I groaned to myself and stretched my back. The Tuskens had given us a Bantha each to ride and the motion was starting to make my body fall asleep. I shifted my hips slightly to try and get more comfortable but it didn't seem to work very well.
The caravan of Bantha eventually came to a stop at the top of a large, sandy mountain. Everyone began to dismount their Bantha. I swung my left leg over the saddle so I could jump off. Banthas were pretty large animals so the drop down to the ground was pretty high.
I went to push myself off when Din appeared by my side. He outstretched his hand towards me to help me down from the tall animal. I smiled gently at him and took his hand in my own. I pushed myself off of the bantha and dropped down onto the sandy ground.
Din released my hand when I stood on the ground again. "Thank you." I smiled at him.
"No problem." He said quietly as we both walked towards the edge of the cliff where the Tuskens were.
Three of them sat down on a large rock at the very edge of the cliff that looked down onto the cavern. Cobb Vanth had also decided to sit down beside them, though he had perched himself on a separate rock. Din and I joined them. I lowered myself down onto the hard rock and bent my knees so I was comfortable.
I sat in between Din and Cobb Vanth. The view that was directly in front of us made my chest tighten with fear. It was an extremely large hole in the side of the large mountain. I couldn't see very far into it, the further in It went, the darker it got.
This was definitely the home of the Krayt dragon. And that didn't make me feel any less terrified of the large, dark cave.
I then spotted a Tusken raider down at the bottom of the cavern. He had a Bantha attached to a rope and was walking towards the extremely large cave. I frowned in concern at the sight. What was he doing down there?
One of the Tuskens then turned to Din and said something to him. He turned his helmet towards Cobb Vanth and I and began to translate.
"They say it lives in there. They say it sleeps." Din said. The Tusken then handed Din a pair of binoculars. He took them and held them up to his visor so he could get a closer look at the cave.
"It lived in an abandoned sarlacc pit." Din added
"Lived on Tatooine my whole life. There's no such thing as an abandoned sarlacc pit." Cobb Vanth said.
"There is if you eat the sarlacc." Din replied. The thought made me clench my muscles in fear for a moment.
"They're laying out a bantha to protect the settlement. They've studied its digestion cycle for generations." Din explained.
I frowned slightly at his words. They were going to sacrifice the Bantha to protect themselves. Of course it made sense, but it didn't make it any less sad for the animal.
"They feed the dragon to make it sleep longer. Watch, the dragon will appear." Din said to us.
I almost jumped when the Tusken began to yell into the tunnel, trying to get the attention of the dragon. There was a moment of silence before there was an extremely loud, low growl from inside.
I tensed up and my hands tightened, I gripped onto the rock below me as fear stabbed at my chest. The noise seemed to echo around the cavern.
The Tusken turned on his heels and began to run as fast as he could. The ground began to rumble and shake behind him like it had done at Mos Pelgo. My heart pounded in my chest when the Tusken tripped and stumbled slightly before he continued to run.
Then, I saw it, the mouth of a massive creature came out of the darkness. Rows of large, sharp teeth lined its massive maw.
The animal moved quickly, but unfortunately it moved straight past the Bantha and headed for the Tusken. I gasped and put my hand over my mouth as the dragon bit down on the Tusken and swallowed him whole.
The Tuskens beside us made sounds of worry and concern as their friend was taken by the beast. The child whimpered and ducked down behind the rock.
"Stars." I whispered to myself In shock as the dragon disappeared back under the sand.
"They might be open to some fresh ideas." Din said to Cobb Vanth.
I dropped my hand down from my mouth again and sighed shakily, this was not going to be easy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The large group of Tuskens all sat in a circle together around bones as they animatedly discussed something amongst themselves. I'm not sure what they are talking about but I have a feeling that the bones laid out in front of them are supposed to represent the dragon.
"What are the bones?" Cobb Vanth asked
"That's the Krayt dragon." Din stated, confirming my suspicions.
"And those little rock's?" Cobb asked, referring to the small rocks that are scattered in front of the dragon.
"That's us." Din replied
"It's not to scale." Cobb said nervously
"I think it is." Din replied
"Can't be. That's too big." Cobb said.
The Tuskens turned to Din and said something to him. He replied to them before he turned back to Cobb. "It's to scale."
I swallowed as I realised just how large this thing is. We've only seen its head, the rest of its body is buried under the sand.
"I've only seen its head and neck. That's a whole lot bigger than I guessed." Cobb said quietly.
"Might be time to rethink our arrangement." Cobb said to the both of us.
Din spoke to the Tuskens again and one of them lent forward and scattered more little rocks in front of the dragon.
"That's more like it. Where are they getting the reinforcements?" Cobb asked him
"I volunteered your village." Din replied. I raised my brow at him, bold move. That was not going to go down well with the people of Mos Pelgo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I shifted my hips on the back of the speeder bike for what felt like the millionth time. Din's jet pack was still attached to his back and it had been uncomfortably pushing up against my chest as I tried to hold on to him. Every now and then I would take my hands off of his waist and hold on to the back of the bike seat, but I never felt secure like that, so I would quickly latch onto him again.
"Are you okay?" Din asked me from up front
"Yeah, I'm fine." I called over to him
He nodded his head to me, which I only just managed to catch. He had definitely noticed me shifting behind him considering how close together we were.
