"Labyrinth Of Evil (James Luceno)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Luceno James)

Star Wars

Episode III Prequel Novel

Labyrinth of Evil

by James Luceno

get by Mara Jade
format by Hungry Ewok Gryzley and
Velin
uploaded 28.VII.2005
1

Darkness was encroaching on Cato Neimoidia's western hemisphere, though
exchanges of coherent light high above the beleaguered world ripped looming
night to shreds. Well under the fractured sky, in an orchard of manax trees
that studded the lower ramparts of Viceroy Gunray's majestic redoubt,
companies of clone troopers and battle droids were slaughtering one another
with bloodless precision. A flashing fan of blue energy lit the undersides of
a cluster of trees: the lightsaber of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Attacked by two sentry droids, Obi-Wan stood his ground, twisting his
upraised blade right and left to swat blaster bolts back at his enemies.
Caught midsection by their own salvos, both droids came apart, with a
scattering of alloy limbs. Obi-Wan moved again. Tumbling under the segmented
thorax of a Neimoidian harvester beetle, he sprang to his feet and raced
forward. Explosive light shunted from the citadel's deflector shield dappled
the loamy ground between the trees, casting long shadows of their buttressed
trunks. Oblivious to the chaos occurring in their midst, columns of the five-
meter-long harvesters continued their stalwart march toward a mound that
supported the fortress. In their cutting jaws or on their upsweeping backs
they carried cargoes of pruned foliage.
The crushing sounds of their ceaseless gnawing provided an eerie cadence
to the rumbling detonations and the hiss and whine of blaster bolts. From off
to Obi-Wan's left came a sudden click of servos; to his right, a hushed cry of
warning.
"Down, Master!"
He dropped into a crouch even before Anakin's lips formed the final word,
lightsaber aimed to the ground to keep from impaling his onrushing former
Padawan. A blur of thrumming blue energy sizzled through the humid air,
followed by a sharp smell of cauterized circuitry, the tang of ozone. A
blaster discharged into soft soil, then the stalked, elongated head of a
battle droid struck the ground not a meter from Obi-Wan's feet, sparking as it
bounced and rolled out of sight, repeating: "Roger, roger... Roger, roger..."
In a tuck, Obi-Wan pivoted on his right foot in time to see the droid's
spindly body collapse. The fact that Anakin had saved his life was nothing
new, but Anakin's blade had passed a little too close for comfort. Eyes
somewhat wide with surprise, he came to his feet.
"You nearly took my head off."
Anakin held his blade to one side. In the strobing light of battle his