Chapter 37
CHANI KYNES
Chani felt her consciousness return to her as she found her face splattered on the sand, and she tried to remember just how she had gotten in this position. And as her memory cleared up, like the fog in her vision, alarm bells rang out in her head as she remembered the last words spoken to her by Pau—no, that thing.
It had called itself her son, and the very thought of this whole scenario made her headache, for she could barely make much sense of what was going on. Chani knew of the dangers of the awakening trial and what it meant. She had been warned by Inzal that the trial could cost Paul his sense of self, and yet when he had first woken up, she had not been able to see much difference.
It had still felt like Paul in a way, in the flesh and the warmth. And yet, by his own words, he was anything but. And now it was upto her to warn Inzal about this, and so she struggled to her feet and began to make her way through the caverns before she reached the mouth of the cave only for her path to be blocked by three of the Sayyadina apprentices.
"I am afraid we cannot let you go," one of them spoke as they blocked the entrance to the cave, and the way her eyes were dazed spoke to her how she was probably under the influence of the Voice.
"Get out of my way," she said as another stepped forward and took something out of her hand, revealing it to her.
"We have destroyed your special mobility gear. There is no way you can make it back to the city. Please, Lady Chani, do not make it hard for us," and her eyes widened as she reached for her back and belt and realized that the ODM gear had been taken off of her.
And as growled as she sifted through her pockets to catalog just what she had. The people three girls in front of her had been her friends once. They had played together once, and now, watching them standing against her did not make her feel good.
"Do not make me do this," she said as she reached into her pocket and took out a dagger, and to her dismay, two of them stepped forward as well, forming a wall in her path.
"I am afraid we have no choice. We have been commanded by the chosen one, the Mahdi, and we shall do our part in helping him," and so she lowered herself as she spun the dagger in her hand and took a deep breath.
"Then you leave me no choice..." and with that, she rushed forward and engaged all three in combat, and though she was outnumbered and the three of them were rather well trained, their skills were no match for herself individually.
.
.
The fight lasted for minutes, and Chani used all her knowledge to carve a way for herself out of the cave, and now she stood at the edge of the cliff, huffing as the three apprentices lay down on the ground grunting in pain.
"It is over. Without your equipment, there is no way that you will be able to make it back to the city in time," one of them shouted at her. Chani's eyes narrowed as she took a deep breath.
"Our lord already took the ornithopter away, and without that, it will take you hours to make it to the city," she continued, and Chani began to step back as a loud growl shook the entire cavern and the sands infront of them began to shift.
"Inzal's equipment is useful, but it is not the only way to travel through the desert," she mocked as she reached into her belt and took out the two riding hooks and saw the eyes of the apprentices widen as a massive sand worm tussled out of the sand and roared. As it passed by the cave system, she broke into a stride as she swung her hooks at it and felt them take hold before she pulled on them and jumped with a shout.
"ARGH!"
And so, she felt her feet land on the thick skin of the shai-hudud as it roared in agony and pain as she pulled on the hooks and turned its direction as sand stormed all around her, and yet she held on for dear life even as her arms screamed in agony.
"I am coming."
And so, hours later, she would reach the city, tired and broken, and yet as she entered, she would turn on the guards.
"Chani?" the guard recognized her, as he rushed towards her as she nearly collapsed to her feet.
"What happened to you?" he questioned as she turned towards him.
"Take me to the castle. Now!"
0000
INZAL KAZAB CORRINO
Something was wrong. Very wrong. When Paul had left with Chani to undergo the ascension trial, it had been a gamble. Inzal had been tracking both of them ever since their departure, and yet it was also true that a Haderach had the power to disrupt his senses for some time. It was similar to how Paul could not look into the Guild Navigators, and how they escaped his visions, he had a similar problem with Paul.
And yet, when Paul's signature had not vanished and continued to register on to his senses normally, he had thought that nothing had been wrong, but now the more he stared at the young man in front of him, the more his senses screamed at him that something was wrong.
The duel against Feyd-Rautha had been interesting—no, the more accurate word would be unemotional. Paul had a personal grudge against the Harkonnen Baron-na, the Harkonnens had crippled his father and nearly ended his whole family; he had expected more emotion from him; he should be enraged and angry. Yet he was not.
Paul, if he even was that, was impassive and apathetic, and cruel as he fought with the white-skinned Feyd-Rautha and killed him. And with every passing second, as Chani did not appear through those gates, Inzal felt trepidatious as he feared the future that lay ahead.
