Chapter Text
Once upon a time......
Black and grey swirling clouds gathered above as darkness began to blot out the light of day. Sunlight drowned in terrible shadows as cold blue lightning split the sky making a wound, long and jagged. His whole body felt as if it were being torn apart, perhaps it was. Only threads of gossamer tethered him to his soul. He heard a terrible scream that sounded like him, it was his voice singing in pain. It couldn’t be though, for he was being pulled away, sinking further and further. Yellow eyes glinted with mirth and the cold silver of the jagged flashes. His ancient twisted voice laughed and laughed, cruelly mocking him. He tried reaching his hands out to grasp at something, anything, but there was nothing.
“Darkness replaces light
Pain for love, a deathlike sleep.
Night comes to claim you
Forever cursed you will be,
Until the sun meets the moon,
Will you then be free.”
The words deep and harsh reverberated around him, as carvings upon stone, a seal upon his fate, then everything was gone.
XXXXX
Rey collapsed into the wooden booth with a creak and a moan, dropping her worn, faded satchel on to the seat next to her, unbuckling the sword at her hip. The petite, ebony haired serving wench approached her, tankard in hand.
“Long day?”
Rey’s eyes flashed upwards with a grimace.
“You could say that.”
She leant back with a sigh, eyes closed as she stretched her aching arms that cracked in protest. Rose placed the tankard down, creamy froth slopping over the sides as she sat down to join her friend.
“Thanks,” Rey picked up the drink and put it to her cracked lips.
“Plutt takes far too much advantage of you,” Rose huffed.
“Just another couple of years and I’ll have enough saved.”
Rose pursed her lips before raising a brow in both amusement and sympathy as Rey tipped her head back and proceeded to down the drink in one. Trickles of mead dribbled down her chin as she gulped and slurped the sticky amber liquid before slamming the drained tankard down with a satisfied sigh. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she sighed aloud, tucking her damp hair behind her ears.
“I needed that.”
Her mouth opened and released a less than ladylike burp. Nobody paid any mind for it was not the kind of establishment one went to in search of etiquette and polished manners.
“Another?”
Rey grimaced. “Yes please.”
“I’ll get you some food too, Paige has made a stew.”
Rose got up from the bench, tossing her cloth over her shoulder and meandered her way through the patrons of the Red Wookie Inn to the kitchen. Rey stretched her legs out and looked about her whilst she waited. The Inn was filled with the usual regulars, as well as traders and merchants from out of town, some she recognised, some she did not. Some chatted noisily with acquaintances, some played and gambled their little earnings over Sabaac and some just brooded with their pock marked noses in their ale. Snatchs of conversation reached her above the general hum of the crowded room.
“...those troopers numbers are getting higher.”
“...missing children…”
“...be careful what you say…spies…”
Rey shrugged to herself for the grumbles and hushed whispers and paranoia were nothing new to the kingdom as it fell further under the grip of the First Order. Her only concern was survival and food in her belly, politics was a luxury of the wealthy.`
Despite her nonchalance over the patron's grumblings, her innate sense of survival led to a prickling along her spine and neck. Someone was watching her. Automatically tensing she looked surreptitiously about her, honed skills ready. Sitting in the corner was a figure clad in a muddied dark blue cloak. Though their face was shadowed by their hood she knew that their eyes were fixed upon her. They neither ate, nor drank or smoked, just sat quietly beneath the paned window, watching and waiting.
She stared right back at them with a frown, her fingers tapping her nails upon the table, eyes narrowing and lips pressed together into a thin hard line. Her view of the mystery figure was broken by Rose standing in front of her, holding out a steaming bowl piled high with a generous amount of stew and topped with a hunk of crusty bread. Rose placed the food in front of her with another full tankard as she noticed Rey’s expression.
“Thank you,” said Rey. “This smells amazing.”
Full to the brim of the bowl sat a thick golden brown stew smelling of meat, ale, herbs and spices from Theed. She dipped her spoon in and took a taste, letting the tender beef melt on her tongue.
“Mmmmmm. Paige has out done herself."
“What were you frowning at?”
Rey looked up as she tore a chunk from the bread, letting a shower of crumbs fall to the table.
“Don’t look,” she replied, dipping the bread into her bowl. “But that crooked figure in the corner, do you know who they are?”
Rose’s head tilted a little to the side, her lips pursed as a strand of hair fell across her rosy face.
“I’ve never seen them before, she’s been here all day though. She had a drink of Corellian whiskey earlier but nothing else.” Rose explained. “I asked her if she needed anything but she said she was just waiting for someone. I didn’t have the heart to kick her out in this weather.”
She inclined her head to the rain lashing against the rattling shutters upon the window.
