Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [187]
Even though I sensed where the three of them were, I heard her sobs before I ever saw them. Two drunken LazerLords had trapped an indig woman between them and hustled her into an alley. They backed her up against a wall, trapping her hands high above her head, and were covering her face and neck with the sort of sloppy kisses the totally inebriated seem to have mastered. Except for the look of terror on her face, their antics might have seemed comical.
I moved into the alley as silent as a shadow and grabbed the first man by the scruff of the neck. I whirled him over toward the right, across my body, and smashed his face into the opposite alley wall. Something crunched when he hit, then he slumped to the ground. A half step forward and I brought the pommel of my lightsaber up in my right hand, catching the second man with an upper cut. Impact with the heavy metal pommel cap shattered the man’s jaw and sent him reeling backward.
One hand went to his mouth and the other dug for the blaster holstered on his right hip. As he started to draw the weapon, I rotated the lightsaber’s hilt in my hand and ignited the silver blade. Its explosive hiss filled the alley, with the light painting the LazerLord’s shadow across the alley floor and up along the back wall. I arced the blade down, catching the rising blaster at barrel and grip, dropping pieces of it and two of his fingers to the ground.
A sidekick to his already broken jaw dropped him to the alley floor, then I spun and lunged at his rising partner. Before he could draw his blaster, my lightsaber stabbed through his shoulder, burning a very neat, button-sized hole through bone and flesh. The oily stink of overcooked meat filled the alley. His face went absolutely white. He stared down at the silvery energy shaft sticking out of his shoulder, then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted.
I snapped the blade off before his falling body could tear itself free of the blade. I didn’t want him dead—I wanted neither of them dead. Two dead men would be statistics, but these men would have scars and would tell a wonderful tale. What the visitation had begun these two would continue.
I turned to the woman who cowered in a crouch. I extended a hand to her and she took it. The tremors in her flesh matched the waves of terror radiating out from her. I made my voice even and as reassuring as I could. “You have nothing to fear, child. They will not harm you any more.”
“W-who are you?”
I guided her to her feet and walked with her toward the alley mouth and the street light slanting into it. “It is enough that I am known to be here.”
I let her walk into the light, but I remained in the shadows as I let her hand go. “Just tell them that doom has come to Courkrus. Their victims will be avenged, and those who fear justice will never sleep securely here again.” Then I projected into her mind an illusion of my fading into nothingness while I slipped past her and moved further along the street. I shadowed her to make certain nothing else happened to her, then, when she found safety, I returned to my home.
The next morning, early, Timmser and Caet came to my suite and insisted Elegos wake me. I emerged from my bedroom looking rumpled and bleary-eyed, then sobered at the serious expressions on their faces. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”
Caet growled, and Timmser provided a good translation. “Two LazerLords got badly mangled last night. Doom has come to Courkrus, and it brought a lightsaber with it.”
FORTY-FOUR
The lightsaber made quite the impression on everyone. According to the two LazerLords, the Jedi creature that had jumped them had been two meters plus