Princess Leia and the Merman, Part 8

Leia held onto the dogfish's fin as they followed the sharp currents through the castle. Luke went after Jasper and find out what his plans were. He'd meet them in the center of the maze. His sister gave him the sword from the Twin Sunset to keep him protected in the crystal caves.

The back door of the castle lead to what had once been a walled labyrinth. The old rocks were now crumbling, but she could still see the outline of the maze. Gold and silver trees and ivory coral was covered in lichen and kelp. Narrow stone arches lead the way around sharp quartz corners.

She fingered her necklace. The blue shell had been blinking for a while now. “Dogfish, please hurry! I have to find Han before the light in the shell goes out. I won't be able to breathe underwater anymore.”

Coral and rock walls became a blur as they sped past them, riding the fast-moving currents. Leia would have enjoyed the ride if she hadn't been so worried. What if they couldn't find Han in time? What if he was hurt? Maz did say Jabba had cast some kind of spell on him. What did she mean, he wasn't the merman she met at the ball? What had Jabba done to him?

They were swept right into a square-shaped garden that was surrounded by walls on all sides. “This must be the center of the maze!” It could be no other place. The gold and silver coral trees were enormous here. Beams of light made them sparkle like crystal. The seaweed and flowers draped around them gave them the appearance of land trees in the spring. Huge heaps of gold, jewels, armor, weapons, and coins lay on the ground before them. Flowers grew along the walls like vines; kelp resembled Spanish moss.

“Isn't it beautiful here?” She picked up a slightly tarnished shield. “This is our family crest. Two suns over the ocean.” A fingernail scratched lightly down the surface, scraping up sand and slime. “This is the missing treasure from the Twin Sunset!” Her brown eyes darted around, searching for her dogfish friend. “Dogfish? Where are you?”

His whimpers lead her to the very center of the maze. A rusted cage sat in the middle of the room on a stone pedestal. It's lock looked like it was only recently broken. “What is it, boy? What do you see?” The dogfish's nose perked up as he felt the currents change. Leia heard the breaking coral. Someone...or something...was coming for them.

“The Beast,” Leia breathed. She had just enough time to grab her knife before two long, sharp limbs enveloped her waist. A spiny tail wrapped around her legs. Absurdly long, sharp claws cut into her soft flesh. She finally gave the Beast's ribs a hard jab with her elbow, enough for him to let her go.

It was the ugliest thing she'd ever laid eyes on. She couldn't help her horrified gasp. Spines ran the length of its body, from the three-pronged tail to the two horns that sprouted from its jagged head. Its skin was a harsh mass of navy-blue ridges. The teeth were two rows of needles that could crush her head in an instant. Instead of hair, blood red tentacles waved in the currents.

What made Leia pause was its eyes. They were hazel with gold flecks, and to her surprise, very human and very sad. She knew those eyes. She kept her knife raised as the creature looked her over, as if trying to remember something...or decide where to stick his claws next.

“Who are you?” She held the sharp knife in front of her, jumping away from the claws that swiped at her face. “Where's Han? Where's your prisoner?”

The Beast lunged for her, trying to shove her away from the treasure. He covered as much of it as he could with his body, blocking it from her. “Tell me where Han is! He's the only treasure I really want.”

It looked up at her in surprise. “You thought I was after the treasure.” She lowered the knife. “I'm glad I found it, but it's not the reason I'm here. I came for the man...well, the merman...I love.”

The dogfish nudged the Beast with its nose. He sensed that this thing was familiar. It smelled like his good friend...but it didn't look like him. He let out a bark, hoping his friend would recognize it. The Beast ran his clawed, webbed hands down the spotted shark's back, his rigid, lipless mouth somehow twisting into a small smile.

“You...know him?” Leia finally lowered her knife. “Dogfish, is this your missing friend?”

The dogfish bobbed, the closest thing he could do to nodding, and threw his fins around the Beast. The monster returned the hug, leaning into the happy shark. She swam over to them, her own brown eyes wide with amazement. “I thought...I guess I assumed your friend was a merman.”

A clawed finger gently touched her cheek. “I won't hurt you, if you don't hurt us.” The Beast threw his body over the chests of gold and jewels again. “I don't know what Jabba told you, but that isn't yours.” She joined him on the pile of coins. “You know,” she said, “you're awfully quiet, for a Beast. I thought you'd roar, or growl, or something.”

