Mentats of Dune

Chapter 5 (Never underestimate the power of revenge)

Valya Harkonnen realized she had done a cruel thing to her parents after returning to Lankiveil. Perhaps they would never forgive her … but she did not seek forgiveness. She never had. Her goals were beyond such concerns.

Even so, she wondered if she would ever see her ancestral home again. Lankiveil was a cold, isolated, unwelcoming place, not at all a world worthy of noble House Harkonnen. By rights her family should have lived on the Imperial capital of Salusa Secundus, not in exile on an out-of-the way planet few people wanted to visit. Someday, she would help her family earn back the glory it deserved.

For now, though, she was journeying far from Lankiveil, and taking her teenage sister, Tula, with her. But Valya’s thoughts trailed behind her and filled her with sadness.

Her parents had suffered enough, and she had not intended to cause them more anguish, but when her brother Griffin’s body had arrived in a shipping container — sent by the vile monster Vorian Atreides — she’d been pushed over the edge. She had long hesitated to attempt the Agony that would transform her into a powerful Reverend Mother, having seen too many Sisters fail, who either died in the attempt or were left brain-damaged — like Anna Corrino. But with her beloved Griffin dead and the hated Atreides still at large, she finally took the risk and consumed the deadly Rossak drug. Valya knew that if she succeeded in becoming a Reverend Mother, she would acquire remarkable mental abilities, bodily control, and access to a library of Other Memory. With such advantages, Vorian Atreides would never escape justice.…

Locked in her room in the Harkonnen main house, Valya had steeled herself, swallowed the poison — and plunged into a realm of such excruciating pain that she was certain she’d made a huge mistake. Tula had found her writhing and screaming on the floor.

But Valya was strong. She had survived — and changed.

With the passage of only a few months, Valya’s recollection of the pain softened and receded. It was like a mother’s amnesia after a difficult childbirth, and her marvelous new abilities far overshadowed the discomfort she had endured. Now Valya had memories of previous generations of childbirth, pain experienced by mothers long past. Physically, she was still in her early twenties, but her mind held the experiences and wisdom of thousands of years.…

Shortly before Emperor Salvador disbanded the Rossak School, Reverend Mother Raquella Berto-Anirul had confided in Valya. The old woman explained how she envisioned a vital, long-ranging mission for the order, involving breeding mistresses who would carry children with specific and necessary gene markers. Raquella’s goal, and thus the Sisterhood’s goal, was to improve the human race, to perfect the species that had undergone so many tribulations.

But the Sisterhood’s long-term plans had been waylaid by the brutal and petty behavior of Salvador Corrino. After murdering the Sister Mentats and surviving Sorceresses, disbanding the Rossak School, and scattering the rest of the women, the Emperor kept only a hundred loyal orthodox Sisters with him on Salusa, led by the traitor Reverend Mother Dorotea. The specially trained women provided Salvador with useful services, despite his earlier fit of pique against the Sisterhood.

Valya knew the true Sisterhood was not defeated, though. Her mentor, Reverend Mother Raquella, had quietly reestablished her school on distant Wallach IX, assisted by Directeur Josef Venport. Dorotea could have her bootlicking faction in the Imperial Palace; Valya intended to rejoin Raquella, as a Reverend Mother.

And her sister Tula might be an important part of the future plans, too — both on behalf of the Sisterhood and for House Harkonnen. Valya’s ambitions had room for both priorities. Valya would put forth her sister as a candidate for the proper training. The immense VenHold spacefolding ship carried them now on a roundabout voyage to Wallach IX. Valya knew Mother Superior Raquella would welcome the return of her best student.

As the ship traveled, Valya felt a rush of excitement, hoping she and the intense, bright-eyed Tula would find opportunities here. “I need you trained and at my side. I must know you are willing to do whatever must be done.”

Tula’s voice sounded small and uncertain. “I hope they accept me.”

“I will make them accept you. I have that much influence with the Mother Superior. They need talented recruits in order to rebuild the Sisterhood.”

Only seventeen, Tula was exquisitely beautiful, with a slender figure, classic facial features, sea-blue eyes, and curly blond hair. She could have enticed any young man, but her quiet isolation had kept her from romance on Lankiveil. The Sisterhood would change her and strengthen her, and Tula would have to learn how to use her considerable physical assets. She could be a tool, or a weapon, to advance the cause of House Harkonnen.

The young women had left their parents, their younger brother, Danvis, and their home on Lankiveil. Both would return someday, once they restored the Harkonnen name to a place of honor instead of historical shame … and once Valya saw the Atreides destroyed. Her sister would help her achieve all that.

In the months since Griffin’s funeral, Valya had worked to ensure that Tula’s hatred for Vorian Atreides was as great as her own. That one man was responsible for so much Harkonnen suffering, dating back to the disgrace of her great-grandfather Abulurd in the Battle of Corrin.

Raquella’s Sisterhood could help her achieve what she needed.

Reaching Wallach IX at last, the two sisters stepped off the shuttle on the landing field. They felt a cold, wet wind, but Valya controlled her body and watched Tula try to do the same, as she had been taught; they had endured far worse cold on Lankiveil. The two tightened their thick whale-fur coats around their necks, taking pride in the new Harkonnen family crest that Valya had designed and sewn onto their coats before departing: a mythological creature with the head and wings of an eagle, the body of a lion. A griffin, in honor of their fallen brother.

