Enigma | The Mandalorian

XXV

As soon as the suns rose we on our way to the krayt dragon's domain. The heat from the suns had beat down on us as we traveled on the slow Bantha's. This was one of the few times that I was jealous of Din's helmet. I could feel the sunburn prick at my face. In total we took rode on six Bantha's, in case the krayt dragon was a little too hungry. In due time we made it to the pit. All of us except for one Bantha and a Tusken stayed out of clear, we all watching as the two had approached closer to the hole in the rock. The Tusken next to Din spoke causing him to translate.

"They say it lives in there. They say it sleeps. It lives in an abandoned sarlacc spit," Din spoke while looking through some scanning binoculars.

"I thought those things became extinct." I said squinting my eyes to block out the sun.

"Lived on Tatooine my whole life. There's no such thing as an abandoned sarlacc pit." Cobb said in disbelief.

"That is if you eat the sarlacc." Din spoke before handing me the binoculars.

"They're laying out a Bantha to protect the settlement. They've studied its digestion cycle for generations. They feed the dragon to make it sleep longer."

"Interesting." I spoke as I handed the binoculars back to Din to which he passed to the Tusken next to him.

"Watch. The dragon will appear."

The Tusken that was next to the Bantha tied it into a wooden pole that he hammered into the sand. Once he was finished he called out into the pit and waited. The child next to me whimpered at the scene causing me to look down at him. Next to me he watched patiently and intensely. Three seconds later the krayt dragon let out a furiously growl causing the Tusken next to the Bantha to flee. Rumbling was heard from the pit causing the once still Bantha to freak out and try to flee. I frowned at the thought that we were practically sending the Bantha to its death. But little did I know, I was wrong. The rough skinned krayt dragon advanced out of the pit going straight pass the Bantha and towards the Tusken. The Tuskens let out shock yells and the child ducked down in fear. Once the krayt dragon ate the Tusken it quickly went back into the shadows.

"They might be open to some fresh ideas."

"That's amazing," I muttered. I felt looks towards my direction only to see Din, the child, and Cobb staring at me. "No, no, no I mean yes this is very bad. But imagine how long that thing has been down there. Its have to been ages. Maybe even before the Galactic Empire." Din just looked away from me and Cobb continued to stare at me as if I was crazy. "Anyways." I spoke before looking to see what the Tuskens were talking about as they were gathered around in a circle. I looked over their shoulders to see what I assumed to be their game plan.

"What are the bones?"

"That's the krayt dragon," Din answered Cobb.

"And those little rocks?"

"That's us."

"Sounds pretty accurate." I said nodding my head in agreement.

"It's not to scale," Cobb disagreed.

"I'm sorry, were we looking at the same krayt dragon?"

"It can't be. That's too big." Cobb said causing the Tuskens speak in their language. A couple of seconds in Din did a couple more hand signals before speaking.

"It's to scale."

"I've only seen its head and neck. It's bigger than I guessed. Might be time to rethink our arrangement."

I chuckled at Cobb comment, "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now. You're the one who wanted it gone. Makes me no difference if it's gone. But we will still be getting that Mandalorian armor, whether the krayt dragon is gone or not." I told Cobb before looking back at the Tusken's plan.