The grip on her arm was abruptly gone. Closing down the lightsaber, she rolled out of bed and back to her feet, igniting the weapon again as she looked around—
And with a sudden, numbing blow to her wrist, the lightsaber was knocked across the room. It shut down in midflight, plunging the room again into darkness.
She dropped instantly into combat stance, but even as she did so she knew it was a useless gesture. The first alien had perhaps been lulled by the apparent helplessness of his victim; the second had obviously learned the lesson. She hadn’t even turned all the way toward the attacker before her wrist was again captured and twisted around behind her. Another hand snaked around to cover her mouth, at the same time jamming her neck hard against the attacker’s muzzle. One leg twined somehow around her knees, blocking any attempt she might make to kick him. She tried anyway, struggling to free at least one leg, while at the same time trying to get a clear shot at those eyes with her free hand. His breath was hot on her neck, and she could feel the shapes of needle teeth through the jaw skin pressing against her. The alien’s body went abruptly rigid—
And suddenly, without any warning at all, she was free.
She spun around to face the alien, fighting to regain her balance in the sudden loss of anything solid to lean against and wondering what this new game was he was playing. Her eyes searched frantically in the dim light, trying to locate the weapon he was surely now bringing to bear on her—
But there was no weapon pointed at her. The alien just stood there, his back to the door, his empty hands splayed off to the sides as if preparing to protect himself from a backward fall. “Mal’ary’ush,” he hissed, his voice soft and gravelly. Leia took a step backward, wondering if she could get to the window before he launched his next attack.
The attack never came. Behind the alien, the door slammed open; and with a roar, Chewbacca boiled into the room.
The attacker didn’t turn. He made no move at all, in fact, as the Wookiee leaped toward him, massive hands reaching for his neck—
“Don’t kill him!” Leia snapped.
The words probably startled Chewbacca almost as much as they startled her. But the Wookiee’s reflexes were equal to the task. Passing up the alien’s throat, he swung a hand instead to cuff him solidly across the side of the head.
The blow sent the alien flying halfway across the room and up against the wall. He slid down and remained still.
“Come on,” Leia said, rolling across her bed to retrieve her lightsaber. “There may be more of them.”
[Not any morre,] a Wookiee voice rumbled, and she looked up to see Ralrra leaning against the doorway. [The otherr three have been dealt with.]
“Are you sure?” Leia asked, taking a step toward him. He was still leaning against the doorjamb—
Leaning hard against it, she suddenly realized. “You’re hurt,” she exclaimed, flicking on the room light and giving him a quick examination. There were no marks she could see. “Blaster?”
[Stun weapon,] he corrected. [A quieterr weapon, but it was set too low forr Wookiees. I am only a little weak. Chewbacca it is who is wounded.]
Startled, Leia looked over at Chewbacca … and for the first time saw the small patch of matted brown hair midway down his torso. “Chewie!” she breathed, starting toward him.
He waved her away with an impatient growl. [He is right,] Ralrra agreed. [We must get you away from herre, beforre the second attack comes.]
From somewhere outside a Wookiee began howling an alert. “There won’t be a second attack,” she told Ralrra. “They’ve been noticed—there’ll be people converging on this house in minutes.”
[Not on this house,] Ralrra rumbled, a strange grimness to his voice. [Therre is a firre fourr houses away.]
Leia stared at him, a chill running up her back. “A diversion,” she murmured. “They set a house on fire to mask any alert you try to make.”
Chewbacca growled an affirmative. [We must get you away from herre,] Ralrra repeated, easing himself carefully upright.
Leia glanced past him through the doorway to the darker hallway beyond, a strange dread suddenly twisting into her stomach. There had been three Wookiees in the house with her. “Where’s Salporin?” she asked.
Ralrra hesitated, just long enough for her suspicions to become a terrible certainty. [He did not survive the attack,] the Wookiee said, almost too softly for her to hear.
Leia swallowed hard. “I’m sorry,” she said, the words sounding painfully trite and meaningless in her ears.
[As arre we. But the time forr mourning is not now.]
Leia nodded, blinking back sudden tears as she turned to the window. She’d lost many friends and companions in the midst of battle through the years, and she knew that Ralrra was right. But all the logic in the universe didn’t make it any easier.
There were no aliens visible outside. But they were there—that much she was sure of. Both of the previous teams she and Han had tangled with had consisted of considerably more than five members, and there was no reason to expect this one to be any different. Chances were that any attempt to escape overland would meet with a quick ambush.
Worse, as soon as the hue and cry over the burning house really got going, the aliens could likely launch a second attack with impunity, counting on the commotion down the street to cover up any noise they made in the process.
She glanced at the burning house, feeling a brief pang of guilt for the Wookiees who owned it. Resolutely, she forced the emotion out of her mind. There, too, there was nothing she could do for now. “The aliens seem to want me alive,” she said, dropping the edge of the curtain and turning back to Chewbacca and Ralrra. “If we can get the sled into the sky, they probably won’t try to shoot us down.”
[Do you trust the sled?] Ralrra asked pointedly.
Leia stopped short, lips pressed tightly together in annoyance with herself. No, of course she didn’t trust the sled—the first thing the aliens would have done would have been to disable any escape vehicle within reach. Disable it, or worse: they could have modified it to simply fly her directly into their arms.
She couldn’t stay put; she couldn’t go sideways; and she couldn’t go up. Which left exactly one direction.
“I’ll need some rope,” she said, scooping up an armful of clothes and starting to get dressed. “Strong enough to hold my weight.2 As much as you’ve got.”
They were fast, all right. A quick glance between them—[You cannot be serious,] Ralrra told her. [The dangerr would be great even forr a Wookiee. Forr a human it would be suicide.]
“I don’t think so,” Leia shook her head, pulling on her boots. “I saw how the branches twist together, when we looked at the bottom of the city. It should be possible for me to climb along between them.”
[You will neverr reach the landing platform alone,] Ralrra objected. [We will come with you.]
“You’re in no shape to travel down the street, let alone underneath it,” Leia countered bluntly. She picked up her blaster, holstered it, and stepped to the doorway. “Neither is Chewbacca. Get out of my way, please.”
Ralrra didn’t budge. [You do not fool us, Leiaorganasolo. You believe that if we stay herre the enemy will follow you and leave us in peace.]
Leia grimaced. So much for the quiet, noble self-sacrifice. “There’s a good chance they will,” she insisted. “It’s me they want. And they want me alive.”
[Therre is no time to argue,] Ralrra said. [We will stay togetherr. Herre, orr underr the city.]
Leia took a deep breath. She didn’t like it, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to talk them out of it. “All right, you win.” She sighed. The alien Chewbacca had hit was still lying unconscious, and for a moment she debated whether or not they dared take the time to tie him up. The need for haste won. “Let’s find some rope and get moving.”