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Chapter 21

Dragon Slayer

Twelve Days Later

Kiya carried the mixing bowl against her chest with one arm, a ladle dangling from her others fingers. She had left her sling off all day, the last three days, and her arm was much better, but Porcellus still didn't want her to carry the big trays they used to serve upstairs. Kiya had primarily been in the kitchen since that night. Honestly, after everything that happened, Kiya was glad for the reprieve from Jabba's patrons. She had seen the Quays from a distance, but neither had done more than stare and leer. Just that had made her far more uncomfortable and weary than she was willing to let either see. Toroga had said that was one good thing about being Fett's girl, he supposed. No one was likely to come near her. Kiya had said she wasn't Boba Fett's anything, not that he had listened. They all thought precisely what she expected they would and really what else could they believe. She had spent the night alone with him in his quarters.

Dislocating her shoulder had made her think about things she hadn't in a very long time. The first time her shoulder was out of joint, she was twelve, and— Philo always maintained he didn't switch on the defective droid her grandfather was repairing. He swore he hadn't touched it. Kiya had seen his round face when she fell, however. Even if he didn't switch it on, Philo had enjoyed watching her fall. Philo was a year and a half older than Kiya. They looked so much alike as children; the only significant difference was their coloring. He was blond, and Kiya had freckles and auburn hair.

People had often mistaken them for siblings, and Philo hated it. Or rather, he hated Kiya for it. He had hated her all the more for being an orphan. But he hated her the most for her relationship with their grandfather.

Earlier that day, a customer had been to the hanger to see their grandad and commented on how alike they looked. And as normal, she wasn't far from his side when he was on Nar Shadda. He had always been her favorite person, even before her parent's death. He had had mischievous blue eyes and playful nature. Her grandfather had smiled, slid his arm around Kiya's waist, and said Philo was going to run the business on the ground someday, and she was going to be his copilot like her daddy. Running the business on Nar Shadda wasn't enough. It was never enough. Philo had wanted everything, and so did her uncle.

Kiya sat the bowl down on the worktable and spooned its aromatic contents into the smaller serving bowls. It was a mince of some desert reptile and fruits, nuts, and berries. Personally, Kiya found the smell and appearance revolting, but it was one of Porcellus' most popular dishes.

She supposed this was one of those times when there was no accounting for taste.

These leftovers would somehow make "Porcellus Porridge" even more disgusting when morning came if that were possible. Porcellus, the famous galaxy renowned chef, was as equally appalled by the demand for it. He had thrown it together one day because he needed something to fill a bowl and had ingredients.

Since her arm was injured, Kiya had gone back to helping Toroga serve the prisoners. The hopelessness found in those pens felt so much different than it had before Sarita's death. That wasn't because there had been any change in their situation. It was as vile as it was before. It was Kiya that was different.

Toroga appeared across the table from her and started moving the filled bowls onto the tray. He lifted his dark brows but said nothing. Toroga might be the only one of the kitchen staff who wasn't resentful of Kiya's altered duties. Kiya could understand why the others were. They didn't frequently get granted reprieves in Jabba's Palace. You worked no matter how sick or injured you were. And as much as she was glad to be away from the crowd, for the most part, she knew this could ultimately make her life more difficult. The others had already started to resent her when Bib pulled her from the kitchen to wait on the she Hutt. It didn't seem irrelevant she had spent most of her time in the Kitchen before Bib pulled her away and that that was where Porcellus was keeping her now.

Fortuna had finally procured Porcellus, another staff member. A near-human female named Lyda. She was familiar with the role of a server and kept to herself. Kiya was very aware that her life would have been easier lately if she had continued to stick to herself as well.

Kiya finished filling her stack of small bowls and helped Toroga arrange them onto the tray.

Kiya watched him leave as she made her way to the counter. She hadn't seen Boba Fett more than once since that night. She knew he had been sent somewhere by Jabba but nothing more and not because he had told her. Kiya tried to ignore that she marked his absence.

Rystáll had left also.

Rystáll, Lyn Me, Sy snootles, and the band had all left six days ago, to be exact. Yarna said they had moved to their engagement on Nal Hutta. Another band without a singer had taken the Jizz band's place. Yarna said they usually played at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Yarna also said Rystáll was furious and argued that they should extend their stay. Kiya was glad she was gone though she would never admit it to anyone. The Theelin was determined to make Kiya as miserable as she could. The day they were preparing to leave, she dumped a cup of spatchka down the front of Kiya's dress. Kiya had done as much as she could to get the drink out of her dress. Kiya had nothing else to wear, so the burgundy linen had a dark stain down its front. Rystáll hadn't bothered to pretend it was an accident. She smiled smugly.