And then it happened in an instant. Both Paul and Feyd were locked in a contest of strength when suddenly Paul's knife slipped from his hand before he reached for it with his other hand and plunged it into Feyd-Rautha's heart.
"NOOOO!" he heard the Baron scream as he slipped form his chair and tumbled to the ground, while many more in the Hall gasped as Feyd-Rautha grunted in pain.
"GURGH!" and he watched as the Baron-na collapsed to the ground, and yet Paul held his body gently lowering it to the ground as his eyes met Inzal's.
"Something is wrong," both Irulan and Lady Jessica caught on as well, as Inzal's fingers thrummed on the throne as Paul rose up from the ground as the lifeless body of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen lay there on his feet.
"YEAH!" the Atreides camp cheered at the victory, with Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho jumping in joy at the victory though the same could not be said of him, or Irulan, or even Lady Jessica for that matter.
The herald stepped forward.
"The kanli stands decided. Feyd-Rautha and the Harkonnen have failed in their challenge. The Atredies stand victorious!" he announced, and the Atreides camp cheered as Paul continued to stare at him.
"Speak, Atreides as the victor. What recompense you demand!" the herald asked, and the whole court became quiet.
"My name is Paul Atreides, son of Leto Atreides," and the way he said those words was as if he was reading a book or a story. The pride, the love Paul had for his family name, was nowhere to be seen, giving Inzal a picture of just what he was witnessing.
"And yet that is not my full name," he shouted, and the murmurs began to fill the Hall.
"My full name is Paul Muadib Atreides-Harkonnen," he announced as he raised his dagger into the air, as Lady Jessica gasped at those words.
Muadib, and that name told him his fear had been right: This was not Paul. Yet this was not the possession as well. No, this was something in between, something a lot more dangerous. In the lines and personalities inherited by Paul through the ascension trial, there was one that stood up as the strongest, belonging to a person who had ruled the Empire for a million years.
The unborn son of Paul and Chani, the boy whose deeds would have the world rename his title and call him as the God Emperor.
"How?" she whispered, for she knew that he was indeed telling the truth.
Inzal's eyes moved towards the Baron and the old Reverend Mother, and she saw that she was smirking at him as if taunting him, and his fist balled up. He had made a grave mistake in his arrogance. One that was going to cost him.
"Through my mother, I carry in my veins the Harkonnen blood and claim myself as the Baron-na of the Harkonnen clan," he announced as he lowered his hand, and stepped over Feyd-Rutha's lifeless body, and walked up to the throne.
"And now as the Baron-Na of the Harkonnen clan..." he began as the doors to the throne room stuck open, and he watched as a beat-up Chani rushed into the room and screamed.
"NOOO!" and yet her words came too late, as Paul continued.
"I call for kanli against House Corrino and the Padishah Emperor Inzal Kazab Corrino, for his crimes against House Corrino."
"Paul!" Lady Jessica rose from her seat as the whole throne room gasped at those words.
"What are you doing? Do you have..." She tried to speak up but was cut short by a loud scream from the side.
"I, as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, endorse this challenge and name the boy as my heir." the Baron spoke up, smiling wildly. Lady Jessica's face paled at those words.
"Your grace. I apologize on my son's behalf," Lady Jessica began as she turned to face him and bowed her head.
"Let me talk to him, and I hope that you can forgive him for his transgr..." and yet Inzal knew that it was all useless as he rose up from his seat.
"Are you certain of this, Paul Muadib Atreides-Harkonnen," he called out his name as he had.
"I am," Inzal said, reaching for the small knife hidden in his side. Slipping it into his hand, he threw it, and it blurred across the Hall before it landed in the Baron's neck.
The hulking giant of a man grabbed his neck, and blood showered out as both his carotids were cut open. He gurgled blood as he slid down the platform and rolled down.
THUD!
His weight broke the boundary, and his body fell to the ground as blood began to spread around him.
"You..mo.." he tried to speak but couldn't, for his vocal cords were cut as well, as Inzal turned his head.
"Your life was forfeit the second Feyd-Rautha lost the kanli. Your time is over, Baron," and with that, he turned towards Paul.
"Am I wrong?" he asked the boy, who shook his head.
"The Crown has done me a favor. I was about to do just that," he replied as both of them looked into each other's eyes.
"I Inzal Kazab Corrino as the Padishah Emperor and the representative of the Corrino family. I accept the challenge of kanli."
0000
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