XXXVI: The Cumulation of Plots
My hope lacked. I was devoid of hope of the future, if we survived this visit with the Emperor. He awaited just outside these rock walls. How feeble these thick solid walls seemed in light of the Emeperor's presence.
We exited our chambers.
Feyd scanned both ways in the hall. His eyes were slitted like a predator. His hands were fists, as if ready for an assault at any moment.
My heart sputtered in place.
He changed his demeanor in an instant. A threat to our safety, his sudden concern after being so tender and supportive of me.
Now the monster was alive within him. He took to its skin. His talons and fangs ready to slice the flesh of his enemies, those who would harm us, the very Imperium if he needed to.
How we differed in our instinct: I was ready to die in the face of monsters, he was willing to kill to defeat them.
A breath pushed through my pursed lips.
Feyd swept his gaze for another survey of the hall when he suddenly stopped. His eyes caught against the other end. It stunned him a moment.
His hands jolted to my hand. He gripped it with ferocity.
"This way, sweetness. Come with me."
He dragged me along toward the end of the rocky hall. A black glass showed a brilliant sunny display of the desert, the city alive below it, and a glowing silvery orb. It hovered. The surface below it pushed large clouds of sand into the air like waves through water.
Feyd looked through the glass intensely.
"The Emperor's ship," he murmured. His breath was low, like the undercurrent of a thought. It barely broke through the air. "Something is not right."
"What does it mean?" I questioned quietly.
The many soldiers of the palace marched around the place. There were a fair number of grey armored soldiers. The Emperor's Sardaukar.
Our bodies were alone in a corner, although I guessed that all our conversations were observed if they were audible. It was his warning before we arrived to withhold all we could from being spoken. He trusted me, and I trusted him. The information we shared could not be used against us if we never spoke it aloud.
"He is here himself. On the surface. My uncle's right. He's made himself very vulnerable."
His dark eyes scanned the scene before us in great depth. He absorbed it, the shaking of his pupils from left to right shaking back and forth as if it were words in front of them instead.
"But that is a good thing," I said.
"No." The sound rippled hollow from his chest. "He is not old on a throne for nothing. Those as decrepit as him remain so only because they are ruthless. Five legions of his own soldiers are present. That is too many for a normal visit, even to Arrakis. No. Something…" he tapped the glass. "Something is changed."
Loud doors slammed down the hall. Boots thudded against the ground.
A large procession of the Barons entourage, the Beast and finally the monster himself marched through the hall down into the Great was donned in royal finery. The Baron added his many jewels to his fingers. A long silver chain went down to the middle of his chest.
There was one man whom stood out amongst the pale creatures. A harried man, old and dry. His skin was burned like it was out in the Arrakis daylight. The large brown of his eyes was devoid of the warmth I expected.
The man was no Harkonnen, but he lacked a certain humanity that was akin to the monsters.
Feyd quickly surmounted the corridor into the hall and called out to his uncle. He asked what was going on.
The insult to his pride was one thing. His suspicions were another; they bit harder through his calm.
He was angry about not being informed of what plots were happening without his knowledge.
"I've been summoned before the Emperor." The Baron grumbled with displeasure. "Stay here."
Feyd's eyes snapped toward his brother. He gritted his teeth. "You'd bring Rabban, and not your heir? I am the one whom slain Muad'Dib. It should be me whom the Emperor sees."
"He does not seek to praise, Feyd darling."
That nickname broiled my stomach upward into my throat like a violent punch to my stomach.
How dare he taunt Feyd with that name.
All these people knew what things the Baron did to Feyd. They knew what that nickname meant. It was a reminder of all those horrid things done to dominate and humiliate Feyd all over again.
My hand was looped against Feyd's arm. I stepped closer into it.
"I don't want his praise. It is my place as na-Baron to be present."
The Baron shrugged. "Fine then. Join me. Leave the witch."
The procession began to move again.
"The witch stays with me," Feyd declared.
The Baron stopped his machine from moving. The tips of his toes dragged along the floor, catching against the edges of the rocks without notice or pain. Their limp paleness was undersized. The atrophy of his lower body was well hidden beneath his large billowy robe he wore at all times.
"This is not place for women. We stand before the Emperor to represent the planet. A woman has no place here."
