CHAPTER NINE
"Rise and shine, Jedi!"
A sharp blast of pain jolted Jaden awake from unconsciousness. Standing before him, cradling a force pike, was a large Devaronian, a mad grin spread out on his face.
"He's awake," the horned humanoid said to someone Jaden could not see. "What should we do with him?"
"Leave him to me," a woman's voice replied. "You and the others may leave. He's my responsibility now."
With a loud, cackling laugh, the Devaronian left the chamber, along with two Klatooinian thugs and a trio of Vodrans. Once they were gone, a tall, lithe figure stepped forward from the shadows. Jaden lifted up his head, which was very painful to do for some reason, to see a human woman standing before him, dressed in a formfitting violet jumpsuit and ebony armor. Her pale-skinned face, the only thing that identified her as a human, was almost completely expressionless, save for her dark, menacing eyes.
Jaden winced in pain as he tried to stand up, only to realized that his arms were tied behind his back. "To be honest, I was expecting to be encountered by rakghouls," he said irritably. "Unless, of course, they've recently started holding beauty contests, which I doubt has gotten any winners yet."
The woman glared at him. "Is it normal for Jedi to start making corny wisecracks when in dire situations?"
Jaden gave his best attempt at a shrug. "My master always taught me to make the best out of any such situation."
"What about death?" the woman asked with a humorless smirk. "Did your master give you any advice on how to handle that?"
"Not to my recollection," Jaden muttered. He took the chance to observe his surroundings. From what he could tell, he and the woman were alone in a scarcely lit chamber, which still reeked of the foul oders common to the Tarisian Lower City.
"Where are my friends?" he then asked the woman.
She smiled without mirth. "In good hands."
"Were you the rhyming voice we encountered?"
She laughed. "No. That was an accomplice of mine. He is a rather unique and helpful individual. Shall I introduce you to him?"
Before Jaden could answer, the female beckoned to someone in the shadows of the chamber. Stepping out of the veil of darkness, all four arms folded across its chest, was a two-headed Troig, dressed in a simple brown robe.
"This is Janusinmend," the woman said. "He- or should I say they?- works for the Hutts, and is the great Raaxus Vosadii's court jester."
Jaden eyed both the Troig and the woman carefully. "So you work for the Hutts then as well?" he said to the latter.
She shook her head. "No, I am simply...a trustful liaison between them and the rest of the galaxy."
"So, my capture is not on their orders?"
"Actually, it is. You see, Raaxus wasn't so pleased when you killed his best assassins."
He glowered at her. "They were trying to kill me. Besides, I only killed the Dashade. I only injured the two Weequays and didn't even touch the other two."
"Actually, the Nagai and his friend were secretly working for Black Sun. They have recently reorganized themselves, you know."
Jaden stared at her in genuine intrigue but said nothing.
"As for the Weequays," she went on, "while you didn't kill them outright, the injuries they sustained from crashing through a transparisteel window has put them on the brink of death."
"Oh, don't tell me you're a doctor, too," Jaden said sardonically. This prompted a chuckle from one of the Troig's heads.
The woman turned to the two-headed being and gave him- or them- a scalding glare. "Don't make me wrangle that scrawny neck of yours, Janu."
The Troig's right head, which had wrinkled purple skin, gave her an innocent smile. "If you want to kill one head, you must kill the other. Unless killing us isn't you intent, but even so, you're a bad, bad mother!"
She scowled. "Any mother would have left you for the neks as soon as you were born."
Both of the heads laughed in unison. "Who is to say my mother wasn't like me?"
The woman scowled but decided to ignore the Troig, turning her attention back to Jaden, who wore an amused smirk on his face.
"So, what's it going to be?" he asked. "Are you going to kill me or what?"
She glowered at him. "Trust me, killing you would be the highlight of my day. However, I must keep you alive for a while longer."
"Why? Do the Hutts want something from me?"
"Not the Hutts," she said quietly. "My true master."
He raised an eyebrow. "And that would be...?"
"Not of your concern," she snapped. "All you must know will be revealed soon. As for now..."
She walked around Jaden and grabbed him by the cuffs that restrained his arms.
"We have an audience with a certain Jedi Master..."
* * *
Once the woman and the Jedi had left the chamber they were in, Janusinmend's two heads grinned simultaneously. Rubbing his four hands together in a plotting manner, the head that identified itself as Janu turned to someone standing obscured by the shadows.
"You do a very good job at hiding, I must say," the Saprin head said. "What is next on the agenda for today?"
"You are to stay here while I follow them," the obscured guest said. "If I'm not back in at least half an hour, unleash the beast."
Both of the heads smiled. "Would it be wrong to say that I hope you take a while?"
A figure shifted in the darkness. "It doesn't matter. I trust you enough to handle this situation."
The Troig bowed his heads. "If you say so, master of vile."
With that, a cloaked, humanoid being moved from the veil of darkness and left the chamber, bent on succeeding in his mission.
*
Author's note: Let me just say that writing a two-headed being whose heads have almost unique personalities are difficult, especially when it comes to pronouns....
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