THE SKYWALKERS: book two

CHAPTER THREE - A Crumbling World

"Ugh!" Leia groaned. "You could've at least given me a warning." She jumped down and ignited her lightsaber in midair so that by the time she landed at her brother's side, she was ready to fight.

"It's them!" a stormtrooper shouted. "Get them!"

"Just like training," Luke muttered before taking off in a full-on sprint. He swung his lightsaber at the first stormtrooper he met and cut him down.

"Show off." Leia blocked the blaster fire from another trooper, then sent him flying backward with the Force. Maybe this was going to be as easy as Luke made it look.

In no time, they'd killed all five troopers, but then heavy footfalls on the forest floor approached them from behind. They turned around, only to find about a dozen stormtroopers waiting, blasters aimed at them.

"So they called for backup," said Luke as he and Leia assumed their defensive positions. "No big deal."

"Surrender now," said one of the troopers.

"Or what?" Leia scowled at him.

"Or we will make your people suffer."

Luke and Leia exchanged a look.

"We have to go, sir!" A guard rushed up to Anakin, who had been knocked over in an explosion that seemed to rattle him to his core. As he blinked to clear his head, he began to remember.

They had been discussing the possibility of reinforcements coming from an Alliance base on Felucia when a guard came running and told them the city was under siege. They had been heading for the hangar when the first round of attack came.

Anakin coughed and shook debris from his hair. "Padmé," he croaked as he sat up.

"I'm right here," she said. "But I can't move. There's something...something..." she ran out of breath.

Anakin had to wait for his vision to get less blurry before he could see Padmé, who was laying on the ground. The ceiling had collapsed and buried one of her legs in the rubble. "Hold on," he said. "I'll get you out of there."

He tried moving the rubble with the Force, but for some reason, he couldn't get it to budge. He felt weak and his head was pounding. He brought his hand up to where the pain was worst and it came away crimson.

"Anakin." He couldn't bear to hear her like that. It reminded him of the awful dreams he used to have. Only now they were coming true.

Struggling, he used all his strength to push himself up and half crawl, half drag his way over to Padmé. "A little help here," he grunted at the guard, who had been standing in the corner. The guard rushed over, and together they lifted the large piece of marble off of Padmé's leg. "Come on." He extended a hand to her once he was standing.

She grabbed hold of him and tried to get to her feet, but then cried out in pain. "Something's broken."

"Okay. That's okay." Anakin panted. But when he tried lifting her into his arms, he buckled under her weight.

"Anakin, just leave me. Go find Luke and Leia. They need you."

"I can't leave you like this, Padmé." He turned to the guard. "Can you carry her?"

"I can, sir."

"Take her to the ship. Get her out of here."

"You need to go, Anakin. Now. Before more troops arrive. Find the twins."

"I will. Don't wait for us. Do you hear me? Go as quickly as possible. We'll find another ship."

"Okay," Padmé nodded. "Now go!"