"Arrakis is my fief. I am the lord of his planet. The witch is a lady of my House. She is lady to this fief." Feyd spoke through gritted teeth. The black glistened. "The witch stays with me." His eyes snapped around the room. He adjusted his shoulders relaxed. The muscles of his jaw tensed tighter before they released. "Besides, the Emperor has a witch of his own. The Truthsayer will trust her. They'll trust us."
The Baron thought for a moment. Although he scowled, he bowed his head.
Streaks of sweat smeared against the armor of his suit from my fingers.
Lies.
All of it lies.
We joined the Baron's group. His inner circle of trusted people - us included - marched out to meet the Emperor's ship.
It shaded the ground with a long darkness. The degree of the air changed once we brushed inside its cover. The heat of the sun eased.
Winds of the desert were strong. Sand pushed at my eyes. It hurt to blink. Their moisture was stolen with the ragged blow of wind.
I wished for my shayla to protect me from the deserts power.
My dress fluttered. It snapped in the sudden change of wind. I fought against the power of that sweeping will of the desert to keep upright on the path that Feyd led me.
"A storm," Feyd said loudly against the wind for dominance. "It will be here soon."
The large silver ship allowed us entrance into the belly. Sand fell in thick heaps from our clothes.
Sardaukar soldiers relayed instructions from the Emperor's own mouth. Only those of the Baron's house may enter.
His advisors and high ranked nobility had to wait outside.
Their disappointment mirrored my own. I wished I did not have to be part of it. I wished to wait outside, let Feyd finish what he must without my witness to it.
The Baron took the lead first into the Emperor's ship.
It was large, shiny, and impeccably clean. I marveled at the sleekness. There was such beauty in it.
There was warmth and subtle soft color. Soft yellow- none like the blinding brightness of Arrakis. A meek tender yellow.
We followed the Sardaukar soldiers through rooms until we met a pair of oversized closed doors. They stayed closed. The height was high above all our heads. It made me feel smaller still, compared to the tall men around me.
"What is the meaning of this," the Baron barked. "The Emperor has called for me. I am not an errand boy meant to wait."
The Baron did not like that he was denied entry.
Whatever lied upon those reaches was more powerful than he.
Time stopped. Its length stretched out against us, while it appeared none had passed. We were kept without window to the landscape or clock. Our bodies stood. Agony looked at us apart from the passage of time.
Eerie silence was all around us. It aided the tension. Was it an hour, we've stood in wait? Had it even been a minute?
I questioned my perception. Until I noticed the fidgeting at my side. Feyd flexed his hands first. His eyes scanned around us. Back and forth, he looked. He inhaled long through his nose. The attention of his eyes went to the walls. He examined the room we were trapped inside like there was riddle to this pause.
"What is this game," the Beast said.
The doors parted slightly. The sound of whirring mechanisms groaned throughout the walls.
"There is a woman among you. Send her forward," a woman's voice said.
The breath of the room sucked away.
I was the only woman.
My eyelids fluttered to keep my expressions trained calm.
Motion to my side was the disapproving shake of Feyd's head.
"The Emperor requested an audience with me." The Baron grumbled. "We are here to meet with him."
"The woman," the voice repeated louder. "Send her to me."
Feyd peered at the front of the room. He managed to look over his brothers' shoulders, as mighty as they were. "She is under the command of Harkonnen house."
"And you are under command of the Emperor. He demands she be brought forth. Now."
The Emperor needed me. How did he even know about me?
"Go on." The Baron's voice rumbled. "Present yourself."
I bested my anxiety and took a step forward.
Feyd hastily grasped my arm. "She carries Harkonnen property inside her. I must go with her. To ensure it is not endangered."
"Would you like it removed so it may remain with those of its house?" The voice curtly replied.
The crunch of his teeth set my own teeth on edge.
Feyd's grip remained on my arm. It anchored me to him. "Ensure us she will be returned to my side, safe from harm."
"Feyd. Give the witch to them," the Baron instructed.
"She is our property," he snipped.
"Property that you've not paid for," the woman's voice replied. "Do not think you've hidden this."
The Baron shrugged. "She was paid for by someone before we took her."
"Someone," the voice said sternly. "Not by you."
