CHAPTER 11:
The dusted settled. Luke, Chewbacca, and Leia were left to endure the deafening silence.
Han, Leia's mouth opened and closed.
"Whadda we do now?" Luke whispered.
Chewbacca slowly stood and stared at the large rocks and rubble that blocked their path to Han. He grumbled and grunted.
"Chewie's right," Leia pulled herself to her feet and stood next to the Wookie. "We're not giving up."
"Whadda we gonna do?" Luke brushed the dirt from his hair as he joined his friends.
Chewbacca dropped his curved knives and approached the rubble. He dug his massive claws into the piled rock and began casting large stones and debris aside. Luke sidled up next to him and joined in.
The princess glanced around, "Maybe we should do this in a more systematic way." Chewbacca roared over his shoulder. Leia flinched, "Fine. We'll do it your way."
The girl holstered her blaster and looked for a place she'd be most effective.
Luke whirled around, "Leia!"
An injured Grendoli that managed to survive the savage attack of his own kind, swiped at Leia. She fell to the ground, and he pounced on her.
"Yahou weel nahevher git to yah fahrend een time," the massive creature drooled over her. "He weel suffhar gahreatly for yahour sins."
"My sins?" Leia's eyes flashed with anger, but the Grendoli held her steadfast to the ground.
"Yahou keeled my keensmahn. Mhay eldest weel make yahour fahrend suffhar," he coughed, but his hold on the girl did not weaken.
Chewbacca grabbed the Grendoli around its neck and snapped it with one, strong twist. He then threw the lifeless body aside to tend to the princess.
"I'm fine!" Leia shouted as she pushed Chewie and Luke away. "But Han's not!"
"We're going to save him!" Luke followed her.
"Not fast enough," she yelled. Leia scooped up one of the curved knives Chewie had abandoned as he dug at the rubble.
"Leia!" Luke followed her. "Where are you going?"
"To find Han!" She scaled the fallen rock and debris until she found a small opening.
Chewbacca grumbled and roared, but Leia ignored him. Luke tried to catch up to her, "Leia! Wait! We need to do this together!"
Leia pulled herself up to the opening in the rock wall that Chewie and Luke had created. It was tight and shaky crevice, and only darkness could be seen on the other side. For all she knew, she could be jumping to her death. But there was only one thought in her head: Han.
"Leia, stop!" Luke called after her, but she had already disappeared through the opening. Luke started after her, but the narrow opening was too small for him to fit through.
Chewbacca called to Luke. When Luke failed to answer, Chewie grabbed the boy by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him to where the dead Grendoli laid.
"What?" Luke looked at the puddle of blood on the ground next to the carcass. "You broke his neck…" Then he noticed the bloodied claws of the Grendoli.
Chewbacca had already abandoned the body and was following the trail of blood.
Luke just stared at the hole through which Leia disappeared. "Why does she have to be so stubborn?" he whispered to no one in particular.
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Leia tumbled headfirst into the darkness. She rolled onto her back and squeezed her eyes shut tight as she waited for the initial pain to pass. She didn't feel the damage was too bad. Maybe a few angry bruises, but she'd suffered worse. Leia inhaled and sat up. She felt around for the knife, hoping Chewie wouldn't be too angry that she took it. Once her fingers closed around the cold leather hilt, Leia climbed to her feet and began her search for Han.
She ran her hand along the cave wall, relying on its curves to lead her. Leia concentrated on keeping her breath steady and her footfalls as quiet as she could. She was certain the Grendolies could easily detect her with their sense of smell and nocturnal nature, but she tried to remain as enshrouded as possible.
Unfortunately, the cave had many twists and turns. Leia wondered if she'd find her way out when she found Han or if Chewie and Luke would be able to find her or Han if she couldn't. She glanced over her shoulder. She could no longer hear Luke calling after her or the scraping and crumbling of rock as the two dug their way through. It was too late to turn back.
Not that she would if she had the choice. The princess stopped, shut her eyes, and held her breath, hoping her aural sense would sharpen and take over. Her efforts paid off. Leia was certain she heard muffled voices down the left path. She thought of leaving some kind of trail for Luke and Chewbacca, but it would be a futile action. It was too dark, and even if Chewie's Wookie visual field was as sharp as it was during the day, she didn't really have anything to leave behind. Maybe Luke was right: she shouldn't have rushed into this.
But that was a moot point now. The princess continued on toward the voices. Her stomach flipped from both fear and relief. What if she failed…?
Leia stood tall and drew her blaster. She wasn't going to fail. She crept toward the voices, and a faint light flooded out from another twist in the cave. She swiped the beads of sweat off her forehead with the back of the hand that held the blaster and concentrated on the words the Grendolies spoke.
"Eat ease over. Dah Wookie ahand dah young'un's weel not make eat een time. Eat ease time fohor us to leave."
"Wahat abahout thuheese hauman?"
"Leave hahim to dahy."
"He pahays fahor mees kinsahmen's death!"
"Thahen he ease yahors to keel."
The princess swallowed hard. She didn't know how many Grendolies were left, but that didn't matter. It was now or never. Without another thought, Leia charged into the room, firing wildly at the massive beasts. She managed to shoot several of the creatures while the rest stared at her in surprise.
