Falling for a Mandalorian

Chapter 13

When the sun went down, the Mandalorian carefully led Elara to Omera’s home where she would remain with the village’s children. As Elara entered, the child reached from his place in Winta’s arms towards her. Winta waited for her to sit down and then handed him to her.

“Hi, little guy.” She said as he cooed at her. 

“Elara, thank you so much for caring for the children while we’re gone.” Omera said as she nervously paced back and forth. 

“Of course, Omera.” 

“Winta, help Elara if she needs it. She’s not familiar with the layout of our home.” Omera reminded her daughter, referring to Elara’s night blindness. 

“Yes, mom.” Winta replied. 

Elara could recognize Cara’s voice.

“It’s time to go.” 

Elara heard the Mandalorian walk towards her and then felt his hand on her face. He caressed her cheek with a gloved hand and then gently rested his helmet against her forehead. 

“Come back to me.” She whispered to him. 

“I will.” He replied calmly. 

She heard Omera saying goodbye to Winta.

“Be good. I love you.” She whispered to her daughter. 

The group walked out together, leaving Elara with the children of the village. The younger ones didn’t know a fight for the village was about to occur, but Elara could hear the nervous murmurings of the older children. 

“Elara, can you tell us a story?” Winta asked after a few minutes.

“A story? What do you want to hear a story about?” Elara asked.

The little girl thought for a second.

“About a princess and a prince.” She said.

“Hmm. Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a very grand palace. Her mother and father, the Queen and King, were so busy working that they rarely saw her. The princess was very beautiful but she…” 

Elara was interrupted by the door being thrown open. She stood quickly, sensing something was wrong. The children all gasped and then began to whimper. She heard heavy footsteps coming towards her and she tried to motion for the children to get behind her. Elara internally cursed her lack of glasses. She couldn’t defend herself or the children from something she couldn’t see. 

Rough hands reached forward and wrestled the child from her arms. 

“No! Please don’t hurt him!” She shouted as she heard the child cry out as he was tossed to the ground. 

Elara stepped forward towards her attacker, trying to get a sense of where they were. A fist swung out and collided with her stomach. The air was knocked from her lungs and she bent over in pain. Elara fell to her knees. The next punch landed on her face. She felt blood gushing from her nose and saw stars. 

Despite the pain, she tried to stand. She had to keep the children safe. She stood in a defensive stance and braced herself for the next hit. 

“Elara duck!” Winta called out. 

 Elara ducked and felt the force of a missed hit whiz over her head. She silently thanked the little girl as she punched an uppercut into her attacker’s gut. She heard a deep groan, a man’s voice. Her attacker stepped back and then she felt a large hand wrap around her throat. He squeezed and Elara felt powerless to his attack. She clawed at this hand as she felt her consciousness fade away and then everything was gone. 

She awoke to find herself on the back of some sort of transporter. Elara could tell that it was still nighttime because she couldn’t see. Her hands were tied behind her back and tape covered her mouth. She immediately began to struggle and tried to scream. She heard the vehicle’s motor cut and the craft came to a stop.  

She listened as heavy footsteps approached her. She tensed her body in anticipation of another attack, but instead she only heard her attacker’s quiet breath. He leaned over her.

“Did you really think you could get away from me?” He whispered. 

Elara’s eyes went wide as she recognized the voice. Davos Nunek, the Hapan man she was to pair with, had come to claim her. 

The villagers were victorious in their battle. As they returned to their homes to celebrate, they patted the Mandalorian and Cara on their backs expressing their gratitude. The Mandalorian walked with Cara and Omera towards Omera’s home. Omera pulled the door open to find the children huddled together, hiding. Elara was nowhere to be seen. Winta held the child close to her as she ran to her mother.

“What happened, Winta?” Omera asked, kneeling down to speak with her daughter.

“A man came and took Elara.” Winta said with tears in her eyes.

Fear came over the Mandalorian.

“A man? What did he look like?” He asked the little girl.

“He was tall. Very tall. Taller than you with blonde hair.” She began, looking up at him.

“He came inside and took the child from her and threw him to the ground. Elara tried to defend us but he punched her.” 

The little girl began to cry harder.

“She was bleeding and then he choked her. He carried her out.” 

The Mandalorian stood and faced Cara. 

“I’m going to find her.” 

Cara nodded. They were both fatigued, but she knew they needed to act quickly.

“I’ll come with you.” 

Omera stepped forward. 

“We have a pair of landspeeders that you can use. They’re not the fastest, but they’re faster than our hoverwagons.” She informed the pair.

They followed her to a nondescript shed. She pushed the doors open and watched as Cara and the Mandalorian climbed atop the speeders and started their engines. Before she could offer them another word, the two quickly departed in the direction they had originally come from nearly a week prior. 

Davos continued to drive through the night. The sun slowly rose and Elara could finally see her surroundings. They passed the small bar that the Mandalorian and she had met Cara at earlier in the week. The serving woman stood outside and Elara could see she had a fresh black eye. Davos had beaten her up for Elara’s whereabouts no doubt. 

I’m sorry, the woman mouthed to Elara. 

Elara couldn’t blame the woman. She was certain that Davos would have killed her if the woman hadn’t given the information up. After continuing for a half hour more, a sleek ship came into view. Davos pulled the transporter to a stop and stood. Elara looked up at him with disgust in her eyes. He moved his sleek glasses, identical to her broken pair, to the top of his head, stretched his neck, and then cracked his knuckles before jerking her off the transporter. 

She fell to the ground and he bent over her. 

“This is going to be fun.” He said as he pulled her up to her feet. 

Elara tried to scream out as he dragged her into his ship.