Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [13]
Under the increased illumination from the glowpanels, Duncan continued to explore the large room and its labyrinth of odd machines. Near the door through which he had entered, he found a clearplaz bin, its grisly contents visible: four more female skeletons, all piled in disarray, as if thrown unceremoniously inside. Killed and discarded. All of them wore black robes.
No matter how much pain they had inflicted, the Honored Matres would not have gotten the information they demanded: the location of Chapterhouse and the key to Bene Gesserit bodily control, the ability of a Reverend Mother to manipulate her own internal chemistry. Frustrated and infuriated, the whores would have killed their Bene Gesserit prisoners one by one.
Duncan pondered his discovery in silence. Words did not seem adequate. Best to tell Sheeana about this terrible room. As a Reverend Mother, she would know what to do.
Learn how to recognize your greatest enemy. It may even be yourself.
—MOTHER COMMANDER MURBELLA,
Chapterhouse Archives
A
fter executing the defiant Honored Matre, Murbella was in no hurry to meet the Guild delegation. She wanted to make sure all traces of the disturbance were cleaned up before any outsiders were allowed into the Keep’s main chamber.
These little rebellions were like brushfires—as soon as she stamped one out, others flared up elsewhere. Until her rule was unchallenged on Chapterhouse, the Mother Commander could not turn her efforts to bringing the dissident Honored Matre cells on other planets into the New Sisterhood.
And she had to accomplish that before they could all stand against the unknown, oncoming Enemy that had driven Honored Matres from the fringes of the Scattering. To succeed against the ultimate threat, she would need the Spacing Guild, and they had already proved to be insufficiently motivated. She would change that.
Each step of the overall plan hummed past like connected cars on a maglev train.
Bellonda shuffled to the foot of the dais below Murbella’s ornamented chair. She demonstrated a businesslike, efficient manner, with just the right amount of deference. “Mother Commander, the Guild delegation grows impatient—as you intended. I believe they are ripe for your meeting.”
Murbella regarded the obese woman. Since Bene Gesserits were able to control the most minute nuances of their body chemistry, the fact that Bellonda let herself become so fat carried a message of its own. A sign of rebellion? Flaunting her lack of interest in being viewed as a sexual figure? Some might consider it a slap at the Honored Matres, who used more traditional methods to hone their bodies to wiry perfection. Murbella, though, suspected that Bellonda used her obesity to distract and lull any potential opponents: Assuming her to be slow and weak, they would underestimate her. But Murbella knew better.
“Bring me spice coffee. I must be at my sharpest. Those Guildsmen will no doubt attempt to manipulate me.”
“Shall I send them in now?”
“My coffee first, then the Guild. And summon Doria as well. I want both of you beside me.”
With a knowing smile, Bellonda lumbered away.
Preparing herself, Murbella sat forward in her great chair and squared her shoulders. Her hands gripped the hard and silky-smooth soostones on the throne’s arms. After years of violence, all the men she had enslaved and the women she had killed, she knew how to look intimidating.
As soon as Murbella had her coffee, she nodded to Bellonda. The old Sister touched a communications stub in her ear, called for the Guild supplicants.
Doria hurried in, knowing she was late. The ambitious young woman, who currently served as the Mother Commander’s key advisor from the Honored Matre faction, had risen in rank by killing close rivals while other Honored Matres wasted time on duels with competing Bene Gesserits. The