[Adventure Journal] - Escape from Balis Baurgh (Paul Balsamo), Star Wars - Books And Short Stories
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Star WarsAdventure Journal1Escape from Balis-BaurghBy Paul BalsamoIllustrations by Doug Shuler"But why do you have to go away again, Papa?" Ponto asked as I tucked him into his bed.I looked down at my son and felt like saying that I wasn't going anywhere. I wanted to tell him that I would stay right here with him and his mother in the village of Tribe Panshee, play my flute in the tribal ceremonies, go on the hunt with the other warriors, and listen to stories of how our tribe helped defend Endor from the evil Tribe Empire."We've been through this before, Ponto," I began instead. "I have to help Junas rescue his friends from the Tribe Empire place.""Can't I go with you? Please, please, Papa?" he whined."It is too dangerous a journey for a young Ewok." Seeing the hurt look on his little face, I changed tactics. "Besides, I need you to take care of your mother while I'm gone. You never know if Tribe Empire will come back.""I'll protect her, Papa." Ponto said proudly, pounding a small fist into his chest."Thanks Ponto, I know you will. Now off to sleep. We'll say goodbye in the morning."As I turned to leave, Ponto pleaded, "Tell me the story of the Tribe Empire place, please?"Although he had heard it all countless times already and I really needed to rest, I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do on my last night in Tribe Panshee village...* * *I was on one of my usual solo hunts, about two nights' distance from Tribe Panshee village, when I picked up the scent of a yootak. In a spear-to- claw battle, it would take at least five Panshee warriors to defeat a yootak. For alone warrior to kill one, it would take cunning and intelligence. Luckily, I possess a great deal of both. I decided to set a trap. The area was heavily populated by gunlabirds, a yootak's favorite prey. I caught one of the birds and tethered it to a snare trap in the middle of a clearing. Then, I hid in a nearby bush to wait.I waited there, watching the Great Trees that guarded the clearing and listened to the song of their leaves swaying in the breeze. Then, I felt the yootak come. I couldn't see it, but the Spirits of the Trees revealed its location to me in their song. The yootak was moving toward its prey at an unusually slow pace. I feared that the yootak had sensed the trap.Then, something crept out of the trees on the far side of the clearing. It was brown, standing roughly two Ewoks in height. It had patches of black fur and two beady little green eyes. It stopped a short distance from the gunlabird and held out a small, black stick. It was not the yootak.As I tried to figure out what this creature was, why it was here, and what the little black stick was for, the yootak appeared. It was a hulking mass of green fur, with two long forearms that ended in hooked claws. It had two black eyes set behind a muzzle of razor-sharp teeth. With blinding speed it swung out of a tree and struck the brown creature from behind, sending it sprawling into the clearing. The yootak leapt out of the tree, claws bearing down on its prey. It barely managed to graze the brown thing's back as the creature rolled out of the way at the last moment.Thinking to slay the yootak while it played with the brown creature, I sprang from my hiding place and charged the beast with my spear. The brown creature tried to stand, but the yootak whipped around and backhanded it across the chest. I had to step sideways to avoid being struck by the brown thing as it sailed toward me in mid air. Unfortunately, I stepped right into my snare trap and was immediately hanging upside down by my left foot. The yootak reeled back on its hind legs and licked its lips in anticipation.I took that brief instant to pray to the Spirit of the Tree from which my spear had been made. I leveled the weapon at my enemy. Time froze. I stared into the yootak's eyes and growled menacingly. The yootak stared into my eyes and growled back even more menacingly. I could see the bloodlust in its eyes. Spittle fell from its maw. With a triumphant howl it lunged at me. I raised my spear and aimed at the monster's heart. As spear struck hide, I heard a loud cracking noise and was blinded by a flash of light.When my vision returned, the yootak lay dead on the ground, smoke rising out of a hole in its chest. My spear must have come from a truly mighty Tree Spirit to have inflicted such damage. I spun around and saw the brown creature standing behind me, waving that stupid black stick. It looked at me in astonishment, probably in awe of my prowess, and dropped to its knees in homage. I cut myself loose with a knife and landed, with a thud, beside the brown thing. I just sat there panting.Upon closer examination, I realized that the brown thing was actually a mostly tan thing dressed in brown hides. When it tried to stand up, I pointed