"Kiya!" Nola said, the bounce in her voice matching the one in her step.

Kiya looked up, leaving her thoughts behind. A smile slid across her face. Nola had been helping Kiya with Huttese the last week or so.

"Heddooh Nolah." Kiya wasn't fluent, but she could understand far more than a week ago.

Nola grabbed the tray Kiya had prepared for the dancers from the table.

"See uba, Kiya." Smiling at Kiya, she turned and continued out of the room with the drinks.

"See uba."

XxX

Boba Fett wasn't stupid. When he agreed to stay around, he had known that he would be at Jabba's beck and call. He had also understood he would be asked to do things that irritated him, but that could be said with any job. He had spent the last eleven days tracking down the porcine Vensonzo brothers. The Snivvian brothers had stolen an artifact from one of Jabba's procurers en route to Tatooine. Neither of the brothers was very intelligent, which explained why they were stupid enough to do what they did. Boba Fett had picked up their trail in Smugglers Run and tracked them from there to Batuu.

Now he could turn his attention back to the Krayt Dragon. Before he left, he had found another without babies in the canyons to the east. This one he believed was a female from its size alone. It was far too large to be a male. Boba Fett had decided he would commander Dengar's ship to transport the beast after he tranq'd it. None of them had a ship big enough to carry the beast in its hold, so he needed to construct a hoist, and Slave 1's engines made it impossible for him to transport the beast. He could hoist it with the Punishing One, but Slave 1's engines were pointed down during take-off.

"Where did you find them?" Fortuna asked, his attention lifting from the open casket being held by one of the servants.

"The dealer in Batuu had them in his possession," Boba Fett said. The Ithorian had tried to deny having the box, but in the end, he had given up. Boba Fett was a little surprised when he opened the chest himself to find the shorn length of Icarii hair adorned with hundreds of golden beads tucked inside. The Ithorian asked Boba Fett if he knew the disembodied heads of Icarii were said to live still and hold their power of sight after they were separated from their body. That Boba Fett had witnessed himself. The legend went, you could kill them seven times. Or much more simply, cleave their skulls in two and be done with it.

The Ithorian also said the hair was fabled to retain the essence of Icarii whose head it had adorned. That Boba knew nothing about that, nor did he care.

"I trust you brought me the Vensonzo brothers," Jabba interjected, his large slitted eyes lifting to Boba.

Boba pushed the sack he had brought with him toward Bib Fortuna with the toe of his boot. "Partly."

Bib reluctantly bent down and picked up the sack and opened it; the look of disgust on his face gave Boba some pleasure. Bib dumped the contents out on the ground. Two fat little hands hit the floor with a thump, the flesh stinking and grey.

"They were killed in a fight at Oga's Cantina the day before I arrived."

"Pardon me, but how do we, in fact, know these are the hands of the Vensonzo brothers?" Fortuna asked.

Bob's Fett didn't answer right away. Those close enough to hear grew silent. Boba Fett knew full well what Bib Fortuna was up to. "You are welcome to travel to Batuu. Their heads were on pikes outside of Oga's door the last time I saw them." And judging from the hands, they were probably unrecognizable

"Heh. Heh. Heh." Jabba laughed one of his hearty belly laughs. "That's why I like, Oga, she has style."

Jabba liking Oga was news to Boba Fett the last time they had discussed the proprietress of Batuu's most notorious cantina Jabba had considered having her killed and taking over her business himself. The slight shift in Bib Fortuna's expression said he had a similar thought.

Boba Fett didn't believe Bib knew about the Vensonzo brothers' duplicity, but he knew the Twi' had been eager to see him gone. Boba was equally as confident that he would know why soon.

"It is good our Boba Fett has made it back in time to see the Krayt Dragon, your greatness."

Boba Fett's jaw tightened.

"My scouts found it in the deep canyons to the east of the Palace," the Twi' added, his gloating gaze on Boba.

XxX

"Fett's back," Toroga whispered, leaning closer.

Kiya's eyes shot to him, hand's stilling. Jabba was taking his sail barge out for a cruise later, and Kiya was packing crates for the guards to load onboard.

An odd sensation slid through her, but Kiya ignored it. She lifted another bottle of spirits, placing it in the crate, and checked the list on the datapad on the table. She wanted to ask him why she should be interested, despite that she was. Instead, she laid the tablet back down as she said, "good for him. I am sure if Rystáll were still here, she'd be delighted."

Toroga arched one doubtful eyebrow. "I'm sure she would be."

Kiya watched him grab one of the loaded trays for upstairs. He turned, pausing beside her. "Fortuna is requesting a fresh decanter of that special Corellian wine. You could always carry it up for me. Or ask Lyda to bring it up?" he added, with a shrug.

