• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

He glanced in that direction and found his son standing with one hand on his lightsaber, body angled to keep an eye on Luke and Vestara both. The girl appeared just as ready, standing well out of striking range, her body angle a mirror of Ben’s. Despite all the violence and death both teenagers had seen in their brief lives, Luke hated that they would see what was about to happen. The battle—if it could be called that—was bound to be more slaughter than fight, and there was a strong possibility both of their fathers would fall. He would have given anything to spare them that, but some things were beyond the abilities of even a Jedi Grand Master.

By the time Luke had returned his attention to the circle, Gavar Khai was using the Force to hold the elder—Eliya—before him. The cheek that Taalon had struck earlier was swollen and blue, her jaw obviously shattered. But as Khai pressed his unignited lightsaber against her thigh, the old woman showed no sign of fear.

Luke stepped forward. “This will accomplish nothing,” he said. “If you think the Fallanassi can be threatened with violence—”

“This matter is no concern of yours, Jedi,” Eliya said. “You have done enough harm to us already.”

Taalon smiled at her bravery, then turned to Akanah. “You will tell me why Abeloth came to the Fallanassi for protection at once,” he said, “or this old woman will suffer for your stubbornness.”

“Tell him nothing, Lady,” Eliya said, turning from Luke to Akanah. “These sewer eels don’t deserve your—”

“There is no harm in telling him this much, Sister.” As she spoke, Akanah kept her gaze fixed on Taalon. “Abeloth returned to the Fallanassi because she is Fallanassi.”

“What?” It was Ben who blurted this. “How is that possible? Abeloth has been locked in the Maw for twenty-five thousand years!”

Akanah’s gaze slid toward him. “The Fallanassi are older than that, Ben Skywalker,” she said. “They are older than the Jedi, older than the Sith, as old as civilization itself.”

Taalon narrowed his eyes at her claim, then turned to Luke and raised a questioning brow. “Can that be true?”

“I suppose it could,” Luke replied, daring to hope Taalon might not find it necessary to torture Eliya. If Akanah—or Abeloth—was willing to reveal something of the Fallanassi’s history in order to spare Eliya, perhaps she would reveal something else: Abeloth’s hiding place. “But I’m more interested in whether Abeloth was always Fallanassi. Or did she join more recently?”

A sly smile crossed Akanah’s lips. “The answer would tell you whether she is still here,” she said. “And that I won’t reveal.”

“You will in time,” Taalon said.

The High Lord nodded to Khai, who activated his lightsaber. The emitter was still pressed to Eliya’s thigh, and the crackle of the activating blade could barely be heard over the woman’s scream. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, then her thigh buckled, and she pitched forward into Khai’s chest. He stepped back, allowing her to drop the rest of the way onto his blade, and her voice fell abruptly silent.

The snap-sizzle of igniting lightsabers sounded throughout the village as the Sith search party—no doubt alerted to the possibility of trouble through the Force—activated their weapons. But if Taalon truly believed the Fallanassi response would come in the form of physical violence, he had learned nothing during his hour of attempting to intimidate them. Luke placed a hand on his own weapon, but did not activate it—or even remove it from his belt. He wasn’t ready for a fight with Taalon and his men, so he had to be careful not to provoke them. Abeloth, after all, was his first target.

Akanah merely floated a little higher, placing herself above Taalon, and said, “You think you can intimidate me?”

As she spoke, Gavar Khai’s gaze dropped to Eliya’s cleaved body, and his eyes widened with horror. He brought his blade up and began to slash at the air, pivoting and dodging as though he were in combat. Twice, he cringed as though he had taken