runaway || din djarin

chapter six

We had been walking for a couple hours when we began to approach a cave. We stopped outside of it, Mando staring at the cave, me examining our surroundings. Mando checked himself for all of his weapons, finally settling on using his blaster as a defense. 

"You two stay here," the Mandalorian states, walking off into the cave.

"Be careful!" I yell after him, not even thinking about following him. I look down at the child who is staring at the entrance of the cave intently. "He's gonna be okay, bud. I promise," I reassure the little one.

I take a look around us, something doesn't feel quite right, "Hey, Mando, what are you seeing?"

"Um, nothing much, just some bones at the moment," I hear his voice echo through the cave. I look back at the child, his eyes still have not left the entrance of the cave.

Suddenly, there is a couple red flashes and the sound of a blaster going off inside the cave. I take a couple steps towards the entrance, the child giving a light coo behind me. Mando comes flying out of the cave and lands in front of me. I quickly rush over to him, trying to help him up.

"Go, go stand by the child. Protect him. Protect yourself," he pushes me towards the child, loading his weapon.

A beast comes out of the cave and roars in Mando's direction. I instantly recognize the creature as a Mudhorn from books I read back at my palace library. I watch as Mando struggles to get his weapon ready. The creature begins charging at Mando, making contact with his chest plate and sending him flying through the air.

"MANDO!" I yell, the child making a crying noise. The beast turns toward us, hearing our cries of concern. I look around me, trying to find something to defend the two of us. With nothing in my immediate reach, I turn back towards the beast, hearing it growl and seeing it start to dash towards us. The child's pram zooms to the right, out of the way of the creature. At the last second, I throw my body to the left, dodging the tusk of the beast.

The beast runs into the side of the mountain with a huff. It shakes its head as it turns back around and faces Mando. Once again, the beast is charging towards Mando. Mando tries to defend himself by igniting his flame thrower but the weapon does nothing to throw off the creature. The tusk of the beast makes contact with Mando's chest plate again. Mando does everything in his power to fight the creature but it seems as though he's fighting a losing battle.

The tusk of the beast makes contact with Mando's helmet. The child and I can hear the clang of metal when he is hit. Mando lays on his back, seeming out of it. He slowly tries to get up as the creature roars.

I watch as Mando is on one knee, pulling out a knife. The Mudhorn begins to charge at him. I have to do something, Mando cannot take anymore. 

Without thinking, I put a decent amount of distance between the child and I and begin shouting at the monster, trying to get its attention, "Hey! Over here!" The Mudhorn slides to a stop and turns towards me. It paws at the dirt, rears its head back, and starts charging towards me. With no way to defend myself, I just stand there, snapping my eyes shut.

"Adeline! No!" the Mandalorian shouts in my direction. I wait for the impact that never seems to come. I open my eyes to see the Mudhorn a couple feet in front of me, roaring, and... floating in the air? I don't remember ever reading about a Mudhorn flying.

I glance over at the Mandalorian whose gaze is fixated on the child. His tiny hand is held out in front of him and his eyes are closed. The little one seems focused. A youngling? With the force? I thought the force was just something from myths and fairytales. The gasp that escapes my lips catches the attention of Mando. He runs over to me, pushing me behind him and holding his knife out in front of him.