The Enigma

The Hunter

Her eyes slowly lifted, vision blurry coming in and out of focus. There was a distant pinging sound which was causing the headache she already felt to grow. How long have I been knocked out?  Her memory slowly started to come back and she faintly remembered something or someone hit her head before passing out. Once the vision had cleared she was immediately aware of the armored man sitting silently guiding the spacecraft she was trapped in. 

Her captor.

He sat stoically, attention transfixed on the empty plain of space ahead of him, unaware of her stirring. She used this to her advantage sneaking a glance to get a closer look at the hunter. His armor was rusted and battle torn and it covered over half of his body. The few low lights scattered along the control panel reflected off his metal helmet-the exact one that was back on Nevarro. Now that she was able to get a better look at him-

 Mandalorian. He was a Mandalorian.

She tried ignoring the knot that was churning inside her stomach, mad at herself for not recognizing his armor immediately. She had only heard the stories her aunt explained when she was very young but they were the same stories that frightened the little seven year old girl who feared to go to bed alone. Of course the Client was responsible for sending the galaxy's most feared, most ruthless bounty hunter, seeing his previous men came back empty handed. If the stories were true, she was lucky enough to still be alive. The armored man turned his head in her direction as if he had read her thoughts, intimidating her further. Instead she twisted her body so her face was facing the wall not giving him the satisfaction. 

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A sudden jolt caused her to snap out of her stupor as the ship landed on rocky terrain. The hunter was pushing all kinds of buttons along the control panel until he flipped the engine completely off. He stood up from his pilots chair, walked over and took hold of her arm firmly. She resisted the urge to fight back when she knew it was useless and allowed him to lead her through the ship's hull. He pressed a lever and the giant door slowly lowered until it came to an abrupt crash on the ground, sending dust into the air. She was immediately met by bright rays of sunlight causing her to squint as it seemed like days since she'd seen the sun. They could have been flying for a week for all she knew. She glanced around at the terrain, not a single traveler or village was in view. Her back was immediately being jabbed by something hard causing her to nearly trip off the ramp. The second she turned around her wrist was being yanked around her back followed by the other one, the cold sensation of something metal being tightly fastened around them. 

Great, she was handcuffed. It was the one thing her previous captors had misshapen to think about, and at the right moment, make her escape. This bounty hunter was good. 

The hunter silently traversed along the dusty cavernous plains, occasionally glancing over his shoulder making sure she wouldn't get the idea to run off suddenly. She noticed the pistol strapped around his thigh, the long rifle across his back and not to mention what other concealed weapons he was hiding under all that armor. Even if she had the chance to run, she wouldn't stand a chance. She did her best to keep up with every long and steady stride her captor took, nearly tripping over loose rock a couple times. After what seemed like hours of treacherous journeying they came to the mouth of a large canyon not pausing before stepping inside. They were surrounded by stories of red rock encasing them in the open tunnel. Once they were a good distance inside Ember noticed how quiet it was. Not a single creature was stirring, just, eerie silence. The hunter's pace slowed until he eventually came to a complete halt. He tilted his head up towards the overhanging rocks and she swore she had just seen a darkened shadow run along the rock wall.