He never finished the yell. It turned into a blink. When the blink was finished, the man found himself lying prone against the bar, moaning and whimpering as he stared at the stump of an arm.
In between the start of his yell and the conclusion of the blink, the rodent-thing had been cleft cleanly in half down the middle, its two halves falling in opposite directions. The giant multiocular creature still stood staring, dazed, at the old human who was poised motionless before it, the shining lightsaber held over his head in a peculiar fashion. The creature’s chrome pistol fired once, blowing a hole in the door.
Then the torso peeled away as neatly as had the body of the rodent, its two cauterized section falling in opposite directions to lie motionless on the cool stone.
Only then did the suggestion of a sigh escape from Kenobi; only then did his body appear to relax. Bringing the lightsaber down, he flipped it carefully upward in a reflex saluting motion which ended with the deactivated weapon resting innocuously on his hip.
That final movement broke the total quiet which had enshrouded the room.
Conversations resumed, as did the movement of bodies in chairs, the scraping of mugs and pitchers and other drinking devices on tabletops. The bartender and several assistants appeared to drag the unsightly corpses out of the room, while the mutilated human vanished wordlessly into the crowd, cradling the stump of his gun arm and counting himself fortunate.
To all appearances the cantina had returned to its former state, with one small exception. Ben Kenobi was given a respectful amount of space at the bar.
Luke barely heard the renewed conversation. He was still shaken by the speed of the fight and by the old man’s unimagined abilities. As his mind cleared and he moved to rejoin Kenobi, he could overhear bits and snatches of the talk around him.
Much of it centered on admiration for the cleanness and finality of the fight.
"You’re hurt, Luke," Kenobi observed solicitously.
责任编辑：mman
