The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 13

  “Galen?” he said aloud in the quiet room, taking comfort in the idea his brother was there to talk to. “I thought I heard you, I know you’re looking for me, I know you’re coming. It’d be nice if you hurried.” He sighed, he wanted to talk to Galen about what had happened. The thing said “Keeper” like it knew what he was, like it knew who they were. That worried him. There was something that seemed familiar.

  “Could it be in the sagas?” Rob asked his brother, wishing Galen was there to answer. “I’ll start at the beginning. ‘Thus it is told, in the beginning as the stones were set, as the earth turned and the leaves were touched with blood…’ ” He heard a sound. “Galen? They’re coming back.”

  The door opened. He didn’t hear the key turn, the door just opened. Ashley came in with the two men. She had more of the purple and red cloth in her hand, a jar and a pair of scissors. One of the men yanked Rob upright. He whimpered in pain.

  “Please, let me go,” he said to her, knowing she wouldn’t, but hoping anyway.

  “No.” Her voice was cold, not human really. “The final ritual will begin soon. We have to start getting you ready. You need to be acceptable to Her.”

  “That thing? It’s ugly and it stinks,” Rob said.

  She slapped him. “You can’t talk that way, even if you are Chosen.” She took the scissors and cut the cloth strips from his chest. After mumbling something in the strange language she opened the jar and smiled. “This might hurt a little.” Her voice, like her smile, was cruel. She smeared something on him, it burned. The longer it was there, the more it hurt.

  “Please, take it off, please,” Rob begged, ashamed of the tone in his voice.

  “Not so brave now, are you, kid?” the man holding him said. “I told your brother you were crying.”

  “Galen? You told him I was crying?” Rob sighed.

  “Yeah, he said it figured, you were a baby.” The man was laughing at him.

  “Oh really? Did he say that before or after he redid your face?” Rob said. Oh, it hurts, it hurts. “If you think he’d say something like that, you need to get to know him better. Oh wait, maybe that’s not a good idea, he might not like you much.” Rob drew strength from the thought of his brother.

  Ashley carefully wound the cloth around him. It bound the ointment she put on his chest tightly against his skin. It felt like fire. The man dropped him back on the floor. When Ashley turned to leave, the man kicked Rob. “That’s for what your brother did. I’d do more, but She’ll finish it for me,” he whispered so only Rob could hear and then followed Ashley out.

  He idly wondered what happened, what time it was. It felt like he’d been there for days. Finally, he drifted off to sleep. When he opened his eyes he knew that it was later in the day, even though there was no light. Something woke him, he wasn’t sure what. He had the oddest sense of his brother for a moment, just a fleeting touch, and then Galen was gone.

  Rob hurt. That was all he really knew. Pain was such a reality that he couldn’t remember what it was like without it. It was really all there was, now. Pain and fear. He took a deep breath and stretched his senses out, looking for Galen. There was only a soft reflected silence

  The door opened. The one called Other came in and sat beside him. Rob looked at him and felt himself smile. “You don’t look very good.”

  “The final ritual approaches,” Other said. Rob thought he could hear fear in the man’s voice. “They will prepare us and we will be taken to Her grove,” Other’s voice trembled.

  “You don’t sound so sure, now,” Rob said, glad that Other was afraid.

  “It is good. It will be glorious.”

  “Do you believe that?” Rob asked.

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t. I think we’re going to die.”

  Other looked at him. The look scared Rob. “Of course we are.”

  The bearded man came in the room. He had the brazier in his hands. Funny, I didn’t even notice it wasn’t here. He put it on the floor, he was also carrying another golden cup. He walked towards Rob. “Your brother disposed of the last cup, we need more before we can begin,” he said, sounding like he was enjoying himself. Other pulled Rob’s arm out and held it. The knife made another deep cut. Rob was past the point of feeling individual hurts. It was all a single ball of pain.

