SON OF DUNE

Jamis and Leit were excused from the chambers. Gurney Halleck was the only one left in the hall. Damon had lowered himself from floating, and his feet touched the ground. He had run back to his chamber and wore something comfortable: sweatpants, a clean white shirt, and robes. Meanwhile, Gurney Halleck stayed alone, overlooking the whole room, and was deeply fascinated with how it looked.

"You wish to go to him," Damon said when he came back. Paul, I mean, I do not blame you for wanting such a thing. If I served my father as long as you have, then I would do anything to go to be with his son." He knew of Gurney's past and the Harkonnens. " I am sorry for what I did. I know that you wanted Glossu dead. I heard he is the one who gave you that scar."

Gurney was surprised. The only ones who knew that were himself and the duke. "I see things that others do not, and soon enough, Paul will too; he is already glimpsing of seeing a fragmented path. You are not a prisoner here, Gurney; you are free to roam and leave with your armies, but I assure you, if you do, you will not make it past the oasis and the harsh winds and storms. And I will not help you.

"Then I do not see the difference of being a prisoner here or there., your tongue says soft things, but your actions speak of another," Gurney said with harsh intensity. "And what will you have me do?" Damon asked. "your men are loyal to you and my father's house, and Paul is the head."

" do you hear yourself, m'lord, your father's house?" He remarked. He pointed to Damon's chest and poked it with his index finger, the guards on the walls all took to their blades. Damon waved his hand to ease them. "It is the house of Atreides. You may not use that name, but it is your blood. And you are obligated to use everything to protect them. You have the power." Gurney argued, and his words did make sense; however, he was thinking with emotion.

"Do you know what makes the difference between an animal and a human?" he asked. His voice was easy and lazy, and his feet tapped the flooring with two rhythms. And it opened up, revealing a table as it came up like an elevator. When it was done. A bottle of scotch appeared in hand and two glass bottles.

"Some think it is the ability to be aware, but in truth, all animals are aware, even babies to some degree, but blinded by instinct, as humans' instincts dilute when we grow older. And we become more aware. Of our surroundings, and our ability to think improves. But the animal never grows. It is quick to anger and glee. And likes to be rewarded for every action it takes. You, my friend, are thinking like an animal. Kept in a cage with laws of morality.

My brother had been given everything he would need from me. Do not think I could not have conquered Arrakis long before this; we were ready long before you came here. However, I waited and waited for my brother. Paul is the one they call the messiah, the Lisan al Gaib. Do you not understand how easy it would have been for me to take it all? I saw the ending of my house with every action I took. I saw the ending of the survival of my house. And soon enough, Paul and Alia will ensure it." gurney Halleck was confused about who Alia was. However, he did have another question: as a lieutenant, he knew of war and had been in it.

"Do you honestly believe they would wait a year and a half? The Corrino and the Harkonnens will not wait that long, I know it," he said. He looked at Damon as if he were a stupid child with a plan that was doomed to fail. "Oh, is that what you are worried about," a smile came to him. he poured the bottle into the two glass cups and gave one to Gurney. "Nothing enters Arrakis without my knowing. Who is to say that Arrakis is not protected? The landsraad has ships. I have a fleet. What do you think we have been doing here? Are we monks who wait in silence and live on a lovely mountain, preserving our peace with silence? No," Gurney drank from the cup, and the drink was strong but had a great burn and aroma, strong just like he liked it.

"They will come sooner, and the emperor will not allow others to help him. he will come here with his Sardukar to end both House Harkonnen and House Atreides. He is given very little choice. If the other great houses learn of his treachery, they will skewer him and deprive him of his so-called power. And the sisterhood that enabled his actions will be broken and killed off. So, you see, both the emperor's family and the sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit have something to lose. And I know prideful people, Gurney." He drank the last of his scotch. "They would never give up power. It is absolute for them."

Gurney was insulted by being compared to an animal and understood the meaning behind those words; he had been a leader of a legion of the Atreides military force, but never had he been a king and the responsibilities they shared and held. When he was taken here, he awoke midway through the ride. They rode under the desert sand like the SHAI HULUD. And when the time came to come above ground, they were met with greenery that could not be seen or found on Arrakis, yet here it was. Patches of green grass and water running through pipes, rivers, and ponds were found. Children played in the open heat, being splashed by water, and homes were made from sand with technology. They had power and electricity; markets and stalls were open. They walked the ground as if they were free and protected. When they came from the ground, they were greeted by children running after the buses and waving at them. Damon had created all of this. He understood there that this was all Damon had to lose. This is what he protected. Looking over the windows to the side, he looked down, below the hills, and saw homes made within the rock. A small city, and a military base was just below the palace.

"My brother must come to the conclusion of what he Must do; I have always said a prophecy is a lie that can be achieved and turned into truth. A lie so engrained that if you told the man next to you, he would cut you down for it. I will not divide my people into factions; when the regular Fremen man and woman need help, I lend aid, I provide food to the sietches; that is why they respect me. I will continue to help the sietches despite their naïve choices. I am a kind man." He finished off.

Somewhere else in Arrakis, Paul and the lady Jessica.

She did not want to tell him, but Paul could see it. His mentat abilities had flared with his father's death. As they walked around the basin, the hills were rocky and tricky. They had been walking in the way of the Fremen. His muscles did not ache as much as Lady Jessica's. She was pregnant and needed more water. Her Stillsuit helped with that. She was a Bene Gesserit, a weirding woman who learned to battle at a young age. Jessica Harkonnen, daughter of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, would have been sick if she had known, but Paul had spared her from that

The sun was coming up soon; it was dark, and bats flew in the small, narrow tunnels of the basin; they had stopped to rest. She did not ask questions; Paul was lost in his own mind at times, looking at things that were not there—closing his eyes. He felt himself inside a sietch, running along its narrow mazes and laughing. "Krelln, come with me," a small girl with blue within blue eyes, led him with her hand " Hold on Chani." He said. breathing in, the warm air, he waked him from his vision.

"What did you see?" came the voice of the lady Jessica. She sat down on a boulder in her still suit, the blade she had been given in its sheath. To the side of her hip." Where did you get the blade? It looks Fremen." It felt familiar, concerned with sadness and anger. He heard the words. "I'm here, I'm here." In the Fremen tongue. Passing by in the wind.

"Your brother had it brought to me and said it was a gift." She answered. Paul, with a lack of emotion, moved towards his mother, but something occurred: a small grain of sand dropped from above the basin; something was walking above, no Somone. The lady, Jessica, stood up. "You go above, I go down low; they will be coming this way." She said. Her son's life was more important than hers. Duke Leto had asked her to protect his life, and like any mother, she would not lose another son. So she promised she would do everything she could.

They came, it was a rugged man with a beard and short hair, with blue within blue eyes, paul had not yet moved, he stood there watching all of this. "what have we here human or jinn." Came the voice of Stilgar, said.

"Human, I warrant." A smirk played on his lips. The lady Jessica was careful to ap