Star Wars: Confederacy Triumphant Ch. 03

With a black bladed sword, empowered with the dark gifts of the Nightsisters, the pale warrior spun with precision and sliced Teneniel across the stomach. Leia screamed out as she was thrown from her rancor to the ground. Dazed and face-down in the dirt, she picked up her head to see the horrifying mutant rancors tearing and biting at the Singing Mountain Clan's own loyal rancor steeds. The air was swirling around them in a vortex of malicious energy. Almost every side of the camp was now overrun with the pale riders of death.

Leia struggled to stand and ran towards Teneniel. Her lover knelt on the ground, holding her wounded gut as the pale servant of darkness raised his blade for a killing blow.

"No!" Leia screamed as she threw her hands forward. Without thinking a song, without using any words to conjure her power, Leia reached out and grabbed the air surrounding the pale warrior. She pushed it into him from all sides, using all of her concentration and mental strength. Clutching his chest, the pale man's eyes widened as his lungs suddenly ruptured from within. He fell over, instantly dead.

Running to Teneniel's side in the middle of the hellacious battle, Leia cradled her lover as Teneniel fell back into her arms.

"Please no..." Leia cried as she saw the blood pouring forth from the wound.

"Leia..." Teneniel whispered as her life faded. "Run..."

As the life went out of Teneniel's eyes, Leia looked up at the Singing Mountain encampment. All around her, the warrior women of her clan were fighting and dying at the hands and claws of these pale men and their twisted beasts. Rain pelted Leia's face as the storm all around her became ever more violent. The huts and dwellings of the camp were almost completely destroyed and the screams of dying rancors mixed with the agonizing cries of her clan sisters as their struggled in vain to hold back the tide of this unstoppable attack.

A survivors circle had begun to form around Leia, the Singing Mountain Clan struggling to hold together what was left of their numbers. Leia let her lover's body slide to the ground as she turned and ran towards Kirana Ti. The warrior-witch had rallied several of her clan-sisters into an attack, using their rancors as weapons to bring down one of the larger, mutated rancor attackers.

"Kirana!" Leia screamed as she ran next to the massive beast the woman rode upon. "We have to get out of here NOW!"

Kirana nodded in understanding to her leader and coaxed her rancor back from the fighting. Alongside her came a loping, rider-less rancor that had been the steed of one of her clan sisters, perhaps Ooya. Leia held back her grief as she signaled to the gentle creature, which lowered its massive claws down to Leia and carefully gripped her, carrying her up into the air and onto its back.

Kirana Ti rallied what was left of the Singing Mountain Clan around Leia as those at the rear fought valiantly to keep their attackers at bay. Leia could hear the cruel red lightening shooting forth once more and more anguished screams from her clan. Resolutely she turned her group to the south, the only direction not yet blocked by their enemies.

"Follow me!" She screamed as their rancors burst into a sprint, running for their lives, carrying the remnants of the once proud Singing Mountain Clan. A clan all but destroyed in a single night.

Leia fought back tears as she held tightly to her mount. The shrieks of the clan sisters who stayed behind to buy time for their escape echoed into the night.

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Two days later, it was daybreak. Leia sat dismally on the ground in a small clearing in the thick of the forest. The silence was as oppressive as the grey, overcast sky that drearily hung over the small remains of the Singing Mountain Clan. The warrior-witches and their rancors were exhausted after nearly endless pursuit through the forest for a day and a half. Leia had gotten the sense that their pale attackers, whoever they were, had actually enjoyed the sport of hunting down the last of her clan. Fortunately, they had managed to finally elude Baritha's cruel warriors in the thick of the forests.

Leia looked around her at the grim faces of her clan sisters. She had failed them all. She had failed to protect them. They had trusted her with their lives, and she had led them to this dismal end. It was almost more than she could bear to see them wounded and defeated all around her.

Suddenly a sound broke forth from the heavens. All the clan sisters and their remaining rancor steeds looked to the sky as a point of light suddenly descended towards them. Leia stood weakly and shielded her eyes as something descended. It was...a vessel of some kind.

The ship descended into the center of the clearing, touching down gently in front of the remains of the Singing Mountain Clan. The witches quickly shook off their awe at the bizarre craft and readied themselves for a final stand against whatever threat it represented.

"Stop!" Leia called out to her clan as she walked towards the small ship.

She sensed something. A presence she'd not felt since...

The landing ramp lowered and a hooded man walked forward purposefully. Throwing back his brown cloak, he looked upon Leia and smiled.

"Leia." He spoke serenely. "It's me. It's Luke."

Leia's eyes widened in shock. She knew this man. But only from her dreams.

"Luke?" she whispered.

"I'm your brother, Luke Skywalker." He continued. "I'm here to rescue you."