Takes THAT scene and fixes it. You need to be familiar with a
small part of the original "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by
Washington Irving to understand a small part of the story.
Also, I interject my own opinion on the Horseman and who really
chased Ichabod Crane that night. While at the Van Tassel party,
ghost stories are told. Old Brouwer tells of riding behind the
Headless Horseman one night. Of course, Brom Bones has to one
up the elder:
"This story was immediately matched by a thrice marvelous
adventure of Brom Bones, who made light of the galloping
Hessian as an arrant jockey. He affirmed that, on returning one
night from the neighboring village of Sing Sing, he had been
overtaken by this midnight trooper; that he had offered to race
with it for a bowl of punch, and should have won it too, for
Daredevil beat the goblin horse all hollow, but, just as they
came to the church bridge, the Hessian bolted and vanished in a
flash of fire." (From "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow")
However, the image of the Horseman I use is from Tim Burton's
story and is "played" by Ray Park (Who did the Headless
Horseman fighting stunts). Also, Burton made a mistake. The
Hessian's horse did not have a name in the story. Daredevil was
Brom Bones' horse. However, in the movie, Daredevil became the
Hessian's horsey. So, I'll be using Burton's mistake.
The title of the story comes from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's
song "Otherside".
One final note: The Feast of Apples is an old Pagan name for
Halloween.
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars and Tim Burton owns
the Sleepy Hollow reference. Washington Irving invented the
Headless HorsemanÉMaybeÉWho knows what rides in
the November Wind. . . . .*insert scary music here*
. Qui-Gon Jinn sighed as he watched the slender body of his
Padawan float in the bacta tank. His tired eyes trailed down to
the massive abdominal wound Obi-Wan had suffered at the hands
of the now dead Sith Lord. The bacta was working to finishing
healing the wound. But, it would leave a scar.
*Oh, my Obi-Wan, you always were reckless!* Unbidden, the
memory of the battle flashed into Qui-Gon's mind.
~*~
Qui-Gon ran though the laser gates to chase down the Sith
Lord, while Obi-Wan took another route, jumping up onto an
overhead catwalk and running a head of his master. The gates
separated Qui-Gon and Darth Maul.
Obi-Wan leapt down from his catwalk and engaged the Sith Lord.
Purple sparks flew as blue and red lightsabers clashed. Even
through the gates, Qui-Gon could smell the ozone from the
battle. He watched as Obi-Wan severed the double bladed
lightsaber Maul used. Maul growled and threw away the useless
half. The Sith redoubled his attack on Obi-Wan. The Padawan was
hard pressed to keep up his defenses as he was backed away from
the gates and farther over the catwalk across the melting pit.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan stumbled and Darth Maul slammed his red
lightsaber into Obi-Wan's belly.
"NOOOOOO!!!!" Qui-Gon screamed as he watched his Padawan
collapse to the ground.
Darth Maul gloated as he stood in front of the gate. He leered
at the Master, then at the Padawan. Qui-Gon's anger rose as he
felt his Padawan's pain over their bond. ~Hang on, my Obi-Wan.
Please, hang on.~ Qui-Gon pleaded.
Suddenly, the gates cycled off and Qui-Gon rushed into battle,
his green saber glowing at full power. Qui-Gon drew on the
Force to give him the strength to beat this red and black
menace. Darth Maul was well trained and held his own against
the Jedi Master. Qui-Gon was breathing hard from the exertion.
He gritted his teeth as the two sabers made contact again.
Darth Maul pushed Qui-Gon away.
Just then, Qui-Gon saw Obi-Wan struggle to get up. He did
nothing to indicate Obi-Wan's movement to Darth Maul. Obi-Wan
quietly activated his lightsaber. ~Master, duck!~ Qui-Gon heard
over their bond. Qui-Gon fell to the ground just as Obi-Wan's
blue lightsaber severed Maul's horned head from his body. The
head fell into the melting pit while the body collapsed with a
thud on the ground. Qui-Gon jumped over the lifeless corpse and
grabbed Obi-Wan before the boy fell.
