"Anneke!" Obi Wan grabbed at his apprentice's shoulder, but she was out of reach already, charging at Count Dooku. He ran after her, swearing under his breath.
When she stopped suddenly, he nearly reached her, but Dooku struck her with lightning, flinging her against the wall. Part of him wanted to rush to her side, but it would do no good, and Dooku was turning to him now. He could still sense Anneke's Force presence. She was unconscious, but alive.
He advanced on Dooku, his borrowed blue lightsaber at the ready. He missed the familiar green blade of the one he had lost, missed the feel of the hilt in his hand. This one was functional, but didn't feel like it belonged to him.
Dooku was a greater swordsman than Obi Wan had imagined. Trained by Yoda, he had clearly continued to practice after leaving the Jedi Order. "Come, come, Master Kenobi," he said in a mocking tone. "Master Yoda holds you in such high esteem."
Panting, Obi Wan stepped back to look for an opening. It had been a long day already, and he found it difficult to catch his breath. He had no options though; Anneke was down and there was no time to call for backup. He advanced again, his saber a flurry of motion, driving Dooku back.
Hope rose up within him, but Dooku recovered and then it was Obi Wan who was retreating. He stumbled, and the red blade flashed inside his guard, striking his shoulder. His lightsaber slipped from his fingers to skitter across the floor. The red blade flashed again, catching the outside of his lower thigh. Gasping in pain, Obi Wan fell to his knees. Why had he thought the two of them could handle Count Dooku?
All the pain and exhaustion that he had been holding at bay crashed in on him. Through a haze of agony, he looked up to see the red blade raised to end him. He closed his eyes. A crash of lightsaber blades meeting snapped his eyes back open, and Anneke was there, her blade blocking Dooku's, green and red light locked together.
"Brave," Dooku sounded surprised, "but foolish. I would have thought you had learned your lesson."
"I'm a slow learner." The cheeky edge to Anneke's voice brought a smile to Obi Wan's lips.
He called his borrowed lightsaber back to his hand. "Anneke!" he called, tossing it to her. The effort knocked him off balance and he nearly fell. He caught himself with a hand on the floor, and a wave of dizziness washed over him.
With a blade in each hand, Anneke pressed Dooku back, putting him on the defensive. For a few surreal minutes, it looked like she might be able to defeat Dooku. But what he could feel boiling within her felt far too similar to what he could feel from her opponent. Obi Wan's heart sank. His Padawan's passions always worried him, but had never seemed so raw, so near the dark side, as now. He desperately wanted to help her, but he couldn't move, could barely keep his eyes open.
Dooku retreated before Anneke's onslaught, but Obi Wan sensed that the Sith was playing with her. He opened his mouth to warn her, but it was too late. The tide of the battle turned, and now Anneke was retreating, until her back hit the wall. The blue lightsaber fell from her grasp, and she frantically blocked with only the green. Obi Wan gritted his teeth, trying to struggle to his feet, trying to draw on the Force, but his body wouldn't cooperate.
A bolt of agony from Anneke's Force presence speared through Obi Wan's skull, and the smell of burnt flesh assaulted his nostrils. He stared in shocked horror as her right arm fell, sheared through at the elbow.
She fell to her knees, and her blue eyes met his. The pain and fear there broke his heart. "No!" he cried, his voice cracking.
Her eyes slipped shut, and she fell to the side, landing in a heap on the floor, like a broken doll discarded by a child. Obi Wan's chest tightened, and his gaze flashed up to Dooku where the Count stood over her, lightsaber raised. Obi Wan couldn't breathe, could hardly see. His eyes were filled with tears. The thought of losing her was like a vise around his throat, cutting off his breath. He had never felt so helpless.
Expecting the red blade to fall at any moment, Obi Wan was puzzled when Dooku stood as if frozen. Then the Count said, "Master Yoda," and Obi Wan realized another Force presence had entered the room. His pain and grief had muddled his senses.
"Count Dooku," Yoda said quietly, and Obi Wan allowed himself to hope. If anyone could defeat Dooku, it was the one who had trained him.
Dooku flung machinery and chunks of the red stone at Yoda, bombarding him with projectiles, but the small Jedi master deflected everything with ease. Dooku's rage seethed through the Force, a dark cloud of violence. He flung lightning from his fingertips, but Yoda deflected that as well.
Obi Wan dragged himself over to where Anneke lay. She was unconscious, her breathing shallow, but she would live. He took her left hand in his, swallowing the sobs he would not let out.
A screech of rending metal brought his head up. A crane overhead, torn free of its moorings by Dooku, fell toward them. Obi Wan raised his hand and stopped it, the Force flowing shakily through his damaged body. Then Yoda's strength joined his, and they lifted it and set it aside.
The sound of engines starting drew Obi Wan's gaze around. Dooku's ship was lifting off, and he could sense the Sith's Force presence onboard. They had failed after all.
He squeezed his Padawan's remaining hand, a wave of weariness washing over him. She could have died, and for what?