Princess Leia and the Merman, Part 3

Lando did treat Leia well once she was on-board. His manservant Laurence brought her lunch and a change of clothing, a brown jacket and trousers and white shirt from a short sailor that were only a little baggy on her. She pulled her hair into a simple braid that swished across her back.

“You are truly beautiful,” the Baron insisted when she joined them on-deck. “Even in trousers. You belong with us in Bespin, where the mountains touch the clouds.” He gave her hand another kiss.

“Thank you, Baron. I appreciate your kindness and your compliment.” Though she spoke to him, her eyes were roaming out over the water.

Lando tied down some rigging. “We should be there any minute. We're making good time.” He looked up at the rapidly darkening clouds. “It's a good thing you're doing this now. As soon as you get off, we'll have to return to land. I don't like the look of that storm.”

A puffed-up older man in a green and gray plaid officer's uniform harrumphed from behind the ship's wheel. “I can't believe you're doing this, Baron. On a day with weather that could break out into thunder and lightning any minute!” He pointed at Leia. “You, girl! Fetch my lunch. It's on the silver tray in the galley. I'll have to eat it up here, I suppose.”

“I can do it, Leia.” Lando clapped him on the shoulder. “We'll eat together, Admiral Ashton.”

“No, I'll do it.” Leia gritted her teeth, but she did retrieve the demanded meal. It was more difficult to get it upstairs. The ocean was becoming more choppy, with waves bobbing the yacht up and down like a toy boat. She barely managed to get it to a barrel before it slipped and dropped on the deck.

“Look at what you've done!” A skinny finger lifted in Leia's direction. “Your lordship, that woman is an idiot! What is she doing on this ship? A boat is no place for a woman.”

Lando was already helping Leia clean up the mess. “She's the reason we're here, Admiral.”

The look the admiral gave her was pure shock. “Are you insane, young lady? Coming out in this storm?”

“No, I'm not insane!” Leia threw the tray on the barrel and went right up to the man's face. “And I'm not an idiot! I didn't have to bring you lunch. You could have let someone else take the wheel while you got your own damn lunch. I'm not your maid. I'm here to help a friend who was kidnapped by a war...a crime lord. I am Princess Leia of Naboo, and I have no time for your ignorance!”

Lando applauded while the Admiral sputtered. “Thank you, Your Highness. Admiral, you may take the rest of your lunch down below. I'll be driving from here on in.” He handed the older man the tray and gently pushed him towards the door to the staterooms.

Leia was already looking towards the sea. “Leia,” Lando began, “I'm sorry about the Admiral. I don't think he ever got used to taking orders instead of giving them. He retired last year, and no one knows ships better than he does. He's just cranky in his old age.”

Her eyes were still focused on the horizon. “I don't take orders well myself. Men like him are the reason I'm stuck dancing in fancy gowns instead of doing something worthwhile, like fighting pirates or rescuing shipwrecked sailors.”

“Well,” Lando added, “at least you won't have to deal with him for much longer. We're coming up on the reefs.”

The coral reefs extended for miles across the waters. The deceptively delicate white ridges could tear a boat's bottom to splinters in minutes. Most boats that came to Naboo knew how to avoid them, but during storms or at night, it was easier to be tossed into their jagged embrace.

The Baron slowed the boat as close to the reefs as he dared. He and Leia threw the rope ladder over the side. “What am I going to tell King Anakin?”

“Tell him I went after a friend. I'll explain the rest when I return.” The young woman nodded at the sun. “I should be back here in exactly twenty-four hours with Han. Hopefully, you'll have two people to treat to biscuits and cheese on the way home.”

“Are you sure about this?” Lando watched as she went over the side and down the rope. “You say you've only known this Han a few days.”

“He did me a favor by not turning me over to his boss.” She gave him a small smile. “I'm doing one for him in return.”

“But...” It was too late. Leia had already dropped into the clear turquoise waters. He sighed. “Good luck, Your Highness. I hope you find what you're looking for.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The world beneath the coral was spectacular. As Leia dove deeper and deeper, so many amazing varieties of fish and plant life swam before her. She barely paid them any mind. She had one thought now – to find Han and rescue him somehow from Jabba's clutches.

The ship's graveyard was the home to many wrecks in various state of decay, from ones still recognizable to old vessels so sunk in the mud and covered in seaweed, they were more driftwood than ship. Jabba's home was one of the newer ones, the largest in the entire graveyard.

Two more of Jabba's shark men guards greeted her at the door. They were different than the bounty hunters who captured Han. Their tails were spinier, their muscles larger. The princess didn't stop to check if they had teeth like sharks as well. She wordlessly followed them through the winding, still richly-decorated halls.

Jabba's throne room was in the captain's cabin. The bed had been made over into a gilded lounge to hold the weight of the corpulent slug warlock. Bizarre creatures brought him seaweed and red kelp. Their bodies somewhat resembled humans, but they were so coated with slime, mud, and seaweed, she couldn't really tell what they were. They all had collars around their necks like Han's. Two mermen with spiny tails and long, heavy iron tridents floated on either side.

