Chapter XV – Hunter: Claw and Blade
Luke sat down on a fallen pillar with a great sigh. "Now what? We can't possibly hope to fight them all off."
"Got a detonator, Fett?" asked Jessa hopefully. "We can blast 'em…"
He shook his head. "Used my last one on the sarlaac. Besides, there's too many of them."
"Ash can set them on fire," suggested Nightwind, cocking his head toward the phoenix.
But Ash tilted her head forward in a negative gesture. "I could, at the most, ignite three or four of the beasts at a time. They are swift and strong; I would be devoured before I could make a significant gap in the ranks."
Tuck paced the bloodstained floor anxiously, hands on his helmet. I caught a muttered snippet that sounded like "why did we come here anyway?" Normally the trooper had an even temper, but he, like the rest of us, was edgy and frustrated from our current predicament.
"I suggest," Ash said at length, "that we quiet our minds and consider the problem at hand. Everyone seat yourselves in a circle and think. If any suggestions or ideas come to mind, voice them. At the moment, any plan, no matter how outlandish, will be considered."
Obediently we sat, crouched, or knelt in a ring and began discussing a means of exiting the wrecked Mandalorian fortress. One by one suggestions were brought forth, scrutinized carefully, and discarded as unfeasible. Some ideas entailed sacrificing one member of the group or another – an option we could not take, as the Shadow had specifically warned us that we must remain a group if we were to succeed. Other plans seemed reasonable enough, but we did not have the supplies to carry them out. With pitifully few resources to work with, it seemed our options were a suicide attack against the entire flock or a slow death by starvation.
Fett, I noticed, was silent. But then, he was usually silent, so I did not think much on it.
At one point, Nightwind interrupted the brainstorm session with a plaintive whimper. "I'm famished. Stomach feels like it's sticking to my backbone…"
"Eat the griffon, then," Jessa suggested testily.
The acklay turned to the still-steaming corpse and sank his jaws into one haunch. Immediately he jerked away and shook his head violently, spitting and coughing.
"Are you all right?" I asked, shooting to my feet.
"Tastes rotten!" he complained, wiping furiously at his muzzle. "Not like meat at all! More like starship grease. And burns my mouth."
"It's not poisonous, is it?" asked Luke.
"No," Ash assured him. "But all the same, I would not suggest any of the rest of us attempt to sample it. The only creatures I have ever witnessed eating a griffon are a sarlaac and, several times, another griffon."
Fett tilted his head to one side as if in interest. "They're cannibals?"
"If another member of their flock is injured or trapped, and if no other food is available, yes, they will turn on and devour the incapacitated griffon," she replied.
He nodded. "Interesting." He traced the edge of the mythosaur axe with a fingertip. "Very interesting."
"Are you going to let us know what's going on in that helmet of yours?" asked Luke hopefully.
Fett remained silent a moment longer. "I have an idea… it may not work… and I'm not sure exactly how to execute it…"
We waited with breathless anticipation, as if our very lives depended on his next words… and perhaps they did.
He spoke one word: "Rope."
"Rope?" Jessa and Tuck repeated at once.
"Rope." He reached for his grappling-hook launcher and pulled the cord out until it was fully extended. Examining the entire length, he shook his head with a mutter, then carefully rubbed it against the blade of his axe until he had severed it. "This will do for starters, but it's not enough. I need more."
"Where are we going to get rope?" asked Luke.
"Doesn't have to be rope, does it?" asked Jessa. "Can we use wire, fibercord…"
"So long as it's strong," Fett replied. He rapped one foot against the floor. "Primitive as this fortress seems, it had electricity at one time. And beneath this floor runs cables and wires of all sizes…"
It was a shame to pry up the beautiful mosaic floor, but we had to concede that our lives took precedence over artistry at the moment. Luke and I sliced the bone-crusted stone into manageable blocks with our lightsabers, and Nightwind lifted the blocks away to expose the cables Fett had spoken of. Jessa, Tuck, and Ash set to work cutting and pulling up wires – a job that would have been dangerous save the fact that power probably had not run through these wires for hundreds of years. Fett assumed the role of a supervisor, pointing out which cables he deemed strong enough for whatever plot he had in mind, rejecting any that were too thick or too weak.
"What are you planning on doing?" Luke asked at last. "Making a net?"
Fett shook his head. "We could never make a net that big in time." He surveyed the collection of wires and cables we had collected. "Good enough. Now for the next step." He pointed to the dead griffon. "Cut off its claws."
