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As that creature pitched backwards, the other one lunged with his amphistaff at Anakin. The young Jedi felt the fire of the amphistaff’s sharpened edge grazing the inside of his left thigh. Anakin whipped his lightsaber around in a backhanded slash that separated the reptoid’s triumphant grin top from bottom.

Spinning back, he saw Daeshara’cor standing above the bodies of her dead reptoids, then the two of them went over the balustrade and dropped to the level below. Anakin landed astride the reptoid he’d pitched off the upper level. It had clearly shattered its spine in the fall.

Anakin turned to his right and saw a Yuuzhan Vong warrior coming along the walkway. “Quick, the corridor. Go!”

Daeshara’cor darted down the corridor that ran below the one in which they’d hidden, and Anakin made to follow her, but the reptoid clutched at his right ankle. He tried to shake his foot free, but the creature clung to it for dear life. The Yuuzhan Vong roared a challenge and charged, his amphistaff whirling.

Turning to face this challenge, Anakin set himself as best as he was able. He raised his lightsaber to a guard and was ready to parry the warrior, when the reptoid slammed a fist into the wound on his left leg. Pain shot up through him, dropping him to one knee. He looked up and saw the bladed end of the amphistaff slashing down at his face.

Suddenly Anakin felt himself jerked back by the Force as strongly as if he’d been strapped to an X-wing making the jump to light speed. Her lightsaber burning scarlet, Daeshara’cor stepped onto the walkway, interposing herself between the Yuuzhan Vong and Anakin. The warrior, whose strike had carved through the reptoid instead of Anakin, dropped back into a half crouch, with his amphistaff held waist high, the bloodied tail pointing at the Twi’lek.

The Yuuzhan Vong thrust at her twice. Daeshara’cor sidestepped one lunge, then batted the second aside. She pressed an attack, cutting twice at his head. The Yuuzhan Vong retreated, drawing her forward, as he brought his amphistaff up to block the slashes. Reversing his amphistaff, he parried a lunge to his left, then riposted. Daeshara’cor brushed his attack wide, then pivoted and extended her left leg in a kick that doubled the warrior over.

Anakin smiled, then saw Daeshara’cor stagger and collapse against the walkway. As she slid to the ground, her right arm left a dark bloody streak on the wall. The amphistaff coiled at the feet of its warrior, then slithered up his leg and into his grip, a red tongue darting from its fanged mouth.

It bit her when he reversed it. She’s been poisoned.

Anakin rose to his feet, fury racing through him. He summoned the Force to himself, feeling it surge. He couldn’t feel the Yuuzhan Vong through it, but he could easily use it to collapse the walkway beneath his enemy or shatter tiles into a jagged hail that would flense the Yuuzhan Vong alive. He could do hundreds of thousands of things that would leave the Yuuzhan Vong shrieking in untold agonies.

I can avenge Chewie, avenge Daeshara’cor, avenge the people of Sernpidal. Right here, right now, starting with this one Yuuzhan Vong warrior. He smiled coldly and nodded solemnly at his enemy. I can show him what a true Jedi can do.

The Yuuzhan Vong advanced almost casually. He spun his amphistaff as he came. He reached Daeshara’cor’s feet and she moaned. He flicked a glance in her direction and slashed his amphistaff at her throat.

In a heartbeat Anakin realized that a true Jedi wasn’t concerned with what he could do to the enemy, but what evil he could prevent the enemy from inflicting. Using the Force, he brought Daeshara’cor’s lightsaber up enough that it deflected the amphistaff strike. The Yuuzhan Vong weapon buried itself in the balustrade, splitting tile with a thunder crack.

The Yuuzhan Vong had almost tugged his weapon free of the wall by the time Anakin reached him. The lightsaber’s violet energy beam swept low, shredding a knee. As the