Private One for the Road

[Rin Taal]

Muad's exaggerated answer brushed across the connection between them with all the subtlety of a thrown brick, and Rin's smile deepened despite herself. She had expected some response after reminding him that his thoughts were not nearly as private as he seemed to have momentarily believed, but the drawn-out denial carried such deliberate innocence that it almost earned a laugh. Almost. Rin merely turned her head away again, leaving him with the curve at the corner of her mouth and the knowledge that she had heard every bit of it.

His later thoughts proved considerably more interesting. Rin had already begun studying the meadow when the faint impression reached her through the connection they had neglected to close, something involving wet leather, the view afforded by following her steps, and the belated conclusion that perhaps he ought to be paying more attention to where they would be going. Her head turned slowly enough to make the movement deliberate, and although the dark glareshades concealed her golden eyes, there was no mistaking the amusement that returned to her expression. I can still hear you, she reminded him again, this time with considerably more warmth woven through the thought, before offering him no further rescue from his own mind. She found it did not actually bother her.

Instead, Rin returned her attention to the open ground ahead, where amusement gave way naturally to concentration. She and Muad still stood beneath the shelter of the ancient trees at the edge of the meadow, exactly where they had remained throughout their reconnaissance, while the boulder formation waited some distance beyond the long grass as an uneven darkness against an already lightless horizon. Its shape was softened by mist and obscured beneath the relentless curtain of rain, but Rin knew what lay within those stones now. Eight people still believed four sentries guarded the approaches to their camp. Six slept. Two remained awake. Their communications equipment offered the greatest immediate danger, and every moment she and Muad remained undiscovered preserved the advantage they had so carefully gained.

The storm was already helping them, and Rin became aware of that fact in a way that went beyond simply feeling rain against her skin or hearing wind bend the meadow grass. Weather had accompanied her across enough worlds that she had learned to recognize its temperament much as she recognized the moods of animals or the slow responses of growing things. This storm had been building long before she and Muad left the caravan and entered the forest. Warmth had risen from saturated earth into colder air, clouds had gathered until they could carry no more, and now the entire sky seemed engaged in the long release of everything it had accumulated. Rin had no desire to change what Batuu was already doing. She merely wanted it to continue long enough to carry them unseen across the exposed ground ahead.

Without leaving the treeline, Rin allowed her awareness to broaden beyond the immediate lives surrounding them. This communion was different from reaching toward the consciousness of a tree or touching the simpler mind of an animal. There was no singular awareness waiting to meet her, nothing that could understand a request or choose whether to accept it. Weather existed through relationships rather than thought, through heat and cold, pressure and moisture, earth and sky constantly moving against and through one another. To influence it required less conversation than listening, finding the innumerable currents already flowing through the world and understanding where the slightest touch might encourage what nature had already begun.

Rain struck leaves high above her and gathered until their burden spilled in heavy cascades. Beyond the canopy it fell uninterrupted across the meadow, silver only where the faintest ambient light found it before disappearing into blackness again. Rin felt the moisture hanging thick within the air, the colder currents passing overhead and the warmer breath rising from sodden ground beneath them. The storm possessed momentum enough of its own and needed no strength from her, only the gentlest encouragement to continue following the path it had already chosen.

Her influence entered those existing patterns so gradually that there was no single moment when the weather could truly be said to have changed. The rain simply remained heavy where it might otherwise have begun to soften, mist collecting a little more densely above the soaked meadow until it crept low among the long grasses and blurred the base of the distant boulders. Wind continued its restless passage across the open ground, bending vegetation in broad waves whose constant movement would make two additional shadows considerably more difficult to distinguish. Above them, the clouds remained thick enough to deny even the moons a path toward the earth.

Lightning presented a different problem. It was sudden and violent, born from tensions too immense to simply hold indefinitely, and trying to suppress it outright would mean fighting the storm rather than moving with it. Rin attempted nothing so foolish. Instead, she felt for the charged currents moving somewhere beyond the canopy and encouraged the storm's restlessness elsewhere, nudging what she could toward the distant horizon so that any eventual flash might illuminate faraway clouds rather than the meadow they needed to cross. She could not guarantee the sky would obey every preference she offered, nor would she have tried to impose such absolute control upon something so vast, but sometimes a subtle change in where tension gathered was enough.

Batuu owed her nothing, and Rin would never have presumed otherwise. She merely asked the night to remain what it already was for a little longer.

The answer, if it could be called one, came with a sudden gust through the canopy overhead. Leaves shuddered beneath the passing wind and released the water they had been carrying in a single heavy cascade that struck Rin squarely across the head and shoulders, adding an almost insulting amount of water to clothing and hair already saturated beyond any reasonable hope of becoming wetter. For several seconds, she simply stood beneath it while water streamed from her light hair, traveled along the frames of her glareshades, and gathered briefly at her chin before falling. Even her fingerless gloves were thoroughly soaked, the dark leather fitted closely over her hands while leaving her fingers exposed to the rain.

