Star Wars_ Episode VI_ Return of the Jedi - James Kahn [10]
Leia’s hand shot up to her mouth.
“What is it?” Han pressed her. Something obviously was terribly wrong. He stared into his own blackness.
An obscene cackle rose from the other side of the alcove. A Huttese cackle.
Han held his head, closed his eyes again, as if to keep away the inevitable for just one more moment. “I know that laugh.”
The curtain on the far side was suddenly drawn open. There sat Jabba, Ishi Tib, Bib, Boba, and several guards. They all laughed, kept laughing, laughed to punish.
“My, my, what a touching sight,” Jabba purred. “Han, my boy, your taste in companions has improved, even if your luck has not.”
Even blind, Solo could slide into smooth talk easier than a spice-eater. “Listen, Jabba, I was on my way back to pay you when I got a little side-tracked. Now I know we’ve had our differences, but I’m sure we can work this out …”
This time Jabba genuinely chuckled. “It’s too late for that, Solo. You may have been the best smuggler in the business, but now you’re Bantha fodder.” He cut short his smile and gestured to his guards. “Take him.”
Guards grabbed Leia and Han. They dragged the Corellian pirate off, while Leia continued struggling where she was.
“I will decide how to kill him later,” Jabba muttered.
“I’ll pay you triple,” Solo called out. “Jabba, you’re throwing away a fortune. Don’t be a fool.” Then he was gone.
From the rank of guards, Lando quickly moved forward, took hold of Leia, and attempted to lead her away.
Jabba stopped them. “Wait! Bring her to me.”
Lando and Leia halted in mid-stride. Lando looked tense, uncertain what to do. It wasn’t quite time to move yet. The odds still weren’t just right. He knew he was the ace-in-the-hole, and an ace-in-the-hole was something you had to know how to play to win.
“I’ll be all right,” Leia whispered.
“I’m not so sure,” he replied. But the moment was past; there was nothing else to be done now. He and Ishi Tib, the Birdlizard, dragged the young princess to Jabba.
Threepio, who’d been watching everything from his place behind Jabba, could watch no more. He turned away in dread.
Leia, on the other hand, stood tall before the loathsome monarch. Her anger ran high. With all the galaxy at war, for her to be detained on this dustball of a planet by this petty scumdealer was more outrageous than she could tolerate. Still, she kept her voice calm; for she was, in the end, a princess. “We have powerful friends Jabba. You will soon regret this …”
“I’m sure, I’m sure,” the old gangster rumbled with glee, “but in the meantime, I will thoroughly enjoy the pleasure of your company.”
He pulled her eagerly to him until their faces were mere inches apart, her belly pressed to his oily snake skin. She thought about killing him outright, then and there. But she held her ire in check, since the rest of these vermin might have killed her before she could escape with Han. Better odds were sure to come later. So she swallowed hard and, for the time being, put up with this slimepot as best she could.
Threepio peeked out momentarily, then immediately withdrew again. “Oh no, I can’t watch.”
Foul beast that he was, Jabba poked his fat, dripping tongue out to the princess, and slopped a beastly kiss squarely on her mouth.
Han was thrown roughly into the dungeon cell; the door crashed shut behind him. He fell to the floor in the darkness, then picked himself up and sat against the wall. After a few moments of pounding the ground with his fist, he quieted down and tried to organize his thoughts.
Darkness. Well, blast it, blind is blind. No use wishing for moondew on a meteorite. Only it was so frustrating, coming out of deep-freeze like that, saved by the one person who …
Leia! The star captain’s stomach dropped at the thought of what must be happening