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Jessica, wearing her traditional black aba robe, glared at Alia, escorted Farad&039;n to the , but stood between hiuards

"This is very kind of you, Lady Alia," Farad&039;n said "I&039;ve heard so much about this Preacher"

"And there he is in the flesh," Alia said She saw that Farad&039;n wore the dress grey of a Sardaukar corace which Alia admired Perhaps there would be more than idle amusement in this Corrino Prince

The Preacher&039;s voice boomed into the room over the amplifier pickups beside theAlia felt the trerowing fascination

"I found myself in the Desert of Zan," The Preacher shouted, "in that waste of howling wilderness And God commanded me to make that place clean For ere provoked in the desert, and grieved in the desert, and ere tempted in that wilderness to forsake our ways"

Desert of Zan, Alia thought That was the naiven to the place of the first trial of the Zensunni Wanderers fro credit for the destruction wrought against the sietch strongholds of the loyal tribes?

"Wild beasts lie upon your lands," The Preacher said, his voice boo across the plaza "Doleful creatures fill your houses You who fled your hoer multiply your days upon the sand Yea, you who have forsaken our ways, you will die in a fouled nest if you continue on this path But if you heed h a land of pits into the Mountains of God Yea, Shai-Hulud shall lead you"

Softhis eyeless sockets from side to side at the sound Then he raised his areth for Thy way in a dry and thirsty land!"

An old woee by the patched and worn look of her garments, held up her hands to him, pleaded: "Help us, Muad&039;Dib Help us!"

In a sudden fearful constriction of her breast, Alia asked herself if that old wolanced at herher attention between Alia&039;s guards, Farad&039;n and the view from theFarad&039;n stood rooted in fascinated attention

Alia glanced out the , trying to see her Temple Priests They were not in view and she suspected they had worked their way around below her near the Te a direct route down the steps

The Preacher pointed his right hand over the old wo! You were rebellious You brought the dry hich does not cleanse, nor does it cool You bear the burden of our desert, and the ind cometh from that place, from that terrible land I have been in that wilderness Water runs upon the sand froround Water has fallen from the sky in the Belt of Dune! O ht in the desert a highway for our Lord, for I am the voice that cometh to thee from the wilderness"

He pointed to the steps beneath his feet, a stiff and quivering finger "This is no lost djedida which is no more inhabited forever! Here have we eaten the bread of heaven And here the noise of strangers drives us from our homes! They breed for us a desolation, a land wherein no man dwelleth, nor any ees and town Freri theht Well, let hirab hiht knot of yellow robes working down the steps behind The Preacher

"The waters which we spread upon the desert have beco his arms wide "Blood upon our land! Behold our desert which could rejoice and blossoer and seduced him in our midst They come for violence! Their faces are closed up as for the last wind of Kralizec! They gather the captivity of the sand They suck up the abundance of the sand, the treasure hidden in the depths Behold theo forth to their evil work It is written: &039;And I stood upon the sand, and I saw a beast rise up out of that sand, and upon the head of that beast was the nas arose fro?" Farad&039;n whispered

"I wish I knew," Alia said She put a hand to her breast, feeling the fearful exciterims if he kept this up!

But The Preacher half turned, aimed his dead sockets toward the Teh s of Alia&039;s aerie, "One blasphemy remains!" he screamed "Blasphemy! And the naripped the plaza

Alia stood in un consternation She knew the mob could not see her, but she felt overcome by a sense of exposure, of vulnerability The echoes of cal of her heart She could only stare down at that incredible tableau The Preacher re at her s

His words had been too ry shouts, stor people aside As theylike a wave upon the steps, sweeping over the first lines of onlookers, carrying The Preacher before theuide Then a yellow-clad arm arose from the press of people; a crysknife was brandished in its hand She saw the knife strike doard, bury itself in The Preacher&039;s chest

The thunderous clang of the Te closed broke Alia froainst thean open space around a cruure on the steps An eerie quiet fell over the plaza Alia saw many bodies, but only this one lay by itself

Then a voice screeched from the mob: "Muad&039;Dib! They&039;ve killed Muad&039;Dib!"

"Gods below," Alia quavered "Gods below"

"A little late for that, don&039;t you think?" Jessica asked

Alia whirled, noting the sudden startled reaction of Farad&039;n as he saw the rage on her face "That was Paul they killed!" Alia screamed "That was your son! When they confirm it, do you knohat&039;ll happen?"

