Chapter 19 – Into the Trap
DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars, even if we wish we did. xD
Author's Note: Yeah, I know this is late, but I didn't have time until now. xP
~ Amina Gila
The droids go in front, with me and Luke right behind to help guide what direction we should go in. They'll use scanners, and we'll use the Force. It shouldn't be too hard to find her. Hopefully. But as always, things are pretty much never simple, so who knows what kind of trouble we're probably going to run into now.
"Don't worry, Master Luke," Threepio assures him as we keep moving, "We know what to do." Then he looks down at Artoo and grumbles, "And you said it was pretty here. Ugh!" It is, but that doesn't mean nothing can go wrong. In the mind of a droid, I guess that's not true. At least in the mind of this droid.
Once we reach the area where we had last seen Leia before she zoomed off in pursuit of the other Imperial, our search party spreads out, looking through the undergrowth for any signs of her. Where could she be? Either she got lost in the forest trying to find her way back and doesn't have her bike anymore, or she was captured by more Imperial scouts, or she's injured somewhere, or I don't even know.
As I continue making my way through the brush, I suddenly spot two speeders nearby each other, both burnt and damaged, and lying on the ground next to partially burned trees and brush. Those could be Leia's and the scout's speeders, or maybe more scouts' speeders, or... But at least it seems like we're going in the right direction. Which is a good thing considering that it's already late in the day, nearing dusk. We need to be getting on with deactivating the shield generator already. Hopefully, the other Rebels are managing without us.
"Look," Luke suddenly calls to me, since I'm the closest by. Turning, I see he's holding a helmet. Leia's helmet.
"I found two burnt speeders," I inform, worried as I step over to him.
"She –" he begins but is promptly interrupted.
"Luke! Luke!" Han hollers from where he is a short distance away in the brush. We immediately run to where he is. A burnt, damaged speeder lies in the grass, not far from a charred tree. It obviously smashed into the tree, whatever happened. So, three speeders then. She obviously ran into more scouts, which means, who knows what happened to her.
"Oh, Master Luke!" gasps Threepio as he rushes up. Artoo beeps in concern as he rolls over as well.
"There's two more wrecked speeders back there. And I found this," Luke announces, tossing Leia's helmet to Han.
"I'm afraid that Artoo's sensors can find no trace of Princess Leia," declares Threepio.
"I hope she's alright," murmurs Han gravely.
"I don't think she's in any danger at the moment," I mumble as I reach into the Force. She seems to be fine, but the question remains, where is she?
Chewbacca suddenly sniffs the air and growls, before turning and bounding off through the forest with an excited bark which I don't quite catch. Did he just smell which way she might be? Since he identified me because of smell, I'm sure he could. Doesn't mean following Chewie sniffing along the ground is a good idea, though.
"What Chewie?" demands Han, running after him, "What? Chewie?!" Luke and I hurry after them, the droids trailing us. Artoo beeps uncertainly.
"Does he know where he's going?"
"I don't know," I reply as we try to keep up with him.
The forest grows denser as we continue to move, following behind the frantic Wookie. I can feel more life forms wherever we're headed, and suddenly a distinct sense of approaching danger. Just what is it that Chewbacca is after? Suddenly I'm not so sure he's following Leia's scent after all.
The Wookie comes to a halt in a small clearing. There's a pole in the center of it, with a dead animal hanging from it. Chewbacca trots over to it. Luke and I, now in the back, hesitantly walk a little closer. Something is not right here.
"Hey, I don't get it," frowns Han, confused, "Nah, it's just a dead animal, Chewie." Ignoring him, Chewbacca steps closer to it. Oh, I see. So, he dragged us all the way out here because he wanted to eat. And there's no reason that there would be a dead animal on a pole unless this is some sort of trap – probably set by the beings that inhabit this moon for the animals that live here – and that means we need to get out of here.
"No, Chewie!" I yell.
"Chewie wa-wait!" cries Luke, "Don't!"
But our warnings come too late. Chewbacca is already yanking the animal free from pole. Faster than I have a chance to react, a thick-roped net snaps around us, lifting us high into the air, far above the clearing below.
Artoo beeps frantically and Chewbacca howls an apology that everyone is too annoyed to listen to, much less accept. Han pushes one of the Wookie's paws out of his mouth. How it got there, though, I have no idea.
"Nice work," Han says sarcastically, "Great, Chewie! Great! Always thinking with your stomach." Everyone is pretty much moving at once, causing the net to spin in circles. I squirm about, trying to free one of my arms so I can get out my lightsaber and cut us out of this thing.
"Will you take it easy?" groans Luke, "Let's figure out a way to get out of here."
"I'm trying to do that," I grumble, finally succeeding in pulling my arm free from where it's stuck between the net and Artoo. It certainly doesn't help that Chewbacca is half on top of me. Ugh.