She heard Muad's poorly concealed amusement nearby, and the slow turn of Rin's head toward him carried such perfect composure that it might have been threatening if not for the unmistakable twitch at one corner of her mouth. Not a word, she warned through their connection, although there was absolutely no severity behind the thought. The fact that Batuu itself had apparently chosen that exact moment to dump half the canopy upon her was unfortunate enough without giving Muad permission to memorialize the event.

Her long amber tail had suffered equally beneath the weather, its rain-heavy fur lying considerably closer to its natural shape than when dry, but whatever private amusement Muad might derive from that particular indignity would have to remain inside his head. Which, Rin immediately remembered, was presently not private at all, and the realization nearly drew the smile she was attempting to suppress fully into view.

His answer came across their connection soon afterward. You're the guide. I'll stay close. Cloud cover from above hasn't diminished, so our approach shouldn't be illuminated unless there's a flash of lightning.

Rin tipped her face briefly toward the concealed sky, listening more than looking as she felt the storm continue moving above them. The mist was deepening where she wanted it, the rain showed no immediate sign of weakening, and whatever electrical tension she could sense remained distant enough that she was willing to trust the next several minutes.

It should hold.

She offered no explanation beyond that. Muad had already watched trees answer her touch, animals respond to her guidance, and an unseen creature lend her its senses across the meadow. Perhaps he would notice what she had done with the weather as well. Perhaps he would simply add it to the steadily expanding list of reasons he seemed determined to regard her as some variety of witch, a suspicion Rin imagined she would eventually hear about whether she asked to or not.

For now, what waited ahead demanded more than amusement. Rin allowed the wider communion with the storm to recede until only the gentlest thread of awareness remained, enough to notice if the weather began changing unexpectedly without dividing her attention from the task before them. Her world narrowed again to the wet earth beneath her boots, the rhythmic hiss of rain striking meadow grass, Muad beside her beneath the trees, and the distant boulders waiting beyond the open ground. The information borrowed from the little creature within those rocks remained vivid in her memory, assembled into a mental map that would guide their approach once they finally left the shelter of the forest. Eight soldiers remained within, two awake while six slept, and one communications unit possessed the ability to transform a silent elimination into a warning reaching whatever corvette waited somewhere beyond the clouds.

The communicator came first.

Rin studied the route across the meadow one final time before glancing toward Muad. His amused Yes, ma'am lingered freshly enough in her memory that the smallest curve returned to her lips, and the look she gave him through the rain-streaked lenses of her glareshades suggested she had heard considerably more than merely the thoughts he intentionally shared. There was no need to torment him about that yet. The open meadow still separated them from eight armed men, and whatever commentary she might eventually have regarding his appreciation of wet leather could wait until neither of them was in danger of being shot.

Stay close, she repeated, practical intent threaded through the lingering amusement. And try to keep your thoughts on the mission.

She allowed him precisely enough time to understand the reference before turning toward the meadow and moving forward, only then leaving the shelter of the treeline.

The full force of the storm met Rin the moment she emerged from beneath the canopy, rain striking without leaves to interrupt its descent and streaming immediately across the lenses of her glareshades. Long grass bowed beneath the combined weight of wind and water, rising and falling in broad dark waves that transformed the meadow into something almost fluid beneath the night. Rin did not take the most direct route toward the boulders. Instead, she angled into one of the shallow depressions she had identified earlier, choosing the lower ground where vegetation stood tallest and the mist gathered most heavily, allowing the landscape itself to dictate the safest path forward.

She moved with the weather rather than against it, advancing whenever stronger gusts sent ripples through the grass and slowing whenever the wind briefly eased. Her boots sought firmer patches of earth beneath the vegetation, avoiding standing water and the deepest mud wherever possible, while her tail remained low enough not to rise visibly above the grass behind her. The storm erased much of what little evidence they left almost as quickly as they created it, rain softening impressions in the earth and wind restoring disturbed vegetation until the meadow seemed reluctant to remember their passage at all.

Rin never needed to look back to know Muad remained close. Their still-open connection carried a quiet awareness of his presence behind and slightly to one side, while years spent traveling dangerous roads had taught her how to recognize another person adjusting naturally to her rhythm. He did not crowd her steps or force her to compensate for him. When she slowed, he slowed, and when she used the cover of a violent gust to cross a more exposed stretch, he moved with her until their passage became another fleeting disturbance swallowed almost immediately by the storm.

For a time they were little more than two additional movements among hundreds already occurring across the meadow. Wind bent the grass, rain disturbed the earth, mist drifted unpredictably through every hollow, and Rin and Muad passed among all three without asking the night to hide anything that nature was not already concealing.