Anyone could sense his rising tensions. The veins in Feyd's hand were flared. Their dark rivers cut clearly through his skin.
It could not go on.
His plans required more risk to me than this. If he was to surmount the throne, I needed to be put in harm's way. It did not convince me he could hide his emotions from the Baron for long. If at all.
I pulled my arm from his hold. What would a witch say in this moment?
"I will return to your side, na-Baron, after they are through with me."
It was the best I could imagine.
My feet clinked lonely through the metal room. The last obstacle in my way to the doors was the large blockade of the Baron's and his levitating form.
He remained still, only a moment to prove his superiority, before he moved aside.
There I was struck by the bright green eyes of a woman. A yellow haired woman with a long silhouette that near complimented Feyd's own build. Her legs ran as long as my chest.
Her beauty, soft and unassuming. The brightest feature aside from her height was the shimmering green hue of her eyes. They were large. Their brightness was a beacon that I walked toward.
The trembling in my throat alerted me to something amiss.
Her stare was not of a woman. I knew that look.
Hers was the powerful gaze of a predator, not unlike Feyd either.
She knew she had me vulnerable. I had no choice but to comply.
Her body snapped back around, leading deeper into the darkness behind the massive doors. She did not look for my compliance. Her footsteps became whispers as she walked further away.
I spared a glimpse of Feyd as I turned on the threshold of the door; he paced. He moved like a caged tiger. His shoulders moved round in their sockets. The slinky motion of his spine, too, turned him into a predator. The growing snarl on his face did not ease the comparison.
The dark of his eyes found mine. Fear. It laced through them.
Darkness overtook the corridor. I followed the blonde woman through the darkness, blind as prey would. It felt like a trap. It enclosed in on me at the end of the hall.
A room. It was small, rounded. No windows opened to any other space.
There sat in the center of the room was a woman of black veils. Her dress encapsulated her entire being into shadow.
Once I breeched the room, I was unable to leave. It locked me inside.
Temperature of Arrakis - even through the dense space ship - could be felt in the inner reaches of the holds. This room was total ice.
The blonde stood to the side. Her face bowed low.
"What is your name?" The woman in black asked.
Her voice was old. For its age, it did not lack confidence.
Witch.
I remained quiet. My heart beating wildly.
My lie had come to face me. The witches heard. They were here to exact revenge for my lie.
The woman sighed, exasperated. "There is no time, woman. I am a Truthsayer. Do you know what that is?" She did not pause for me to answer. "I can tell when you lie. So, let us waste no more of my time. What is your name?"
"Mintha," I answered.
"Are you the consort of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen?"
I sputtered an exhale through my lips. "Yes."
"Are you the only woman he sees?" The woman asked quickly.
I nodded. "I believe so."
"You believe or you know?"
"I know," I said, firming my tone.
"That is what I thought."
The blonde was silent. She did not move. She did not speak.
Her presence discomforted me. Only out of the corner of my eye could I view her. My back was exposed to attack.
I loosed my hands from my midsection to the sides. They hung by my skirts. Should the need arise, I'd fight back with all I had.
Not that it was much.
Feyd did not allow me to learn how to fight nor was I allowed a weapon.
He still believed me a risk to myself if I was given access to a blade. I could not blame him. I probably was.
"Has Feyd impregnated you?" The woman in black asked suddenly.
Motion of the blonde's head caught my eye. She tilted her face up from the floor. Her eyes looked at the woman with an intense stare.
My stomach soured with fear. "Wh-why does it matter?"
"Answer the question!" The woman demanded. "The na-Baron has impregnated you, has he not?"
A sudden surge rose up through my throat. Her voice sank deep within my mind. I winced. My thoughts attempted to deflect her demand away; they dissipated.
The words went to my mouth. I could no longer hold them back.
"Yes. Yes, I am pregnant."
"Is the pregnancy stable?"
I blinked. Again, her words refused to leave. I could not escape.
My heart ached as I released the words from my chest. "I carried two, but...only one remains. Only one."
My hollow tone was that of heartbreak I could not write into words. It was the lonely howl of injury. An injury that could never heal.
I was not strong enough as Feyd needed in his time of need. My body failed.
He swore he would kill us. He swore.
