Navigators of Dune

75

Vorian Atreides knew that the best way to avoid attackers was to remain constantly on the move. A hunted man should sleep in a different safe house every night and move from job to job, planet to planet.

In this case, though, Vor was both the pursuer and the pursued. He wanted the Harkonnen assassins to come here, and he needed to kill his enemies before they got to him. Willem’s arrival complicated the situation, but he could depend on his young companion as well. Willem was eager to fight at his side. Too often in his life, Vor had tried to go it alone. Now, the pair worked and planned together.

They were ready.

Korla’s scavengers had few sophisticated systems inside their outpost in the rubble, but the people were security conscious, guarding their own possessions. In order to keep peace among her workers, the Queen of Trash had installed sensors and alarms throughout the underground warren, even in sections damaged by the recent flowmetal instability. Her people had to worry more about stealing from one another than about any outside threat, since few visitors came to Corrin. Yet there was little of portable value here, except for what they themselves excavated.

Out of an abundance of caution, as soon as Willem joined him, Vor began choosing new and secret quarters for them, never spending more than one night in each place before moving on. On a wild and ungoverned planet such as this, it was hard to say how many people knew their whereabouts at any given moment.

Vor intended for Valya and Tula Harkonnen to find him — but on his own terms. He didn’t want to be blindsided, as they had been on Chusuk. Vor and Willem were lucky to have survived that; next time, he needed to see the enemy coming.

Without notifying Korla or anyone else, Vor used a specialized tool to unlock a chamber he knew was unoccupied — the home of one of the dead miners from the recent flood of liquid metal. He left their previous quarters locked so that a casual observer — or a dedicated assassin — would think they still lived there.

After the other scavengers were asleep, he and Willem took their meager belongings and moved quietly in the darkness. Vor also left tiny monitoring devices on the tunnel walls, particularly just outside his former chamber, which would alert him to any tampering. He had spent several weeks preparing for the eventual attack, building up secret defenses, even implanting tiny but powerful explosives in inconspicuous places, as an added surprise.

Feeling momentarily safe in their new hidden room, Vor sat on a wall bench, taking first watch while Willem caught some sleep on one of the bunks. After three hours, he would awaken the young man, and they would switch places. The darkness around them was illuminated only by the faint glow of a holo display that transmitted a projection of the tunnels. At present, it showed only the dim, empty passageways and numerous sealed chambers where the scavengers slept.

Vor checked the weapons kit secured to his waist; Willem had one of his own in a storage alcove next to his bunk. Each kit contained a knife, a projectile pistol, compact tools, and a pry bar.

Vor liked this room because it was one of several that had an emergency escape hatch on the rear wall. When he’d broken his way inside and checked the rear exit, he was quite satisfied. The back hatch led out into an adjacent tunnel and up to the desolate surface.

On the bunk, Willem fell into a fitful sleep, but Vor remained alert, staring at the motionless holoprojection of the tunnels. Watching.

OUTSIDE, THE REMAINING members of the Sisterhood squads slid invisibly through the ruddy gloom, converging on the scavenger settlement. The women had discovered numerous ways into the warren settlement, but now they focused on a rarely used venting system that granted them access to the tunnels.

When Valya, Tula, and two other commando Sisters passed through a nondescript hatch into the deep protected rooms below, Tula entered before her sister. Valya glanced behind her into the brooding night, then entered and closed the hatch quietly behind them. The team descended into the complex, reaching the corridors of barricaded sleeping rooms.

Working with nimble fingers, Sister Ninke used tools to disconnect the crude alarm system from the first sealed door. After finishing, she stepped back to let one of the other commandos open it carefully. Even with the security systems disabled, the old salvaged door squeaked.

Inside the dim room, two figures stirred, men who reacted to the unexpected noise, but not fast enough. In a blur, Cindel fell on the first man with her dagger, while Valya slipped past them and killed the second man. The men hardly uttered any sounds. Valya could not afford an alarm being sounded now.

Illuminating a small handlight, Tula shone a glow into the faces of the two victims, but both were older, dark-skinned men. Neither was an Atreides, but Valya had not expected the mission to be so easy.

Moving through the room, she opened the opposite door that led into the larger complex. Down the passageway, she spotted other stealthy figures moving. Good, another of her commando squads had already gotten inside, and moments later she received a signal confirming that the third one had entered as well. They began the full search.

Now they could all hunt, and soon the task would be completed. They would find the two Atreides quickly enough.

AFTER SITTING MOTIONLESS, awake but drifting into a meditative state, Vor snapped to full awareness when he saw a flicker of motion on the holo-image. Sleek, dark shapes were moving through the enclave — where they definitely did not belong. He nudged Willem, put a hand over the young man’s mouth as he awoke, and pointed at the display.

