The Dragon Scales, #2
Emberclaw
by L. R. Lam
Contents
58. Sorin: The Priest’s Vigil
Overview
Sorin, immobilized as a living conduit, witnesses the Head Priest complete a ritual at the dragonstone tree. Powered by stolen Chancellor magic and the golden bond between Arcady and Everen, the Head Priest becomes a dragon and leaps through a rip in the Veil. The act siphons the sleeping pair, while Sorin keeps vigil at the threshold. This escalation carries the stolen power into the storm between worlds, deepening the threat.
Summary
Sorin, the priest, breathes and blinks but cannot move, her body reduced to a vessel tethered to a dragon at the dragonstone tree. Nearby lie the emptied corpses of the Chancellors, their power already stripped. The Head Priest, radiant with stolen magic, presides over the ritual and intones words that bind dragon and human to the tree’s glowing roots.
As threads of light spill from bodies into the tree, the air heats and the cavern fills with the charge of gathering power. A dark, arcing rip opens in the Veil above the branches, lightning casting the cave in stark relief. The Head Priest shucks His robes and shifts into a dragon, power thrumming in every line of His body.
The dragon launches into the rift, drawing white-gold power from the tree behind Him. The flow is guided by the golden bond between Arcady and Everen, whose bowed heads and closed eyes show their enforced sleep. That bond becomes the channel through which the ritual’s energy follows the Head Priest into the storm between worlds.
Cause and effect lock into place: the Chancellors’ deaths fuel the opening, the bond directs the surge, and the Head Priest escapes with the stolen magic. Sorin remains behind, conscious yet immobile, keeping vigil and guarding the threshold as the storm rages overhead, aware that the channel is draining Arcady and Everen as surely as the Chancellors were consumed.
Who Appears
- SorinImmobilized priest bound to a dragon; serves as a living conduit and keeps vigil at the threshold.
- Head PriestTransforms into a dragon, opens the Veil, and carries stolen magic into the storm using the bonded pair.
- ArcadyAsleep and bound to Everen; their golden bond channels power and is actively drained.
- EverenAsleep and bound to Arcady; siphoned through their bond to power the Head Priest’s passage.
- Chancellors Carym and KetrelNow empty husks; their stolen magic fuels the ritual at the dragonstone tree.