After leaving Carabel’s hidden passage beneath Gil’ead’s fortress, Murtagh contacts Thorn outside the city and shares the details of Carabel’s bargain: if Murtagh rescues the werecat youngling Silna, Carabel will answer his questions. Thorn agrees that helping the youngling is worthwhile and shows no objection to Murtagh taking a scale from Glaedr’s remains, reasoning that Glaedr’s dead body is no longer Glaedr.

Murtagh heads toward the barrow where Oromis and Glaedr are buried, but he finds mourners gathered there and what appears to be an elf, forcing him to wait in a marshy stand of willows. While resting, Murtagh is jolted awake when a goat bites his hand; in panic, Murtagh blasts the animal away with magic before realizing the threat is ordinary. The incident shakes both Murtagh and Thorn and reminds Murtagh that his wards do not protect him from every danger.

At dusk, Murtagh approaches the barrow despite his discomfort. He reads memorial stones recounting the rise and fall of the Dragon Riders, Galbatorix’s rule, and the deaths of Oromis and Glaedr at the hands of Morzan’s son, which forces Murtagh to confront his own guilt. Among the mourners, a blacksmith named Iverston Varisson, called Mallet, speaks with Murtagh, explains that many people come to grieve losses from the war, and shares that his son Ervos died fighting with the Varden. Murtagh cautiously admits to losing someone like a father to Galbatorix’s men.

To avoid directly violating possible elven wards, Murtagh casts an indirect spell to draw underground water through the barrow, hoping the water will carry out a surviving dragon scale. The search takes effort and nauseates Murtagh as the water passes through Glaedr’s burned remains, but Murtagh eventually draws a golden scale from the earth. When Murtagh touches it, an unknown disciplined mind attacks him through an enchantment, holding him in place and demanding to know who he is.

Murtagh shields his thoughts and, unable to break free otherwise, stabs his own forearm to send pain into the attacker’s mind and disrupt the contact. Murtagh drops the scale, then retrieves it safely with his cloak and hides it in his purse. Mallet sees what has happened and denounces Murtagh as a graverobber, rousing the mourners against him. Murtagh flees, heals his wound while running, regrets losing his enchanted dagger, and continues because Silna remains in danger and Carabel’s answers still depend on his success.