Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 05_ Agents of Chaos 02_ Jedi Eclipse - James Luceno [50]
Leia shushed him. “Isolder spent two years as a privateer,” she said quietly. “I’m sure he knows a few moves.”
“But, Mistress,” C-3PO said hopelessly.
She silenced him again in order to hear what Isolder was telling Thane as they faced off in the center of the lawn.
“Should you win, you will not only have redeemed your honor but earned the right to brag of having defeated the prince of Hapes. Should I win, I gain nothing more than the right to demand that you solicit the pardon of my daughter and of Ambassador Organa Solo for your remarks.”
Thane sneered at him. “If you’d like to sweeten the pot, Prince Isolder, you need only say so.”
Isolder slipped his right hand into the power glove and flexed his fingers. “Should I win, I want your pledge that Vergill will support the New Republic.”
The witnesses gasped. “This cannot be permitted!” someone shouted.
“Neither of you has the right!” another voice added.
Thane considered it while the arguments continued. “You have my pledge,” the archon said at last. “Providing that Hapes will withhold support if you lose.”
“You bring disgrace on all our Houses!” a witness remarked.
Isolder nodded. “You have my pledge.”
Leia’s heart raced.
Beside her, Ta’a Chume said, “This has been Thane’s goal all along. As Hapes goes, so goes half the Consortium of worlds.” She looked at Leia. “You see what my son undertakes for you?”
On the lawn, the principal referee raised a red scarf high overhead and let it flutter to the ground. It had scarcely touched the tallest blade of grass when the fight commenced.
Hapan tradition dictated that honor duels commence with little fanfare and even less preamble. Leia quickly grasped that it was largely a matter of making sure that everyone had their wagers in place. From what she could gather by eavesdropping on nearby conversations—and Ta’a Chume’s avowals to the contrary—Thane was favored to win.
Despite his agitation, or perhaps as a response to it, C-3PO insisted on providing commentary, even after the fight had begun. Olmahk, by contrast, was clearly entranced, down on his haunches at the edge of the manicured lawn, his bulging eyes riveted on Isolder and Thane as they circled, feeling each other out with tentative kicks and punches.
Like Isolder, Thane was tall and muscular, but his thick legs and broad shoulders made Isolder look positively wiry by comparison. His moves, as he loosened up, suggested both great power and dexterity, and he wasn’t timid about showing right away that he was good. He came at Isolder with double- and triple-kick combinations, fired by the same leg, recocking and letting fly without bringing his foot down in between.
And he had fast hands, as well.
Isolder parried the attack skillfully, but refrained from counterpunching, as if undecided about which offense to employ. Even so, it was obvious to Leia that they were both essentially footfighters, with Thane’s style drawing on traditional techniques and Isolder’s on straightforward boxing.
The rules of the honor duel were known to everyone present, save for her and Olmahk, but Leia understood that the body armor and headgear served a dual purpose. In addition to dampening the bone-breaking and electroshock capabilities of the gloves and boots, the sensor-studded padding indicated when a contestant landed a scoring blow, by way of a remote receiver.
“What an appalling display,” C-3PO remarked worriedly. “And I fear it will only get worse, Mistress. Where most opponents agree beforehand to refrain from inflicting serious injury, the prince and the archon waived the usual restrictions!”
Leia tried to ignore him. At the same time, she repressed an urge to think aloud, Don’t do this, Isolder, for fear that he might hear her through the Force and come undone. Corran Horn’s actions at Ithor had been noble,