it's not what they would offer," Mara put in. "It's what they have offered. Thirty thousand."
Luke pursed his lips. "I had no idea I was so valuable," he said.
"You could be the difference between solvency and failure for any number of marginal operators," Karrde said bluntly. "There are probably dozens of ships out there right now, ignoring schedules and prior commitments to hunt for you." He smiled tightly. "Operators who haven't given even a moment of consideration to how they would hold onto a Jedi even if they caught one
"Your method seems to work pretty well," Luke told him. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me how you've managed it."
Karrde smiled again. "Secrets of that magnitude are worth a great deal of money. Have you any secrets of equal value to trade?"
"Probably not," Luke said evenly. "But, again, I'm sure the New Republic would be willing to pay market value."
Karrde sipped from his drink, eyeing Luke thoughtfully over the rim of the cup. "I'll make you a deal," he said, putting the cup back on the table beside him. "You tell me why the Empire is suddenly so interested in you, and I'll tell you why your Jedi powers aren't working."
"Why don't you ask the Imperials directly?"
Karrde smiled. "Thank you, but no. I'd just as soon not have them start wondering at my sudden interest. Particularly after we pleaded prior commitments when the request came in for us to help hunt you down."
Luke frowned at him. "You weren't hunting for me?"
"No, we weren't." Karrde's lip twisted. "One of those little ironies that make life so interesting. We were simply returning from a cargo pickup when Mara dropped us out of hyperspace on the spur of the moment to do a nav reading."
Luke studied Mara's stony expression. "How fortunate for you," he said.
"Perhaps," Karrde said. "The net result, though, was to put us in the middle of the exact situation that I'd hoped to avoid."
Luke held his hands out, palms upward. "Then let me go and pretend none of this happened. I give you my word I'll keep your part in it quiet."
"The Empire would find out anyway," Karrde shook his head. "Their new commander is extremely good at piecing bits of information together. No, I think your best hope right now is for us to find a compromise. Some way we can let you go while still giving the Imperials what they want." He cocked his head slightly. "Which leads us back to my original question."
"And from there back to my original answer," Luke said. "I really don't know what the Empire wa
nts with me." He hesitated, but Leia should be well beyond Imperial reach by now. "I can tell you, though, that it's not just me. There have been two attempts on my sister Leia, too."
"Killing attempts?"
Luke thought about it. "I don't think so. The one I was present for felt more like a kidnapping."
"Interesting," Karrde murmured, his eyes defocusing slightly. "Leia Organa Solo. Who is in training to be a Jedi like her brother. That could explain . . . certain recent Imperial actions."
Luke waited, but after a moment it became clear that Karrde wasn't going to elaborate. "You spoke of a compromise," he reminded the other.
Karrde seemed to pull his thoughts back to the room. "Yes, I did," he said. "It's occurred to me that your privileged position in the New Republic might be what the Empire was interested in-that they wanted information on the inner workings of the Provisional Council. In such a case, we might have been able to work out a deal whereby you went free while your R2 droid went to the Imperials for debriefing."
Luke felt his stomach tighten. "It wouldn't do them any good," he said as casually as he could manage. The thought of Artoo being sold into Imperial slavery . . . "Artoo has never been to any of the Council meetings."
"But he does have a great deal of knowledge of you personally," Karrde pointed out. "As well as of your sister, her husband, and various other highly placed members of the New Republic." He shrugged. "It's a moot question now, of course. The fact that the focus is exclusively on the New Republic's Jedi and potential Jedi means they're not simply after information. Where did these two attacks take place?"
"The first was on Bimmisaari, the second on Bpfassh."
Karrde nodded. "We've got a contact on Bpfassh; perhaps we can get him to do some backtracking on the Imperials. Until then, I'm afraid you'll have to remain here as our guest."
It sounded like a dismissal. "Let me just point out one other thing before I go," Luke said. "No matter what happens to me-or what happens to Leia, for that matter-the Empire is still doomed. There are more planets in the New Republic now than there are under Imperial rule, and that number increases daily. We'll win eventually, if only by sheer weight of numbers."
"I understand that was the Emperor's own argument when discussing your Rebellion," Karrde countered dryly. "Still, that is the crux of the dilemma, isn't it? While the Empire will wreak swift retribution on me if I don't give you over to them, the New Republic looks more likely to win out in the long run."
"Only if he and his sister are there to hold Mon Mothma's hand," Mara put in contemptuously. "If they aren't-
"If they aren't, the final time frame is somewhat less clear," Karrde agreed. "At any rate, I thank you for your time, Skywalker. I hope we can come to a decision without too much of a delay."