Willem silently grabbed his weapons kit from the alcove. Vor already had his. They were both ready. The two men watched the female shapes glide like oil through the tunnels to converge outside Vor’s previous room. The dark figures paused, regrouped, and then forced their way inside.

Vor gripped his weapons, knowing that the chamber was empty. Moments later, the dark-garbed women were back outside, huddling together in obvious confusion. Then they began hunting again.

“Be ready,” he whispered. Willem was perspiring and breathing unevenly as he tried to keep himself calm. “I knew they’d come.”

The images were dark and indistinct, but Vor decided one figure clearly resembled Tula Harkonnen; if it was Tula, then Valya might be with her, to make certain the attack was successful. He was hoping for that.

Watching them, he decided to take action of his own. He had planned for this. Counting down the seconds, he touched a trigger to activate explosives he’d implanted in the walls. The roar of the detonation sent shock waves through the tunnels. On the portable screen, he saw dark-clad bodies slamming into the walls … and then sections of the unstable tunnels sliding down in collapse.

Korla and the rest of the scavengers would be awake now. Vor needed to take charge of the crisis.

In the flickering projection on the damaged imager, Vor saw several of the strangers lying motionless, while others bounded away. He had not expected to kill them all; this was just the first step, but he was ready to deal with them. He counted three bodies, wasn’t sure who they were, but hoped …

Willem looked at him with shining eyes. “For Orry.”

Vor nodded. “Let’s go.”

One of the surviving women discovered the implanted imager. She scanned the device, followed the signal, and then plucked it out of the wall. Just before the holo dissolved into a smoke of static, Vor saw her point down the tunnels toward his hiding place. The commandos raced along the passageway, heading in his direction. Then the screen showed nothing but static.

Cursing, Vor grabbed his companion’s arm and pushed him toward the rear escape hatch and out into the side corridor. Willem gasped as they ran, “Did you see them? What sort of weapons do they have?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I don’t like what I saw.”

Underground alarms sounded; bright amber lights strobed inside the stairwells. Vor and Willem fled in silence. Reaching the last doorway at the top of the steep stairwell, they burst outside onto the rubble-strewn surface. Under the starry night of Corrin, the rough landscape appeared even more otherworldly than in daylight. Vor hurried Willem to the other side of a slag pile, where they hid. His ship wasn’t far away, out in the open, but he had no intention of running now that he had lured the Harkonnens here.

Before long, he heard a voice call out. “Vorian Atreides, this is Valya Harkonnen. Your traps and tricks can’t stop us. Enough running. It’s time to face the justice you deserve — to bring honor back to our house and death to yours.”

Vor and Willem both withdrew compact projectile pistols from their weapons kits and prepared to fire.

“You could keep hiding,” Valya shouted, “or you could come out and accept our challenge. You know that’s the way it’s destined to be, Atreides — us against you. Do you accept, or are you cowards?”

In the moonlight, Vor spotted the two Harkonnen women in dark singlesuits, while four other women emerged behind them. He wondered how many more there were.

He could see how much Willem wanted to fight them, win or lose. Vor felt the same — but what about the other Sister commandos out there? Valya had undoubtedly brought the best with her. He doubted if Griffin’s sister would truly accept a fair duel, without reinforcements to interfere if he and Willem were to get the upper hand.

And the two Atreides were here alone.

Before he could respond, Vor heard many more voices — men and women. In the moonlight he saw the burly form of Korla of Corrin striding out, garbed in her shimmering flowmetal cape. Many angry scavengers accompanied her, well armed with large projectile rifles. Their powerful illuminators bathed the stark area in bright light.

“Who the hell are you?” Korla demanded of Valya and her companions. Her unkempt, patchy black hair gave her an even wilder appearance than usual. “And why are you here?”

Valya looked at her haughtily. “I am the Mother Superior of the Sisterhood. I have a rightful vendetta against two fugitives you are harboring.”

“And I am the ruler of this world, and we care nothing about your laws or your vendetta,” Korla growled. “This is Corrin.”

“I issued a challenge to Vorian and his ward. The Atreides must pay for Vorian’s crimes against my House. My sister and I will fight them in personal combat and settle this dispute here and now — without your interference.”

When Korla turned, her flowmetal cape flickered and twitched. “This is my world, and I’ll interfere in any damned manner I like.”

Vor emerged from concealment with Willem beside him, drawing their attention. “Korla of Corrin, if we can count on your people to prevent those other women from attacking us, we’ll face the two who challenge us. It’s what they want … and what I want. I see no other way to end this bitter feud. The Harkonnens have hated me unjustly for eight decades. But the reality is here nonetheless, and I am prepared to deal with it.”

Korla snorted. “And what did he do to deserve such anger? Is he a lover who jilted you?”

Valya’s face flared with disgust. “He killed my brother Griffin.”

