CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Luke Skywalker, enshrouded in his black cloak, stood silently at the southern edge of the mountain clearing. To the west the mountain continued to soar. Its exposed granite seemed almost as if it were a long, solemn face, peering down on this flat greensward just below the level of its chin. Luke realized his own grim expression aped that of the mountain, and he found no reason to change that.
Toward the center of the clearing sat Corran, cross-legged, his back to his Master. Peace and well-being radiated from him, with only tiny bits of anxiety leaking out from time to time. He wore his Jedi robes, green over black. His bare hands rested on his knees, and his shoulders rose and fell slightly with his breathing.
So closely was Luke concentrating on Corran that Shedao Shai’s appearance with his second surprised the Jedi Master. The Yuuzhan Vong commander was nothing short of magnificent, clad in a sleeveless scarlet robe opened down the middle. Beneath it he wore boots and a gold loincloth with tails that reached knee level. His leathery gray-green flesh shone as if it had been polished, and a hardened mask of ebon inlay hid his face.
He bore an amphistaff, which he stabbed tail-first into the ground. He raised a gauntleted hand, the dying sun glinting from his bracer, then pressed the hand back over his heart. “I am Shedao Domain Shai. This is my subordinate, Deign Domain Lian. He will stand as witness to this combat.”
Corran remained seated. “I am Corran Horn, late of the New Republic Armed Forces, a Jedi Knight. This is my Master, Luke Skywalker. He will stand as witness to this combat.”
The Yuuzhan Vong pointed at the case behind Luke. “Those are the bones of Mongei Domain Shai?”
“As we agreed, yes, seven days ago.”
“Very good.” Shedao Shai shrugged his robe off. Though the Yuuzhan Vong warrior was cadaverously slender, Luke could tell that did not translate into weakness. The warrior plucked the amphistaff from the ground, whirled it in a blurred circle, then snapped it to a stop against the back of his right arm, the hissing head at his wrist and the sharpened tail stabbing up into the blue sky. “You are the murderer of Neira Shai and Dranae Shai, my kinsmen.”
Corran stood, slowly and deliberately. Luke could feel the Force gathering in him, swirling around him. “And you murdered my friend, Elegos A’Kla. It is not over the past we fight, but to win the future.”
“You, perhaps.” The Yuuzhan Vong drew himself up tall and straight, then bowed his head toward Corran. “I fight for the honor of the Yuuzhan Vong and Domain Shai.”
The Corellian returned the nod. “So much risk for such a paltry gain.”
Amphistaff spun and lightsaber rose. A slash blocked high, a low cut burning grass but not leaping legs. Combatants slipping past each other, turning, striking, blocking. The amphistaff’s hiss rivaling that of the lightsaber. Weapons flashing forward, retreating, then riposting.
Luke felt the Force wreathing Corran. It strengthened him and quickened him, but could not predict for him what his enemy would do. The amphistaff cut and stabbed, always missing Corran by centimeters, or being parried aside. The Yuuzhan Vong managed to whirl his amphistaff around in time to parry Corran’s lunges, or to bat away slashes. They seemed, the two of them, to be perfectly matched. Defeat will come from a single mistake.
The argent lightsaber whirled in a grand arc, then sliced in at Shedao Shai. The Yuuzhan Vong warrior moved to block the cut, but Corran dipped the blade beneath the staff. He whipped his lightsaber up in a stroke that should have split the Yuuzhan Vong from groin to throat, but Shedao Shai danced back, leaving only the smoking tails of his loincloth fluttering to the ground in his wake.
Corran closed and lunged at Shedao Shai’s upper chest. With two hands on the amphistaff, the Yuuzhan Vong parried the argent blade high, then ducked his head and whirled around in a circle. The amphistaff snapped straight against Shedao Shai’s right forearm, then he lunged.
