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No one had expected Floria to move so fast.
She streaked across the space as Obi-Wan was moving to deflect the blaster fire of the droids. She would come between Dooku and Anakin, a dangerous place to be.
Single-minded, intent, Anakin increased his speed. Obi-Wan saw him move from light to shadow, shadow to light. He felt the Force in the room like a pulse, like a heartbeat, like a rolling wave.
"Anakin, Floria!" he shouted.
Anakin shuddered with the effort of stopping his relentless charge. He altered his path to scoop up Floria, tucked her under his arm, and kept his lightsaber moving, deflecting the blaster fire of the droids.
He deposited Floria next to Samish Kash, so lightly and gently in the midst of his soaring leap that not even a hair of Floria's coiled braids was disturbed.
Obi-Wan saw the relief on the face of Samish Kash. Anakin had been right about Floria's love. Now Obi-Wan saw the same love on Samish's face. He would not allow these two to die.
He caught the surging Force from Anakin and embraced it, doubling it, making it grow. The droids re-converged on the rulers. Obviously they were programmed to target them. Anakin leaped again, and Obi-Wan met him in midair. They swept the room in a glance. There were only seconds to decide on a strategy.
Dooku was leaving. They saw his cloak flicker as he moved toward the wall, toward the one door that still stood open.
Lorian saw Dooku moving and ran toward him.
Yura and Glimmer had no weapons. They sat, back-to-back behind a massive chair for protection that was being rapidly decimated by the droid blasts. The expression on their faces told Obi-Wan that they were waiting for death and would meet it bravely.
Floria handed one blaster to Samish and had the other in her hand.
While Samish and Dane tried to protect her, she shot a droid repeatedly with unerring accuracy. It flamed out and fell heavily on the table.
Robior Web took aim at Samish.
Obi-Wan landed, then jumped again, somersaulting in midair and landing against Web's chest with both feet. The assassin flew back and hit a chunk of stone protruding from the wall. He lay still.
Obi-Wan had time to register the chunk of stone with only a flash of his consciousness, but something about it was important. He was busy deflecting blaster fire as it pinged past him toward Yura and Glimmer.
Anakin had managed to herd the group together in one corner of the room so that they would be easier to protect. With a swipe of his lightsaber, he hewed off a chunk of the stone table, then pushed the others behind it for protection.
They could only last so long, Obi-Wan thought desperately. They could not win against these droids.
The chunk of stone — why did it keep rising in his mind? The keystone.
One pull of the keystone and the whole wall comes tumbling down.
Obi-Wan raced back to Anakin. They spoke while they protected the others, deflecting fire. Samish, Dane, and Floria popped out to fire at the droids, then dived for cover again.
"Glimmer has been hit in the leg," Anakin said. "Lorian went after Dooku. We have to help him. We have to get out of here."
"The keystone in the fireplace," Obi-Wan said. "If we herd the others to the opposite end of the room quickly, then pull the keystone, it would knock out most of the droids."
Anakin's eyes traveled over the fireplace wall even as his lightsaber whirled.
"Finding it, of course, is the problem," Obi-Wan said. He felt Anakin gather in the Force then, feeling it shimmer from the stones and the wood and the living beings, feeling it grow… Anakin focused on the wall.
Obi-Wan saw one stone midway up the wall ease out a fraction. He heard a rumble.
"Move!" he shouted, leaping toward the others. He picked up Glimmer, pushed Yura, yelled in Samish's ear, "Go to the doorway!"
They moved, ran, scrambled, as the wall began to move and the rumbling and scraping filled the air. Then the rocks shot forward, tumbling in a lethal avalanche, spewing dust and debris far taller than any person. The rocks and part of the ceiling tumbled on the droids, sending them careening into walls, the floor, and one another.
Obi-Wan and Anakin pushed the others down and tried to cover them with their bodies as the wall collapsed. The dust and smoke bit into their lungs and stung their eyes. They could taste the mountain in their mouths.
But they were all alive.
Three droids were still standing. Obi-Wan and Anakin ran, covered in dust, and brought them down.
Then they faced the pile of rubble. Behind it was the doorway where Count Dooku had disappeared and where Lorian had followed. It would take some time to get out of the collapsed chamber.
"May the Force be with him," Obi-Wan said.
Chapter 26
Lorian had not felt the Force in many years. When he reached out and felt it move, it startled him, as if he'd burned his hand.
But within seconds, it all rushed back, and he knew he could depend on it.
Dooku was ahead of him in the narrow passageway, ru
He had no time to think of strategy. He knew Dooku was vastly more powerful. Why was he doing this? he thought as he ran. Why? It was a death wish, a fool's errand, and he had never courted death or been a fool.
All the wrongs of his life, all the mistakes, all the unforgivable deeds, all the pain he had caused, all the lives he had broken, they were all here in this dark corridor. They would choke him, they would lay him flat, but the Force had touched him just when he needed it, bringing a memory of a childhood when he knew what was right and wanted to do it.
He had a blaster, but he knew its puny power would mean nothing to Dooku. Within seconds it would be wrenched from his grasp and fly across the corridor.
So why use it? Why use any weapon when Dooku could swat it away like a fly?
Lorian had not stopped ru
Did he have a flaw?
Pride. He was vain. He liked to be admired.