He started for the door again. Kiya stayed in that position for several moments after Toroga left. Porcellus was busy at the stove.

Lyda was busy cutting up vegetables. "Lyda?" Kiya started, meeting the other female dark gaze.

"Yes?"

Kiya didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm going to carry some wine upstairs for Toroga."

Kiya grabbed one of the decanters from the sideboard and hurried to the back stairs.

She slid through the hidden door to the throne room just a couple minutes later and paused. Her gaze instantly sought Boba Fett, landing on his back. Her stomach gave an odd little flip. He stood In front of Jabba, his tattered green cape thrown to one side of his jetpack. Kiya made her way around the cantina band, ignoring the look Toroga sent her direction and skirted the edge of the room. Kiya watched Boba Fett out of the corner of her eye, suddenly feeling ridiculous. He might have arguably saved her life, but she still didn't quite understand why she had rushed up here.

She hurried up the stairs beside the dais. Bib Fortuna blocked her view of him, and Kiya was grateful. If she couldn't see him, it meant he couldn't see her.

Kiya nearly jogged past the pit Porcellus used to roast meat and placed the decanter on the counter. She turned around, continuing back across the space to the platform, her movements slower. Kiya reached the steps just as he stepped up on the dais beside Jabba. Heat blossomed across her skin as her gaze met his visor. She had no way of knowing if he'd even looked at her, but she quickly looked away anyway. Unable to help herself, she still watched him from the corner of her eye as she made her way past. She didn't look back, just hurried to the door and slipped through.

XxX

The hot desert wind blew in through the open windows of Jabba's barge. Its tall brown sails cast long shadows over the desolate terrain as it hovered in one place, with several smaller crafts beside a deep ravine cut into the desert floor.

A medium-sized Kuatie built light cruiser hovered over the canyon, the sunlight reflecting dully off of its silver paint. Part of its crew members had started the process of moving the sleeping quadruped from the deep floor below. xxxx

Boba Fett stood near Jabba's left shoulder like usual, ever watchful. Helmet on, blaster rifle in hand. The only difference was he was on Jabba's sail barge. The pleasure craft was filled with the palace denizens, and the Bith members of the cantina band even played away. The upper deck was filled with those watching Bib Fortuna's scouts load the sedated Krayt Dragon into a harness they would use to transport the beast back to Jabba's Palace. The landing pad surrounded by a high natural wall on three sides and Jabba Palace on the other was converted to a temporary arena.

Those who weren't on board were on the smaller open crafts. They had left the palace behind some time ago. Bib's men had borrowed the small light cruiser from Jabbas motor pool and modified it to be fit with a harness to lift the beast. Bib's men had followed the plan Boba laid out himself almost precisely. Though he would have made sure the harness could be electrified if he hadn't used an energy one. He actually wouldn't have attempted it without an energy harness and was surprised Bib had. Unless he was in a rush. Despite that difference, If Boba ever made a habit of recording these sorts of things, he would question if Bib had got his hands on a copy. Tranquilizing the beast and then flying it back to the palace was the only logical way, however. Boba couldn't have been the only one who would have such an idea. You couldn't herd or drag a Krayt Dragon, even a lesser one.

A new wave of simmering anger settled over Boba Fett, not so much over the loss of the Krayt Dragon itself, as it was directed at the male who staged that loss. And he meant staged. He was almost tempted to think Bib had planned the entire thing from the theft of Icarii beads to the death of the Vensonzo brothers, but that seemed like a lot of work just to make sure he didn't make it happen. Or maybe it was payback for Fortuna's thwarted attempt to kill him and Jiliac. That Boba Fett could believe.

There was the chance that Fortuna's scouts found the same dragon he found. There was also the chance someone already knew it was there or one of the hunting parties spotted it. It was only ninety kilometers east of the palace, but instinct said no. Bib Fortuna would not want Boba to bring in the Krayt. Whoever did would most assuredly gain favor with Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Fortuna would not want Boba to gain favor with the next in line to lead the Hutt Clan. Boba Fett knew that.

Outside of the barge, someone hollered in Huttese, but Boba didn't quite catch what they said. Shifting his stance, he wondered if they had gotten enough tranquilizer to sedate a beast of that size. Too much, and it could sleep for days and too little, and you could be in trouble. Even if they had the correct dose, they were taking a long time. That was another reason to use an energy harness: it could keep the beasts' limbs immobile if need be.

Boba Fett didn't care about gaining favor, however. He wanted the credits. He had plans for those he amassed. Bounty hunters and their coins usually parted quickly with just their operating costs. No matter what he had let others think since he had created a reputation for himself, Boba Fett had rarely run in the red. It was one of many things that set him apart. He could vanish for months, even longer, if he needed to lie low. Year's even.

