Read Online Star Wars - Kenobi by John Jackson Miller - Free Book Online Page A

with Jabe, as always —”
    Behind the girl, the stranger fastened the lid on his canteen and chuckled. “If you were trying to get your mother’s attention, my young friend—you succeeded.” He flashed that disarming smile again.
    Kallie’s brown eyes lit up, and she beamed at him. “Oh, please—you can call me Kallie!”
    He smiled politely—and Annileen glared at her daughter. “Grounded for life, ” she said, and tried to sit up. A second later she realized the futility of the attempt and surrendered to gravity.
    The stranger was back down in a flash, catching her. His riding gloves exposed his bare fingers, and she could feel them in her hair. “Don’t do anything rash,” he said. “We just got you back to the world.”
    “Right.” With the help of the two of them, Annileen sat up.
    “I was riding home from Bestine when I saw you were having troubles,” he said. “That was some masterful riding, you catching up to your daughter. I hope I didn’t offend you by getting involved.”
    “No, no offense,” Annileen deadpanned. Turning her head, she saw what had become of Snit. The dewback drooled on the sand, his once-crazed eyes staring mindlessly at her. Looking along the animal’s length, Annileen thought his rear leg looked like a half-deflated balloon. The bones, deep inside, had shattered badly from the misstep.
    But more remarkable was where Snit was: only a couple of meters behind her. The creature had just missed her when he landed.
    “It was a lucky thing,” the man said.
    “Lucky,” Annileen said, rubbing the side of her head. There’d be a knot there, for sure. “I was afraid we’d run into a sarlacc.”
    “A healthy fear to have.”
    Annileen forced herself to stand. Once sure of her bearings, she wiped her hand on her shirt and presented it. “Annileen Calwell.”
    “Annileen.” The man seemed reluctant at first to shake her hand, but soon did so amiably. “I haven’t heard that one. Family name?”
    “Not any longer, if I have anything to say about it,” she said, smiling. “Most just call me Annie.”
    The rescuer paused, and for a moment she thought she saw his eyes fix, as if looking somewhere else. But the gentle smile quickly returned. “No, Annileen is just fine.”
    “And you’ve met the tornado,” Annileen said.
    “Kallie,” the girl repeated, going for a handshake of her own.
    The man nodded. “Ben.”
    Before Annileen could ask more, he stepped past her to examine Snit. The animal seemed catatonic. “I don’t know much about this species,” he said. “But he doesn’t look good.”
    “He’s in shock.”
    Ben looked concerned. “Can he make a go of it on three legs?”
    “Let me ask the livery manager.” Annileen looked over at Kallie, who was adjusting the saddle on Vilas. “What do you think?”
    Her daughter splayed her arms and whined, “I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Kallie hated to lose any creatures at all. But even if Snit could somehow go on, Annileen had half a mind to shoot the nasty thing anyway.
    Which was when Annileen realized she had no weapon at all, out here on the desert with a vagrant. But as before, Ben somehow seemed to sense her unease. He whistled once, and his eopie scampered back toward him. The animal was spry, despite being heavily laden with gear.
    Kallie smiled. “What’s her name?”
    “Rooh. Or that’s what they told me when I bought her.” Ben patted the eopie’s snout. “Good job, Rooh,” he said reassuringly.
    It reassured Annileen, anyway. One thing about the lowlifes of Tatooine: they were seldom nice to children and animals. Ben had saved her child from an animal.
    And with that, her judgment was made.
    “Well, good job to you, too, Ben,” she said, dusting herself off. “Why were you coming this way again?”
    Scratching the eopie’s neck, he nodded to the southwest. “I’ve … set up house near the wastes. Just running some errands. Things to do, you know.”
    Annileen brightened.