The first guard struck back with his ax, but the vornskr easily dodged away, then snapped the ax handle in half with one bite of its jaws.
Weaponless, the Gamorrean fled in terror. The vornskr turned back to its first opponent, but the guard, stunned by the poison, had already fallen to the ground.
Zak was still on the ground, too. Now he was throwing punches. It was Tash’s face he was hitting, but his blows were rattling Karka’s brain. The killer blacked out and the blaster dropped from his hand.
Zak’s heart was still racing from his fight with Karkas. He scrambled to his feet, aiming the blaster at Grimpen. “Don’t move or I’ll enlighten you in a whole new way.”
Grimpen kept as still as stone.
Hoole, back in his own shape, walked over to Zak’s side. Zak said, “I’m so glad you woke up.”
Hoole nodded. “I was never really unconscious. I only pretended to let Karkas overpower me. I could not make a move with Jabba’s personal army all around.”
“You mean, you knew it wasn’t Tash?” Zak said, startled.
“Only at the last moment,” the Shi’ido confessed. “I took my own advice when I noticed how extremely odd she was acting. I could not find the real Tash in her, so I became suspicious. Of course, I did not know the whole story until Karkas brought me down here.” He looked proudly at Zak. “You, however, found out on your own. Excellent work.”
“Thanks, Uncle Hoole,” Zak said. “For a minute there I thought you were dead. Looks like you’ve saved us again.” He pointed at Grimpen. “But now what? “
“I suggest that we-” Hoole started to say, then stopped.
B’omarr monks were gliding into the room on quiet feet. The first few monks moved quickly to the damaged shelves, gathering up the brains that had burst free of their jars. Carefully, the monks collected the brains in deep pans, pouring liquid over them. But as more monks entered the chamber, they turned toward the intruders. First a few, then a dozen, then twenty, then so many Zak lost count. The brown-robed monks formed a circle around Zak, Hoole, and Grimpen.
They were surrounded.
CHAPTER 18
“What do you want?” Hoole demanded.
One of the monks stepped forward. “This must end. Your presence has caused great disturbance.”
“Don’t blame us, blame him,” Zak said, pointing at Grimpen.
The monk who had spoken bowed his head once in acknowledgment. “He has given our secrets to outsiders. He shall be punished.”
“You won’t do anything to me,” Grimpen snarled. “Jabba will have your heads!”
The monk nodded to some of his brothers. At his silent command, several of the B’omarr surrounded Grimpen.
“What? No!” Grimpen cried. His shouts were suddenly muffled as lie vanished behind a curtain of brown robes.
Zak did not see them take the treacherous monk out of the room. Grimpen simply vanished.
The first monk turned back to Hoole and Zak. “Now go,” he ordered them.
“Wait.” Hoole pointed at the two brain spiders that had been lurking in the shadows. “We need your help. My niece is trapped inside that brain spider. You must return her to her own body.”
The monk paused. “For what purpose? In this state she may achieve enlightenment.”
The spider droid holding Tash’s brain scuttled to and fro frantically. It was easy to see what she was saying: No, no!
“She’s not a monk,” Hoole argued. “She is not prepared for this kind of enlightenment.”
The speaker intoned, “The universe moves as it will. We have no interest in undoing what has been done. We do not take interest in the actions of outsiders.”
Hoole, however, was not finished with them. He pulled a tube from the pocket of his robe. Popping the cap off the end of the tube, he withdrew a scroll. “Then perhaps you will take an interest in this.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd of monks-the loudest noise they had made in all that time. They recognized what Hoole was holding.
It was the scroll Jabba had stolen.
“You value your secrets,” Hoole said. “Then let us make a bargain. If you return my niece to her natural state, I will give the scroll back to you. If you refuse, I will spread the contents of this scroll from one end of the galaxy to the other. Everyone will know how you sometimes use tricks to attract students. Worse still, the entire galaxy will know your secrets for brain transference.”
The monks had no choice but to agree. They quickly set to work, preparing Tash’s body and making sure her brain was still healthy inside the spider.
“What about Jabba?” Zak considered. “He’s up there waiting for a call from Grimpen.”