Princess Leia and the Merman, Part 4

The beginning of the maze was little more than the opening of a cave covered in red and green lichen. Most of the court, including Boba Fett and several of the slaves, watched as she swam into its depths. The crystal was beautiful, glowing purple and soft in the daylight. She followed the walls to the end of the wall. She was trying to find a way out, when she noticed several fish swimming upwards. The princess followed them through a hole in the cave's ceiling.

It took her into the most beautiful aquatic garden she'd ever seen. Rows of sea lilies waved in the turquoise waters. Stunning purple and gold flowers blossomed from delicate, powdery coral fingers. Walls of sea grasses surrounded her. Some of the coral grew as big as trees, with enormous flowers that brushed against her cheek.

She was quite enjoying herself when she came to a section where two paths branched off. One path was beautiful, well-lit and colorful, passing under rows of white and red coral. The other was dark and murky, going past a formation of granite rocks that didn't look stable. The lit path was safe...but there was something drawing her to the rocks...

“Follow the darkness.” The voice was scratchy and low, but...she knew it. “Follow my lead.”

Leia spun around. “Who said that?”

“I did.” Fingers, slender pale appendages, reached out of the rocks. “Come this way. It's safe.” Slime flowed off of them in tiny rivulets of dark green as they beckoned to Leia. She followed them, wondering, watching. Her smaller hands tried to reach for the green ones, but they danced away.

“Who are you?” she asked. A diminutive figure, all mucky green and brown seaweed and sludge, waved at her to follow before vanishing into the rocks. “Your voice...I know that voice.”

“I won't hurt you.” Two mucky green legs kicked out. “You must come.”

The young woman swam after the servant. It was the one with the sandy hair at Jabba's ship. She was certain of it. “Hello?” she called as she wound her way through the granite. “Is anyone there?” Darkness enveloped her. She touched the rough walls, feeling her way down.

Her fingers finally hit smaller rocks that wobbled. Heavy piles of rocks extended to the narrow ceiling. She could see more garden through the cracks. “Well, this is just great. How am I going to get through this?” She sighed. “I guess I don't have a choice.” Her fingers reached for the rocks, scraping them away.

There were a lot more rocks than she thought. “This is taking too long!” One of the shells in her necklace was already flickering. “I could be here all day if I keep on with this.”

Sounds carried longer in water. She'd just looked up as she moved a rock...to see a sail cloth-wrapped hand give the stones a good, hard shove. A flash of murky green yanked her arms, thrusting her backward into the muddy ground. The sound of stones over stones, though muffled by the water, still rang across the stone walls.

Leia sat up as the strange being moved her arms and legs, then his own, checking if anything was broken. “I'm ok.” She gave him a gentle smile. “Thank you for getting me out of there. That was very brave of you.”

His small fingers reached out and touched her cheek, as if trying to remember. Those eyes...they were blue, as blue as the sky above Naboo, blue as the ocean all around them. Blue eyes.... She took the hand, ignoring the ooze that was slowly melting away. “Tell me who you are! I know you! You're...”

The moment the shadow fell over them, the being broke away from her. He waved in her direction, indicating the light. She ducked away as another rock landed in her direction. “Would you stop that?” The trident just barely missed her left arm. “Ok, you're not friendly.” The young woman hurried over the rock barrier and into the light, following the figure just as more rocks landed in the spot she'd just vacated.

She looked down at her neck as she fled. The pink shell flickered, then faded out. “I have to get moving. I only have until tomorrow.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jabba watched the whole exchange through his pearl. He glared at the ball. “I gave a simple order.” His hand motioned to another guard, this one an upright-walking orange and green lizard in a diving suit. “Meet the Princess at the edge of the Garden of the Snapping Plants. Eliminate her, or at least keep her there as long as you can.” The lizard growled and snapped its jaws.

“Oh,” Jabba called, “one more thing. I know the slave who came to her aid. Get rid of him.”

The lizard nodded and swam off, picking up a metal spear on his way out. Jabba sighed and leaned against his throne-chair. “You just can't find good help these days.”Leia followed the figure through the cave, past several more turns, and into the light. Her heart thumped when she realized she knew where she was. The cave lead into another shipwreck. The vessel had once been a fine one, painted gold with the flaking emblems of two suns on the sides. The Twin Sunset, she realized in shock before she even read the name under the suns. She hoped Luke wasn't still here. She held out hope that Jabba had him somewhere whole, that he wasn't...gone, or turned into a sea cucumber, or crushed under rocks.

The figure stopped and looked around. His – or its – face was both indescribably sad...and gently hopeful. She followed his slime trail into the former navy vessel.

The back half of the wreck was torn to bits. Most of the barrels and crates had been destroyed, the rusted trunks stripped of their contents. There was no sign of her brother or his crew.

