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

something.”
    “You and Vestara, yes,” Taalon said. “You will have to turn her back over to us, of course. But there is no reason we can’t be civilized about this.”
    “No thanks,” Luke said. “Anything you have to say to me can be said at a distance. Vestara isn’t the worstcompanion I’ve ever traveled with. I think I’ll let her stay here with us for a while longer.”
    Ben looked again at the Sith girl. His father was right. She
wasn’t
the worst companion he’d ever traveled with.
    “Let us revisit that subject in a moment,” came Taalon’s reply. “As I’m sure you know by now, Apprentice Vestara Khai has done a commendable job of keeping us informed of what has transpired. We are aware that you are having … difficulty with certain Jedi who were fostered inside the Maw. We believe this is due to the intervention of a being known to us as Abeloth, whom Vestara encountered. Many of our own apprentices are displaying the same symptoms as your younger Jedi.”
    “Your younger Sith were in the Maw as well?”
    “No. But such identical displays of aberrant behavior cannot be attributed to anything else.”
    Ben was skeptical. But there was so much they didn’t know yet. His father’s blue eyes met his and he shrugged slightly. It was possible.
    “We are many. You are only two,” Taalon continued. “We have a common cause.”
    “Are—are you proposing a formal alliance?” Luke was so surprised he didn’t even bother to hide it. Ben, too, literally gaped for a moment. Vestara seemed more shocked than any of them, judging by her expression and her feeling in the Force.
    “Precisely.”
    Luke started to laugh. “I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound like a very Sith thing to say.”
    The voice was cold when Taalon spoke again. “This creature, this … Abeloth … has the audacity to reach out and harm
our
apprentices.
Our
tyros. To toy with the Tribe—the Sith. The insult cannot be borne. It
will
not be borne. We are going into the Maw to teach her a lesson.”
    Ben glanced at his father. “That, however,
is
a very Sith thing to say.”
    Luke nodded. To Taalon, he said, “It may be that we do not need to teach her a lesson, as it were. We may simply need to find out why she is doing this.”
    “And ask her nicely to please stop?” Ben thought Han Solo could learn a thing or two from this Sith about infusing one’s voice with sarcasm.
    “You just asked me nicely to help you out. Clearly you’re capable of good manners,” Luke replied, unruffled. “If it accomplishes the goal with fewer or perhaps no casualties, how is that not the best solution?”
    There was silence. “It is possible she may not be amenable to … polite conversation. What then, Master Skywalker?”
    “I will do whatever is necessary to free the ill Jedi from her control,” Luke said. “I assure you of that.” His voice was not harsh, but there was a tone in it Ben recognized. The deed was almost as good as done when Luke Skywalker spoke like that.
    “You agree, then?” Taalon asked.
    Luke didn’t answer at once. Ben knew what he was struggling with. And he was surprised that it was even a struggle for the Grand Master. Luke was a Jedi. These were Sith. There couldn’t possibly be an alliance. Everyone would constantly be watching one another’s backs.
    But then again … He glanced at Vestara. She came from an entire culture of Sith. They couldn’t be backstabbing one another constantly—they’d have become extinct long ago. Somehow this flavor of Sith had learned how to cooperate. Vestara had proved it was possible. She had worked with Ben and his father before, on Dathomir, and that cooperation had saved Luke Skywalker’s life.
    “We do have a common goal,” Luke said at last. “Itwould be better to work toward it together rather than getting in each other’s way. But don’t think that I will not be expecting treachery at every turn. There are fewer enmities more ancient than that of Sith and