Chapter 41

After nightfall, Burzmali leads Lucilla through slushy outskirts toward a perimeter community where they hope to rendezvous with Duncan. Numerous covert guides redirect them, heightening Lucilla’s distrust. They pass under the perimeter road, cross an orchard, and descend an old magchute into a decrepit Harkonnen-era factory repurposed as a hideout.

Inside the vast, acid-scented space, a willowy young woman approaches—Murbella—whose cold scrutiny and mocking tone mark her as hostile. When Murbella insults Burzmali, his anger flares and he strikes. She fluidly throws him and prepares to kill, but Lucilla counters with a Bene Gesserit sabard, flooring Murbella and asserting control.

Murbella, impressed and chastened, addresses Lucilla as “Great Honored Matre,” misreading Lucilla’s prowess as rank. Lucilla withholds her name yet sustains the deception to secure leverage and Burzmali’s continued presence. Murbella notes preparations for an expected no-ship and signals that they are ready for its arrival.

Pressed for critical information, Murbella reveals that her group captured the Duncan ghola, who had arrived disguised as a Tleilaxu from the south. She boasts she was about to bed and subdue him. Lucilla forbids this, claiming Duncan as her special charge, and Murbella leads them to a vantage point where they can watch, leaving Lucilla in precarious command within enemy territory.