The boulder formation gradually grew larger through the mist, not because visibility had improved but because the distance between them was steadily disappearing. What had once been little more than a jagged darkness against the horizon became great masses of wet stone rising above the meadow, their irregular surfaces disappearing upward into rain and shadow. Narrow gaps began revealing themselves exactly where Rin remembered seeing them through borrowed eyes, and somewhere beyond one of those passages waited the first wakeful soldier and the communications equipment that had to be silenced before anything else could begin.

Rin slowed well before they reached the stones themselves, using the final stretch of tall grass as concealment rather than surrendering the advantage of the meadow too soon. One hand rose in a silent signal as she lowered her profile among the rain-heavy vegetation and studied the approach ahead. They had crossed the exposed ground without being noticed, but from this point forward the nature of the hunt changed. Every meter brought them closer to ears capable of catching a misplaced footfall, eyes that might notice an unnatural shadow, and hands that could reach the communicator before either of them crossed the remaining distance.

Her thoughts brushed Muad's again, quieter now, the playful warmth of their earlier exchange settling beneath the colder concentration of what came next.

The communicator first. The awake one nearest it goes with it.

Along with the thought came a brief impression of what she remembered through the little creature's senses, enough to orient him toward the narrow approach that would bring them nearest the communications unit while keeping the bulk of the stones between them and most of the camp. The second wakeful soldier remained farther within the formation, separated enough from the first that a clean and silent opening might leave him unaware for several precious seconds.

Several seconds could be enough.

Rin remained still for another moment, listening to the storm and watching the darkness between the stones while rain gathered along the edge of her glareshades and fell in slow droplets into the grass below. Somewhere within those boulders, six people slept with no knowledge that the sentries meant to protect them would never sound an alarm. Two remained awake, unaware that the darkness surrounding their camp had already yielded its secrets.

A faint curve touched Rin's lips as she glanced toward Muad one final time, amusement somehow surviving beneath the concentration of the coming fight.

Let's finish this quietly.

Then Rin slipped forward through the rain-heavy grass toward the narrow darkness between the stones, with Batuu's storm holding the night around them and Muad close behind.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

The first impression was purposeful and deliberate. But when Rin slowly turned her head and cast a pointed look, eyes hidden behind the tinted glareshades, he got the impression that his internal appreciation of her figure had drifted beyond his mind. Her mental words confirmed his presumption. Most intelligent beings would find chastisement or a sense of shame filling them. Muad merely shrugged and grinned wider, unapologetic that he was caught acknowledging the pleasing sight that was before him. Then there was the fact that while his thoughts were clear to her mind, her own were equally transparent. She didn't mind, and he felt her bemused state.

Both their attentions returned to the objective at hand: the boulders where enemy combatants waited. Six were asleep and two awake while the communication device resided within a narrow cleft in the stone. Their concern was not for the looming battle but for whether one of the alert soldiers would manage to send a message. That would be counterproductive to their cause and lent a measure of keen awareness to their actions. The device must not be activated, and that meant the two closest would need to be dealt with first.

As his thoughts dwelt on the concerning issue, Muad once again became aware of Rin's stillness. For what felt like the hundredth time, he felt her communion with the Force as she sought not to direct or command but to influence external events. His focus followed the tendrils of her consciousness, expecting yet more creatures or nonsentient life forms to be her ever goal. However, what he found was significantly more impressive.

Weather manipulation.

For most Force sensitives, this act was beyond their comprehension and understanding. Telekinesis could assist with controlling certain aspects of a storm, but such frivolous endeavors rarely swayed the grand scheme of nature. Instead, it took knowledge and understanding of how weather transcended a simple breeze and a covering of clouds into the dark, tumultuous force that lay pregnant with power, water, and raw will. Just like anything, it all boiled down to one simple concept—the allocation and distribution of energy. Charge a group of molecules, agitate a cluster of nuclei, reverse the magnetic polarity, and you could alter anything.

However, she was working on a much grander scale with a force of nature who followed the will, whim, and temperaments of unseen laws and attributes local to this specific biosphere. Each planet's ecosystems were fundamentally the same and yet radically distinct. The basic principles of how to exert influence over a weather phenomenon could, in theory, work on every planet. But he had personally seen this was not always the case.

For him, it would have probably worked despite not being familiar with the small intricacies that made this planet unique from others. However, the subtle distinctions and individuality of Batuu would have required brute force, as he was not informed of the exclusive parameters of weather patterns native here. Simple complications could come from reverse polarities, added elements from the periodic table, or something as benign as naturally occurring native microorganisms.

As a long-term resident of Batuu, Rin would be acutely aware of the delicate nature of the natural order of things. Earlier in the evening, she had spoken of watching babes grow to adulthood and then having children of their own. That required an extensive exposure to the planet. So he waited and watched as the ramifications of her actions subtly became apparent. Wind grew to typhoon-strength gusts and showers of rain increased to a downpour, further drenching them and saturating their clothes and belongings.

