SON OF DUNE

After getting acquainted again, and after Stilgar had left, Damon stood before his father in the middle of the room; he was not side by side with him as when Stilgar was in the room, he remembered the emphasis of him being Fremen by Stilgar. 

" Duke Leto of House Atreides, I have come bearing urgent news," Damon said. This grabbed the attention of everyone in the room: the lady Jessica, Paul, Kynes, Gurney, Hawat, and Duncan, Idaho. 

"I truly wish this was the reunion you had been yearning for, but it would seem that the great mother would not allow such a thing. Duke Leto, it is no surprise that the emperor giving Arrakis as your fief is a trap."

Damon expected murmurs and whispers to circulate around the room, but none were heard. Many in the room knew this and were doing everything they could to prevent it. The duke also thought he had more time, but he did not. 

The Harkonennes lacked patience, and their Greed was immeasurable. " We Know this, Damon," Duke Leto said. " Hawat and his man are taking care of that; as we speak, there are many spies on Arrakis left by the Harkonennens, and it will take time to kill them all." 

" Yes, kill them all; however, to think you have time is a mistake on your part; you do not have time," Damon looked around, and he did not find Doctor Yueh; he closed his eyes and felt no spyware in the room. He was safe to speak. 

" Ever since I was five, I have been trained to kill with the utmost efficiency; it is the Freman way," Damon said as he looked at Kynes. And the man nodded. " When I was ten, I killed my first man, earning my manhood, " Jessica looked at her son, and she felt guilty; Duke Leto felt a sense of guilt and pride mixed. 

" The Harkonnen will attack tonight," this brought murmurs from everyone in the room; Gurney Halleck wanted to speak up, but the duke held his hand, and he shut his mouth. Instead of the duke speaking it was Thufir Hawat. 

" And how did you come by this information."He asked.

 There was no respect in his voice, only suspicion; the man was a trained assassin mentat, and they were hard to break, and everyone understood what this meant, the harshness in his voice. Hawat was insinuating Damon was the spy. 

" If I may, " Kynes said, wanting to intervene. He knew what the red Fremen were capable of, and if a man were to grab a blade, there would be blood spilled in seconds. " You may not." Surprisingly, the duke was the one to say this. 

" I have fought the Harkonnens all my life, and I have killed many of them, slaughtered more than I can count; if you are wondering if I am a spy, then that is your reason to believe me. And I know they will attack tonight because that is what I would do.

I see it in all of you—tired and with no sleep in your eyes, especially you, Duke Leto. They have made you and your entourage suspicious of anything or anyone you come in contact with. You do not have the security of Arrakeen nor the security of the mind. You have been dancing to their tune all along. " 

What Damon had said was true. No lies were detected, especially after the lady Jessica looked at him as he talked, a twitch on his face, a subtle crack in it, anything to tell her that he was lying, but no sign showed. 

Gurney Halleck and the duke Looked at one another and then at Hawat. " We, too, have been fighting the Harkonnens for centuries," Duke Leto said. " to you, it was eighty years ago, but to us, we have had a long feud with them. 

But now I see that this may be the end of our house; we have grown powerful but weak. I wanted desert power, but I don't have it; on my homeworld, Caladan, we had air and sea power. Now we have nothing. My question is, what can we do to prepare?" 

" The emperor made this a trap for the house Atreides. How about we turn that around?" Damon said, making everyone in the room quick to pay attention. A certain unease went on in all of them. " We make this a trap for the Harkonnens and the emperor himself. " Silence went on in the room. These were dangerous words to say. This was treason itself. 

"Do you know what you say, Damon? Those are dangerous words you speak, my son?" Duke Leto said. " Yes, they are indeed dangerous, but the emperor will be part of this attack as much as the Harkonnens. Believe me, the Sardukar will be in the Harkoennen ranks. " Damon stopped himself before continuing to look around for anyone who was hesitating. 

" Many of you might be wondering why the emperor is doing this, and the answer is: " Damon pointed to Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck. " My Duke Leto, you have trained your man to be on par with the emperor's fighting force, the Sardukar, who are trained on Selusa Secundus. 

Many of the great houses know what the Planet is for. House Corrino made it their prison planet, but few know that more than sixty percent of them don't survive it. The Prison was created to shape the Sardukar for the precise purpose of creating soldiers in the worst of climates. But you have created a small army fully capable of matching his in no harsh conditions. 

Hawat's eyes went white to confirm my calculations. He looked to his duke and said, " He speaks the truth, sire." The duke nodded; despite Damon being his son, the duke did not trust him, and he fully expected his concubine, Jessica, to use her bene Gesserit training. to confirm his suspicions. 

" He may see you like a son, but we all know the emperor is a jealous man," Damon said. " He is driven by the calculus of power. I know it's hard, but I'm telling you this because I have been waiting for this day; I knew you would come here. " 

Jessica had a questioning look on her face but hid it. However, she could not hide anything from Damon; he could see right through her. Is he like Paul, she thought before she could throw the question at the back of her mind. A voice came into her head.

" Yes, Paul and I are similar. You have done well." She looked at Damon and saw how he was explaining to Leto, and he shot a quick glance towards her. A chill sensation came to her spine. Damon was the one who spoke in her mind. 

A/N I'm taking a few days for a break, sorry to tell you guys this, but i need to finish reading the book and then i will come back.