Herbert, Frank - Dune 2 by Dune Messiah

Author:Dune Messiah
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

===========================

"You do not beg the sun for mercy."

-Maud'dib's Travail from The Stilgar Commentary

One moment of incompetence can be fatal, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam reminded

herself.

She hobbled along, apparently unconcerned, within a ring of Fremen guards. One of those behind

her, she knew, was a deaf-mute immune to any wiles of Voice. No doubt he'd been charged to kill

her at the slightest provocation.

Why had Paul summoned her? she wondered. Was he about to pass sentence? She remembered

the day long ago when she'd tested him . . . the child kwisatz haderach. He was a deep one.

Damn his mother for all eternity! It was her fault the Bene Gesserit had lost their hold on this gene

line.

Silence surged along the vaulted passages ahead of her entourage. She sensed the word being

passed. Paul would hear the silence. He'd know of her coming before it was announced. She didn't

delude herself with ideas that her powers exceeded his.

Damn him!

She begrudged the burdens age had imposed on her: the aching joints, responses not as quick as

once they'd been, muscles not as elastic as the whipcords of her youth. A long day lay behind her

and a long life. She'd spent this day with the Dune Tarot in a fruitless search for some clue to her

own fate. But the cards were sluggish.

91

The guards herded her around a corner into another of the seemingly endless vaulted passages.

Triangular meta-glass windows on her left gave a view upward to trellised vines and indigo

flowers in deep shadows cast by the afternoon sun. Tiles lay underfoot -- figures of water

creatures from exotic planets. Water reminders everywhere. Wealth . . . riches.

Robed figures passed across another hall in front of her, cast covert glances at the Reverend

Mother. Recognition was obvious in their manner -- and tension.

She kept her attention on the sharp hairline of the guard immediately in front: young flesh, pink

creases at the uniform collar.

The immensity of this ighir citadel began to impress her. Passages . . . passages . . . They passed an

open doorway from which emerged the sound of timbur and flute playing soft, elder music. A

glance showed her blue-in-blue Fremen eyes staring from the room. She sensed in them the

ferment of legendary revolts stirring in wild genes.

There lay the measure of her personal burden, she knew. A Bene Gesserit could not escape

awareness of the genes and their possibilities. She was touched by a feeling of loss: that stubborn

fool of an Atreides! How could he deny the jewels of posterity within his loins? A kwisatz

haderach! Born out of this time, true, but real -- as real as his abomination of a sister . . . and there lay a dangerous unknown. A wild Reverend Mother spawned without Bene Gesserit inhibitions,

holding no loyalty to orderly development of the genes. She shared her brother's powers, no doubt

-- and more.

The size of the citadel began to oppress her. Would the passages never end? The place reeked of

terrifying physical power. No planet, no civilization in all human history had ever before seen such

man-made immensity. A dozen ancient cities could be hidden in its walls!

They passed oval doors with winking lights.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.