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“I found it wandering aimless. I take it to my executor for assignment.”

“Aimless, you say? You know that in the wilderness several Jeedai skulk.”

“This one was here before I was lost. He has always been of a forgetful nature.”

Hul Rapuung lifted his chin. “Is it so?” His voice lowered. “There is a story—a rumor, really, that one of these Jeedai is not a Jeedai at all, but a Yuuzhan Vong, driven mad somehow by their powers.”

“I know nothing of such rumors.”

“No. They began only a short time ago.” He spat. “Go to your executor.”

“I go,” Vua Rapuung said.

“Vua Rapuung. You are a Shamed One,” Anakin said, as soon as the warrior was out of earshot. He kept his head down and tried not to move his lips too much.

Rapuung looked briefly around, grabbed Anakin’s arm, and propelled him into the nearest structure. Inside, it was cozy, but smelled sour like an unwashed Bothan.

“Did I tell you to hold your tongue?” Rapuung snapped.

“You should have told me,” Anakin replied. “If you want me to keep quiet, then make it so I’m not surprised every ten seconds.”

Rapuung clenched and unclenched his fists several times. He gnashed his teeth.

“I must act the part of a Shamed One. I am not.”

“First of all, what is a Shamed One? And don’t give me that ‘they aren’t worth speaking of’ fodder.”

“They aren’t—” Rapuung began, then stopped. He closed his eyes. “Shamed Ones are cursed by the gods. Their bodies reject proper scarring. They do not heal well. The implants of utility and rank that set us apart as castes and individuals are rejected by their feeble bodies. They are useless.”

“Your scars. Your sores. Your implants have rotted out.”

“I was a great warrior,” Rapuung said. “A commander. None doubted my ability. And then one day, my body betrayed me.” He started pacing suddenly, slamming his palms on the coral, cutting them. “But it was not the gods. I know who did it. I know why. And she shall pay.”

“The female whose name you told me not to repeat again.”

“Yes.”

“And she’s the one you want to kill.”

“Kill?” Rapuung’s eyes widened, then he spat. “Infidel. You think death, which comes to all, is punishment in itself. My revenge will be to force her to admit what she has done, so everyone will know that Vua Rapuung was never shamed! So the Yuuzhan Vong will know her crime. My revenge will be to know that when she does die, however she dies, it will be in ignominy. But kill her? I would not give her the honor.”

“Oh,” Anakin said. That was all he could think of. Despite Rapuung’s secrecy, Anakin had at least thought he knew what the Yuuzhan Vong meant by revenge. In two quick reversals, everything he knew about Rapuung fell apart.

“Is that enough of my blood in your ears for the moment?” Rapuung asked in a low, strange voice.

“One more question. The warrior we just met. Part of your name is the same as his.”

“As it should be. He is a sibling of my crèche.”

“Your brother?”

Rapuung inclined his head slightly in the affirmative. “We go to the executor now. I will suggest you once worked clearing fields for growing lambents. Those slaves live the longest. We will meet when I can manage it without suspicion. Play your part. Do not falter. Use your powers to locate the nearest point where the other Jeedai is. I will see you in seven days or so. Until then we will not speak another word. Watch the other slaves. Speak as they speak or not at all. Now, come.”

He glanced outside, then walked out, towing Anakin by the arm. No one seemed to notice. Together, they walked toward the largest building, unnoticeable among the other slaves and Shamed Ones.

Or so Anakin hoped.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

A spike of pain drove through Anakin’s forehead, so unexpected and strange that his legs buckled and he fell to his knees on the black jungle soil, grasping for the wound in his forehead. It felt as if it had been gashed from his hairline to the bridge of his nose. The blood stung his eyes and brimmed his nostrils.

But when he brought his