"My poor Padawan," Qui-Gon murmured and kissed the boy's
forehead. Obi-Wan's eyes started to drift close, but Qui-Gon
growled, "Stay awake, Obi-Wan! Stay with me!" Qui-Gon held onto
to the boy and his life force as the master ran out of the
power station and carried the boy to safety.
~*~
"Qui-Gonsir?" Anakin Skywalker's voice broke into Qui-Gon's
revere.
"Yes, Ani?" Qui-Gon asked. "What is wrong?"
"Nothing. Is Obi-Wan going to be O.K.?" Anakin asked as he
watched the Padawan in the tank.
"The healers say that Obi-Wan will all right, but it will take
time," Qui-Gon answered gently.
Anakin crawled onto Qui-Gon's lap, clutching a battered book
to his chest. Qui-Gon looked at it and asked, "Where did you
get that?"
"Obi-Wan showed it to me. I asked him for a scary story on the
ride to Naboo and he read me this. He said that you always read
it to him during The Feast of Apples," Anakin held out the copy
of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
"I see. Did Obi-Wan tell you that he and I did a re-enactment
of the chase scene for the Initiates at the Temple one year and
that I hit Councilor Windu in the head with the pumpkin?"
Qui-Gon laughed as he recalled that memory.
"You did?" Anakin's eyes widened.
"I was playing the Horseman and Obi-Wan was Ichabod. I had the
Jack-o-Lantern in my hand, ready to throw it at Obi-Wan, but I
couldn't see what I was doing. They had forgotten to put
eyeholes in the cape so I could see. It was very windy out and
the horse I was on was feeling frisky. Right as I threw the
pumpkin, the horse reared up and to the side. The pumpkin hit
poor Councilor Windu in the head. Then both my horse and
Obi-Wan's trotted over and started eating the pumpkin!" Qui-Gon
laughed. Anakin giggled at the image.
"Was he mad?"
"No. It was an accident and it was funny."
"Oh," Anakin said. Then, another thought entered his mind.
"Qui-Gonsir, why would a headless man want a bowl of punch?"
"What?" Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow. Anakin held up the book
again. "Ani, Brom Bones was lying when he told that story. He
set up Ichabod to scare him."
"Why would he do that?"
"Brom Bones was a man ruled by his passions and his jealousy.
He wanted to scare Ichabod on the way home from the Van Tassel
party. So, he told that story, then dressed up like the
Horseman."
"He wasn't a nice guy was he?"
"No."
Inside the tank, Obi-Wan's eyes twitched as he dreamed. . .
~*~
Obi-Wan found himself tied to a chair in a large, empty
theater. All the lights, except for one over the stage, were
off. A cold wind blew the stench of decay and sickly-sweet
death through the theater. Obi-Wan gagged and tried to turn his
head, but he couldn't. He pulled against his bonds and pain
shot through his belly.
*Help me, Master.* Obi-Wan thought.
A strange thunder echoed through the theater. A being dressed
in black rotted leather and a flowing black cape stepped onto
the stage. Rusted, arcane weapons were strapped to a massive
torso. Obi-Wan looked up and saw no head.
*Shit!* Obi-Wan whimpered. The Horseman ignored the frightened
Jedi. He waited quietly, as patient as any Jedi Knight. A third
figure joined them. Darth Maul, with his head and lightsaber
intact, stepped out onto the stage and bowed mockingly to the
Horseman and to Obi-Wan. Maul wagged his tongue at the Padawan.
Obi-Wan tried to scowl, but the strange gag in his mouth
prevented it.
The Horseman remained still as Darth Maul activated his light
staff and spun it around. Maul's pointy teeth flashed in the
subdued light as he launched his first attack against the
Horseman. A strange, sour smell filled the air as the Horseman
blocked the Maul's slashing attack with his own hell-forged
sword. Sparks flew into the air as the swords clashed again.
Maul spun around and slashed at the Horseman. He used the same
smack in the face then stab in the stomach move that had felled
Obi-Wan. However, Maul had forgotten to account for his
opponent's lack of a head. The Horseman sliced through the
double bladed lightsaber, ruining one blade. His hell sword cut
deeply into Maul's abdominal cavity. The Sith Lord called on
the Force to start healing the wound far faster than it should
have healed.
