"What?" Leia asked so loudly that Isolder jumped.
Augwynne whispered into her ear insistently, as if to keep her quiet. "He belongs to Teneniel. She hunted for him, she caught him, and she is very lonely."
"But, you can't just take him as a slave!" Leia said.
Augwynne shrugged, waved at the women around her as if to give proof. "Of course we can. Every woman on the council owns at least one man."
"Don't fear," Teneniel said, trying to calm Leia, "I won't use him harshly."
"Luke," Leia urged. "You've got to stop them! You can't let them do this!"
Luke meditated a moment, shrugged. "You're the New Republic's emissary. You know galactic law better than I do. You handle it."
Leia stopped speaking a moment, looked at Luke and Isolder. Isolder thought about it quickly. Under New Republic law, the normal administration of affairs on any planet would be handled by the planetary governor, whoever that was, or by regional heads of office in case there was no planetary governor. In this case, Augwynne was a regional head of government, and all the New Republic could do was lodge a formal protest.
"I protest this," Leia said. "I protest this very strongly!"
"What does that mean?" Augwynne asked. "Do you wish to fight Teneniel Djo for right of ownership?"
Isolder shook his head no, and Leia held his eye a moment. "What kind of fight?" Leia asked. "Are we talking to the death, or what?"
"Perhaps," Augwynne said, shaking her head. "You might be wiser to offer to buy him . . ."
Luke shook his head at Leia and said, "Don't worry, Leia, it will be all right."
Leia waited for a long time, and said, "Teneniel Djo, I wish to buy this servant. What would you require for him?"
Teneniel glanced around the crowd, and Isolder suddenly realized that she might have more than one bidder.
"He is not for saleyet," Teneniel said.
Leia looked at Isolder, and said, "I'm sorry."
Teneniel took Isolder's hand, looked up at him, and her eyes shone in a strange shade of copper that Isolder had never seen on Hapes. Isolder let her hold his hand, and he did not feel uncomfortable. That in itself seemed odd. Everything in him, all of his training, screamed that he should fight these barbaric customs, yet on some deep level he didn't fear Teneniel, and in fact trusted her implicitly.
Luke hugged Leia to comfort her, and Artoo came close enough so that she could pet his sensor window with her hand. Luke said, "So where are Han and Chewie? I thought they'd be with you."
"They should be down soon," Leia answered. "The sisters dragged the Falcon in early this morning. Han is checking the damage now. It got pretty well trashed during the ride down to Dathomir, but it looks like the only way off this rock. What about your ship?" Leia had an undertone of warning in her voice when she asked about the ship.
"We could probably sell whatever is left of it for scrap," Luke said, but Isolder noted that the Jedi did not mention that Isolder's fighter was still intact. Isolder took it as an unspoken warning. The fog was continuing to climb up the mountain even as they spoke, and now it hung over their heads by an arm span, like some celestial ceiling.
Isolder felt someone touch his buttocks, turned. The witches were pressing close, brushing against his back. He thought perhaps they were trying to get a better look at Leia, but suddenly realized that they weren't trying to get a view of Leia or Augwynne, they were trying to get a closer look at him. One young witch patted his hip and whispered lustily, "My name is Ooya. Let me show you where I sleep."
"I think we'd better go in to talk," Leia told Teneniel, grabbing the witch's arm with her left hand. Leia also grabbed Isolder's hand possessively, pulled him along. "Come on, let's go find Han," she said, glancing over her shoulder at the other women. Isolder thought it odd how much Leia's grip was like Teneniel's. She had not been on the planet two days, and already she was mimicking the witches' body languagethe way they held their heads high, their peculiar strut. In another week he imagined that she would fit into their clan as if she'd been born to it. It was the type of subtle thing that only a diplomat with a great deal of training could manage.
They went into the fortress, and though many of the witches did not follow, some of the women began whooping and making lusty ululating cries. Isolder felt his face going red.
As they walked through the door of the fortress, Augwynne touched his arm momentarily, stopping both him and Luke. "Go visit your friends," she said to Luke, "but come see me immediately afterward. Your coming here is no accident."
