Chapter 20
If Luke was confused before, he was even more so now. Another figure had entered the room, though it seemed to be quite a bit shorter than the first one. He knew that he was not only outnumbered at the moment, but also injured. His side was a lot better, but not quite healed yet and most of his energy had gone into trying to get it to heal faster, leaving him more tired than normal. The new figure started speaking in a strange language to the one already in the room. Not for the first time, Luke found himself wishing that See-Threepio was with him, if only to translate what was being said.
...What Luke didn't know, was that the shorter figure was a Noghri and that it could smell his bloodline, tracing it back to Darth Vader himself. It was for this reason that the shorter creature kept looking at him and gesturing as it spoke in its odd language. The Noghri was attempting to protect the son of its race's savior from death and defend its actions, stating that it could not allow him to die. In short, the Noghri had been responsible for the fact that Luke was still alive. If he had known all of this, Luke would have been extremely grateful to the Noghri. As it was, Luke had little chance of understanding what was going on, other than it seemed to involve him, though he was able to guess that the two were arguing about what should be done with him…
"Stop!" came a voice from behind him, though it sounded far enough away that he was able to ignore it fairly easily. He decided that he would have to enter a different cave and use the tunnel system to circle around to the one that he sought. He kept on running, trying to not be too obvious that he was changing his direction, in hopes that whoever was following would not notice until too late that he was not going straight anymore. He allowed himself to peek at the cave where he had left the others as he past by it, hoping his pursuer would think that he was merely checking behind himself, which he did as well. Then it dawned on him that he had not heard the voice of a Trooper, but a voice that sounded concerned, slightly worried. Who would be chasing him that would sound like that? He ignored the thought that he might have known someone who sounded like that at one point and kept going, but his thoughts had taken his mind off of where he was headed, for just a moment, but it was long enough. The distracting thoughts, combined with the heat of the ground as he ran, and his uneven gait, due to losing his boot, proved to be his undoing and he tripped over a hidden rock, one he would have realized was there, had he not been preoccupied at the moment. Franticly now, he regained his footing and took his other boot off, allowing him to run more freely, although the ground was almost unbearably hot, uneven, and shifting sand and dirt making it easier to slip. He had spent several years on this surface, though, and knew how to at least keep from falling again-if he could stay focused on what was happening…
Leia had seen the figure running and hoped that it was indeed Luke, but something did not seem right. She was unsure as to what it was, but she knew in her heart that it could not have been Luke. Then the words she had heard in her mind, through the Force, came back to her: 'I have really done it this time. I do not know where I am anymore. The last thing I remember…' '… you have to hurry. I do not know how much longer…' She knew with sudden clarity that it could not be her brother-he must be injured somehow-, but it was too late; she had already sent Han and Chewie in that direction…