Contents
Chapter 27
Overview
Leto and Ghanima survive a Laza tiger ambush by killing both cats, though Ghanima is badly wounded. They separate: Leto rides a worm toward the hidden Jacurutu/Fondak, while Ghanima returns to Tabr. Ghanima hypnotically convinces herself Leto is dead to deceive Truthsayers, marking a pivotal split in their shared identity.
Summary
Ghanima and Leto flee into a narrow rock cleft as two Laza tigers attack. Leto kills the first by baiting its paw with a crysknife, while the second waits above the slit. Wounded in the leg, Ghanima insists on taking the risk and fatally poisons the second, but suffers a severe arm gash.
By glowglobe light, Leto binds Ghanima’s wounds to appear self-treated, preserving their ruse. They exchange Fremkits and confirm that a human controller likely guided the tigers, possibly waiting near the qanat. Leto warns Ghanima to beware traitors and suggests she hide with Harrah.
They agree to separate: Leto will call a worm and ride for Jacurutu, which they deduce is the smuggler-renamed Fondak, hidden in plain sight by taboo. They part with Fremen words, and Leto departs into the desert to summon Shai-Hulud.
Alone, Ghanima undertakes deep Bene Gesserit conditioning to believe utterly that Leto died here, preparing to deceive Truthsayers and enemies. A worm passes and erases the scene; under her compulsion she “sees” Leto among the dead and cannot perceive him riding.
Ghanima then slips from the rocks, finds no sign of the transmitter’s handler, and skirts searchers heading toward The Attendant. Maintaining a broken sand-walk, she moves toward the qanat, resolved to report that Leto died saving her and to begin quietly hunting the traitor within their ranks.
Who Appears
- Ghanima AtreidesFights off Laza tigers, is wounded, and self-hypnotizes to believe Leto dead; returns toward Tabr to hide, report, and seek the traitor.
- Leto Atreides IIKills a Laza tiger, tends Ghanima’s wounds, and departs alone to ride a worm to Jacurutu/Fondak as part of their plan.