Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert [30]
I will face my fear . . .
Saying nothing, Murbella went to stand by Janess, who was clearly in turmoil, barely restraining herself. Murbella gripped her forearm, but her daughter didn’t flinch. What did she know? What doubts had the twins voiced to each other in their acolyte bungalows at night?
One of the proctors swung an oral syringe into position, then used her fingers to open Rinya’s mouth. The young woman let her mouth fall slack as the proctor inserted the syringe.
Murbella wanted to shout at her daughter, telling her that she did not need to prove anything. Not until she was absolutely ready. But even if she’d had doubts, Rinya would never change her mind. She was stubborn, determined to go through with the process. And Murbella was forbidden to interfere. She was Mother Commander now, not a mere mother.
Caught up in her ordeal, Rinya closed her eyes in total acceptance. The line of her jaw was firm, defying anything to harm her. Murbella had seen that expression on Duncan’s face many times.
Janess burst forward unexpectedly, no longer able to contain her misgivings. “She is not ready! Can’t you see that? She told me. She knows she can’t—”
Startled by the disturbance, Rinya turned her head, but the proctors had already activated the pumps. A gush of potent chemical odor stung the air just as Janess tried to yank the syringe out of her sister’s mouth.
With surprising speed for her bulk, Bellonda shouldered Janess aside, knocking her to the floor.
“Janess, stop this!” Murbella snapped with all the command she could muster. When her daughter continued to struggle, she used Voice. “Stop!” At this, the young woman’s muscles involuntarily froze.
“You’re wasting an insufficiently prepared Sister,” Janess cried. “My sister!”
Murbella said in a withering voice, “You must not interfere with the Agony in any way. You have distracted Rinya at a vital moment.”
One of the proctors announced, “We succeeded, despite the disturbance. Rinya has taken the Water of Life.”
The poison began to act.
DEADLY EUPHORIA BURNED through her veins, challenging her cellular ability to deal with it. Rinya began to see her own future. Like a Guild Navigator, her mind was able to negotiate a safe path through the veils of time, avoiding obstacles and curtains that blocked her view. She saw herself on the table, along with her mother and twin sister, who were unable to hide their concern. It was like looking through a blurred lens.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me . . .
Then, incontrovertibly, as if curtains had been pulled from a window to reveal a flood of blinding light, Rinya beheld her own death—and could do nothing to prevent it. Nor could Janess, who shouted. And Murbella realized: She knew.
Locked away inside her body, Rinya experienced a powerful lance of pain from the core of her body to her brain.
And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain . . .
Rinya had recalled the entire Litany. Then she felt nothing at all.
RINYA CONVULSED ON the table, trying to rip free of the restraints. The teenager’s face had become a contorted mask of shock, pain, and terror. Her eyes were glazed . . . almost gone.
Murbella could not cry out, could not speak. She stood utterly still as a fierce storm churned within her. Janess had known! Or had she caused it?
For a moment Rinya lapsed into quiescence, her eyelids fluttered, and then she let loose a horrendous scream that cut through the room with a knife of sound.
In slow motion, Murbella reached for her dead daughter and touched the still-warm skin of her cheek. In the background, she heard Janess’s anguished cry fill the room, alongside her own.
It is only through constant and diligent practice that we are able to achieve the potential—the perfection—of our lives. Those of us who have had more than one life have had more opportunity to practice.
—DUNCAN IDAHO,
A Thousand Lives
D
uncan faced his opponent in the neutral-walled chamber, holding a short-sword