Rey’s eyes flickered back to the mysterious woman who had still not moved. She could not have told you why, but strange sense of foreboding filled her and she knew that they were there for her. Well, whoever it was could wait, she was hungry and had waited all day for this meal. Ignoring them, she tucked into her dinner as Rose rushed off following a crashing noise coming from the kitchen.
It didn’t take long for her to finish the meal and the cold that had seeped through to her bones was slowly replaced by a comforting warmth. She scraped the last bit of stew with her spoon before using the last chunk of bread to mop up the remaining gravy. No sooner had she placed the spoon down when the cloaked figure suddenly appeared next to her. Rey folded her arms and stared at her.
“What do you want?”
Removing her tattered hood, the woman who was much shorted than Rey had realised, revealed a small, wizened face. Her dark skin was lined and weathered yet her large hazel eyes were bright and held a youthful spark.
“Are you Rey? Rey from Niima?”
Her voice was deep for an old woman and a little raspy, worn but still belying a hidden strength. She inwardly flinched at the name of the god forsaken village that she had grown up in.
“I’m from nowhere.”
“But you are Rey? The scavenger?”
“Do not call me that,” she hissed, reminding the older woman of a feral loth cat.
She held up her hands in defence.
“Apologies,” she said, her voice softening. “May I join you?”
Rey hesitated for a second before gesturing to the bench across the table from her. The strange old woman sat, arranging her cape around her feet. Her robes though finely stiched were worn and somewhat muddied. She placed her hands in front of her, her eyes squinting up at Rey, steady and open, full of memory.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Maz, Maz Kanata.”
Rey’s eyes widened as she shot forward in her seat, hands clasped on the table.
“The pirate?”
Maz flinched and gestured with her gnarly fingers.
“Keep your voice down child,” she whispered.
Chastened, Rey lowered her voice but the excitement was not from her face. Her lips twisted into a wry smile.
“Based on your reputation I thought you’d be bigger.”
Maz cackled and slapped the table in apparent mirth before pointing a finger at Rey.
“If you’re judging me by my size you’re greatly underestimating me, which is surprising coming from you.”
She gave Rey a sly look.
“You’re just not what I expected,” Rey mumbled, her eyes dropping.
“Nobody ever is.”
“You still haven't answered my question,” she retorted, folding her arms. “What do you want?”
Maz made no comment on the swift change of subject.
“I need your help, the kingdom needs your help.”
Rey raised her brow and snorted, her response not deterring the eccentric old woman.
“What’s the job and how much?” her pragmatism taking over.
Maz placed a golden coin on the table in front of her, watching Rey expectantly. Rey looked down at it and back up at Maz in disgust.
“Is that it?”
“Just a taste, you will be rewarded richly upon completion of the task.”
Rey huffed with a roll of her eyes and made to leave.
“Then you are wasting my time.”
“There’s treasure,” Maz replied , her voice dropping.
Rey paused, slowly lowering herself back into the booth, her eyes narrowed upon Maz. She was no fool but the temptation was there nonetheless and annoyingly the stranger had hooked her.
“I’m listening.”
Maz placed her wrinkled hands under her chin, her knuckles dry and gnarled.
“Can I tell you a story?”
“I’m going to need another drink aren't I?” Rey rolled her eyes.
She gestured to Rose to bring two tankards of ale and leant back, waiting for her to continue. Maz licked her lips, her eyes glinting with the Inn’s firelight and something else Rey couldn't identify.
“What do you know of the Emperor?” her voice quietened again.
“That the kingdom prospers under his rule, his subjects are well fed and happy, there is peace, there is order,” she said brightly, a blank smile upon her face.
She leant forward.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” she hissed. “There are First Order spies everywhere.”
“I know.”
“Snoke is a bastard, a tyrant and everyone knows it,” she whispered under her breath. “The kingdom is a cold harsh place, that’s life.”
Maz’s eyes misted over and her previously mischievous expression dropped.
“I remember a different time.”
Rey snorted into her drink.
“Well it’s never been like that in my lifetime,” she grimaced.
“Not for a hundred years.”
“A hundred years?”
She nodded, her skin grey, her colour seemingly leeching away.
“How old are you?”
“As I said child, don’t underestimate me. There is much you don’t know or understand.”
Silence fell as both partook of their drinks, each studying the other. Maz swigged the drink before taking a breath.
“A long time ago in a kingdom far away, there lived a Guardian of the Realm, a Knight who was able to wield magic from an ancient order of peacekeepers and warriors. He was young and powerful, impetuous but kind. He was assigned to protect a young Queen from a neighbouring kingdom who was spirited with an open heart and tender honesty. As often happens, the two fell in love but were forbidden to be together due to their positions. Their hearts won out and they married in secret, keeping it hidden in plain sight.