That was when the canopies above broke like a bow to send what felt like buckets of water slamming down to the earth. Thankfully, his positioning only left him in a large splash zone. Rin was not as fortunate. He wasn't sure if she would have gotten more wet if she had jumped into the ocean, given the staggering amount of water. But this was much more satisfying.

Especially considering the state of her tail, which dripped with undignified and hilarious effect. Her threatening words sent along their bond made his grin even wider. He tried to keep the laughter in with only partial success. A snort escaped as he smothered his face for several seconds before regaining his composure.

Afterward, they reached a shared consensus: the weather would hold. In the precipice of action, they both gathered themselves in preparation. Muad viewed the landscape as he allowed his breathing to settle. The windswept grass lay upon their neighbors due to the storm. His eyes roamed the direction they would travel, noting low spots that dotted the ground. There the grass would be longer, but the earth would be muddier as each low trench collected water. Several small knots would rise above the rest of the rolling meadow, spots to be avoided as they would raise them above the landscape and give their enemies a chance to catch a glimpse of their outlines. Their approach should be low.

As his breathing slowed, he tapped into the power of the Mandragora, which sharpened his already peak senses into an animalistic clarity. The muscles in his shoulders and chest rippled as a feral grin flashed; canines lengthened to twice their original size. The nails of his hands lengthened, their composition hardening into weapons that could carve durasteel. His pact on that long-ago night changed him in many ways. One of which allowed him to alter himself into a creature that no longer walked the planes of life. He didn't need such a transformation tonight, but he did embrace the emboldened senses and altered claws he now wielded.

Finally, it was time.

Rin led first, and Muad swung out from her flank, just behind and to her right—two predators on the prowl. When the grass swept around them, long strands parted in their path. In his crouch, he could taste the water swept from the foliage, which left a bittersweet aftertaste in his mouth. Beneath his feet, he felt the earth surrender several inches with each step, the already saturated soil giving beneath his weight. Every other step found gravel and stones long buried in the dirt, now found by the deep impressions his boots left. The tactile sensations were not unpleasant.

In the distance, dark clouds glowed with unseen lightning. A brief illumination that lacked the strength to reveal their forms crossing the meadow silently. The forest moaned from the force of the wind; old limbs swayed with a cracking resistance to the weather. Dead limbs and shriveled brown leaves skipped across the grass, lending additional movement that would conceal their advance. His sharpened hearing strained for the heartbeats concealed within the upthrust boulders to no avail. Too much ambient noise, which suited him just fine. If he couldn't hear them yet, then they certainly would have found no auditory cause for alarm.

As the ground leveled out on a short stretch, he dropped his upper body, allowing his right arm to bear part of his weight. His spine curved as he loped along in a semblance of a strangely shaped canine. However, his left arm remained poised near his side, keeping the bow from contact with the ground. His eyes caught the curve of Rin's tail, and for a moment he envied the traits of counterbalance it afforded her. Not enough to fully embrace a transformation into the beast he could be.

His senses were heightened. Eyesight already sharpened well beyond the best a human could attain now flickered between unnatural colors. A type of night vision where every light was enhanced, and even the bioelectric fields generated from life glowed with aura. Grass shone a light blue while the soil and stones emitted a deep purple. Rin, leading just ahead, shone with an amber hue. His mouth hung open, tasting and smelling his environment. Tangy sweat of men and the sharp stench of oiled weapons elicited a small growl in his chest. Even the energy within the electronics inside the formation gave him a burnt taste as they neared.

In the more animalistic state of predator, he embraced the emotions spurred on by the chemical reactions caused by his senses. The need to kill grew by his enhanced abilities. To tear with teeth and talons. Yet he lowered himself even more to the ground, feeling the importance of stealth at their current juncture. Images and intuition flooded from the bond between him and the zorren, reaffirming their need for a slow approach and stealth, especially with concern for the communication array.

The touch along their bond was almost his undoing.

Keenly, he drew in a breath of her feminine musk, the scent nearly altering his animalistic instincts. An altogether different kind of hunt overwhelmed his bloodlust as his eyes found the graceful curve of her neck within the cleft between jaw and shoulder. Her movements were smooth, finessed, and limber as she navigated the obstacles before her. Lithe form glowed with the strangely ethereal amber aura his bestial senses offered through his vision. Wet leather clung to her figure. A shiver shook his body as his eyes drank in her form. Imagery of tackling her to the wet bed of grass flashed in his mind. Then, just as his limbs prepared to launch him forward, his fangs raked his lower lip. Pain and the copper taste of his own blood wrenched the instincts back under his control while he created more distance between them.

Fierfek. What the feth …

Never had he ever felt that particular aspect of his leashed animalistic nature. Especially since he had almost lost control, no, that wasn't exactly right. He almost chose to surrender control. Even now his head swam drunkenly from her scent, her form tantalizing at the edge of his periphery. Another gnashing of his fangs brought him back fully reigned in and under control.