The Beast gently touched his throat. He'd tried, but he couldn't make any noise. He opened the toothy mouth, but nothing emerged. The expression on his face when he realized his voice failed him...he looked so lost, so heartbroken. So much like the last time she'd seen Han, when Jabba locked the chain on his collar. The Beast wore a similar collar, a heavy gold circle around his thick neck. There was a chain on his collar as well, dragging behind him. He clutched his head, his face a mask of pain.

“That collar...I know that collar. It's the same one Han and Luke wear. You're a slave, like them.” The dogfish rubbed his side. Leia put her hand against his. “We're...we're not so different, you and me. I'm just a little smaller than you are, that's all. It doesn't matter what you look like.”

His claws gently moved up her neck, trailing down her cheeks. “I want to help you.” The dogfish patted his tail. “We both do. My friend likes you...and that makes you my friend, too.”

Hazel eyes gazed down at the dogfish, then at Leia. He swam back and forth between the treasure and the human girl, his claws outstretched but unsteady. He didn't know what to do.

“Little Beauty!” Leia looked up just in time to see Jasper, now fatter and more wrinkled, dragging Luke into the center garden. He held the silver and blue Skywalker sword to her brother's throat. “I found another treasure I think you'll be interested in outside in the maze.” He growled at the Beast. “Well, stupid, what are you waiting for? Slash her to ribbons! Why do you think you have those claws?”

“I knew there was something wrong with you.” She reached for her knife. “Let Luke go, or I'm going to find out if mermen have a soft underbelly like crabs.”

“He's still my slave, Little Beauty.” His long fingers stroked Luke's chest. “And a very pretty one, too. I wouldn't have made him one of the house slaves if he wasn't so well-known.” He wore a belt of glass beads, a lavender ruffled shell, and an enormous pale orange conch shell. “The purple one is where I keep Solo's voice when he's underwater. The conch has the souls of every human I've had lured down here. Most of them are dead now, but some members of his crew are still making excellent waiters at my ship.”

“Leia!” Luke kicked as hard as he could. “Get to the surface! Go get Father!”

“I'm not leaving you, or any of you!” Leia held the knife level with Jasper's neck. “Where's Han Solo? You said he was a prisoner in the center!”

Her eyes widened at the familiar booming laughter. “That's rich! You humans think you know everything. The trouble with you is, you only see with your eyes.”

Boba Fett emerged from a silver coral tree, his mechanical trident raised. “Want me to kill her, boss?”

“No.” Jasper shoved Luke at the shark man. “Take care of the prince. I'll deal with the Beast and the girl myself.” Leia couldn't believe she'd even considered the merman to be handsome. His face was twisted into a hideous leer. Lengthy fingers clutched a red glass bottle. “Now, dear girl, I just need to get you to drink this, and your soul will be mine. Just like your brother's.”

“Never!” She lunged at him, her knife drawn. “I'll never let you have my soul!”

He grabbed a gold knife from the pile of treasures and aimed for her side. She just got out of his way in time. The knife left a tear in her sea-green gown. The two tussled, wrestling each other to the sandy floor. “Beast,” he snarled, “you damn moron, get her off me! I can't get her soul while she's on top!”

Leia held her breath when the Beast yanked her away from him, his claws around her waist. She lay on the pile of coins where he dropped her, certain that her soul was as good as gone. Instead, the Beast stabbed his claws into Jasper's side. The golden merman screamed and sagged into the sand. He held his bleeding, wrinkled side, his bulging yellow eyes glaring poison daggers at the creature that turned on him.

“Beast!” She hurried to his side, Luke following. “You saved me” He gave her another small smile, drawing her face into his hands. “I think...I know.” The princess threw her arms around him, ignoring the ridges cutting into her skin. “Thank you...Han.”

They were going to kiss when Han suddenly reared back, a knife embedded deeply in his side. Jasper was looking fatter and more bloated by the minute. His deep laugh filled the coral garden. “You had your last chance to be useful, Beast, and you blew it. Did you honestly think she could want an ugly dimwit like you, when she had someone like me?”

“No!” Leia screamed at the top of her lungs – at least as well as she could underwater – but Fett blocked her from the duo. “Get out of my way, you overgrown bait! You don't want to see what I can do when I'm mad!”

“I'm shaking.” The shark man jabbed her with his mechanical trident. “My boss said he had something to give you. I think you'd better take it now.”