  They wrapped his arm with the colored cloth. Rob watched, unable to really move. He watched as Other stood and went to the brazier and the two men started chanting. The bearded man had a plate or something in his hand. He put ashes from the brazier in it and then poured a little of Rob’s blood from the cup into the saucer. He mixed it together with the knife, then walked over to Rob.

  Other held him down while the bearded man wrote symbols on him with the knife, dipped in blood and ashes. It hurt. He knew he was crying. He could hear himself begging them to stop. They didn’t. When they were done, the bearded man wrote the symbols on Other. Rob felt a little better when he heard Other scream. I guess I’m not the only one. It hurts, please let it stop soon, please. I wonder if Galen can fix this? He helped last year when I was sick. He came all the way to California to help.

  The bearded man left Rob and Other alone in the room. Other was silent beside him. He knew the man was frightened, he could see it on his face and in the way he curled in on himself. Rob knew the final ritual was approaching, he wasn’t sure if he could face the thing again, even knowing his brother was looking for him.

  The door opened. The bearded man and Ashley came in, dressed in red robes. Ashley came over to them. She had two cups, handed one to Other and he drank the contents. She held Rob up and forced him to drink what was in the second cup. He recognized the taste, it was the same stuff they’d given him before the sun ritual.

  Rob realized there were other people with them. They were carrying two stretchers. They were decorated with purple and red flowers. Other stood up and laid down on one of them. They picked Rob up and dropped him on the second one. Once he was lying on it, they wrapped a rope around him, tying him to the stretcher. Then they carried him out of the farmhouse and into the woods.

  Rob watched the trees go by. The sun was low in the sky. The liquid was beginning to make his head swim. I don’t think I can face that thing again, Galen. Maybe this will just let me go to sleep and I won’t have to wake up again. I’m sorry. I want to be a Keeper, but I can’t Galen, it was so terrible. Please come, please forgive me. A sudden rush of guilt washed over him, he wanted to pull the words back, even though he’d only just thought them, not even said them at all. “I’m coming, Rob, just hold on a little longer,” Galen’s voice was soft. Rob reached out to his brother. “Galen?”

  “Sir! Sir!” Rob heard someone calling. The people carrying him stopped.

  “What is it?” Rob heard the bearded man say.

  “The farmhouse, it’s burning.”

  “What!” The bearded man sounded angry. Hope started to creep into Rob’s awareness.

  “The place is burning. No way we can stop it.”

  “How?”

  “It was the kid’s brother. I saw that jeep he was driving parked there. He torched the place.” Galen? He knows I was there, he’s coming. He's coming. It's a message. He’s letting me know he’s coming. He’s close, he has to be. I know he’ll find me, I know he will. I’ll hang on, but hurry, please hurry.

  “We can’t let that stop the ritual. We have to go on. Find him. Stop him,” the bearded man said. The stretcher started moving again. Rob let himself drift, but not too far. The knowledge that Galen was close was keeping him from completely slipping away.

  They stopped again. Rob opened his eyes. The sun was starting to set, it was blood red. He was in a clearing with trees and a stone circle. There were people standing inside the stones, all wearing the red robes. Other stood up from his stretcher and walked over to a tree that was in the center of the circle. They tied his hands, threw a rope over a branch of the tree, and hauled him up until he was hanging there. Ashley was doing s
omething at the base of the tree.

  The bearded man came over and untied Rob. They pushed him off the stretcher onto the ground by another tree. They tied his hands and he felt himself pulled up into the air. He was hanging, the rope cutting into his wrists, he could feel his shoulders pulling. The bearded man drew symbols on the ground under the tree and stepped back. He shouted something in the strange language and the circle of people started chanting.

  Rob heard it coming, saw it moving out of the trees, smelled the death scent of it again. It walked over towards Other. Rob could see the trail its dragging feet left in the ground. He watched as it raised its hand to Other. The man started screaming. Rob saw the thing’s claws raking across Other, tearing away skin and flesh. Other was screaming, begging it to stop. Rob closed his eyes, he couldn’t watch. Suddenly Other was silent. Rob knew the man was dead, he also knew the thing had turned towards him.

