159474808X (4 page)

OBI-WAN

If Palpatine hath set his signal right,

We shall discover him beyond these doors.

[Exeunt Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Enter
R
UMOR
.

RUMOR

The players are in place, regard our scene:

Here Rumor shall begin her trickery.

E’en as the Jedi draw to Palpatine,

Forsooth, they’ll meet a well-known enemy.

Anon Count Dooku comes, with prideful nerve,

Look on as he doth enter in the fray.

Lo, as they fight, the chancellor observe—

Behold his true intentions on display:

E’er posing as a friend to calm and peace,

Great evil, by his cunning, doth he plot.

Indeed, this Palpatine shall never cease,

Not till he hath a mighty empire wrought.

Now watch as Palpatine, through words, doth lead

E’en such a one as Anakin t’ward hate:

To satisfy his vile, insatiate greed,

He knits the threads of Anakin’s dark fate.

[Exit Rumor.

Enter
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
and
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
. Enter C
HANCELLOR
P
ALPATINE
severally, in chains.

ANAKIN

None here—this rescue hath too much of ease.

OBI-WAN

Brave Chancellor, the Council hath sent us.

ANAKIN

Say, are you well? Hath some foul injury

Befallen your esteem’d and noble self?

PALPATINE

I’m well, but lo: Count Dooku comes anon.

Enter
C
OUNT
D
OOKU
.

OBI-WAN

This time, young Anakin, let us attack

As one, and not be led by passions hot,

Which did embroil thee last time in their snare.

If thou dost need a reason, look no more

Than to thine hand, which paid the costly price

For all thy rage and disposition fierce.

ANAKIN

Wise Master, you have ta’en the words from mine

Own mouth—let us coordinate this strike

Together, that we may Count Dooku thwart.

PALPATINE

Call ye for help, you two are not his match;

This evil man’s a dark lord of the Sith.

OBI-WAN

With due respect, O, Chancellor, Sith Lords

The keenest object of our study are.

We two are specialists in their domain,

And shall our education put to use

As we do vanquish this one by the book.

DOOKU

You are no teacher, Obi-Wan, and so

A lesson unto you I’ll gladly teach.

Give me your sabers, else you shall be school’d.

We would not have your quick tutorial

End in some mess the chancellor must see.

OBI-WAN

You are outclass’d this time, Count Dooku, and

Shall not escape th’instruction we shall give.

DOOKU

Then let the seminar begin, and we

Shall see which pupil stands when all is done.

I’ faith, I have look’d forward to this fight.

[They duel.

ANAKIN

My powers have grown double since we last

Did meet upon the Geonosian tow’rs.

DOOKU

’Tis well, impulsive, brash young Anakin:

When pride is doubl’d, twice the fall doth follow.

PALPATINE

[
aside:
] The fools do fight, and both fight for my cause,

Though none do know the double game I play.

Whoe’er the victor is, ’tis I who win.

[They duel again. Count Dooku uses the Force to push Obi-Wan aside, and he falls, unconscious.

DOOKU

Thus falls Kenobi—yet I shall ensure

That there, upon the floor, he will remain.

[Count Dooku uses the Force to bring down a platform upon Obi-Wan. Anakin and Count Dooku duel.

DOOKU

I sense a fear profound in thee, Skywalker.

You have much hate and anger, yet employ

Them not. Shall they turn thee to coward, boy?

ANAKIN

Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The Jedi never taste of death but once.

So you shall know the taste of all my wrath,

As I do claim the vengeance due my Master.

DOOKU

[
aside:
] Alack! His skill doth press me all too close,

Such strength in this one I expected not.

[They duel. Anakin cuts off Count Dooku’s hands.

Count Dooku kneels before Anakin.

ANAKIN

Ha! It is done; the class may be dismiss’d.

PALPATINE

’Tis well, young Anakin. Now kill the man.

DOOKU

[
aside:
] O, word most bitter to my frighten’d ears:

My Master here doth utter “kill the man”?

He who, with me, hath plann’d such base-born deeds

As would, in time, confound a galaxy?

Is “kill the man” his proclamation sole

For he who gave such solid loyalty?

Do I espy my poor, untimely grave,

With epitaph that readeth “kill the man”?

I look unto this boy, this Anakin—

Nay, not a boy but truly, here, a man—

Hast thou no mercy left within thine heart?

Dost thou not know what ’tis to witness death,

To be the very instrument of death?

Is there no word of kindness thou canst speak,

Good Anakin, that is not “kill the man”?

PALPATINE

Aye, kill him now.

ANAKIN

—I should not do this deed.

PALPATINE

I say the word, and thou must do it, lad!

[Anakin beheads Count Dooku.

ANAKIN

What have I done? Was this a Jedi’s act?

Did rage or justice mark my movements here?

PALPATINE

Thou didst aright, courageous Anakin:

The man was all too dangerous to live.

ANAKIN

Forsooth, yet he was also prisoner—

Unarm’d at that. Unhanded, too, by me.

Already I regret I acted so,

’Tis not the Jedi way, the way I seek.

PALPATINE

’Tis but the call of nature in thine heart:

He did unarm thee once; thou didst demand

A valid recompense for what he ow’d.

If reasons such as these give neither balm

Nor succor to thy soul, do thou recall:

’Twas not the first time thou hast sought revenge.

Remember what thou didst relate to me

About thy visit to the sand people,

How thou didst slay their settlement entire

For to avenge thy mother innocent.

Now, let us hence before more droids arrive.

[Anakin runs to where Obi-Wan is fallen.

ANAKIN

I shall assistance give to Obi-Wan,

Who surely will be kill’d if we desert

Him here among these cruel, inhuman foes.

PALPATINE

There is no time for sentiment as this—

If thou wouldst rescue me, he must be left.

We two must flee the ship ere ’tis too late.

ANAKIN

The spirit’s still within him: he shall live.

PALPATINE

Leave him, else we shall never make escape.

ANAKIN

His fate and ours shall be entwin’d as one.

Come, Master, these two arms shall bear you hence,

As you, these many years, did bear with me.

[Anakin lifts Obi-Wan onto his back.

Exeunt Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Palpatine.

Enter
G
ENERAL
G
RIEVOUS
,
his
CAPTAIN
,
and a
BATTLE DROID
,
on balcony.

GRIEVOUS

Prepare for this attack, we are besieg’d!

CAPTAIN

All batteries, pray fire, or else we die!

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
,
carrying
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
,
and
C
HANCELLOR
P
ALPATINE
as they approach the lift.