A black-robed woman approached, and Valya recognized Reverend Mother Ellulia, who had passed through the Agony in the last days on Rossak. Ellulia was tall and slender, with wisps of silvery-gray hair peeking out of the hood over her head. Her expression lit up with recognition. “Valya, you found us again!”

Valya lifted her chin as she announced, “The Sisterhood has always been inside me, and now I return as a Reverend Mother.” She took Tula’s arm. “I brought my younger sister to be trained as well. We have come to see Raquella.”

Ellulia frowned at the familiarity. “Mother Superior Raquella is away on Lampadas to retrieve new Sister Mentats, but she is due to return in two days.” Her expression softened as she turned to Tula. “But any candidate as talented as Valya Harkonnen will be a worthy addition to the true Sisterhood. I’m pleased you came here, rather than joining Dorotea’s faction on Salusa Secundus. I was concerned you’d make the wrong choice, Valya. You were Dorotea’s friend.”

Valya frowned. Her friendship with Dorotea had been feigned so she could keep an eye on the group of dangerous, heretical Sisters. “I never agreed with Dorotea’s pandering to the Butlerians.”

In those days, Valya had hoped to become Raquella’s heir apparent at the head of the order, but she’d been reluctant to undergo the Agony. Now, however, Valya was a Reverend Mother herself, and here on Wallach IX she hoped to reclaim her position in the hierarchy. Having abandoned the true Sisterhood to form her weak splinter group at the feet of Emperor Salvador, Dorotea was no longer her competitor.

Ellulia led the two newcomers to a cluster of prefabricated buildings with metal roofs. “Mother Superior will be pleased to learn you are safe, and we can use every Reverend Mother — our numbers have slowly increased, but we still lose many to the Agony.” She pointed toward one of the buildings, where a gnarled, crippled woman was being helped inside. “Sister Ignacia was among our brightest, and now she’s just one of seventy-eight failed Reverend Mothers we must care for.”

Valya shook her head, remembering Ignacia. “They were too weak to succeed.” Now that she had passed through the Agony herself, she felt no sympathy for those who failed. “The Mother Superior often says that we all make necessary sacrifices for the advancement of the Sisterhood.”

Ellulia frowned, but gave a cautious nod. “And because of their brave sacrifices, we will always honor our damaged Sisters and care for them. We continue to investigate the requirements of the ordeal, to see if we can make the transition easier for our fellow Sisters.”

Valya did not want her own sister to end up dead or comatose — Tula had too much to accomplish. “An admirable goal, but only the best and strongest are fit to become Reverend Mothers. And … what of Anna Corrino? Where is she now?”

Ellulia clucked her tongue. “On Lampadas.”

Alarmed, Valya asked, “With the Butlerians?”

“No, at the Mentat School. Gilbertus Albans is using his techniques to restore her damaged mind.”

Valya felt a twinge of guilt, because she was responsible for the flighty girl taking the poison that had nearly killed her. Instead of admitting that, though, she said, “I doubt Mentat techniques will cure her, but if she fails to recover there, at least the blame won’t fall on the Sisterhood.” She shook her head. “It is an unkind comment, but Anna was never qualified to become a Sister, much less a Reverend Mother. She only came to Rossak because the Emperor needed someone to watch over her — and the Emperor destroyed our school because of it.”

As Ellulia led the Harkonnen sisters toward the buildings, Valya assessed the new school complex. She saw snow-capped peaks in the distance, a weak, blue-white sun overhead. The biting wind blew Valya’s whale-fur robe. Looking at the cheap prefab buildings, she was dismayed at how far the once glorious organization had fallen.

It was all Dorotea’s fault, Valya knew, for turning the Emperor against them. Dorotea had wheedled her way into Salvador’s good graces, convincing him that the Sisterhood used forbidden computers to manage breeding records — which was true, although Dorotea had never proved it.

Noticing Valya’s disappointed expression, Ellulia paused in front of the austere buildings. “Josef and Cioba Venport donated these temporary structures for our new headquarters. This planet is our safe haven — we’re lucky to have it.”

Valya glanced at Tula, who now seemed uncertain about coming here. “They are sufficient for instruction — that is what counts. And my sister knows how to endure hardships.”

Tula squared her shoulders. “I didn’t expect this to be easy.”

Ellulia paused at a one-story building with an open window, despite the cold. Peering inside, Valya saw four Sisters sitting on benches. She was surprised to hear them discussing passages from the Azhar Book, the Sisterhood’s philosophical manual written as their response to the Orange Catholic Bible. She turned to Ellulia. “I thought Emperor Salvador ordered all copies of the Azhar Book destroyed.”

The other woman smiled. “One of those Sisters memorized the text, and now the other three are transcribing it from her dictation. Nothing is lost so long as memory remains. We will republish the book after the Sisters resolve a few minor wording disagreements. Mother Superior Raquella is the arbiter.”

Ellulia led them through a door into an adjacent hall, just as a cold gust of wind pressed against the building. Valya heard the thin walls groan and felt the floor move beneath her feet. This new school on Wallach IX was a far cry from the lush and ancient cliff city on Rossak.