“I am fully aware of who is standing before me, Daughter. Are you aware that one can be beheaded for interrupting a testing session?” the Great Father asked, face flush with anger.
Lyrad’s mother rolled her eyes. She did not look impressed.
“Now tell me what this matter of ‘great importance’ is before I enforce that law! Tell me at once!” the Great Father demanded.
“Well, let me just say once again that I am truly sorry for the interruption, but it had to be done,” his mother started, making sure she had the attention of everyone before continuing. “Now, this matter of great importance involves my son. It concerns the markings he’s had on his body since birth. You see, he has the markings of a priest on his person. He is to be a priest.”
At this revelation, everyone gasped, even Lyrad, who had never heard any of this before.
“So what you are trying to tell me is that this boy is to become a priest?” the Great Father balked, shaking his head.
The frail woman nodded.
The Great Father let out a long sigh. “Tell me then, Daughter. Do you have any proof of these words?” His tone was threatening, but Lyrad’s mother still did not look impressed. “Show us this proof of such blasphemous words at once, or I will throw you into The Chamber!”
The Chamber was a gruesome place people barely even talked about. It was scary and dangerous. Supposedly, there were ancient evils in there that could torture a human while keeping them alive for days on end in excruciating pain. It was fabled once upon a time that the gods had used it for an ancient torture chamber when they’d inhabited the planet. It was even said a god was killed in there at some point. None who had been sent to The Chamber ever came out, even though the doors were never locked.
Lyrad personally didn’t believe such tall tales, but he was in no hurry to determine their authenticity, either.
“Yes, Great Father, I have the kind of proof you are asking for. I would not have come if I weren’t prepared,” Lyrad’s mother said with a very slight bow. “For your proof, you need only to take off the top part of his uniform and look at his back.”
While she spoke, she started undoing the ties on his uniform. He growled and flinched, trying to bat her fingers away so he could do it himself, but she just kept at it while humming some odd tune.
“There on his back is branded the Ward of Priesthood, the marking given to all that are to become a Priest. If he does otherwise, the gods will be angered and their wrath mighty,” she told the assembly while she worked.
Lyrad shot her a confused look, never having seen this supposed marking on his body. Not that he looked at his own back that often, of course.
“Very well, Daughter, show us this marking so that we might know the truth,” the Great Father demanded.
She complied almost immediately, tearing off the top part of his uniform and turning his back to face the Dragon Council.
All stared in silence at the elaborate blue ward taking up about a fifth of Lyrad’s upper back for a moment, likely trying to decide whether or not it was real.
Lyrad heard the Great Father grumble. “You are correct,” he said a moment later. “Now leave us, Daughter. You have made your case.”
“Then you will not allow Lyrad to-”
“That is for the Dragon Council to decide!” the Great Father barked in his harshest voice yet.
This time, Lyrad’s mother shut her eyes and shook like she was afraid.
“Leave us with your son now before we are forced to exile you for disobedience!”
His mother bowed and left immediately, not wanting that to happen.
Once she was well away, the meeting continued.
“Must I really become a priest? Please, tell me it isn’t so!” Lyrad pleaded, though he was largely devoid of hope at this point.
The Great Father let out a long sigh. “There is nothing I can do, young one. You have been branded a priest, and that’s all there is to it.” His tone was cold and clinical. “It is a pity. You had proved to be one of the best we have seen in some time. I daresay you might have taken my place one day. But it is Priesthood, not Dragonhood, that is branded on your soul.”
Lyrad bowed per the custom. His movements were wooden as he did so, even more than before. “Thank you, again, Great Father, for everything you’ve done in my life. You gave me hope, even if now it is not to be. If I must become a priest, then I must go home now,” he said at length, turning to go. “I can only hope I’ll find as much happiness as a priest as I have found here. I truly hoped to become one of you, but I guess it is just not meant to be.”
“You may just get your chance, Lyrad,” the Great Father said, using his name for the first time. “Whatever you do, never forget your training. Who knows, maybe someday I will still call you Brother.”
The line was more ceremonial than sentimental, but Lyrad took it for the latter.
“Goodbye, Great Father,” Lyrad said as he walked out of the Great Hall. “And goodbye, Councilmembers.” He shrugged. “Maybe I will meet you again in a few years and complete the test. I think that hope will keep me going until such a day can come to pass,” he added half-heartedly.
Lyrad left the Hall of Dragons with his head held low and a heavy heart. He appreciated the Great Father’s words, but he knew them to be false.
A priest’s calling was for life, after all, and a priest could not kill, a no-no for anyone wanting to take Dragon