Why had he not killed me then? The lifewater of our child left me. It should have claimed us all. He should have relieved my suffering. Our children and I could be put to peace in a place far away from the painful life he lived.
It was not in my soul to ever leave him.
I despised the thought of him alone.
How could this world ever be happy? How could we be, normal, after all we've endured?
This place. This Imperium. This fight for humanity.
I'd give my own life to have him live on, in happiness, joy, without fear, without death, without need to look over his shoulder with a blade in his hand.
"Is it strong?" The woman in black asked.
Her voice cut through my emotional pain.
Warm silent tears slid down my cheeks. They reached my chin as I nodded. "Yes."
"Good. It will survive," she hummed in satisfaction.
A sudden knock hit some place around the room. Its sound bounced round and round.
The woman in black stood suddenly. She was not as imposing as I expected. Her height was the same as mine.
"I must go," she said as she walked. "Take her back when you are called for."
The blonde dipped her head in submission. She towered over the woman in black yet bowed as an obedient child would.
I do not know what I expected from the encounter - death, perhaps torture at its very least - but it lacked substance.
I watched the woman in black fade to nothingness in the corridor. She became shadow. The faint swish of her dragging dress the only evidence to her very existence.
The quiet of her absence did not last long.
"How are you still alive?" The blonde woman asked.
There was now confidence in her gaze. She did not keep her head bowed toward the floor like before. Her body aligned beneath her like a snake hooding itself from the ground.
I shook my head. "What do you-."
"Feyd-Rautha is known to be psychotic at the best of times," the woman rambled. Her voice was smooth. It was trained in calm yet fluctuated with emotion as she spoke faster. "How could he restrain himself long enough to impregnate you? Let alone, name you consort. My father has witness -."
"Your father?" I interrupted.
"Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV."
It hit me far too late.
Who she was.
Princess Irulan.
This beautiful blonde creature was the one that Feyd would marry if he took the throne.
Vomit lurched. I was sickened by the sudden powerful clenching of my stomach. It took disgust to another level.
Perhaps it would be better for Feyd to kill me in childbirth. Save me the sight of watching him be married to a beautiful powerful woman in front of my own eyes. That woman. She would have a claim to him. No other claim could rival it. The strongest force in the Imperium laid within the lone little finger of a woman's hand.
My heart would mean little. Very little.
"You should know." My throat clenched. It took a subtle clearing to loosen it enough for words to slide through. "It is pronounced rautha by Harkonnens."
"How. How have you survived him?" Princess Irulan demanded. "How does a woman as meek as you survive with a monster like him?"
Meek. Frail. Incapable.
I was all those things. Unwillingly. Against my will, I was kept alive and at a disadvantage to the world around me. My body, my face, my mind were all guises that kept any from believing my worth. I was a porcelain doll. Nothing about me was sturdy.
My animal hide was pretty, I guess. But it was thick. It was tough. It endured.
"I am no threat to him" I answered.
"That's it?" She asked with an indignant tone.
Her arms crossed against her midriff.
"If you want a better answer, ask him yourself."
"Our union has been planned. Has he told you?"
It was bold to assume that he left me in the dark about his impending betrothal.
It was news to me that the princess was aware of this plan, too.
Her desire to marry a monster, as she called him, surprised me.
"He's mentioned it," I answered under my breath.
"We've never met. Not officially," she explained, rambled. "I've heard stories of him. Most the Imperium has. There have been few suitors that compare to his pedigree. It stands to reason that we are the only acceptable pair left."
The princess looked on. I was stricken with confusion. What could I say to this that would matter? Did she seek some emotional outburst, pain, jealousy?
"I do not stand in the way of his life," I said.
"There must be kindness in him. If he's kept you unmaimed for so long."
I chuckled sardonically. "That only pertains to my physicality. You'll find, he's maimed me inside quite well."
"I can protect you," Princess Irulan said. "When the time comes, I can try to."
My head shook. "There is no hope for me, your majesty. I am far too gone for protection now."
"I could convince him to send you away. The Gesserit school would be a sanctuary for you to recover in."
"What of my child?"
"The Gesserit school welcomes children. It will be welcomed with open arms. Many women live there with their offspring. There will be many others it can connect with."
