Prince Corran and his men arrived at the site where the Man in Black had defeated Wes.

"Someone has defeated another person," the Prince stated. "There will be great suffering in Guilder if she dies."

After nearly thirty minutes of running, the Man in Black slowed, and stopped.

"Catch your breath," he ordered.

Elizabeth looked up at him. "If you'll release me, whatever you ask for ransom you'll get it, I promise you."

But the masked man just laughed. "And what is that worth? The word of a woman? You're very funny, Highness?"

Elizabeth curbed the urge to hit him. "For your information, just because I'm female does not mean I have any less rights than a man. I mean, come on. Ever heard of the feminist movement? Anyways, I gave you a chance. It does not matter where you take me. There is no greater hunter than Prince Corran. He can track a falcon on a cloudy day. He can find you."

"You think your dearest love will save you, 'emancipated' woman?"

She stood up, deeply insulted. "I never said he was my dearest love! And yes, he will save me. That I know."

The Man in Black looked somewhat surprised. "You admit to me that you do not love your fiancee?"

"He knows I do not love him," Elizabeth responded.

"...Are not capable of love is what you mean," he snapped.

Elizabeth looked truly upset. "I have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream!"

The Man in Black's hand flew back, but he stopped it. "That was a warning, Highness. The next time, my hand flies on its own. Where I come from, there are penalties when a woman lies."

She stuck her chin up proudly. "Where I come from, there are penalties when a woman is not given her rights."

Corran and his camp finally reach Borsk's dead body. He sniffed the vial. "Iocaine!" he exclaimed. "I bet my life on it. And there," he pointed, "Are the Princess's footprints. She is alive, or was an hour ago. If she is otherwise when I find her, I shall be very put out!"

After running for some time more, the Man in Black stops once again.

"Rest, highness."

"I know who you are!" Elizabeth said. "Your cruelty reveals everything. You're the Dread Pirate Booster, admit it!"

The Man in Black did a Flourishy-Bow-Thingy**. "With pride," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"You can die slowly," she said with a snarl, "Cut into a thousand pieces."

He merely shook his head and tsked at her. "Hardly complimentary, your highness. Why do you assure your venom on me?"

Elizabeth looked up, murder in her eyes. "You killed my love."

The Man in Black shrugged. "It's entirely possible. I kill a lot of people. So, who was this love of yours? Another Prince like this one...ugly, rich, scabby?"

"No!" she cried. "A flyboy! Poor...Poor, and perfect, with eyes like Corellian Brandy. On the high seas, your ship attacked, and the Dread Pirate Booster never takes Prisoners!"

He shook his head. "I can't afford to make exceptions," he told her. "I mean once word leaks out that a pirate has gone soft people begin to disobey him and its nothing but work, work, work all the time."

Elizabeth looked pissed. "You mock my pain!" she shouted.

"Life is pain, highness!" the Man in Black yelled at her. "Anyone who tells you different is selling you something." He paused for a moment, then continued. "I think I remember this flyboy of yours, I think" he said. "This would be, what? Five years ago? Does it bother you to hear?"

She shook her head. "Nothing you can say will upset me."

He nodded. "He died well, that should please you. No bribe attempts or blubbering. He simply said please, please, I need to live. It was the please that caught my memory. I asked what was so important for him; 'True love' he replied. And then he spoke of a girl of surpassing beauty and faithfulness...I can only assume he meant you. You should bless me for destroying him before he found out what you really are."

Elizabeth looked angry again. "And what am I?"

"That faithfulness he talked of, madam, your enduring faithfulness!" He looked at her angrily. "Now tell me truly, when you found out he was gone did you get engaged to your prince that same hour or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?!"

"You mocked me once!" she yelled at him. "Never do it again! I died that day!"

They then see Prince Corran's horses in the distance, and Elizabeth sees her opportunity.

"And you can die too," she snarls, "For all I care." And she pushed him down the hillside.

As he tumbled, his words could be heard echoing off the nearby hills.

"As....You...Wish...!"

Elizabeth glanced down at him, shocked. "Oh, what have I done?" she asked. "My sweet Wedge!" And so, she threw herself down the hill after him.