Leia swam in Jabba's face. “Where's Han? What have you done with him?”

The warlock slug indicated the plates of various seaweed and shellfish being served. “Have a seat, Your Highness. Enjoy a meal.”

“I don't want to eat. I want Han back. I want to avenge my brother. You're the one creating these storms, aren't you? The ones that are destroying our ships and our treasury.” Her voice rose to a thunder crack. “The ones that killed Luke and his crew!”

Jabba shoved almost the entire plate of seaweed wraps in his mouth. “Really, girl, you have very bad manners. You're supposed to eat with the host.”

Leia glared at his fat arms shoving every bit of food in reach in his mouth. “You're not exactly one to talk. You have the table manners of a fat spoiled five-year-old.”

One of the slave-creatures brought Jabba another plate of seaweed wraps. “I didn't invite you here to insult me.”

She gave him a wicked grin Han would have loved. “Where do you want me to do it?”

“Ahh, Little Beauty, very amusing.” He let out one of his hoots. “A jest at my expense. You're a clever girl with a strong soul.” One of the sausage arms extended towards the reefs. “I think you'll do well in the maze.”

“I was told about your maze.” One small fist clenched. “You have Han there. You will release him at once!”

One of the slaves brought Jabba a piece of treated parchment and a fish spine with squid ink on its tip. “Before I return your beloved merman to you, I want you to perform a task for me.”

“Name it.”

He indicated the reefs outside. “Find your heart's desire at the center of the maze. It won't be easy. It's guarded by the Beast, who's holding Solo prisoner.”

Leia frowned. “The Beast?”

“The Beast is the keeper of the maze. A monster who protects the treasures in the center.” Jabba slurped a whole bed of seaweed another slave brought before him. “If you can kill the Beast and find Solo, you can both go free, and I'll return your father's treasures. If you're unable to, or if you die in the maze, your immortal soul is forfeit to me. You'll become my servant, like these lovelies here.” He stroked the arm of a small, slender being that was oddly familiar to Leia. His appendages looked more like legs than fins. She thought she spied a hint of sandy gold flowing around his head. It was hard to tell, with all the slime on it...

“What about Han?” She couldn't take her eyes off the slave. “Have you already taken his soul?”

Jabba's ho-hos and ha-has were even louder in the water. “Didn't you know, Little Beauty? Merfolk have no souls. When they die, they turn into foam on the waves. Had Solo done what I ordered him to, he would have earned a soul. I can't imagine why you're interested in someone like him anyway, when you could have, say, someone like me.” He sighed noisily. “I suppose there's no accounting for human taste.”

“If I get through this maze,” she said, ignoring his crack, “you have to make Han human, body and soul.”

“And if you fail to find your way through the maze,” Jabba's wide lips turned up in a hideous sneer, “I take yours.”

Leia nodded. “Agreed.”

“Good.” She wrote her name on the bottom of the parchment. The slug warlock handed it to one of the slaves. Two slaves brought what looked to Leia like a giant pearl on a gold base. Jabba rubbed his slimy hand over the lustrous gem. “I'll be keeping an eye on you through my favorite pearl. If you even look like you're even remotely trapped or confused, my court and I will know.”

“My lieutenant Boba Fett will lead you to the maze entrance.” The shark man wore a heavy visor of tarnished armor that made it impossible to see his face...but there was something cruel in the tilt of his head, the way he held his trident at the ready.

“I can lead myself.” She pulled her arm away and followed him out one of the portholes. She swore she saw one of the slaves, the one with the bit of sandy yellow under the slime, duck down a hallway and out a window.

Leia turned so quickly, she didn't see Jabba nod at one of his men, a merman wrapped in old sail cloth that gave him the look of a fish mummy. The creature swam quickly out the window on the other side of the throne room.

As Boba Fett lead Leia to the maze entrance, the sea slug slid off his throne and into a secret room behind his shelf of magic potions. A pair of keen hazel eyes followed him in the inky darkness. “The girl is here. You must destroy her. She will try to take your treasure.”

The spike-covered navy tail swung at the lock. Jabba reached out and stroked the sharp, ridged back, calming the grotesque creature. “Stop trying to break out. You won't get to her in time.” He snorted. “Did you think she could love you? She never wanted you. She wanted her father's money.” The sunken chin, with its crooked scar, bobbed in agreement, even as heartbreak filled the hazel eyes.

“The only way for you to become a merman again is for her tell her she loves you and to give you one of those sappy kisses humans seem to enjoy. If she declares her love to another, you'll remain a Beast and my slave until the end of your days.” The sea slug hooted so loudly, he nearly fell into his potion shelves. “Face it. You're stuck that way. How could anyone love a monster?”

Jabba threw a glowing net over the cage. After a few minutes, the bell shape under it vanished. “You will reappear in the center of the maze, my pet.” He hooted. “Little Beauty will never suspect in a million reefs that instead of rescuing her heart's desire, she's killing it!”