Chapter IV: Home
Far above the streets of Coruscant, two shadows glided through the darkness. It was past midnight. Dusk hung heavily over their shrouded forms. The only light along their empty pathway vibrated dimly from small, sporadic street lamps. Heavy dark robes billowed round them as a soft breeze blew through the air.
"Tatooine is sparsely populated," murmured the younger man. "If the homing trace was correct I will find them quickly master."
"Move against the Jedi first. You will then have no difficulty in taking the Queen to Naboo to sign the treaty," interjected the older figure.
Advancing towards the edge of the walkway, the two men stopped to gaze into the Coruscant skyline. Lights danced and fluttered like fireflies admist the towering buildings in the twilight. Even in the deepest hours of the night, the city pulsated with life.
The younger man stole a reverent look at his master.
"At last we will reveal ourselves to Jedi." Passion twinkled in his amber eyes. "At last we will have revenge."
A smile was barley visible on the pale wrinkled lips of his companion.
"You have been well trained my young apprentice. They will be no match for you."
Iyleesi inhaled deeply.
The smell of sand filtered through the thick metal of the ship's walls.
"Stay," he commanded crisply.
She sighed, but acquiesced in backing away from the exit of the ship. It was not the time to challenge him. There had been a shift in the Zabrak's demeanor ever since they left Coruscant. She could not distinguish exactly what had changed, but his presence felt discernibly different. The air surrounding him was thicker. His aura more intense. Her instincts aided her in adapting to this sudden change. She grew quieter. Stayed out of sight. Took great pains not to aggravate him in any way.
As the air lock abruptly hissed open, she observed Maul's decent down the ramp. With each step his lengthy black robes swung rhythmically around him. His yellow eyes, fixed intently on the distant horizon, were unreadable beneath the thick material of his hood. Raising a pair of electron-binoculars, he swiftly scanned the dusty landscape before him. Several small cities glistened in the soft morning light. The Queen was in one them. He would find her, and make quick work of the Jedi escorting her. A gentle tremor of ecstasy issued throughout his body at the thought.
Using his wrist comm bracelet, the young Sith summoned his three reconnaissance probes. Iyleesi watched the small machines with curiosity as they whirled past her and out into the open air. The probes sped past Maul's cloaked figure, scattering out into the distance. He was certain they would find the Queen's ship with haste. There were not many places she could hide on this lightly populated planet.
Looking into the horizon, he watched the probes until they faded out of sight. There was only one thing left to do now. Wait.
"Do you need anything master?" Her words fell uncertainly as the Zabrak entered the ship.
He did not respond to her inquiry. Nor did he take any notice of her. In fact, she was certain he had not heard or seen her at all. The strange air which clung to his being was even more prominent than before. He was intently focused. His mind was not on this ship, but elsewhere.
With slow deliberate movements, Maul seated himself in the center of the ready room. Crossing his legs and resting his gloved palms above his knees, he began to mediate. Sounds, thoughts, and images faded as he delved deep into the recesses of his mind. Slowly, the entirety of his surroundings dissolved into a cloudy mist. In a moment, he was gone. The only visible movements of his body were the soft expansions and contractions of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled.
Curiously, Iyleesi approached him. His face, with its thick black engravings and bold scarlet hue, idled peacefully. The tempestuous yellow eyes which so often petrified her were gently closed. He looked to her like a man cast in stone. A body without a soul. If not for the soft rise and fall of his chest, his stillness would have betrayed him for a sculpture.
She waved a gentle hand in front of his crimson face. Then, with great caution, lightly tapped his shoulder with her forefinger. As she did so, she could hear the hammer of her heartbeat in her ears. Her body tightened, muscles stiffening in anticipation. When he did not respond to her touch for several minutes, her body visibly relaxed. Sighing, she pressed her back against a wall in the corner of the room and sat.
She was tired. Her journey from Coruscant had exhausted her.
Coruscant.
Her eyes reflexively squeezed shut as she relived that night in her mind. The warmth of his body. The way he shoved her away. How he struck her with the back of his bare knuckles. Blood pooling in her mouth. Thick, warm, and metallic at the base of her tongue.
"Consider that a warning, and be thankful you still have all your fingers."
It was her own fault. Desperation took hold of her that night. There was no logic to her actions. No reason. Her mind went silent. Her body took over. Iyleesi traced the slant of her jaw with her index finger. It was tender, but hadn't bruised. Maul hit her hard enough to leave an impression, but not so hard as to fracture her bones.
At least I am back on Tatooine, she thought sadly, glancing at the open airlock hatch.
A sudden rush swelled through her body.
Hopping to her feet, Iyleesi took several cautious steps toward opening of the ship before glancing back at her captor. When she was positive the Zabrak had not reacted to her movements, she bolted.
