The Delusions of Dreamers

Ten

Satine was not okay.

She had been hurled into a cell by one of those terrible pig men.  It honestly wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't smelled so wretched.  And now the duchess had been crying in the dungeons for what felt like hours.

Were the Jedi coming back for her? She wanted to hope that they would, but she knew that if they didn't come, her dreams would be crushed.  Satine probably wouldn't be able to mentally recover from them abandoning her and leaving her to rot in this dreadful place.

The young woman had thought about escaping, but how? She wasn't trained like the Jedi and she wasn't a warrior.  She lacked stealth as well as agility.  So, unfortunately, her chances of getting out of the palace were low.

She moaned, curling her knees up to her chest.  How did she even get in this mess?

"Shut your mouth," someone grumbled.  Satine glared through the bars and into the cell next to hers.  There was a big, purple Lasat with a huge scar running across his face, sprawled out on the hard floor.  "Complaining won't do ya any good."

The duchess blinked rapidly.  "Excuse me?" She had been alive for twenty-two long years, and she had never been treated this terribly in the span of a few days.  "I am the Duchess of Mandalore.  You will treat me with respect!"

The Lasat just scoffed.  "We're all equals here, and we all serve Jabba."

Satine curled her lip.  How depressing.

Then she heard footsteps nearby and squinted into the darkness to see two cloaked figures.  One appeared to be hidden behind a mask, and the other had his head down, the hood of his cloak casting a dark shadow over his face.

They approached the pig guard on duty and spoke slowly in hushed tones.  Then the vile creature took a balled-up robe from them before walking toward's Satine's cell.  But his movements seemed very robotic, almost unnatural. 

She backed up closer to the wall behind her.  What was going on?

The pig man started unlocking her cell, and then he threw the plain, grey robe at her feet before walking away.

She held her breath, scared to believe that this was a rescue.  But as the two figures walked by her cell, she spotted piercing blue eyes and the swing of a Padawan braid.  She hurriedly stood up and wrapped herself in her new cloak. 

"Hey!" The Lasat whisper-shouted.  "Take me with you." Satine cringed.  She wasn't very fond of the creature, and it seemed like the two Jedi agreed.  The duchess caught up with them after they all ignored the Lasat.

"Hey!" This time he called out a lot louder.  "Hey, come back!" He started banging on the bars of his cell.  "Guards! Guards! A prisoner is escaping!"

Shit.

Satine looked over her shoulder to find several guards tumbling out of an alcove with their axes raised.  They did not look happy.

"Run, Satine!" Obi-Wan hissed, grabbing her hand and pulling her along after him.

"I am quite capable of running by myself!" she panted, ripping her hand away from him.  She was thankful for the rescue, but had they planned on coming back for her all along? Had they thought about truly abandoning her?

Satine was wrenched from her thoughts by the axe that came flying past her head.  She screamed and tripped over her huge boots that she had gotten from Cad Bane.  Thankfully, Obi-Wan caught her, and this time, she didn't pull away.  

"This way!" Qui-Gon shouted.  He was a few steps in front of the pair, but the duchess could feel herself speeding up.  They caught up to the Jedi Master and burst out of the gloomy corridor, only to find themselves trapped on the dance floor.  There were half-naked Twi'leks and aliens playing instruments and drunkards swaying this way and that way.  So uncouth.

She cried out in frustration, and maybe a little bit of fear.  "We'll never make it out of here!"

"Yes, we will!" Obi-Wan objected.  He inconspicuously flicked his fingers, and the door to the hallways slammed shut in the pig men's faces.  "Haha!" he shouted.

"That won't keep them at bay for long!" warned Qui-Gon, but they were almost through the thickest part of the crowd by now.  Once the trio broke through all the people, they bolted for the huge palace doors.  "We're almost there!"

"Uh... so are the Gamorreans!" the Padawan said in a nervous, sing-song voice, and he was right.  More of the pig men had been sent after them, and they were closing in.

"Once we get outside," huffed Qui-Gon, "head straight for Cad Bane's ship!"

An axe crashed into the sand right in front of them, and Satine had to leap over it, right before slamming into the Jedi Master.

"Why did we stop?" she cried hysterically.

"The ship is gone!" Qui-Gon grumbled.  "Bane must have escaped somehow."

They all exchanged frantic glances, and then turned to face the angry creatures running towards them.

"Oh, look!" shouted Obi-Wan, pointing at two small shapes in the distance.  "Speeders!"

They took off, their shoes skidding on the slippery sand.  The snarls and growls of the pig men were getting louder, and Satine couldn't help but let out another scream.

"It's going to be okay!" Obi-Wan squeezed her arm.

"No it's not!" Satine wailed.

"Would you two concentrate more on running?" Qui-Gon reprimanded.  "I'll take the speeder on the left, you two take the one on the right."

"Yes, Master!" the Padawan panted, then yelped when he realized there was a pig right behind him.  Satine hadn't noticed either, and she screeched in Obi-Wan's ear.  "Ow!" he rubbed his ear with one hand while he used the Force with his other, pushing the creature into the sand.

"Sorry!" the duchess huffed.  They were only about a klick away from the machines now, and she wanted to just collapse in relief.  Then she remembered her last experience with a speeder.  "You drive this time, Obi-Wan!"

Even though they were in a near-death situation, the Padawan still managed to be a sarcastic, little prick.  "Are you sure you don't want to drive?"

"Yes!" Satine insisted.  She didn't have time to reply with something clever.

Then Obi-Wan Force-jumped onto the tiny speeder, his black robe billowing around him.  For some reason, the duchess had the strange thought that she preferred him in white.  She shook her head and leaped on behind him.

"Hold on tight!" he warned.  She squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around his firm middle right before he took off after Qui-Gon.  "Wha-hoo!" he celebrated.

Satine gaped at him.  "We almost died!" she exclaimed.  "Why are you happy?"

He grinned at her over his shoulder.  "You said it yourself, darling.  We almost died.  Happens to me all the time."

"You Jedi are crazy!"

Obi-Wan just laughed, and they flew over the white sand dunes into the sunset.