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which to be human. I thank you, gentle and lovely Hwi, for this little space."
===
In all of my universe I have seen no law of nature, unchanging and inexorable.
This universe presents only changing relationships which are sometimes seen as
laws by short-lived awareness. These fleshly sensoria which we call self are
ephemera withering in the blaze of infinity, fleetingly aware of temporary
conditions which confine our activities and change as our activities change. If
you must label the absolute, use it's proper name: Temporary.
-The Stolen Journals
NAYLA WAS the first to glimpse the approaching cortege. Perspiring heavily in
the midday heat, she stood near one of the rock pillars which marked the edges
of the Royal Road. A sudden flash of distant reflection caught her attention.
She peered in that direction, squinting, realizing with a thrill of awareness
that she saw sun-dazzle on the cover of the God Emperor's cart.
"They come!" she called.
She felt hunger then. In their excitement and singleness of purpose, none of
them had brought food. Only the Fremen had brought water and that because
"Fremen always carry water when they leave sietch." They did it by rote.
Nayla touched one finger to the butt of the lasgun holstered at her hip. The
bridge lay no more than twenty meters ahead of her, its faery structure arching
across the chasm like an alien fantasy joining one barren surface to another.
This is madness, she thought.
But the God Emperor had reinforced his command. He required his Nayla to obey
Siona in all things.
Siona's orders were explicit, leaving no way for evasions. And Nayla had no way
here to query her God Emperor. Siona had said: "When his cart is in the middle
of the bridge-then!"
"But why?"
They had been standing well away from the others in the chill dawn atop the
Barrier Wall, Nayla feeling precariously isolated here, remote and vulnerable.
Siona's grim features, her low, intense voice, could not be denied. "Do you
think you can harm God?"
"I..." Nayla could only shrug.
"You must obey me!"
"I must," Nayla agreed.
Nayla studied the approach of the distant cortege, noting the colors of the
courtiers, the thick masses of blue marking her sisters of the Fish Speakers . .
. the shiny surface of her Lord's cart.
It was another test, she decided. The God Emperor would know. He would know the
devotion in His Nayla's heart. It was a test. The God Emperor's commands must be
obeyed in all things. That was the earliest lesson of her Fish Speaker
childhood. The God Emperor had said that Nayla must obey Siona. It was a test.
What else could it be?
She looked toward the four Fremen. They had been positioned by Duncan Idaho
directly in the roadway and blocking part of the exit from this end of the
bridge. They sat with their backs to her and looked out across the bridge, four
brown-robed mounds. Nayla had heard Idaho's words to them.
"Do not leave this place. You must greet him from here. Stand when he nears you
and bow low."
Greet, yes.
Nayla nodded to herself.
The three other Fish Speakers who had climbed the Barrier Wall with her had been
sent to the center of the bridge. All they knew was what Siona had told them in
Nayla's presence. They were to wait until the Royal Cart was only a few paces
from them, then they were to turn and dance away from the cart, leading it and
the procession toward the vantage point above Tuono.
If I cut the bridge with my lasgun, those three will die, Nayla thought. And
all the others who come with our Lord.
Nayla craned her neck to peer down into the gorge. She could not see the river
from here, but she could hear its distant rumblings, a movement of rocks.
They would all die!
Unless He performs a Miracle.
That had to be it. Siona had set the stage for a Holy Miracle. What else could
Siona intend now that she had been tested, now that she wore the uniform of Fish
Speaker Command? Siona had given her oath to the God Emperor. She had been
tested by God, the two of them alone in the Sareer.
Nayla turned only her eyes to the right, peering at the architects of this
greeting. Siona and Idaho stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the roadway about twenty
meters to Nayla's right. They were deep in conversation, looking at each other
occasionally, nodding.
Presently, Idaho touched Siona's arm-an oddly possessive
gesture. He nodded once and strode off toward the bridge,
stopping at the buttress corner directly in front of Nayla. He
peered down, then crossed to the other near corner of the bridge.
Again, he peered downward, standing there for several minutes
before returning to Siona.
What a strange creature, that ghola, Nayla thought. After that awesome climb,
she no longer thought of him as quite human. He was something else, a demiurge
who stood next to God. But he could breed.
A distant shout caught Nayla's attention. She turned and looked across the
bridge. The cortege had been in the familiar trot of a royal peregrination. Now,
they were slowing to a sedate walk only a few minutes away from the bridge.
Nayla recognized Moneo marching in the van, his uniform brilliant white, the
even, undeviating stride with his gaze straight ahead. The cover of the
Emperor's cart had been sealed. It glittered in mirror-opacity as it rolled
behind Moneo on its wheels.
The mystery of it all filled Nayla.
A miracle was about to happen!
Nayla glanced to the right at Siona. Siona returned her gaze and nodded once.
Nayla drew the lasgun from its holster and rested it against the rock pillar as
she sighted along it. The cable on the left first, then the cable on the right,
then the faery trellis of plasteel on the left. The lasgun felt cold and alien
against Nayla's hand. She took a trembling breath to restore calm.
must obey. It is a test.
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