Chapter 58 Chapter 58

The wet sand by the ruined aqueduct attracted insects, above which a flock of birds gathered: parrots, magpies, jays, etc.This was once the last new town built on basalt foundations.It is now abandoned.Ghanima spent his spare time in the morning observing the abandoned burrow, carefully studying the area beyond the original vegetation.Noticing movement in the area, she looked closer and spotted a spotted gecko.Earlier, she had seen a woodpecker building its nest on a mud wall in the new town. She imagined the place to be a cavern, but in fact it was just a low wall of mud bricks surrounded by vegetation to keep the dunes from attacking.It is located within Tanzerofot, about six hundred kilometers south of the Sahaya Ridge.Without human maintenance, the cave has begun to slowly degenerate into a desert.Sandstorms are eroding its walls, the vegetation is dying, and the land within the plantation is cracked by the sun.

However, the sand outside the aqueduct remained wet, suggesting that the large wind catcher was still functioning. In the months since escaping from Teb's Cave, the fugitives have come across similar uninhabitable caves destroyed by desert devils.Ghanima did not believe in desert devils, despite the evidence of the destruction of the aqueduct. Occasionally they came across rebel spice hunters, who brought news of northern settlements.Several—some say six—oropters were on a mission to find Stilgar, but Arrakis was large and the desert relatively hospitable to fugitives, so their search had not been successful.Another force is said to be on a mission to find Stilgar and his party, but that force, led by Agarvas, appears to have other missions and returns to Araken from time to time.

Rebels say there has been little fighting between their men and Alia's army.The random destruction of desert devils makes defending their homeland the top priority for Alia and Neb.Even the smugglers have been attacked, but they are also said to be grooming the desert, hoping to exchange Stilgar's head for a bounty. Guided by Freeman's nose, which is extremely sensitive to moisture, Stilgar led his team into the new town before yesterday's blackout.He assured them that he would soon continue south to Parmless, but declined to give a date for his departure.Now, the hanging red of Stilgar's head can buy a planet, but he looks extremely happy and relaxed.

"It's a good place for us," he said, pointing to the still functioning wind catcher. "Our friend left us some water." They are now a small team, only sixty people in total.The elderly, sick and children have been taken in by the trusted Freeman family.The toughest remained, and they had many friends in the North and South. Ganima wondered why Stilgar was reluctant to talk about what was happening on the planet.Can't he see it?With the aqueducts destroyed, the Fremen retreated to the desert fringes to the south and north, where their settlements had once been the limits.

Ganima reached out a hand, grabbed the collar of the distillation suit, and resealed it.Despite her worries, she felt strangely free.The life inside her no longer tormented her, and she only occasionally felt their memories invade her consciousness.From these memories, she learns what the desert was like before, that is, before the ecological transition.For example, it was drier back then.The reason the unmaintained windcatcher still works is because the air it is dealing with is relatively humid.In the past, this was impossible. Many creatures that once fled the desert now venture here.Many in the team have noticed a surge in the number of owls.Ghanima also saw an anteater.They congregate at the end of the ruined aqueduct, whirling over the insects in the damp sand.Badgers are rarely seen, but marsupial mice are plentiful.

Superstitious fear reigned among the Fremen, and in this respect Stilgar was no better than the others.After the aqueduct was devastated five times in eleven months, the new town was finally returned to the desert.Four times they repaired the damage done by the Desert Devils, but by the fifth time they ran out of water to spare for another adventure. Many ancient caverns and new towns have suffered similar devastation.Most of the new settlements have been abandoned, and many of the old caverns have never been more crowded than they are now.The desert has entered a new era, but the Fremen are returning to their old ways.They see omens in all things.Aren't sandworms becoming increasingly rare except in Tanzania?This is Xia Hulu's trial!Dead sandworms can be seen everywhere, but the cause of death can't be seen at all.Sandworms turn to desert dust soon after death, and the few Fremen who are lucky enough to see their remains are always horrified.Stilgar's team had seen such a corpse in the last month.It took them four full days to digest the guilt in their hearts.The thing gave off a sour noxious fume, and its corpse lay on top of a pile of spices, most of which were already rotting.