As they neared the boulders that both sheltered and hid the soldiers, he slowed, following the pathway into the stone ledge with his senses. There was a small hiccup in their plan of attack. The only passage in would require them to travel several meters in an enclosed stone corridor, then cross the expanse of the hollow, over the sleeping forms of the six men, and on to the two who remained awake, who also faced the only entrance in.

While the path in would allow a fully armored Mandalorian to enter, there would be no way for the two of them to go side by side. And all it would take would be an errant glance, small noise, or a sixth sense to alert the conscious soldiers to their presence. And the. The corridor would be a shooting gallery with Muad and Rin as targets—less than preferable.

The animalistic instincts that boiled his blood said to charge in. That would be foolhardy. But what if … Muad held up a hand to tell Rin to wait for a moment before branching off.

Slowly he circled the formation, each step taken with care to avoid any chance of making noise that could alert the soldiers. Twice he paused when his boot pressed down and felt a wet, rotten branch. Each time, he adjusted his steps. At the back of the boulders, he paused to flatten his form against the formation while a strong gust rustled the grass, almost whipping his soaked tunic, which would have made a foreign, flapping sound to those within.

Grunting with annoyance, he now found himself wishing he wore leathers like what adorned his friend opposite his position. The fabric of his shirt had lost all elasticity due to the thorough soaking. In his position, his eyes searched out the stone above him, and he found what he was searching for. Deep crevasses and cracks filled the surface of the enormous boulder. And an idea came to mind. Carefully, he prodded the bond.

What if we used their instincts against them? Fight or flight. I could climb the face of the boulder to the top as you slip through the passage. I could draw their attention above and startle them into action. Instinct would either see them attempt to put space between them and me, and in doing so, would send them farther from the communication device. Or, they grab their rifles and try to shoot me, which would keep their attention away from the device. Either way, they don't activate the comms and leave you with the tactical advantage of surprise at their rear.

And should the other soldiers wake, they will be disoriented initially until they see where the others are focused, again, seeing me and not you. One of us can be the diversion, and your list says healer, not mine. Thoughts, oh fearless leader?

He, of course, ended it with sarcasm, though there was enough humor coloring the internal tone to change the feel from snarky to teasing.

Rin Taal

 

[Rin Taal]

Rin remained where Muad had left her, low among the rain-heavy grass near the base of the boulder formation, watching his shadow disappear around the stone while his proposal settled through the connection between them. She did not dismiss it immediately. The approach they had planned had changed the moment they discovered the shape of the entrance, and the narrow passage ahead offered concealment only until someone committed to entering it. Beyond lay the hollow with six sleeping soldiers scattered between them and the two who mattered most, both awake and facing the only obvious way inside. Worse still, the communications device remained close enough to one of them that a single warning could transform a quiet elimination into something considerably larger.

Muad's idea solved part of that problem by giving those watchful eyes somewhere else to look.

It also required him to climb the outside of the formation and deliberately make himself the most interesting thing eight armed soldiers were likely to see all night.

Rin supposed she should have expected something like that eventually.

The faintest amusement touched her expression despite the circumstances, particularly when his teasing designation of fearless leader reached her through their connection. Less easily categorized was something else she had caught from him during their crossing of the meadow, a sudden intensity that had brushed against her mind with enough force to be unmistakable before disappearing almost as quickly beneath deliberate control. It had been sharp, strangely primal, and directed toward her in a way that had been difficult to misunderstand even if she could not have explained precisely what had caused it.

She had not turned to investigate it then, nor did she attempt to understand it now.

Whatever had passed through Muad belonged to him unless he chose to explain it, and Rin had no intention of prying through an open connection simply because circumstances had made some of his thoughts easier to hear than he might have preferred. There were six sleeping soldiers and two awake ones within the rocks ahead, a communications device capable of bringing considerably more trouble down upon them, and an entire corvette somewhere beyond Batuu's storm-darkened sky. Whatever precisely had happened behind her could wait until they were not crouched outside an enemy encampment contemplating the least disastrous way to enter it.

His plan deserved the same careful consideration she would have given any other.

It could work.

Her answer reached him without hesitation once she had traced the possibilities through her mind. Rin shifted slightly within the grass, studying what little she could see of the formation from her position while comparing it against the images she had borrowed earlier from the creature within. Muad had one thing unquestionably right. Instinct would govern the first few seconds after his appearance. The soldiers would react before they had time to think, and people tended to look toward whatever presented the greatest immediate threat.

A man suddenly appearing somewhere above a camp whose only entrance was supposedly being watched would qualify rather well.

The problem was what happened after those first few seconds.

Don't attack immediately.

There was no teasing in the thought now, but neither was it an order delivered simply because Muad had jokingly placed her in command. Rin sent the reasoning with it, allowing the shape of her idea to accompany the words.

