Purge (Star Wars)

A Path Into the Mountains

Cal and Ilyana move quietly through trees till they reach the village which, with only a few homes and workshops, is even smaller than it seemed in the scans. In the center of town, however, is a larger circular building that looks like an inn or tavern of some kind. As they step in they are greeted by a kind but wary older woman who directs them to one of the small wooden tables near the wall and as they settle in, she returns with some kind of tea.

"What else can I get you?" she asks with a gravelly voice.

"We're actually looking for someone. We heard there's a healer here who can work miracles," says Cal.

The old woman looks both of them over suspiciously.

"Our friend is sick, no one has been able to help him," Ilyana elaborates, unconvincingly.

"There is no one like that here," the woman replies curtly. "I will bring you the house stew then you should leave" and she walks away towards the kitchen.

"You don't lie very well," Cal says to Ilyana as he watches the old woman head into a back room.

"I wasn't trying to," Ilyana answers, smelling the tea before taking a sip, then continues. "But I noticed as we walked up that the only exits from the building are through this room." She begins to explain as the woman comes out from the back with two bowls of stew and as she sets them on the table, Cal notices a small boy run from the back and out the exit behind Ilyana. Then locks eyes with Ilyana who is giving him a look as if to say "Told you so." The woman had positioned herself in such a way to block as much of Cal's view of the boy as possible.

"Thank you," he says to the woman who only nods in reply before leaving them be. Cal and Ilyana pick at their stew for a moment but, as soon as she takes her eyes off them, they quickly come to their feet and rush quietly out the door, leaving untouched stew and a couple of credits behind them.

They keep their distance as they follow the boy along the road out of town, but soon after they pass the last building he turns off of the road and down a heavily wooded path into the mountains. The trail is faint and they are forced to slow their pursuit so as not to lose sight of it, occasionally passing a fresh footprint in the soft ground. For several miles the path winds alongside a small stream that flows down out of the mountain, eventually connecting to the river that runs through the town. They continue as quietly as possible, both to not betray their position and to prevent them from obscuring any sound of the boy. Soon the vegetation thins and the trees begin to change from broad leaves to evergreens. The path then takes a sharp turn away from the water and Cal, who had been leading, comes to an unexpected halt.

"What's wrong," Ilyana asks, quietly.

"I don't see it anymore," he answers, looking around them. As the vegetation changed so had the land. The soft ground of the valley has steadily become more compact and rocky and any signs of the path had completely disappeared. The area here is surprisingly flat with lots of open space between the trees and very little undergrowth. The perfect place for a trail to disappear.

"You got anything BD?" he asks the little droid riding on his back. BD-1 drops down and scampers around, scanning the area for signs of the boy or the trail while the others search as well. After a few moments BD-1 lets out a trill from up ahead where the land begins to slope up again. The other two climb up the slope to join him and find the droid perfectly still and shining his lasers at the ground beneath a dead evergreen tree. Cal crouches down to look at what BD-1 has found. The ground there is covered with a thick layer of needles that have fallen from the dead tree and in them he can clearly see where someone had slipped and brushed them away.