Narudar ━━ 𝘋𝘐𝘕 𝘋𝘑𝘈𝘙𝘐𝘕.

Chapter Three: The Force

Well... it's not like that mattered. If Mando died, then oh well. At least you'd take the entirety of the reward for yourself. Sure, you probably wouldn't be able to get your hands on that nice pulse-rifle of his, but... it'd be a good riddance.

Your gaze shifted from the cave towards the crib floating steadily by your side. The Child's attention moved to you as well. Those big, black eyes stared at you intently. His long ears drooped the slightest bit. He felt it too, somehow. Something was wrong. The Mandalorian was taking a bit too long. This was a bad idea.

Both your attentions were snatched when the familiar ear-splitting sound of Mando's blaster filled your ears. A powerful roar reverberated through the cavern, perfectly audible from where you remained in the distance. Not long after, Mando appeared from the cavern's entrance, seemingly flung out by something inside. He remained in mid-air for a split second, before landing harshly on his back with a mushy thud. Mud splashed underneath his weight, undoubtedly further dirting his rusted beskar armor.

Your eyes widened with terror. Quickly, you took action and dashed towards his direction. Something within you told you to check whether he was alright or not. You crouched down right besides him, assisting him as he lifted himself until he sat upright. Only then did you notice the dreadfully damaged armor plating his chest. The cuirass was bent in awkward ways, indicating that something, indeed, had struck him square in the chest. If he didn't have this beskar protecting his heart, he'd be dead right about now.

"What the hell happened, Mando?"

He was silent as he took a quick moment to regain his breath, chest heaving up and down with uneven breaths. Whatever was in there must've knocked the air right out of his lungs.

Then, a sound led to you snapping your gaze towards the cavity again. A creature was emerging. Substantially large, no doubt. Its heavy footsteps were heard, thunderous and practically shook the muddy ground beneath you. An abhorrent pit developed in your stomach as you watched the monster exit the cavern. You recognized it, of course. Never seen one in person but heard plenty stories. Its furry brown body stepped out into the open, the grimy, humongous horn glinting underneath the sunlight, those white eyes nearly seemed as if it were glaring at you and the Mandalorian.

It's a kriffing Mudhorn.

"Give me my blaster," you commanded urgently, an expectant hand held out and awaiting said object. He refused, completely ignoring you. Why the hell was he so damn stubborn?! Your lives were literally on the line yet he was still persistently hard-headed and reluctant to return a useful weapon.

Instead, he unstrapped his pulse rifle and swiftly aimed it towards the raging Mudhorn. Its eyes were trained specifically on the both of you. It roared, loud and booming. You recognized exactly what its following actions would be — charge. You couldn't bring yourself to do absolutely anything, instead remaining stuck in your spot. You were frozen with utter fear as you watched the rapidly approaching creature. Mando pulled the trigger on his rifle. Only, it was stuck. Stuck! Stuck in the best moment possible. Must've gotten damaged from his fall, which was exactly what you needed right now. Once more, you asked for a weapon, practically begged for it, but what did you receive? Ignored again. No, this time he didn't simply ignore you. He kriffing shoved you aside harshly, sending you tumbling into the uncomfortably wet mud.

You imagined he was irritated by your persistence. But when you perceived his armored figure being tossed away by the Mudhorn again, you realized he wasn't irritated at all. He was simply trying to push you away from the creature's path before it managed to hit you instead.

The Mandalorian groaned as he roughly collided with the ground again, the damaged rifle flying out of his grasp. Then, the Mudhorn's attention was on the Child's pram a few feet away, despite the fact that it had been silent the entire time. The horned monster growled and launched itself towards the carrier's direction. Luckily, though, Mando managed to command the pram to move out of harm's way, effectively leading to the Mudhorn unexpectedly crashing into a tall rock.