Children of Dune (Page 64)

Idaho shrugged. "Probably not. These are softer times. There are more people willing to listen to pleasant arguments."

"I agree," she said. "Well and good, what of my grandchildren?"

"Stilgar will find them – if…"

"Yes, I see." It was really up to Gurney Halleck then. She turned to look at the rock wall on her left. "Alia grasps the power firmly now." She looked back at Idaho. "You understand? One uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp too strongly is to be taken over by power, and thus to become its victim."

"As my Duke always told me," Idaho said.

Somehow Jessica knew he meant the older Leto, not Paul. She asked: "Where am I to be taken in this… abduction?"

Idaho peered down at her as though trying to see into the shadows created by the hood.

Al-Fali stepped forward: "My Lady, you are not seriously thinking…"

"Is it not my right to decide my own fate?" Jessica asked.

"But this…" Al-Fali’s head nodded toward Idaho.

"This was my loyal guardian before Alia was born," Jessica said. "Before he died saving my son’s life and mine. We Atreides always honor certain obligations."

"Then you will go with me?" Idaho asked.

"Where would you take her?" al-Fali asked.

"Best that you don’t know," Jessica said.

Al-Fali scowled but remained silent. His face betrayed indecision, an understanding of the wisdom in her words but an unresolved doubt of Idaho’s trustworthiness.

"What of the Fedaykin who helped me?" Jessica asked.

"They have Stilgar’s countenance if they can get to Tabr," Idaho said. Jessica faced al-Fali: "I command you to go there, my friend. Stilgar can use Fedaykin in the search for my grandchildren."

The old Naib lowered his gaze. "As Muad’Dib’s mother commands."

He’s still obeying Paul, she thought.

"We should be out of here quickly," Idaho said. "The search is certain to include this place, and that early."

Jessica rocked forward and arose with that fluid grace which never quite left the Bene Gesserit, even when they felt the pangs of age. And she felt old now after her night of flight. Even as she moved, her mind remained on that peculiar interview with her grandson. What was he really doing? She shook her head, covered the motion by adjusting her hood. It was too easy to fall into the trap of underestimating Leto. Life with ordinary children conditioned one to a false view of the inheritance which the twins enjoyed.

Her attention was caught by Idaho’s pose. He stood in the relaxed preparedness for violence, one foot ahead of the other, a stance which she herself had taught him. She shot a quick look at the two young Fremen, at al-Fali. Doubts still assailed the old Fremen Naib and the two young men felt this.

"I trust this man with my life," she said, addressing herself to al-Fali. "And it is not the first time."

"My Lady," al-Fali protested. "It’s just…" He glared at Idaho. "He’s the husband of the Coan-Teen!"

"And he was trained by my Duke and by me," she said.

"But he’s a ghola!" The words were torn from al-Fali.

"My son’s ghola," she reminded him.

It was too much for a former Fedaykin who’d once pledged himself to support Muad’Dib to the death. He sighed, stepped aside, and motioned the two young men to open the curtains.

Jessica stepped through, Idaho behind her. She turned, spoke to al-Fali in the doorway. "You are to go to Stilgar. He’s to be trusted."

"Yes…" But she still heard doubts in the old man’s voice.

Idaho touched her arm. "We should go at once. Is there anything you wish to take?"

"Only my common sense," she said.

"Why? Do you fear you’re making a mistake?"

She glanced up at him. "You were always the best ‘thopter pilot in our service, Duncan."

This did not amuse him. He stepped ahead of her, moving swiftly, retracing the way he’d come. Al-Fali fell into step beside Jessica. "How did you know he came by ‘thopter?"

"He wears no stillsuit," Jessica said.

Al-Fali appeared abashed by this obvious perception. He would not be silenced, though. "Our messenger brought him here directly from Stilgar’s. They could’ve been seen."

"Were you seen, Duncan?" Jessica asked Idaho’s back.

"You know better than that," he said. "We flew lower than the dune tops."

They turned into a side passage which led downward in spiral steps, debouching finally into an open chamber well-lighted by glowglobes high in the brown rock. A single ornithopter sat facing the far wall, crouched there like an insect waiting to spring. The wall would be false rock, then – a door opening onto the desert. As poor as this sietch was, it still maintained the instruments of secrecy and mobility.

Idaho opened the ornithopter’s door for her, helped her into the right-hand seat. As she moved past him, she saw perspiration on his forehead where a lock of the black goat-hair lay tumbled. Unbidden, Jessica found herself recalling that head spouting blood in a noisy cavern. The steely marbles of the Tleilaxu eyes brought her out of that recollection. Nothing was as it seemed anymore. She busied herself fastening her seatbelt.

"It’s been along time since you’ve flown me, Duncan," she said.

"Long and far time," he said. He was already checking the controls.

Al-Fali and the two younger Fremen waited beside the controls to the false rock, prepared to open it.

"Do you think I harbor doubts about you?" Jessica asked, speaking softly to Idaho.

Idaho kept his attention on an engine instrument, ignited the impellers and watched a needle move. A smile touched his mouth, a quick and harsh gesture in his sharp features, gone as quickly as it had come.