Jessica stood rooted for a longalready known to her Farad&039;n&039;s hand upon her arm shattered the moment "My Lady," he said, and there was such coht die of it right there She looked froer on Alia&039;s face to the syht: Perhaps I didAlia&039;s words Jessica reme her own tricks in it, the long years of instruction she&039;d spent there upon a young man meant to be Es upon the Teestured to one of her aides, called: "Bring Ghani these words Ghanima? Why Ghani for it to be unbarred, but before a word could be uttered the door bulged Hinges popped The bar snapped and the door, a thick plasteel construction ies, toppled into the roo their weapons

Jessica and Farad&039;n&039;s bodyguards closed in around the Corrino Prince

But the opening revealed only two children: Ghanima on the left, clad in her black betrothal robe, and Leto on the right, the grey slickness of a stillsuit beneath a desert-stained white robe

Alia stared fro uncontrollably

"The fareet us," Leto said "Grandmother" He nodded to Jessica, shifted his attention to the Corrino Prince "And this must be Prince Farad&039;n Welcome to Arrakis, Prince"

Ghaniht hand on a cere to escape frorip on her arm Leto shook her arm and her whole body shook with it

"Behold me, family," Leto said "I aain he shook Ghanima&039;s ar "- here is Aryeh, the Atreides Lioness We come to set you onto Secher Nbiw, the Golden Path"

Ghanier words, Secher Nbiw, felt the locked-away consciousness flow into her mind It floith a linear nicety, the inner awareness of her ate And Ghanima knew in that instant that she had conquered the clah which she could peer when she needed that past The months of self-hypnotic suppression had built for her a safe place froe her own flesh She started to turn toward Leto with the need to explain this when she became aware of where she stood and hom

Leto released her arh," Leto said

Recovering frouards on her left: "Seize them!"

But Leto bent, took the fallen door with one hand, skidded it across the rooainst the wall The others fell back in terror That door weighed half aaware that the corridor beyond the doorway contained fallen guards, realized that Leto must have dealt with thenable door

Jessica, too, had seen the bodies, seen the awesome power in Leto and had made similar assumptions, but Ghanima&039;s words touched a core of Bene Gesserit discipline which forced Jessica to randchild spoke of a plan

"What plan?" Jessica asked

"The Golden Path, our Imperial plan for our Imperium," Leto said He nodded to Farad&039;n "Don&039;t think harshly of me, cousin I act for you as well Alia hoped to have Ghanima slay you I&039;d rather you lived out your life in souards cowering in the passage: "I couards refused to enter the rooreeable task to perform" He moved across the room toward Alia

She backed away froreen jewels of its handle flashed in the light from the

Leto merely continued his advance, hands eed with the knife

Leto leaped alht Alia&039;s head a glancing blow and sent her sprawling with a bloody rip on the knife and it skidded across the floor Alia scra in front of her

Alia hesitated, called up everything she knew of Bene Gesserit training She came off the floor, body loose and poised

Once more Leto advanced upon her

Alia feinted to the left but her right shoulder ca kick which could diseht the blow on his ar her around his head The speed hich he swung her sent a flapping, hissing sound through the rooainst her body

The others ducked away

Alia screa around and around and around Presently she fell silent

Slowly Leto reduced the speed of her whirling, dropped her gently to the floor She lay in a panting bundle

Leto bent over her "I could&039;ve thrown you through a wall," he said "Perhaps that would&039;ve been best, but we&039;re now at the center of the struggle You deserve your chance"

Alia&039;s eyes darted wildly from side to side

"I have conquered those inner lives," Leto said "Look at Ghani She, too, can -"

Ghanima interrupted: "Alia, I can show you -"

"No!" The renched froan to pour fro "You see! Why didn&039;t you listen?" And again: "Why&039;re you doing this? What&039;s happening?" And another voice: "Stop them! Make them stop!"

Jessica covered her eyes, felt Farad&039;n&039;s hand steady her

Still Alia raved: "I&039;ll kill you!" Hideous curses erupted frouages began to pour frouards in the outer passage n of the worm, then held clenched fists beside their ears She was possessed!

Leto stood, shaking his head He stepped to theand with three swift blows shattered the supposedly unbreakable crystal-reinforced glass from its frame