Star Wars - Lost Tribe of the Sith 04 - Savior Read Free

left off
.
    Korsin stepped out into the failing sun. The volcano had ruined a lot of nice days lately. A Keshiri servant materialized, bearing refreshments.
    “Things are no good here,” Jariad said, emerging. “There are too many distractions here in this city.”
    “They are distracting,” Korsin said, casting an eye into the courtyard. Adari Vaal had arrived.
    Jariad ignored her. “Grand Lord, I request permission to remove the Sabers to the Northern Reaches for a training mission. There, they can concentrate.”
    “Hmm?” Korsin looked back at his nephew. “Oh, certainly.” He took the second cup from the tray. “Excuse me.”
    Korsin had thought Adari was looking up at him. Joining her in the garden, he found she was actually staring at a relief sculpture being carved into a triangular pediment on the building above. “What—what is
that?”
she asked.
    Korsin squinted. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a depiction of my own birth.” He took a drink. “I’m not sure how the sun and the stars are involved.” Everywhere he’d looked in this palace, the Keshiri had plastered something depicting his divinity. He chuckled to himself.
We’ve really done a sales job
. “I wasn’t expecting you today.”
    “We’re neighbors now,” she said, idly taking the glass.
    “With a place this size, we’re neighbors with half of Kesh.”
    “And the other half’s inside the house, cleaning the floor—” Adari stopped abruptly and looked him in the eyes. Every so often, she’d flirted with crossing the line. Korsin laughed heartily. She always made him laugh.
    But when leathery wings swooped overhead, Korsin saw the real reason for Adari’s visit. Tona, her surviving son, rushed from an ornate exterior structure to catch the bridle of a landing uvak. Nida Korsin had returned from her morning ride.
    Korsin had named Tona the traveling stable master for Nida’s group just after its founding. The young man seemed amiable enough, if not particularly sharp. And Nida seemed fond of him. Adari took her son aside and exchanged quiet words.
    Adari turned back to Korsin. “I’m sorry, but I have business in town.”
    “Will I see you again?”
    “What, today?”
    “No, I meant,
ever?”
Korsin laughed again.
She’s uneasy
, he thought. He wondered why. “Of course, today. We’re in the same city now, aren’t we?”
    Adari rolled her eyes at the colossal building behind them. “That’s a lot of effort just to have me around more.” She managed a smile.
    “Well, just know that I
won’t
be here tomorrow,” Korsin said. “Seelah’s medcenter is moving here from the temple. I’ll head up in the morning to inspect the whole place before we close everything down. It’s only for a day.”
    Absorbing his words, Adari touched his hand. “I should be going.”
    As she stepped away, Korsin looked again at his daughter, across the yard. Nida had paused to watchJariad and his humbled combatants marching deliberately to their own mounts.
    And Tona, he saw, was watching her.
    “Your son should be careful, Adari,” Korsin said. “He’s been spending a lot of time with Nida.” He smirked. “It’s that Korsin charm that keeps you Vaals around.”
    “Well, not today, Your Grand Lordship,” Adari said, gesturing to her approaching son. “Tona’s coming with me. Family business.”
    “I understand,” Korsin said.
Family business
. Watching Jariad fly off to the north, he wished he had less of it himself.
    Years before, Izri Dazh had been her tormentor. Inquisitor for the Neshtovar, Dazh had branded Adari Vaal a heretic for not hewing to the legends about Kesh’s creation—and the role in it of their gods from above, the Skyborn.
    Dazh was long dead. But now his sons and grandsons sat silently across from Adari in Dazh’s candlelit drawing room. Adari’s resistance movement had met in various places over the years, from beneath an aqueduct to the back of an uvak stable Tona ran in Tahv. But seldom had