Page 13 (1/2)

"The garments that House Corrino sent?" he asked "Have they been sent on to the twins?"

"Of course," Irulan said "They&039;re perfectly safe"

"No one&039;s going to try for the twins at Sietch Tabr," Alia said "Not with all of those Stilgar-trained guards around"

Idaho stared at her He had no particular datuument based onhe&039;d experienced came very close to the visionary pohich Paul had known Neither Irulan nor Alia would believe it, co froainst allowing the importation of any outside aniestion seriously," Alia protested

"Why take any chances?" he asked

"Tell that to the slers," Alia said "I&039;ll put my dependence on the House ferrets"

Idaho shook his head What could House ferrets do against claws the size of those he envisioned? But Alia was right Bribes in the right places, one acquiescent Guild navigator, and anyplace in the E port The Guild would resist a front position in any attack on House Atreides, but if the price were high enough Well, the Guild could only be thought of as soical barrier which made attacks difficult, but not impossible They could always protest that they were just "a transportation agency" How could they knohat use a particular cargo would be put?

Alia broke the silence with a purely Freesture, a raised fist with thuesture with a traditional expletive which ive Typhoon Conflict" She obviously saw herself as the only logical target for assassins, and the gesture protested a universe full of undigested threats She was saying she would hurl the death wind at anyone who attacked her

Idaho felt the hopelessness of any protest He saw that she no longer suspected hi back to Tabr and she expected a perfectly executed abduction of the Lady Jessica He lifted hi: If only Alia were the target! If only assassins could get to her! For an instant, he rested his hand on his own knife, but it was not in hih, that she die a rave

"Yes," Alia said,his expression as concern for her "You&039;d best hurry back to Tabr" And she thought: How foolish of me to suspect Duncan! He&039;s mine, not Jessica&039;s! It had been the deht She waved an airy goodbye to Idaho as he left

Idaho left the Council Cha hopeless Not only was Alia blind with her alien possession, but she became more insane with each crisis She&039;d already passed her danger point and was doomed But what could be done for the twins? Whoar do that he wasn&039;t already doing?

The Lady Jessica, then?

Yes, he&039;d explore that possibility - but she, too,with her Sisterhood He carried few illusions about that Atreides concubine Sheat the corandchildren

Good government never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern The overnment is always subordinate to the will of those who adovern leaders -Law and Governance, The Spacing Guild Manual

Why does Alia wishaudience? Jessica wondered They&039;ve not voted me back into the Council

Jessica stood in the anteroom to the Keep&039;s Great Hall The anterooreat hall anywhere other than Arrakis Following the Atreides lead, buildings in Arrakeen had becoantic as wealth and power concentrated, and this roos She did not like this anteroo her son&039;s victory over Shaddaht a reflection of her own face in the polished plasteel door which led into the Great Hall Returning to Dune forced such co in her own features: the oval face had developed tiny lines and the eyes were o reflection She could remember when there had been white around the blue of her eyes Only the careful ministrations of a professional dresser maintained the polished bronze of her hair Her nose reenerous, and her body was still slender, but even the Bene Gesserit-trained e of tied a bit!" But the Sisterhood&039;s training was a two-edged sword; ses seldom escaped the notice of people thus trained

And the lack of ses in Alia had not escaped Jessica&039;s notice

Javid, the reat door, being very official this enie with a cynical smile on his round face Javid struck Jessica as a paradox: a well-fed Frely, shrugged His attendance in Jessica&039;s entourage had been short, as he&039;d known it would be He hated Atreides, but he was Alia&039;s man in more ways than one, if the ruht: This is the age of the shrug He knows I&039;ve heard all the stories about him and he doesn&039;t care Our civilization could well die of indifference within it before succuned her before leaving for the s here without their attendance But Jessica felt oddly safe Let someone make a martyr of her in this place; Alia wouldn&039;t survive it Alia would know that

When Jessica failed to respond to his shrug and s disturbance of his larynx which could only have been achieved with practice It was like a secret language It said: "We understand the nonsense of all this pomp, My Lady Isn&039;t it wonderful what hureed, but her face gave no indication of the thought

The anteroo&039;s perht of entrance from Javid&039;s people The outer doors had been closed Supplicants and attendants kept a polite distance from Jessica, but observed that she wore the formal black aba of a Fremen Reverend Mother This would raise many questions No mark of Muad&039;Dib&039;s priesthood could be seen on her person Conversations hummed as the people divided their attention between Jessica and the sh which Alia would come to lead them into the Great Hall It was obvious to Jessica that the old pattern which defined where the Regency&039;s powers lay had been shaken

I did that just by coht But I cans of disturbance, Jessica realized Alia was deliberately prolonging thisthe subtle currents to run their course here Alia would be watching from a spy hole, of course Few subtleties of Alia&039;s behavior escaped Jessica, and she felt with each passing ht she&039;d been to accept the mission which the Sisterhood had pressed upon her

"Matters cannot be allowed to continue in this way," the leader of the Bene Gesserit delegation had argued "Surely the signs of decay have not escaped you - you of all people! We knohy you left us, but we know also how you were trained Nothing was stinted in your education You are an adept of the Panoplia Prophetica and you ion threatens us all"

Jessica had pursed her lips in thought while staring out aat the soft signs of spring at Castle Caladan She did not like to direct her thinking in such a logical fashion One of the first lessons of the Sisterhood had been to reserve an attitude of questioning distrust for anything which caation had known that, too

