Across the Stars (Reylo fanfiction)

Blood and Ash

"There," Rey said. "Bring it down by those boulders."

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kol sitting in the back whistling and cleaning his blaster. He looked up then spun the weapon around his finger and stuck it into the holster attached to his thigh. Throwing his cloak over his shoulders, he said, "Excellent." He grabbed his walking stick and came up to the front of the ship. "Hmm ... Interesting place."

"You could say that," Rey said, as she and Janna manoeuvred the vessel into the little canyon. Once they set it down, she looked at her padawans. "Once we get out there, be careful not to brush against the plants with bare skin, don't eat anything off the trees unless I say. And whatever you do, don't make eye contact with the wildlife."

"Sure thing, boss," Janna quipped. Kol nodded.

As they stepped out of the ship and on to the planet's surface, Rey shielded her eyes from the sun. The wind blew black dust around them.

"It's ash imbedded in the soil," Janna said, squatting down and touching the ground. "Must've been some ancient volcanoes around here."

"Keep close," Rey raised her hood up, adorning half of her face with shadow.

The trio walked through the scrub; the smell of eucalyptus and rust hung in the air. They passed hunks of metal that jutted out from the ground, maybe the remains of a speeder. Moving deeper into the brush, they came across a trickling stream. They followed it as it became a creek. A grey floof of a creature sitting up in the high branches of a tree broke up the endless green and brown in that direction.

"Cute," Janna said.

The animal bared its fangs and then from the back of its throat made a sound like a cross between the crunching of a spanner caught between grinding gears and a demon howling from being jolted with a thousand volts of electricity.

"Drop bears," Rey said, glancing up at the treetops. "One bite and you're dead. Thank the force it's a juvenile. Keep your guard up. Come on, it's this way." She led them deeper into the bush. Screaming bird calls echoed through the sparse canopy. Scorpions with three tails, each with its own hypodermic needle-like stinger, ran across rocks. Unseen beings rustled in the trees. Eventually, they came to a place where several tin sheds had been set up.

"Nice place to set up camp," Janna said, raising her eyebrows.

Rey used the force to move a furry black and brown arachnid the size of her hand out of her way and onto a nearby tree. It hissed, spitting a green liquid at her. She force deflected it onto a leaf, through which it burned a hole.

As they walked up to the structures, a creature charged up at them from out of the shadows; it's coat of black feathers glistening in the sunlight streaming through the trees. It paused and cocked its head. Then it began stalking up at them upon its two long legs: which ended in three large, clawed toes that Rey could imagine ripping your face off as it sent you into unconsciousness with a single kick. The skin stretching across the creature's long neck and face was toned in vibrant red and blue. Its yellow eyes beaded at them from either side of its sickeningly sharp beak. A horn of what looked like solid bone extended from the beginning of its beak to the back of its head. Spines then extended from the back of its head to the end of its tail. It ruffled up its short wings.

Kol yelled and grabbed his blaster. Janna threw off her cloak and ripped her twin lightsabre daggers out of the holster on her back. Their magenta hue as she ignited them illuminated the scrub.

Rey held up her hand. The creature paused its approach two metres in front of them.

"Stand down!" Rey commanded through gritted teeth, though her heart was racing. She swallowed and licked her lips. Then taking a deep breath and not daring to even blink, she put her thumb and her first finger in her mouth and whistled.

The brush seemed to go silent for a tense moment; Rae and the beast stared into each other's eyes. Easy, she tried to say into its mind.

Then the door of the shed creaked open.

"Hey, Rezza!" said a man holding a glass bottle as he stepped out from the building. "Oi, Jimyma!"

The dinosaur-bird turned its head to him as he threw the bottle in a grey cylinder out the front of the shed. "Heel!"

The bird went running up to him. "Sit!" he said.

Immediately it sat down on its rear, panting.

He threw it what looked like a skinned rodent. She gulped it down.

"Good girl," he scratched under her chin. She released a burst of flame from within her jaws, seemingly in appreciation. "Alright, off with you now," he said.

The creature stood back to its full height and ran off into the plant life. As its form was obscured, Rey let out the breath that she realised she had been holding. "Hi, Quoll," she walked towards him and motioned for her padawans to follow. They both cleared their throats and looked away from each other as they returned to a non-fighting state of dress.

The mystery man grabbed Rey as soon as she got close and lifted her off the ground. "It's so good to see you, jedi girl," he said, putting her down again. Stepping back, noted that his head was bandaged. "What happened?" she said, though she dreaded that she already knew.

"Bloody Kingdom of Ren," he said, whipping off his hat and wiping the sweat from his forehead with one of his short sleeves. "Battle ships in the middle of the night. I thought it was just the storm getting worse, but before I knew it they were blasting the socks off those poor bastards over on the island," he shook his head and gestured with his hat holding hand, "they went straight for it. Oh, hey," he turned to the padawans standing behind Rey, "name's Quoll."

"Kol Yatush."

"Janna."

The planet native grabbed each of their right forearms in greeting. "Welcome to Cerebrus VII. I suspect you'll be wanting transport then? To check it out for yourself."

"Yes, thank you." Rey said.

"I'll get the boat."

"Um, Rey, who is he?" Janna whispered as he walked over to the building.

Rey stared at his back as he disappeared inside the structure, then turned to look at her pupil, "He's the ferryman."

***