“I guess it was too much to hope.” She felt her brother here. He'd ordered everything stacked neatly, made sure it was all tied down and not moving around when a storm hit. He wouldn't be happy to see the way it looked now.

The rest of the rooms mostly looked like the hold. Anything of value, any rock or metal that could last for a while in sea water and bring a profit, had been taken away months ago. Most of the furnishings were in splinters. It broke her heart to see the beautiful ship her brother loved so much reduced to driftwood and a part of a warlock's insane labyrinth. She could barely keep up with the slime creature as he flitted from room to room.

She was about to go up to the deck when something caught her eye. Old Commander Benjamin Kenobi had given her brother the ship after he and his men secured the vessel from smugglers. It had many unusual hiding compartments. Some were wrenched open, probably found by Jabba's merfolk scavengers. They could not, however be expected to spot everything. The trail of slime lead under the door and to the book case.

The book case at the end of her brother's room was left untouched. She supposed books weren't of much interest to merfolk. Paper didn't last very long after it got wet. She was surprised to see that the books were in the wrong order. Luke liked an organized book shelf. She'd gotten into enough arguments with him about it when they were very little and shared a nursery at the palace. She didn't care how things were organized. He had to have everything just so.

“How would Luke do this?” Her fingers brushed against a copy of a textbook on naval military maneuvers, shoved in with the penny press thrillers her brother loved so much. The naval book went in on the shelf with Luke's books from his Navy schooling. The book of poetry they read as children went with the other poetry volumes, and the one on sea animals went with the aquatic plants and animals titles...

As she moved things around, she realized she was making a pattern. It was starting to look like an arrow. The last book at the tip of the arrow was a collection of their favorite fairy tales and folk stories, including “King Arthur” and “Cinderella.” The moment she moved that book, she heard something in the wall grind. The wall with the bookcase swung open.

Her legs kicked into darkness. As her eyes adjusted, they discovered a narrow, closet-like room. This must have been the pirates' hidden hold at one time. Luke must have turned it into a private sitting room. Along with another bookshelf, there was a table, a chair, a lamp, and several crates and long cases.

One case almost seemed to call to her. It was long, shallow wood trunk. The initials AS were carved into the wood over the lock. “What is this?” she wondered. “AS...Anakin Skywalker? Father?”

The trunk seemed to have been touched lately. The lock was broken and covered in slime. She pushed it open, revealing the most magnificent sword she'd ever seen. The shining steel blade glowed blue against the sapphires inset into the finely-engraved silver handle. There was a scabbard, too, made of soft leather.

“Luke must have been bringing this to Father when the storm hit.” She put the scabbard around her waist, then sheathed the sword. “I'll complete his mission. This was probably part of the treasure. I'll bet it's a family heirloom.” Her face turned back to the box. “But why did he hide it here? He didn't want anyone stealing it?” There was a small knife alongside it, sharp and golden.

Several leather cases were piled on top of each other in a corner. The first held a violin, the second, a trumpet. The third had a flute. “I can't take the violin and trumpet along. They're too much to carry.” She found a long piece of calico cloth that had once been part of the shredded quit on the bed. “At least I can say I brought three treasures back to Father.” The flute and the knife went into the cloth, which she tied on the belt.

There was nothing else to find in the remains of the ship. The merfolk smugglers and scavengers had done their jobs too well. Not a single gold coin or piece of jewelry could be found anywhere. The only thing left that hadn't been smashed and wasn't disintegrating was a sign pointing into a long wall of thick, mossy green sea grass. Her friend seemed to have vanished, too, his figure disappearing into the shadows.

Several left turns took her away from endless walls of thick green and into another colorful garden. The plants were larger here, and even more beautiful. Some of the flowers were the size of a horse. Spiny anemones and ridged white sea stars added more subtle shades of lavender and off-white to the rainbow of sunset reds, peaches, honey-gold, and luminous green. The flowers' wavy petals were hypnotic, drawing her into their grasp.

One flower in particular held her gaze firmly. The glowing red petals extended in all directions, stroking the muddy dark sand like a lover. Fish flowed around it, nudging it and watching its waving arms. The center was filled with pale-pink spines. Petals that flowed like blood caressed her cheeks, her legs, her arms. Watching the way the tentacles danced filled her with a strange sense of calm. The spines in the center beckoned her, glowing softly. She wanted to touch them...to see what they were like...

Teeth. They were like teeth. The teeth opened, revealing a hungry mouth that waited for its prey. Leia screamed and kicked at it. Her boot hit the side of its stem. It reared back, tentacles now bucking wildly. Two blue and gold fish, fairly large in size, were dragged into those spines. The sac devoured them whole, ignoring their squeals. It even managed to spit out the bones.

Leia screamed, reaching for her sword. The tentacle wrapped around her hand before she could grasp the hilt. The young princess struggled wildly as more pink and red limbs squeezed her wrists and ankles. The fiendish creature had a damn good grip for a flower. It hardly expected its prey to fight back.

