Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Seven

Leto's consciousness was floating in countless pungent smells.He smelled the rich cinnamon smell of the spice soup, the sweat from the moving body, the sour smell from the open still of the dead, and the flint smell from the dust.The scent left its trail in the desert, forming a thick fog in the land of the dead.He knew that these smells could tell him something, but his hazy consciousness couldn't tell. Thoughts flitted through his mind like ghosts: At this moment, I have no fixed form. I am the ancestor of all I am.The sunset falling into the desert is my soul.Once the life inside me was so powerful, but now it's over.I am a Freeman, and I will have a Freeman ending.The golden passage ended before it even started.It is nothing but the traces of the wind.We Fremen know all about hiding ourselves: we have no faces, no water, no traces... Now watch my traces disappear.

A thick voice rang in his ear: "I can kill you, Atreides. I can kill you, Atreides." The voice repeated itself until it lost its meaning, and only the voice itself was left to repeat itself. In Thor's dream, it seemed to be a long prayer: "I can kill you, Atreides." Leto cleared his throat, feeling the dull voice hit his consciousness.A sound escaped his parched throat. "Who……" A voice behind him said, "I am a Fremen awakened. You have taken our god, Atreides. Why should we care about stinking Muad'di? Your god is dead!" Was it a real voice, or a fantasy in his dream?

Leto opened his eyes and found himself untied and lying on a hard cot.He looked up and saw rocks, a dim spherical light, and an unmasked face.That face was so close to him, he could even smell the familiar burrow food exhaled from the other's mouth.It was a Fremenian face, dark skin, protruding angles, and dehydrated muscles.This wasn't a fat urbanite, but a Fremen of the desert. "I am Namri, Javed's father," said the Fremen. "Do you know me now, Atreides?" "I know Javid," Leto said hoarsely. "Yes, your family knows my son. I am proud of him. Soon, you Atreides will know him better."

"what……" "I am one of your teachers, Atreides. I have only one role: I am the one who will kill you. I am happy to do so. At this school, you have to live to graduate. To fail means to fall on my side." hand." Leto heard the truth in his words, and he shuddered.Here is a human gorm, a savage foe, to test his right to enter the ranks of humans.Leto sensed the shadow of his grandmother, and the countless Bee Geist behind her.He pondered the idea. "Your education begins with me," said Namri, "and that's fair and fitting. Because you probably won't pass me. Now, listen. Everything I say concerns you life. Everything about me is tied to your death."

Leto looked around the house: rocky, monotonous—just a cot, dim globe lights, and a dark passage behind Namri. "You cannot escape," Namri said.Leto believed him. "Why are you doing this?" Leto asked. "I've explained it. Think about the plan in your own head! You're here and you can't fit the future into the present. The present and the future, the two don't go together. But if you know your past, Really know your past, and go back and see where you've been, and maybe you'll find why. If you don't, it's your time to die." Leto noticed that Namri's tone was not so vicious, but it was very firm, and it did reveal the breath of death.

Namri looked up at the rocky ceiling. "Once upon a time, the Fremen faced east at dawn. Do you know this word, Ios? It means dawn in some ancient language." Leto said with bitter pride: "I speak that language." "You didn't listen to me," Namri said, his tone as cold as a knife's edge. "Night is a time of chaos, and day is order. It's said in the language you can speak: Darkness— Chaos, light—order. We Fremen changed it. Ios is light we don't trust. We like moonlight, or starlight. Light represents too much order, with deadly consequences. Have you seen what ioth the Atreides have done? Humans can only grow under the light that protects them. The sun is our enemy on the dunes." Namri looked directly at Leto, "What light do you like, Atreides?"

According to Namri's posture, Leto felt that there was a deep meaning behind this question.If he got it wrong, would the man kill him?Leto saw Namri's hand resting peacefully beside the smooth Screamer scabbard.On his knife-wielding hand he wore a turtle-shaped ring that reflected the light of the spherical lamp.Leto relaxed and propped himself up on his elbows, thinking about Freeman's beliefs.Those old Fremen, they believed in the commandments, and they liked to use metaphors to explain the commandments.moonlight? "I like...the light of truth." Leto said, observing Namri's subtle reaction.The man looked disappointed, but his hand left the Screaming Blade. "This is the most perfect light," Leto continued, "is there any other light that man would like?"

