Obi-Wan stiffened in anger. He felt tempted to point out that Bruck was not one of those better candidates. Instead, he headed for the doorway.

He had taken a single step when something hard hit him in the back of his head. The sound of the blow against Obi-Wan’s skull echoed through the room. Bruck had thrown a training probe.

As Obi-Wan spun to face Bruck, the bow powered up his lightsaber. Its red light cut through the gloom.

Obi-Wan looked at the empty corridor. Yoda was gone. No one would see if he gave Bruck the beating he deserved. Bruck was often cruel, but usually not so brazen. He was deliberately provoking Obi-Wan, trying to get him to loose his temper.

But why? Obi-Wan wondered.

Of course! “You knew all along that Qui-Gon Jinn was coming to search for a Padawan, didn’t you,” Obi-Wan said slowly, as the suspicions hardened into certainty. Since Obi-Wan was the oldest apprentice in the Temple, the Jedi Masters would encourage Qui-Gon to take him — the lost cause. Bruck would not want that to happen.

Bruck laughed. “I made sure you didn’t find out. If I’d had my way, you wouldn’t have found out until he’d left.”

Bruck hoped to become Qui-Gon’s Padawan! And the only way to do it was to make sure that Obi-Wan failed. He’d tried to keep him from preparing, and now he was trying to make him mad. Obi-Wan’s anger, his impatience, had been his downfall often enough in the past Bruck hoped to fill his mind with rage and despair so that he would not be open to the Force.

Obi-Wan had been raised in the Jedi Temple since he was a baby. He hadn’t seen much of greed or hatred or true evil. The Masters shielded the children from such things, the keep them from turning to the dark side of the Force.

Yet now Obi-Wan saw into the heart of ruthlessness. Bruck was plotting to steal his dreams.