A Dance of Cloaks - By Dalglish, David Page 0,120

eternity? Will you worship beside me, or will I consume you in fire and grind your bones in my teeth?

Aaron sobbed shamelessly. He’d never felt such terror. He was naked before a god, pathetic and helpless. He pounded his fists against the floor. Sweat covered him like a cold sheet. The Lion roared again, and its breath was fire and teeth. His clothes ripped and his flesh tore. Blood spilled outward in bizarre directions, as if the laws of the world had no bearing within Karak’s sacred room.

Will you swear your life to me? the Lion asked.

A deep part of Aaron wanted to submit. He wanted the terror to end. The darkness would consume him, and it seemed wisest to surrender. Beside the Lion was better than the wailing he heard within. Infinitely better.

Aaron thought of what Robert had said. Ashhur was everything good in mankind. With tears in his eyes, he looked up to the Lion, searching for that same goodness. He saw none of it within the fire. Death, consumption, anger and condemnation looked upon him, smoldering in physical form. None of the love that had filled Delysia’s prayers could live within that horrific creature. He felt his mind splitting, as if two paths were before him and half wanted down one and half the other.

Swear it! the Lion roared. On your knees, swear your life to me. I will have it no other way. Death is your fate, child. I see it clearer than you see the sun and moon. You will die by the hand of a friend if you resist my mercy. Beside me, you will rule Neldar as a demigod.

Two paths. Two beings. Two minds. His father desired that first path, the easy path, one of bloodshed and murder. But the one Robert Haern had kindled, the one Kayla had protected and Delysia nurtured, led away into deadly light. Each filled him with fear. Deep down, he knew which was right. He knew the choice he should make. But he was afraid.

Choose! roared the Lion. Now, or I will burn away everything that makes you who you are, and deliver unto the priests an empty shell.

He couldn’t choose. Terror overwhelmed him. Stars swirled in the darkness about the Lion, as if the very heavens circled the embodiment of Karak. Smoke billowed from its nostrils. Its eyes flared with impatience. The Lion opened its mouth and snarled. His time was up. The moment was gone.

Aaron felt the roar wash over him, stronger than any before. It felt like the world would shatter beneath its strength. His ears would never hear again. His eyes burned with tears. The breath in his lungs halted. His heart beat wildly. Within his mind a fire raged, consuming all. The choice. There was only one. Aaron knew it. The fire was an altar, and he laid down his sacrifice.

Everything that meant to be Aaron, to be the son of Thren Felhorn, to murder without guilt and devote everything to bloodshed and slaughter, he flung upon that altar. He openly welcomed the roar, now a cleansing fire. He let it destroy his fear. He let it obliterate his lack of remorse. It tore down his walls. In the midst of that roar, he laughed.

“Let Aaron die,” he said. “Haern lives.”

More phantom cuts lashed his arms and chest. The blood now flowed the correct direction. Smoke poured into his lungs. His head swam, light and dizzy and free. His neck drooped. His eyes closed. A laugh still on his lips, he succumbed to unconsciousness as the Lion roared in victory.

Come,” Pelarak said as he opened the door. Two more priests stepped inside, joining him in a small square room. The walls were bare and gray, the floor cool stone.

“Were you successful?” one of the other priests asked.

“He has seen the Lion,” Pelarak said. “None but the most faithful have done so and lived. When he awakes, his heart will belong to Karak. Of that I am certain.”

“Praise be,” said the other.

They carried the boy out of the room. Pelarak watched them leave, a small frown on his face. Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t decide what. He hadn’t heard the words of the Lion, nor seen its vision, but he had felt its awesome power as he watched Aaron sob and cry on his knees. There was something unsettling about how Aaron had laughed at the very end.

Determined to question Aaron when he awakened, Pelarak stepped out of the most holy of