Corran lost sight of them, and spoke to his group. "They've disappeared," he said. "They must have seen us closing in, which might account for his panicking into error. Unless I'm wrong,--and I am never wrong-- they are headed straight into the fire swamp."

Wedge and Elizabeth finally stop falling at the bottom of the hill.

Wedge gets up and kneels by her side. "Can you move at all?" he asked, concerned.

"You're alive," she murmured, amazed. "If you want, I can fly."

He holds Elizabeth close. "I told you I would come for you...why didn't you listen to me?"

"Well," she responded truthfully, "You were dead."

He brushed a few strands of her hair. "Death cannot stop true love," he told her. "All it can do is delay it for a while."

She gazed up into his eyes. "I will never doubt again," she told him.

"There will never be a need," he responded.

They kissed, and

Priscilla Precise: *clears throat*
Katrielle: Ok, ok. I remember...are you *sure*, though?
Priscilla Precise: Well, it's not in the movie.
Katrielle: True. I ought to read the book version.

*kissing parts omitted*

Priscilla Precise: Thank you.
Katrielle: You're welcome, hon. No problem, sweetie.

Wedge and Elizabeth ran along the ravine floor, and Wedge exclaimed,

"Aha! Your pig fiancee is too late! A few more steps and we'll be safe in the fire swamp."

However, Elizabeth was concerned. "We'll never survive," she pointed out to him.

"Oh, nonsense." he said. "You're just saying that because no one ever has."

They proceed into the dark, dreary swamp. They move slowly, and the sounds of many creatures are heard around them.

"It's not that bad," Wedge said. Elizabeth merely looked at him. "Well, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but it is actually quite lovely."

Elizabeth gives him another 'are you out of your mind' glance, and they continue on, winding their way through the vines and trees everywhere. Suddenly, a loud popping sound is heard, and a flame shoots up from the ground of the swamp, catching Elizabeth's dress on fire.

She screams, and Wedge calmly extinguishes the flames. He helps her up, concerned. "Well, now, that was an adventure. Singed a bit, were you?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "You?" He also shook his head no, ever-confident. They continue traveling through, and when another popping noise is heard, he scooped her into his arms as a flame shoots from the ground.

"Well, one thing I will say; the fire swamp certainly does keep you on your toes. This will all soon be but a happy memory," he told her as he cut through vines with his blastsword. "Booster's ship Revenge is banked at the far end. And as you know I am Booster."

"But, how is that possible?" she asked. "Since he's been marauding 20 years and you only left me 5 years ago?"

He smiled lightly at her. "I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks," he told her. "You see, the part I told you about the 'please' was true... It intrigued Booster, as did my descriptions of your beauty. Finally, Booster decided something. He said, 'Alright Wedge, never had a valet, you can try if you'd like. I'm most likely to kill you in the morning.' For three years said that. 'Good night Wedge, good work, sleep well, I'm most likely to kill you in the morning.' It was a fine time for me; I was learning to fence, fight, anything anyone would teach me. Booster and I eventually became friends. And then it happened."

"What?" Elizabeth asked, interested. "Go on."

"Well, Booster had grown so wealthy, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Booster,' he said 'My name is Ton. I inherited this ship from the previous Dread Pirate Booster, just as you will inherit it from me.'"

Wedge continued. "The man I inherited it from was not the real Dread Pirate Booster either - his name was Face Loran. The real Booster had been retired 15 years and was living like a king on Corellia.'"

Elizabeth moved a vine for him, and he responded, "Thank you. Then he explained the name was the important for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Wedge. So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew and he stayed aboard for awhile as first mate, all the time calling me Booster. Once the crew believed, he left the ship and I have been Booster ever since.

"Except now that we're together, I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else. Is everything clear to you?"

Elizabeth nodded, and then suddenly disappeared into quicksand. Wedge looks around, thinking fast, attaches a vine to his waist and dives in after her. Moments later, they resurface, gasping for air.

They climb out of the quicksand, exhausted and coughing.

"We'll never survive," Elizabeth said bleakly.

