Chapter 556

• Dao nodded and gestured past Caera. A scrying pool sat nearby, two feet off the ground and maybe four feet wide. Underneath it was a mound of skulls stuck to a wide, smooth, pillar-like rock, creating an artful -- if macabre -- thick base for the big, shallow pool to sit on. It sat in the middle of the small cave, and the ground around it was smooth. A glance down the tunnel proved more bloodgrip waited to tear up their shins, palms, and wings, but near the scrying pool, it was clear.
• It wanted people to come sit, and watch. Sure enough, Jes was doing just that, sitting on her butt with knees out and legs crossed at the ankle. Her tail sat still on the ground behind her, bloody and ripped wings hung to her shoulders, and from the angle, David could just barely see one of her eyes. She was in pain.
• "Louder. I want to hear," the gargoyle said down at the pool.