Slowly at first, reluctance heavy in every movement, Idaho left Moneo and the others, then, increasing his pace, came up beside the cart's open bubble and walked there while staring in at Leto.
'What troubles you, Duncan?' Leto asked.
'Do you really think of me as your Duncan?'
'Of course, just as you think of me as your Leto.'
'Why didn't you know this attack was coming?'
'Through my vaunted prescience'''
'Yes!'
'The Face Dancers have not attracted my attention for a long time,' Leto said.
'I presume that is changed now?'
'Not to any great degree.'
'Why not'?'
'Because Moneo was correct. I will not let myself be distracted.'
'Could they really have killed you there?'
'A distinct possibility. You know, Duncan, few understand what a disaster my end will be.'
'What're the Tleilaxu plotting?'
'A snare, I think. A lovely snare. They have sent me a signal, Duncan.'
'What signal?'
'There is a new escalation in the desperate motives which drive some of my subjects.'
They left the bridge and began the climb to Leto's viewpoint. Idaho walked in a fermenting silence.
At the top, Leto lifted his gaze over the far cliffs and looked at the barrens of the Sareer.
The lamentations of those in his entourage who had lost loved ones continued at the attack scene beyond the bridge. With his acute hearing, Leto could separate Moneo's voice warning them that the time of mourning was necessarily short. They had other loved ones at the Citadel and they well knew the God Emperor's wrath.
Their tears will be gone and smiles will be pasted on their faces by the time we reach Onn, Leto thought. They think l spurn them! What does that really matter? This is a flickering nuisance among the short-lived and the short- thoughted.
The view of the desert soothed him. He could not see the river in its canyon from this point without turning completely around and looking toward the Festival City. The Duncan remained mercifully silent beside the cart. Turning his gaze slightly to the left, Leto could see an edge of the Forbidden Forest. Against that glimpse of verdant landscape, his memory suddenly compressed the Sareer into a tiny, weak remnant of the planet-wide desert which once had been so mighty that all men feared it, even the wild Fremen who had roamed it.
It is the river, Leto thought. If I turn, I will.see the thing that I have done.
The man-made chasm through which the Idaho River tumbled was only an extension of the Gap which Paul Muad'Dib had blasted through the towering Shield Wall for the passage of his worm mounted legions. Where water flowed now, Muad'Dib had led his Fremen out of a Coriolis storm's dust into history... and into this.
Leto heard Moneo's familiar footsteps, the sounds of the majordomo laboring up to the viewpoint. Moneo came up to stand beside Idaho and paused a moment to catch his breath.
'How long until we can go on?' Idaho asked.
Moneo waved him to silence and addressed Leto. 'Lord, we have had a message from Onn. The Bene Gesserit send word that the Tleilaxu will attack before you reach the bridge.'
Idaho snorted. 'Aren't they a little late?'
'It is not their fault,' Moneo said. 'The captain of the Fish Speaker Guard would not believe them.'
Other members of Leto's entourage began trickling onto the viewpoint level. Some of them appeared drugged, still in shock. The Fish Speakers moved briskly among them, commanding a show of good spirits.
'Remove the Guard from the Bene Gesserit Embassy.' Leto said. 'Send them a message. Tell them that their audience will still be the last one, but they are not to fear this. Tell them that the last will be first. They will know the allusion.'
'What about the Tleilaxu?' Idaho asked.
Leto kept his attention on Moneo. 'Yes, the Tleilaxu. We will send them a signal.'
'Yes, Lord?'
'When I order it, and not until then, you will have the Tleilaxu Ambassador publicly flogged and expelled.'
'Lord!'
'You disagree?'
'If we are to keep this secret=' Moneo glanced over his shoulder= 'how will you explain the flogging?'
'We will not explain.'
'We will give no reason at all?'
'No reason.'
'But, Lord, the rumors and the stories that will...'
'I am reacting, Moneo! Let them sense the underground part of me which does things without my knowing because it has not the wherewithal of knowing.'
'This will cause great fear, Lord.'
A gruff burst of laughter escaped Idaho. He stepped between Moneo and the cart. 'He does a kindness to this Ambassador! There've been rulers who would've killed the fool over a slow fire.'
Moneo tried to speak to Leto around Idaho's shoulder. 'But. Lord, this action will confirm for the Tleilaxu that you were attacked.'
'They already know that,' Leto said. 'But they will not talk about it.'
'And when none of the attackers return...' Idaho said.
'Do you understand, Moneo?' Leto asked. 'When we march into Onn apparently unscathed, the Tleilaxu will believe they have suffered utter failure.'
Moneo glanced around at the Fish Speakers and courtiers listening spellbound to this conversation. Seldom had any of them heard such a revealing exchange between the God Emperor and his most immediate aides.
'When will my Lord signal punishment of the Ambassador?' Moneo asked.
'During the audience.'
Leto heard 'thopters coming, saw the glint of sunlight on their wings and rotors and, when he focused intently, made out the fresh canopy for his cart slung beneath one of them.
'Have this damaged canopy returned to the Citadel and restored,' Leto said, still peering at the approaching 'thopters. 'If questions are asked, tell the artisans to say that it's just routine, another canopy scratched by blown sand.'
Moneo sighed. 'Yes, Lord. It will be done as you say.'
'Come, Moneo, cheer up,' Leto said. 'Walk beside me as we continue.' Turning to Idaho, Leto said, 'Take some of the guards and scout ahead.'
'Do you think there'll be another attack'?' Idaho asked.
'No, but it'll give the guards something to do. And get a fresh uniform. I don't want you wearing something that has been contaminated by the dirty Tleilaxu-'
Idaho moved off in obedience.
Leto signaled Moneo to come closer, closer. When Moneo was bending into the cart, face less than a meter from Leto's, Leto pitched his voice low and said:
'There is a special lesson here for you, Moneo.'
'Lord, I know I should have suspected the Face...'
'Not the Face Dancers! It is a lesson for your daughter.'
'Siona? What could she...'
'Tell her this: In a fragile way, she is like that force within me which acts without knowing. Because of her, I remember what it was to be human... and to love.'
Moneo stared at Leto without comprehension.
'Simply give her the message,' Leto said. 'You needn't try to understand it. Merely tell her my words.'
