Star Wars - Kenobi

him.
    Thunder sounded in the rocks to the west. Mullen glared at his sister. “What in the blazes is going on over—”
    Before he could finish his sentence, Annileen threw a fistful of sand in his face. Blinded, he staggered, and Annileen grabbed his ankle, pulled it toward her, and bit down hard.
    Hearing her brother’s howl, Veeka pointed her rifle at Annileen. She fired once, but her injured shoulder jerked her arm to the left and the shot missed. With animal instinct, Annileen dived for Mullen’s legs, knocking him backward. She tried to wrestle with him to keep Veeka from drawing another clear shot, but Mullen was too strong. Pinning her, he pointed his blaster in her face.
    That was when Veeka screamed.
    A’Yark charged in from the cover to the west, howling a Tusken war cry. Before Veeka could bring her rifle around, A’Yark’s gaderffii smashed it from her hands. A return stroke sent the point of the gaderffii ripping through Veeka’s side.
    In agony, Veeka clutched her wound and fell away, scrambling to escape. A’Yark sprang over her toward Annileen and Mullen. Startled, Mullen pulled the blaster from Annileen’s face to take aim at the Tusken warrior.
    With all her might, Annileen heaved, forcing the burly man off to the side. His blaster sent a bolt just past A’Yark’s head, but the Tusken war leader did not stop. Swinging, A’Yark stabbed her gaderffii point deep in his abdomen. Annileen launched herself clear as A’Yark brought the weapon down again and again on Mullen’s body.
    “Posse kills,” A’Yark said in Basic. “Posse dies!”
    In a fog of dust, Orrin tried to crawl out from beneath the pile of rubble. Every move was painful. When he heard Veeka’s scream, he jolted upright—and felt the bones shift in his left leg.
    He fell to the ground at Ben’s feet.
    In the shadows, the cloaked figure knelt over Orrin. “I did tell you to turn back,” Ben said.
    Mullen howled from beyond. Ben looked up for a moment—and shook his head sadly. Whatever was happening, Orrin thought, Ben seemed satisfied that Annileen was safe. The man was in no hurry to leave.
    Orrin spat bitter dust from his mouth. “Couldn’t … turn back. Jabba’s people there …”
    Ben shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. Your fear led to this—all of it. Fear of losing what you had. It put you on a path to suffering.”
    Ben looked back. From his position on the ground, Orrin saw a cowering Tusken youngling emerge from behind one of the stone pillars to stare at the two humans. Ben smiled reassuringly at the tiny masked figure before looking back to Orrin.
    “I know how the path ends for you,” the cloaked man said. “But there is still time, if you turn back now. Accept responsibility for what you’ve done. That won’t square you with the Tuskens, but it will be a start toward redemption.”
    Orrin sat up. He blinked the sand from his eyes. “I’ll lose everything,”
    Ben inhaled deeply. “Sometimes it takes losing everything to find your true path.”
    Ben started to stand—but then he looked up, alert. To the west, a monolith with a triangular slab balanced above it suddenly gave way, unable to support its own enormous weight. Huge rocks tumbled down. The little Tusken rushed to Ben’s side for protection. More stones snapped loose and slammed to the ground.
    Orrin could hear more Tusken children yowling in the maze as the debris landed. But he was more interested in Ben’s reaction. The man had seemed completely unafraid of the earlier phenomenon—almost as if he’d orchestrated the whole thing. But now, one hand on the clinging Tusken youngling, Ben looked worried.
    “Something’s wrong,” Ben said, his voice barely audible. “I didn’t do that …”
    A’Yark brought the gaderffii down again and again. Trying to reach her feet, Annileen saw Veeka crouching nearby. Limp and ashen-faced, Orrin’s daughter watched as her brother struggled, clawed, and finally ceased to move under A’Yark’s attack. Then she turned and fled for the northern gap, and the trail leading downhill.
    A’Yark lifted her bloodied weapon and glanced back at the departing Veeka. But before she could give chase, the Tusken younglings, frightened by the clamor in the stone forest, poured from their hiding places to the west and clustered around A’Yark, separating her from Annileen.
    Annileen turned to follow—but A’Yark surprised her by calling out, “Ben!”
    Annileen stopped and looked back.