Chereads / SON OF DUNE / Chapter 9 - remember him

Chapter 9 - remember him

There is a saying in the old Desert of Arrakis: Pray you never meet an Exiled; 'only death awaits those who see them.'

Chaos was everywhere; the exiled came from the ground and attacked the Harkonnen soldiers. Jamis, the commander of this legion, broke from the ground, dragging the leg of a Harkonnen soldier; he stabbed the man's spine, and then his blade went under his rib cage, ending his life quickly. 

He moved in the sand like it was his battleground. The Exiled had a unique way of fighting. Their mask controlled their suits. It calculated the opponent's moves and moved according to their attack methods, and in this case, it was the Harkonnen. But this was only for those who were being trained in specific fighting styles.

The mask did not intervene for those already trained; the stillsuit took control only when they couldn't avoid an attack.

Jamis moved through the battlefield, attacking the Harkonnens; he ran behind one of them, cutting his Achilles and driving his blade to his other hand, stabbing the man in the throat, making a metallic sound. 

As the soldier fell, he pounced on another; in the air, you could hear the hum of ornithopters, and in them were Harkonnen soldiers who were about to shoot Atomics down on the battlefield, not caring for their soldiers. 

In the Far distance, you could hear the yells of the one they call Rabban the Beast; his forehead vein bulged as if it were about to pop. He looked in the distance, and a figure well-known in Arrakis was on the battlefield.

He had a red stillsuit, and on his head was a mask with red eyes that sent chills to those who stared into them. Many Harkonnen soldiers attacked him, but they were all dead in two moves; his body evaded all attacks like he had done this thousands of times. The Exiled around him did not intervene whatsoever. They allowed their leader to be attacked.

Rabban saw this, and it sent a chill down his spine. 

The truth is that Rabban was a coward. He only fought in battles he knew he could win, and he liked to abuse his opponent; such was the Harkonnen way. 

Rabban felt ashamed to be scared. Harkonnens do not feel fear. We are beasts. " he thought to himself. To assure him of his pride. 

Inside his being, he found a primal roar, the roar of the beast; his eyes turned red with rage, spit spewed out his mouth, and he bit his lower lip; blood came out running down his chin. 

He seemed to find pleasure in this, and the pain was ecstasy. A chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at the figure that cut down his man. " BLOOD WORM!" he yelled.

This caught the attention of Krelln, who saw Rabban call to him. The young leader started running towards him. But before that could happen, Rabban looked to the sky and yelled, "Do it!" But before the soldiers in ornithopters could fire their atomics, a missile that came out of the far dune shot them down. 

Their Ornithopter crashed on the battlefield, and the mask of the Exiled took action, using their connection to their Stillsuits, and moved the exiles accordingly so that they would not be injured. 

Smoke and flames filled the air while the screams of Harkonnen soldiers went unanswered, with no help or reinforcements in sight.

The once kneeling Fremen locals ran to the far dunes for help, but their running and panic made them forget the one rule of Arrakis: the desert takes the week. 

In their panic, they had called something far more terrifying than a missile - a SHAI-HULUD. Panic swelled in their hearts as the ground sank and the sand churned.

In the Mask of every exiled, a red mark read, " Warning, warning, imminent danger ahead. You need to move now." 

At once, the Exiled began to retreat. Rabban, who wanted to fight 'Blood Worm' lost his chance as he saw Krelln begin to retreat with his men; he did not realize it then, but 95% of his men lay dead in the hot desert of Arrakis. 

As Krellen retreated with his man and the rescued Fremen Locals, Rabban in the far distance called, "You are a coward, you are a coward, too afraid to face me, the Great beast of house Harkonnen, come and fight me, the Great Rabban I will snap your neck and feast upon your flesh." he laughed as the Exiled retreated. 

As Krelln heard those words, he stopped and grabbed a small ball from his inventory, a form of grenade he had crafted. He threw it towards Rabban, and it landed on the ground beneath him. The ball was just a short distance from his, but he looked closely and saw a red blinking, and the next thing that happened was Rabban was engulfed in an explosion. 

"There will be no next time; there is no Rabban, the Beast; all you are is prey before me," said Krelln as he turned around and continued to the dunes. 

Rabban's body was flung towards the shield, and you could hear his screams of pain as his upper torso was burning with fire; his lower jaw was missing, and only the top of his mouth remained; you could see the inside of his mouth pooling red, his screams began to turn to gurgles as he choked on blood. His tongue was flying out, and his right eye was hanging out of its socket. He had his hands and feet, but they were mangled. 

The Harkonnen soldier came and dragged him away. He did not have his shield on when the grenade went off.

Shields tended to send Sandworms into a frenzy. He wanted a real battle, but his enemy gave him no such thing. He gave him a gift of pain to remember him by. 

Rabban's distorted scream was all you could hear from him. He spewed out blood from his mouth or what used to be of it. Fragments of metal were embedded in his body, and they stung when he moved. 

It was said no one could escape from sandworms, but Krelln was about to prove everyone wrong. In the far distance, a revving sound was heard, and trucks the size of buses came out, driving on the desert sand. They were using the same technology as hoverbikes—there were no wheels. Instead, they floated. 

The Vehicles came in a hurry, and the three thousand Fremen Locals ran inside them; there were forty buses, and they were an astronomical size compared to old ones from Krelln's old world. 

As soon as everyone got on the buses, they left and drove into the storm. As the harsh sandstorm hit them, a tarp came from a small space in the trucks, covering everyone In one fell swoop.

The Fremen of the North witnessed a battle unlike any they had seen before. The exiled fighters moved with the grace and skill of elite warriors. Some of them, who were from the north, decided to sneak on the buses to the south. 

It wasn't long before the sandworm appeared where the battle was and swallowed the dead Harkonnes soldiers' bodies. 

In the city of Arrakeen, you could hear the scream of Rabban as he was being treated for his injuries. They had asked him to be put under anesthesia, but he refused. He wanted the pain to be a reminder of who Bloodworm was. 

He could not speak anymore all he could do was nod and shake his for yes and no.

In the far room in the Baron's palace was Vladimir, who enjoyed the company of small boys as he ate spice. He lay down on his thrones, and he now recognized what he had done wrong. 

" I have played into your hands." He said as he held spice in his hands.

"All along, you wanted the parents, but in doing so, I have also given you my nephew. No, you planned this; this was always the game."

Vladimir looked outside, where smoke and fire bellowed. He felt the rambling of the giant Sandworm. The palace itself shook from the frenzied Sandworm. 

A chuckle escaped his lips. He looked to his side, and a boy stood before him in his nakedness. " You boy," he called and the young thing did not speak but came to his master. 

At once, Baron took out a knife and sliced the throat of the boy. He licked the Child's blood, and it pleased him. 

"You will not take it away from me," said Baron in a silent voice, his eyes turning red with rage. " You will not take it away from me," he said again as he sat naked in the hall filled with children. He began to float in the air and went to the mud pull, and as he stood above it, he said, "My Arrakis, my Dune."