Dray had to make a decision and quickly. “Im going to help you. Just hang on…”
He cleared his mind and concentrated on the fiery barrier that stood between himself and the girl. Holding his arms in front of him, Dray started forward like a sleepwalker stumbling through a dream.
Sensing a new victim, the flames licked at his hands, his face, his clothing. But Dray did not feel the blazing tendrils trying to coil around him. His entire body shimmered as he absorbed the intense heat and walked through the boiling barrier as if it were a waterfall.
Dray emerged unscathed on the other side, in the broken aft of the ship. The girl was staring at him now with perceptive hazel pupils. The fear had vanished, replaced by confusion.
He prepared to manipulate the Force again, this time to lift the heavy cylinder off the girls leg. Dray wasnt sure why, but instead found himself reaching down to grasp the heavy machinery. He bent his legs and lifted for all he was worth. The cylinder screeched in annoyance at being disturbed, reluctant to release its grip, but with a final grunt of exertion Dray managed to free the girl from her make-shift prison.
As Dray quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead, he considered his actions. The first method would have been easier, but an unnecessary reliance on the Force to do something just as easily accomplished with a little sweat. He had a sudden fleeting image of depraved Sith overlords sitting on their thrones, using the Force to attend to their every insignificant need. Some were so bloated from years of inactivity their limbs had all but atrophied.
A shrill whine from above banished the disturbing imagery from Drays mind. The roof of the craft was about to give way and land on their heads.
Dray carefully scooped up the girl in his arms, surprised by how little she weighed. He pressed her small face against the front of his sweat-soaked tunic. Turning away from the expanding heart of the blaze, Dray gathered the Force to shield them both from the smothering heat.
Building up a head of speed, Dray lunged clear of the sizzling mess… Just as the scorched metal finally collapsed into itself. His thighs ached from the strain of keeping his body balanced as it ascended the steep pit, but his arms were otherwise occupied.
Dray continued running in order to escape the lingering clouds of acrid smoke drifting lazily from the abyss. His legs gave way soon after and he stumbled to his knees. He placed the girl down on the cool grass and felt his chest heaving. Dray had inhaled more than his share of the foul fumes and his body thudded to the ground, wracked by a violent coughing spasm.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Dray finally took a cleansing breath. He greedily drank in another, then another until his respiration was once again a process free of pain.
Dray checked on the little girl and to his surprise found her staring right at him. He unconsciously shuddered… No, more like she was looking through him.
Those blue-green eyes, wise beyond their tender years, drilled into him like a plasma cutter. “I think youre evil,” she said matter-of-factly. “Usually I can tell, but not with you…” She paused for a moment, then frowned. “You saved me. How come?”
Drays mouth opened and then closed as a million thoughts battled for dominance in his head.
The girl abruptly turned away, staring back the flaming wreckage. “Im doing it again. My momma says sometimes I ask too many questions and hurt peoples feelings.” For the first time she actually sounded like a frightened child. “Shes dead now. So is my daddy.”
The girl looked back over at him, tears pouring from her eyes. Before he knew it her small hands were wrapped around him and his tunic was wet with her sobs. Dray felt her tiny body shuddering uncontrollably against him and suddenly he had difficulty swallowing as his throat tightened in sympathy. He took in a long breath through his nose, quelling his surging emotions.
Dray desperately wanted to tell her everything would be okay, but could not. That would be a terrible lie. “Im sorry,” he whispered, but the comforting words sounded hollow in his own ears. They could never be enough to ease such tremendous pain. “Im sorry,” he said again and held her tightly until she was all cried out.
Dray wasnt sure when she finally fell asleep, but he was near exhaustion as he carried her back to his camp site. He sat a few feet away watching her curled up in his bedroll, sleeping soundly considering the nightmare she had just survived. Before he knew it, dawn had crept over his shoulder.
The sentry duty wasnt really necessary - there werent any predators on Vigil that could pose much of a threat to him - but he performed it anyway.
As he kept watch over the girl, Dray realized why the girl had such an odd affectation about her… There was a great concentration of the Force held within that small frame, yet so untamed and unharnessed he didnt quite sense at first. But now… Now he could not help but feel it, drawing him like a homing beacon.