"No, no" Wedge is still gasping for air. "We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the fire swamp? One, the flame spurt - no problem - there's a popping sound preceding each. We can easily avoid that. Two, the lightning sand which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too."

Elizabeth nodded, but then asked, "What about the R.O.U.S.'s?"

"Rodents of Unusual Size?" Wedge said, "I don't think they exist."

Just as he finished speaking, a huge rodent jumps on Wedge. They struggle, and it bites him on his shoulder. Then, he catches sight of Elizabeth and starts to go after her.

"Wedge!" she screams. Wedge jumps onto the beast, and Elizabeth fends it away with a branch. After several moments, a popping sound is heard and the rodent is fried. Not quite dead, it starts to hobble away, but Wedge goes after it, stabs it, and finally kills it.

Some time later, after struggling through the rest of the Fire Swamp, Wedge and Elizabeth emerged into a clearing.

Elizabeth smiled, and triumphantly said, "We did it!"

"Now, was that so terrible?" Wedge asked with a small smile. Suddenly, they heard the galloping of horses. Prince Corran had arrived.

"Surrender!" he calls to Wedge.

"You mean you wish to surrender to me?" Wedge asked. "Very well then, I accept."

"I give you full marks for bravery," Corran told him in a haughty tone. "Don't make yourself a fool."

And yet Wedge responded, "Ah, but how will you capture us? We know the secrets of the Fire Swamp, we can live there happily for some time. So, any time you feel like dying, come and visit."

Beyond Wedge's line of sight, Corran's men surround Elizabeth and Wedge with crossbows.

"I tell you once again," Corran said, slightly impatient, "Surrender!"

"It will not happen!" Wedge said, drawing his blastsword.

"For the last time," Corran said, growing irritable, "Surrender!"

"Death first!" Wedge called out, ever-confident.

However, Elizabeth had noticed the crossbows, and called out, "Do you promise not to hurt him?"

"What was that?" Corran called, confused.

"What was that?" Wedge asked, confused as well.

"If we surrender," she said, "And I return with you, will you promise not to hurt this man?"

Corran nodded. "May I live a thousand years and never hunt again!"

"He is a sailor on the pirate ship Revenge. Promise to return him to his ship."

"I swear it will be done," Corran told her. But, to Count Tarkin, he whispered, "Once we're out of sight, take him back to Florin and throw him in the Pit of Despair."

"I swear it will be done," Count Tarkin told him.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth turned to Wedge. "I thought you were dead once," she said, "And it nearly destroyed me. I could not bear it if you died again, not when I had a chance to save you."

Elizabeth is then lifted onto one of the horses and taken away. Corran leaves with her.

Count Tarkin approached Wedge. "Come sir," he said in a sarcastic tone, "We must get you back to your ship."

"We are men of action," Wedge told him. "Lies do not become us."

"Well spoken, sir." The Count gestured for soldiers to escort him, and Wedge noticed something.

"You have six fingers on your right hand," he said. "Someone was looking for you."

Count Tarkin quickly knocked Wedge out with the hilt of his sword.

Wedge was taken to the pit of despair, and strapped to a table. We was starting to gradually become aware of his surroundings when an Albino entered. He walked over to Wedge, began to examine him and clean his wounds.

"Where am I?" Wedge asked.

"The Pit of Despair," the Albino said in a raspy voice. "Don't even think about..." Then he coughed, and spoke again, this time his voice clear. "Don't even think about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick. And don't dream of being rescued either, the only way in is secret. Only the Prince, the Count and I know how to get in and out."

"Then I'm here until I die?" Wedge asked, losing some hope.

"'Til they kill you, yeah," the Albino responded.

"Then why bother curing me?" he asked, puzzled.

"The Prince and the Count always insist on everyone being healthy before they're broken," the Albino explained.

"So, it's to be torture," Wedge said, his face grim. The Albino gestured happily. "I can cope with torture." The Albino shakes his head vigorously. "You don't believe me?" Wedge asked.

The Albino explained, "You survived the Fire Swamp--you must be very brave. But nobody withstands The Machine."

Continued in Part Four