Deleted Scenes and Chapters From Dune by Frank Herbert

Author:Frank Herbert [Herbert, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: beta
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PAUL & JESSICA

(In hiding after the hunter-seeker attack)

What does it mean that you are Bene Gesserit, Mother?”

He has inherited my perceptivity, she thought, and said: “That is the name of the school where I was trained.”

“I know that, Mother. But it means something different, too. When my father, the Duke, is bothered by something you have done he says ‘Bene Gesserit’ like a swear word.”

She couldn’t suppress the smile that twisted her lips. “And what is it about me that bothers your father, the Duke?”

“When you thwart him. I have heard him call you ‘a Bene Gesserit witch.’”

Silent laughter shook her.

Paul’s face remained sturdily somber. “Will you teach me the secret things you know, Mother?”

Jessica breathed a silent prayer to Sister Nartha and the oath ofsuccession. I was careless and have a son instead of a daughter,she thought. No! I was not careless. I knew how much my Duke wanted a son. But still it is a son … of a Bene Gesserit witch.

“I will teach you some of the things I know,” she said.

He stared at her, dissatisfied with the answer, then: “Now I know how my father, the Duke, feels about you sometimes,” he said.

She kept her wry feeling of humor from showing on her face, but still he sensed it.

“We are not amused,” he said.

And suddenly she saw a veil parted into the future. If he lives he will be a great ruler, she thought. He has the perceptivity, the quickness, the deep intelligence, but above all else, he has the dignity.

She spoke formally: “I am sorry if I have offended my son,” she said. “I beg the prerogative of my privacy.”

“You had that without begging it,” he said. A tiny smile twitched the corners of his mouth. “I beg the prerogative of your indulgence.”

She rumpled his hair, her eyes smarting with unshed tears. “Did you come here to protect me, darling?”

“Of course. My father, the Duke, has told me to protect you when he is away. I would do it anyway, but all must obey the Duke.”

“You are very right,” she said. Then: “How will we know when it is safe to leave here?”

“I told Dr. Yueh that I would find you and close a door upon us until he signaled with our knock.” Paul turned, rapped on the wall—three raps, a pause, two, then three more.

“That was sensible of you.” She turned away, clasping her hands tightly until she felt pain in her knuckles. Death traps … deadly peril for her Duke and her son and she herself sought as payment to a traitor. Which traitor? Who was the trusted lieutenant?

“If we are safe in this room, you should relax, Mother,” said Paul.

She nodded, turned a smile of false brightness on him. “What have you and Dr. Yueh been up to?”

“We’ve been looking at a filmbook about our planet. Did you know that down in the desert they have giant sandworms?”

“Yes, I read about them.”

“They’ve killed a lot of dunemen—that’s what they call the spice hunters.

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