e at the first sign of trouble-had given his life as part of the price for that escape (Liet-Kynes's life would be another part, although Stilgar could not have known it at the tune) Stilgar was to take a band out from Sietch Tabr and, find them Tnle Fremen that he was, Liet-Kynes did not demand that Stilgar save both mother and son Should one or both of the pair not seem fit to survive among the Fremeo, it was left to Stilgar to order action appropriate to the good of the tube However the decision went, the demands of honor had been met by the attempt From his first encounter with Jessica and Paul, Stilgar felt himself being pulled into a world larger than the one he knew, an environment where legend and reahty were inseparably mixed And as events proceeded- the acceptance of the strangers at Sietch Tabr, Paul's relentless progress toward deification, the formation of the Fedaykin, the death commandos who called themselves' 'the fighters of Muad'Dib"-Stilgar felt the old Fremen ways spilling like sand faster and faster from beneath his feet A drastic change was inevitable It came in 10193, when the young men who had been raiding the Harkonnen sinks with Muad'Dib would no longer be put off and insisted on his challenging Stilgar for his burda It was a measure of their confidence in their madkt ("The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise") that the young bloods were so eager to pit him against their ruling naib Stilgar would not be an easy man for any challenger to take, as a description of him from this period indicates Stilgar was a tsjl man-wefl over two meters- and appeared to tower over his brethren A history of success in combat, some of it costly was evidenced by scars old and new which covered much of his body He possessed in large measure the mercurial temperament char actensttc of Fremen he could turn from consol ing an injured child as tenderly as any woman in his sietch, to ruthlessly hunting an enemy's blood with his oysknife without a visible wrench And he was equally skilled at both 3 The young Atreides, Lady Jessica and Stilgar had planned against the moment such an encounter would be forced Instead of challenging Stilgar, Paul declared himself ruling Duke of Arrakis and swore the Naib- with the crowd of young men suddenly con verted from agitators to witnesses-into his service as liege man and ruler of Sietch Tabr in his Duke's name The too s plan was a success the new Duke had a unified troop and the service of a wily and experienced commander, while Stilgar retained his burda and his loyalty to Muad Dib It was a combination that proved devastating shortly thereafter, when the Fremen met and defeated Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops in the final battle for Arrakis, culminating in Shaddam IV's abdication One of the new emperor's first acts was Stilgar s appointment as Planetary Governor of Arrakis The title altered the Naib's duties very little, at least m kind Stilgar left the government ot the individual sietches t