159474808X (12 page)

ANAKIN

Embrace me and all troubles fly above,

Into the air, and out beyond the sky,

Where soon they vanish past the galaxy.

PADMÉ

Farewell, mine anakin. My fond goodbye

Take thou until again thy face I see.

ANAKIN

Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee,

No higher heaven doth exist above thee.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 4.

On the planet Coruscant.

Enter
C
HANCELLOR
P
ALPATINE
.

PALPATINE

The boy is nearly now within my grasp,

And I shall make him mine with this next move.

I shall devise a play to pull him in,

Some tale that pricks his heart with grief and woe.

Come players, to the list, ye are engag’d!

Enter
PLAYER
1,
PLAYER
2,
and
PLAYER
3.

Fair morrow, gentlemen, you’re welcome here.

I prithee, sit and talk with me awhile.

Good sirrah, canst thou give a speech of woe?

PLAYER 1

I can, for ’tis my trade. What speech, my lord?

PALPATINE

I heard thee speak me a speech once, but ’twas

Ne’er acted; or, if ’twas, not above once:

The tale of Tusken Raider, he of bleak

And brutal Tatooine, who joinèd with

His mother in a bond unnatural,

And suffer’d for the trespass. So proceed thee.

[Player 1 assumes the role of an ancient Tusken Raider.

PLAYER 1

What have I done: mine own dear mother wed?

O, gods above, be merciful to me—

I knew not how I did transgress in this,

For all was like a blindness unto me:

I could not see the likeness in her face,

When I look’d in her eyes, I saw a love,

Ne’er knowing ’twas but folly of the senses,

That in her I did but adore myself.

My vision sore impair’d by greed and lust,

Now have I led us both to tragedy.

What waste of life—she, hang’d on bantha’s horn,

Already is beyond the galaxy,

Above, beyond the stars, I see her rise:

The newest constellation in the sky.

I do remain, yet death would simple be,

And far too tame for what my sin deserves.

By sightlessness I made this bed of woe,

By blindness have I author’d my fate’s course:

Ergo, let lack of sight become my days,

These wretched eyes that on my mother look’d—

That nam’d her friend and lover—let them pay,

Let darkness be mine expiation e’er!

[Player 1 mimes tearing out his eyes and weeps.

O, agony most rare! O, hint of truth—

The world for me is shadow evermore,

And through my blindness comes a keener sight.

I look on what I’ve done, whom I have hurt,

I see quite clearly mine iniquity,

I spy the error of mine actions vain,

I gaze, e’en sans mine eyes, upon my sin.

O, Fate, into your hands my spirit flies,

Let me a’wander o’er the shadowlands,

And howl upon the dunes that all may say:

“There goes a Tusken Raider who did tempt

The gods to anger through forbidden love:

Now by his blindness doth he truly see.”

PALPATINE

’Tis well, a masterful performance, sirrah.

We’ll hear a play anon, my worthy friends.

Go hence awhile until ye are sent for.

Say, can you play the sad and dreadful tale

“The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise”?

PLAYER 2

My lord, aye.

PALPATINE

—Sirrah, here’s a little speech,

Some dozen or sixteen lines to include.

Can ye perform this small addition?

PLAYER 3

—Aye.

PALPATINE

Then let us go, till we’ve an audience,

The curtain shall arise on our fair play!

[Exeunt Palpatine and players.

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
.

ANAKIN

Will ev’ryone, e’en mine own Padmé true,

Seek to employ my close relationship

With Palpatine to their own private gain?

The Jedi Council plans to turn me spy,

A traitor to my friend, the chancellor,

For that they trust him not—or mayhap fear

That he shall rival their own power grand.

My Padmé doth mistrust his noble aims,

Suspicious of his motivations e’er.

Am I the key with which they would unlock

The secrets of the gallant chancellor?

Nay, nay, I shall not be so us’d until

My reason and my judgment do inform

Me of some treachery in him, not till

I see it for myself shall I indulge

These strange, misguided fabrications. Fie!

To use a Jedi with such skill as I,

To play with me as one would play a pipe.

It shall not be, not e’en for Master Yoda,

Nor my friend Obi-Wan, not even for

My Padmé; I shall play the part of judge

Myself. But soft, here comes the chancellor.

Enter
C
HANCELLOR
P
ALPATINE
.

PALPATINE

My boy, the very lad with whom I’d speak.

Hast thou some time that I may drop a word

Or two within thine ear? Hast thou, I say,

Time in thy busy life for an old man?

ANAKIN

I wait upon your leisure, sir: speak on.

PALPATINE

News advantageous I have lately learn’d:

Our clone intelligence hath found the vile

And wicked Gen’ral Grievous. He doth lurk

And cower in the system Utapau.

ANAKIN

[
aside:
] Some tidings, finally, to bring me joy!

[
To Palpatine:
] This glad report doth echo in mine ears

An ’twere the sweetest sound that e’er I heard.

We can the monster capture, end the war.

PALPATINE

The Jedi Council’s wisdom might I doubt

Were thou not chosen to perform this deed:

To go to Grievous and destroy the beast.

Forsooth, ’tis clear thou art the finest choice.

[Palpatine reclines in a chair.

Thou wilt, I hope, come stay with me awhile,

Enjoy this grand performance I have plann’d?

Pray, sit: the players shall begin anon.

ANAKIN

Your invitation I most gladly take,

Some rest for mind and soul shall do me well.

[Anakin sits in the seat next to Palpatine.

PALPATINE

O, Anakin, thou knowest I cannot

Reply upon the Jedi Council, nay.

If they have not included thee within

Their plot to overthrow me, soon they will.

ANAKIN

I am not certain I do comprehend.

PALPATINE

Thy senses must have told thee what I have,

Of late, deduc’d: the Jedi Council would

Assume o’er the Republic full control.

They shall betray me.

ANAKIN

—Truly, Chancellor?

PALPATINE

Pray, search thy feelings, Anakin. Thou knowest

It is true.

ANAKIN

—I do know they trust you not.

PALPATINE

Nor do they trust the Senate, the Republic,

Nay, neither do they trust democracy.

ANAKIN

I shall admit, I have been wary of

The Council for some time.

PALPATINE

—And wherefore, pray?

Is’t possible they ask’d of thee some task,

Some strange employment, which did suit thee not?

Perchance some thing to make thee turn untrue?

Was it that thou shouldst spy on me—was’t that?