Separate Feyd from his child. I shook my head. She did not know the first thing about him. If she suggested that to Feyd, he would slaughter her where she stood. It would be an insult not to.
I sighed. "The time will come when we meet again. We should discuss matters then."
Princess Irulan wore a white dress with silvery beaded overlay. It chittered ever so slight as she moved. Her long legs covered a great distance in a few short steps.
"We will be friends then," the princess declared. "A consort and wife should have an amicable relationship if they are to find peace."
I bowed my head. "As you wish, my lady."
It did not matter.
There was little to be done for the future was yet to be told.
I could not fathom the insecurities of her presence for an entire year, as Feyd declared it would be, now that I'd met her. Her beauty, was untold. As was the confidence she held in every motion.
There was inner power that Princess Irulen wielded. It was a weapon unseen.
Too much remained to be done to consider her now. That future still remained hidden. Feyd had to prove himself. The Baron had to die. Blood shed would happen. His men, his planet, the Imperium would bleed.
How would Feyd pay it back?
Perhaps it would be paid with me. My blood and the life of our child, spilled together.
Justice for the path he chose.
Irulan was free to keep him then. She could birth emperors and barons all she wanted. My heart would remain unbroken. My child and I, would rule together in a place where we could not be hurt.
A blonde-haired woman in a simple pale blue dress entered the room with hushed footfall. Her face leveled with the floor. The pale blue of her eyes did not lift, although the sound of her voice raised just high enough that it could be understood.
They awaited her.
Princess Irulan snapped to full height. Her chin lifted away from her neck in a regal posture.
"Follow me," she said. Her eyes did not spare the glance.
I obeyed.
The corridors winded around the curved outer edge of the ship until it spit us out into the main belly. It was large, with an open ceiling many heights above our heads. Silvery metal, perfectly shining and clean, surrounded us. A mighty tall dais rose up from the head of the floor. Upon it sat an old man. His hair was white. The withdrawn life of his eyes spoke many things. The sagging of skin in places it was once plump full, lines in the corners of his mouth.
"Father." Irulan greeted him simply.
She walked the few steps up to his throne. The white of her dress complimented the off-white grey of his robes.
The woman in black, too, stood up alongside the Emperor. In the light her veil was not so dense. The downpour of soft warm light ignited what laid below that black shade.
Two eyes of the brightest blue blared through.
I snapped my eyes down to the floor. My body trembled. It forgot how to move. I directed my limps to curtsey as low as they were able. My body slowed on the rise.
The Emperor said nothing. It did not catch even his notice that I was there.
He stared down the length of the room toward the front doors. His chin dipped in a half nod.
Two Sardaukar soldiers moved toward the magnificent entry. The doors moved. The marvel of how they did so without squeal or groan fascinated me.
The first to enter was the levitating Baron. He suffocated the air with his diseased presence. My tongue was the first to taste its disgust.
Feyd followed behind his uncle. His eyes scanned the entirety of the room. He flicked attention at the princess, the Emperor, and lastly at the Truthsayer. Her presence was under his inspection the most.
The two were corralled toward the dais where they both were forced on bended knee below the Emperor. Sardaukar soldiers stood at their backs.
Where the Beast was, I had no idea. I glimpsed back through the doorway they'd entered through, but he was not there.
"You honor us with your visit, your highness," the Baron said. Both of the Harkonnens arose from their stance. "And your reinforcements."
"The Fremen natives will see they are outnumbered." The Emperor spoke with a strange sound. It was drawn out with different pauses between words.
"Five legions is a great number," the Baron commented.
I sensed he probed out of suspicion than curiosity.
Feyd was right. This visit was different than others. There was a reason that neither man seemed certain of.
My eyes snapped to Feyd. He motioned with his fingers that I should approach. The Sardaukar soldier in the way did not agree. He stood between us, separating our distance with his.
The black of Feyd's eye turned feral. He snarled, though soundless at the soldier.
"Do you know who this Muad'Dib character is?"
The Baron blubbered an answer that was none at all.
Feyd again attempted to have me at his side. The soldier put a hand up to warn me away.
It incited Feyd's fury. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I want her kept away until I get answers," the Emperor said resolutely. "Do you know who Muad'Dib is?"