Now thoroughly perplexed, I bent down to the severed forelimb of the beast and examined the talons. Wickedly hooked, as long as the hilt of my lightsaber, and sharp enough to slice through bone, they would make formidable weapons. Though what sorts of weapons Fett planned to create with these was beyond me.
"Okaaaayyyyyy," Jessa said in a tone that suggested she thought Fett had slipped off the deep end. "Got a knife, genius?"
Fett pulled a blade from his boot and handed it over without a word.
Fifteen minutes later, a grand total of eighteen talons lay at Fett's feet – four from each forepaw, five from each hindpaw. He took a length of cord and carefully tied a claw to one end.
"We'll need a rope, cord, or cable attached to each talon," he explained. "Nightwind, you and I will cut up the griffon body. We'll need eighteen pieces. Try to get them thick enough to hide a claw inside."
"Oh, I get it," Jessa said at last. "We're fishing for griffons!"
I smiled beneath my mask, new confidence rising as I realized Fett's intentions. Brilliant. The beasts outside the fortress had worked themselves into a starving frenzy, and by now they must be ravenous enough to devour anything that presented itself… even a chunk of its brethren with a hook buried inside. And once it took the bait, it would be ensnared, easy prey for the others…
"Gross!" Nightwind hissed, raising one sticky foreleg and glowering at the black ichor clinging to the limb. "Smelled bad already, but it's worse on the inside!"
"Just like tauntauns," Luke said with a knowing grin. I did not dare ask how he knew that but continued working.
One by one we readied lines, baited them, and secured the free ends to various pillars. By this time we were all exhausted and covered in griffon's blood, which did not seem to dry but instead congealed like glue on our skin, clothing, and armor. But if putting up with the mess meant a shot at freedom…
"Finished," Luke said with a relieved sigh, wiping his gummed hands on his pant legs.
Fett looked ready to collapse from exhaustion, spattered from helmet to boots with ichor and the axe in his hands dragging on the floor as if made from lead rather than bone. But he refused to stop for a rest, but gestured at the wall nearest Luke.
"Get ready," he urged. "Nightwind, dig a hole."
The acklay slammed a foreleg into the wall. Almost the instant he removed the limb from the puncture, a hooked beak thrust itself through, screeching and snapping.
"Now!" Fett shouted.
Luke picked up a baited line and swung it at the griffon. Predictably, the hideous beak clamped closed over the proffered meat, withdrawing to swallow it. The line trailed out after the beast, then went taut. A horrible shriek filled the air as the creature felt the pain of the hook in its jaw and realized it was ensnared.
"More, and fast!" Fett ordered.
Jessa pushed a baited line through a crack in the wall, and another griffon instantly took it. I flung a line through a rift in the ceiling, and an answering cry signaled that it, too, was taken. The clamor of wings and screeches and claws outside became a horrible roar as the monsters turned on their trapped comrades. My stomach turned at the sound… but I had to remind myself that these were beasts, animals, not worth our lives…
"That's the last one!" shouted Tuck.
"Outside!" Fett ordered. "Now! While they're distracted!"
Nightwind turned to the nearest wall and rammed it with his shoulder. The already weak stone crumbled as easily as porcelain under the blow, collapsing in a flume of dust. Using the rising cloud of silt as cover, we vacated the ruins.
"Keep going!" Fett barked, sounding less like a bounty hunter and more like a drill sergeant. "This way! Hurry!"
I turned for a final look at the ruins, and immediately I wished I hadn't. Well over fifty of the winged monsters thrashed and bucked in violent battle around the ruins, tearing savagely at their trapped brothers and at each other, shredding the air itself with their cries. Blood and carnage, survival of the fittest at its furthest extreme…
And there were those in the galaxy that made sport of such horrors?
"VADER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" shrieked Ash. "DON'T STOP TO GAWK, WE'RE NOT OUT OF THIS YET!"
I shook myself out of my trance and followed the others.
"Hurry, we're not out of the fire yet," panted Tuck. "We have to find a ship."
"Where are we going to find a ship here?" Luke demanded.
"Hidden hangars… in the cliffs," Fett replied between gasps for air. "Father and I… used to visit… this place…" He stumbled and almost went sprawling, but caught himself at the last minute and kept running. "Should still be… a working ship there…"
An eerie scream drowned out whatever he had to say next. Not all the griffons had been duped by Fett's distraction, and several were trailing us, far more tempted at the prospect of a feast of magic-wielding beings than by the paltry substitute of their own brethren.