my spear at it. It raised its arms meekly and then it spoke. Nothing intelligent or anything, but I could tell it was speech of some sort. To this point I had never heard anything but another Ewok ever speak so I didn't know what to make of this strange creature.It pointed to itself and said slowly, "Ju-nas."I pointed at it and repeated, "Ju-nas."I figured it was telling me its name, so I pointed to myself and said, "Grael."Junas repeated my name. I decided to continue the game and pointed at the dead yootak, "Yoo-tak."Junas questioned, "Me take?"I said, "No, yootak."Getting nothing but a blank stare, I repeated loudly, "Yootak!"Junas looked perplexed and then tried, in a futile effort, to lift the dead animal. I threw up my hands in disgust and began to wonder what to do. At first I thought about killing Junas and seeing what he tasted like. Then it hit me that a talking animal might be some sort of omen. An omen about what I couldn't possibly imagine, but omens weren't meant to be eaten. Following this logic, I concluded that I should bring Junas back to Tribe Panshee village so that Shaman Rakra could explain what this was all about. If Junas wasn't an omen, everyone in the village could see what he tasted like.It didn't take much to get Junas to come with me. I gave him some water and rations from my pack and he seemed to be content to follow. We traveled till dusk and then stopped to camp for the night.I climbed a suitable Tree and tied my travel hammock to its branches. Junas refused to follow me up the Tree. I tried to warn him of the dangers that lurked on the ground at night, but he seemed too stupid to understand. Instead, Junas spread out a thin tube of hide he got from his pack and climbed inside of it at the base of the tree. He fell asleep clutching that strange black stick in one hand.We set out for Tribe Panshee village at dawn. I figured we might be able to make it by nightfall if we were lucky. I soon discovered that we weren't. We had only been traveling a short time when I picked up a strange, unnatural odor, like one of Shaman Rakra's experiments gone wrong. The Trees around me sang a song of danger. Junas must have sensed it too because he drew out the black stick again. I readied my spear. We continued forward at a quick pace.Suddenly, strange bolts of red lightning shot out and hit many of the Trees nearby. I heard a voice call out in a language that I didn't understand and then we were surrounded by creatures holding big black sticks. They looked somewhat like Junas, but were all shiny and white. One of them shouted again. Junas put the black stick on the ground and raised his hands. He was surrendering. The white things moved in on us, not caring how much I waved my spear. We were captured and our hands were bound within moments. As we were marched away, I wondered if finding a group of talking animals was a bigger omen than finding just one talking animal. Then I wondered if all talking animals would taste the same. Then I wondered if the shiny white talking animals were wondering what Ewoks taste like and if we all taste the same. Then I decided to stop wondering about anything.We marched for some time until we came upon a village amidst the forest. It was not like any village I had ever seen before. It was certainly not built by Ewoks. There were huge huts made out of shiny black, silver, and white stuff. There were more of the shiny white talking animals and among them were several other shiny creatures of different shapes, sizes, and colors. They were doing all sorts of construction work about the village. Even stranger than the creatures was the fact that the village was built on the ground and not in the safety of the Trees. That's when I realized, there were no Trees! Not even a shrub or a blade of grass. I had never seen so big an area that had no plants.Then, I heard a painful screeching noise and turned to look where it had come from. At the border between village and forest, I saw a hideous, flat, black creature with long silver arms. At the end of its arms were silver teeth that spun around. The creature was cutting down Trees with its arms and then eating them as each one fell over into its large mouth. I felt a wave grief wash over me as I realized what was happening. It was cutting down Trees without performing the Ritual of the Children! The Ritual insures that the Spirit of a dying Tree is transferred to a Seed to be reborn. Without the Ritual, the Tree Spirits would be killed.I had to do something to stop that creature. I struggled to break my bonds, but I couldn't. The shiny white talking animals grabbed me and shoved me into one of the huts. I tried to run back outside to stop the thing from killing more Spirits, but one of the white things bashed my head with something hard and I fell to the ground. I heard a scuffle above me and, a moment later, Junas crumpled to the floor by my side. He must...
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