"You talk like you're endorsing, not really believing these words." Namuri said, "There is a cave, which is the source of life for the Fremen. It is a real cave, Hiding in the desert. Shahulu, the ancestors of all the Fremen sealed up that cave. My uncle Zmed told me all this, and he never lied to me. The cave does exist." After Namri finished speaking, Leto felt challenged in the silence.Life Cave? "My uncle Stilgar also told me about the cave," Leto said. "The reason it's sealed up is to keep cowards from hiding in it." The pure blue eyes of Namri reflected the spherical light.He said, "Are you Atreides going to open that cave? You want to use the government to control life. Tell me, Atreides, what's wrong with your government?"

Leto sat up, realizing that he was completely caught up in Namri's game of maneuvering, in which his life was at stake.From the man's expression, it can be seen that as long as he hears a wrong answer, he will use his howling blade. Namuri seemed to read Leto's thoughts: "Trust me, Atreides, I am a cold-blooded killer. I am the hammer." Leto understood. Namri sees himself as Mazba, with a hammer in his hand, striking those who cannot answer Heaven's questions and thus cannot enter Paradise. What's wrong with the central government that Alia and her priests created?

Leto remembered why he had entered the desert, and he suddenly had hope in his heart.It is still possible that the golden channel will appear in his universe.Wasn't Namri's problem what drove him into the desert? "Only God can show the way," Leto said. Namri stared at Leto. "Do you really believe what you say?" he asked. "That's why I'm here," Leto said. "Looking for a way out?" "For myself." Leto rested his feet on the ground beside the crib.The rocky ground was not carpeted and it was cold. "You speak like a true rebel," Namri said, rubbing the turtle-shaped ring on his finger. "We'll see. Listen again. You know the shield at Jajarud-Dinah Wall mountain? That mountain has the imprints of my ancestors from their early days. Javid, my son, has seen the imprints. Abdi Gala, my nephew, has also seen them. During the sandstorm season, my friend and I Yakap Abd came down from that shield wall mountain. The wind was dry and hot, like the whirlwind that taught us to dance. We didn't take the time to see the imprint because the sandstorm blocked our way. But, when the sandstorm subsided, We saw the image of Tata appearing above the brown sand. Sako Ali's face also appeared for a while, looking down at his tomb city. The image faded quickly, but we did see it. Tell me , Atreides, where can I find that city?"

The whirlwind that taught us to dance, Leto mused, the image of Tata and Sako Ali.These words are used only by true Sunni wanderers, who consider themselves the only true desert people. Also, the Fremen are forbidden to own graves. "There is a passage all must walk, and the grave city is at the end of it," Leto said.Later, he borrowed a passage from the real Sunni: "It is located in a garden of a thousand steps square. In the garden there is a corridor two hundred and thirty-three steps long and one hundred steps wide. Marble of the ancient city of Poole. In the garden lived a man named A Raziz, who prepared food for all those in need. When the day of judgment comes, those who set out to find the city of the tomb will find nothing. For the book It has been written: what you know in this world will not be found in another." "You are endorsing again, and you don't believe it at all." Namuri sneered, "But I can accept it, because I think you know why you came here." There was another sneer on his lips, "I A temporary future for you, Atreides." Leto studied the man carefully.Is this a question, masquerading as a statement? "Good!" said Namuri, "your consciousness is ready. I have released the Barbary pigeons at home. One more thing, you have heard that the people in Fa Kadish are using still suits Is it an imitation?" Namri waited for an answer, and Leto struggled to guess what he meant.Simulated Distillation Suit?They have become popular on many planets. He said: "Kadish has a well-known flamboyant streak. Intelligent animals know how to adapt to their environment." Namri nodded slowly, and said, "The man who caught you and brought you here will come to see you soon. Don't try to escape from this place, you will die because of it." After speaking, He turned and walked into the dark passage. For a long time after he left, Leto had been staring at that passageway.He could hear voices there, the whispers of the guards on duty.The story of the apparition that Namri had told him remained in his mind.He has come so far and finally came here.Now, it doesn't matter if this place is Jakrutu/Fondak or not.Namri are not smugglers.He's clearly more powerful than them, and there's Jessica in the game he's playing.The passage that Namri walked was the only way out of this room, and outside the house was an unfamiliar cave—and the desert outside the cave.The harshness, phantoms and endless dunes of the desert form part of the trap that traps Leto.He could cross the desert again, but where would the escape take him?This thought was like a puddle of stinking water, unable to quench his hunger and thirst.

---

Notes: