The moonlight shone bright as Luke loped across the clearing that surrounded the castle. But all light abruptly ceased when he plunged into the dark forest. He thought he was on the path he had traveled with Jingles just a few days before, but the branches high overhead immediately swallowed all illumination. The thick vegetation underneath squelched all sound. Only the harsh sound of his breathing reached his ears.
He'd forgotten just how eerie the forest could be, and for a second he second-guessed his decision. Perhaps he should just face the Beast alone, by himself. End the Beast's murderous ways once and for all. After all, he had no guarantee he would find help in Woolvertown.
But he tried to rescue Han, Leia and Chewie by himself, and look what it got him: a lifelong stay – or however long the Beast wanted to hold him – stay at Castle Spooky.
And he ran headlong and brain-free into the situation on Bespin, hadn't he, and look what it reaped him. The Beasts found Master Yoda, because of him. Master Yoda died, because of him. The Jedi were extinguished.
Because of him.
He had a duty to make sure this particular Beast was brought to justice. Crimes must be answered. Deaths must be avenged. He thought of poor little Pottz, with her large lavender eyes and small, delicate hands. Pottz never have stood a chance, once the Beast turned on her. She would have broken like so much kiln-fired crockery under the Beast's dark side-fueled power. He squared his shoulders and marched on, his strides long and sure.
A howl, then, off to his right. He stopped, stood still. It sounded again, a canine-like baying. The sound at once hurt his ears at the high end of the scale, but chilled his blood with its low, almost inaudible rumble.
He picked up his pace.
Another howl. Then another. This time to his left.
He felt around on the forest floor for a weapon, any weapon. He found a stick, long with a point on one end. It would have to do. He reached out with the Force—
Nothing.
Those strange Force-absent bubbles were back.
He continued on the path, faster now, picking up into a jog.
The howls stopped. He relaxed his grip on the stick.
Then – a chorus of shrill cries, ahead of him!
He stopped.
More cries, a high-pitched keening that chilled his soul with its almost supernatural sound – coming from the path behind him.
He swung his stick in a circle, holding it as if it were a lit lightsaber.
The cries stopped, as if by a sudden unheard command.
Slowly, from the darkness of the trees, even darker shadows started to emerge.
Canines. Large canines. Heads as big as silver platters carried to his room by Looma. Strong, powerful shoulders. Muscular haunches. Eyes, glowing red.
They circled. Slowly, on silent padded paws. He could smell them now, a mixture of heavy musk and dead carrion.
Luke froze. Most predators on Tatooine were triggered by motion. If he stood still, perhaps they would go—
A canine left. Claws, at least ten centimeters long, slashed at Luke's shoulders.
He turned and ducked. The canine missed. It snarled, teeth flashing in what little light existed. Then it yipped, a shrieking bark. The rest of the pack joined in, the chorus almost supernatural in its wailing harmony.
Luke shifted, tentatively moving one foot in front of the other. If he could just get out of the range of whatever bubble he was in, find the Force –
A heavy weight hit him from behind. He hit the ground, hard. His breath was knocked loose, his head bounced on a rock hidden on the path. Stunned, he couldn't move, even if he wanted to. Sharp, piercing claws pinned him down. Hot, damp breath that stank of fear and dead things washed over him. He shut his eyes. The teeth would descend, tear out his jugular and—
The weight lifted. The thick needle-like claws were gone. He shook his head, his vision still blurred and his hearing still ringing from the collision with the rock. He thought he heard a canine yelp of hurt, surprise. Then another. He tested his hands, feet. They moved when he told them to. He ached all over, but he was alive. Somehow.
Through the ringing he heard a familiar..humming? A lightsaber?
He rolled over, still struggling to regain his breath.
Above him stood the Beast. Black cloak swirling, lightsaber flashing, cutting down one canine after another. But the predators kept coming.
Luke slowly got to his hands and knees. His foot brushed something-what-a blaster? Of course. Han's blaster! The one he lost when the Beast tore it from his grip. Luke got to his feet. He picked off the canine leaping for the Beast's back.
He moved closer to the Beast, shooting off attacking animals as best he could in the dim light, until he stood back to back with the cloaked figure. The lightsaber thrust, turned, cleaved. Luke shot, bolt after bolt.
"To your left!" the Beast suddenly growled. "The Alpha! They won't stop attacking until the Alpha leaves or dies!"
Luke cut his gaze in that direction, but couldn't see anything but dark leaves of trees and the even darker trunks densely packed together. He fired a bolt in that direction. It disappeared into the darkness. No answering yelp of pain came.
He fired again. And again. And again. The bolts didn't seem to do any good.
He fired—
The blaster jammed.
The Beast growled, an expression of inarticulate rage. They had killed nearly the entire pack, but three canines still stood on the left shoulder of the path. Their hackles stood straight up, their sharp teeth were bared in a horrifying rictus grin.
"Stay back, farmer," the Beast commanded, holding the red-violent lightsaber crossways.
The first canine jumped, went down. Then the second. The third tensed, appeared ready to spring-
A howl like nothing Luke had ever heard before came from the forest.
The ground moved under his feet, a steady rhythmic thumping.
He heard the Beast take a large gulp of breath.
A canine, three times the size of the others, burst from between the tree trunks. A blur of light and dark shadow, it headed straight for the arm holding the lightsaber.
The remaining canine followed, attacking from the other side.
Luke tried the blaster again. The bolt went wide, wild. He heard a thump, as if something fell from a tree.
The Beast whirled, twisted, attempting to evade and defend. The cloak fell open. Something glinted at the Beast's waist. Something cylindrical, hanging.
Luke automatically reached out with the Force –
- and called his lightsaber to him, just as the Beast went down under the weight of the Alpha. The Force-absent bubble was gone.
With a snap-hiss, his lightsaber ignited. For the smallest fraction of a split-second, he thought about letting the Beast die. A fitting death, the Beast killed by the claws and teeth of a wild beast.
But he wouldn't.
He struck. The Alpha crouching over the Beast toppled, fell, and died. The last remaining canine got up and disappeared into the trees.
The Beast lay face down in the path, the cloak spilling around the still figure like a pool of black ink. Luke shut down his lightsaber and crouched down. He gently reached out a hand, pulled back the hood.
Then he almost fell over with shock.
A…girl.
This fearsome Beast, hated throughout the galaxy as one of Palpatine's most deadly agents, was a…girl.
And not a very old one. About his age, give or take a year or so. Her eyes were shut tight, but even in the dim light he could see sharply winged eyebrows and long, curly eyelashes that rested on pale cheeks. A dusting of darker spots – freckles, no doubt – decorated the bridge of her narrow nose. Her full lips were parted.
She still breathed. His stomach did a flip of relief.
But she was wounded. The black cloak hid any sign of blood, but he could feel the stickiness on his hands. And on his back. He had his own, more minor, injuries to tend.
He heard another howl. It came from a far distance, but still. Now he knew why the residents stayed in their houses at night.
He picked the Beast up, expecting to struggle with her weight once he reached the boundary of a Force-absent bubble, but she remained light in his arms. He realized that the lifts in her boots and the bulk of her cloak made her appear much larger than she really was. In reality, she was a slight thing, built more like a dancer with long limbs and a slender torso than a muscle-bound fighter.
He carried her out of the forest and across the clearing, toward the main entrance of the castle.