159474808X (17 page)

Unhand me, wretch, yet I shall come again!

E’en mightier, and now with hate severe!

OBI-WAN

You shall be disarm’d ere this fight is through!

[They continue to duel. Obi-Wan severs one of Grievous’s arms.

GRIEVOUS

Two gone, but still the two I have are strong!

Enter
CLONE TROOPERS
led by
C
OMMANDER
C
ODY
,
engaging
BATTLE DROIDS
in combat
.

OBI-WAN

Commander Cody comes in perfect time.

GRIEVOUS

Your warriors may take some lot of mine,

Yet you shall never taste of victory.

Your morsel of success shall turn to doom—

A rotten bit to make your insides rise.

OBI-WAN

Nay, there you err: the sweetest meats of triumph

Already tease mine hungry, eager lips.

[Obi-Wan uses the Force to push Grievous back against a wall. Grievous’s two remaining lightsabers fall from his hands. Grievous climbs into a nearby wheel bike and begins driving it toward Obi-Wan.

GRIEVOUS

You’ll have an answer for your insolence!

[Grievous rushes past Obi-Wan, barely missing him. Obi-Wan jumps out of the way.

OBI-WAN

O, Boga, wise and noble Boga, come!

Enter
B
OGA
.

BOGA

Braaee! Braaee!

OBI-WAN

—Good lady, follow him anon!

[Grievous pilots his wheel bike down the levels of the complex, with Obi-Wan and Boga in pursuit. Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber.

Unseemly creature, half droid yet half man!

I’ll follow you forever if I must,

Until I do bring forth your swift demise.

Go, Boga, we shall catch the villain up!

Astride him now, I’ll take his laser spear,

And stop his wheel bike from its forward flow.

[Obi-Wan rides next to Grievous and grasps his spear. Grievous yanks it back and Obi-Wan leaps onto his wheel bike behind him.

GRIEVOUS

[
aside:
] Alack! This Jedi is a wily brute—

Too close to kill sans damaging myself!

Toward the precipice we quickly roll;

Leap now I must, or face a grimmer fate.

[Obi-Wan and Grievous leap from the wheel bike and duel near a cliff.

OBI-WAN

No lightsaber need I to finish you—

This spear shall serve as instrument enow

To be the end of Gen’ral Grievous here.

GRIEVOUS

You strike me, yet my strength is greater still—

I’ll kick at you and fling you, like a doll,

Against the metal hulk of nearby ship,

Then crush you with my fist’s almighty blast!

OBI-WAN

I dodge at once, escaping his sharp knock—

If I cannot be stronger, I’ll be faster.

Look there! His core—the half-droid’s beating heart—

If I destroy it, he shall be no more.

[Obi-Wan attempts to wrest open Grievous’s metal chest cavity, but Grievous strikes him.

GRIEVOUS

Down, down, you fall! There, lying on the ground,

I’ll finish you at once. Devour the air,

As I do toss you o’er the cliff beyond.

OBI-WAN

Alas, I’m thrown, but not yet tumbl’d down.

By fingertips I grasp the precipice.

He cometh—with the spear is Grievous arm’d.

He means to kill me here, or let me fall.

Yet I espy, across the platform there,

The blaster he did try to wield ’gainst me.

O, Force, reach out and take the blaster, yea!

[Obi-Wan takes the blaster using the Force and shoots Grievous in his heart, killing him.

GRIEVOUS

Ahh, struck! The man destroy’d, the droid doth fall.

[Grievous dies. Obi-Wan climbs back onto the cliff.

OBI-WAN

The blaster—so unciviliz’d a thing,

A random, clumsy weapon, by my troth.

Yet in this instant did it prove its worth,

For Gen’ral Grievous now is dead and gone,

And our most brave Republic shall be freed

From ev’ry tyranny the Sep’ratists

Did visit on our peaceful galaxy.

Thus do I thank thee, blaster, for thy pains.

Unlike my lightsaber, thou art no friend,

Yet thou hast serv’d me well, and there’s an end.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 4.

On the planet Coruscant.

Enter
M
ACE
W
INDU
, A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
,
and
THREE
J
EDI
.

MACE

Young Skywalker, we have receiv’d report

That Obi-Wan hath Gen’ral Grievous kill’d.

We’ll go anon unto the chancellor,

Ensuring that the powers granted him

In this time of emergency are pass’d

Directly back unto the senators,

Else we must swat him with the Force’s might.

ANAKIN

The man shall not give up the pow’rs he holds.

Good Master Windu, I have learn’d a truth

Most frightening and terrible at once:

Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord,

The one for whom we have search’d earnestly.

MACE

Thou art a jumper in thy loyalties,

Yet for the good. How camest thou to know?

ANAKIN

He knoweth all the mysteries of th’Force,

And hath been train’d to use the dark side, too.

MACE

If this is true, then unto the Republic

Thou art a patriot; games play thou not:

Art thou most certain Palpatine’s the Sith?

ANAKIN

Yea, as sure as I have a thought or soul.

MACE

Then all our greatest fears are realized.

We must move quickly ’gainst this cunning Sith,

Else ev’ry one who holds the Jedi name

Shall be the dead man out ere day is done.

ANAKIN

Brave Master, I believe the chancellor

Is powerful, not easy to defeat.

You shall require mine aid if thou’d arrest him.

MACE

For thine own safety, do not thither come.

We know not whether ’tis a deadly threat

Or barely lethal. Nonetheless, remain:

Thou art too close unto the chancellor,

And much confusion I do sense in thee.

Much fear doth cloud thy judgment, young Skywalker.

ANAKIN

I shall go with thee, Master Windu.

MACE

—Nay.

Like mother and child I shall teach thee plain:

If what thou say’st is true, thou hast my trust.

Thy words shall be confirm’d within a trice:

I bid thee, Anakin, remain till then.

Within the Council’s chambers shalt thou stay

Until we four return.

ANAKIN

—My Master, yea.

[
Aside:
] This waiting shall not rest well with my soul:

Shall I stand by whilst Master Windu takes

The glory for the capture of the Sith?

Enter
P
ADMÉ
above, on balcony.

PADMÉ

I sense the troubl’d heart of my belov’d,

Mine Anakin, what is it ails thee so?

O, heart, knock not with such intemp’rate beat—

O, mind, be not by worries sore abus’d.

ANAKIN

[
aside:
] By darkness I’d be lost, and she’d be sav’d—

By darkness I would have my mentor still.

PADMÉ

Let light break in thine errant, stormy spirit,

Let light surround whate’er grim thoughts thou hast.

[Exeunt Padmé and Anakin severally as Mace and three Jedi make their way to Palpatine’s quarters.

MACE

We go, a company of Jedi small,

But four of us against a brutal Sith.

Mayhap ’tis but arrest that shall unfold,

Perchance he shall surrender peacefully.

Yet if, as I fear, Palpatine’s embroil’d