DREAMCATCHER || QIMIR

II: Roof to Roof

As I walked through the streets of Olega, I made sure to keep my head low in case the dock guards were still roaming around. Also, I purposefully went towards a more crowded area because it would be much easier to camouflage myself amidst hundreds of people as I think of my next move.

Finally, I reached the market area and still no sign of the dock guards, thank god. I walked by a fruit stall and managed to grab two apples without anybody seeing, quickly hidden away into the sleeves of my large cloak. Then, I looked for a somewhat private area to eat and think. I found a good spot in a narrow alleyway in between two buildings, with one building with a seemingly unused fire exit from the second floor. Aside from keeping myself hidden while having a bird's eye view advantage, I could also see the loading dock not too far from here.

I grabbed one apple from my sleeve and didn't even bother cleaning it before taking a bite. Anyway, it was probably my first clean and proper meal for the past two days. As my eyes scanned the lively streets of Olega, my mind couldn't help but wander back to that weird shopkeeper.

Who did he think I looked like? I was the plainest looking woman I knew. Black hair, brown eyes--heck, line me up with ten other women with the same features as me and you wouldn't even remember I was there. But I like that, because it means I'm basically invisible. It's easier to disappear when I'm being hunted by orcs, or hutts, or whichever species I pissed off.

Which was basically my everyday life, by the way.

Shaking my head, I decided to shift my attention to where I should go next. Fun fact: Olega wasn't actually my destination. Rather, I didn't have a destination at all. Just a day ago, my top priority was to escape Collossus at all costs, and just sneaked into whichever transport ship I could. And if only the dock guards didn't see me, I could've stayed on this planet peacefully for as long as I could, but since those pig-men were hot on my tail, I have to move.

Maybe I'll wait it out on the outskirts of the city for a few days, before sneaking into another transport ship to another planet. Hopefully, they had given up on looking for me by then.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard metals softly clanking, and quickly realized there was someone raking through the nearby trashbin in the same alley. Much to my surprise, it was a yellow-skinned child--probably a mere eight or nine years old in human age--and whoever his parent was, was not in sight.

"Child," I whispered, careful not to draw any unwanted attention. The child looked up at me in confusion, probably wondering why I was hiding up a fire exit.

"Are you looking for food?" After a moment of hesitation, the child nodded. I softly smiled and held up my second apple, which fortunately, he knew how to catch. He smiled back and made chirping noises before running off back into the main street.

I watched him adoringly as he cheerily ran away (though my heart was aching a little because I was saving that apple for tomorrow), but that was until he bumped into the legs of a large creature on his way out of the alley.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

It was the pig-men. And of course, as they looked at where the child came from, I naturally fell into their line of sight.

Well shit.

"That's her! She's up there!"

One of them announced, and I immediately climbed up the roof of the building as it was the fastest route. I jumped from roof to roof as fast as I could, constantly looking for a safe drop where they wouldn't be able to follow me. All the while, they were hurling colorful assortments of curses towards me.

'Why won't you just fight them?' I'm sure you're already thinking at this point. Well first, there's three of them and there's only one of me. Second, I'm not a Jedi, so I cannot use the force to make them fly away or something. Third, for all my lack of fighting skills, I compensated with agility and running.

Yep, that's what I'm good at. Running.

Eventually I was able to make the pig-men split up, and at this point I could only see one of them chasing after me from the ground. Unfortunately though, I was about to run out of roofs to jump onto, and there was roughly a twenty foot gap between the next one.

I wasn't superhuman, but I had to try.

And of course, my feet failed to land, and I was able to grab the edge of the roof but the metal cut into my palm. I had to let go, making me painfully land on my back onto the ground. I think I probably hit my head as well.

"Finally caught you, you little shit."

He snarled as he menacingly dragged his mace across the ground as he walked closer.

"No... no please...." I weakly protested as my vision continued to spin. Once he was close enough, it was like I could feel his seething anger (which was understandable, as I have been a pain in the ass) and he raised his arm, ready to strike me. I watched the mace in horror as it flung in the air, realizing that this is probably where I'm about to die.

"NO!!!!!" I screamed and raised my arms over my head, at the same time feeling a strong gust of wind fly past me and towards him. This wind pushed the pig-man several feet backwards, catching him off guard.

"What the---?" He looked at me in confusion. I was confused too. Did I do that? "Jedi scum!!!"

He roared and charged towards me once again, but this time I was already feeling too faint to fight back. All of a sudden, a cloaked figure dropped between me and the pig-man, and once again the pig-man was pushed back with a wind force, but this time powerful enough to make him topple over and roll three times farther.

The pig-man, still relentless, furiously charged but the cloaked figure was calm and was able to counter his attacks despite being two sizes smaller. It didn't even take long for the figure to effortlessly snap pig-man's neck, making his body lifelessly fall to the ground.

The figure briefly glanced back at me, but despite my dimming double vision, I was able to somewhat recognize him.

"Shop....keeper...?" I croaked out, but I don't know if he even heard me. Just then, the two other dock guards arrived, and his head snapped back in their direction.

I struggled to keep my eyes open as my eyes already felt too heavy. As my consciousness faded, all I could hear was the distant sound of fists punching and bones cracking.

***