Turning Point

Chapter Thirty Three

I leap into yet another alley. There are fewer people now. I dodge around the few stragglers up and around, but apart from that my search appears to be extremely uneventful.

I know I'm getting closer to Anakin, because I can sense him. I can sense someone else too, and I know it's the woman with a lightsaber identical to mine. And I'm very certain it is mine.

As I get closer, I gradually start to hear them - running footsteps, the hum of a lightsaber and the occasional shot from a blaster, and now, I know I running along the same building that they are on.

Suddenly there's a blast, another blast, and a cry of pain, a cry from the woman. I assume that Anakin reflected her own shot back at her. Tiles from the roof tumble down ahead of me, and I slide to a stop waiting for the fall to cease. They fall two floors, smashing a couple of windows, and I hear a few muffled cries from within them. The tiles themselves lay in a million pieces, along side the glass, which is, if possible, in even more pieces.

I look up at the roof to see someone jump off. In the rush to escape Anakin, she seemingly didn't see me, but she will now. The way she lands it, with a controlled roll tells me she has enough experience to be dangerous. I suspect she's a bounty hunter; after Lux. I reactivate my lightsaber, preparing for the string of blasts that I know will come.

Just then, Anakin jumps down behind her. I grin at him and he returns it, but the small communication enables her to do what she needs. Suddenly she's in the air, and I realise we misjudged her. Bounty Hunters nearly always have an escape. I use the force to leap up to the roof, looking for an opportunity to slash her jet pack before it's too late.

I can't quite reach, I know that maybe Anakin could of. But I do have one very brave, yet very stupid idea. But there's no time to weigh up the pros and con's. I leap towards her, and frozen in surprise, she doesn't move away in time. As I fall downwards, I slash her jet pack and I get a glance at an angry red mark producing smoke.

I land back on the floor gracefully enough, and look up to see something rectangular coming after me. Apparently, she landed on the roof and threw her malfunctioning device after me.

"Move Ahsoka!"

I don't need to be told twice. I run towards him from instinct, immediately assuming it's safer than the other direction because he's standing there. Stupid instinct.

The jet pack blows up and knocks the walls around it down, blocking our path. Anakin raises his eyebrow and gives me a look that clearly states Really?

"Well..." I say, "Looks like we might both have to go on the roof - before we burn to death,"

The flames lick towards us and I desperately hope whoever was in the house earlier had the sense to get out of it.

"Well, if we can actually see where we're supposed to be going," He points up towards the roof, which is bidden behind a cloud of thick black smoke. There must have been something very dangerous in that thing. I step back, trying to avoid the stuff invading my lungs.

"Let's go that way then,"I say, pointing towards the empty passage behind us.

"Can't," Anakin states clearly, "Dead end,"

Oh. Well that's not good.

"So, any ideas?" I ask him, not having any myself.

"Yep, we go through a building. It's the only way," he says, walking over to a window, and peering inside. I look at the flames creeping along the wall near it.

"Are you sure that's even a way. It looks a bit... fiery to me, and smokey,"  I peer through the window.

"Well do you have a better idea?" He asks me, before shattering the window with his blade.

"I can't even see the other side of the room," I muse, leaping in. Anakin follows and we try to locate a door. After a lot of coughing, we finally locate it on the right hand side wall. I swing it open and am met with a flaming carpet. But it's too late. Flames lick at the bottom of the door and wall, and the carpet glows red. I use the force to close it again, but the flames don't pause.

"There has to be... another... door," I choke out to Anakin. We search again, but there isn't one. Instead, Anakin plunges his blade into the opposite wall and makes his own door. We stumble through it to discover only as much smoke.

In this room we find a staircase, and I lead the way up, still choking.

"Too smokey..." I moan, "I... Can't...see...anything..."

But we carry on anyway, carefully looking for an escape. Suddenly there's a loud crash, and the door I was about to open falls in slow motion towards me. For some reason I don't quite click what's happening, maybe because of the smoke. Thankfully Anakin has the sense to pull me out of the way.

However, I stumble and lean against the wall. I can barely breathe, and obviously Anakin can't either, because he doesn't take the effort to steady me again. Coughing violently, I use the force to push it away from me, inspecting the room with the collapsed door.

Only there wasn't a room there. I glanced downwards at the room below which had become a pit of flames before hastily moving away. I locate Anakin again and follow him down the hall. We find a door leading to a balcony at the other end. Thankfully, it leads to a street the opposite side from the source of the fire.

Anakin kicks the glass door and it shatters. We stumble on to the balcony, expecting fresh air, only to find flames licking the edges. I realise it may only stay up for a few minutes longer at the most. We use the force to jump to the roof on the other side of the street, and onto the furthest part for good measure.

I immediately bend over coughing, trying to rid myself of the smoke that's poisoning my lungs. Beside me, Anakin does a similar thing.

I glance at the smokey mess that was a family home only minutes ago. Now, it's a flame of misfortune.

"Ready to get moving? She looks to be fairly dangerous," Anakin moves over to me, and I straighten myself.

With a brief nod of my head, we run away from the crime scene.