Griffin Harkonnen expects the Fremen to kill him after kidnapping and questioning him, because outsiders on Arrakis are treated as sources of water. Griffin thinks of Valya and his family on Lankiveil, realizes no one will know what happened to him unless Griffin survives, and decides to escape rather than wait for execution.

Griffin tricks the lone guard outside his cell by pretending to have been stung by a scorpion. When the guard enters, Griffin strikes, binds, and gags him, then slips through the cave corridors. Griffin considers searching for Vorian Atreides but does not know where Vorian is held, so Griffin steals water and desert supplies from the communal stores and flees into the night.

Vorian Atreides is awake, troubled by regret, when the alarm sounds. Ishanti tells Vorian that Griffin has stolen water and run into the desert, and Naib Sharnak condemns the theft. Vorian argues that the Fremen provoked Griffin by kidnapping and threatening him, then insists on going after Griffin, partly because Vorian has begun to recognize the injustice of punishing the Harkonnen descendants for old sins.

Vorian and Ishanti take Ishanti’s skimcraft into the desert. They quickly follow Griffin’s obvious tracks across the dunes, but Vorian spots the signs of an approaching sandworm. Ishanti jumps from the craft with equipment to draw the worm away, allowing Vorian to land near Griffin. Griffin boards reluctantly, suspicious of Vorian even though Vorian has come to save him.

Vorian then tries to recover Ishanti, but Ishanti stumbles into drumsand, whose pounding attracts the worm more powerfully than the thumper. With Griffin at the controls and Vorian hanging from a rope, they attempt a dangerous rescue, but Ishanti realizes they cannot reach her in time. Ishanti deliberately throws herself away from the craft’s path, sacrificing herself so the worm will miss the skimcraft, and the sandworm engulfs her.

Other Freme skimcraft arrive too late, having witnessed the sacrifice. Griffin is silent and ashamed, while Vorian is grief-stricken. Vorian chooses not to flee and turns back toward the cave settlement, declaring that Ishanti gave her life to save them and that they are returning to the Fremen.