Star Wars_ Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina - Kevin J. Anderson [54]
Peeking through the gate at the exit from the audience chamber, the Chadra-Fan watched as clouds of smoke billowed. With each passing second, the pain in her pounding heart and straining lungs eased. Still no Muftak. Kabe glanced up the street, hearing the distant sounds of firefighters and water sellers converging on the Hutt’s town house from all directions.
Where in the name of the Force was Muftak?
Kabe winced at the sounds of more blaster fire from the audience chamber. Smoke darkened the night, obscuring the stars. The entire room must be ablaze … Muftak!
Grimly, the little Chadra-Fan realized that her friend had never intended to follow her. He’d given her the chance to escape at the price of his own life. Slowly, she picked up the two laden sacks. She’d be crazy to throw away the Talz’s last gift to her … Muftak wanted her to get away—with the loot.
Kabe took a step toward the gate on the other side of the garden, heading for the alley. Images flashed before her eyes, of herself, starving, whimpering in alleys, too weak to run, almost too weak to walk. Muftak had picked her up, tucked her under his arm, and carried her home to his den … had bought water for her, and food …
Kabe took another step …
The sacks slipped from the Chadra-Fan’s fingers, thudded to the sandy ground near the sculpture’s stone tail. Kabe kicked them viciously, knowing they wouldn’t last two seconds out here, no matter how she tried to conceal them. “Damn you, Muftak!” she squealed—
—and, turning, raced back into the audience chamber.
Chittering loudly, Kabe could pick up Muftak’s presence by his vibrations, even through the engulfing smoke. The Talz was still where she’d left him, but the room was now filled with advancing guards. Muftak was returning fire, but the power pak in his blaster was clearly running low—the beam flickered as she scuttled across the floor of the audience chamber.
Eyes watering, coughing as she tried to sense vibrations, Kabe picked up a shape in front of her. A Rodian. She leaped, fastening her sharp teeth in the guard’s leg. He shrieked, dropped his blaster and turned, trying to club her away with his fist. The Chadra-Fan let go, grabbed the blaster, and shot the guard at point-blank range. “Muftak!” she shrilled. “Come on! I’ll cover you!”
Somehow, despite the melee, he heard her. Kabe chittered wildly amid the chaos of smoke, flame, and scuttling bodies, and was rewarded with the sound of the Talz crawling out from behind the dais.
Crouching down, she made herself as small a target as possible, all the while firing wildly at anything moving. She could see Muftak; he was lumbering toward her, knocking aside guards as though they were children, using his enormous bulk to flatten anything in his path.
“Over here!” Kabe called. “The door!”
Muftak headed toward her—only to be confronted by two Gamorreans, grunting and squealing threats. Kabe took careful aim, and shot one in the back. His partner whirled toward her, and Muftak kicked him aside.
Suddenly a new voice called out. “Friend Talz! Friend Talz—stand away from the center of the room, please!”
Kabe glanced up, through the smoke, to see K-8LR leaning out of a window halfway up the wall of the dome. Muftak obeyed, changing the direction of his charge just in time to avoid a huge net that tumbled down from the apex of the dome, engulfing most of the guards.
Shrieks and squeals from the guards mingled with the savage hootings of kayven whistlers. The net heaved wildly.
One long stride later, Muftak reached the Chadra-Fan, scooped her up without pausing, then raced out the open door.
“Put me down!” Kabe squeaked, the moment they were clear of the town house. Quickly, she hurried over to the shadow of the statue, but, of course, the sacks were gone.