Heretic (The Sanctuary Series Book 7) (72 page)

“SHE WAS RIGHT!” Cyrus thundered, and as his voice echoed through the empty halls, fading the further away it carried, Vaste bowed his head again. “She was right, Vaste. She’s been gone over a year and I … it’s not any better. It’s not getting any better. I thought if I …”

“I know,” Vaste said quietly. “I know.”

“I have fought my whole life,” Cyrus said, looking out the window onto the misty plains again. The fog was creeping in, closer to the window, and now he could scarcely see the ground below at all. “Fought the odds, fought the gods, and fought everyone else on and under the surface of Arkaria at some point. Now … I’ve lost everything,” he said with feeling, “… and I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“You read this,” Vaste said, and Cyrus turned around enough to see Alaric’s journal in his hand. He shook it lightly. “You tell me there’s no hope left, and I say you’re wrong, and you know you’re wrong because you know what he found, and what’s inside … is hope.” Vaste smiled faintly. “Hope for a better future.”

“I don’t want a future,” Cyrus whispered, turning back to the window, feeling the cool, damp plains air on his face. “I want my fight to be over. When I started all this, all I wanted was war and battle, to be the foremost warrior in Arkaria.” He dropped his hands to the hilt of the swords at his belt. “Now that I am, all I want is peace … and to have back what I lost.”

“You didn’t lose—”

“I lost,” Cyrus said with feeling, “I lost everything.” He put his hand over his face. “And everybody left. Here we are, at the end … and it’s just you and me.”

“Others would have come if you’d called,” Vaste said, sounding annoyed for the first time in their entire exchange. “You’re not alone. And they didn’t leave, you left them—”

“Everybody leaves, Vaste,” Cyrus said. “That’s a fact of life.”

“Bullshit!” Vaste said hotly. “She didn’t leave you, Cyrus, she died. It’s different—”

“It’s all the same in the end, isn’t it?” Cyrus asked quietly.

“It’s not—”

“She’s not here, is she?” He turned to look at Vaste, looking hazy as the fog crept in through the window off the plains. Cyrus raised his voice and asked again. “IS SHE? Can you see her?”

Vaste’s mouth twitched, his face displaying a flurry of emotion. “No,” he said at last. “No, I can’t.”

“So she’s left, too,” Cyrus said, swallowing hard. “Gone on. Just like Narstron. Like Niamh. Curatio. Just like my father.” He felt a pull at the corners of his eyes. “Just like Alaric—”

“Do not be so hasty to judge,” a voice came, the mist coalescing into a pillar in the corner of the room, solidifying before the fire, strengthening into a figure. The mist became a cloak, covering the man from head to toe, draping him in grey, the fire casting its warmth upon his face, tired and worn, but with a voice deep with reassurance, smooth and quiet, like silk given audible form and poured into Cyrus’s ear. “For some that leave might yet return, unexpected …”

“Alaric,” Vaste whispered into the silence of the archive. “It’s you. It’s … it’s really you.” The smell of old parchment hung in the air, but something new was present as well, a subtle disturbance in the atmosphere that heralded a change.

“It is I,” the figure said, his cloak draped around him, grey and heavy like the mist he’d just formed himself out of. “And I bring a message for you, Cyrus … one that should be very familiar to you by now …”

“Wh … what is it?” Cyrus asked, staring at the face of Alaric Garaunt, and finding himself curiously warm as well, like a sensation had returned that he had not expected, sun peeking out of the clouds on a chill morning.

“That no matter how dark things might get,” Alaric said, “… there is always hope.”

The Ghost of Sanctuary smiled at him, returned to his home at last, and at the sight of the knight and the sound of his words, Cyrus Davidon started to believe—for the first time in a long, long while—that what he said might just be true.

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Editorial/Literary Janitorial duties performed by Sarah Barbour and Jeffrey Bryan. Final proofing was handle by Jo Evans. Any errors you see in the text, however, are the result of me rejecting changes.

The cover was masterfully designed (as always) by Karri Klawiter.

David Leach did the first read on this one, and my thanks to him for it!

Once more, thanks to my parents, my kids and my wife, for helping me keep things together.

Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One

Avenger: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Two

Champion: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Three

Crusader: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Four

Sanctuary Tales, Volume One - A Short Story Collection

Thy Father's Shadow: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 4.5

Master: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Five

Fated in Darkness: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 5.5

Warlord: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Six

Heretic: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Seven

Legend: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Eight* (Coming June 14, 2016!)

Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1

Untouched: The Girl in the Box, Book 2

Soulless: The Girl in the Box, Book 3

Family: The Girl in the Box, Book 4

Omega: The Girl in the Box, Book 5

Broken: The Girl in the Box, Book 6

Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book 7

Legacy: The Girl in the Box, Book 8

Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9

Power: The Girl in the Box, Book 10

Limitless: Out of the Box, Book 1

In the Wind: Out of the Box, Book 2

Ruthless: Out of the Box, Book 3

Grounded: Out of the Box, Book 4

Tormented: Out of the Box, Book 5

Vengeful: Out of the Box, Book 6

Sea Change: Out of the Box, Book 7

Painkiller: Out of the Box, Book 8* (Coming April 12, 2016!)

Masks: Out of the Box, Book 9* (Coming July 12, 2016!)

Prisoners: Out of the Box, Book 10* (Coming September 27, 2016!)

Called: Southern Watch, Book 1

Depths: Southern Watch, Book 2

Corrupted: Southern Watch, Book 3

Unearthed: Southern Watch, Book 4

Legion: Southern Watch, Book 5* (Coming May 10, 2016!)

*Forthcoming and subject to change