Chapter 70

Renn levelled his blaster with the head of the first beast charging towards him and fired.

The blaster bolt slammed into the creature's snout, scorching some of its fur, but not doing any major damage. The beast let out a howl of rage, exposing rows of jagged teeth, and began running faster towards Renn, as did the five similar beasts charging after it.

Renn cursed under his breath as he fired again. Multiple blaster bolts struck the creature, but they didn't stop its charge.

The beasts were gorgodons. Large furry reptiles native to Ilum that enjoyed killing their prey by wrapping them in a bone crushing hug and squeezing the life out of them.

One of their more dangerous attributes, apart from their rows of razor like teeth and wickedly sharp claws, were their blaster proof hides. An attribute which was currently causing Renn problems.

Renn cursed again as he began walking backwards, trying to create more distance between him and the pack of gorgodons.

He tossed his blaster aside, abandoning the pistol in his need for haste, and unslung the outland rifle from his back.

The rifle fired and heavy slugs began slamming into the charging predator. The slugs proved more deadly and began tearing ragged holes into the beast.

Renn kept firing at the lead gorgodon and gave vicious grin as he saw it fall limply to the ground, staining the surrounding snow red.

The other gorgodons slowed to a stop as they approached their fallen pack member and began examining it.

Renn paused cautiously as he watched the beasts. Gorgodons were supposed to scatter and retreat if one of their pack was killed, but these ones seemed different.

He stealthily drew his combat knife and fixed it to the tip of his rifle, allowing him to use the weapon as a makeshift spear if he had to fight at close quarters.

Just as the knife clicked into place, three of the gorgodons snapped their heads towards Renn and let out howls of rage.

The three beasts then charged straight towards him. The remaining two then let out their own angry howls and started their own charge.

Renn fired, his slugs ripping into charging beasts' heads and torsos.

Another gorgodon crumpled to the floor, as a slug smashed through its skull and sent shards of bone shredding through its soft brain.

But unlike before the beasts kept running, not even sparing a look to check on their fallen pack member. They seemed to have been consumed by their rage and had gone into a frenzy.

Renn killed another of the first three gorgodons to charge him, but by this time the third had gotten close enough to leap towards him, its mouth open in a vicious snarl and thick viscous saliva coating its teeth.

Renn pivoted, he reached up with one hand to grasp at the feral beast with the force and held it aloft.

The gorgodon let out a yelp of surprise as it floated mid-air instead of tearing into its prey, before Renn flicked his wrist and sent the beast slamming into the ground at high speed.

The gorgodon howled in pain and rage as it smacked into the ice at speeds that would have broken a normal creature's bones, yet the gorgodon's strong bones remained unbroken.

The same couldn't be said about the ice however as the force of the impact caused white cobwebs of splintering ice to form beneath the gorgodon.

Another howl of rage escaped the gorgodon's maw as it tried to shakily raise itself from the ground, its bones may have been unbroken, but it was certainly not unhurt.

Renn didn't let it though and stabbed his bayonet deep into the beast's throat and twisted, severing its spine, and killing it instantly.

The creature fell unmoving onto the ice as Renn withdrew the bayoneted rifle and turned to face the remaining gorgodons.

One of the straggling beasts had leapt towards him, opting to use the same strategy as its fallen pack mate. While the other decided to try a different method and kept charging towards Renn along the ground.

Renn saw that the leaping enemy would reach him first and flicked his rifle/makeshift spear into the air before catching it again. He cocked his arm back and launched the outland rifle like a javelin straight towards the leaping gorgodon.

The knife at the rifles tip pierced straight through the creature's neck, and the light faded from its eyes.

Renn was just about to turn to face the final gorgodon when the creature reached him.

It wrapped its clawed hands around his shoulders and slammed him into the ice.

Renn gasped as the air was forced from his lungs from the force of the impact and before he could do anything the gorgodon raised him up and slammed him back into the ice below him.

It dawned on Renn that the beast wanted to kill him by slamming him repeatedly into the ground, hoping to turn his bones and flesh into a fine paste.

