Murtagh returns breathless to Thorn after stealing Glaedr’s scale and worries that Gil’ead may no longer be safe. Thorn examines the scale with excitement, and the sight makes Murtagh reflect on Thorn’s damaged tail, Glaedr’s strength, and the horror of a dragon forced to live only as an Eldunarí. Murtagh stores the scale, and the pair decide to leave their hiding place and use it to search Isenstar Lake for Muckmaw.

The first attempt fails. Murtagh and Thorn fly over the lake and land at isolated stretches of shore, but the darkness, the lake’s size, and Murtagh’s ignorance of Muckmaw’s mind make the search useless. Realizing they need better information before elves or rumors catch up with them, Murtagh decides to return secretly to Gil’ead and ask fishermen where Muckmaw might be found.

Murtagh disguises himself with dirt and slips into the city through the docks. Two ragged boys he met earlier direct him to the Rusty Anchor, a shabby tavern still open near the lakeside. Inside, Murtagh adopts the false name Oreth son of Brock, pretends to be a caravan guard, buys beer for the patrons, and draws the fishermen into talking about Muckmaw.

The fishermen reveal that Muckmaw is not merely a troublesome fish but an enormous, armored, intelligent sturgeon-like creature that has terrorized Isenstar for decades. They tell a story from Haugin’s childhood: three boys cruelly watched caught fish die, and a red-haired, sharp-toothed stranger used strange magic to reward the last surviving fish and condemn the boys to be plagued by it. Murtagh recognizes the description as Durza and realizes Carabel omitted crucial dangers; Muckmaw is protected by magic, difficult to wound, and usually haunts a marshy area west of Gil’ead at morning and evening.

After Murtagh finishes his beer, two suspicious patrons slip out before him. Murtagh quietly steals a piece of firewood as a weapon and is soon ambushed by the bird-chested man and his bearded companion. Murtagh defeats both, then loses control of his anger and beats the bird-chested man more severely after realizing the man is the father of the two urchins; Murtagh takes the man’s purse and dagger, tells the boys to help their father, and leaves shaken by his own rage.

Murtagh escapes the city and contacts Thorn, explaining what he learned. Murtagh believes he can break Durza’s wards on Muckmaw, while Thorn is eager to bite through them himself. Before Murtagh reaches the hiding place, Thorn takes off in excitement to begin the hunt.