Love in the Dark

Chapter 8

Padmé took less than an hour to get to the canyons. It was already late afternoon and she could sense that it would soon be dark.
She cautiously sped down the speeder and listened and looked attentively around her. Amidst the rocky walls, she could sense several pair of eyes on her.
Padmé prepared herself to speed off again when she heard hurried footsteps approaching her. She just had the time to see three Tuskens lunge at her and the speeder. The young woman pushed herself off of the speeder, avoiding the blast and rolling on to the ground.
One Tusken was already lunging at her with a staff and Padmé rolled away from him, taking out her blaster and shooting the savage right in the chest. The Raider fell to the ground, dead.

Padmé didn't wait for the other two to get towards her and ran up one of the slopes of the canyon.
The other two were growling in anger at their dead comrade and were already making their way towards Amidala with rage and violence painted in every one of their movements.
Padmé quickly looked behind her and saw with dismay that the speeder, her only chance of escape, was in pieces on the sandy ground.
Padmé shot towards the two figures and got one in the leg, but the other one was still standing. Just then, the hurt Tusken howled, and out of nowhere, at least seven more tribe members appeared. They all howled at her, waving their staffs in her direction. Padmé was stuck on the slope as she couldn't get any further. The passage was too slippery. She turned around to face the Tuskens, who were making their way towards her. Breathing heavily, she aimed at the savages, trying to get rid of most of them. But she knew she wasn't going to be able to get all of them. She needed a plan, now.

If they didn't kill her right away, in the best of luck she'd be their prisoner, which as she knew would be just as good as being dead. She couldn't afford this to happen to her, not now. She still had so much to do; she had only started this. But Padmé didn't get to think any further as the first Raider was already lunging at her. She swiftly avoided the blow, kicking the savage in the back and sending him front first on the ground. The Tusken writhed in rage and grabbed her leg, pulling her down with him. Padmé let go of her blaster in the shock of the attack and fell right next to the savage. It tried getting a grasp of her by pulling her hair but Padmé turned around and put her arm around his neck, locking it onto him and pulling tightly against her. Guttural noises came out of the savage as he was being choked. In one last attempt, the Tusken grabbed for his staff and waved it at Padmé. The weapon sliced into her left shoulder and Padmé yelled at the sudden pain. But she didn't let go of her grasp and chocked the beast until she was sure that he wouldn't move anymore.
The brown-haired woman grabbed for her shoulder and winced at the sharp pain. What was left of her left sleeve was soaked in blood. Remembering about the other Raiders that had been coming after her, she ignored the pain and hurried to take her blaster. But just then, a strange noise was heard. The young woman looked around for the Tuskens, but they had suddenly stopped and started fleeing.
Padmé stared at the lot of them running away and disappearing from view. Once she was sure that they weren't coming back, she let herself slide to the ground.
But just as she was about to drop her blaster, she realized someone was there.

A hooded figure in a brown cloak was standing in the distance. The cloaked person came closer and Padmé had a familiar feeling come across her from the overall presence of the person.
The young woman stood up, her feet instinctively moving on their own towards the stranger.
The man pulled his hood off, recognizing the woman from afar, although not truly believing she could be here. "Padmé...?"
Padmé could recognize his face anywhere. His dirty-blonde hair was paler, and it was starting to grey at his temples, but those vivid, sharp blue eyes that she liked so much were still the same.
"Obi-Wan..." she said, her voice tangling in emotion.
She ran to him and hugged him tightly.
Obi-Wan hugged her back, surprised but immensely pleased to see his old friend.