If they only glimpse you moving above them, they won't know what they're looking at at first. Let them look. Let them decide you're the danger before you give them anything else to think about.

Fear was useful precisely because imagination did much of the work.

The soldiers inside had already spent a wet, miserable night on a world that was not theirs. Four of their companions had disappeared into the darkness without warning, though those sheltering within the rocks did not yet know their perimeter had been stripped away. The storm battered everything beyond their shelter, visibility had collapsed, and whatever confidence came from numbers depended upon believing the approaches remained secure. Muad did not need to throw himself immediately into the hollow to break that illusion.

He only needed to appear somewhere no enemy should have been able to reach.

Rin's attention settled upon the narrow passage ahead while the plan rearranged itself around that advantage.

When they turn toward you, I'll move.

Muad above. Rin below. Their enemies caught between two threats while initially knowing about only one.

She would not rush directly across the hollow unless circumstances forced her to. The sleeping soldiers were obstacles, but for the first precious moments they were also irrelevant. If Muad captured the attention of the two awake men, Rin could use that distraction to slip through the passage and move along the perimeter of the hollow rather than exposing herself unnecessarily through its center. The irregular walls of stone might offer enough shadow and broken ground to carry her closer without drawing attention away from Muad.

The communications device remained the priority.

Once she reached it, no frightened hand could send word beyond the camp regardless of how quickly the situation deteriorated afterward. Only then would the remaining soldiers become the immediate problem, and by then she and Muad would no longer need to preserve the same degree of silence.

A gust tore across the meadow behind her, driving rain almost sideways and sending the long grass into another violent ripple. Rin waited for the noise to crest before shifting closer to the entrance, not entering it yet but positioning herself where she could cross the threshold the instant Muad gave her the opening she needed. Water streamed from her hair and along the edges of her glareshades, collecting briefly beneath her chin before disappearing into clothing that had long since become incapable of growing any wetter.

Somewhere around the far side of the formation, Muad was preparing to climb, and his final remark returned to her then. Your list says healer, not mine. The smallest smile appeared as she answered, Yes. Which means I'd rather not have to practice on you again.

Warmth threaded beneath the dry humor, quiet enough that it might have gone unnoticed had their minds not still been joined so intimately. Rin had already found Muad nearly dead once. She had no particular desire to make a habit of putting him back together, especially when his proposed role in their plan involved deliberately presenting himself to armed men as the threat they needed to watch.

Still, she trusted him.

The realization came without ceremony, simple enough that Rin did not feel any need to examine it further. She trusted him to understand the danger. She trusted him to know his own capabilities better than she could after barely two days together, and perhaps most importantly, she trusted him to adapt if the soldiers reacted differently than either of them expected. Muad had survived too much for Rin to mistake recklessness for incompetence. There was calculation beneath the apparent madness, even if he seemed to derive considerable amusement from disguising one as the other.

Her thoughts reached for him again as she settled into position near the mouth of the passage.

Draw their eyes upward. Give me enough time to reach the communicator.

She paused, considering the sleeping men between the entrance and her objective. The plan did not require all six to remain asleep. It only required confusion to last longer than the distance she needed to cross. If one awakened to the commotion above, his first instinct would likely be the same as everyone else's: find the source. Muad intended to give them a very obvious one.

That left Rin free to become the one they did not know was there.

A brief pulse of amusement returned through the connection as his earlier fearless leader remark came back to mind.

And since you've apparently decided I'm in charge, try not to get shot before I get there.

She could almost imagine the grin that would answer her, and for one fleeting moment Rin wondered how the time had progressed from finding a nearly dead stranger beneath a tree to silently coordinating an assault with that same man while trading teasing remarks through an open mental connection. The thought should probably have seemed stranger than it did.

Instead, it felt remarkably natural.

Rin turned her attention fully toward the narrow darkness ahead, allowing the humor to settle beneath the stillness that always came before violence. Rain hammered the meadow behind them while wind tore through the grasses and distant thunder rolled beneath clouds she had gently encouraged to keep their secrets. The storm they had spent the last several minutes shaping into an ally now surrounded the boulder formation, swallowing small sounds and blurring anything beyond the immediate shelter of the rocks.

She listened.

Not merely with her ears.

The memory of what she had seen through borrowed senses remained clear enough to orient herself, but Rin did not attempt to reach through the little creature again. She had already asked enough of it, and circumstances within the hollow had not had time to change significantly. Six sleeping. Two awake. The communicator waiting beyond them. A narrow entrance watched by men who believed anything dangerous would have to come through it.

They were about to learn otherwise.

Rin lowered herself slightly, finding the balance that would allow her to move the instant the opportunity appeared. One hand rested lightly against the damp earth beside her, not for support so much as connection, feeling the faint vibration of rain striking stone and soil while the other remained free. Her tail settled low behind her, its soaked fur kept close to the ground where its movement would not betray her silhouette near the entrance.

