Sanctuary (Dominion) (34 page)

I sat there, dumbly, unmoving during the entire exchange. In fact, when the man ran away and the wolf turned to me, I fully expected it to attack me next, as reward for my stupidity in not running away as well. But it didn't. It looked at me, then sat on its haunches and licked its lips. I was too stunned to move, and I had no words to express what I'd just seen.

Then I remembered the dream. The wolf in that dream looked exactly like this one. How was that possible? Was this some new message from God? Had He sent the wolf to save me? Images flashed through my mind of everything I saw that night. The wolf. The dwarf. The man with the sword. The Viking with eyes like Caenwyld.

The woman.

I looked around, suddenly expecting to see all of them nearby. But the road was empty. All except for me and the wolf, who was panting now, and looking at me as if expecting a thank you.

“What are you?” I asked, almost desperate enough to expect an answer. It looked at me, cocked its head in that way that makes you think it’s listening, then licked its snout. We continued to stare at each other, both of us waiting for the other to do something meaningful. Eventually, the wolf gave up and stood, looking up and down the road for any sign of danger. Then it jogged away, disappearing down a narrow alley to my left, leaving me sitting on the ground like a fool.

I looked down at my hands to see them trembling. This was another dream. Every strange, mystical, dreadful, horrible thing that had happened to me since Rogwallow had been nothing more than a dream. Or a nightmare. I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting the world to be different when I opened them, but it wasn’t. I still sat amongst the dead in Towyn, a terrible battle raging somewhere nearby.

This wasn’t a nightmare, I reminded myself. The only nightmare was the one Avaline would suffer once Lorcan returned her to that dungeon, and the one Ewen already suffered because of me. I made a promise to both of them, and I couldn’t sit here questioning my good fortune, no matter how it came. I stood, my body aching, as it always seemed to do, and continued my dangerous, lonely trek to the center of town.

No one accosted me the rest of the way, neither man nor beast, but bodies littered the road. Mostly defenders, since the men all appeared to be Welsh, and some even wore the standard of a boar on their chest or shields, the same one worn by the soldiers at Caernarvon. A few Irishmen lay dead as well, and I checked their faces to make sure none of them were Cullach. I could hear yelling now, but this was men shouting in celebration, not the painful cries of death. Had the battle been won? I walked around the corner, and that’s when I saw the church, sitting in the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by homes and an abandoned market area. And when I saw the host of Cullach’s men surrounding it, for the first time in what felt like forever, my hopes rose.

I ran to them, and as I pushed my way through the back of the crowd, they all turned to look at me, most of them in surprise, but none stopped me. They recognized me as Lorcan’s pet, the same Lorcan who they may not yet know had betrayed them, although that’s not why I worried. I worried that they would see a priest trying to defend a church, and they would stop me, or worse. But I didn’t care about the building, or its treasures. The church was a sanctuary for people, not for silver.

Once I got inside, though, everything changed. The Irishmen weren’t clamoring to get in the church so they could ransack it. They wanted to see a spectacle, something that very nearly made me forget why I’d come when I saw it myself. A half circle of Irishmen lined the near end of the church, packed against the walls, with Cullach standing in front of them. He held his sword ready, and his eyes were locked on the man waiting at the other end of the church.

“Dear God,” I whispered.

He stood across from me, in front of the altar at the far end of the church, the bodies of several Irishmen dead on the ground around him.

After all this time, I’d finally found him.

Arkael.

Chapter 29

He saw me right away, and from the glare in his eyes I knew he recognized me, but he said nothing. He looked exactly the same as when I first saw him – brown coat, linen shirt, brown trousers and leather boots, his black hair hanging straight and long and the gleaming, blood-streaked, silver blade in his hand.

“This church is protected," he said, nearly as emotionless as the last time I'd heard him say it. "You will leave now, or you will spend eternity in Hell regretting your actions.”

“I did not come all this way for nothing!” Cullach roared. He stepped forward and several of his men cheered. Arkael raised his own sword, and I saw the inevitable clash coming that would lead to Cullach’s death.

"Stop!" I shouted, and everyone in the room turned their gaze to me. I stepped forward, into the circle that held only Cullach and Arkael. "This is madness!”

Cullach waved me off. “Get out of here before you catch a knife in your belly, priest.”

"Cullach. Sire. You must listen to me.” I approached him carefully. “Ruark betrayed you. He allied with Lorcan, and they've left. They're going back to Ynys Mon, to the fort. To the dungeon. He's giving his army to Ruark, and then they're going to kill you."

"I know this," Cullach snarled.

"You… do?” I blinked, stunned. “Then do something about it. Leave and go after him. You have to stop them before Lorcan lets his army loose."

Cullach pushed me away. "Ruark will not have my army. Not while I live!"

"You don't understand. No one will have Lorcan's army. It's bred for chaos. No one can control it. Lorcan has lied to you all this time."

"Then I will have my revenge on him. Now stand aside!"

"Sire, you won't get that chance," Cullach glared at me dangerously, "because Arkael will kill you if you don't leave this place right now."

I felt an undercurrent of anger ripple throughout the room. These men, who'd just survived a hard-fought battle, did not take well to having their leader insulted. Cullach turned on me. "I will strike you down if you do not watch your tongue and obey me. I have claimed this place. It is my right! And I will not be forced out by one man, no matter who he is!"

“You’ve already seen what he can do,” I motioned to the dead bodies on the floor, each lying in puddles of crimson, “and I’ve seen it, too. First hand. Don’t be his next victim. Please."

Cullach pushed his lips together, fighting the urge to attack blindly. He saw the bodies, and I was certain he'd seen how they died. I didn’t know if he remembered my story about seeing the Hand of God, but I realized then that even if he did, even if he knew that he would be walking into his death, he couldn't back off. Not in front of his men. No amount of pleading would make that happen. So instead of making him see reason, I switched tactics and turned to Arkael.

