They began down the stairs, turning in a spiral as they descended around a single rock column in the midst of a chamber hewn from stone. Hewn? Chewed, Obi-Wan thought.

"Something is wrong, " Jesson said. Caution had crept into the X’Ting warrior’s voice.

"What? "

"I smell much death, " he said.

The silence itself was so oppressive that it was impossible for Obi-Wan not to agree with him. Something was wrong-he could sense it as well. Halfway down the stairs, Jesson aimed his light at the floor below them.

For a moment Obi-Wan couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The entire floor of the chamber was covered with empty, shattered carapaces. Countless heaps of them, scattered about like bones in some large predator’s lair.

"What happened here? " Jesson whispered.

"What would you think? "

The exoskeleton fragments, the skulls and legs and chestpieces, seemed to stare back at them, simultaneously mocking and warning. "Either they crawled into here by the thousands and died, or . . . "

"Or what? " Obi-Wan asked.

"Or something dragged them in here. "

Obi-Wan crouched, running his fingers along the broken edges of a carapace. There was no moisture in the remaining flesh at all. This had happened years ago.

He rose and led the way to the descending stone stairway in the room’s center. The twisting exit had no guardrails, and it would be a nasty spill if taken unexpectedly. The dusty smell of old, forgotten death rose up to enfold them.

When they reached the bottom, his foot crunched on a leg carapace. "Light, " he said simply, and took it from Jesson’s hand.

The carapaces had been cracked open. No withered flesh remained to be seen. Devoured?

Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but the cracked, violated exoskeletons of dead X’Ting.

Jesson went to his knees behind Obi-Wan, examining the remains. "I . . . I don’t understand, " he said as Obi-Wan returned the glowlight.

Something in his voice chilled the Jedi. "What is it? " Obi-Wan asked.

"Look at these bite marks. "

Obi-Wan inspected. The carapaces had indeed beenchewed open, not pried apart with tools.

"Yes. Savage. "

"You don’t understand, " Jesson said. "These areX’Ting tooth marks. "

And suddenly the horror that had gripped Jesson brushed against Obi-Wan’s spine. Here in the depths, where X’Ting had tried to maintain the old ways, something had happened. Clan turning against clan? War? However it had begun, what was clear was the way it had ended: Cannibalism. These X’Ting had eaten their own. There was no lower behavior, no more loathsome foe. The fear of being slain by an opponent was always present, a natural part of a warrior’s life. But the idea of being killed and thendevoured . . . that was something different.

"I suggest we keep moving, " he said.

"I agree, " Jesson said, biting at the words. And they continued across the room.