Ghanima withdrew his gaze from the aqueduct and turned to look at the new town.Directly in front of her was a remnant wall that once protected a small garden.She once searched the place out of curiosity and found a loaf of spiced bread in a stone box. Stilgar ruined the loaf."The Fremen never leave food that's edible," he said. Ghanima suspected that he was wrong, but was unwilling to argue with him.The Freemen are changing.In the past, they were able to move freely across the Great Desert, driven by the needs of nature: water, spices and trade.Animal behavior is their alarm clock.But now, the patterns of animal behavior had grown erratic, and most of the Fremen huddled in crowded burrows beneath the hills of the northern shield wall.Few spice hunters were to be seen within Tanzaoffo, and only Stilgar's procession still marched in the old fashion.

She trusted Stilgar and understood his fear of Aria.Irulan indulged in eccentric Be-Gist meditations.Far away in Salusar, Falakon is still alive.This account will be settled one day. Ghanima looked up at the silver-gray morning sky, with a lot of thoughts in her mind.Where can I find help?Who should she tell when she wants to tell what happened to her?Mrs. Jessica is still in Salusa--if the reports are true; and Alia is aloof, growing cocky, farther and farther from reality; Gurney Halleck is nowhere, despite reports He was everywhere; and the preacher, too, hid himself, his heretical lectures a distant memory.

And Stilgar. She looked over the ruined wall to Stilgar who was helping to repair the cistern.Satisfied with his current role, Stilgar is the same Stilgar he once was, representing the will of the desert.The price of his head goes up every month. Nothing makes sense.Everything. Who is the Desert Devil?This fellow destroys the aqueducts as if they were pagan gods that should be thrown in the desert.Could it be a ferocious sandworm?Or is it a third rebel force, a collective of many?No one believed it was a sandworm.The water will kill any sandworm that ventures close to the aqueduct.Many Fremen believe that the desert devils are actually a group of revolutionaries determined to overthrow Arya's rule and return the ancient way of life to Arrakis.People who believe this claim think it's a good thing.Bring down that greedy church that has done nothing but display its own mediocrity.There should be a return to the true religion that Muad'di favored.

Ghanima let out a long sigh.Oh, Leto, she thought, I'm almost happy for you that you didn't live to see this.I will follow you, but my knife is not yet stained with blood.Alia and Farrakon.Falcon and Alia.The old Baron was the devil in her—absolutely not to be tolerated. Sasa walked towards her with steady steps, stopped in front of Ganima, and asked, "What are you doing here alone?" "This is a strange place, Sasha, we should get out of here." "Stilgar is waiting to meet with someone." "Oh? He didn't tell me." "Why did he tell you everything?" Sasa patted the pouch of water protruding from the bottom of Ganima's robe, "Are you a mature woman who can conceive?"

"I've been pregnant so many times that I can't count it," said Ghanima. "Don't make fun of me like a child!" Sasa took a step back frightened by Ghanima's vicious tone. "You are a bunch of idiots," Ghanima said, drawing a circle with his hand, enclosing New Town, Stilgar and his men, "I shouldn't have followed you." "If you didn't follow, you would have died long ago." "Maybe. But you can't see the situation right now! Who is Stilgar waiting for?" "Bull Agarvas." Ghanima stared at her. "The friends of Lid Chasm's cave will secretly bring him here," Sasha explained. "Alia's little toy?" "He will be brought with his face covered." "Does Stilgar trust him?" "It was Bull who asked for the meeting. He agreed to all our terms." "why did not you tell me?" "Stilgar knew you would object." "Against...it's just madness." Sasha raised her head. "Don't forget Bull was once..." "He's part of the family!" interrupted Ghanima. "He's the grandson of cousin Stilgar. I know. The Farakon I'm going to kill is also a close relative of mine. You think that's enough to stop me Do you draw your knife?" "We've had a message from the chiseled messenger. No one is following him." Ghanima whispered: "Nothing good will come out, Sasa. We must leave immediately." "What omen did you see?" Sasha asked, "The dead sandworm we saw! Could it be..." "Put these words in your womb and give birth somewhere else!" Ghanima scolded. "I don't like this meeting and I hate this place. Isn't that enough?" "I'll tell Stilgar you..." "I'll tell him myself!" Ghanima strode past Sasa.Sasha gestured with a sandworm horn behind her to show that she was shielding the devil. But Stilgar only burst out laughing at Ghanima's concern, and ordered her to find sandtrout, treating her like nothing more than a child.She ran into an abandoned house in the new town, squatted in a corner, and tried to calm her anger.The anger passed quickly.She felt the restlessness of life inside her.She remembered that someone had said, "If we can get them to stand still, things will go according to our plan." What a strange idea. But she couldn't remember who said it.