Cultists drag Murtagh from his cell back to Bachel’s torture chamber, where she again chains him to the slab and attacks his body and mind. The Breath fractures Murtagh’s sense of time, but Murtagh clings to the truth of his own identity in the ancient language and continues resisting Bachel’s demand for fealty.

Bachel increases the pressure by making Murtagh feel Thorn’s suffering as well as his own. The added pain breaks Murtagh emotionally, not for himself but because Thorn is being brutalized because of Murtagh’s choices. Later, Murtagh sees Thorn in the courtyard, beaten and hopeless, and realizes how deeply the dragon has been damaged.

Back in the cells, Uvek keeps Murtagh awake and speaks with him. Murtagh asks about Azlagûr and describes dreams of a black sun and a black dragon; Uvek says he too dreams of the black sun and connects it uneasily to an Urgal end-times tale of the dragon Gogvog devouring the sky. To keep Murtagh conscious, Uvek tells how he lived alone as a holy thinker, ignored clans being attacked by the Draumar, and was captured after the Draumar killed his raven companion, Kiskû. Uvek concludes that isolation was his mistake and that closeness to others matters.

As Bachel grows impatient, her tortures become more extreme. She heals Murtagh only enough to continue hurting and questioning him, while the Breath and drugged food produce terror, hallucinations, spiders, and visions of Nasuada turning into Galbatorix. Alín appears more than once with solid food, but it too tastes drugged.

In a later torment, Murtagh and Thorn briefly reconnect through their bond despite the vorgethan and the Breath, sharing pain, recognition, affection, regret, and confusion. Bachel then declares that if Murtagh will not willingly serve her and Azlagûr, she will force obedience by other means. As Bachel tortures Murtagh and Grieve lashes Thorn, both Rider and dragon reach their limit. Murtagh cannot swear fealty, but he stops fighting; Thorn also gives up, and both fall into numb passivity while Bachel senses triumph.