"A fanatic, your highness. He is a no one." The Baron groveled.
Feyd took a step toward me. The soldier stepped back remaining the same distance away from him. Only closer he came to me.
The Emperor wrinkled his nose. A exaggerated sniff exhaled through his pointed nose.
His voice instructed. "Bring her in."
A door opened. It captured the interest of the entire room. Feyd used the distraction to gain more distance toward me without notice.
The unexplained tension throughout the room cut through the air. It was harder to breathe so far from Feyd. In a room full of powerful people, it was a comfort to be attached to one. I ignored the appalled gasps and declarations of abominations to make myself closer to him.
Our arms were a short length away.
The Sardaukar soldier thrust his blunt end of his spear in between us, nearly grazing my stomach.
Feyd gripped the spear. The man held onto the other end. It was an easy feat for Feyd to use the weapon against the soldier, only to drive the sharp end into the neck of the soldier. He instead pushed the man away from us.
I latched onto his arm, feigning nobility when I truly wished to have the comfort of him next to me.
Our eyes raised to the commotion too late. The room began to shake. A rumbling grew.
Feyd held me steady on my feet as the entire floor beneath our feet shook violently.
"My brother comes," a small voice said.
The Emperor pointed down from his throne in demand that the young child be slain.
Her brilliant blue eyes were a mirage in the desert. They conflicted all around us. Unearthly blue. The depth of her soul grew deeper still in those wide eyes fitted into a child's face. It was discomforting. Something in their gaze trembled my resolve.
The Sardaukar turned their long spearheads toward the girl.
They encircled her. She, a tiny slip of a creature compared to their beastly appetites.
She was unaffected by the declaration of her death. Her face remained indifferent to the certain death.
Feyd and I remained away from the execution. The backs of the soldiers were all we saw now.
"What is going on?" I asked Feyd. "What was that sound?"
"Attack," he answered.
"Attack?" I breathed.
An attack? From whom? Did the Emperor attack the Harkonnens? Were Fremen meeting their deaths in meager number against the city walls?
"Stay close," he grumbled under his breath. "We will survive. Do not leave my side."
The girl started to fidget now. Her body moved to avoid their weapons. She tried to flee but then backtracked to the other way. I questioned why her little mind thought she would live while keeping herself in the direction of path of those spearheads.
As if panic set in, her body moved quicker. She ran away attempting to avoid the Sardaukar by rounding the Baron.
I winced. If she only knew to fear that man more than the soldiers.
The Baron dove down. His hand latched onto the little girl's belly.
"Is there nothing we can do?" I asked.
Suddenly she no longer wiggled. Her hand moved swift. Something small within her fingers stabbed into his hand.
A sudden reflection of metal caught the light before it disappeared.
"Abomination," the woman in black hissed from her high perch.
Motion of the room stopped.
The Baron grunted. He, too, looked at his hand in surprise.
A needle stood erect from the flesh.
"You've met the Atredies gom Jabbar," the girl said, calm and collected once more.
Feyd tensed. His eyes watched without blinking.
The white of the Baron's eye began to change. There was a yellowing. At first it was subtle. Then it was golden. Both of his eyes became solid yellow.
Then he held his chest. The girl dropped down to the floor. Her little body stood just in the shadow of the mighty monster before her, unafraid of being crushed by his size.
He grasped at his neck, his chest. Nails dug into each. Each breath painfully halted. It fought against him to leave, then enter. The pale of his lips bled dark. Veins down his neck through to his chest swelled. Dark ink emerged through the flesh. Dams of his veins released the ink throughout the insides of his body. Everywhere they burst.
The Baron groaned in a muted roar each time.
His hands shook. Even as they clawed at his chest, they trembled as if in their own agony.
Feyd inhaled when the large man dropped to his knees on the ground. The levitation device, too, hissed and clattered.
The girl stood over the wreckage she caused. Her face absorbed every detail. She watched the horror that the Baron's face became under the immense pain.
Until, there was no more.
The agonized breathing stopped. The Baron's eyes froze. The strips of skin below his fingernails dripped their blood down to the silver floor. A small pool of thick black tar staining the pristine metal.
I did not know what to think. I stared for many long minutes expecting the man to rise again.
He did not.
The Baron Harkonnen was dead.