Star Wars - Kenobi

As the crowd of children clutched at her robes, A’Yark lowered her weapon and looked to the west. A cloud of gray dust was rising into the air above the standing stones. A’Yark, who moments before had been in a blood rage, seemed spellbound. She spoke to the children in her own language—before looking at Annileen and repeating her words in Basic. “See it, Ann-uh-leen,” A’Yark said. “See Ben.”
    Annileen stared, uncomprehending, at the rising dust. She knew she was in the heart of Tusken territory, and that she should follow Veeka to the safety of the posse. But Ben was still here, and so was Orrin—and something big had happened. “Was it an avalanche?” she asked as the dust climbed. “Is Ben in trouble?”
    “No trouble,” A’Yark said softly. She nodded, watching again to the west. “No avalanche. I was right.”
    Annileen prepared to move again. But now the Tusken children began chattering and tugging at A’Yark’s garment. The warrior spoke to them hurriedly, clearly concerned about whatever information the excited younglings were providing. Then another deafening boom from the west followed—one that shook the pillars all around.
    “Is that trouble?” Annileen asked A’Yark. The warrior somehow seemed less fearsome now, surrounded by frantic younglings.
    “Is trouble,” A’Yark replied.
    The next sound from the west chilled Annileen’s spine. “Ayooooo-eh-EH-EHH!”
    She had heard the sound many times before—and she instantly knew this was no recording. “Krayt dragon,” she whispered.
    “Awakened by the sounds,” A’Yark said. Hastily, she tried to hoist a pair of children while still holding the bloody gaderffii. More children fled into the clearing from the western pillars. “I must hide the uli-ah, ” the warrior said.
    On impulse, Annileen stepped forward and reached for a young Tusken’s gloved hand. “I’ll help.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
    ORRIN STARED, STUPEFIED, AS a monster stormed through the stone pillars toward him. Too large by far to fit into the corridor between the megaliths, the great reptile simply forced its way through like a battle tank, shattering them as it went. Hefty boulders bounced harmlessly off the quadruped’s greenish hide.
    It was a canyon krayt, bigger than any Orrin had ever heard of. Fifty meters long? Sixty? He wasn’t about to measure it. Terrified, he scanned the debris for his blasters. One was there, smashed beneath a rock. Where was the other? Could it do any good?
    “Kenobi!” Orrin yelled. “Help me up!”
    Ben looked back at Orrin, clearly startled by the new arrival. But more squealing Tusken brats ran past, shocked out of hiding, and his attention turned to them. “Quickly!” Ben yelled, pointing to the east. “Go!”
    “Forget them!” Orrin tried to get Ben’s attention again, but saw that it was too late. The krayt had seen them through the dust cloud. Golden eyes glowing, it bounded forward, its clawed feet scrambling easily over the stones.
    It went for Ben and the Tusken child first, lashing out with its mighty tail. Orrin threw his arm in front of his face, petrified. He looked out to see Ben duck quickly, pushing the child to the ground as he did. The pillar the tail struck shattered, its pieces plummeting toward the man and child at its base. Ben started to move again. To grab the youngling, Orrin thought—
    —but instead, Ben thrust his arms high. The rubble halted in midair, as if collected in an invisible basin. Orrin looked at it in awe. And then looked back at Ben, mesmerized. Ben’s face strained from the effort, but he gritted his teeth and gave a shove to the air. Half a ton of collapsing stone tipped harmlessly away from the prone Tusken child.
    Orrin gawked. The krayt lunged.
    So did Ben, now wielding a weapon of gleaming blue light. A lightsaber!
    Leaping directly into the creature’s path, he sliced out with his weapon. The ripping movement caught the krayt in the face, severing a number of its already-jagged teeth. Startled, the dragon reared back. Behind Ben, the Tusken child scrambled to Orrin’s side—but the farmer was too fearful to shoo it away. Ben was moving again: this time, hopping lithely up a rock to the creature’s left, attracting its attention away from Orrin and the little Tusken.
    Mighty rocks grinding to powder beneath its feet, the behemoth wrenched violently. It pounded its horned head against the broken pillar Ben had perched on top of. But Ben was no longer