Anakin smiled again.
The smile infuriated Sebulba. "What are you smiling at? And how dare you bully my son!"
"He's wasn't bullying me, Father," Hekula whined in Huttese. "I am bullying him!"
"You were doing a very poor job of it," Anakin answered in Huttese.
"But that doesn't surprise me."
"How dare you!" Sebulba roared. "Prepare to die!"
Deland quickly moved between them. "Who's talking about dying?" he said in a jovial tone. "Let's save that for the Podrace. Right, Hekula? I'd worry about crashing more than spies, if I were you. I've seen you race!"
Hekula's long head thrust toward Deland. "You'll choke on my dust, son of a Raft!"
Sebulba was more clever than his son. He grinned craftily and shot a look at Djulla, who was standing by Hekula's Podracer, preparing a snack for the two Dugs. "I hope you're alive to see your sister wipe the floor under our feet," he hissed. "For the next fifty years!"
Anakin and Deland both tensed, ready to strike. In Sebulba's taunt Anakin heard every cruelty he and his mother had ever endured.
Doby grabbed the hems of Anakin's and Deland's tunics. "Just let them go," he murmured. "We'll win the race. That is our better best revenge."
Anakin saw Deland's hand clench and unclench. His own fingertips burned to slip his lightsaber from its sheath.
"Let's leave the cowards to their play," Sebulba sneered. He and Hekula slithered off, their footfalls clattering on the stony ground.
Deland wiped his oily hands with a rag viciously, as though wiping away the memory of Sebulba's taunt. "We've got to beat them. We've got to."
"He's fast," Doby said, watching Hekula and Sebulba return to their entourage. A look of pain crossed his face as Djulla handed Hekula a cup of juma juice and Hekula spat it out while shouting an insult. "He's just as cruel and dangerous as his father. Maybe more so, because he takes more chances."
Temptation loomed before Anakin. He could help Doby and Deland beat Hekula. He knew it. It was not part of his mission here. But Obi-Wan had allowed him to have free time. What better way to use it than free a slave from the grip of a harsh master?
"Sebulba taught him how to cheat, too," Deland said worriedly. "Come on, Doby. Let's get back to work."
"You can beat him." The certainty in Anakin's voice made the two brothers turn to face him. "With my help. Hekula has my old Podracer. I built it with my own hands. They may have painted it and buffed it, but I still know those engines. I know its weaknesses. I know how Sebulba cheats.
I can help you win."
Doby and Deland exchanged a glance. "We can't ask you to do that,"
Deland said.
"You're not asking."
"We can't pay you," Doby said. "All of our credits are tied up in the Podracer. We barely have enough to get home."
"I don't need credits. And I don't need thanks," Anakin said. "I just need you to win."
Chapter Six
"So you promised me inside information," Obi-Wan said to Didi. They could not locate an air taxi, and all the Transits were full, so they had to walk to the swoop seller. Obi-Wan didn't mind. It gave him a chance to get a feeling of the streets. He reached out to the Force and received nothing alarming back.
"My son-in-law is an idiot."
"That's not exactly the kind of information I had in mind," Obi-Wan said mildly.
Didi sighed. "You'd think Astri would have more sense. Did I raise her to fall for the first tall, handsome idiot who walked through my door? I did not! Is it my fault she picked such a stiff-necked, rule-following, small-spirited, mid-Rim, mid-minded, puffed-up bonehead?"
"Well, at least he's not a criminal," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe Astri wanted a quieter life. Maybe she was tired of dealing with a rule-breaking, truth-stretching, scam-running scoundrel of a father."
"So it is my fault," Didi sniffed.
"Astri has always made her own choices, Didi. And they are hers to make. Now, you said you had insider news on the Games."
"Bog thinks that by serving on the Council for the Games, he'll get the backing of some important beings in the Senate, and that he'll be assigned important committee assignments. All he does is talk, talk, talk about how important his role is and what it will mean for his future." Didi mimicked a snore. "Honestly, I don't know how Astri stands it. His big job has been arranging the seating for some big-shot Senators. Hoo diggety-hoo.
" "Didi, you said you had information," Obi-Wan said. "This is complaining."
"I have plenty of information," Didi said. "How can I not? Bog never stops talking. But he never says anything worth listening to. Oh, look, here we are." Didi paused in front of a shop with closed durasteel shutters.
"It doesn't look open," Obi-Wan observed.
"Oh, it is. The seller just doesn't want to attract too many customers."
"Really. That doesn't sound typical."
"It's a very exclusive shop." Didi turned to him. "Remember, you don't have to say anything. Just stand there and give that Jedi-ish look."
"I think I can manage it," Obi-Wan said dryly. "Tell me something, Didi. If you want to return a swoop, shouldn't you have brought it with you?"
"I can fetch it in moments. No need to worry."
Didi rapped a rhythmic knock on the door. Several seconds later the door slid open. Obi-Wan realized that the pause of the few seconds meant that they had just undergone some sort of security check. Was the shop- owner concerned about vandalism or theft? It was possible, since Eusebus was crowded with strangers.
But the security measures seemed excessive for a swoop seller. Obi-Wan stepped into the dim interior, fully aware that Didi could be leading him into his usual swamp of deception. Didi didn't so much lie as leave crucial pieces of information out.
You owe me one, Qui-Gon.
"Good afternoon, good afternoon," Didi said to a massive creature who suddenly loomed out of the shadows in the shop. The being was two meters taller than Obi-Wan. Each fifteen-fingered hand was the size of a bantha haunch.
There were six swoops parked in a random fashion around the open space. There were no other customers and no sign of business that Obi-Wan could see.
"You may remember me," Didi said. "Didi Oddo. I was in yesterday."
The massive creature said nothing, just watched Didi with flat eyes.
"Then again, you may not," Didi said nervously. "This is my very good friend, the great Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan, this is the swoop seller, Uso Yso."
The creature did not shift his gaze from Didi's face.
"Obviously you are a creature of action and I should get right to the point," Didi said. "The swoop I bought yesterday… I have changed my mind.
" A flicker of alertness lit Uso Yso's opaque gaze.
"I would like my money back," Didi said, trying to sound forceful.
"The swoop is not… not what I expected. No doubt I will return another day to buy a… different swoop, but not this one."