Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 11_ Dark Journey - Elaine Cunningham [93]
Her smile took on a sharp edge. “My grandmother will not brook defiance, not even from nature itself. I remember seeing festival lights, artificial displays that duplicated by mechanical and chemical means the lights of the firedrakes. It was not the same.”
“We’ll stay,” Jaina said, glancing at the Wookiee. Lowbacca grumbled agreement and the three of them settled down to watch.
Night fell swiftly over the mountain, and the firedrakes began to emerge from their caves. Soon a swarm of them gathered, wheeling about in swift, graceful flight. Their multicolored lights traced ribbons against the deepening shadows.
The Jedi watched the display in fascination. A certain wistful contentment crept over Tenel Ka’s face.
“We should return before full dark,” she said reluctantly as she rose to her feet.
They began the trek down the path, glancing from time to time toward the valley and the firedrakes’ continued flight. The creatures had spread out, and their lights came in short, rapid blinks.
“They are hunting,” Tenel Ka explained. “The short flashes seem to be a signal to summon the others.”
Jaina turned to watch. She stumbled over a loose stone, and would have fallen had not Lowbacca seized her arm. He admonished her with a sharp woof.
“I was watching,” she retorted. “But not with the Force, so I guess you’ve got a point …”
Her voice trailed off as she reached out with her senses. Danger was sweeping in.
She reached for her lightsaber and spun back toward the mountain peak. Several enormous creatures glided toward them on silent wings. Jaina got the impression of a dark wind and a stabbing flash of verdant lightning.
Her lightsaber streamed up to meet the attack. She spun to add force to the parry, and the violet blade sheered through the descending bolt.
This changed the momentum of the creature’s attack, and the enormous insect rolled in the air and crashed into the path, tumbling down toward Tenel Ka. The warrior leapt over it, igniting her turquoise lightsaber before touching down.
Instinctively Jaina ducked and slashed out high. An enormous gossamer wing enfolded her like a veil, and the creature that had just lost it slammed into the mountain wall. It bounced off, rolled across the narrow path, and then crashed down the incline. Showers of colored light erupted from it like sparks from a severed wire.
Jaina threw off the wing and dropped into guard position. She reached out with her senses, for there was nothing to see but a tube of faintly strobing light—the “lightning bolt” she’d perceived in the initial attack was nothing but a firedrake’s severed proboscis. The creatures resembled the bloodsucking insects she’d seen in the swamplands of a dozen worlds, but at a size she’d never imagined possible.
Tenel Ka switched off her lightsaber. “Darkness,” she advised. “The lights may draw others.”
The Wookiee padded up and growled at Tenel Ka. “I have never heard of such behavior. They hunt in packs, and are said to be clever.”
“They’d have to be, to plan a distraction,” Jaina said. She glanced out over the valley. The rapid flashing of hunting insects still lit the sky.
Tenel Ka gazed out at the flashing lights. “I never would have thought them capable of ambush.”
Enlightenment came to Jaina in a quick, bright flood, and a plan began to take shape in her mind. Tenel Ka sent her a questioning look.
“I was just thinking about battle tactics,” Jaina said by way of explanation. “Underestimating the enemy is a common mistake. Jedi don’t expect to be outwitted by bugs.”
“Fact,” Tenel Ka agreed ruefully.
And neither do the Yuuzhan Vong expect to be outwitted by “infidels,” Jaina added silently. She would give the Yuuzhan Vong precisely what they expected to see, and then, like the hunting firedrakes, she would come at them from the darkness.
TWENTY-TWO
Leia had seen sunsets