The Shattered Vigil
Page 50
“A name,” I murmured. “A name.”
I lifted my hands, trying to ignore the looks of concern and disbelief that surrounded me. This was probably the moment Pellin and Toria and Volsk had waited for, had expected. I’d finally gone completely insane. Allta had his hand on his sword.
“Ealdor,” I called. “We need you.”
Nothing happened.
“Willet?” Gael asked, her voice soft, questioning.
“Ealdor,” I called again. “I know you’re real. You told me about the leaves, about something I couldn’t have known.”
Gael’s hand found my shoulder. “Willet, you’re scaring me.”
I raised my voice. “For the love of Aer, Ealdor, we don’t even know what we’re fighting.”
A moment passed, and I lowered my arms, angry, frustrated. “Stupid phantom,” I growled to myself. “Never there when you really need him. He probably wants me to go find an abandoned church. . . .”
Then he walked out of the shadows of the pillar opposite me, his hands fiddling with the worn purple stole he always wore when we celebrated haeling together. “Hello, Willet.”
I didn’t need to hear the chorus of gasping disbelief to know everyone else saw him as well.
Acknowledgments
It seems the making of each book is an adventure unto itself, and there’s always something or someone new to thank. For The Shattered Vigil the feedback of my beta-readers, Jesse Tidyman, Whit Campbell, and Amelia Putnam, was invaluable. As always, my editors, Karen Schurrer and Dave Long, were awesome; and my agent, Steve Laube, was always there to talk me down whenever the business side of writing threatened the creative side.
About the Author
Patrick W. Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of Cold War tensions. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last nine years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist, and he wrestles with the complexity of improvisation on a daily basis.
Books by Patrick Carr
THE STAFF AND THE SWORD
A Cast of Stones
The Hero’s Lot
A Draw of Kings
THE DARKWATER SAGA
By Divine Right (e-novella only)
The Shock of Night
The Shattered Vigil
patrickwcarr.com
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