"As soon as we find somewhere suitable, we should stop for the night, " Qui-Gon said in a low tone. "The delay will not hurt us. And a fire will protect us."

Obi-Wan did not hear or see any movement around them. The surrounding trees pressed close to the path here, with feathery blue-green leaves that did not stir. Yet he had the sense they were being stalked. Despite the cold, he felt a trickle of sweat break loose from the hair at the back of his neck.

The shadows of the leaves lengthened, dimming the path ahead. He could barely glimpse the fork where they had stopped. There was a clearing there where they could make camp.

Off to his right, he saw a flash of green, a fluorescent color strangely out of place in the natural hues of the forest. He was about to point it out to Qui-Gon when his Master suddenly drew his lightsaber.

"Malia!" Qui-Gon warned.

A split second later Obi-Wan saw a blur of blue-gray fur as an animal bounded out of the trees toward them. Now he knew the origin of that odd green flash. It was the eyes of the malia, gleaming with the fever of the kill. The malia was perhaps knee-high to Qui-Gon, lean and rangy. Obi-Wan was startled by the ugliness of the face, with its tapered snout and yellow teeth sharpened into lethal points.

Obi-Wan's lightsaber was in his hand, and he jumped back to protect Qui-Gon. At the same time, another creature darted from the trees on the opposite side. And then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth. They moved quickly, so fast they seemed to change shape. They circled, snapping their teeth at the Jedi's whirling light-sabers, but always staying out of reach.

Their movements seemed choreographed to tire their prey. They kept the Jedi moving with the constant threat.

"They are playing with us," Qui-Gon said, turning to protect himself from a rear assault from two malia.