It was also clear that he wouldn't be able to draw any of his knives, as the creature was holding him be his shoulders, squeezing his arms to his side.

Renn felt the ice splinter beneath him as he was once more slammed into it and saw the cobweb like breaks forming beneath him and reaching towards the growing cobwebs beneath the dead gorgodon nearby.

Renn saw the broken ice and a 'really' bad idea began forming in his head.

He braced himself and when the beast slammed him into the ground a final time, he slapped his palms against the ice and sent a massive shockwave of the force rippling through it.

The ice exploded downwards in great shards, exposing a deep dark hole beneath its surface.

The gorgodon let out a squawk of surprise as it, Renn, and all its fallen pack mates began tumbling into the gaping hole that had opened up to swallow them.

-

As Renn plummeted through the icy tunnel that had swallowed him he thought about how this might have been a mistake.

Because while he had managed to avoid being crushed by the gorgodon, being crushed by gravity wasn't much of an alternative.

He let out an involuntary grunt of pain as he fell into a deep pile of snow that crested the top of a narrow passage that seemed to fall near vertically downwards and began sliding down the snowy slope.

Renn moved his body to avoid numerous jagged rocks and icicles that jutted out of the tunnel like talons, as he dug his fingers into the snow around him, trying desperately to slow his decent.

He could see the gorgodon above him, thrashing around wildly as it slipped down the same slope, and Renn had a look of sadistic satisfaction on his face as he used the force to send the beast crashing into every obstacle that he had managed to avoid himself.

Renn kept sending the gorgodon slamming headfirst into the stones and icicles until he heard a loud snapping sound, and the beast went still as its neck broke.

The gorgodon stopped thrashing and went still, its corpse riding silently down the slope after Renn.

It seemed to Renn like he had been falling for hours but in reality, it had probably been minutes.

He was still struggling in vain to slow down when the gradient of the slope abruptly changed and instead of falling downwards, he was suddenly flung up into the air.

His short flight didn't last long however, as seconds later he slammed into an icy wall before falling backwards through the air once more.

The collision with the wall dazed him but luckily it did bleed off most of his momentum so when slammed into the ground moments later he managed to avoid becoming a massive red smear.

He wasn't lucky enough to avoid the hard fall onto the frozen stone floor of a cave however and so let out a low moan of pain and felt like his whole body was beginning to bruise.

Renn lay on his back and looked upwards, the pain blurring his vision, when he thought he saw a shape falling towards him.

The realisation of what the shape was struck him suddenly and he swore and tried to roll away, but it was too late.

A huge, dead, gorgodon crashed into Renn's prone form and he hissed in pain from the impact with the large furry reptile.

"Owww," Renn moaned as the beast lay on top of him.

He closed his eyes and lay back, too tired to move or to try and remove the dead weight above him. He focused on the cold of the ground, trying to take his mind off the pain he was feeling as he lay there.

He lay still for a moment, in silent contemplation, until a sound broke him from his thoughts.

"Errr…. Are you okay?" A small voice said from next to him and Renn snapped his eyes open in alarm to look for its source.

He craned his neck backwards and saw a young Togruta girl looking down at him with concern.

"Hello? …. Did you hit your head or something? … Seriously, are you alright?" The girl asked worriedly, looking unsure about what she was supposed to do.

Renn nodded slowly and offered her a weak thumbs up, "Y-yeah, I'm fine," he said, sounding anything but.

"Oh…. okay." The girl said sounding unconvinced.

The girl looked at him quietly for a moment, her brows furrowed as she studied him.

"What are you doing here though? Are you a test?" she asked after she finished thinking and Renn looked up at her confused.

"A test?" he asked.

"Yeah, a test… you know a challenge, or a trial of some kind." The girl said trying to explain what a 'test' was, confused about why Renn didn't know the meaning of the word.

"Yeah, I got that bit," Renn deadpanned. "Why do you think I'm a test?"

"Errr, don't know…" The girl shrugged and narrowed her eyes at him, "It just seems a bit suspicious that you would just appear while we're in the middle of the gathering."

That was when Renn was struck with a sudden realisation. This girl was a jedi youngling.