lost tribe of the sith#2 skyborn - s3. · pdf filestar wars: lost tribe of the sith:skyborn 5...

L o s t T r i b e o f t h e S i t h # 2
S K Y B O R N
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BALLANTINE BOOKS NEW YORK
L o s t T r i b e o f t h e S i t h # 2
S K Y B O R N
JOHN JACKSON MILLER

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #2: Skyborn is a work of fiction.Names, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imag-ination or are used fictitiously.
2009 Del Rey eBook edition
Copyright 2009 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & or where indicated. AllRights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss copyright 2009by Lucasfilm Ltd. & or where indicated. All Rights Reserved.Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The RandomHouse Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., NewYork.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is atrademark of Random House, Inc.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book StarWars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss by Troy Denning. This excerpt hasbeen set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content ofthe forthcoming edition.
ISBN 978-0-345-51939-9
Printed in the United States of America
www.starwars.comwww.delreybooks.com

Chapter One
5,000 years BBY
Heretic!Good to see you too, Mother, Adari said. Did the
children behave?The door hadnt fully closed when the smaller child
was in Adaris arms, shoved there by Eulyn. Adarisolder boy bounded into the room, hobbling her. Underattack from four purple arms, Adari staggered towardthe wall, looking for a spot to drop her nonlivingcargo. The canvas bag thudded against the woodenfloor.
Heretic! Thats what your uncle says theyre callingyou, Eulyn said. He was hereand neighborWertram, the tailor. And his wife, tooshe never leavesthe hut for anything! Eight people have been bytoday!
Well, dont look outside, Adari said. More fol-lowed me home. She shooed the gangly older childaway and tried to rescue her silvery hair from her tod-dlers mouth. Short hair wasnt the fashion for Keshiriwomen, but for Adari, it was self-defense. Where heryoungest was concerned, itd never be short enough.Is the stew on?

John Jackson Mi l le r2
Stew? Eulyn yanked her little grandson back, onlyto see Adari dart into the kitchen. Flushed with aggra-vation, Eulyns skin took on a violet hue that almostmatched her daughters. Youre worried about dinner!You dont have any idea whats been going on aroundhere, do you?
Its a dinner break. I was working.Working, nothing. I know where you were!Adari stared into the clay crock full of boiling meat
and vegetables and sighed. Of course her mother knewwhere shed been. Everyone did. Adari Vaal, collectorof rocks and stones; young widow of the valiant uvak-rider on whom so many hopes had rested. Adari Vaal,enemy of right and order; absent mother and misleaderof other peoples children. Today had been her thirdday of testimony before the Neshtovar. It had gone aswell as the other two.
What is that sound?Theyre hitting the house with rocks, Adari said,
returning with a steaming bowl that she set on thetable. Standing back, she swung the front door wideand watched as several gifts from the communitybounced over the threshold. She slammed the doorquickly. A peppery stone under the empty crche drewher eye. She reached for it with a sinewy, scratched arm.Thats a nice one, she said. Not from around here.She was apparently drawing people from all over. Shedhave to look around, later. Who needed expeditionswhen you had an angry mob to collect samples?
Adari knelt and put the discovery in her pouch,already overflowing with stones of every shape andcolor. Above, the clatter grew louder. The younger childwailed. Eulyns huge dark eyes widened further withhorror. Adari, listen! she said. Theyre hitting theroof now!
Thats actually thunder.

