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Chapter 16
By the time they roared out of the dome, the boulevard seemed completely empty. Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment and focused. When he opened them again, he caught the flicker of movement down the street to his right. Perhaps it was just a shadow. But the Force told him it was Xanatos.
Qui-Gon pushed his engines as high as they would go. He could hear Obi-Wan directly behind him. The boy would keep up. He knew that.
Determination tightened every muscle. He would not lose Xanatos now. No doubt he was heading somewhere he would be safe, or perhaps toward transport off-planet. Xanatos always had an escape route.
But they had taken him by surprise. Perhaps there were details left to arrange. Xanatos could not have prepared for this.
To Qui-Gon's surprise, Xanatos headed out of the city and took off over open country.
"I think he's heading to the Sacred Pools," Obi-Wan shouted. "This is the way we went."
"We'll have to stay behind him," Qui-Gon answered. "He knows we're following him. If we can't catch him, we can keep him in sight."
The swoop engines could only be pushed so far. Xanatos had a faster craft, since the ones used for the games had modified engines. The Jedi could barely manage to keep him in sight, and there were stretches where they lost him completely.
Over the course of the ride, Obi-Wan never lost his focus. He settled in over the handlebars, his eyes trained on the speck in the distance that was Xanatos. Qui-Gon's face was set in determined lines.
At last they reached the road to the park. They roared down it, heading for the entrance. The gate was formed from electrowire. Sensors were aimed above to blast any vehicles flying over it.
A swoop lay abandoned on the road. Xanatos was nowhere in sight.
Qui-Gon pulled his swoop over. He examined the swoop on the ground. It was out of fuel.
"He must be in the park," he said. He eyed the gate.
"I have another way in," Obi-Wan assured him.
Obi-Wan led the way back down the road through the trees. He left his swoop and splashed through the creek toward the fissure in the cavern wall. He pressed himself inside.
Qui-Gon followed with difficulty. He was a big man, and it was a small crack. Somehow he was able to push himself through.
They quickly made their way to the entrance of the cavern and burst out into the open air. Xanatos was crossing the yard, heading for Tech Dome D.
"There's a landing pad inside," Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon. "No doubt he has transport off-planet waiting there."
Qui-Gon began to run. Xanatos must never reach the Tech Dome.
He moved silently, his feet not making even a whisper of sound on the soft ground. But before he could reach Xanatos, his opponent suddenly leaped on a gravsled and took off.
Qui-Gon grabbed an abandoned gravsled and followed, knowing Obi-Wan would be only moments behind him. He maneuvered around a pile of equipment and managed to cut Xanatos off from the tech dome. With a snarl, Xanatos wheeled the gravsled, making a sharp right and zooming off. Qui-Gon was on his tail.
Ahead lay a ravaged landscape. The lowering sun painted it with bloodred rays. Steaming pools of black acid bubbled and sent vapor into the air. The area was lumpy with hardened lava and sticky with tar. The air seemed thick and yellow with chemicals. Occasionally a large burst of steam erupted from fissures in the rock.
Xanatos flew off the gravsled. He landed on his feet, lightsaber in hand, perfectly positioned to attack. Taken off guard, Qui-Gon turned the gravsled too rapidly. He felt the vehicle was close to overturning and he jumped off.
The leap was awkward, but it saved him. He felt Xanatos' lightsaber buzz near his ear as it came down and struck rock.
Qui-Gon landed off balance and on one knee, but his lightsaber was activated and in his hand, ready to ward off the next blow. The tubes of light met and tangled, buzzing and sending a charge into the air.
"You won't kill me, Qui-Gon," Xanatos said, their faces close. His blue eyes burned with hatred.
"I am not here to kill you," Qui-Gon said. "I am here to bring you to justice." He somersaulted backward and reversed direction, hoping to knock the lightsaber from his opponent's hand.
The blow came down, but Xanatos met it and twisted away.
"Tell the truth for once, Qui-Gon," he sneered. "You spend so much time mouthing those Jedi pieces of wisdom that you've lost touch with your honesty, if you ever had it at all. You won't be satisfied until I'm dead. Look, here comes your young puppet."
Qui-Gon saw the blue glow of Obi-Wan's lightsaber as the boy rushed toward them. He sensed Obi-Wan would move to the right. If they flanked Xanatos, perhaps they could disarm him.
They moved at the same split second without exchanging a glance. Qui-Gon knew when and how Obi-Wan would strike, with a downward blow at the hilt of the lightsaber. Qui-Gon dropped to one knee for an upward strike. It would be difficult for Xanatos to counter both blows.
But Xanatos had anticipated their moves. He whirled away from Obi-Wan's blow and leaped backward, using the Force to add distance to the jump. Qui-Gon struck upward but only dealt a glancing blow to Xanatos' lightsaber. A fissure exploded near him, the steam hissing upward in a powerful column. He had to leap aside to avoid being scalded.
The steam column separated the Jedi from Xanatos, who smiled.
"Here we go again," Xanatos said. "The noble Jedi try to pretend they only come for justice when actually they come for blood. Remember, Obi-Wan? You took off after a thirteen-year-old boy and then he turned up dead. Do you remember the look in Bruck's eyes when you killed him? Are you trying to tell yourself that you're sorry your rival is dead? Admit the feeling in your heart. Admit your gladness! Admit your thirst for revenge."
Qui-Gon saw the distress in Obi-Wan's face. The hand holding the lightsaber trembled.
"Don't listen," he said quietly. "Don't listen, Obi-Wan."
The steam was sucked back into the fissure. At the same moment, Xanatos leaped forward. Still shaken, Obi-Wan was caught off guard. He barely was able to parry Xanatos' blow with his lightsaber. Xanatos whirled, one leg kicking out, sending Obi-Wan flying backward.
Then Xanatos leaped after the fallen boy.