shaft when that happened, they're space dust.'
The Wookiee gave a sound of amusement.
'That would be a bonus,' Siri said. Her eyes glinted with the same cruelty as Krayn's.
She hates Obi-Wan, Anakin realized.
Krayn stuck his head closer to the exhaust shaft. 'We'll have to figure out a way to block this from airships. Don't want to be surprised again. Heads will roll about this one.'
While Krayn's back was to them and Rashtah was distracted, Siri reached over and deftly removed Anakin's lightsaber from his utility belt.
Again, she had been quicker than his perception. She did it so quickly and smoothly that he barely registered that he had been disarmed. She thrust the lightsaber inside her tunic in the same smooth motion.
Krayn turned and gave his full attention to Anakin. Anakin met his gaze squarely. He could imagine that Krayn's gaze had the power to terrify, but it did not work on him. He was curious and contemptuous, not scared.
'What are you looking at, slave?' Krayn suddenly bellowed, his voice full of rage.
Anakin realized too late that slaves did not look directly at their masters. He had never been particularly good at submissive poses, anyway.
Siri lashed out with one leg, twisting it around his so that he was forced to stumble.
'Show some respect,' she hissed.
Anakin gave her a look of pure loathing, but Krayn could not see it.
He kept his eyes at mid-level when he turned back to Krayn.
'He looks strong,' Krayn said, stroking his neatly trimmed black beard. 'Should fetch a good price on Nar Shaddaa.'
Now that his gaze was mid-level, Anakin realized that the objects dangling from Krayn's belt were talismans. They were objects Anakin didn't want to think about, for some of them resembled dried flesh and he could pick out bits of hair. There were jewels and crystals as well, and a small silver bell…
The silver bell. Anakin's gaze was riveted on it. He knew it. He recognized it. It was the bell that Amee's mother had worn around her neck.
Suddenly Krayn's meaty hand reached down and jangled some of the hanging items. The bell tinkled softly, and a strange pain seared Anakin's heart.
'Admiring my kill trophies?' Krayn asked him in a low, cunning tone.
'Or do you think you might snatch a jewel or two? Think again, slave. One of your fingers or your scalp will end up hanging alongside them!'
He laughed, and Siri and Rashtah joined him. As Krayn shook with amusement, Anakin heard the tinkling of the bell. So Hala was dead. The sweet sound of the bell mingled with Krayn's harsh laughter until Anakin's vision blurred with rage. He could kill him, right here, right now. He would not need his light-saber. He could do it with his bare hands….
'I'd better get the slaves ready for departure,' Siri said. 'We'll be at Nar Shaddaa soon. Come, slave.'
She prodded Anakin with the butt of her electrojabber. 'Might as well enjoy the ship while you can. Soon you'll be working in the spice mines.'
'For the rest of your life,' Krayn added, still laughing Anakin felt his feet move as Siri prodded him again, this time more sharply. Krayn had not frightened him. Siri had not frightened him. The fact that he was alone had not frightened him.
But soon he would be sold again into slavery. He knew firsthand how hard it was for a slave to escape. He had heard tales of the spice mines and the mortality rate of the workers there. He knew how dreams of escape would color his days. He knew how one gray day would follow one gray day, where he would not lift his head but keep it bowed to work. He knew that the dull drudgery of his days would fill his soul until the dreams of escape flattened into a haze of numbing routine.
He thought he had faced his worst fear in the cave on Ilum. He had not. He realized now that he had just begun to taste it.
Chapter 11
Obi-Wan knew that it was useless for him to replay the situation, but he knew that if he had reacted faster, had jumped off the ship to confront Siri, he would not be in this position. His shock had slowed his reflexes.
If Siri had been an ordinary enemy, he would not have been frozen in that pilot seat. If he had not remembered what she had been when she'd been his friend, he would not have imagined that she was capable of blasting him off the ship and taking Anakin as her captive.
Obi-Wan paced back and forth on the bridge of the Colicoid ship. He knew he was lucky to be there at all. He doubted the Colicoids would have waited for him if their own ship had not been damaged.
Captain Anf Dec had not bothered to hide the fact that he now considered the Jedi a nuisance. He did not even thank Obi-Wan for dismantling the weapons system of Krayn's ship, but indicated that it was the least the Jedi could do. Obi-Wan sensed that the captain was nervous about the reaction of his superiors to the mission. The Colicoids did not allow failure in their higher personnel.
He knew it was fruitless to track a ship through hyperspace, but he had demanded that the Colicoid communication system search the galaxy for possible exit vectors for Krayn's ship. He had to pressure Anf Dec with the full weight of the Senate and the Jedi Council before the captain agreed.
Of course the odds were stacked against him. A pirate ship did not register with host planets. If it needed
