Star Wars - Ewoks - Return of the Great One! Read online
Wicket lay beside his friend on the soft grass of the forest. He yawned and said, “There’s nothing like the peace and quiet of the forest in the Sun Season, eh, Teebo?”
Teebo stood up. “Except it’s too hot. Come on! I’ll race you to the dam. We can cool off there.”
The two Ewoks sped through the forest towards the dam which was high above the village.
“Cudvarrk!” gasped Wicket, stopping to get his breath back. “Slowdown!”
“Dangar!” cried Teebo, stopping suddenly, for the hard ground of the forest had suddenly become completely water-logged. There was squelchy mud where there should have been sun-baked soil.
Before Wicket could say anything there was a loud crashing sound and the air was filled with the sound of running water.
“It’s the dam!” cried Wicket.
“The Duloks must have breached it. They’re trying to flood us out.”
“We must get back to the village as quickly as possible,” gasped Teebo. “We must warn Chief Chirpa.” As he spoke he ran towards a Snarlf horse that was grazing nearby. “Come on, Wicket. We’ll ride this beauty back.”
The two Ewoks jumped on to the horse’s back and galloped towards the village.
As soon as he heard what had happened, Chief Chirpa summoned Chukha-Trok, the woodsman.
“We need to build a breakwater immediately,” he told the burly Ewok. “The dam’s been sabotaged.”
“Leave it to me,” said Chukha-Trok. A few moments later there came the sound of two mighty blows of the woodsman’s axe followed by a loud crashing as Chukha-Trok felled a gigantic tree.
Not a moment too soon, it landed just in front of the gushing waters that were threatening to deluge the village.
“Veek!” gasped Teebo in relief, as the waters ran round the tree and cascaded over a cliff to create a spectacular waterfall. “Now we have time to repair the dam.”
The Ewoks had lived in the forest for hundreds of years and thought that they knew everything that there was to know about it… but what they didn’t know was that deep beneath the forest floor there was a vast, dark cavern. For thousands of years nothing had penetrated the eerie silence, but on the day the dam broke a drop of water seeped deep down through the earth and landed with a loud “plop” which echoed through the cavern. Then another… then another.
Suddenly another sound shuddered through the cavern. There was a loud very loud
‘Urrrrgggghhhhh!’; so loud was it that the cavern walls began to shake: so loud was it that far above in the forest the Ewoks trembled with fear.
“What’s that?” gasped Teebo as the ground shook so violently that he had to hold on to a tree to stay on his feet.
“Kffllnnnch!” It was as if the forest had been hit by an earthquake as trees tumbled and debris was scattered all around. A huge hole appeared in the ground and the Ewoks stared in disbelief as a monstrous head appeared from it. Steam poured from the creature’s awesome nostrils. Its mouth opened wide and the Ewoks were terrified by the dreadful fangs that lashed out. Each fang was as big as a fully-grown Ewok!
Chief Chirpa gasped, “I-i-i-i-t’s a k-k-k-k-radak,” he stammered. “One of the g-g-g-reat ones. They’ve been extinct for thousands of years.”
Teebo hugged Wicket for comfort as the huge monster heaved itself from the ground. With each swing of its terrible neck, a forest tree crashed to the ground.
“If it breaks our support tree, we are doomed!” cried Chief Chirpa. “Logray!” he shouted. “Do something.”
Logray, the Ewoks’ wise old sage, came running out of his hut. As he ran towards the chief, a branch fell from a tree and knocked him senseless. Princess Kneesaa rushed to the old Ewok’s side and knelt over him. When she realized that he wasn’t seriously hurt she darted into his hut. Teebo and Wicket ran after her and found her mixing a potion from the herbs and waters that Logray stored there.
“What are you doing?” asked Wicket.
“I have often watched Logray mix his potions,” replied the princess. “I think I know how to deal with the monster.”
Teebo looked out of the hut. The monster had now pulled itself right out of the hole in the ground and was so tall that Teebo had to crane his neck skywards to see its head.
Great jets of fire spouted from its nostrils. All around, brave Ewoks were hitting and kicking it, but the monster didn’t even notice them.
“Hurry, Kneesaa!” Teebo shouted.
“Finished!” cried Princess Kneesaa, running out of the hut, clasping a large bowl of steaming green liquid. “This should calm the monster down.”
In her haste, the princess didn’t notice a bundle of twigs. “Oh no!” she wept as the bowl slipped from her hands, sending its contents splashing over all the Ewoks on the ground below.
One by one, the Ewoks dropped to the ground and lay motionless where they fell.
“Kneesaa, you chook,” said Wicket. “You’ve mixed a sleeping potion. Everyone’s unconscious apart from you, me and Teebo…”
“And the monster!” exclaimed Teebo.
A loud roar from the ferocious beast shook the leaves from the trees, covering the three friends with foliage.
“Let’s get out of here,” gasped Teebo.
“Don’t be such a drongo,” barked Wicket. “If we don’t do something, our village will be destroyed.”
Meanwhile Kneesaa had rushed back to Logray’s hut and was busy mixing another potion. “Keep the monster busy,” she shouted.
“Keep it busy?” groaned Teebo. “What does she want us to do?
Play Monopoly with it?”
Just then, Princess Kneesaa came running from the hut carrying another bowl. This time the liquid inside it was yellow. “I think this should be strong enough to send the kradak to sleep…” and as she spoke she slipped on a damp leaf and slithered along the branch.
The bowl fell from her grip and its contents poured right down the monster’s back.
It let out an angry roar as the scalding liquid burned into its flesh.
“Look!” cried the princess, pointing at the kradak.
The three Ewoks watched in astonishment as the creature started to shrink. It got smaller… and smaller… and smaller, until it was no bigger than an Ewok’s hand.
“Kneesaa, you’re wonderful,” cheered Wicket. “You mixed a shrinking potion, not a sleeping one. We’re saved.”
By the time the other Ewoks had come to their senses, Wicket and the princess had built a tiny cage for the little monster which was looking very sorry for itself.
“You know, Teebo,” said Wicket. “ If we diverted some of the water from the breakwater to the hole before we repaired the dam, we could make a super swimming pool.”
“What a great idea,” agreed Teebo. “But let’s do it tomorrow. I’ve had enough for one day.”
From Ewoks Annual 1988
11.6.18.15.14.5-1
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