[Galaxy Of Fear] - 07(22)

“Never trust the promise of a Hutt,” Hoole whispered back. “Especially when that Hutt is Jabba.”

As the cheering died down, Commander Fuzzel asked, “Just one question, Jabba. What happened to his head?”

“What?” the crime lord rumbled.

Commander Fuzzel pointed down at the body of Karkas. “What happened to his head?”

The Hutt sputtered, “Karkas had one crushed eye. Everyone knows that. He’s had it for years.”

“Not that,” the Imperial said. “This!”

He pointed down to a long scar on the side of the killer’s head. It looked as if someone had slashed him with a vibroblade, except that the cut was very thin and clean.

Jabba shrugged his thick, meaty shoulders. “Karkas must have sustained some injuries when my men took him down. Nothing to worry about. Now, about my money?”

Fuzzel replied, “Yes, yes, you’ll get the reward. But I’ll tell you this, ” the Imperial officer added as his men carted the body away, “Karkas is lucky you found him first. If I’d gotten my hands on him, I’d have given him a lot worse than a cut on the back of the skull!”

Jabba’s henchmen howled with laughter at the thought of this fat Imperial official trying to take down a killer like Karkas.

“Come along, Zak,” Hoole said, “this is not the time to speak with Jabba. I’ll say goodbye in the morning. Let’s make sure Tash is all right.”

Returning to their rooms, Zak saw that his door was open. Tash was inside, stuffing her few belongings into her pack.

“Wouldn’t you know it,” Zak said. “We don’t leave till morning and you’re already packed!”

Tash hardly looked at him. “Yeah. Just like me.”

Zak shrugged. “I’m not going to pack until later. You want to do something?”

“No,” Tash replied.

“Come on,” he urged. “We can even do something you want to do. Something grown up, like reading in the monks’ library.”

Tash snorted. “Why in the name of all the black holes in the galaxy would I wanna hang out with a bunch of frag eating monks?”

Zak’s jaw dropped. “What?”

Tash paused. “Urn… nothing. Just mind your own business, kid.”

” ‘Kid’?” Zak snapped. “Why are you back to calling me kid again?” He stepped closer to her and looked over her shoulder. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Sure I am,” Tash muttered. “Now, get your nose outta my business.”

Zak wrinkled his brow. “Why are you talking so funny? Hey, I thought we just made friends again. Why don’t you look at me?”

He grabbed her arm.

Tash’s reaction was sudden and violent. She whirled around, grabbed Zak by the collar of his tunic, and drove him backward, slamming him against the wall.

“Listen, I ain’t got no friends,” Tash growled. “Whatever I said before, I was just being nice. I didn’t mean it. And if you ever touch me again, I’ll eat you for breakfast.”





CHAPTER 13


That night, Zak lay on his bed, drifting in and out of sleep.

He and Tash had not said a word to each other after her outburst, and soon after that Tash had muttered something about feeling like a herd of banthas were stomping through her head. She had crawled into bed and fallen into a dead sleep.

Zak had lain awake for several hours, until a fitful sleep took him. But still his mind replayed the earlier scene over and over. Why had Tash acted like that?

She’s been acting strange for days, he reminded himself.

But not like this. Not violent.

She’s just going through changes, he replied to his doubts.

Well, if these are the changes, I don’t like them. Remember what Uncle Hoole said. Look for the real Tash. She’s in there somewhere.

Zak thought about it, but he couldn’t find anything. The Tash he knew was nothing like this one.

The sheets on the bed across the room suddenly billowed up. Zak froze. Tash sat up and stared at him for a moment, as though making sure he was asleep. Zak did his best to breathe regularly, the way a sleeping person did.

Tash got out of bed and quietly pulled on her flight suit. Then, a moment later, she slipped out the door.

What is she doing?

As quickly and quietly as he could, Zak followed her.

Jabba’s palace was as quiet as a graveyard. Zak walked on tiptoes as he trailed his sister, who hurried through the many halls of the fortress. She soon reached a section of the palace where neither she nor Zak had been, yet she seemed to know it well. Without missing a step, she went straight through a door that led into an enormous docking bay. On one side of the chamber sat an enormous sail barge, a floating yacht that Jabba used to cruise the desert sand. Beside it, Jabba’s hirelings had parked rows of smaller landspeeders and hovercraft. In one corner, in a stall, two dewbacks shuffled. They snorted wearily as they heard people approach. It was far too late to be ridden.