"Don't hurry on my account," Luke told him. "This seems a pleasant enough world to spend a few days on."
"Don't believe it for a moment," Karrde warned. "My two pet vornskrs have a large number of relatives out in the forest. Relatives who haven't had the benefits of modern domestication."
"I understand," Luke said. On the other hand, if he could get out of Karrde's encampment and clear of whatever this strange interference was they were using on him . . .
"And don't count on your Jedi skills to protect you, either," Karrde added, almost lazily. "You'll be just as helpless in the forest. Probably more so." He looked up at the tree towering above him. "There are, after all, considerably more ysalamiri out there than there are here."
"Ysalamiri?" Luke followed his gesture . . . and for the first time noticed the slender, gray-brown creature hanging onto the tree limb directly over Karrde's head. "What is it?"
"The reason you're staying where we put you," Karrde said. "They seem to have the unusual ability to push back the Force-to create bubbles, so to speak, where the Force simply doesn't exist."
"I've never heard of them," Luke said, wondering if there was any truth at all to the story. Certainly neither Yoda nor Ben had ever mentioned the possibility of such a thing.
"Not very many have," Karrde agreed. "And in the past, most of those who did had a vested interest in keeping it that way. The Jedi of the Old Republic avoided the planet, for obvious reasons, which was why a fair number of smuggling groups back then had their bases here. After the Emperor destroyed the Jedi, most of the groups pulled up roots and left, preferring to be closer to their potential markets. Now that the Jedi are rising again-" he nodded gravely to Luke "-perhaps some of them will return. Though I dare say the general populace would probably not appreciate that."
Luke glanced around the tree. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see several other ysalamiri wrapped around and across various of the limbs and branches. "What makes you think it's the ysalamiri and not something else that's responsible for this bubbling in the Force?"
"Partly local legend," Karrde said. "Mainly, the fact that you're standing here talking with me. How else could a man with a stun weapon and an extremely nervous mind have walked right up behind a Jedi without being noticed?"
Luke looked at him sharply, the last piece falling into place. "You had ysalamiri aboard the Wild Karrde."
"Correct," Karrde said. "Purely by chance, actually. Well-" He looked up at Mara. "Perhaps not entirely by chance."
Luke glanced again at the ysalamir above Karrde's head. "How far does this bubbling extend?"
"Actually, I'm not sure anyone knows," Karrde conceded. "Legend says that individual ysalamiri have bubbles from one to ten meters in radius, but that groups of them together have considerably larger ones. Some sort of reinforcement, I gather. Perhaps you'll do us the courtesy of participating in a few experiments regarding them before you leave."
"Perhaps," Luke said. "Though that probably depends on which direction I'm headed at the time."
"It probably will," Karrde agreed. "Well. I imagine you'd like to get cleaned up-you've been living in that flight suit for several days now. Did you bring any changes of clothing with you?"
"There's a small case in the cargo compartment of my X-wing," Luke told him. "Thank you for bringing it along, incidentally."
"I try never to waste anything that may someday prove useful," Karrde said. "I'll have your things sent over as soon as my associates have determined that there are no hidden weapons or other equipment among them." He smiled slightly. "I doubt that a Jedi would bother with such things, but I believe in being thorough. Good evening, Skywalker."
Mara had her tiny blaster in hand again. "Let's go," she said, gesturing with the weapon.
Luke stood up. "Let me offer you one other option," he said to Karrde. "If you decide you'd rather pretend none of this ever happened, you could just return Artoo and me to where you found us. I'd be willing to take my chances with the other searchers."
"Including the Imperials?" Karrde asked.
"Including the Imperials," Luke nodded.
A small smile touched Karrde's lips. "You might be surprised. But I'll keep the option in mind."
The sun had disappeared behind the trees and the sky was noticeably darker as Mara escorted him back across the compound. "Did I miss dinner?" he asked as they walked down the corridor toward his room.
"Something can be brought to you," Mara said, her voice little more than a thinly veiled snarl.
"Thank you." Luke took a careful breath. "I don't know why you dislike me so much-"
"Shut up," she cut him off. "Just shut up."
Grimacing, Luke did so. They reached his room and she nudged him inside. "We don't have any lock for the window," she said, "but there's an alarm on it. You try going out, and it'll be a toss-up as to whether the vornskrs get to you before I do." She smiled, mock-sweetly. "But don't take my word for it. Try it and find out."