It was happening again.
Her mind shut off. Her body assumed command.
Long lean legs sprinted across the sand dunes as fast as they could muster. Her hair, plaited neatly into a long dark braid, whipped wildly behind her. The wind picked up. Sand cascaded down and against the bronze skin of her face and arms. She couldn't stop. She wouldn't stop. Adrenaline pushed her past her physiological limits. Her body thirsted for water. Her knees ached.
One hour elapsed into two, and two elapsed into three. Twin suns emerged from behind the dunes and took their place in the sky. The two massive, luminous spheres watched her solemnly from their seat in the heavens. The outskirts of a city were coming into view.
She was almost there.
With slow painful steps, Iyleesi dragged herself into the unfamiliar town. She was drenched in sweat and panting forcefully. In a fog of exhaustion, she surveyed her surroundings. Then, she charged the first sentient she saw. It was a stout little Rodian. He stood at the storefront of a building in the midst of outfitting a helmet on his head. A dingy speedster was mounted near his hip.
"Wait!" She cried, using the last of her energy to sprint towards him.
The Rodian's dark little eyes snapped towards her, bewildered.
She panted, doubling over and resting her hand on his bike. "Wh-What city is this?" She huffed.
The Rodian stole an offended scowl at the hand touching his vehicle.
"Epsa," he answered, tersely.
"Dammit!"
She collapsed with a sigh. There were only two ways into Mos Eisley from Mos Espa. Clear across the Mesric Plateau, or through the Jundland Waste, past the cities of Bestine and Anchorhead. Neither options were safe. Tuskan Raiders ran rampant through the Waste and the Mesric Plateau was scorching and lifeless. There was no way she could get there. Not on foot.
The Rodian regarded the young woman with a groan. Pulling a canteen from his pouch, he keeled to the ground and placed it upon her lips. Iyleesi graciously accepted his flask and drank vigorously, emptying the entire thing in seconds.
"Oona goota?"
"Mos Eisley."
The plump little creature helped her to her feet, brooding silently for a moment.
"Skak, trn kras ka noota."
He handed her his helmet. Iyleesi's eyes widened.
"C-can you?"
"T-te jacta."
Awkwardly, he jumped onto the speedster and patted the back seat. Not wasting a moment, Iyleesi snapped on the helmet and climbed on behind him. Grabbing hold of his thick waist, the bike took off with a roar of its old, tired engine.
The speedster made quick work of the Mesric Plateau. What would have taken several hours on foot took no more than an hour on vehicle. It wasn't long until the familiar sights and sounds of bustling Mos Eisley filtered through her senses. For the first time in days a smile swept across her rose colored lips, touching the chestnut of her eyes.
She was home.
Hopping off his bike, she exchanged a quick semblance of gratitude by dropping to her knees and thanking him, before sprinting off again.
Iyleesi's house was not far. She was all too familiar with the streets surrounding her and navigated them with haste. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she thought of her parents. She missed them, and they were probably worried sick. The news of the massacre at Hutt Chuba's would have reached them long ago. She could only imagine their distress.
After darting through nearly a dozen blocks, Iyleesi soon found herself face-to-face with her small childhood home. Fumbling hands punched in the security code at the entrance. Her fingers violently shook with anxiety and exaltation, causing her to enter the wrong digits several times. A neighbor emptying his trash across the street eyed her wearily. She was sure she looked suspicious, but could not bring herself to care. Steadying her fingers, she typed in the code once more. This time, the door slid open.
As she gazed into the small living space, a sinking feeling hit her in the pit of her stomach.
Furniture was strewn everywhere. Vases, plates, and fragile keepsakes lay shattered in pieces on the floor. Their sandstone colored walls were scarred with the black ash of blaster bolts. Iyleesi held her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry. What had happened? Hysterically, she turned from the house and called to the neighbor across the street. The man dropped his trash and hurried over to the trembling young woman. On the brink of tears, she asked if he knew what happened to the house.
"This house?" The man asked, peeking inside the desecrated living room. "The couple living here was murdered this morning."
She couldn't stifle the grief that rose inside her chest. Turning from the man, she leaned herself against the doorway and began to cry. Violent sobs shook her smalls shoulders.
They couldn't...couldn't be..?
"I'm sorry," he murmured apologetically. "I heard it was gang related. Someone told me it was the Hutts. Wouldn't be surprised either. Those bastards are always taking out hits on people."
A hit? But why?
"These poor bastards," the man continued, "were in a krong load of debt. I guess they had a daughter who was working for the Hutts. One of their businesses got canned, and I mean canned. Everyone, dead. Afterward they couldn't find the girl's body. Figured she'd taken the opportunity to run. Direct violation of contract."
