Anakin scanned the meadow, alert for trouble. But instead, he saw Wren sleeping under a tree.

"Master — "

"I see him." Obi-Wan paused. "Something is. not right," he murmured. "I get no sense of the Force from Wren."

Anakin frowned. His Master was right.

Obi-Wan took a step forward. But it was not in the direction Anakin had been looking.

"Master?"

Anakin saw that his Master had headed toward Wren. But this was a different Wren, sleeping under a different tree.

And then Anakin saw another Wren, and another, and another. None of them was the real Jedi. They were merely projections of his image.

"Holograms," Obi-Wan said.

"All of them?" Anakin asked.

He looked at his Master. There was no way to know.

"Stay here and don't try anything," Obi-Wan warned Floria and Dane. "We will handle this."

"Be my guest," Dane answered, his eyes darting to the many Wrens.

"Teleq wants us to run into the meadow," Obi-Wan murmured to Anakin. "He wants us to race from one Wren to another. So we won't."

They didn't need too. They would use the Force.

Obi-Wan and Anakin reached out and gathered it around them. A fellow Jedi was in danger. That made their connection to the Force even stronger, made their ability to gather it more urgent.

Obi-Wan felt the power of Anakin's grasp of the Force. As always, it staggered him.

He scanned the meadow once more, and this time he knew which of the images was not an image. Which one was Wren. When he looked directly at Wren, he felt the answering surge. Anakin had also honed in on the real Wren.

The sound of Obi-Wan lightsaber leaving his belt was no more than a whisper. His leaving his spot was no more than a disturbance in the air. Yet he was gone, across the meadow, racing toward Wren. He could feel rather than hear Anakin behind him.

Suddenly Wren's body snapped into the air. Obi-Wan watched, his heart in his mouth, as Wren was hoisted up into the trees. There was no question in Obi-Wan's mind that Wren must have been given a paralyzing drug of some kind. He could tell by the boneless way Wren's legs and arms flopped as if he were a puppet.

Rage bloomed in his chest, Obi-Wan absorbed it and let it go. He did not need rage to fight this. He need disciple. Calm.

He anticipated the attack before it came. He had known Teleq was luring them on, but he did not care. He was ready to meet the bounty hunter.

He had just not expected the attack to come from above. A shower of poisonous darts rained down from the trees.

"Flechette canisters," Obi-Wan told Anakin. She shifted his focus to the branches over his head. Now he could see Teleq. He was a long-limbed being with hooked fingers and toes, making him adept at climbing and swinging through trees.

Perched on the branches we also flocks of birds. Their feathers were the same bright pink as the flowering trees, allowing them to blend into their surroundings. They were almost as big as Anakin, with large wings folded back against their bodies.

As Teleq moved from branch to branch, the birds began to squawk angrily. Obi-Wan leaped to catch a branch high overhead, then swung himself up into the trees. A bird pecked his hand, drawing blood. He swung up to the next branch. The tree was easy to climb, since the branches were wide and flat. He could see Teleq trying to scamper away, firing another shower of darts at him over his shoulder.

Anakin swung himself into a tree close by. He climbed up onto another branch, then another. High above the ground the branches were close together, and they would be able to leap from one tree to another to pursue Teleq.

But where was Teleq headed? Obi-Wan wondered as he climbed. He watched Teleq jump to another tree and realized what he was doing.

Teleq was leading them closer to Wren. The closer Obi-Wan got to Teleq, the more he would bring Wren into the range of fire of the darts. And wren would be unable to deflect them.

What is his objective? Obi-Wan wondered. How was he planning to catch the Jedi?

The possibilities flew through Obi-Wan's mind, presenting themselves so quickly it was as though they appeared all at once.

Wren himself is booby-trapped.

There is another trap in Wren's tree.

There is trap on the logical progression to Wren's tree.

There is no trap. Teleq is planning a surprise move with the flechette canister or another weapon.

The question is, how can I surprise him instead?

Anakin leaped from his tree to the next one, deflecting a shower of darts with a quick series of lightsaber moves. Obi-Wan leaped to another tree, still considering his options. Suddenly his mind cleared, leaving a space without sound. He knew what would follow: Qui-Gon's voice. Often it rose in his mind just when he was most confused or uncertain.

Use everything you have. Use the ground. Use the sky. Use what is around you.

Another bird suddenly squawked by his ear. Obi-Wan deftly moved to the left as the bird struck out with a long, pointed beak. Another bird leaped closer on the thick branch, screeching at Obi-Wan. He realized that he had almost stumbled into a nest. No wonder birds were so furious. He quickly jumped to the branch of the next tree.

He didn't like the setting of the battle. Teleq was adept at navigating the trees. He had chosen his ground wisely. And Obi-Wan couldn't help the nagging suspicion that somehow Teleq was luring them into a trap. They would have to get him first. But how?

Another bird squawked overhead, its mate joining it to circle above the nest.

Use everything you have.

While he deflected more darts from the flechette canister, Obi-Wan searched the branches near Wren's tree. Obviously, Teleq was trying to drive them there. He was being clever about it — he was trying to make them think that he was attempting to keep them away from the tree — but Obi-Wan knew better.

There — he saw it. A large nest near Teleq, guarded by two birds. That would do.

He did not have time to communicate his plan to Anakin. He would have to trust that his Padawan would get the idea.

Obi-Wan jumped from his tree to the next, following the route he felt sure Teleq wanted him to follow. He kept his lightsaber activated, swinging at the darts to clear his way. He could hear Anakin behind him, jumping from tree to tree.