The Mandalorian's Slave

The Den

Nights on Tatooine are far too similar to nights on Jakku for my liking. The once sweltering desert becomes cold, forcing me closer to the Tusken's fire.

I shiver beneath my tedious layers of robes. The Mandalorian doesn't seem to notice. He's too busy strategizing with the Sand People.

Their strange, guttural language is almost as off-putting as their grotesque masks. At least I'm not the only one who appears to be unnerved. Cobb looks distinctly out of place as the Tuskens hand us strange fruit filled with sulfurous smelling liquid.

My nose wrinkles at the scent, but I drink anyways. Water is life, and in the desert, you don't know when you'll get another chance to drink.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Cobb asks boisterously.

"You drink it," Din replies calmly.

"It stinks," hisses the Marshal.

"Do you want their help?"

"Not if I have to drink this."

One Tusken shouts in outrage as I watch. I say nothing. To me, this is all a bad idea, but we're out of options. This was our only lead. Now we have nothing.

"He says your people steal their water and now you insult them by not drinking it." The Child crawls from my lap toward the Mandalorian as he talks. "They know about Mos Pelgo. They know how many Sand People you killed."

"They raided our village!" Vanth spits, his face reddening. "I defended the town."

The Tuskens howl in outrage. I may not speak their language, but I can tell they're not happy.

"Lower your voice," the Mandalorian demands.

"I knew this was a bad idea," hisses Cobb, throwing his fruit into the fire.

A Raider leaps to his feet, shouting in fury.

"You're agitating them." The Mandalorian says levelheadedly.

"These monsters can't be reasoned with," Cobb snarls, standing up. "Sit back down before I put a hole through ya," he shouts, jabbing a finger in the Raider's face. "I'm not going to say it..."

The Mandalorian shoots a jet of flame toward Cobb Vanth and the Raider, separating them. The orange glow of his flamethrower is startling bright against the deep midnight of the darkness.

The Mandalorian speaks in rapid-fire Tusken, waving his arms vainly. For the millionth time this trip, I wish I spoke Tusken.

"What are you telling them," Vanth asks quietly.

"Same thing I'm telling you." The Mandalorian replies tersely. "If we fight amongst ourselves, the monster will kill us all."

The Tusken and Cobb Vanth slowly lower themselves back into a sitting position. Vanth at least has the grace to look sheepish.

"I think we're missing something very important," I say quietly. All eyes turn to me. "How do we kill it?"

XXXXXXXX

We wake as the first sun rises. The air is still crisp, the sky still the softest shade of gray. The world seems entirely peaceful, as if there isn't a massive dragon hunting these lands.

We're forced to leave the speeders behind. Instead, travel like the Sand People do: on bantha.

Bantha are massive. They're a strange, slow creature that I'm surprisingly fond of. They have thick, shaggy brown hair and horns that twist around their heads. They're much easier to ride than blurrgs, although their pace is much slower.

We travel in a straight line, single file, to the krayt dragon's lair. My stomach twists with anticipation, so I force myself to take in the beauty of the land.

When the breeze blows, it forms tiny whirlwinds that pick up the sand, creating a strange type of wild dance. The sky is impossibly blue, the desert a million shades of brown.

After an hour or so of traveling, we arrive at the krayt dragon's den. It's surprisingly... underwhelming. Jagged rocks claw toward the sun, marring the smooth sand of the desert. In front of stands a steep cliff with an impossibly large hole burrowed into it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting really. Maybe fire and a graveyard of skeletons. But there's something about the enormity of the den that chills my blood.

We watch as a Tusken leads a bantha toward the entrance of the cave as bait. The Sand People around us begin to explain.

"They say it lives in there," the Mandalorian translates. "They say it sleeps. It lives in an abandoned sarlacc pit."

The cliff we're perched on is heating up underneath the suns. Sweat trickles down my back, but my arms are still prickled with goosebumps.

"Lived on Tatooine my whole life," Vanth begins. "There's no such thing as an abandoned sarlacc pit."

"There is if you eat the sarlacc," Din replies darkly. "They're laying out a batha to protect the settlement. They've studied its digestion cycles for generations. They feed the dragon to make it sleep longer. Watch, the dragon will appear."

I squint as the Raider ties the bantha up to a state. I feel bad for the gentle creature. Once the beast is secure, the Tusken begins to shout. The sound echos strangely down the cave, becoming a chorus of death.

A growl responds.

The Child perks his ears up beside me as the Tusken begins to bolt. Everyone leans forward, transfixed. The weight of death hangs heavy in the air.

The distant rumbling becomes louder and louder until the whole galaxy seems to shake. From the shadows, the dragon appears. It opens its serrated mouth and in one bite, swallows the Tusken whole.

We gasp as the dragon retreats, leaving the bantha untouched. A life gone, just like that.

"They might be open to some fresh ideas," the Mandalorian says grimly.

XXXXXX
We've retreated away from the den, higher on the cliffs. I watch as the Sand People build a model, discussing strategies. They've used a snake skeleton and a handful of smooth pebbles to depict our battlefield.

"What are the bones?" Cobb asks, squinting at the makeshift model.

"That's the krayt dragon," the Mandalorian replies.

"And those little rocks?"

"That's us."

"It's not to scale," Vanth says with a sly grin.

"It think it is," I say, staring at the size difference.

"Can't be," Cobb denies. "That's too big."

The Tuskens say something.

"It's to scale," the Mandalorian translates.

"I've only seen it's head and neck," the Marshal admits. "It's bigger than I guessed. Might be time to rethink our arrangement."

The Mandalorian barks something in Tusken. The Sand People respond by sprinkling some more pebbles in the sand.

"That's more like it," Cobb says. "Where are they getting reinforcements?"

"I volunteered your village," Din says sweetly.