Star Wars - Kenobi

said, walking toward the southern dune. “Just a second.”
    “Don’t leave me!” Jabe screamed.
    Ben was gone for just over three seconds when an eopie trotted over the southern crest. Ben followed, carrying a bundle in his arms. “I forgot I parked near here,” he called.
    The eopie wandered into the middle of the mystified Tuskens. At A’Yark’s feet, it began nuzzling at Jabe’s cheek with its snout. A’Yark looked back at the bundle Ben was carrying. It was moving. “What is that?”
    A bleat came from the shadowy mass, and Ben set it upon the ground. Dark cloth opened. A young eopie, just a few hours old, ambled toward its mother.
    “That … is not from here,” A’Yark said. She knew the old man who lived here kept no livestock.
    “Hmm? Ah, yes,” Ben said, musing as he watched mother and child together. “When I realized Orrin was targeting this ranch, I had to get here quickly, so I had no choice but to ride. But Rooh had just given birth this morning, and I couldn’t leave the child.”
    A’Yark stared at him. “How—”
    Ben picked up the cloth. “I carried him. In my cloak.” He shook out the garment and put it on. “He slept pretty well.”
    A’Yark looked at the eopie with the two children, one human. She knew how far it was to Ben’s home. He had ridden across the desert—with an infant eopie in his lap?
    It occurred to her Ben would do anything to return Annileen’s child to her—just as he had returned A’Deen. And so he might be capable of anything.
    Lights swept over the eastern ridge. “They have come,” A’Yark said. She poked Jabe lightly in the shoulder with the point of her weapon. “You must go. I agree to Ben’s trade.”
    Ben looked around. He spied the speeder bike. “I need to get to the oasis fast, but—” He looked apprehensively at the eopies. “I can’t ride alongside, and I can’t carry us all.”
    A’Yark gestured, and warriors stepped up to lead the eopies away. At least they were capable of that, she thought. The night was still young, and she had much to prepare, as well.
    Helping a confused Jabe toward the speeder bike, Ben looked back with apprehension. “You … you won’t eat them, will you?”
    “We do what we want,” A’Yark said, offended. The insinuation that they wouldn’t was worse than any assumption about their diet. “But no one acts, but I say.” That much was true, now.
    Ben climbed aboard the vehicle in front of Jabe. “I’ll return. And if I fail—the next time you see me, I will do as you ask. I swear.”
    “I will makes sure of it,” A’Yark said. With that, the Tuskens and their animal charges vanished over the dune and into the night.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
    IN THE DARKNESS OF the Claim, Annileen staggered against the counter. “What … what did you say? ”
    “Jabe is dead,” Orrin repeated. He knelt beside the shards of the bottles on the floor at his feet. Down in the darkness, his mind raced. Annileen would have to learn sometime that the Tuskens had taken Jabe, but he’d hoped to put it off until after he settled his financial affairs.
    Now he wondered what to say. Could he say Jabba’s toughs had struck at him, killing Jabe instead? That would sell Annileen on the danger Orrin was in, but it might solidify her resolve not to pay the criminals. No, he thought as he picked up the pieces, there might be a way instead to ensure that she did help him. And it involved the truth.
    Starting at a certain point, of course. “The Tuskens killed him,” he said, rising with the shards. “I was bringing him back here from my place when I broke down. Plug-eye got him.”
    “The Tuskens?” Annileen grabbed at him. “Where?”
    Orrin dumped the glass into the refuse bin. “Out on the desert. You won’t find him. They took him away.”
    “Then he might not be dead!” Kallie yelled, tears glinting in her eyes.
    Annileen shoved past Orrin, finally escaping from behind the counter. “I’ve got to go,” she said, heading toward the gun racks. She looked back at Kallie. “Get dressed.”
    Kallie handed her rifle to her mother and ran back into the residence. “What are you waiting for, Orrin? Activate the Settlers’ Call!”
    Orrin stood taller, having formulated his plan. “At first light,” he said. “You know there’s nothing anyone can do until then.” He stepped forward from behind the bar. “But I swear, I’ll call out every vehicle we’ve got until we find him. You need to