Obi-Wan felt the Force around the Sith, a slimy, cold
sensation, gather into a powerful push of energy against the
Horseman. *Force mind whammies don't work against headless
people! * Obi-Wan thought to himself. Apparently, Darth Maul's
Master never taught that lesson to his now-dead apprentice. Not
that Qui-Gon ever mentioned that to Obi-Wan either, but
stillÉ
Maul jumped over the space where the Horseman's head would
have been and stabbed the massive ghost in the back with the
lightsaber. Smoke curled around the hole in the moldy leather.
The Horseman spun around and sent his flying through the hazy
air. It slammed into the wall beside Obi-Wan.
*Shitshitshitshitshit! * Obi-Wan thought as he eyed the rusted
axe. It was ancient, yet it was still sharp.
Obi-Wan coughed as smoked filled the room. The wound on the
Horseman's back had smoldered through out the fight. A small
flame licked at the leather and reached deep into the
Horseman's body. It hit a pocket of methane gas trapped in the
Horseman's chest where his heart had once beat. Black foul
smoke billowed out of the Horseman, obscuring most of the fight
from Obi-Wan's view. Only the red flash of Darth Maul's
lightsaber cut through the smog. He stabbed the Horseman
repeatedly, but it did not stop the ghostly Hessian. As the
flames slowly claimed the Horseman's body, he raised his
massive sword and hacked through Darth Maul's body. The Sith
Lord's body fell in two pieces, cut neatly through the middle,
on the stage.
The flames rose around the Horseman as he stepped on the dead
Sith Lord. A loud whinney echoed in the theater and DareDevil
ran up to the Horseman. DareDevil stood still as his burning
master jumped onto its back. Horse and rider galloped up to
Obi-Wan and grabbed him, painfully yanking the Padawan free of
the restraints. DareDevil's mane blew in Obi-Wan's face as a
strangely sweet breeze cleared out the smoke.
"Padawan!" Qui-Gon's voice seemed to come from the horse.
"Obi-Wan! Wake up!"
"Master? You're a horse?" Obi-Wan murmured as he clung to the
mane.
Suddenly a large hand cuffed his head. Obi-Wan opened his eyes
and found himself laying on a cot in the bacta tank room. He
was coated in the slippery gel and gasping for breath. Qui-Gon
held Obi-Wan's head still as a healer slipped an oxygen over
the young man's nose and mouth. Obi-Wan relaxed as Qui-Gon
stroked his hair.
"What happened?" Obi-Wan's voice was muffled by the mask.
"The life support tubing in the tank came loose. You almost
drowned, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon pressed his forehead to Obi-Wan's.
Anakin crawled up on the foot of the cot and handed Qui-Gon a
warmed towel. The Jedi Master gently rubbed his apprentice
clean and dry.
"Were you having a nightmare, Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked. "You
were screaming when the healers took you out of the bacta tank.
And you called Master Qui-Gon a horse."
Obi-Wan blushed. "A very bad nightmare, Anakin," Obi-Wan
murmured.
"What did you dream, Padawan?"
Obi-Wan sighed and opened the training bond. Qui-Gon winced as
he saw the images from Obi-Wan's dream.
"That was not a pleasant dream, my Padawan," Qui-Gon shook his
head. Anakin still clutched the book to his chest. Qui-Gon held
out his hand and Anakin put the book in it. "I think 'Legend of
Sleepy Hollow' should be relegated to a room in the Temple
library for a while."
"Yes, Qui-Gonsir," Anakin sighed disappointedly.
"I have other scary books," Obi-Wan whispered to the boy. "You
can read them when we get home."
Qui-Gon cleared his throat. "No scary books. Not until you are
fully recovered, Obi-Wan!" He scolded.
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan's smiled sleepily.
As Obi-Wan drifted off, Qui-Gon gently kissed Obi-Wan's pale
cheek. "Good night, my own."
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