Sisterhood of Dune (76 page)

Authors: Brian Herbert,Kevin J. Anderson

BOOK: Sisterhood of Dune

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Valya could envision numerous ways to hunt down and destroy Vorian Atreides. The voices of her Other Memories would guide her.

She closed her eyes and swallowed the pill.

Setbacks can send you reeling off course, or they can make you stronger.

—
REVEREND MOTHER RAQUELLA BERTO-ANIRUL,
address to the Sisterhood

The VenHold shuttle descended through a clear sky toward a planet that was chilly, but still hospitable to life. A new sanctuary, a place where Cioba assured them no one would look.

Even before Venport’s assistance, Raquella had developed a secret contingency survival plan, working closely with Karee Marques. The Sisterhood’s funds in offworld accounts had now been absorbed by the VenHold banking system. It was a tight alliance Raquella had not expected to make, but she could see the value.

Accompanied by twenty-eight ragtag followers that she had surreptitiously gathered, Raquella had high hopes for this scouting mission. If this world proved acceptable, she had made arrangements to rendezvous with additional Sisters who remained loyal to her. With luck, the VenHold Spacing Fleet would deliver them all here.

The old woman felt an obligation to each and every one of them. Those women had made vows of allegiance to her. She needed to get her new base of operations selected as soon as possible, and then begin contacting them, rebuilding her school.

Wallach IX had been one of the Synchronized Worlds under the control of Omnius, ruled for a time by the human traitor Yorek Thurr, and then destroyed a century ago by the Army of the Jihad in a nuclear attack. Most of the radiation had died down by now, and the planet was potentially habitable by humans. Venport assured the Reverend Mother that no commercial ships ever visited there.

The shuttle settled down on an old machine landing field that had survived the holocaust. A number of stone warehouse buildings surrounded the field, some of them collapsed. In the distance, Raquella saw sparse forests and a line of snow-covered peaks. Ice on nearby hills sparkled in the dim light of the blue-white sun, Laojin. Though projections suggested that this planet had a typically cold and rainy climate, today Wallach IX seemed to be showing off its natural beauty to the best effect.

She bundled up in a thick coat and stepped off the shuttle ramp onto the cracked pavement. As the other Sisters disembarked and walked toward the nearest building, Raquella felt a gust of sharp, cold wind that seemed to cut through her skin. This was quite a different environment from the humid jungles of Rossak. Dark clouds closed in quickly and spat down a wind-driven torrent of rain, drenching the women before they could reach cover.

Shivering in the shadows of the warehouse, Raquella said, “Directeur Venport assures us this place is safe. I think we’ve found our new homeworld.”

Here, on a distant, rugged planet, she would gather as many Sisters as possible and continue their training in secret. For now, her trainees had the goal of merely surviving … but soon, the Sisterhood would accomplish much more than that.

THE DUNE SERIES

BY FRANK HERBERT

Dune

Dune Messiah

Children of Dune

God Emperor of Dune

Heretics of Dune

Chapterhouse: Dune

BY FRANK HERBERT, BRIAN HERBERT, AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON

The Road to Dune
(includes the original short novel
Spice Planet
)

BY BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON

Dune: House Atreides

Dune: House Harkonnen

Dune: House Corrino

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

Dune: The Machine Crusade

Dune: The Battle of Corrin

Hunters of Dune

Sandworms of Dune

Paul of Dune

The Winds of Dune

Sisterhood of Dune

BY BRIAN HERBERT

Dreamer of Dune

(biography of Frank Herbert)

Brian Herbert is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, including
Sudanna, Sudanna
and the Timeweb Chronicles. In 2003, he published
Dreamer of Dune
, a Hugo Award–nominated biography of his father, Frank Herbert.

Kevin J. Anderson has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award. He set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing. Visit him at
www.wordfire.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

SISTERHOOD OF DUNE

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Herbert, Brian.

Sisterhood of Dune / Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”