  “No, please no,” he whispered.

  The chanting was getting louder. It sounded excited. He could clearly hear the bearded man’s and Ashley’s voices leading the others on. The thing was getting closer, he could smell it, he could hear it breathing. It sounded excited, too.

  “Rob? Rob? Answer me! Rob?” Galen’s shout sounded in the clearing.

  Elation mingled with fear as Rob recognized his brother’s voice, he took a deep breath. He knew this was going to hurt. “Galen! I’m here!” he screamed as loud as he could. He saw the thing right in front of him.

  “I’m coming, Rob, hang on.”

  “He’s here, Galen’s here,” Rob said to the thing. He felt the thing’s hand. The pain began.

  Chapter Ten

  They were both silent. Galen scrubbed a hand across his face and glanced over at Rob. His brother was pale, the stark bruise standing out against his face. Galen noticed that Rob’s hands were shaking.

  “Rob?”

  “It’s okay, Galen. We need to figure out what happened, to see if it might let us know what’s going to happen now.” Rob looked at him. “Galen?”

  Galen tried to draw a breath, the scar was suddenly awake, twisting in his chest. As it moved he thought he could sense the thing. “No, it can’t be,” Galen said.

  Something was whispering to him in a voice he remembered, a rasping voice full of the sound of death. Memories were blending with nightmares. He closed his eyes as the assault worsened, trying to calm his breathing. The whisper was there, he could hear it, hovering just below his conscious mind. It was excited, pleased and it felt close somehow.

  “Galen?” Rob’s voice sounded anxious, he had his hands on Galen’s shoulders, shaking him gently. “Galen?” The shaking got harder. “Galen?”

  Galen forced his eyes open. “Can you get the red bottle again?” Rob was back with the bottle before Galen was really aware he’d even gone. “Thanks.” He took a slightly bigger dose than usual, waiting as the spell calmed the twisting in his chest, silencing the menacing whisper. Galen looked up at his brother. “It’s okay, Rob.”

  “How often does this happen?”

  “Not often.” He tried for a smile. “It’s a little worse than usual.”

  “I can see it. Galen I thought I saw the shadow of…”

  “You did?” he cut Rob off, “I thought I heard It, too.”

  Rob settled back beside him. “You thought you heard It?” Galen nodded. “It did recognize us, didn’t It? Back then?”

  “I think so. I thought I felt something that afternoon, and then later, once or twice there was this sliver of…I don’t know…recognition, pleasure?”

  “It knew we were Keepers, even then, even before…”

  “Yeah.” I’m sorry, Rob. Saying it again. “I think it’s my fault. It sensed something in me.”

  “What is it?”

  “I…”

  “Galen? What happened to you?”

  “After I heard you in the clearing, gods, Rob, I knew it was you. I sensed what was happening, I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew, and I was starting to get desperate.”

  Ten years before

  Day three afternoon to moonrise-Galen

  The scream had stopped, although Galen could still hear the echoes of it in his head. His brother was silent, and except for that brief instant when Galen heard his name, there was only darkness. What was that thing? It…I think it recognized something in Rob…

  “Galen!” Rhiannon was calling him from the path.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” He tried to stand up, his battered body was beginning to give out on him. “Rob’s not here. That was him, though, I think.”

  “What do we do now?” she said gently, helping him to his feet.

  “I don’t know.” Galen was beginning to fray at the edges. “I don’t know. “ He looked up at her, hoping she might have an answer. “What do I do?” He felt lost, desperate. How can I ask to become a Keeper, to carry the Emrys sword when I break like this? I need Dad and Uncle Bobby.

  “We’ll figure something out, I promise, Galen,” she said gently. “Come on, let’s go back to the car. I want to look at those stitches of yours. It looks like you’re bleeding again.” She put his arm over her shoulders and her arm around his waist, supporting him, carrying him. She let him lean against her. “Let’s do that first. Then we’ll worry what comes next. How’s that?”

