Brute Force ]|[ Paul Atreides

4

they quickly ran down the hall. ending in the, now un-empty, ship hanger. Paul immediately wrapped his arms around a tall man with long hair who had just come out of one of the dragon-fly shaped ships.

Paul let go of the embrace. looking towards an uneasy Nyx.

"look! it's Duncan," he smiled

"who?"

"Duncan! come on. you know Duncan. everybody knows Duncan."

"I'm sorry I don't know, Duncan."

the man, Duncan, found this hilariously funny.

"it's okay Paul. Hello. I am Duncan and you are?" "Onyxian" the two shook hands "or you can just call me Nyx," "well I am a swordsman for the house Atreides and you could say duke Leto's right-hand man for in the field. I have been living with fremen for a while."

"umm, in your terms I'm a teenage 'witch', who has been taken away from her family, forced into a cult, and now being forced to have a child, with a child, while being a child. all in all, you don't really want to go there."

"hmm. well Paul is a very straight-forward guy, he needs a complicated woman to balance him out."

"was that supposed to be a compliment. saying I am 'complicated and the only premiss of me being here is to 'help a guy' because believe me. I can do so much more than that. I am not here by choice so don't pretend that I am."

"I'm just saying, I think you two will get along."

he put a hand on her shoulder. he saw her fear that she was masking off as anger. he saw through her confident facade, as he knew what it felt like to be scared for your life but could not show it.

"did you guys forget I was here, or were you just too caught up in your stare off that to notice me?" Paul asked from the corner of her eye.

"your father told me to tell you and Onyxian to meet him in the meeting hall. stilgar, the fremen leader came back with me he wants to meet the new rulers of arakis."

"you go on ahead Nyx. I will meet you there."

"okay" she started to walk away.

"soooooo" Duncan said. "do you like her?"

"yea. she is a great person I hope we will be great friends."

"no I mean, do you like like her?"

"I don't know I mean, she definitely doesn't like me as anything more than a friend, and I mean why should she, so even if I did like her, sigh there would be no point of even trying."

"Paul," Duncan looked at the boy he treated like a brother, "if I know anything about you. it is that you are always wrong."

they both started laughing.

"no. but seriously. it is not that she will never like you she... she... she just needs to feel love, and I doubt she has felt that from someone in a long time."

"I I I need to go. can we talk later?"

"of course mate."

as Paul walked in to the meeting room, to see Nyx shaking hands with his father. they were making some kind of deal. he did not know the terms of it. but looking at her smiling face it was a positive deal on her side.

"for four weeks I have lived with the fremen, hidden in the desert in a community called the seige. stilgar, the leader of that seige has come with me to meet you sire. this seige that is hidden under Arrakis is filled with caverns,"

"how big was this place?" Paul asked.

"I would say ten thousand people and there are hundreds of seiges, so millions of fremens."

"you were right, the harkonan estimite was only fifty thousand on the whole planet." another man said.

"the fremen watched me search for them. for days I never saw them, finally they sent a solider to kill me. and I have got to tell you, I have never come so close to dying. there is no finer fighter in the imperium. they fight like demons, desert power."

"Duncan," the duke said, "well done."

"thank you my lord."

"your fremen leader has a knife he wont surrender sire." a guard called from the door,

" it is a criss knife," Duncan told the duke, "it is sacred to his people."

"let him pass," the duke motioned to the door.

the large doors opened up to reveal a man in a large, hooded cloak, who walked up to the top table.

"stilgar welcome," duke Leto started with, as the man just stared at him, "sir, I respect the personal dignity of any man who respects mine."

stilgar just bent over and spat on the table.

swords were drawn, guards heading towards stilgar.

"hold," Nyx shouted, she got a few odd looks, "thankyou stilgar, for the gift of your bodily moisture. we accept it in the spirit in which it was given."

she spat on the table, being followed by Duncan and Leto.

"I am glad I could come," stilgar had a raspy dry voice, "I believe your people and mine have much to offer one and other. you are outworlders, you come here for the spices, you take and give nothing in return."

"that's true." Paul stated.

"I know you have suffered at the hands of the harkonen." Leto looked up, "name what you want, and if it is in my power to grant, I will give it and ask for nothing."

"I ask for this; do not seek out our seiges; do not trespass in our lands, the desert was ours long before you came. so come and dig your spice but when you have it go back to this side of the shield wall and leave the desert to the fremen."

"you will address the duke as my lord or sire" gurney was getting upset about their guests lack of manners.

Leto took a step forward, "the emperor has given me Arrakis as my plain to rule and protect, I cannot promise not to travel into the desert if my duty compels me. but your seiges will be yours forever and you will never be hunted while I govern here."

"good. I must go. that is all I have to say."

"you wont stay?" Paul asked, "we would honour you."

"honour requires that I will be else where"

and with that stilgar walked out of the room.

"our plan bears fruit, but will take time." he then turned to Nyx, "thank you for stepping in, when did you learn so much about fremen?"

everyone's eyes, including Pauls, shifted to look at her.

"we were taught about every race, every life form. How to track them. How to be like them. And how to kill them. Non of us had normal childhoods we spent our time focusing never on ourselves, but on your opponents next move.''