Muckmaw drags Murtagh underwater after knocking him into Lake Isenstar. Murtagh loses his quiver, frees himself from his cloak, and tries to cast a spell, but the enchanted fish bites his right arm and thrashes him across the lakebed. Murtagh’s wards keep the arm from being torn off, while Thorn tries and fails to reach him in time.

Desperate and nearly out of air, Murtagh grabs a hard object from the mud and drives it into Muckmaw’s head while casting a piercing spell. Thorn lends strength when the spell’s cost overwhelms Murtagh, and the object sinks into the fish’s skull. Muckmaw releases him, but its tail knocks Murtagh unconscious before the wounded fish dies.

Murtagh surfaces barely alive, and Thorn lifts him out of the water. In the depths, Murtagh sees a vast field of bones, weapons, and ruined armor. After confirming that one scrap bears Galbatorix’s infantry standard, Murtagh realizes the skeletons are Imperial soldiers likely driven into the lake by elves during the fall of Gil’ead.

The discovery leaves Murtagh grieving and guilty because many of those soldiers had been ordinary men forced into service. Thorn insists their deaths were not Murtagh’s responsibility and reminds him that they could not have defeated the elves. Their exchange leads Murtagh to reflect on how magic unbalances the world and how rulers such as Galbatorix and Nasuada have tried to control it.

Back on shore, Thorn hauls Muckmaw’s body from the lake. Murtagh is exhausted, battered, and worried he must still rescue Silna before Captain Wren’s company departs. He discovers his bow has been ruined by dragonfire and that he has lost another weapon, leaving Zar’roc as his only useful blade.

Murtagh decapitates Muckmaw with Zar’roc, then cuts open the fish and retrieves Glaedr’s golden scale from its stomach. Two night fishers arrive after the battle, and Murtagh gives them the body while claiming the head. Thorn hides in the shadows, Murtagh casts a concealment spell, and the pair escape into the night sky carrying Muckmaw’s head.