"Han, you can reach my lightsaber?" questions Luke.
"Yeah, sure," he replies.
"I think I can reach mine," I mumble, as the net continues to spin in circles dizzyingly.
Artoo extends an appendage and starts slicing through the ropes. But that's going to take forever.
"Artoo, I'm not sure that such a good idea," cries Threepio. And becoming somebody's dinner is a good idea? Squirming to shift into the right position, I ignite one of my lightsabers.
"It's a very long drooooop!" he finishes in a scream as I quickly cut through the ropes, freeing us. We all tumble to the ground, landing in a heap on the ground below the net and knocking my breath out.
After untangling myself from Chewbacca, I slowly sit up. The others are following suit. Rustling from the undergrowth on every side of us is increasing and moments later, small furry little creatures – around Yoda's size, or smaller – begin stepping into view, holding long spears and other such weapons. They're actually downright cute, and if I'm remembering correctly from my endless studies on different species, they're ewoks.
One of them, presumably the leader of the group, steps forwards and points his spear in Han's face. Okay, maybe this isn't so good after all.
"Wha-? Hey!" exclaims Han, grabbing the end of the spear and shoving it aside, "Point that thing someplace else!" I nearly burst out laughing, but the seriousness of the situation dampens my amusement. They clearly think we're their new dinner.
Another Ewok says something to the leader before he shoves the spear back at Han's face again.
"Hey!" he yells, grabbing it and reaching for his blaster.
"Han, don't," cautions Luke, "It'll be all right." Starting a fight with these creatures – even if we probably would win – is unnecessary. We can figure another way out of this without massacring them.
"We'll figure something else out," I reassure them, mind already racing, as the Ewoks swarm towards us and begin confiscating our weapons. I grudgingly allow them to take my lightsabers. If I need them on a moment's notice, I can just call them back to me anyway. Chewbacca growls fiercely at them when they approach him.
"Chewie, give 'em your crossbow," Luke intervenes. With another growl, he gives it up the Ewoks.
Meanwhile, the two droids are just managing to untangle themselves from the net.
"Oh, my head! Oh, my goodness!" gasps Threepio as he sits up and takes in the scene before him.
The Ewoks suddenly gasp in shock, turning to each and chattering in their language. Threepio begins to protest something in their language as well, but none of them are listening. The nearest one to Threepio suddenly drops his pear and prostrates himself on the ground in front of him. Um, what? What in the world are they doing? The rest of them immediately follow suit.
"What's going on?" wonders Chewbacca.
"I have no idea," I answer, just as confused as the rest of us. Hopefully, they don't worship droids. No, that can't be it, or they'd be worshiping Artoo. Protocol droids then, maybe. It's hard to say. There are many strange beliefs out there. All of the Ewoks begin chanting.
"Do you understand anything they're saying?" inquires Luke.
"Oh, yes, Master Luke!" exclaims Threepio, and of course has to use the opportunity to recite his favorite lines, "Remember that I am fluent in over six million forms of communication."
"What are you telling them?" demands Han.
"Hello, I think... I could be mistaken. They're using a very primitive dialect," he begins to explain, "But I do believe that the think I am some sort of god." A god?! They think Threepio is a god?! Chewbacca and I both burst out laughing and Artoo beeps in amusement. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in my life.
Han and Luke, however, just exchange looks like 'now what?'
"Well, why don't you use your divine influence and get us out of this?" suggests Han.
"I beg your pardon, General Solo, but than just wouldn't be proper," argues Threepio. Seriously?
"Proper?!" cries Han angrily. Why are we worried about 'proper' when an army of creatures think you're their meal? Sure, we could fight our way out of this, but I don't want to kill them. Not to mention this is delaying our mission!
"It's against my programming to impersonate a deity," he protests. The stubbornness of droids sometimes. Perhaps they should have thought Artoo was their "god" instead. Then we'd probably be getting out of here already. This is downright ridiculous.
"Why, you –" Han begins angrily, moving towards Threepio threateningly. Almost instantly, several of the Ewoks shove their spears in front of Han, blocking his path. The others swarm around him, also taking aim with their spears.
He holds up his hands in defeat. "My mistake. He's an old friend of mine," he says in attempt to calm them down.
Cute or not, I'm seriously about to lose my temper on these Ewoks as they tie me and the others to poles and lift Threepio onto a platform. They begin carrying us away through the forest, situation to present itself for us to get out of this mess, but it hasn't happened yet. We really need to be getting back to the Rebels! And finding Leia. Never mind that since I don't have my lightsabers anymore, there's nothing we can do about it. This is getting better and better by the moment.
The Ewoks continue to chatter amongst themselves on the way to the camp, and I get the feeling it has something to do with their dinner tonight. Nice. The forest is already darkening as we finally near our destination.