Chapter Six

~*~

He could barely comprehend what she had just asked of him. A minute ago he probably would have loved nothing more than to lop off her head, but now… Now he wasn't so sure. To take such a lovely head from an equally lovely body—what he'd seen of it—had to be a crime within itself. But Leto found himself nodding anyway, and vowed to her that he would do it. If such a conclusion became inevitable. But he also made another vow. This one a silent but determined promise to himself… He promised himself that he would never allow such a conclusion to befall her so long as it was within his power to prevent it. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so different about this woman, but since he felt very little about anything or anyone anymore, that in and of itself made him undeniably and suddenly protective.

Even though he knew how incredibly foolish he was being for even allowing himself to follow such unpredictable and unsettling instincts felt towards an outsider.

But even so, he looked at her with different eyes than those that had seen her a few minutes ago. "Tell me of your home world, Shandre'la."

She almost jumped as the phrase came straight from his families past—as well as hers. She didn't know how to describe to him the destruction and the death that had resided on her world for years. The deserts of her world had sheltered her through a group of people who knew she was their last hope. She'd been trained, beaten within an inch of her life to see if she could take it, mind raped, starved, put in solitary confinement, and everything else she could think of as a child. Rubbing her wrists, she was vividly reminded of a dark memory in which she had hung from them briefly.

"There isn't much to tell you about my home world that you don't already know. My people are dying because most of them sent their bonded worms here to prolong their lives, only to find that your planet deteriorates faster than ours." She turned away from him and started walking deeper into the desert. She'd followed him and now he followed her. There was something she wasn't telling him and it was like bait for a fish. He saw Shandre'la smile and it was almost like the desert had suddenly lit up. He couldn't help but be drawn to it.

Turning to him, she included him in the light that was her. "Do you like to run? It used to soothe me when the trials of my life became to much."

Smiling almost impishly, she didn't wait for his reply. Instead she took off. Surprising him with her burst of speed. Knowing that he would follow. He could do nothing else.

Their feet barely touched the sands, and the beautiful landscape of the light of the moon spilling over the haunting yet welcoming sands of Arrakis passed them with blurring speed. Shandre'la had had an original and specific location in mind that she had intended to head towards, but found that following Leto was far more fun. The smile on his face made her forget things that were supposed to be her top priority and she forgot many things that should not have been forgotten. How long had it been since the last time he had experienced such simple joy in his newly evolved existence? How long had it been since he had found joy… in anything?

Shandre'la's wonderings were cut off when a dart of pain ran through her body. Suddenly reminding her that while his powers were limitless right now, her powers weren't.

Visions of death grew in her mind like her family tree. They wouldn't stop and there was nothing she could do. And then it happened. She felt the deathblow of her entire nation.

Even knowing that it would inevitably happen didn't prepare her for the pain she felt as her peoples' lives were severed by a Path that had once been kind to them.

The edges of her vision faded black from the pain, hands that were clutching the sands of Dune for dear life went slack, and her body rolled in on itself—a fetus in a vast stomach that was now Dune. A scream tore from her throat but she clamped her mouth shut. Withering in pain she did the one thing that she knew would be both kind and cruel at the same time. She used that last of her waning power and cut Marisa's bond to their world.

 Leto stopped when he found that she wasn't behind him anymore and watched as the first rays of the sun hit the cold sand and chased across it like the fall of golden and amber water.

Confused, he followed his footsteps back the way he had come. The sun that he'd just welcomed in its rising, beat at his naked back and lit the way in front of him. There was something coming in hard and coming in fast off to his left. He recognized the familiar sensation, but when he glimpsed the blue hide of the worm, he knew immediately that something was wrong. That worm was not a native to these sands, and as it cut effortlessly through the sands with a precision that made it look like Dune parted the way for it he knew only one thing that would make it that frantic.

Shandre'la.

Running in the direction that the worm was traveling, he tracked it's straight line to a still, dark form in the sand. He got there first but just barely. She was sprawled across the sand as if she'd been dropped there. He surprised himself by immediately picking her up and was even more surprised when he felt how much of her was just cloth. She felt as light as a child and was as angular as a skeleton. That's when her hood fell back and he found that she almost was a skeleton. The area around her eyes was sunken in and darkly shadows. Her lips bloodless and abnormally thin. It was as if her water had been almost completely drained from her body and was just now being slowly replaced.

The worm disappeared under the sand only to appear underneath him. Leto cradled the comatose woman even closer to his chest and balanced both his weight as well as hers as he centered himself on the back of her worm. There were foot holes for him so he didn't need to ride like he'd been taught. All he needed to do was hang on to Shandre'la and watch grimly as her worm instinctively rushed towards civilization.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

"The Worma're are dead?"

"Yes—but… The voice stuttered nervously and the figure bent lower, hoping that the darkness of the room would hide them so long as they didn't move from the floor.

What do you mean 'but? The voice and the person with it was very much like the desert. Cruel and unyielding. The figure on the floor shrunk lower knowing that to fail was to die… and they so didn't want to die.

"Shandre'la wasn't on the planet. The Golden Path still runs rampant in her blood but her powers are severely limited now in any case." The shuddered out answer proved to be the strike to the match of a timeless and unpredictable anger that was never sated.

"Severely limited…" The voice laughed and the figure stood knowing exactly where to go. Cloth whispered and sighed against the ground and a crow perched comfortably on her shoulder. "Limited. She was supposed to be killed. Dead. Deceased. Decomposing. But now she still has Leto. Her power's are definitely not limited." The voice spit the last out in hatred. "She has just forged a new path in time, and given me yet another significant problem to deal with."

"I apologize mistress. I did not know. I will fix it." The figure started to shake his body seemed to shrink and turn cold.

"Yes, you will help me with my problem…by dying." She didn't even move as the man's blood splattered her dress or when the head rolled over her shoe. She just looked up at the child who had struck him dead and smiled faintly. They both had a score to settle with the ruling Dune family.

"Don't fail me child, or your head will roll."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" The child laughed and it was as evil as her glowing blue eyes.

"Most men would be pissing on themselves right now." The older woman pointed out calmly.

The child shrugged nonchalantly and looked down at the fallen servant below her. His blood pooling dark crimson around his headless body. She kicked at his side contemptuously with one dainty foot. "Such is the case when working with men."

~*~*~*~