Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Doctor Aphra
- DRAMATIS PERSONAE
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- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Of course the prime candidate for that was the guy in the pit-fight ring.
BLACK KRRSANTAN:
[Wookiee battle roar]
GGGGRRRRRWWWWLLLLLL!
APHRA (narration):
Yup, there he was: Black Krrsantan. Santy and I hadn’t engaged in much quality bonding when he’d brought Vader his sniveling bounty.
To be fair, we were both pretty busy at the time.
His record, though, was so impressive, I knew he was the right Wookiee for the job. Legend had it that he’d been cast out by his own people for an infraction so mysterious, it was still gossiped about across the galaxy. I was pretty sure it had something to do with stabbing a fellow Wookiee in the back, and I had to appreciate someone with that kind of ice-cold disregard for the bonds of family.
After that, the Xonti Brothers tricked him into becoming an enslaved gladiator, fighting for the crowds. He eventually won his freedom and became a bounty hunter for Jabba the Hutt. From what I’d heard…
there wasn’t much about his old lifestyle, forced to be in the service of unscrupulous gladiatorial entrepreneurs, that he missed.
Except, apparently, the fighting.
He squared off against the other Wookiee in the pit, the motley crowd pressing up against the ring, screaming encouragement.
FIGHT WATCHER #1:
Get him!
FIGHT WATCHER #2:
RIP HIS FUR OFF!
FIGHT WATCHER #1:
A thousand credits on the Wookiee!
BOSSK:
Which one?
IG-90:
Statement: Fights are planned in advance. Query: How is Black Krrsantan a contestant?
BEEBOX:
Good question, IG-90, and I actually have the answer: He strangled the other fighter and stepped in. No one was going to say no. I mean, would you? Bossk?
BOSSK:
I am not that kind of recklesssss, Beebox. Black Krrsantan isss…a different ssort. I’ve captured enough Wookieessss and ssold them to traders to feed the pits. Until Krrsantan, I’d never met one who volunteered.
APHRA (narration):
The air was thickening by the second with anticipation. The soupy atmosphere of that back room grew hot and feverish as the crowd thirsted for blood.
I studied Krrsantan as he glowered down at the other Wookiee. He was truly massive—I mean, Wookiees are generally massive, but Santy even towered over his unlucky Wookiee opponent. His copious black fur was tangled and knotted but still somehow looked positively majestic—like one of those unruly weeds that grows out in the wildest part of the forest, its leaves spreading until it covers all the neater, more orderly native plants.
The long scar slashed over his left eye pulsed with adrenaline as he sized up his opponent—who was starting to look like he regretted stepping into the ring in the first place.
The fighting pit was somehow even more grime-encrusted than the bar area—of course, part of that was probably due to all the blood, stains old and new smeared over every visible surface. Who knew how ancient some of that gore was?
BLACK KRRSANTAN:
[Wookiee battle roar]
RRRRRRRGGRRRRRRWAAAAAAH!