During this time, an evil sorcerer wanted all of the kingdoms under his command and control. He was patient, intelligent, biding his time and studying his enemies, ever watching, ever waiting.
Despite the couple’s discretion they could not hide their love from the sorcerer which was the their undoing and that of the kingdom. He used the Guardian’s love against him, wanting to harness his power.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rey held up her hands with a laugh.
Maz paused, her brow furrowing.
“This isn’t history, it’s a fairytale, a story for children.”
“Why cannot they be both?”
“It’s the story of the Sleeping Prince, just a bedtime story. You had me going for a second though.”
A sly smile crept across Maz’s room.
“You know it?”
“Who doesn’t, everyones hears it.” She slammed her tankard on the table. “The Queen gave birth to a princess then died, very sad, the Guardian turned to dark magic to bring her back, the kingdom is lost, evil reigns. The princess grew up, took back the kingdom and had a son who was cursed by the Sorceror's successor. ”
She relayed the story as if by rote.
“Did your parents tell you that story?”
Rey’s wry smile dropped, replaced with a thin hard line.
“No,” she took another swig of ale, ignoring the hollowed feeling deep inside.
“Well, sometimes fairy tales often hold a nugget of truth in them, no matter how small,” Maz responded, sensing the young woman’s swift change of demeanour.
Rey rolled her eyes again.
“So there’s a cursed sleeping prince in a lost kingdom taking a nap somewhere?” she sneered.
Maz didn’t reply but looked at the girl closely, her large blinking eyes boring into Rey’s. She saw too much. Rey looked away, staring into the bottom of her now empty cup.
“What has this to do with anything? With me?”
“The part that the story often leaves out is the treasure, treasure for a whole kingdom.”
“Say I believed you, what’s the catch?”
A curious expression crept across Maz’s face, something indefinable.
“It’s guarded by a monster, the Shadow Beast.”
It felt as though all the air had been sucked from the room as Rey’s eyes widened, her stomach flipping over in revolt. Everyone knew of the beast, what it could do, what it had done for it had terrified the lands for years. Nobody knew where it had come from, some saying it had fallen from the stars, some said it had risen from the very depths of hell. One thing everyone did know was that it did Snoke’s bidding. Many children had been threatened into good behaviour by the mere mention of it. A vivid memory flooded her mind, a memory of being small and cold, the room dark and damp and a harsh voice snapping at her.
“Stop sniffling or I’ll leave you out for the shadow monster.”
“Rey?”
Maz’s voice broke into the cold echo of the past.
“It’s just another story,” Rey mumbled.
“You don’t really believe that,” Maz’s amber eyes held them in her gaze.
“Are you going to get to the point?” Rey asked.
“I want you to stop the beast and rid the kingdom of its deathly shadow and the power Snoke has.”
Rey laughed out loud.
“Oh is that all?”
“You have a reputation of being a skilled fighter.”
“I deal with the odd brigand, thieves and rogues,” Rey laughed. “Not magical beasts. Besides I’ve heard rumours about you too, about you being a witch.”
Maz laughed out loud, though did not deny anything.
“I overheard you talking to your friend, you need the money. This one job would solve all of your problems instead of dealing with small fry.”
Rey felt as though she was holding back, but the prospect of a decent payment called to her. It would get her through the long, bitter winter. It would mean everything she had been working towards could be achieved. Maz could see the cogs turning.
“Why do you want me to kill the beast?”
“I never said I wanted you to kill the beast?”
This made even less sense.
“There are forces at work here you do not understand.”
“Why now?”
“The timing is right, I have foreseen it.”
“So you are a witch?”
She just smiled slyly.
“You say I can have whatever I want from the hoard?”
Maz nodded, a shadow passing over her expression.
“What is it you want?” Rey asked.
“For you to defeat the beast, that is all. You will find the treasure when you have lifted the curse on the land.”
“You don’t ask for much do you?”
Maz didn’t reply, just watched her with a knowing look.
“I know I’m going to regret this,” she held out her hand with a sigh, shaking Maz’s calloused hand.
“When can you leave?”
XXXX
Hazy mist clung to the ground as dim, cold light slowly crept up on the horizon. The air was damp and heavy, autumn being kissed by the first frost of winter. Maz watched from her window at the Inn as Rey rode away, dressed in her steel armour that had seen better days, cobbled together over the years. Maz has been unable to do much about that, but had given Rey the sun crested sword that now hung at her hips. Her white horse Bee, plodded through the mud on the sodden road as she headed north out of the village of Takodana. Little did she know that she was taking all of the kingdom's hope with her, which was just as well. It was too great a burden for anyone. Maz had made a calculated risk, she had to be right. If she was not, she was sending the girl to an early death or worse.