The Curse of Arvyl's Folly

Generals are great men sometimes called upon to do terrible things and Hali, Lord Warden of Sangrithar's legions and cousin to God-Emperor Torval Waverider is a very great man. He has burned, pillaged and murdered for Torval. He knows it's wrong, but the magikal compulsion binding him to the Pearl Throne is unforgiving. Even the thought of disobedience brings immeasurable pain.

Torval wields the god-fire, which was a symbol for everything bright and good in the empire until Arvyl the Dreamer, the last great God-Emperor, ordered the legions east to lay low the Shadow Lord. When that ancient evil defeated Arvyl, it corrupted the god-fire with shadow and ever since, Arvyl's heirs have succumbed to madness. Torval is the fifth God-Emperor after Arvyl to rule Sangrithar and the maddest yet.

When Hali arrives in the poor barony of Cormane to collect an overdue tithe, the baron's son reminds him of his own son, assassinated years ago on Torval's orders. Hali forgives the tithe, yet even as the thought forms, the compulsion punishes him. He fights through the pain, somehow harnesses the god-fire and severs his bond to the God-Emperor.

Free at last, Hali vows to save Sangrithar from the tyrant, but secretly, he is terrified. Now that he has used the god-fire, will he too go mad? Can he free Sangrithar from the tyrant before madness consumes him?

Volume 1 of the Scales over Sangrithar trilogy. The series continues in Volume 2, Madness Ascendant