"Why must you be so difficult?" Xizor asked.

The tone in his voice finally showed his annoyance, and Leia was quite proud of herself. This was the first time she had heard Xizor starting to lose his calm exterior. He must've finally realized he wasn't getting anywhere, and she had to admit it was fun to torture him that way. "I'm only trying to get the point across."

"And what point might that be?"

"That you haven't got a chance in hell."

"You won't take me after you married that, that…."

"I'd choose my words carefully if I were you. That's my husband you're talking about."

"How that happened I'll never understand."

"I think you underestimate Han Solo, Your Highness. He is far more of a man than you could ever dream of being."

Xizor stood up and towered over her. He seemed more than irritated. Now he was angry. "Well then, Princess, if I can't get through to you this time, I guess we're going to have to try this again later. Maybe after I do a bit of damage to that Correlian low-life you seem so quick to defend. Let's get you back to your cell. You're not through with me. You'll come around."

He Forcefully grabbed her by the arm and led her through the doorway. While she attempted to resist, he was simply too strong. But she was greatly concerned as to what he might do when he saw Han again.

She was unable to contemplate that thought any further, as the moment Xizor palmed the door switch and it slid open, she was startled to see Han, bare-chested, standing not more than a meter away from her. He hardly had time to bring back the metal rod, just as he shouted to Leia, "Duck!"

Leia did as she was told and Han determinedly at Xizor's face. He didn't have a chance to yell, let alone move before the rod connected with the side of his head, knocking him to the ground and rendering him immediately unconscious. "Damn, that felt good," Han said, unable to hide his satisfaction.

"Am I ever glad to see you," Leia said, pulling his head down for a quick kiss. "Now let's get out of here before he wakes up."

"One second," Han said just before giving Xizor a hard kick in his midsection.

"Come on," Leia said as she grabbed him by the arm, ushered him down the ramp and fled into the woods.

They had been running for what seemed like forever. Han knew the general direction they needed to head in to find the Falcon, if that was even going to help, but he also knew that was their only option at this point. The finally came across a stream, and knelt down to take a quick drink since they were far enough into the forest to risk a quick break. "I'm not sure I've ever been so glad to see you in my entire life," Leia said between mouthfuls of water.

"You and me both," Han replied, sitting back on his knees. "I only wish I could've taken a few more swings at Greenie."

"I would've liked to take a few more swings myself. How far do you think we are?"

"Luckily the building they had us in was actually closer to the ship than we had gone in the first place. Unfortunately, they also brought us to the other side of a pretty big mountain. It's gonna be rough, but I'm sure we can make it. We'll have to."

Leia nodded. She cupped her hand and took one last sip from the stream before Han helped her to her feet and she looked up at him. "Guess we better get going then."

Han nodded, took her hand, and they ran further into the woods towards the mountain.

Xizor awakened with a terrible headache, and it took him a moment to recall what had happened. When he finally remembered the low-life human taking him down he felt a surge of anger flood him and he shot up to his feet so he could get his men and find his prisoners.

He was going to get them back. And he was going to get even with Han Solo.

The muscles in Han's legs were beginning to cramp up as they climbed, and he could tell that Leia was also feeling the effects of their ascent by her labored breathing and slowing pace. Although they were still making decent progress, darkness was falling, and it had become difficult to see. Han hoped that the moons would be out that night, because without their light, it was going to be a short trip.

Off in the distance he heard the low rumble of thunder. They were still well below the tree line, so he was unable to see which direction the storm was headed. He hoped it would harmlessly pass them by, but he knew better than that. He'd been anything but lucky on this trip, so he prepared himself for the inevitable storm. "There's a good chance we're going to get rained on," he said to Leia as they ascended.

"Figures. What's the difference? I needed a shower anyway. So do you, by the way."

"Thanks for noticing." It was comforting that they were still able to keep their humor.

Another rumble of thunder cracked in the distance. This one a little bit louder, and they gave each other a knowing look. It was easier to run if they didn't talk, so they continued on in silence.

Xizor stormed down the ramp of his ship and into the ancient temple. "Guri! Guri!"

He shouted for her in an angry tone he rarely used. Everything always went his way. He wasn't supposed to be in situations like this and he was beyond furious. He ran into Guri in their communications room where she was waiting for him, blaster in hand. "Round everyone up," he said to her through gritted teeth. "They've escaped."

The rain had begun to fall. It was slow, but steady at this point. However, they could tell it was going to get worse by the increasing loudness of the thunder. It was also nearly pitch black. Even if the moons were out that night, it wouldn't have made any difference with the thick cloud-cover.

They moved slowly forward, hand in hand, straining to see what was in front of them. It became evident that they were not going to be able to go much farther unless somehow there was more light. That problem was remedied for a few seconds by the sudden bolt of lightning that streaked across the sky, illuminating the mountainside as though it were the middle of the day.

Han and Leia stopped in their tracks; startled by how quickly the storm seemed to have descended upon them. Until that moment there had only been a distant flicker of lightning, barely enough to brighten the tree tops. Then they winced at the inevitable yet startlingly loud crack of thunder followed soon after. They must've been directly in the middle of it, and they looked to each other as the skies seemed to open up, and the torrential downpour began. A strong wind began to blow the stinging rain into their faces.

Through eyes squinting in pain from the pelting rain and fierce wind, they kept them open just enough to search for what to do next, but still hadn't moved. They just squeezed each other's hands more tightly.

The cool rain continued to drench them, and another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, to illuminate the area just enough for Han to see a rock overhang not too far away that he hoped would serve to keep them at least a little dryer than they were at the moment. It was apparent that they had no choice but to wait out the storm.

Han silently pulled Leia over to what he hoped would be a safe place to protect them from the rain and lightning. When they reached the alcove, they ducked under the rock overhead and walked back as far as they could, maybe only a bit over a meter, but at least enough to keep them out of the rain if they stayed back against the rock wall. Luckily, there was a small space just far back enough to keep them out of the rain, except their feet, which were just far enough out to be exposed to the elements once they were seated as far back as they could go.

Han put his arm around Leia and pulled her close against his now-chilled skin. Since night had fallen, the temperature had dropped. And the rain and wind weren'thelping any, either. Add to that the fact that there was the inevitable drop in body temperature simply from no longer exerting themselves by ascending the mountain. It was far from freezing out, but it was cold enough to make their teeth chatter since they were soaked from head to toe. Not to mention the fact that they had become so used to the warm weather of the daytime on this planet that this alteration in the weather was even harder for them to take.

The storm raged on, and the lightning became more frequent, with thunder was loud enough to cause the ground to shake beneath them. The sound of the rain became louder, and it was then that they realized that the hail had begun to fall, pelting their exposed ankles just enough to sting, but not enough to bruise. At least it was better that their legs were getting hailed on rather than their heads.

Leia shivered within Han's arms, burying her face against his chest as he held her more tightly. "You okay?" He asked

"Never been better," she responded through chattering teeth.

Han rubbed his hand up and down her arm, hoping the friction might warm her up a little bit, and hoping it might warm him up a little bit in the process. "These storms usually pass pretty quickly. We should be ok in a few minutes," Han yelled through the noise of the wind, rain and thunder.

Leia simply looked up at him, giving him a look that told him she didn't believe a word he had just said. He didn't really believe what he had said either, but he hoped more than anything that he was right. Han wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her into a protective embrace.

They were cold, wet and miserable. Not to mention that they were probably being pursued by now. Who knew how many people Xizor had with him or how much time they had? The chances were also good that they were not going to be pursued on foot, which made their present situation seem all the more doomed to failure. Still, they had surely been in more dire circumstances, and they would not give up until they were forced to.