"We made it" Paul panted as we sailed through the dust at the top of the storm. One of the wings in the back had fallen off but it was pretty smooth now and we were getting ready to land somewhere in the middle of the desert. "As soon as we land run for the rocks," he said 

"Ok, yeah" I nodded getting ready to unbuckle my seatbelt. Suddenly a wing fell off and we started plummeting towards the sand below us when we hit it wasn't a hard landing. We slid for a few yards before the thropter came to a halt. 

"Come on" Paul yelled as he climbed out the top. I followed him as we ran across the hot sands and towards a mound of rocks. It was a short distance and as soon as we made it we started looking through our packs on a flat surface. We both had suits which we put on quickly, they were a little heavy and not very comfortable but we had to do everything we could to survive. 

"Let me help," Paul said softly as I struggled with the straps in the back. He pulled them tightly and held out a small tube connected to the suit "you breathe through this" I nodded and fitted it to my mask. 

"Look" I pointed at a wave of sand that went by, wormsign. It must have heard our footsteps 

"Now we have to find the Freymen" Paul shielded his eyes and looked over the vast desert, he turned to me with concerned eyes. "Are you ok? you know after losing everyone" 

"Yeah, besides I still have you," I told him with a small smile that I realized was pointless because of the mask. I wondered if his mom was ok, she was pregnant after all and the desert was going to get scorching. Paul took out a compass that was given to him by Duncan, it was supposed to lead us to the seitch. 

"Look" Paul handed me the binoculars "you can see the green over there." I peered through the lens and sure enough, I saw it. 

"What does it mean?" I handed the binoculars back to him

"It means Freymen live there, we'll cross after dark. That's how the Freymen do it" he gave me a grave look "we're about to enter worm territory" 

"The sand walk" I mumbled nervously 

"That's right" he nodded "if we walk normally we're dead." We began to practice our walk, inching closer to the worm's land with every move. 

When it became dark we started crossing at a faster pace, I underestimated how hard the walk was because I was out of breath within minutes. Worm sign passed us regularly. It was quite nerve-racking because at any minute we could be attacked. We walked over mounds and mounds of sand. It seemed almost endless. 

"Mila wait" he held his hand out in front of me before stomping on the sand, it gave off a louder noise than most sand

"Shit" I growled in frustration "drum sand, what do we do?"

"We run" he yelled pointing at wormsign which was headed straight towards us "go go go." I ran as fast as possible towards the rocks, my thighs were burning and my lungs were aching as I crossed foot after foot of the desert. Paul let out a cry as he fell forward 

"Paul," I said turning to run back for him 

"Mila keep running!" he yelled as he got to his feet "whatever happens don't stop running." I started to run again nearing the rocks with every breath. When I made it I turned around to see Paul running at full force with the worm right behind him. I was so out of breath that I couldn't yell for him.

It was insane how he reached the rocks a moment before the worm got to him. It rose up into the air and paused. It seemed to be looking at us. The worm was huge, it had a mouth that was filled with bristles and its skin was rough and callused. Through the silence of the desert, a thumping sound came from the distance. "It's a thumper" I called, I almost laughed with relief, we were going to be ok. We ran into the rocks as the worm sailed away. "That thing was insane" I panted while taking my mask off. 

"Someone called it," Paul told me taking his mask off as well. He looked up to the rocks and then made a signal for me we are not alone he said through sign language 

I know I signaled back as many Freymen started crawling out of the rocks. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. They looked at us like we were creatures they had never seen before which was almost accurate I suppose. 

"Do not run" a deep voice said from behind me, I whirled around and looked into a Freymen's face "you will only waste your body's water. I inched closer to Paul getting a little scared 

"Stilgar," Paul said, did he know this man "Hey, you know us, we were there when you came to my father's counsel." Oh, this was the guy Gurney said he didn't like 

"This is the duke's son," Stilgar said 

"Why are you waiting, we need their water," Another Freymen said 

"This is the boy I told you about," Stilgar told the man "We can't touch him, or the girl I suppose" 

"Is he Lisan al-Gaib?" a woman asked "he hasn't proved himself"

"They're weaklings," another said drawing his knife 

"Oh you don't want to do that" I warned but Paul shook his head at me telling me not to aggravate them 

"Jamis" Stilgar sighed "there was a brave crossing they made in the path of  Shai-hulud. They do not speak or act like weaklings, the boy's father didn't either" 

"My thumper saved his life" Jamis frowned "go back to reason, Stilgar. He's not The One"

"We have powerful friends" I announced "if you help us to Caladan, you will be well rewarded"

"What wealth can you offer but the water in your flesh?" Stilgar asked, shit, he called my bluff "I've changed my mind, we can't touch him so he can have sanctuary and he's young enough to learn our ways but as for the girl, well I don't know if she can learn"

"What are you talking about?" I snapped "I'm the same age" 

"But you are close-minded," Stilgar said "you would take to our ways without force and we can't have that" the Freymen started pulling out their knives 

"I don't want to hurt any of you" I warned pulling out my blade 

"Unfortunately we can't say the same" Stligar said lunging at me, I quickly was able to dodge his knife and get him into a chokehold, it was surprisingly easy. Paul scampered up the rocks and loaded his gun as I held a blade to Stilgar's neck. The Freymen came closer to me threateningly

"Back you dogs" Stilgar commanded "she'll slit my throat and kill each of you right after" 

"You fight with the skill of a Harkonnen, why didn't you say you were a fighter, and partially a wielding woman," he asked with a bit of an amused tone 

"I guess it never came up," I said in a low voice but when he mentioned Harkonnens it reminded me of what that one man had said 'he wants her alive.' Who had wanted me alive and why?

"Peace girl, peace," Stilgar said "I misjudged" 

"That's right," I said letting him go. He stood up and brushed himself off 

"The sun is rising, we must reach Seitch Tabr, the fate of these strangers will be decided there, until then they are under my protection" Stilgar announced. I looked up at Paul who nodded and told me to go along with it. 

I didn't like this though, I didn't like it one bit.