Leia led them through a maze of stone passageways up six flights of stairs, then down a hallway to a huge cavelike room. The Falcon filled almost the whole space. Isolder could see no large opening, no way that they could have brought the ship in.
He studied the walls for a moment, saw that several huge stones had been cracked on the far side. Which meant that the witches had somehow broken a hole through the stone wall, hoisted the Falcon vertically over two hundred meters in the air, then resealed the wall once they had gotten the Falcon inside under the cover of fog. The witches had done a lot of work. Given the simple Iron Age technology of the place, all of these feats seemed impossible, and Isolder realized that somehow, in the back of his mind, he did not want to know how the women had accomplished so much.
The Falcon lit the room with one headlamp, and the ship's running lights were on. Han couldn't have powered up so many systems outside without worrying about detection from orbit, but Isolder realized that the thick rock would cover the electronic signature.
They went up the ramp into the Falcon, found Han and Chewbacca in the cockpit running diagnostics. A protocol droid was messing with fried wiring around the main generators.
"Han!" Luke said, as they entered the cockpit, but Han didn't return the enthusiastic greeting; instead, he turned back to his computer, and Isolder realized that Han felt guilty, couldn't face Luke at the moment.
"So, you found us, kid? Well, I figured it was only a matter of time. Things have gotten pretty sticky here. You didn't happen to bring any spare parts, did you?"
"What's going on, Han?" Luke asked. The Wookiee patted the Jedi on the shoulder, growled affectionately. "You don't just kidnap Leia, drag her halfway across the galaxy, and then say hi, as if nothing happened."
Han spun in his captain's chair, looked up, smiled a controlled smile, as if he would scream if he did not smile. "Well, see, it happened this way I won a planet in a card game and really wanted to see it badly. Meanwhile, the woman I love was planning to run off with another man, so I convinced her to take a short trip with me. Only when we got here, I found the skies full of warships that shot me downbecause no one bothered to warn me that the planet was interdictedand after we crashed, a bunch of witches decided to start a war over who gets the wreckage of my ship. So I'll tell you, Luke, I've had a really bad week so far. Now, to top it all off, I suppose you're going to lecture me, or arrest me, or beat me up. So tell me, how is your week going?"
"About the same," Luke said. He held his tongue a moment, looked at the control panel. "What's wrong with your ship?"
"Well," Han said, "we blew our anticoncussion field generators, cracked the sensory array window, fried the brains out of my astrogation computer, and leaked about two thousand liters of coolant from the main reactor."
"I brought Artoo," Luke offered lamely. "He can navigate the ship." Luke looked back at Isolder, as if asking him to speak. Isolder could see that now was not the time for reprimands or fisticuffs. Right now, they needed to work together. But it was all he could do to keep from bashing Han Solo in the mouth.
"I've got my fighter here," Isolder said, and Teneniel took his hand. Isolder didn't want to speak about it too loudly, and he glanced behind him. None of the other witches had followed them into the ship.
"You've got a working ship on this planet?" Han asked. "How many people can it hold?"
Isolder considered his answer. If he told him two, would Han try to steal the s
hip and take Leia with him? "Two."
Luke looked at Isolder curiously, and Han drew a breath in relief. "I want you to get Leia and fly her out of here, right now!" Han said. "There's a bunch of people here who would kill for that fighter, and believe me, you don't want to meet them!"
"He's testing you," Luke casually said to Han. "His fighter holds only one, and we've already met the Nightsisters." Han's face got dark with anger, and his eyes looked hollow, haunted.
"You passed the test, General Solo," Isolder said.
"We're in serious trouble here," Han warned Isolder. "Don't play so rough with me."
Isolder didn't like Han's tone of voice. "You're lucky I don't play rougher," Isolder said. "I'd gladly beat your face in for what you've done here. You'll be lucky if I don't."
Luke watched Isolder calculatingly.
"Go ahead and try it," Han said, "if you think you can handle me."
