Star Wars - Lost Tribe of the Sith 04 - Savior

Seelah. There you are.” He stepped toward her. Out in the open.
    “Yes. There you are.” She closed her eyes and concentrated.
Now, Jariad!

Chapter Three
    It wasn’t the rush of bodies that startled Korsin so much as where they came from. Black-clad Sith descended upon the plaza from the living quarters—doorways, upper windows, rooftops—and from the ramparts of
Omen
’s multilevel temple. Korsin ignited his lightsaber and stood his ground as the invaders approached. They were Jariad’s Sabers, the same team from the previous morning.
    Korsin exchanged glances with Gloyd. Their bodyguards flanked them, forming a defensive huddle facing outward.
Four to one
. “Stick together.”
    Korsin watched as Jariad strode purposefully from the temple doorway, weapon lit. “This doesn’t look like the Northern Reaches to me, Jariad.”
    His nephew said nothing. He had that wild look again.
Devore’s look
.
    “I agreed to your little group to give you something to do,” Korsin yelled. He addressed Jariad’s stern companions. “You should be ashamed. Get back to Tahv.”
    “I’m not like Nida,” Jariad said, still approaching. “I don’t need hobbies. Enough time has been wasted.” He walked around his confederates, now forming a perimeter of glowing lightsabers around Korsin’s group. “It’s time to make your reckoning,
Commander
Korsin. You told us yourself. A new age has dawned. It’s time for military authority to end. This is about succession—about who should best lead the Tribe.”
    “Who?
You?”
Korsin tried to act surprised—and chuckled. “Oh, Jariad—I really don’t think so. Go home.”
    Jariad froze, evidently aware of the watchful stares from his own forces. Gloyd, seeming to catch the idea, guffawed. “Commander, I wouldn’t put this one in charge of mucking out the uvak stalls.”
    “I’m the future!” Jariad boomed. “I’m the youngest of those born on high. All Sith after me are Kesh-born.” He raised his lightsaber. “The leader of the Sith should be special.”
    Korsin glared—and growled. “You’re not special. I’ve seen your like before.”
    A woman’s voice rang out.
“Tell him about it!”
Seelah. He’d forgotten about her. She stood at the end of the plaza, now joined by several of her loyal retainers. All armed. “Tell him about how you saw his father
die
, Yaru. Tell him how you killed him and threw his body onto the rocks, all to keep control of us!”
    Korsin started to respond, only to see Jariad step backward. The Sabers closed in. Clearly, Jariad was going to let them take the first blows before entering for the kill. Korsin steeled himself—and looked to the clouds.
Noon
.
    Suddenly shadowy figures sailed across the quad. Five, ten—dozens of creatures took to the skies, lifting from behind the temple. Uvak.
    Theirs
.
    “What in blazes?” Jariad looked to his mother. Seelah appeared to have no more idea than he did.
    An answer finally came from one of her aides, rushing breathlessly up the staircase to the plaza. “The stable-hands—the Keshiri!
They’re stealing our uvak!”
    Several of Jariad’s Sabers looked up, stunned. Korsin saw his chance. He and Gloyd launched toward the black-suits on their side, sweeping a deadly path toward the nearest building. Their bodyguards closed in behind them, blocking pursuit as best they could.
    Korsin and Gloyd dashed through the building, followed by a mob of Sabers. Korsin made for the staircase, beckoning for Gloyd to follow.
    “Nice trick, Commander,” Gloyd said. “But we could’ve used more than that!”
    “It’s not my trick,” Korsin said, reaching a window. “And you’re right!”
    He looked urgently toward the skies and probed the Force in vain. He had been delivered from the mountain years before. But he could sense that his deliverer now was far away.
    Her riding had improved since her first desperate flight, years before. Now Adari ably guided Nink as he soared, following the jagged coastline below. Behind her flew more than a hundred uvak—the entire population of the stables at the mountain temple, ridden by Keshiri stable hands, domestics, and laborers. All agents of Adari’s movement, all carefully positioned there for this day. If any mounts had been left to the Sith in the temple, no one was using them to follow.
    The flock approaching far from the east was one of hers. There’d be others. In villages across the continent, the same thing would be happening: Neshtovar