Murtagh dreams of a dead world beneath a black sun, where an enormous wingless dragon rises as the destroyer of hope. Bachel wakes Murtagh from the vision after the boar hunt’s chaos, standing over Murtagh with a bloodied dagger while dead hogs and fallen warriors surround them. Thorn rushes in protectively, and Murtagh, badly shaken but not seriously wounded, silently heals his swollen elbow and realizes his wards have left him exhausted.

Murtagh shares the nightmare with Thorn, who had been shut out of Murtagh’s mind during the vision. Both fear it may be more than an ordinary dream. When Murtagh tells Bachel what Murtagh saw, Bachel grows intense and says all who come to Nal Gorgoth dream, but few receive such clear portents. Bachel names her people Du Eld Draumar, the Old Dreamers, and claims they were known and feared by the Grey Folk.

Bachel interprets Murtagh’s vision not as a warning but as a promise, implying that the terrible dragon and dead world belong to the sacred mystery at the heart of Bachel’s faith. Murtagh is disturbed, and Thorn judges that Bachel is lying or deluded. Murtagh then notices the cost of the hunt: more warriors are dead or wounded, yet Bachel treats their deaths as faithful sacrifices rather than losses.

Bachel praises Murtagh’s boar kill but challenges whether Murtagh’s victory counts because Bachel’s group saved Murtagh afterward. Murtagh insists the kill fulfilled Murtagh’s goal. When Bachel finally approaches the surviving wounded warrior, Rauden, Murtagh prepares to see whether Bachel can heal him before offering help.

Instead, Bachel comforts Rauden as he calls Bachel mother, then kills Rauden with her dagger, claiming Rauden was beyond healing and that her followers long to return to the Dreamer. Murtagh is horrified because Murtagh believes he might have healed Rauden, but Murtagh quickly hides his anger after recognizing the danger of defying Bachel. Grieve explains that Bachel’s people see Bachel as their mother, and Murtagh compares Bachel’s ruthlessness to Galbatorix while noting that Bachel inspires love as well as obedience. Refusing to ride near Bachel, Murtagh mounts Thorn, and Thorn carries away Murtagh’s slain boar from the battlefield.