Then I realized what had happened: the priest was the former apprentice of the Warlock. He was the one taking the latter in chains before the City Masters, which also explains how the apprentice fled after seeing his old master emerging from the volcano, but only to find no escape. Sàhdaìdis had somehow caught him, to condemn him to the horrifying scene I had just witnessed.
As I was so considering, observing the precise location where the priest had fallen, I was caught unaware by a sudden crash, very close: the Temple Gates had been broken. The two heavy doors in bronze-plaqued wood had been broken into a thousand pieces upon the marble floor in a deafening burst. In the dust cloud arising, I could detect the profile of the Warlock standing upon the threshold. A very tall man, cloaked i