Isolder glanced at Chewbacca. Wookiees specialized in their own form of hand-to-hand combat, and when a Wookiee disarmed an opponent, the opponent was literally disarmed . And if that didn't subdue you, the Wookiee would go ahead and rip off your legs, too. Isolder wanted to make sure the Wookiee didn't join in the fray. Chewbacca shrugged, whined something in his own language.
"Hold on, now," Leia said. "We've got enough problems here without fighting among ourselves. Isolder, I came here with Han willingly . . . sort of. He asked me to accompany him as a friend, and I agreed."
Isolder glanced at her, disbelieving, not sure what was going on. He'd seen the holo vid clips of the alleged abduction, but he couldn't call Leia a liar. "Uh," he said, embarrassed. "General Solo, I think I owe you an apology."
"Great," Han said. "So, let's get back to work. Why don't you start by coming up with a way to get us out of here?"
"I've got a fleet on its way," Isolder said. "They should be here in another seven or eight days."
Han asked, "When you say fleet, how big a fleet are you talking?"
"About eighty destroyers," Isolder said.
Han's jaw dropped, but Leia said, "Seven days isn't quick enough. If Augwynne is correct, the Nightsisters will attack in three."
Isolder put his arm around Leia. "My astrogation droid can pilot the ship for a jump. We could send Leia home."
"I don't think so," Leia said. "I'm not going without the rest of you. Hanif you had all of your spare parts, how soon could you get this ship fixed?"
Han calculated. Plugging the rupture to stop the coolant leak would take only a few minutes. You might even be able to pour the coolant in while in flight. The R2 unit could patch in on a moment's notice to navigate. Installing new anticoncussion field generators might take two hours. The easiest thing would be to put on a new sensory array window. Two hours, if everyone helped and they hurried.
"Two hours," Han answered.
"I suggest we cannibalize Isolder's ship," Leia said, "fix the Falcon, and get out of here."
Isolder looked at the Falcon skeptically. It was a big ship compared with his fighterfour times the length. With all the extra shielding and cargo space, it had to be forty times the mass. "What kind of anticoncussion field generators are you using?" Isolder asked.
"I've got four banks of Nordoxicon thirty-eights. All of them are down. What are you running on?"
"Three Taibolt twelves."
Chewbacca roared something.
"Yeah, that's a bust," Han admitted. "What about your sensory array window?"
"Point six meters across," Isolder said.
"That's a little small for us," Han grimaced, "but if we had to, we could weld some plate over my current array, make the window narrower. It would cut our sensor capabilities a little."
"Yeah, that would work," Isolder agreed. "But where are we going to get a big enough field generator?"
"Could we fly without it, sir?" Threepio asked.
"Too dangerous," Han said. "We're not just worried about missile attacks, we've got to deflect micrometeorites. If one tore through the sensor array, it could take out a lot of sensitive instrumentation."
"Maybe there's some kind of field generators near the prison," Han said, throwing his hands up. "An armored gun emplacement, a wrecked ship, something. I'll just have to go there and see."
"If we can find some generators to steal, it will be a four-man job just to pull them, and we might need a sentry to watch for trouble," Isolder said. "Then there's the problem of transporting the stuff. We're talking nearly two metric tons of equipment here."
"We can worry about moving the stuff once we get it," Han said. "The prison's got to have some antigrav sleds at least."
"You can count me in," Luke said.
"I'm already in," Leia added.
Isolder considered a moment. They wouldn't be able to take the Wookiee into the city. Chances were that no one on this planet outside of the soldiers had ever seen one. The same was true of Threepio. That left them short-handed. He didn't like the idea of having Leia endanger herself, but they were running short of options. He looked back at Teneniel, pleading. The witch appeared to be frightened but determined.
"I'll guide you to the prison," Teneniel said. "But I've never been inside. I don't know what you are looking for, and I don't know where to find it."
"Have any of your clan sisters been inside the prison?" Leia asked.
Teneniel shrugged. "Augwynne would know such things better than I. I'll get her." Teneniel took off, returned a few minutes later with the older woman.
"None of our clan has been inside the prison," Augwynne said, "except those who have become Nightsisters." She was silent for a long moment.
