─── ･ ｡ﾟ⟡ 🌑 ⟡ ˚｡ ･ ───
twenty-eight
'And suddenly, life wasn't about living, it was about surviving.'
─── ･ ｡ﾟ⟡ 🌑 ⟡ ˚｡ ･ ───
Liet continues to lead the Atreides down the tunnel, with Paul looking back to see his wife and check if anyone is behind her.
He grabs her hand to keep her close, holding it tightly as if someone might take her from him.
They find two different tunnels jutting from a fork in the path.
"Follow the light," Liet pants, handing Jessica one of the fremkits as (Y/N) and Paul approach. "You'll find a thopter ready to fly. That storm out there is your best shot. Above 5,000 meters, it's mostly dust." She bends down to hand Paul a fremkit. "Climb into it. Stay on top. Head south. Find the Fremen."
"Are you not coming with us?" Jessica asks.
"It only seats two." Liet pants, looking at (Y/N). "Squeeze in if you can." She hauls her own fremkit over her shoulder. "I'll go to the station and report this attack to the Landsraad."
"How?" Jessica demands.
"I'm Fremen," Liet says. "The desert's my home. Good luck."
"Good luck," Paul and (Y/N) call as the group splits.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Liet emerges from a rocky spire, looking out at the canyons, rigged for the desert in a stillsuit and robes. A fremkit on her back.
She looks out across the desert, adjusting her mask. In two places, wormsign is closing in, drawn by the active shields nearby.
She races out into the open with one goal in mind, while three others inside have one plan: escape.
Paul, (Y/N) and Jessica exchange a glance before they begin the race against time, hurriedly rushing to the ornithopter.
It sits in a pool of light from an opening in the roof. It's a fast, delicate craft compared to military airships. And it's cockpit is merely a bubble of glass.
Paul opens the glass and Jessica climbs into one seat as she hauls her fremkit onboard.
"(Y/N), get in!" Her husband calls, but she watches, frantically stepping from one place to the other as Paul brings the ornithopter to life by pressing a few buttons and latches.
"I-I--there's no room!" She panics.
Paul extends a hand, hoisting her up and situating her to sit across his lap. She rests her head on his shoulder, and the seatbelt, thankfully, is extendable enough to fit both of them.
"Hang on to me," he murmurs into her ear, quickly pressing a kiss to her hair before a firm look of determination sits on his face.
The glass locks in place in the cockpit and with another switch flicked, the wings of the ornithopter rotate from the back to their respective sides.
The engine sputters, and Paul tries again.
Nothing.
With one last push, the engine coughs with a rumble, and for now, it was working.
With a small kiss to her temple, Paul gets the ornithopter in the air, making his way out of the openings.
From a distance, a Sardaukar warrior can see the departing ship.
And Liet works quickly to set her plan in motion, quickly getting a thumper into the sand and setting it off.
In the distance, the sandworm pauses before it rushes for the sound, ready to find its source. Kynes stands on the ridge of the dune, taking two Maker hooks and extending them to full length as she surveys the desert.
The sandworm is coming in fast.
She watches the beast break through the dunes like nothing, leaving only clouds of dust behind.
All of a sudden, a blade goes straight through her from behind, and with a groan of anguish, her body rolls off the dune towards the sands below.
A Sardaukar soldier is behind her, blood on his mask.
Two more follow the first, and Kynes turns on her side to clutch her wound, looking up at the approaching soldiers.
"Kynes. You have betrayed the Emperor."
"I serve only one master." Kynes shakily says, lifting herself a little more as she angles a fist to the sand. "His name is Shai-Hulud."
With a rhythm, she pounds the sand. Relentless in her pursuit of calling the mighty beast she named.
All four start to slowly sink, and her plan has worked.
The worm has come.
The assassins grunt, shocked, as they try to escape, to no avail.
Kynes lets herself go, and the sandworm roars as it swallows them whole, tidal waves of sand falling into its mouth like a waterfall.
Just a few less Sardaukar to deal with.
YOU ARE READING
𝐲𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐧 ⁀➴ paul atreides
Fanfiction(n.) - two people meant to be together; destiny ↳ ❝ [ Yuanfen ] ❞ ━ paul atreides x fem! reader ┕ 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, (y/n) is in an arranged marriage with a man she doesn't...
