The Mandalorian's Slave

The Flight

I explain everything as quickly as I can. The Mandalorian listens in complete silence. The Child watches us with big, curious eyes, as if nothing is amiss.

"I don't know how it happened. I don't know if I'm cursed and somehow it spread to him, or if it's a disease. All I know is that the Child can do what I do." My voice is still raw from crying. My eyes still burn, but I force myself to remain calm. This isn't a secret I can keep from my Master. Especially here, where the whole village likely holds the same beliefs as Caben.

"I don't know much about the sorcery you seem to have. But I do know this: powers like that cannot spread. The stormtroopers wanted the Child because of his blood, because of the powers he has. He's had them all along. We just didn't notice until know. But fate brought you two together."

The Mandalorian's words calm me down slightly. I'm still shaken from my encounter with Caben. I nod, incapable of forming the right words.

"As long as this stays between us, we'll be fine. I promise." The Mandalorian sounds to firm to argue with. Instead, I offer my thanks.

"Thank you for saving me. And I'm sorry that you've had to defend me so often." Once again, I feel useless. All my training, which, granted, isn't a lot, left my brain the second I saw Caben. He terrifies me in a way that shakes me to my core.

"You seemed to handle him well enough yourself. And I think Cara was thrilled to take care of him considering the raider camp was empty."

The door bursts open. The Mandalorian and I step away from one another, suddenly realizing how close we were to each other. It's Cara.

"You need to come see this," she pants.

The Mandalorian and I exchange a glance, at least that's what I assume we did because I can't exactly see his eyes. I scoop up the Child quickly as we rush after her.

"Is it Caben? Did he give you trouble?" The Mandalorian reaches toward his weapon's belt protectively.

"Him? He cried like a baby the entire time I kicked his sorry ass. It's something much worse." Cara leads us to the edge of the forest. There lies a body. At first, nothing about it strikes me as unusual, except for the fact that they're pleasantly dead. But then I see it: a tracker fob.

"They've found us," I whisper in horror.

"We're not safe here. We put the entire village and ourselves at risk. We need to leave immediately," the Mandalorian says, crushing the tracking device beneath his foot.

"Who was the bounty hunter tracking? Was it you?" Cara gives the Mandalorian a quizzical look.

"No. They're after the kid." Everyone turns to stare the the strange green creature in my arms.

"Him? What could he have done to make bounty hunters go after him?" Cara is just as puzzled as the rest of us.

"We think it's because he's a rare type of species." The Mandalorian doesn't offer further explanation. Frankly, we don't have time for one.

"Aster, start packing our things up. I'll talk to Omera and see if we can borrow that old speeder and have her take us back to our ship."

"I'll stay with Aster and the Child," Cara offers. The Mandalorian nods before marching away.

Cara and I return to the barn as quickly as possible. There's not much to pack. Some spare food, the extra clothing I'd been gifted, and the weapons that the Mandalorian brought. Cara helps me and within a matter of minutes it looks like we never stayed in this barn.

The door open and in walks the Mandalorian. "Good news: she'll take us immediately. Let's get the speeder loaded."

"Can it really be called a speeder if it's that slow?" Cara's joke lightens the mood ever so slightly.

The Mandalorian loads the weapons while I load the rest of our supplies. It only takes us a few minutes.

Omera approaches us, worry evident on her face. "Why are you leaving so suddenly? Does this have anything to do with Caben's bloodied face?" She glances at us in a slightly accusatory way.

"No. We're simply on the run. We can't stay in one place for too long."

"Does my brother's bruises have anything to do with you?" Omera presses her lips into a tight line.

"It has to do with the fact that he doesn't keep his hands to himself or understand that no means no." The Mandalorian's voice is cold, leaving no room for debate.

Omera pales before nodding. "We'd better hurry then. Sundown approaches and I'd like to be halfway there by then. I brought some food and you can keep the blankets from the barn if you'd like."

I retreat to grab the blankets while the Mandalorian double checks his weapons.

"I'll come with," Cara is offering as I step outside the barn. "It would be dangerous for Omera to travel back on her own."

I sense a hidden meaning within her words as well. It might be dangerous for the Mandalorian to be traveling with the Child who has a bounty on his head. If we're ambushed, I won't be much help.

The Mandalorian nods. We climb aboard. There's still not much room, but this time I sit next to the Mandalorian as Omera steers. Cara sits in the back. It's strange to think that just a few days ago, I was sitting back there with Caben. And I cuddled against him and was happy. The thought now disgust me.

The Child giggles as the speeder lurches to a start. We move slowly, trudging toward the edge of the forest. I take one last look at the village. There's some parts of it that I'll miss, like the food and the nature and the community. But there's other parts, like Caben, that I'm eager to leave.

The Mandalorian squeezes my hand tightly for a brief moment. "We'll be fine," he says, misreading my expression. I nod. I know we'll be fine.