Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [177]
Teg watched with fascinated disgust. The Handler guards picked up the body of the slain Futar. The remaining two beast-men paid them no attention as they slashed and tore, wetly devouring the stringy flesh of their victim.
Farther off, from the direction of the tower where Thufir and the Rabbi observed, came the sounds of more horns, more snarling and thrashing. The hunt continued.
To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror. To learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.
—Bene Gesserit Archives,
Training Manual for Acolytes
E
ven as her undefeated Valkyries traveled toward Tleilax, the Mother Commander felt uneasy. Tleilax . . . the Tleilaxu females . . . the Honored Matres. So much now made sense to Murbella. The whores’ mindless destruction of all Tleilaxu worlds was no longer entirely incomprehensible.
But understanding did not lead to mercy. The New Sisterhood’s plans would not change. Much hung in the balance here, the culmination of an energy-draining conflict that diverted attention from preparing for the main struggle. The thwarted attack on Chapterhouse, the obliteration of Richese, the insurgents and Face Dancers on Gammu. After today, this part would all be over.
The immense Heighliner carried Murbella’s troops and equipment to the last stronghold of the rebel whores. After the Guildship disgorged her obvious fleet of Valkyries in the same warships she had used to attack both Buzzell and Gammu, the show of force would certainly be impressive. From what she knew of Matre Superior Hellica, however, Murbella doubted simple intimidation would be enough. The Valkyries were willing to expend as much violence as might be necessary; in fact, they looked forward to it.
Navigator Edrik insisted on guiding the Heighliner himself. Citing the Spacing Guild’s long-standing neutrality, he would not participate in the actual combat, but he clearly wanted to be present during the takeover of Bandalong. Murbella got the sense that the Navigator faction had something to gain here. Was the Guild hiding something on Tleilax? Though the Navigators and human Administrators had vehemently denied any involvement, some ship had delivered Hellica’s Obliterators to Richese. She had assumed it was an Honored Matre vessel, but it could have been a Guildship . . . like this one.
In a transparent chamber above them, the Navigator swam in fresh spice gas supplied by the Chapterhouse stockpiles. She didn’t trust him.
Earlier in the week, an innocuous-seeming Guild supply vessel had sent a coded transmission containing the New Sisterhood’s specific plans to Janess, hiding among the Honored Matres. Her team’s camouflage was secure, and the intelligence data Janess provided in return had given Murbella much to consider, a wealth of information that allowed her to plan a perfect coup de grace. Along with Kiria and the other ten faux Honored Matres, Janess had made preparations to strike the soft white underbelly of the overconfident whores while they stared up at the skies.
Soon . . .
Emerging from foldspace, the giant vessel went into orbit over Tleilax. Bashar Wikki Aztin already had her orders.
From the Navigator’s bridge, Murbella looked down at the planet. The continents still showed great black scars from the original violent takeover by the Honored Matres. The women had unleashed terrible weapons, but stopped short of completely sterilizing the main Tleilaxu world, choosing to crush and conquer the remnants instead of wiping them out. Unconscious revenge on behalf of countless generations of Tleilaxu females. No doubt Matre Superior Hellica did not know her own history, but she knew her hatred well.
In the subsequent decades since the original attack, the draconian women had salvaged what seemed unsalvageable. Now, as Murbella studied the terrain below, her tactical advisors matched details with the intelligence reports Janess and