Pain exploded from the Jedi as the amphistaff’s tail stabbed deep into his guts. The tip tented the back of the robe over Corran’s right hip, then the Yuuzhan Vong yanked the amphistaff free, spinning the Jedi to the ground. Corran curled around the holes in his right flank, drawing his knees up. His lightsaber lay smoking on the grass.
Luke wanted to reach out, to help quell Corran’s pain, but he held himself back. The Jedi Master drew some small comfort from the fact that the strike had not severed Corran’s spine. Could have gotten arteries, and his guts are holed, but he could survive this, if Shai gives him a chance.
Shedao Shai drew back several steps, then tugged off his mask and tossed it aside. He raised the gore-streaked amphistaff to his lips and harvested incarnadine fluid with his tongue. His lips closed for a moment, his eyes following, then he nodded.
“I vowed I would taste your blood as you die, and now I have done that.”
Corran coughed once, pain flaring through the Force, then rolled up to his knees. “Good for you, pal, glad you’re happy.” He winced as he scooped up his lightsaber and staggered to his feet. “Had I been in your boots, I would have vowed something else.”
“Oh?” The Yuuzhan Vong’s eyes opened a slit. “And what would that have been?”
“I’ve have vowed to taste my blood after I was dead.” All sense of pain vanished from the Jedi as the Force again enshrouded him. Corran waved the invader forward with his bloody left hand. “So, is this inability to make a clean kill a Vong thing, or just a Domain Shai thing? You’re so sloppy those bones won’t want to come home with you.”
Shedao Shai’s eyes snapped open. Though Luke could not read him through the Force, the fury and hatred coursing through the Yuuzhan Vong was unmistakable. The warrior darted forward, bringing the amphistaff up and around in a two-handed overhead blow. He smashed it down on Corran’s upraised lightsaber, driving the Jedi back a step.
Again and again he rained the blows down with bone-jarring impact. Corran retreated, giving up a step or two with each attack. As Shedao Shai’s fury built, so did his strength, forcing Corran to raise his left hand from the hole in his side to the hilt of his lightsaber. Another blow battered the silver blade, and another, buckling Corran’s legs, dropping him to his knees.
Shedao Shai towered over him, rising up on his tiptoes to deliver that final blow. The amphistaff rose and crashed down, set to bash the lightsaber back into its wielder, slaying an infidel with the blasphemous weapon he embraced.
With a flick of his thumb, Corran killed the blade and sagged forward.
Overbalanced because his weapon met no resistance, Shedao Shai buried his amphistaff deep in the ground and stumbled a half-step forward. The surprise registering on his face widened his eyes, then his lips peeled back in a feral grin as Corran pressed his lightsaber against the Yuuzhan Vong’s stomach. The lightsaber hissed. Argent light poured from Shedao Shai’s mouth a second before he vomited black blood and collapsed to the ground, his spine severed, his belly smoking.
Luke ran to where Corran was dragging his legs from beneath the Yuuzhan Vong’s body. “Stay down, I’ll get you out of here.”
“Wait.” Corran clutched at Luke’s shoulder. “Help me up for a moment.”
The Jedi Master complied with the request.
The Corellian Jedi pointed his lightsaber at Deign Lian. “You witnessed this fight. You know our bargain. Take his body and go.”
The Yuuzhan Vong waved Corran’s comment aside. “I witnessed, but I will not take his body. He died at your hands. He is no longer of the Yuuzhan Vong.” Deign Lian gestured uncaringly. “His body is yours.”
Corran shook his head. “I’ve no use for it.”
“Then our business is concluded.” The Yuuzhan Vong spun on his heel and disappeared beyond the edge of the clearing.
Luke started to turn Corran toward where they had landed their shuttle. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, just a second.” Corran pointed at the mask Shedao Shai had discarded. “I want that mask.”
“Why?”
Corran’s eyes closed for a moment as pain washed over him. “Elegos’s bones. They’re watching something. That mask will show him that the Vong are not invincible, and for Ithor at least, there will be peace.”