3Star Wars : Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn
Its proof, thats what it is! The Skyborn have for-saken you.
No, Mother, its proof that theyre protecting me,Adari said, eating standing up. If it rains, the mobcant set our house on fire.
That wasnt likely to happenthe widow of aNeshtovari was a protected person, unlikely to bekilled in a riot. However, there was nothing wrong withmaking her life miserable, and since her sin was againstthe Neshtovar themselves, no authority would stopthem. In fact, little displays like this were good for pub-lic order.
Adari poked her head into the backyard. No rocksthere. Just the uvak, doing what he had done all year:taking up most of the place and being unfragrant.Emerald reptilian eyes opened long enough to shoother a bad look. His leathery wings shifted, rakingagainst the sides of the pen. The beast didnt mind thecooling rain, but the noise from the street had dis-turbed his royal slumber.
Riderless uvak were all sloth and bad attitude, butNink hadnt liked his rider when he had one. He wasAdaris least favorite thing, but he came with the house.In a sense, the house was his.
In olden times, when a Neshtovarian uvak-riderdied, the community had slain the deceaseds family, aswell. That practice had ended, perhaps the only time theNeshtovar had allowed practicality to overrule tradi-tion. Uvak were precious, temperamental, and attachedto their riders; stabling them with the dead riders sur-vivors often kept the beasts sane enough to be useful forthe breeding market. Not to mention, Adari mused,what it must have done for Neshtovar breeding. Theriders hadnt had great social lives when death was in thepicture. But since the change, uvak-riders had becomehighly sought after as mates in Keshiri society.

John Jackson Mi l le r4
Adari hadnt sought Zhari Vaal at all. She was inter-ested in rocks; Zhari was their equal for conversationalability. In nine years he had given her two dim-witted chil-dren, a description that seemed less harsh to her thanmaternally charitable. She loved them well enough, butthey were showing no signs of being any kinder orbrighter than their father had been. Foolishness bred true.She, the fool for not running away; he, well, he was ZhariVaal. The valiant young rider of the Neshtovar onwhom so many hopes restedthat was the line from thewakehad mistreated Nink one too many times. Onebeautiful morning, the beast had flown Zhari far out overthe sea and unceremoniously dropped him. Adari wassure she had seen a hint of satisfaction in the creaturesbright green eyes when he returned home. Shed nevergotten along with Nink before, but at least now she paidhim some respect. When it came to Zhari, the uvak hadhad more sense than she did.
It wasnt all her fault, she knew. The match hadresulted from years of lobbying by Eulyn, seeking tolock in her familys future position. Only males becameriders, but Keshiri property descended matrilineally;now Adari and her mother had the uvak and the woodenhouse, while their neighbors still lived in huts of lashed-together hejarbo shoots. Eulyn was thrilledand Adariwas content to let the children be Eulyns domain, too.Adari had done her duty; the Keshiri had beenadvanced by another generation. Now she could con-centrate on something important.
If theyd let her. I have to go back, she said, lifting her younger son
from his work destroying the dinner table. The after-noon hearing had gone long, and an unprecedentedevening session loomed.
I knew youd do something like this, Eulyn said,her gaze piercing her daughters back. Ive always said

5Star Wars : Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn
all that digging around in the filth would do you nogood. And arguing with the Neshtovar! Why do youalways have to be right?
I dont know, Mother. But its something Im goingto have to live with, Adari said, handing off the drip-ping toddler. A smeary imprint remained on her tunicno time for a change. Try to get Tona and Finn toactually sleep tonight. Ill be back.
She opened the door carefully to find that the rainhad driven off the crowd. Comfort trumped belief onKesh. But the rocks remained, dozens of ironic littlestatements scattered all across the stoop. If the hearingslasted any longer, she wouldnt have to do any morefield research for the seasoneverything she neededwould be on her doorstep.
Perhaps she should offend the Skyborn every year.
We were talking about the flamestones, Adarireminded the chief of the Neshtovar.
You were talking, Izri Dazh said. I accept no suchterm. The aged rider and high councilor hobbledaround the edge of the Circle Eternal, a plaza where atall column served as a massive sundial. Adari lookedaround. Another gorgeous evening, for a place that hadno other kind. It was the same every day, inland: abrief, determined afternoon rain followed by a coolbreeze that blew straight through the night. But nowhalf the village had forgone real entertainments towatch a bald, bloodless man harangue a young woman.There are no flamestones, he said, gesturing to a pairof crimson rocks on a pedestal beside the central col-umn. I see here only normal stones of Kesh, as youmight find on any hillside.
Adari coughed.You have something to say?Id better not. Adari looked up from her seat in the
mill_

lost tribe of the sith#2 skyborn - s3. · pdf filestar wars: lost tribe of the sith:skyborn 5...

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