Part 27 (2/2)
She took his hand and said, ”Han! Han! What's happening?” but he did not respond.
”It is a sending,” Augwynne said. ”Gethzerion is speaking to him.”
Leia looked at the old witch. Augwynne had removed her headdress and now sat on a stool by the fire, looking like nothing more than a dowdy old woman.
Han gasped and pulled his hands from his eyes, stood looking around the room. ”I've got to go,” he said. ”I've got to get out of here.”
He turned and ran, leaping blindly down the stairs. ”Han, wait!” Leia called.
She chased after, followed the echoing retreat of his footsteps down the corridors. Artoo whistled for them to wait, but Leia ignored the droid.
Han ran outside, pushed his way through the crowd of commoners that huddled by the doors, and took off at a full run.
Leia stood on the stone landing and watched him disappear, swallowed by the shadows. Isolder came out with the flashlight, pointed its powerful beam at Han's back.
”Where is he going?” Isolder asked.
”To the Falcon,” Leia said, and she followed him.
They did not reach him until they got to the Falcon. By then he was already down under the right front sensor fork, working with Chewie on mounting the last generator. When he saw Leia and Isolder, he glanced up for a moment.
”Isolder, I need your help. We've got to get this s.h.i.+p flying and get out of here. Go back to the fortress and get that sensor array window.”
Isolder stood a moment, as if to wait for further instructions, and Han shouted, ”Now, d.a.m.n you!”
Isolder took his light, ran off through the darkness.
”What are you doing?” Leia asked. ”What's going on?”
”Gethzerion just upped the ante on me,” Han said. ”She's killing innocent prisoners.” He finished bolting the last generator down, threw the wrench on the ground. ”I'm sorry I ever brought you here! You were right. If I hadn't come here, Zsinj wouldn't have his...o...b..tal nightcloak up, Gethzerion wouldn't be killing her prisoners! Zsinj, Gethzerion?these people don't even know me. They're fighting against Han Solo the New Republic general, against what the New Republic stands for!”
”So what are you doing?” Leia asked as he rushed inside the Falcon.
”Running away? Is that your answer? Augwynne's people are desperate.
You're supposed to be some kind of military genius?stay here and fight back. They need you and your blaster.” She followed him up the gangplank, and Han remained silent, but instead of heading for the tool compartments as she expected, he ran down to the command console, set the s.h.i.+p's radio to standard Imperial frequency.
”Gethzerion?” he said quickly, and an unfamiliar voice answered.
”This is Prison Control. Do you have a message to relay to Gethzerion?”
”Yeah,” Han said. Sweat dotted his face. ”This is General Han Solo, and I have an urgent message. Tell her I'm coming in. I surrender. Do you copy?
Tell her not to kill another prisoner. I'll meet her at the foot of the stairs to the fortress, just as she asked.”
”This is Control One, we copy you, General Solo. What of your companions?
Zsinj has been asking about any traveling companions you may have brought with you.”
”They're dead,” Han said. ”They all died in the battle, not more than an hour ago.”
Han threw the mike down, pushed his way past Leia, hurried down the access tube. Leia stood, watching his back for a moment, too surprised and confused to speak.
”Wait a minute,” she said. ”You can't do this! You can't just walk in there! Zsinj doesn't want you alive. He wants you dead.”
Han shook his head. ”Believe me,” Han said, ”I'm not happy about it either, but it was bound to happen sometime.” He turned the corner, went to his bunk and angrily pulled up a mattress, exposing a hidden weapons locker that Leia had never seen. It held a nasty a.s.sortment of laser rifles, blasters, old-fas.h.i.+oned slug throwers?even a portable laser cannon. All the weapons were highly illegal, especially in the New Republic. Han reached under one of the rifles, pushed a b.u.t.ton, and the bottom of the compartment rose, revealing a second hidden compartment filled with an odd a.s.sortment of grenades in various styles. Han grabbed a very small, but very deadly brand: a Talesian thermal detonator powerful enough to destroy a large building. It fit nicely in his palm.
”This ought to do it,” Han said, tucking the detonator down under his belt. Detonators like this were used only by terrorists, those who no longer valued their own lives as much as they valued the destruction of their enemies. Han couldn't touch the thing off without killing himself.
He pulled out his s.h.i.+rt so that it hung loosely over the detonator, concealing it.
”There, how does that look?” he asked calmly.
Leia couldn't see a sign of the detonator, would never have known he carried it if she hadn't watched him tuck it into his belt. Yet she couldn't answer him. Her heart raced, and she couldn't find her voice.
She watched him through tears.
”Hey,” Han said, ”don't take it too hard. You're the one who said I had to grow up, take responsibility for who I am. General Han Solo, hero of the Rebel Alliance. I figure if I play it smart, I can take out Gethzerion and all her d.a.m.ned cronies with her. I'll have to leave it up to Isolder to do something about Zsinj. He's a good man. You made a good choice. Really.”
Leia heard the words distantly, realized with a shock how strange they sounded. She hadn't thought about her involvement with Isolder for three days, hadn't really believed she had ever made a choice. Because she hadn't made a choice. Deep in her heart, she'd still been waiting to see if she loved Han.
Yet, she knew that that wasn't true. She had chosen Isolder, out of necessity. Her people had needed her to wed the Hapan worlds, and she'd responded to those needs. As long as the Empire remained a threat, she hadn't been able to see any other path she could take.
She glanced down at Han's belt line, tried to sound calm, controlled.
”Yeah,” she said. ”That ought to do it. I've got to say, you really look good with a bomb strapped to you.”
Han bent down and kissed her fiercely, pa.s.sionately, and the blood thundered in her ears. Leia suddenly realized how much she had missed this, missed feeling such raw, elemental fervor for a man. She looked over his shoulder. Chewbacca was putting tools away. The Wookiee looked at her mournfully, and Leia closed her eyes, leaned into Han and kissed him harder.
He broke away, minutes later, gasping. ”Han?” Leia began to say, but Han raised a finger.
”Don't say anything,” he told her. ”Don't make me regret this more than I already do.” Han went to Chewbacca, talked softly to the Wookiee for a moment and gave him a hug. Leia sat down on the holo board and began to sob, trying to get her emotions under control. She could hear Threepio's voice, too loud and distraught, trying to talk Han out of it. Then Han returned to the lounge, squeezed her hand good-bye.
”I've got to go now,” he said. He walked outside.
Leia tried to stay a moment, but she followed him down the gangplank, stood in the light thrown from the s.h.i.+p. Most of the little fires around the valley had burned down to nothing, and the skies were perfectly black, darker than any night she had ever imagined. A cold wind whipped through the mountains, and she hugged herself, realized she could see her breath in the chill air.
She watched Han's back as he walked away, disappearing into the darkness.
”Han!” she called.
Han turned, looked at her. She could barely see his face at this distance, dark and insubstantial, almost an apparition. ”I like some things about you,” Leia said. ”I like the way your pants fit.”
Han smiled. ”I know.” He turned and began walking again.
”Han!” Leia called again, and she wanted to say, ”I love you,” but she did not want to hurt him, did not want to say it now, and yet could not bear the thought of leaving it unsaid.
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