There was the high decimal sound of durasteel scraping rock outside and more shouting.

Boba Fett stepped away from Jabba and headed toward the windows as more hollering and the sound of sentients scrambling across the upper deck. Sure enough, the Krayt was waking up. The other craft began to list to the starboard as the beast shifted in its harness. It moved again, and the ship pulled harder right. And into one of the smaller crafts.

Behind him, Jabba let out a list of obscenities as the barge lurched backward, sending nearly everyone stumbling. At least the operator had the presence of mind to back Jabba's craft away. Boba righted himself, stepping up to the window again. One of the straps had broken away. They need to drop the beast.

He could just let all of this happen. See what happened. Boba could fly clear, and if Jabba made it, Bib Fortuna would wish he hadn't. It would be that easy; too bad he couldn't. Boba ran to the steps and up. He ignited his jetpack as soon as he was clear of the sails on the upper deck.

XxX

Kiya had been thrown off of her feet when the ship lurched. She righted herself, her gaze instantly seeking Boba Fett as he disappeared above. Seconds later, the sound of more blaster fire reached her ears. Kiya watched out the window as Boba Fett hovered close to the beast, firing at the straps mooring. The now fully awake beast turned its horned head in his direction, swatting at him; Boba Fett moved out of the way just in time. The mooring gave way.

Kiya ran across the deck and up the stairs to the upper level.

The Krayt Dragon roared as the sound of more blaster fire filled the air. The sun was already burning her back as she pushed her way through the crowd gathered at the railing. She sucked in a sharp breath, her heart pounding.

The beast dangled precariously by one strap now, its scaled body swung back and forth. It pulled the entire ship, so it looked like it stood on one side. Boba Fett circled back around in a wide arc, peppering the remaining strap with more blaster fire as he drew closer, trying to stay out of the way of the ship. She only vaguely felt someone push her forward. Blood pounded through her ears. Her knuckles were white from her grip on the railing.

The strap let go. The ship sprang sideways abruptly as the Krayt dragon began to fall into the narrow canyon below. Sand and dust billowed upward as the ship scraped the ground and flipped over onto its top, as it slid into a nearby rock formation. There was a heavy thud and then nothing.

Kiya waved the dust from her face and leaned further out, searching for him in the cloud rising from the canyon. The wind tugged at her hair, and she held her breath, a sick feeling coiled in the pit of her stomach. Silence fell over the barge. A moment later, she saw him as he flew up and away from the pit. Kiya let out her breath. She watched him as best she could through the dust as he landed next to the wrecked ship, something akin to relief filling her.

XxX

Three Days Later

XxX

Kiya followed Bib Fortuna, who followed Jabba as he slithered up the ramp of a ship very similar to the one Jiliac Desilijic Tiron had traveled in. Her hair was clean and pulled back from her face to fall in waves over her left shoulder. Her stained linen dress was replaced with dark blue leggings and a tight sleeveless tunic of the same color. Part of her hoped they left her with these clothes. They covered far more than her others.

She was going to Nal Hutta as a servant to Jabba for a Hutt Clan meeting. Kiya had no more expected this than she had when they pulled her from the kitchens to serve drinks on the barge three days ago. Porcellus was unhappy. The sleemo Twi had simply said, Porcellus should be honored. Fortuna told Kiya she had shown great promise when Lady Jiliac had visited. He had also said that she should feel honored as well. This didn't make Kiya feel honored. It made Yarna nervous also, but she tried to hide just how much. Kiya knew everything that had happened with Sarita, and then her night with Boba Fett had shaken the seemingly unflappable Askijian. Fortuna's newfound attention made Kiya just as apprehensive.

Her attention slid over those gathered inside the ship's cargo hold. As much as she wouldn't admit it, she was looking for a glimpse of his Mandalorian armor at the least.

Kiya assumed he was somewhere in the entourage of bounty hunters and guards accompanying them to Nal Hutta. Not that anyone would tell her, nor should it be relevant. She hadn't seen him more than twice in the last three days and not at all since midday yesterday. He was the hero of the day when he cut the Krayt Dragon loose for all extents and purposes. There had been feasting that night, and his presence made Kiya more uncertain than he ever had before. She knew that was largely because after that night; it seemed like everyone was watching them. Maybe not everyone, but she knew the same Weequay did. Right now, she was convinced they left her alone because of him, but part of her had begun to worry about what would happen when they decided she wasn't attached to him after all. It didn't help that the one who carried the energy whip was among those going to Nal Hutta in Jabba's security detail. Kiya had no idea how she would extract herself from this problem, but she had better figure something out and soon.

XxX

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