  Galen let her help him. He drew strength from the contact. He was exhausted. Galen knew his father and uncle were on the way, he wondered how long it would take them to get there. He took a deep breath, calming himself and focusing on his training.

  When they got back to the car, Rhiannon gently set Galen in the passenger seat. She knelt in front of him and eased his t-shirt up. “You’re bleeding again. Do you have a first aid kit?”

  “In the back,” he said.

  She walked around, took the keys out of the ignition opened the back and came around with the first aid kit in her hands. “This is a very complete first aid kit, Galen,” she said. “Just about everything you could ever need.” He could hear the question in her voice. “This looks like…hmmm…”

  “Dad’s a healer, he helped put that together, something for anything.” He had his eyes closed and tried to focus a little of the healing into his body.

  “I think ‘anything’ is the operative word,” she said. “Galen? If I ask you something will you answer me honestly?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did that to Megan—it wasn’t human was it?”

  Galen opened his eyes and looked at her. “You deserve the truth. I can never repay you for helping me, but I can give you this.” He paused, searching her face. “No, it wasn’t human. People helped, like with Rob. But what did it, what took Megan, it wasn’t human.” Rhiannon closed her eyes, Galen put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Galen. Knowing helps.” She smiled the feral smile again. “Makes it easier to kill it, if it’s not human.”

  “Humans are helping it, though,” Galen said, feeling a rush of anger through his body. “Sometimes I wonder how people can serve filth like that.”

  “But they do,” she said softly, “and they might need to die, too.” She looked at Galen.

  “Yeah,” he said quietly. Keepers don’t kill people, or we try not to. He leaned back again and closed his eyes.

  “Galen, you need to rest.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “You have to. I understand your need to keep going, but you have to rest.” She laid a hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I know, but if you don’t rest now, you won’t be able to help Rob. Let’s at least go back to my apartment and get you another pain pill. I forgot to grab them when we left, and you don’t have any in the first aid kit. You can sleep in the car, and then we’ll go from there.”

  Galen knew she was right, his body was starting to give out. He had to rest in order to use the healing, in order to be strong enough to help his brother when he found him. If his father and uncle didn’t get there in time, he’d
have to heal Rob, and he was beginning to suspect that healing his brother would take all he had—and more. “You’re right, let’s go.” He swung his legs into the car, and she carefully closed the door. He was asleep before she settled behind the wheel.

  “Galen?” Rhiannon was shaking him.

  “Yeah?” He opened his eyes, they were in the parking lot at her apartment building.

  “Can you get out?”

  “I think so, I’ll try.” He reached for the door. Pain lanced up his side. “The stitches tore, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, I did try and tape it back together. I guessed you wouldn’t go to the hospital yet.”

  “Good guess.” He smiled at her. “I think I’ll just rest here. Is that okay?”

  “Sure, I’ll go get the pills and some water. How’s that?” She got out of the car. Galen watched her walk up the stairs to her door.

  He shifted in the seat, trying to get comfortable. The bandage on his side felt wet. He was still bleeding a little and his head was really starting to hurt, now that he was just sitting. The pictures of Megan were haunting him, every time he closed his eyes he saw Rob there instead of the other child. He swallowed. He focused inward, trying to direct the healing through his body, he let the warmth drift through aching muscles and open wounds as the light led him into gentle sleep.

  He knew it was several hours later when he woke up. He opened his eyes. He was still in the car, Rhiannon had put a blanket over him. Galen felt a little stronger.

  “Hey, how are you doing?” Rhiannon said, opening the door. She had another mug of the soup in her hands. “I have something for you to have with the pain pill, so it doesn’t make you sick.”

  “Thanks.” He took the soup and pill from her. She sat down on the edge of the seat next to him. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep.”

  “Galen.” She looked him in the eyes, so he’d know the truth of what she said. “I tried to wake you. I couldn’t. I was a little scared, but you were snoring a tiny bit, so I hoped you were just asleep.”