"What of Sister Barukka?" Teneniel said hesitantly. "I heard that she has become forsaken."
Augwynne hesitated a long time, then looked up at Leia. "There is a woman of our clan who joined the Nightsisters, but has recently left them at great price. She now lives alone as one of the forsaken and has petitioned to rejoin our clan. Perhaps she could help guide you, tell you where to find what you seek."
"You seem reluctant to recommend her," Leia said. "Why?"
Augwynne answered, softly. "She is fighting to cleanse herself. She has committed unspeakable atrocities that have left a great mark upon her. She is forsaken. Such people are . . . untrustworthy, unstable."
"But she's been inside the prison?" Han asked.
"Yes," Augwynne said.
"Where is she now?"
"Barukka lives in a cavern called Rivers of Stone. I can send one of our warriors to guide you."
"I'll take them, Grandmother," Teneniel offered, placing a hand on Augwynne's shoulder. "Perhaps you could escort them to the war room and get some lunch. You could show them the map and plan our route. I'll have some children prepare mounts." She took Isolder's hand. "Come with me, please," she said. "I'd like to speak with you." She pulled him along as if she expected him to follow.
She took him down some stairs through a maze of corridors and stopped to pick up a pitcher of water, then led him into a small chamber that held a single mattress and a trunk. A large mirror made of silver sat on one wall, with a sink beneath it. "This used to be my room, when I lived here with the clan at Singing Mountain," Teneniel said. She opened the trunk, pulled out a soft tunic of red lizard hide, another of green. She held them up. "Which do you think Luke would like the best on me?"
Isolder didn't dare tell her that the whole idea of wearing lizard hides seemed rather barbaric. "The green goes better with your eyes."
She nodded, casually stripped off her torn and soiled tunic, pulled off her boots, and stood gazing in the mirror as she took a rag and gave herself a sponge bath. Isolder swallowed hard. He knew that on some planets, humans had different notions of modesty, and the businesslike way in which Teneniel bathed seemed to indicate that she really wasn't trying to entice him.
"You know, I don't understand your customs," Teneniel said. "Yesterday morning when I captured you, I thought you wanted me, and the idea flattered me. I gave you eve
ry opportunity to escape first, and you took the capture rope in your own hand. I knew that you had come seeking a woman. I could feel that about you." She frowned, glanced over her back at him. "But now I see that it is this Leia woman you want."
"Yes," Isolder said, looking at the sculpted muscles in her back. Teneniel was not a beautiful woman by Hapan standardsin fact, she was rather plainbut Isolder decided that she had some rather fascinating musculature. She was definitely athletic. He'd seen few women on Hapes with her kind of buildnot the compact, beefy muscles of a bodybuilder, nor quite the leanness of a runner or swimmer. Instead, she was something in between. He asked, "Do you like to climb a lot?"
Teneniel shot a smile over her back. "Yes," she said. "Do you?"
"I've never tried it."
Teneniel toweled off, slipped on her tunic, pulled her long hair back over the top of it and began combing the tight curls from her hair. "I like the feel of climbing rocks," Teneniel said, "getting all sweaty. When you get to the top of the mountain, if the weather is right, you can take off your clothes and bathe in the snow."
Although he really felt no attraction for the girl, he realized he would have to be pretty tired not to dream about her tonight. "I suppose you could."
When she finished combing her hair, she put on a headband of bright white cloth, turned to him and smiled. "Isolder, I would give you back your freedom outright, but if I did, the other clan sisters would only capture you. So until you leave, I think it best if I give you your freedom in all but name."
Isolder knew she was trying to be kind. "You're very generous."
She gave him a friendly kiss on the forehead, and took his hand again, led him down to the war room.
Leia and the others stood around a huge map on the floor, molded of clay and painted. A clan sister was plotting a route through the mountainous countryside, a route that would keep them away from established trails that Gethzerion's spies might be watching. The route would take them on a tortuous path over a hundred and forty kilometers of mountain and jungle, to the edge of the desert where the prison lay. Only the strongest rancors would be able to make such a journey in just three days.
Star Wars - The Courtship of Princess Leia Page 20