Muad was somewhere above and behind those rocks now, or soon would be.

Rin did not need to know exactly how he intended to make the climb. That part belonged to him. Her responsibility began when the soldiers looked away from the entrance.

For several breaths she remained perfectly still, listening to the storm and waiting for the smallest change within the camp ahead. There was something almost familiar about the patience of it, the quiet interval between preparation and action when every possibility still existed and nothing had yet committed itself to becoming reality.

Then her thoughts touched Muad's one final time, light enough not to distract him from whatever handhold or foothold he might presently be finding upon the rain-slick stone.

On your move.

Rin waited in the darkness below, ready to become the danger no one inside the hollow knew was coming.

Muad Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

The gusting wind grew with renewed fervor. Whistling swirled about the meadow, the wind playing a tune upon the wet grass that reminded him of Theed. Meadows in the lowlands were a constant source of cool breezes. He had sat on a hill, body nearly concealed by the long grass. It was the day before an assault on the city, and he had removed himself from his compatriots. Here he found a semblance of serenity. The warm sun baked his back despite the light tunic he wore. Sweat beaded his brow and ran in rivulets down his face.

Despite the heat, the cool wind whispered all around, and his perspiration cooled his skin. There wasn't a cloud in the blue sky, just the long expanse of deep blue from horizon to horizon. From his perch on the rolling hills, he watched a group of kids running through the meadow, their waists hidden in the depths. They plucked long strands of tan grass to place at their lips. When they blew, a high-pitched whistle escaped, and the children laughed in glee at the simple pleasure it gave them. Even he smirked at their joy.

His eyes blinked the stream of rain that flowed down his face. The memory brought a slight smile to his face as he listened to the whistling wind as it played the long grass of the meadow on Batuu without need for lips. Different-pitched tunes united in a low choir of whistles that sang across the landscape. Idly, he wondered who the first humanoid was to witness the music of nature and emulate it with a strand between their lips. Nature was the progenitor of many things that were eventually copied by so-called civilized people who claimed the discovery for themselves.

As the sounds whistled by him, Muad raised his head to watch the turbulent clouds above. Dim flashes could be witnessed in the depths of the heavens, but no flashes pierced the veil. Not yet. However, it was closing in. He felt Rin confirm his proposition, and he merely smiled. Time for action approached.

Pressed against the boulder, he slipped the beskad from his back and laid the sheathed blade beside the wall. Then he grabbed the hem of his tunic and pulled it over his head to tuck under the grounded weapon. It wouldn't do to have the wind flap his loose, wet clothing and deliver a strange noise before the trap was sprung. With a sigh, he placed his bow upon his discarded clothing. He would need both his hands for the climb.

His fingers with their newly grown talons trailed along the cold, hard surface of the stone before him. He searched for the fissures he spotted earlier. There, just above his head, was the first. Fingers delved deep as his eyes scanned for the next. Two feet above the first crack was another. His shoulders rolled, and his neck twitched side to side with the soft pop as he readied himself. He momentarily considered tossing his boots so he could use the flexibility of his feet and toes but decided against it. Instead, he would use his upper body to scale the wall.

Three quick exhalations, and his left arm pulled to raise his entire body from the ground. His right arm reached up, and he found a larger rendering in the stone. Fingers secured, and he scanned for the next to ascend to. It was a slow process. His talons mined every new handheld. Before transferring his weight, Muad tested the grip to ensure it could support his weight. Twice, his grip faltered in the weak stone.

And that is why you test it.

His amused grimace eased away at the next crevice. Halfway up the stone, the wind whipped across the meadow and tried to remove him from his tenuous perch. The muscles in his chest, arms, and back burned as he clung as tightly to the cold, wet stone. Despite the ferocity that blew around him, he maintained his hold while he twisted his body to the side. It would be perilous if the buckle of his gun belt were to make hard contact with the boulder. The peal of metal on rock would be heard within the formation, and that would prove problematic to their stealthy approach.

The winds settled, and he returned to his arduous climb. He was three-quarters of the way to the top and moved with much more care. The rain still drenched his flesh, and water streamed down the face of the boulder he climbed. The stone was chilled and slick against his bare chest as he continued his ascent. His hand reached for the next handhold, and he saw a flash of movement. A viper struck for his face, its grey-black scaled hide and two enormous fangs aimed at his cheek. He twisted, torquing his body around as his right hand struck with equal speed. He managed to grab the serpent just behind its head as he felt a drop of venom splatter against his wet cheek.

His left shoulder screamed in agony from the quick motion, but his grip held while he held the writhing snake before him. He briefly remembered Rin's gentle communion with the viper's brethren in the field below. The animalistic side Muad had released wanted its blood for daring to attack. But Muad did not require its death. Nor should he. Muad was the interloper who invaded its small home. Instead, he let the Force flow from him and into the serpent—a sense rather than words.

