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“If … they wanted to harm us,” Vestara offered. Ben looked at her. Vestara sometimes told the truth when asked a direct question, but it was unlike her to volunteer information.

“What do you mean?” asked Jaina.

“Well,” Vestara continued, “if the whole plan is to hide, they wouldn’t come out even if we were easy prey.”

“A good point,” Luke said, “but this close? Your people are good, Vestara, but I don’t think so many of them could hide so completely from three Jedi.” To illustrate how confident he was, he extinguished his lightsaber.

Nothing happened.

“They may still be here on this world, but not at this site,” he said. “Let’s go. Daylight’s burning, and I don’t think we want to be out here at night.”

Ben couldn’t suppress a shudder.

* * *

The walk down the Valley of the Dark Lords was little better. The statues were enormous and loomed over them, casting long shadows literally now as the beings they represented did metaphorically in life. In those shadows, Ben felt cold.

“Why does this feel … wrong?” he wondered aloud. “I mean—I really thought we’d find them here.”

“It did seem like our best bet,” Jaina agreed glumly.

“We’ve only just started to look,” Luke pointed out. “And if Vestara’s guess is right—that any Sith that might be here are hiding—they could have sensed us approaching with enough time to flee the citadel, if not the planet.”

“And make it look like no one had been there for years?” Ben asked skeptically.

“Don’t underestimate the Sith,” Vestara said. “But Master Skywalker is right. They might have left the citadel and be hiding among the ruins in small groups hoping we wouldn’t bother to check. It’s the sort of thing my—my father would do.”

Ben looked at her searchingly. It certainly did sound as though she was doing her best to be of help. Or maybe she was just setting them up, encouraging them to walk into places steeped in the dark side for some kind of ambush? Stang, how he hated this … if he could only know one way or the other where she stood. He still hoped that one day, that would come to pass … and that she would stand with him, with the light side.

“So,” he said, to take his mind off that line of thought, “we just … pick a tomb and start poking around?”

“If you have a better idea, I’m open to suggestions,” Luke said with a touch of wryness.

Ben didn’t.

These were worse, much worse, than the citadel. Ben could feel the chill of the dark side increase almost with every step they took. He extended his senses in the Force, bracing himself for the more intimate brush with the dark side energies lurking here like stagnant pools of ice water. They ascended the steep, long stairs up to the first tomb, craning their necks to look up into the hooded face that scowled down upon them.

There was no face carved on the statue, and that unsettled Ben more than any horrific snarl he might have encountered.

They reached the final step and paused, waiting for Luke’s instructions. Ben’s father stood looking as calm and unruffled as if he were comfortably in the Jedi Temple, but Ben could sense his alertness. There was a knot in his own stomach, and his brain was telling him, Flee, flee while you can, but he ignored it. He knew it for what it was—simple fear, not a true warning. The certainty produced a peacefulness, and the talons digging into him loosened their grip on his mind.

Luke stepped forward and placed a hand on the tomb, his brow furrowing in concentration. He stepped back and shook his head.

“The ancient masons did their work well. This tomb is completely sealed. There’s no ventilation, and I sensed nothing living inside. Let’s move on to the next one.”

The sensation of apprehension, of cold malice, didn’t lessen, even as they continued to find nothing in tomb after tomb. One or two of them had been broken into, but robbers—incredibly stupid or incredibly brave, Ben thought—had been there long before. All that remained were scattered coins, utensils, and the bones of the hapless beings that had