Bits of tentacles landed on the ground. She thought she could almost hear it shriek through the waters. More plants waved tentacles and spines at her, trying to capture this very large lunch. To her horror, the bones of what were definitely merfolk stuck out through the sandy ocean floor.

Her strong legs moved fast – but the tentacles moved faster. No matter how many her sword and knife hacked away, three more seemed to take their place. She had to stop them at the source. Swiping at another flower, she paddled her way to the center of the largest. The moment its tentacles wrapped around her again, she stabbed it in the center. The tentacles flared and bucked for a brief moment, then fell down, lifeless.

As she caught her breath, she heard the sound of a...a fish? She didn't think most fish made noise. A whale? No, too high. Whales mostly had deeper voices. She followed the sound further into the garden, sometimes fighting off a tentacle or long petal that wrapped around her waist.

She finally came to the source of the noise towards the end of the wall of flowers. Vines and tentacles wrapped around a flat, brown-spotted shark. The poor thing struggled and bit at the vines, but that only made them wrap more tightly. Leia swam as fast as she could, cutting away the vines and tentacles. The shark did his bit, his sharp teeth snapping through vines like they were soft moss.

The moment the shark was free, they kicked off into the garden. Leia grabbed hold of his upper dorsal fin as he wound around the sea floor, ducking under tentacles and barking at any fish who came near him. He pulled into a quiet corner near a cluster of waving sea lilies.

“Are you ok?” She checked him all over, making sure the flower didn't crack any bones. He seemed all right. His fins were certainly in good shape. His fishy hugs nearly knocked her to the sandy floor! “Yeah, you're definitely all right.” The spotted shark nudged her side playfully. “You're a really sweet fellow, for a shark. How did you get caught back there?”

It took a lot of creative interpretation of fin signals, but she finally got the idea that he was looking for a friend who was lost in the maze. He became trapped in the tentacles the same way she did. He saw the wavy, colorful arms, and they hypnotized him until he was too bound with vines to escape. He was in her debt now, just as he was in his friend's debt.

“I could use your help.” She patted him on the back. “Jabba didn't say I couldn't have a friend with me. I don't know my way around this part of the Naboo Sea, never mind a maze! If you help me through the maze, I'll help you find your friend.”

She didn't know dogfish could grin. And she certainly didn't know they could give big, playful licks! The princess laughed, pushing him away. “Ok, ok, I like you, too.” She saw an entrance under a waving line of sea lilies. “Shall we move along?”

They were just about at the end of the garden when the dogfish stopped. She nearly swam into him. “What is it?” The shark let out a low growl and dropped to the floor, its tail out and teeth bared.

Leia barely swam away in time to avoid a long, sharp-tipped metal pole being thrown in her direction. The pole stuck in the coral in back of her. The creature that attacked her walked – or swam – upright like a human, but otherwise resembled a reptile, with a long snake-like snout and bumpy leather skin. The dogfish bit into his rear. He screamed and tried to shove it off.

The distraction gave her enough time to draw her sword. The lizard kicked the flat brown fish away and reached for his spear, just in time to see a flash of gold. She lunged for him, hoping to at least lead him away from her new friend. Her sword stabbed him in the wrist. He hissed and grabbed his hand, dropping the trident.

All three went for the spear at once, but Leia was agile and quick. She scooped the metal spear easily. The lizard looked even angrier now. He came at her, his clawed hands lifted, ready to strike...

He would have clawed Leia's face if a slime-covered body hadn't launched onto him. The dogfish grabbed hold of his tail. They both dragged him around, leading him under a small cave made from a mass of rocks. She grinned when she saw that the large stones on the bottom were loose. Her nimble fingers threw the spear at the heavy pile. He managed to throw the other two off long enough to avoid the smaller avalanche. The very last and largest stone finally hit him directly over the head, knocking him to the floor.

She quickly joined the other two, tossing the spear to the green-smeared slave. “Here. You'll need this.” The young woman started into the cave. The grungy slave was giving the dogfish very wary looks. Her spotted friend was more amused than upset. “Are you two coming, or what?” They finally followed her as they swam under the arbor of coral and flowers that lead into the next part of the maze.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jabba roared with anger as he and his men watched from the throne room back at the Alderaan. “You know,” Boba Fett adjusted his grip on his trident, “I could take care of that little problem right now, for the right price. Chewbacca, too. That's Solo's dogfish with her.”

“No, Fett.” Jabba's rubbery lips somehow formed a hideous sneer. “The next part is the Mound of Traps and Trickery. No one has ever made it out of those traps alive.” He patted Fett's arm. “You just can't improve on Mother Nature.”

Fett slid his arm out from under Jabba's. “And if she does make it out?”

Jabba's eyes turned to the pearl. “Then you can do what you want with her...but leave her soul to me.”

“As you wish."