Trials: Book One/Chapter Three

“Bask. Bask, it’s time for you watch”, Thrin said as he shook the Bothan awake. Bask slowly woke up. The embers of the dying fire cast a sickly red glow over the campground. Kohl was sleeping on his back on the bare ground a few feet away, his chest rising and falling with sleep-heavy rhythm. Bask sat up, grabbing his lightsaber, which he had left right beside him, and stretched. He winced as he did so, the discomfort a side effect of sleeping on the cold, hard ground. Light dew had collected in his fur; he shook it out as he stood. Clipping his saber to his loincloth, he stood on the rock that Thrin and Kohl had stood on during their watches. Thrin lay down gratefully and was asleep in minutes. Bask began his watch, examining the forest one way, and then the other. He extended his awareness, and noticed no activity. He kept vigil for an hour and a half, growing ever more tired. His awareness slipped slowly into unconsciousness, which allowed three silent observers to enter the camp.

“Look at this one”, whispered the tallest to his compatriots. “He is colored like fire! He must have poison”

“This one is of forest colors, but he is a dragon. See his scales? He must not be harmed”, another said in hushed tones.

“This one on the rock. He is not dragon, and he is colored like the earth” said the tallest one, indicating Bask. “We will take this one.”

The one yet to speak, the shortest in stature, agreed. “Kentzelkatu will enjoy him very much.”

The tallest one took what appeared to be a scorpion tail out of a pouch. He slid the sharp point of it into Bask’s arm. The middle one bound him quickly in thick vines. They carried Bask of without a sound.

Kohl awoke to the sound of birds. He got up, flipping his long black hair out of his eyes. His leg was sore where he had slept on his lightsaber. Good thing I didn’t accidentally turn it on, he thought. He looked over at Thrin, still sleeping peacefully with his lightsaber near his head. He looked at the rock. Uh, oh. Where’s Bask? He must be getting food or firewood or something. He stretched, then got up.

“Thrin. Thrin, wake up!” Kohl said.

A mumbled “please pass the mustard…” was all he got in response. He walked over to the sleeping Falleen and shook him awake. “I’m up, I’m up! What’s the matter?”

“Bask is gone”, Kohl replied.

“What?”

“He’s gone! I woke up and he wasn’t here.”

“Relax. He probably went off to look for food. He’ll be back”, replied Thrin, though the look on his face betrayed that he didn’t believe that.

“He wouldn’t go just for that, and definitely not without telling us!”

“Ok, ok. What do you think happened to him? Do you think one of those natives we were going after last night took him?”

“Maybe. Or maybe one of those snakes”, replied Kohl.

“Not without eating us, too.”

“You’re right… Ok, saying it was natives. What now? Do we try to track them? Remember, they don’t seem to leave footprints.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that”, Thrin said, indicating some rather large prints in the dirt. He bent down to inspect them. “There were three of them here. And whatever they are, they have big feet”, he said, standing with both feet in one print with room to spare.

“What’s that?” Kohl asked, indicating a curled object on the ground next to the rock. He bent down to pick it up, but Thrin stopped him.

“Don’t. I know what that is. It’s the tail of a Mimbanese Rock Scorpion. One sting will knock you out cold for a few hours. It’s probably what they used to subdue Bask. Well, that clears up two issues.”

“What are those?”

“Where we are, and who lives here. We’re on Mimban, and we’re dealing with Coway. That’s the only species that can even touch a rock scorpion without getting poisoned”, replied Thrin.

“Hm. You learn something new every day. So what do we do? Are they waiting for a ransom, or is it a warning message, or what?”

“They’re probably going to sacrifice him. They ordinarily sacrifice prisoners to their war god, especially before and after a battle. They might be going on the warpath.”

“Sacrifice? Do you know when?” asked Kohl.

“I’m not sure. It may be too late already, but if I remember my archive data correctly, we probably have about a week. I think it said they make it a point to treat their prisoners like kings for about a week to fatten them up.”

“We have to track them down. We have to save him if at all possible! Can you track these things?” Kohl was getting anxious.

“Maybe. They don’t travel on the ground; that’s why we couldn’t track them last night. They don’t leave footprints unless there aren’t any trees to swing around on. I might be able to see where the branches were broken. You up for some tree climbing?”

“Yes. I need to teach these things a lesson”, Kohl said, patting his lightsaber.

“Uh-oh. Look”, Thrin said, walking over to the rock. He reached under it, and pulled a small, silver, dirt-colored shaft from under it.

“What’s that?” asked Kohl.

Thrin pushed a button, and three feet of white energy streamed from it. “Bask’s lightsaber. They must have been smart enough to take it away. Maybe they’ve met a Jedi before. Considering cortosis is common here… we could be in for quite a ride.”