Leaves rustled as Leia made a sharp turn onto a dirt road leading deeper into the woods. Clouds covered the moon and a layer of fog had come to settle into the mountains, making it difficult to see, but her knowledge of Yavin IV served her well even in the dark. Her pulse throbbed in her ears, but she was careful to keep her breathing as quiet as she could as she continued down the path, dodging as much vegetation as possible. She knew her attackers wouldn't be far behind and was running out of places to lose them.
Leia's mad dash continued several hundred meters further before she was able to barely make out a stone structure just off the path. She leapt between a cluster of trees and landed delicately on the lower level of an old incinerator. Having not been used in centuries, or at least decades, the ruins were in surprisingly good condition, and covered more by graffiti than merewort. She took only a brief moment to look out over the meadow on the far side of the incinerator and catch her breath. Just as she prepared to make the jump to the top of the chimney, she heard the Patites reach the end of the path and took to the thin ledge around it instead. She would rather risk the climb than call attention to herself.
"I know she came this way," one of them hissed.
"She's here somewhere."
The smaller Patite walked to the edge of the trail where it emptied into the meadow and as he turned to speak to his partner, he caught sight of a tall structure; the incinerator. "There."
Damnit. They're more observant than I anticipated. Leia thought as she straddled the smoke shaft. Moving faster now, she picked her way to the top as well as she could, carefully testing for loose stones as she went. At least wading through waist-high grass slowed the assassins a little and bought her some extra time. She hauled herself over the lip of the chimney just as the Patites made their way to the lower level of the incinerator, blasters drawn. Leia didn't want a fight, but it looked like they weren't going to give her much choice. She carefully removed a silver dagger from a sheath in her boot.
The pair quickly swept the exposed terrace, then walked to the far edge. The ruins were constructed on a hill, and there was a farther drop down to the meadow than the side they had climbed. That brief pause would prove to be their undoing. Leia leapt from her perch as soon as she saw her pursuers' attention shift. She delivered a swift kick that knocked one into the other and sent somebody's blaster over the edge. The three struggled for several moments, fists and weapons flying. A heavy blow connected with Leia's thigh, but she couldn't feel the pain through the adrenaline. Seconds seemed like minutes before Leia's knife found its mark and incapacitated both of her opponents.
She wiped the blade on her pant leg before replacing it and rolling the larger attacker onto his back to check for a pulse. She cursed when she didn't find one, then moved onto the next. She inhaled sharply; not only was this one lighter, but a female, very odd for the Patites. Finding that this assassin was merely unconscious, Leia quickly disarmed her, took what looked like a small communicator, and hopped lightly off the incinerator.
Pain ripped through her thigh as she landed and she fell to one knee. The adrenaline had worn off, and suddenly she felt every blow from her recent encounter. Her leg was wet with blood flowing from a rather large gash, and she was fairly sure that her ribs were bruised at the very least. Sacrificing what was left of her pant leg, she tied one piece of fabric above her injury as a tourniquet, and another directly over it as a bandage. With some effort, Leia rose from the ground and hastened across the meadow as best she could. By this time, the clouds had cleared and she could see the stars and planets in the skies above. She picked one to focus on until she made it to the distant treeline and passed through. She was beginning to feel quite weak, but knew there was another trail nearby that would lead her back to the old Rebel base. The tiredness would pass as long as she kept moving.