Murtagh, still posing as a would-be recruit, follows Gert into the officers’ tower attached to the barracks. Gert leaves Murtagh waiting outside Captain Wren’s study, then admits Murtagh after a private word with the captain.

Inside, Murtagh studies Wren’s restrained but well-equipped office, noting maps, military papers, and a striking collection of rough wooden animal masks. Wren questions Murtagh about killing Muckmaw, and Murtagh gives a lie close to the truth: he claims the creature dragged him underwater while fishing and died only when Murtagh jabbed a piece of bone into its head. Wren accepts the explanation and pays Murtagh four new gold crowns stamped with Queen Nasuada’s likeness, stirring Murtagh’s hidden longing and discomfort.

Wren asks why Murtagh wants to join the company and where he served. Using the name Task Ivorsson, Murtagh claims experience at the Burning Plains and Ilirea, carefully avoiding details that would expose his true identity. Murtagh invents a ruined home village, Cantos, to explain why he has returned to soldiering, drawing on a real atrocity Galbatorix once ordered him to commit.

Wren explains that joining requires an oath of fealty to Queen Nasuada, Lord Relgin, and Wren’s command. Murtagh panics until Wren clarifies that the oath is not sworn in the ancient language, because Nasuada does not believe in magically enforced loyalty. Murtagh reluctantly agrees, recognizing both the danger of refusing and the captain’s shrewdness.

When Murtagh asks about the masks, Wren reveals that they come from grassland nomads and carry powerful glamours. Wren demonstrates with a bear mask, seeming to transform into something massive and bestial before removing it. The unsettling magic deepens Murtagh’s sense that Wren possesses unusual knowledge and dangerous resources.

Wren summons Esvar to witness the contract. Murtagh marks the form as Task Ivorsson and repeats the spoken oath, forcing himself through the words. Wren welcomes Murtagh into the company and orders Esvar to settle and equip him, then adds that Du Vrangr Gata will place wards on him the next day, creating a new threat to Murtagh’s disguise.