But it didn't take long for those uninjured Grendolies to recover from their initial shock. Three of the six stormed toward her. Leia fired, and though her aim was accurate, she found that it took several shots to take one of them down. Despite that, her small stature and agility prevented the Grendolies from capturing her. She sliced at the legs of one when she rolled between them. That Grendoli howled in pain as he stared at his severed limb. She continued firing and swinging Chewie's knife until she was as close to Han as she could be.
"Let him go," she quietly demanded like the royal princess that she was.
The Grendoli sneered at her while the others watched. His hand was securely wrapped around Han's throat, "Yahou lose, leetahl wahone. He be dead behafore yahau can keel me. And yahau weel be dead too."
Leia's dark eyes gazed into Han's as she licked her lips. Han had bruises on his face and arms. She suspected he was given a sound beating before she reached him. He flashed her a weak, lop-sided grin, knowing there was nothing more she could do. His face reddened as his air supply was cut off, and he began gasping.
The princess narrowed her eyes on the Grendoli that held Han's life in its hand and pursed her lips. Her anger boiled over into her icy glare and burned in her heart. With one swift flick of her arm, the curved knife flew from her hand and slashed clean through the Grendoli's arm.
The Grendoli screeched and howled, forcing Leia to cover her ears. Han shoved the severed arm off himself and coughed uncontrollably as he stared in disbelief at the princess. She moved in to provide cover for Han, wielding the blaster in the direction of the remaining Grendolies who started to close in on them.
It was then that Han noticed the tremble in Leia's hand. She didn't seem at all frightened by these massive beings. He could feel the anger radiating from her. He wanted to take the blaster from her, to protect her, but the wild look in her eyes made him think that would be a bad idea. She was handling things fine anyhow. Their predators certainly had an air of fear in there gray eyes, and they moved with the highest amount of caution.
"Yahau weel not fahind yahour way out," One brave Grendoli slowly approached her.
The girl furrowed her brow and fired at the Grendoli. Although her aim was accurate, the shot only singed the fur on his chest. But it was enough to hold him back.
"Yahau cahan naught lahast fahor long, leetahl wahone," another called out.
Leia looked at that Grendoli but kept her blaster pointed at the nearest one. She didn't expect much trouble from the one addressing her. He had only one leg and half an arm left. But he taunted her nonetheless, "Wahoo weel die fahirst? Yahau ohar me?"
Han smiled smugly at the dying Grendoli, "That's an obvious answer."
The princess said nothing. She wiped at her brow with her free hand, "You're going to show us the way out."
"Yahou wahon't last thahat long." It sneered and licked its teeth with its forked tongue and stared at the ground below the girl's feet. The others exchanged glances and satisfied smiles.
"Don't move!" Leia ordered as she waved the blaster around.
"Whahat aur yahau gahoing to do abahout it?"
Just as the Grendoli reached for Leia's blaster, it expelled a guttural scream and fell to the ground. Leia and Han smiled when they saw Luke standing in its place. Chewbacca was right behind him, deftly using the one curved knife Leia didn't take and his Wookie brute. Luke and Chewbacca worked in sync as if they had fought side by side for centuries.
Leia stood frozen where she was with the blaster still drawn in her trembling hands. Han had started to reach for the knife Leia threw earlier on, but then he stopped.
"Leia?" he called to her as she swooned and collapsed. Han caught her before she hit the floor and cradled her on his lap in an attempt to protect her from the battle raging on around them.
"Hey, Your Worship," Han pushed the hair out of her eyes. She faced more dangerous situations than this. Why was she so shook up by this one? Han peered into her face. She was pale and beads of sweat accumulated around her hairline and on her upper lip. Leia looked up at him, but her eyes remained unfocused.
Han looked up at Chewie and then Luke. They had managed to kill or mortally wound the Grendolies. He then glanced back down at the princess and lifted the corner of her bloodied shirt. She gasped and grabbed his hand, but that didn't deter him. He pulled up her shirt and exposed several deep gashes running from her abdomen to her side.
Her blood steadily seeped from her wounds, and Han felt as if all the air from his lungs was seeping away with her blood, "Chewie!"
Chewbacca roared and rushed over to Han's side. Han had his hands wrapped around Leia as he applied pressure to her wounds. "What?" He glared at Chewbacca. "Why'd you let her do that?"
Luke knelt down beside him, "We tried to stop her. We didn't even know she was wounded until we saw the trail of blood."
"Damn it, Leia!" Han pressed harder against her skin, but the blood continued to flow. "What were you thinking!"
Leia managed to focus her eyes on Han before they fluttered shut. Chewbacca rifled through his bag as Luke helped Han apply pressure to Leia's wounds. He was just as pale as she, and his blue eyes gazed on the girl with fear and worry. Chewbacca pulled out a roll of bandages and squatted down to tend to the girl's wounds. Although the bandages slowed the blood flow, Leia had lost a significant amount of blood and had little strength left.
Han felt nauseous, and his head spun. He tried to lift the girl in his arms, to take her out of this miserable place, but she yelped in pain. He sat back down, still cradling her on his lap. Although Han was certain Chewie knew how to get back to the base, he doubted Leia last that long. He, Chewbacca, and Luke exchanged helpless glances.