A shadow passed over us. One was swooping down for the kill…
I ignited my saber, and as a smoke-gray beast landed just before me and tensed to spring, I let my momentum carry me forward and buried my weapon to the hilt in its chest. Before it had a chance to jerk in pain, let alone retaliate, I slashed swiftly to one side, then to the other, ensuring that I vaporized both hearts. Yanking the weapon free, I sidestepped the death-flailing limbs and ran to catch up with the others.
A second griffon extended its talons as if to snatch Ash out of the air. Her entire body seemed to glow red-gold for an instant, and in a heartbeat her attacker burst into flame. Screaming, the scorched beast plummeted to the earth like a felled starfighter.
Fett staggered to the base of the plateau and fell against the stone, totally winded. "Behind this rock… there's a door here… have to find the right spot…"
"Hurry and find it, then!" Luke shouted, drawing his own saber. "Or we're lunch!"
Wearily Fett ran his hands over the stone, seeking a crack, a fissure...
Another griffon landed and faced Nightwind, hissing its rage. The acklay reared and waved his forelegs threateningly, but the griffon was unfazed. The two beasts tangled a moment, claws tearing and teeth slashing, until the creature's beak sank into his shoulder…
A horrible, ear-splitting screech filled the air. At once all fighting ceased, and Luke, Fett, Tuck, and I clutched our heads as the infernal shriek drilled through our skulls like a vibroblade. The griffon attacking Nightwind released his prey and thrashed in pain, and the other griffons cried out in agony, their bodies contorted in torture. Through my fog of pain, I realized the beasts' greatest strength was also their greatest weakness – the acute hearing typical of felines, which enabled them to find prey but also made them all the more vulnerable to an attack such as this.
Only Jessa seemed unfazed. She bolted past me and to the cliff face, located a suspicious crack that ran perfectly perpendicular to the ground, and wrenched aside the slab of faux stone that made up the hangar door. The horrible sound seemed to intensify with her proximity, and with a shock I realized it was coming from her.
"Everyone in!" she shouted, and as soon as she spoke the screeching mercifully quieted.
In the darkness of the hangar I could just make out the outline of a ship – a blockade runner. And for the first time since coming to Mandalore, I felt the ring burn. It approved of this vehicle as the fourth ship.
"Nightwind's hurt," Tuck informed me.
I went to the whimpering acklay's side, bypassing a still-twisting griffon to reach him. He had definitely suffered the worst injuries in his battle with the creature – claw wounds to the face and chest, a deep bite to his shoulder, and a limb that had been nearly severed by the beast's wicked beak. I stroked Nightwind's neck to calm him, touching the ring to the worst of the wounds. Gold stars filled my vision, the ring glowed like a silvered fire, and the cuts and gashes closed with no signs of scars.
"C'mon, on the ship!" Fett barked.
Nightwind butted me in thanks, then scuttled toward the blockade runner. I was close behind.
"Are you sure this thing still works?" asked Luke. "It looks like no one's used it for years…"
"Trust me, it works," Fett snarled. "Vader, get us out of here!"
I threw myself in the pilot's seat, powered the ship up, and punched the throttle the moment the sublight engines were online. The remaining griffons scattered before the ship as it tore across the blood-red sky and soared into space.
Mandalore dropped away beneath us, a sphere of scarlet that filled the viewscreen with a fiery glow before the star-streaked brilliance of hyperspace replaced it.
Fett collapsed, wheezing, not even protesting when Luke and Tuck dragged him to a medical cot and cleaned him up as best they could. He had pushed himself to the very edge of his endurance on this adventure, and he would probably pay for it over the next few days. But he was alive – as well as the rest of us. That was all that mattered.
Though I'm sure the experience was a sobering one for Fett, for it revealed the extent of his weakness… and confirmed the fact that his hunting days were likely over.
"Jessa, how did you do that?" asked Luke.
"Do what?" she asked.
"That noise. I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I. Didn't happen until Fett socked me in the breastbone. Well, I don't have a breastbone anymore, but same place."
"I fought Grievous once," Fett explained in a weary voice. "He had the ability to unleash an auditory assault by activating something in his chest. I assumed that, as Jessa's droid body was created by the same scientist that designed Grievous, she would have a similar device."
Jessa stared down at her droid torso, impressed. "Cool."
"Well, that's three quests down," Luke said with a sigh. "Four more to go."
Four more to go. The thought was daunting… and not a little frightening.
I was not surprised to notice that, after this adventure, Fett was no longer reluctant to accept the medication offered to him on Ryloth. Nor did I think it very odd that he kept the mythosaur axe at his side for the remainder of our journey.