Something suddenly felt wrong.
"Actually," The distinct feeling of a metal barrel caressed the side of her jaw. "They have a hit on her too."
In a second he was on her. One of his arms clenched tightly around her waist while the other held the tip of the blaster under her chin. She screamed wildly in his grip.
"Shut up," he growled, pushing her violently into the small living quarters. The door shut heavily behind him. "I've been waiting for you for days." Hungrily, he eyed Iyleesi like a wild dog. His blood shot eyes narrowing under a shag of dirty blonde hair. "I am going to be one rich bastard after I bring your body back to them. Thanks in advance, sweetheart."
As he raised the blaster, she attempted to make a run for the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Before she could make it, a burning sensation seared into her right thigh. She screamed in agony at the pain, but continued to push forward towards the bedroom.
That's when the second shot rang through her ears.
She was hit again. This time, it was her shoulder. She screamed, dropping to her knees in defeat. The sizzling of her cauterized flesh where the particle beam hit made her feel sick. The pain was unbearable. Tears fell from her eyes as she listened to his footsteps approach from behind.
"You put up a good fight," his tone was patronizing. "Your parents would be proud."
The blaster, still warm from the previous two rounds, firmly pressed itself into the small of her back. Iyleesi was sure of it now.
She was going to die.
The irony of it all almost made her burst into laughter. She had been closer to death in the past two and a half days than ever before in her life. Not only that, but she had finally left Tatooine. She visited the Core Worlds, saw Coruscant with her own eyes. She rode in a real starship across the galaxy.
As her knees gave out and she collapsed against the rough sandstone floor, she thought of her parents. If only she could tell them everything she'd seen. Everything she'd experienced.
I will be able to tell them, she thought as the ache in her shoulder grew insufferable, I'll see them soon.
Trembling, she waited for the final shot to rip her apart.
Instead, she was met with a gurgling scream. Then, a swift searing noise tore through her ears, followed by a deep awful groan. Her assailant's body plopped down to the ground next to her, causing her to flinch with surprise. He wasn't moving.
"I came here to kill you," a familiar voice shot out from above her. Turning shakily, her mouth hung ajar as she locked eyes with the man she never imagined she'd be happy to see. "But I see you are doing a perfectly fine job of killing yourself."
Iyleesi could hardly keep the look of elation off her face as his cloaked figure gracefully lifted her from the ground and onto her feet.
"Come," he pointed to the exit of the house.
Her injured thigh prevented her from walking down the hallway on her own, so she held tightly to one of the Zabrak's shoulders for support. He did not protest her touch. As she limped through the house with the him, Iyleesi took one final gaze back at her parent's house.
A sharp gasp shot from her lips. "Not...dead!"
In the hallway, the bounty hunter firmly held his blaster pistol. It was aimed directly for Maul's back.
With the last ounce of strength in her body, she forced Maul as far from the blaster bolt as her weary muscles would permit. Instead of connecting with its intended target, the bolt struck her in the side of the abdomen. A tortured groan fleeted from between her clenched teeth as she fell to a heap on the floor.
Using the Force, Maul reacted quickly. The blaster pistol flew from her assailant's hand and into the Zabrak's grasp. Clutching the pistol in his own gloved fingers, he quickly finished the man off with a bolt between the eyes. After he was sure the bounty hunter was dead, the Sith dropped the gun and turned his attention to Iyleesi.
She lay crumbled upon the floor like a trampled flower.
Her fragile limbs shook with the searing pain of the particle beam, prompting her to curl her body tightly into the fetal position. Her tan, sun-kissed skin bore evidence of these injuries, as her tawny flesh was brandished with blaster wounds.
Maul felt her life force dwindling.
Placing one arm beneath her shoulders and another below her knees, he raised the young woman from the floor and carried her from the house. Outside, Bloodfin, his speedster, sat in wait. He swiftly seated himself on the bike and carefully positioned Iyleesi in front of him. As he sat her down, her slender body fell limp against his chest. The crown of her head lolled softly into the crook of his neck.
With one hand tightly around her waist and the other on Bloodfin's controls, his vehicle sped off into the dusty streets.
What a waste of a sentient slave, he thought, aggravated.
In all likelihood she would presumably die. The girl was too weak. Too soft. Part of him felt it served her perfectly to die. Just punishment for foolishly trying to escape him.
As his bright yellow eyes skirted briefly over the wound in her abdomen, he unconsciously tightened his grip and held her closer.
RodeseTranslations:
Oona goota? - Where are you headed?
Skak, trn kras ka noota. - Well, I can help you get there.
T-te jacta. - Hop on.