“That's what you think, buddy!” A knife sliced through the water, hacking the end off of Fett's trident. Lando swam gracefully towards them, sending Fett into the coral with a fierce kick. His cape flowed around his slender brown body like waves on the shore. “I'd believe this lady when she says you don't want to upset her. It's not a good idea to upset a princess.” Fett yanked at his arms, but Lando kicked out. The two ended up grappling, tumbling over and over in the water.

Jasper...or Jabba...was breathing heavily. “You're too late!” He held out the red bottle. “Her soul is already as good as mine. Just like her brother's...ow!” The dogfish clamped down on Jasper's hand. The moment the bloated merman-slug lost the bottle, the shark grabbed it with a flipper, quickly floating it on a current to Leia, who grabbed it the moment it went past her. “Damn you, Chewbacca!” Jabba snarled. “If I get teeth marks, you and Solo are paying for my medical bills!”

Luke yanked the belt off Jabba's waist, both shells falling into his hands. He handed the lavender one to Leia. “I think you should have the honor of breaking this one.”

“Likewise,” she handed him the conch shell, “this is yours.”

They swam as one to the wall on the side of the center garden. Lando, Fett, and Jabba all looked up...in time to see the twins swing the shells against the wall, shattering both into a thousand pieces.

“NOOOO!” Jabba screamed and bellowed, but he couldn't stop the white light from leaving his larynx and entering the Beast's. His voice became deeper and more of a growl as Beast coughed and sputtered. Chewbacca nudged him, whimpering.

Hundreds of blood-red lights escaped from the conch shell. One streamed into Luke's chest. It pushed him back into the wall briefly, his blue eyes pained. Leia put her arms around him. “Luke? Luke, are you all right?”

He looked up at her...and there was a light in his bottomless blue eyes that she hadn't seen since the day she said good-bye to him on the Naval docks. “I'm better than all right, Leia.” He hugged her. “I'm not a slave anymore. I'm great!” She hugged him back as hard as she could.

Jabba gasped, still holding his side. The magic had been slowly fading. He was fleshy and wrinkled, more like his former sea-slug self than a merman. “You're too late, Princess. You may have saved your brother, but Solo's about to become seafoam!”

“You...you bastard!” Leia grabbed the chain from around her shoulder. “Han's not a monster! You are!” She swung the chains around his thick neck, just as she'd done in the ruined dining hall. It was harder to strangle him when his neck was fatter, but he also moved slower. She strained with all her might at the creature, not stopping until his eyes closed and his tongue flopped out of his rubbery mouth.

The twins both glided to Han at the same time, Luke to one side, Leia to the other. Chewbacca stuffed sea flowers under his head to give him a soft place to rest. “Good work, Leia,” Han croaked, “Your Worship...I'm a siren...I lure humans to the water...got Luke. Jabba had me over a boulder...had Chewie...I lost his shipment...had to trade my voice for legs to pay him. I could only... talk to...get you. Human souls live forever. Merfolk...become foam.” He shook his head. “But I couldn't...hurt you...not ever...”

“Shh.” She took his misshapen head on her lap. Luke held his hand. Chewbacca licked his cheek. “Please don't leave me. Don't leave us. You can't.” Her arms wrapped tenderly around him. “I love you.”

He gave her one last tiny cocky grin. “I know.”

Even as she kissed him, his eyelids closed. She held him tighter, not caring that his ridged skin was cutting into her arms, her body wracked with great, heaving sobs. She wouldn't let him fade away. Luke put his arms comfortingly around his sister. Chewbacca leaned into her, letting out a mournful growl.

Lando left Boba Fett on the ground, a trident through his stomach. He went to Leia, putting his arms around her shoulders. “I'm sorry,” he said gently. As Leia sobbed, the last light in her shell necklace went out.

Chewbacca was the first one to see the sea foam gathering around Han. He nudged Leia and pointed with his fin. Luke saw it, too. “Uh, sis.” He shook her arm. “You might want to open your eyes. There's something really strange going on.”

Foam swirled around Han...but it wasn't consuming him. It was transforming him. His claws shortened, became human fingers. The tail lost its spines, the back its ridges. Needle-like teeth became smaller and rounded. His horns vanished. The tentacles softened into unruly auburn hair.

“Han?” Leia gasped. “It's you!”

“Yeah, Your Worship.” He stared at his hands, then his tail in shock. “I'm alive. I'm not seafoam.” He threw his arms around her. “I'm alive! I'm ok!” She yanked him into another, more passionate kiss.

