[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(27)

Leia slipped her hand through Han’s arm. “They’re probably suitors hoping to escort the Queen Mother to tonight’s banquet,” she whispered, leading him into the room. “Tenel Ka certainly likes to play games with her nobles.”

“As long as they don’t play games with us,” Han answered. “I really wish you hadn’t made me leave my blaster aboard the Falcon.”

“This is supposed to be a friendly call.”

“Then how come you’re wearing your lightsaber?”

“That’s different,” Leia replied. “This is Hapes, and I’m female.”

As they moved deeper into the room, the young nobles turned to study them, sneering at Han’s travel-worn flight jacket or frowning at Leia’s Jedi robes. The Solos paid little attention, holding the gazes of the courtiers just long enough to suggest they belonged here as much as anyone-and for Leia to reinforce the idea with a Force prod.

The trick must have worked, because by the time the Solos reached the perimeter of the seating area, the courtiers were turning back to their sabacc games and private conversations. Han and Leia weaved through the crowd to a large, spitting-rancor fountain that dominated the center of the room. Opposite them, a dozen royal guards blocked the mouth of a large ceremonial arch, beyond which lay a long white corridor. The hall was lined with displays of antiquated weapons and ancient blast armor, but its most spectacular feature was a glistening wind-crystal chandelier the size of an A-wing fighter.

“Guess we know where the Royal Residence is,” Han muttered, looking away from the guards. “But to get past that bunch, it’s going to take a pretty big…” Leia’s fingers bit into Han’s arm. “Han, she’s here.”

“Here?” Han glanced casually around the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, just a couple of young nobles arguing over the stakes of a dejarik game and a middle-aged bachelor lecturing a pasty-skinned youth about the propriety of wearing a hat indoors. “Who’s here?”

“The assassin.”

Leia’s gaze went to the pasty-skinned youth and stayed there. With a slim beardless face and a bald head crowned by a fashionable-if ridiculously tall-top hat, he had a dangerous-yet-feminine appearance. His eyes were dark and sunken, his nose as straight as a knife, his mouth a small, ruby-lipped gash. He was wearing a ruffled dress jacket that had to be six sizes too large for him, and he was careful to keep his hands balled inside the outer pockets, as though afraid of what they might do on their own. “You mean him?” Han whispered in disbelief. “He’s just a kid.”

The kid’s eyes slowly slid away from his lecturer and found Leia. When she did not look away, he gave her a short, almost imperceptible nod, then turned back to his conversation.

Leia grabbed Han’s arm, “That’s no kid.” She pulled him toward the guards waiting beneath the ceremonial arch. “In fact, she’s older than you are.”

“She?”

“It’s not important right now,” Leia said. “She’s not working alone. We need to warn Tenel Ka.”

As they neared the arch, a rough-featured guard wearing the golden cuff-hashes of a sergeant of the royal guard stepped out to meet them, blocking their way with a bulky Hapan power blaster.

“The Hall of the Wind Crystals is closed to visitors.”

“Of course it is.” Leia lifted her hand in one of those little waves that Jedi used when they were making a Force suggestion, then spoke so softly the sergeant had to lean down to hear her. “But the Queen Mother is in danger. You need to seal the chamber.”

The sergeant’s eyes widened, and he repeated, “The Queen Mother is in danger.” He was too well trained to react hastily, however-even under the influence of a Force suggestion. “What’s the nature of this danger?”

“From people in this chamber.” Leia’s voice was impatient. She made another little wave. “The Queen Mother is in danger. You need to seal the chamber and sound the alarm now.”

The sergeant nodded. “The Queen Mother is in danger.” His eyes flicked past Leia’s shoulder, and then he turned to face his subordinates. “Seal the chaaaraggh…”

The command ended in a strangled gasp when something long and white hissed past Leia’s head and planted itself in the side of the sergeant’s neck. Han cried out and instinctively shielded Leia, throwing himself onto her-and nearly losing an arm as her lightsaber blade snapped to life.

They had barely hit the floor when more of the strange projectiles hissed past overhead, coming from all corners of the chamber and filling the air with a sound like ripping cloth. An instant later the rest of the guards dropped to the floor amid a cacophony of strangled outcries and clattering armor.