Howaround Alia&039;s anteroom How fresh and moist Here there was a sweaty dampness to the air which evoked a sense of uneasiness in Jessica, and she thought: I&039;ve reverted to Freround What rong with the Master of the Stills? Paul would never have permitted such laxness

She noted that Javid, his shiny face alert and composed, appeared not to have noticed the fault of da for one born on Arrakis

The ation had wanted to know if she required proofs of their allegations She&039;d given thery answer out of their own manuals: "All proofs inevitably lead to propositions which have no proof! All things are known because ant to believe in them"

"But we have subation&039;s leader had protested

Jessica had stared at the woman, astonished "I marvel that you have reached your present station and not yet learned the liation had relaxed Apparently it had all been a test, and she had passed They&039;d feared, of course, that she had lost all touch with those balancing abilities which were at the core of Bene Gesserit training

Now Jessica became softly alert as Javid left his door station and approached her He bowed "My Lady It occurred to ht not&039;ve heard the latest exploit of The Preacher"

"I get daily reports on everything which occurs here," Jessica said Let him take that back to Alia!

Javid sainst your faht, he preached in the south suburb and no one dared touch him You knohy, of course"

"Because they think he&039;s my son come back to them," Jessica said, her voice bored

"This question has not yet been put to the mentat Idaho," Javid said "Perhaps that should be done and the thing settled"

Jessica thought: Here&039;s one who truly doesn&039;t know a h he dares put horns on one - in his dreams if not in fact

"Mentats share the fallibilities of those who use them," she said "The human mind, as is the case with the mind of any animal, is a resonator It responds to resonances in the environment The mentat has learned to extend his awareness acrossthose loops for long chains of consequences" Let him chew on that!

"This Preacher doesn&039;t disturb you, then?" Javid asked, his voice abruptly forn," she said "I don&039;t want him bothered"

Javid clearly had not expected that blunt a response He tried to s Council of the church which deifies thy son will, of course, bow to your wishes if you insist But certainly some explanation -"

"Perhaps you&039;d rather I explained how I fit into your schemes," she said

Javid stared at her narrowly "Madaical reason why thou refusest to denounce this Preacher He cannot be thy son I make a reasonable request: denounce hiht Alia put him up to it

She said: "No"

"But he defiles the naainst thy holy daughter He incites the populace against us When asked, he said that even thou possessest the nature of evil and that thy -"

"Enough of this nonsense!" Jessica said "Tell Alia that I refuse I&039;ve heard nothing but tales of this Preacher since returning He bores me"

"Does it bore thee, Madame, to learn that in his latest defileainst him? And here, clearly, thou -"

"Evil as I am, I still won&039;t denounce hi one!" She spoke with sufficient carrying power that others heard, forcing hied a stiff bow and returned to his position at the door

This argument fitted neatly into the observations Jessica already had made When he spoke of Alia, Javid&039;s voice carried the husky undertones of a lover; noit The ruenerate in a terrible way Observing this, Jessica began to harbor the suspicion that Alia was a willing participant in Abomination Was it a perverse will to self-destruction? Because surely Alia orking to destroy herself and the power base which fed on her brother&039;s teachings

Faint stirrings of unease began to grow apparent in the anteroom The aficionados of this place would knohen Alia delayed too long, and by now they&039;d all heard about Jessica&039;s perehed She felt that her body had walked into this place with her soul creeping behind Move out of ih a field of cereal stalks The cultivated inhabitants of this place furrowed their brows and gave prag numbers to the importance of each of their fellows Obviously her rebuff of Javid had hurt him; few spoke to hi nu the powerful

They do not attend ht I have the stink of so eyes turn away They were such seriously futile people that she found herself wanting to cry out against their ready-made justifications for pointless lives Oh, if only The Preacher could see this rooht her attention A tall, slender Priest was addressing his coterie, no doubt supplicants here under his auspices "Often I must speak otherwise than I think," he said "This is called diplohter was too loud, too quickly silenced People in the group saw that Jessica had overheard

My Duke would have transported such a one to the farthest available hellhole! Jessica thought I&039;ve returned none too soon

She kne that she&039;d lived on faraway Caladan in an insulated capsule which had allowed only the most blatant of Alia&039;s excesses to intrude I contributed to ht Caladan had been so like that insulation provided by a really first-class frigate riding securely in the hold of a Guild heighliner Only the most violent maneuvers could be felt, and those as mere softened ht

The more she saw of Alia&039;s court, thefroht have said such words on seeing what had become of his real the sht one, Jessica realized On that first ride into the city with Javid, her attention had been caught by aruarded pathways and alleys, the patient watchers at every turn, the tall walls and indications of deep underground places revealed by thick foundations Arrakeen had becoenerous place, a contained place, unreasonable and self-righteous in its harsh outlines

Abruptly the anteroouard of priestess amazons spewed into the roo with a confined awareness of real and terrible power Alia&039;s face was coht and held her mother&039;s But both knew the battle had been joined

At Javid&039;s co with a silent and inevitable sense of hidden energies

Alia cauards enfolded theo in now, h tiloating in Alia&039;s eyes: She thinks she can destroy me and remain unscathed! She&039;s ht not have been what Idaho had wanted He&039;d sent a er Must see you" It had been written in a variant of the old Chakobsa where the particular word chosen to denote danger signified a plot

I&039;ll see hiht