I am not a threat, ner vod. Sleep and wake when the storm has passed.

With great care, he returned the viper to his den, fingers softly easing the docile creature back into its home. Then he reached past the slight opening and found another grip to pull him past the creature. Three more clefts were found as he raised his body silently up the stone wall until his left found the ledge at the top. Slowly, he pulled himself up and over to lie on his stomach at the top.

Now he could see the fury of the storm above. Illuminated clouds blinked from the power it commanded. Only a small amount of time remained before nature released its constrained might. Which actually worked with his plan. He eased over near the interior ledge and brought his head only partway over. Just enough to allow his left eye to peek into the depths of the hollow of the boulders.

His eyes remained unfocused, not looking at any single thing. He did this because he knew some beings could feel when they were being watched. An extra sense from a time long past when man needed to know when a predator was near. Whether the soldiers below possessed such innate ability remained unknown. But why tempt fate now? He eased back, the scene below remaining much the same as it had. He allowed his thoughts to flow along to wherever his friend waited below. The view he shared was matched by his words.

The storm is about to break. With the first strike of lightning and thunder, I shall reveal myself. Don't worry about me; focus on that communication device, then pick them off. I have no intentions of needing your healing hand. Have fun.

He smirked as he visualized his cockeyed grin and a wink, an image he sent to Rin. Pulled back from the inner lip of the ledge, he placed his feet under him and crouched. The top of the boulder was uneven, dangerous footing. Even before the rain left pools in the uneven stone and the gale-force winds tried in vain to pluck him from the top. His hand pulled the glareshades from his face and slipped them away in his trousers while his opposite hand slipped the silver cylinder from its sheath at his belt.

They were expecting a man with glowing blue eyes. They would get him. And more. He peered up into the low-hanging clouds that released their torrential rain and wind. He felt the energy gathering within its depths, power uniting and swirling. Then he felt it; the catalyst had arrived.

He stood, the toes of his heavy boots at the edge. His arm raised above him while his thumb hovered over the button of the hilt of the lightsaber. A deep breath was drawn in as he tapped into both his fury and the fury of the storm above. His form leaned forward, and the lightning struck, the father of all lightning strikes. Blue-gold forks of energized plasma scorched the sky, the immediate thunder reverberating in the air and shaking the ground. The two soldiers below looked up, eyes drawn to the power the storm unleashed. That was when they saw him.

The silhouette of a man, held in stark relief by the lightning, stretched across the heavens. His glowing blue eyes were all that was visible in the figure above. They froze. And then a monstrous roar escaped the figure perched on the stone that was their protection. A blue blade of pure plasma sprang to life from the lightsaber emitter. And in the pent-up breath that roared from his lungs, Muad powered in his fury, rage, and thirst for chaos. His innate ability activated by emotion, instinct, and willful thought. Blue flames launched into the darkened skies, living on the exhaled thunderous outcry.

One of the soldiers froze in abject terror while the second stumbled back, away from the wall and communication device, to fall onto the forms of the startled sleeping soldiers. The group flopped on the ground, hands groping for weapons. The mud held most of them in its grip, their bodies sinking into their blankets into the mud. Muad knew that somewhere in the chaos below, Rin waited for the moment to act. And it was his job to keep them entertained with their complete attention.

The blue blade flashed down, scattering yellow sparks and shards of melted stone down into their midst. He roared again, his left hand raising as a blue orb of flame swirled into existence within the palm of his hand. The first soldier who remained frozen, gaze locked on the form of Muad Dib, was the first to taste death. However, it would take longer than the soldier would like. The fireball was thrown down into the well of the stone formation to strike the soldier, flames engulfing his form as hands beat to no avail against the blue flame that consumed his flesh.

Three of the soldiers found their rifles and blasters raised as chaotic streaks of crimson bolts lanced upward. Lightning shattered the sky, thunder shaking them all with its drumming rumble. The lightsaber flashed to return one of the bolts to the offender, his head rocked back and his body crumpled to the wet earth. Deep laughter rang out from Muad Dib, a demon from the darkest of dreams. He pointed to one of the armed soldiers before yanking his arm back. None of the soldiers saw the thin whipcord launch from his gauntlet to spear into the torso of the soldier and immediately reel in while aided by the forceful yank from Muad. All they saw was a blue-eyed demon of flame point to one of their number and beckon him in his upward travel to go flying beyond the boulders.

Two more soldiers found their mud-caked rifles and joined the firing upwards. Lightning flashed, flames flowed, the scent of burning flesh filled their abode, and the laughter echoed down the well until all they could see or hear was the mad man above them. Dismay wrenched their hearts as one blaster bolt struck the man above in the chest, and all he did was stagger a step before he launched another fireball into their number.

Never did they consider he was merely the distraction and that their death would come from behind.

Rin Taal