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"Alia"

"It&039;s almost dawn, you insatiable old fool! There&039;s a Military Council , the Priests will have -"

"Don&039;t trust the Alia"

"Of course not!"

"Very well Now, this Buer Agarves"

"I said no!"

The Old Baron rean to feel a headache A slow pain crept upward froing down the corridors with this trick Now, she resolved to resist him

"If you persist, I&039;ll take a sedative," she said

He could see she an to recede

"Very well" Petulant "Another tireed

Thou didst divide the sand by thy strength; Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the desert Yea, I behold thee as a beast co up from the dunes; thou hast the two horns of the lae Catholic Bible Arran 11:4

It was the i Leto now seemed to have known all of his life He looked out across the evening shadows on the Tanzerouft One hundred and seventy kilo crevasse through the Shield Wall by which the first Frerated into the desert

No doubts remained in Leto He knehy he stood here alone in the desert, yet filled with a sense that he owned this entire land, that itHe felt the chord which connected him with all of humankind and that profound need for a universe of experiences which ularities within its perpetual changes

I know this universe

The hich had brought hi up in front of him, had stopped like an obedient beast He&039;d leaped atop it and, with only hislip of the wors to keep it on the surface The wor dash northward Its silicon-sulfur internal "factory" had worked at capacity, exhaling lavish gusts of oxygen which a folloind had sent in enveloping eddies around Leto At tiusts had e perceptions The reflexive and circular subjectivity of his visions had turned inward upon his ancestry, forcing hi those portions with his changing self

Already he could feel how far he&039;d drifted fronizably huulped froer was sandtrout, just as he was no longer hu a new creature which would seek its own metamorphosis in the eons ahead

You saw this, father, and rejected it, he thought It was a thing too terrible to face

Leto kneas believed of his father, and why

Muad&039;Dib died of prescience

But Paul Atreides had passed from the universe of reality into the ala which his son had dared

Now there was only The Preacher

Leto squatted on the sand and kept his attention northward The ould come from that direction, and on its back would ride two people: a young Freht of pallid bats passed over Leto&039;s head, bending their course southeast They were randoeable Fremen eye could mark their back-course to learn where shelter lay that way The Preacher would avoid that shelter, though His destination was Shuloch, where no wild bats were perers to a secret place

The worm appeared first as a dark movement between the desert and the northern sky Matar, the rain of sand dropped fro stormwind, obscured the view for a few minutes, then it returned clearer and closer

The cold-line at the base of the dune where Leto crouched began to produce its nightly ile dampness in his nostrils, adjusted the bubble cap of the er was any need for hienes he had that longer, larger Fre which carasped and retained every bit of moisture it encountered And even while he sat here the membrane which touched sand extruded pseudopod-cilia to hunt for bits of energy which it could store

Leto studied the approaching woruide had seen hi the spot atop the dune The worm rider would discern no principle in this object seen from a distance, but that was a problem Freerous The young guide&039;s reactions would be quite predictable, even without the vision

True to that prediction, the worhtly and aimed directly at Leto Giant worms were a weapon which Fremen had employed many times Worms had helped beat Shaddam at Arrakeen This wor It ca would send it across another grain of sand

Leto arose, feeling the cilia snap back into the membrane behind him He freed his mouth and called out: "Achlan, wasachlan!" Welcouide atop the worm, one hand on the youth&039;s shoulder The h, nose pointed over Leto&039;s head as though trying to sniff out this interruption Sunset painted orange on his forehead

"Who is that?" the blind uide&039;s shoulder "Why have we stopped?" His voice was nasal through the stillsuit plugs

The youth stared fearfully down at Leto, said: "It is only someone alone in the desert A child by his looks I tried to send the woro"

"Why didn&039;t you say?" the blind ht it was only someone alone in the desert!" the youth protested "But it&039;s a demon"

"Spoken like a true son of Jacurutu," Leto said "And you, sire, you are The Preacher"

"I am that one, yes" And there was fear in The Preacher&039;s voice because, at last, he had arden," Leto said, "but you are welcoht"

"Who are you?" The Preacher demanded "How have you stopped our wornition in The Preacher&039;s voice Now he called up thehe could reach an end here

"It&039;s a deuide protested "We must flee this place or our souls -"

"Silence!" The Preacher roared

"I am Leto Atreides," Leto said "Your worm stopped because I commanded it"

The Preacher stood in frozen silence

"Coht with ive you sweet syrup to sip I see you&039;ve Fremkits with food and water jars We&039;ll share our riches here upon the sand"

"Leto&039;s yet a child," The Preacher protested "And they say he&039;s dead of Corrino treachery There&039;s no childhood in your voice"

"You know e as you were, but my experience is ancient and my voice has learned"

"What do you here in the Inner Desert?" The Preacher asked

"Bu ji," Leto said Nothing fro It was the answer of a Zensunni wanderer, one who acted only from a position of rest, without effort and in haruide&039;s shoulder "Is it a child, truly a child?"

"Aiya," the youth said, keeping a fearful attention on Leto

A great shuddering sigh shook The Preacher "No," he said

"It is a deht here," Leto said

"We will do as he says," The Preacher said He released his grip on the guide, slipped off the wor clear when his feet touched Turning, he said: "Take the worm off and send it back into the sand It is tired and will not bother us"

"The ill not go!" the youth protested

"It will go," Leto said "But if you try to flee on it, I&039;ll let it eat you" He e, pointed in the direction they had co behind hi open Slowly the wor as the youth shifted his hook down a side

The Preacher, following the sound of Leto&039;s voice, clambered up the duneslope and stood two paces away It was done with a swift sureness which told Leto this would be no easy contest

Here the visions parted

Leto said: "Re the fold of his hood and withdrawing thehis own appearance, Leto studied this face, seeing the lines of likeness as though they&039;d been outlined in light The lines forenes without sharp boundaries, and there was nodays, fro days, from thepoint on Arrakis as night waited to fold itself into the dunes

"So father," Leto said glancing to the left where he could see the youthful guide trudging back to them from where the worm had been abandoned

"Mu zein! "&039;The Preacher said, waving his right hand in a cutting gesture This is no good!

"Koolish zein," Leto said, voice soft This is all the good wein Chakobsa, the Atreides battle language: "Here I aet that, father"

The Preacher&039;s shoulders sagged He put both hands to his eht of my eyes once and took your memories," Leto said "I know your decisions and I&039;ve been to that place where you hid yourself"

"I know" The Preacher lowered his hands "You will remain?"

"You named me for the man who put that on his coat of arms," Leto said "J&039;y suis, j&039;y reste!"