“You," I said, and then paused while deciding what I should say to him. I was still trying to grasp the fact that he stood before me, after all this time, though he regarded me coolly. "You're fighting the wrong men. Yes, they’re here to take the city, and to steal its treasures, but they are not the real enemy.”

“Anyone who comes into this church with sinister intent-"

"I know," I held up my hands. "But there are more important things to take care of this day. Let them have the church. There's no one here to defend."

"I am here to defend."

"You have an oath-"

"Don't speak to me of my oath," he snapped. It was the first sign he'd given that he was still angry with me. And I still didn't know why. "Do not claim to know who I am."

"Listen to me," I said. "Lorcan is the one you want, but he's left. He's gone back to the island, to Ynys Mon. He's going to release an army of monsters on us. Madmen with no souls to guide them. He's the one you have to kill, not these men."

"This church is a sanctuary,” he said, as if reciting the words. “I will not see it defiled."

"It's just a building!" I shouted. "It means nothing compared to what's about to happen. You have to go to Ynys Mon and stop Lorcan." I turned to Cullach. "You both do! He’s the enemy! He’s the one who must die!"

Cullach raised his sword again, having found his anger, or his bravado, once more. “Lorcan and Ruark will die. After I’ve claimed this city.”

“You can't do this!"

"I'm tired of your prattling!" Cullach said, raising his voice. He turned to one of his men. "Get him out of here, before I gut him myself!"

A thick-bellied Irishman approached, and he grabbed me around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I let him at first, because I saw in Cullach's eyes a desire to keep his honor. He would fight Arkael, and he would probably die, and he knew this. If Cullach died, his men would follow. But I needed them. I needed everyone I could find to help me save Avaline. But if I couldn’t make Arkael and Cullach see that they weren’t truly each other’s enemies, then I would have to give them a new enemy. One they couldn’t ignore.

Before we reached the door, I slipped my hand down to the Irishman’s belt and yanked out the large knife stuck in it. He dropped me when he realized what happened, but I slipped behind him, grabbed his leather jerkin at the neck with my left hand, and then jabbed the point of the blade into his throat. I didn’t break the skin, but I made it clear to him that I could with the slightest amount of pressure. Swords came up, and everyone else backed away. A few even laughed at my bravado, but I was deathly serious. I would grab the attention of these men any way I could.

“What are you doing?” Cullach said, his expression angry and amused. Arkael looked at me very differently, though. He turned his entire body to face me instead of Cullach. That’s exactly what I wanted, although I wasn’t quite prepared to see Arkael’s blade pointed my direction.

“I don’t know what game you wish to play,” he said, “but whatever it is, it is dangerous. This is a holy place. If you spill his blood in this church, I will kill you. Without regret.”

"Why?" I asked, though it was more of a shout. The Irishman struggled, but I held the knife firm. "Why here, in these walls? Why not out past the farms, or in the forest? Does God’s justice not apply there? What is so special about this place that you won't let me kill this man in here? I can do it outside, though, can't I? If I take him outside these walls I can do whatever I want. As far as you care, neither of us even exist out there, do we?”

His eyes narrowed, but I barely noticed. The excitement of the moment, the danger, it all rushed through me, clouding my original reason for holding this man’s life hostage. I could barely control myself, and I proved that by letting every thought in my head come tumbling out.

"I've spent so much time trying to figure you out. You have rules that seem to make sense, but only until you question them. You claim the church is a sacred place, but where were you when Eoferwic was attacked by the Danes, or when Lorcan took me from the church in Ynys Mon? You told me yourself, you only saved me that day because I happened to be there when you went looking for Caenwyld. What if Caenwyld hadn't been with those men? What if you found him before he came to the church? Or after? Would I be dead now? Do you really care about the sanctity of a church, or are those just words you spew from your mouth to make it sound like there’s some sort of honor in what you do?

"You see, I’ve figured you out. I finally understand your rules. And you know what the big secret is? You have none. You make them up as you go. And I can't tell you how disappointing that is. You have a gift from God, but based on what I've seen, you hide from it. You could be a savior to everyone on this island. You could stop the violence, and the war, and the needless deaths. But you don't.

"You're just like the rest of us. You're a coward."

The tension in the room became thick. Warriors shifted uneasily, and gave each other anxious looks. Cullach’s gaze shifted warily from me to Arkael.

"You could do so much more, but you choose not to, and that makes you the worst kind of coward. Some of us, we try to do the right thing, and we fail. We fail miserably. But at least we try. You," I nearly spat the word at him, "you just stand there and hide behind the walls of this church, making us think you care... right up until you walk away to fool someone else with your false hope.

"I was fooled. I thought you were real. So real, in fact, that I left behind people who needed me. I left Rogwallow. I left Eoferwic. I left Avaline. And I did it for nothing!

"If you don't care, if you're comfortable with your cowardice, then I don't need you. I'll find Lorcan on my own, and I'll kill him if I have to. I'll heal Avaline again, as many times as I need to, until she's free of your demon. Until I cleanse her." I used that word deliberately, the same one he had used in Rogwallow, hoping to provoke a response, but Arkael continued to stand stock still and stare at me with an expression devoid of emotion. "I'll do it on my own, for her, Ewen, and anyone else who needs me, because now I know... now I know that you're nothing more than a foolish dream."

The room was deathly silent, and it was only now that I became aware that I was the center of everyone's attention – and that I still held a knife to a man’s neck. I had no real intent to kill him, or even hurt him, and my fingers ached from holding the handle and his jerkin, but at this point I couldn’t let go for fear that he’d kill me, instead. So I held still, hoping some way out of this situation would present itself.