The speeder bike slowed down as we began to move through the small town of Mos Pelgo. We slowly began to come to a stop, and I could tell that Cobb was having some serious doubts about this new plan.
"They attacked us less than a year ago. Killed half a dozen of us by the mining camp. I'd say I took down about twice as many Tuskens." Cobb said as we came to a stop. He dismounted his bike with a heavy sigh.
"The town respects you. My guess is, they'll listen to reason." Din replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Cobb replied. I couldn't help but agree with him. From the way the villagers looked at us when we arrived here, I would say they weren't too open minded or willing to help others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several dozen eyes stared into my soul. Cobb Vanth had gotten all the citizens of Mos Pelgo to come into the cantina so he could discuss the plan with them. He also wanted Din and I to stand alongside him, which led to me leaning up against the bar while several people stared at me with an untrusting gaze.
I unconsciously shuffled closer to Din as their eyes bored into us. Waiting to see what we had to say to them. My shoulder brushed against his, but I didn't dare to move any closer, not when so many eyes were upon us.
"This here is a Mandalorian. You know what that means?" Cobb Vanth began.
"We've heard the stories." The bartender with the gruff voice answered.
"Then you know how good they are at killing." Cobb Vanth said, some of the villagers tensed up like they were expecting Din to attack them.
"Now, this one's got a problem. I got a suit o'salvaged armor and the mandalorian creed says it's his to take." Cobb Vanth said. The people erupted into shocked chatter, they clearly didn't like the idea of Cobb giving up the armor.
"But I've got a problem, too. A Krayt dragon has been peeling off our pack animals, and sometimes, taking our mining haul with it. It's just a matter of time before it grows tired of banthas and goes after a couple of you townsfolk, or even, so help us, the school." Cobb explained, everyone shook their heads and made noises of disagreement at the prospect.
"As much as I've grown fond of the armor, I'm even more fond of this town. The mandalorian, and his partner, are willing to help us slay the leviathan. In exchange for returning the armor to its ancestral owners." Cobb Vanth explained.
"Well, that settles it." The bartender spoke up with certainty.
"There's more. We can't take on the Krayt alone. And the sand people are willing to help." As soon as the words left his mouth. The establishment erupted into groans and shouts of disapproval.
"They raid our mines!" A man yelled as he bashed his fist on the table.
"They're monsters!" The bartender yelled. I frowned slightly at his use of words, the Tuskens were far from monsters.
"I've seen the size of that thing," Din suddenly spoke up from beside me. I glanced over at him, I hadn't been expecting him to speak up.
"It will swallow your entire town when the fancy hits it. You're lucky Mos Pelgo isn't a sand field already. I know these people. They are brutal. But so is the Dune sea. They've survived for thousands of years in these sands and they know the Krayt dragon better than anyone here. They are raiders, it's true. But they also keep their word. We have struck a deal. If we are willing to leave them the carcass and its ichor, they will stand by our side in battle and vow to never raise a blaster against this town until one of you breaks the peace." Din explained.
The crowd calmed down and began to nod to each other in agreement. I smiled gently, feeling proud of my companion for the speech that he had given. It seems that he has persuaded them.
I gently placed my hand on his forearm, my fingers landed on the cold beskar steel of his vambrace. He looked down at me and I gave him a small smile. "Good job."
"Thanks." He said quietly in return.
"Do you think it'll work?" I asked him in a hushed tone.
"I hope so." Din replied. I hope so too, these people deserve to live without fear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People from the town quickly moved about the small space as they carried crates from inside the building. The crates carried different types of weapons that we would be using against the dragon.
"Think it'll work?" Cobb Vanth asked
"It better. Joining forces is their only hope." Din replied
The three of us then walked outside the weaponry building. We stood under the bright twin suns on the wooden patio outside. I clenched my eyes closed for a moment due to the bright light, but my eyes quickly adjusted. From over a small sand dune, the large horns of a bantha slowly raised. The Tuskens had arrived.
I glanced over at the villagers to try and gauge their reaction to the Tuskens. Their faces quickly contorted into anger, they tensed up and glared as the Tuskens made their way over the dunes. Many of them looked ready to fight and kill the people who had offered to help them.
Once the Tuskens had come to a stop, Din spoke with them in Tusken and they set out to work. They began to take supplies from the villagers and carry them over to their Banthas.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly as the people of the town passed weapons between themselves and the Tuskens. The Tuskens took the long metal weapons and placed them on the Banthas saddles.
Suddenly, a loud thud and a yell caught my attention. I glanced over in the direction of the noise and saw one of the Tuskens had dropped one of the weapons. I spoke to soon.
"Hey! What Are you doin'? That's an explosive." The man yelled at the Tusken who had dropped the weapon.
"Are you trying to blow the whole place up?" The man yelled, another Tusken quickly came to his friend's aid and got up in the man's face.
"What? Is that what you want?" The man yelled in the Tuskens face as he yelled at him in his own language. I furrowed my brows slightly at the altercation.
Cobb Vanth quickly stepped in and moved the Tusken away from the villager. "Take it Easy. It was an accident, okay?"
"What do you want to do?" The aggressive man yelled with a look of offense.
"It was an accident." Cobb Vanth said slowly. Trying to get the message to stick in the stubborn man's head.
I sighed and shook my head, this was going to be a long mission if they were all going to be fighting like this. Sometimes more is not merrier.