Conquest: Edge of Victory I Read Free Page A

you to us. They will merely perish, when their time comes. We will not mock the gods by offering
them
in sacrifice.” He suddenly showed more of the inside of his mouth than Swilja ever wanted to see. It might have been a grin or a sneer.
    “If you know who I am,” Tsavong Lah said, “you know what I want. You know
who
I want.”
    “I have no idea what you want. Given what I know of you it would probably make even a Hutt sick.”
    Tsavong Lah licked his lip and twisted his neck slightly. His eyes drilled at her.
    “Help me find Jacen Solo,” he said. “With your help, I will find him.”
    “Eat poodoo.”
    Tsavong Lah shredded a laugh through his teeth.
    “It is not my job to convince you,” he said. “I have specialists for that. And if you still cannot be convinced, there are others, many others. One day you will all embrace the truth—or death.” With that he seemed to forget she existed. His eyes emptied of any sign that he saw her or had ever seen her, and he walked slowly away.
    “You’re wrong!” she screamed, as they dragged her from the chamber. “The Force is stronger than you. The Jedi will be your end, Tsavong Lah!”
    But the warmaster didn’t turn. His stride never broke.
    An hour later, even Swilja didn’t believe her brave words. She didn’t even remember them. Nothing existed for her but pain, and eventually, not even that.

PART ONE
    PRAXEUM

CHAPTER ONE
    Luke Skywalker stood steady and straight before the gathered Jedi, his face composed and stronger than durasteel. The set of his shoulders, his precise gestures, the weight and timbre of each word he spoke all confirmed his confidence and control.
    But Anakin Solo knew it was a lie. Anger and fear filled the chamber like a hundred atmospheres of pressure, and beneath that weight something in Master Skywalker crumpled. It felt like hope breaking. Anakin thought it was the worst thing he had ever felt, and he had felt some very bad things in his sixteen years.
    The perception didn’t last long. Nothing was broken, only bent, and whatever it was straightened, and Master Skywalker was again as strong and confident in the Force as to the eye. Anakin didn’t think anyone else had noticed it.
    But
he
had. The unshakable had shaken. It was something Anakin would never forget, another of the many things that had seemed eternal to him suddenly gone, another speeder zooming out from underneath his feet, leaving him flat on his back wondering what had happened. Hadn’t he learned yet?
    He forced himself to focus his ice-blue eyes on Master Skywalker, on that familiar age- and scar-roughened face. Beyond him, through a huge transparisteel window, flowed the never-ending light and life of Coruscant.Against those cyclopean buildings and streaming trails of light, the Master seemed somehow frail or distracted.
    Anakin distanced himself from his heartsickness by concentrating on his uncle’s words.
    “Kyp,” Master Skywalker was saying, “I understand how you feel.”
    Kyp Durron was more honest than Master Skywalker, in some ways. The anger in his heart was no stranger to the expression on his face. If the Jedi were a planet, Master Skywalker stood at one pole, radiating calm. Kyp Durron stood at the other, fists clenched in fury.
    Somewhere near the equator the planet was starting to pull apart.
    Kyp took a step forward, running his hand through dark hair shot with silver. “Master Skywalker,” he said, “I submit that you do
not
know how I feel. If you did, I would sense it in the Force. We all could. Instead, you hide your feelings from us.”
    “I never said I
felt
as you do,” Luke said gently, “only that I understand.”
    “Ah.” Kyp nodded, raising one finger and shaking it at Skywalker as if suddenly comprehending his point. “You mean you understand
intellectually
, but not with your heart! The Jedi you trained and inspired are hunted and killed throughout the galaxy, and you ‘understand’ it the way you might an equation?