Chewbacca managed to hug them both with his flippers. Han hugged his friend back. “Thanks for coming for me, old pal.” He looked up at Leia and Luke. “You two, both of you. I owe you one.”

Luke was turning a slight shade of purple. “This is great, but we can't stay down here. I'm not under Jabba's spell anymore. I can't breathe!”

Lando nodded. “We have to go. King Anakin's fleet is on the surface, waiting for you, but I don't know for how much longer. There's another storm brewing” He put an arm around Luke. “So, what's your story? I heard you were lost at sea.”

“I was.” Luke grinned at his sister. “Leia found me.”

Leia held onto Han hard. “I won't leave you.”

“Your Worship, I'm not like you. I wish I was. I'd give anything...” He shook his head. “Go to the surface. You belong there, with your family.” He held out the same oilskin bag he'd had at the ball. “This is what I stole from your dad. Tell him there's a ton more where that came from in the coral garden just outside of the ruin of the original Nabarrie Castle.”

She frowned. “And you?”

“I'm a merman.” His cocky grin emerged. “I belong wherever the currents take me. I'm not going to raid shipwrecks or lure humans to their death anymore, if that's what you're worried about.”

The human girl was having a hard time holding her breath. Han put his arms around her. “Come on. I know a shortcut to the land.”

She grabbed Chewbacca's fin, and they swam across the ocean. The water felt warm and comforting at first. She kept one hand on Chewie's fin, and the other in Han's. Fish swam by them, waving their fins. The mound of living coral waved one tentacle, then went back to sleep. Even the giant squid bobbed at them, almost inking himself as they nearly knocked him into a ditch.

The closer they got to land, the more difficult the currents became to navigate. She was having a tough time holding onto Chewie's fin. Han squeezed her hand harder. “Hold on, Your Worship. We're goin' for a ride!”

The currents battered and tossed them to and fro, trying to push her away from the dogfish and the merman. Leia's human fingers weren't meant to deal with fast-moving undertows. Her hands slipped from Chewie's fin, the undertow drawing her back. She gasped, trying hard to hold her breath and fight the currents.

“Leia!” Han's sleek navy tail shot through the currents. “Take my hand! You rescued me, and I'm sure as hell ain't gonna let you die!”

She grabbed his hand, holding on for dear life as they sped past ship wrecks and reefs and coral mounds. “I can't hold on much longer!” she panted.

Within seconds, a vicious current wrenched her from Han's grasp. “Leia! NO!”

“HAN!” She tried to swim for it, but she needed air. Her lungs felt like they would burst. The riptide held her in its clutches. Delicate legs trashed in the currents, but were too weak to go anywhere. “Tell Luke...I love him...Han...”

Darkness claimed her as the swirling waters dragged her down...down...

The last thing she remembered was a feeling she was floating...something around her waist was taking her to the light. Maybe she'd finally meet her mother, or her grandmother, her father's beloved late mother. Take me to the light...

~*~*~*~*~*~

Her fingers touched sand, wet, grainy sand. There's sand in heaven? Something sharp poked her elbow. She moved it, hearing a little splash. Her breathing was greedy, heavy. She gulped air like child drinking chocolate milk. Gentle fingers ran through her long, salt-dried hair. A soothing male voice sang a Naboo sea shanty. It sounded like a choir of angels to her.

“Leia!” Voices cut through the salty air. Lips pressed an intense, heartbroken kiss on her vibrant red mouth, before her eyes fluttered open. She saw two heartbroken hazel eyes and the sun glinting off a red and navy tail before it dove into the ocean.

“Sis!” Luke and Lando hurried over. They were both dry now, but otherwise looked as they had when she'd last seen them. “What happened? We thought you were following us!”

Her eyes slid towards the water. “Han took me home. We got caught in the undertow, but he...he must have gotten me to safety, somehow.”

Lando made a face. “Han? The thief?”

“Not anymore.” She handed the oilskin bag around her shoulder to Luke. “This is what Han stole at the ball. He gave it back.”

Luke and Lando put their arms around her. “Come on, sis. I've already talked to Father. He's worried to death about you!”

She gave him a shaky grin. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you turned up alive.”

Luke graced her with one of his sunny smiles in return. “He nearly passed out when I hugged him.”

The two men lifted Leia to her feet. “Come on, Your Highness.” Lando grinned smoothly at her. “Let's get you home.”