Knowing it would do no good against her hatred, Vor stated simply, “I did not harm your brother. He was my friend. I tried to save him.”

She looked sick. “You lie, Atreides.”

Surprisingly, Sister Cindel, the Truthsayer, frowned. Her brow furrowed. “Mother Superior … he is telling the truth. There is no falsehood in his statement.”

Vor lifted his chin, remained where he was. “As I said, I didn’t kill Griffin.” He fully expected her next to charge him with falsely accusing Abulurd Harkonnen of cowardice at the end of the Butlerian Jihad, but for some reason she didn’t mention that.

Valya swayed, as if suddenly trying to recover her balance, but then her own determination made her straighten. “I still do not believe it. Vorian Atreides has poisoned my own Truthsayer.”

“I expected nothing else from you,” Vor said. He couldn’t even feel disappointed. “You’re so set on revenge.”

“We are both going to fight you!” Willem insisted, glaring at Tula. “You did kill my brother.”

The Queen of Trash looked around at her people. Just behind her, Vor also spotted the wiry woman he had rescued from the flowmetal flood. Horaan Eshdi’s eyes shone in the light of the illuminators. “We have little enough entertainment here,” Korla said. “Let’s watch them fight.”

The scavengers muttered agreement.

Vor stepped forward with Willem at his side. Valya and Tula Harkonnen stood together, with the other dark-garbed women arranged behind them like primed weapons. Vor thought the remaining Sisters might be able to break through any resistance the scavengers tried to mount, but the number of people and weapons would at least make them think twice. Korla’s workers tightened ranks around the other Sisters, even pushing them back.

For now, the tableau was Vor’s to command.

Holstering his projectile pistol, he whispered to Willem, “They are able to move in a blur and use techniques you have never seen.” He strode toward Valya, suspecting that she carried concealed weapons, but he had his own as well. He had never expected this to be a fair fight.

Curiously, Tula hung back, so Vor motioned for Willem to do the same, even though the murderous young woman was the one they had been hunting all along. He heard the low voices of the scavenger crowd, but the other Sisters remained where they were, blocked from the combat arena.

Vor saw no reason to delay. This confrontation had been coming to a head for years. As the red-giant dawn tinged the sky, he and Valya circled each other slowly and warily, crouched in fighting stances on the rubble of the once-great machine city.

The duel consumed his awareness, sharpened his senses. He watched his nemesis with intense concentration, saw a muscle twitch in one of her arms, but did not react. She was testing him. He discerned what could be a dagger concealed at her hip. He had no doubt Valya would use it if she saw the opportunity.

Valya darted toward him, and he slipped sideways quickly to let her pass, but he did not whirl to face where he thought she should be. Instead, remembering the tricks Griffin Harkonnen had used during their combat, he dropped to the ground and rolled in Valya’s direction before popping back up to his feet, hoping that he had chosen correctly.

Somehow, Valya materialized several paces to his left. For an instant that lasted no longer than a caught breath, she seemed to wait for him to make the next move.

Behind him, to his concern, he realized that Willem and Tula were beginning their own combat. Vor had fought Tula once at an inn on Caladan just after she murdered Orry. Vor had barely survived the confrontation. He feared for Willem’s life now, but he could not let his attention stray from his own opponent.

During his flicker of hesitation, Valya flung herself into the air, and kicked him in the middle of his chest. Vor staggered backward. When she charged toward him to finish the attack, he savagely kicked her legs out from under her. Valya crashed to the ground with a look of surprise and irritation on her face.

Vor’s chest screamed in pain, but he kept his expression neutral and eyes alert as she bounded to her feet, ready to go after him again. Looking up from her apparent vulnerability, she spoke in a strange, throaty voice: “When I come toward you this time, your muscles will freeze.”

At her eerie, commanding tone, Vor suddenly found he could not move. It was as if his body had turned to stone, a frightening, uncontrolled sensation. By concentrating, though, he managed to break free of whatever strange hold she had inflicted upon him. Realizing that the attack was only in his mind, he forced it aside. Valya’s look of confidence faded as she saw him slide to his left, on the move again and ready to counterattack.

Just then the sharp report of a projectile gun rang out, and Valya saw her sister fall. She whirled and let out a sudden cry. “No!”

Tula writhed on the ground, and Willem loomed over her, his projectile weapon drawn and his face dark with hatred. Blood flowed from her left shoulder, and one arm hung useless. Tula struggled back to her feet, drew a dagger with her good arm, and faced him defiantly. Her face showed anger and pride … but also something else, something softer?

“What kind of monster pretends to love a man just to murder him?” Willem demanded. “My brother loved you — a Harkonnen!”

Valya snarled and tried to lunge toward her sister, but Vor threw himself against her to stop her from interfering.

Willem raised the projectile weapon again.