The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Read online

  “No, please, I won’t try and escape again,” he said desperately, tears running down his face.

  He saw Other climb down into one of the holes. The bearded man put one of the braziers into it and then dragged a board over. Some of the people gathered there, all wearing red robes, began piling rocks and shoveling dirt onto the board. There was a small opening in it. Rob could see smoke curling out.

  “No, please,” Rob said again. “Please, don’t put me down there. Please.”

  The bearded man pushed him down into a seated position and bound his hands behind him, carefully counting thirteen wraps before tying it off. Rob struggled against the man, against the bonds, until the man put his large hand around Rob’s neck. “Hold still,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. Rob immediately obeyed, terrified by the look in the man’s eyes. My Sight isn’t right. Will it come back? If it doesn’t, can I still be a Keeper? The man did the same to Rob’s legs, wrapping them from his knees to his ankles. Then he was lifted and put in the large hole. They carefully placed the brazier in with him.

  “No!” he screamed. “Galen!”

  “Rob!” He heard his brother’s voice. It sounded in his head as clearly as if Galen had been standing next to him. “Galen? Are you here?” He reached out, his brother sounded so close. Knowing Galen was nearby calmed him, he stopped struggling.

  They put the board over the hole, there was only a tiny slit of light filtering down. It was red like the sunset, like the blood that was soaking through the cloth on his arm. Rob heard rocks dropping on the board. The smoke from the incense filled the hole and he began to get sleepy. He was dozing, floating in a world of colors. He could smell the soil around him and the scent of the odd incense.

  He must have dropped off, then come back to awareness again. He could feel fresh air winding down from the tiny hole in the board, but it was now dark outside. He thought he smelled rain. He was drifting back to sleep again when he thought he heard Galen’s voice. Rob reached out for his brother, trying to sense his presence. “Galen?” he called as loud as he could. It wasn’t very loud, he could barely hear it himself. He was almost all the way unconscious when he thought he heard it again.

  “Rob! Answer me! Please! Rob!” Galen’s voice sounded like it was coming from someplace very close.

  Rob tried to call out, to answer his brother, his body refused. He tried to reach out through their bond, but he couldn’t, it was almost as if it had never existed. And the darkness closed in, the colors gone, the earth silent around him. I’m buried, like in a grave. I wonder if I’m dead? And then there was nothing.

  * * * * *

  Galen was shaking. He looked at his brother, aware of the twisting of nausea in his stomach, aware of the scar alive and throbbing in his chest. Oh gods, it is the Legacy. No. He squeezed Rob’s hand, trying to draw a little calm through the contact. Mike was staring at Rob as if he had suddenly sprouted horns. The doctor opened his mouth, closed it and looked down at Galen.

  “Galen?” Rob asked quietly.

  Galen looked over. “I’m okay.”

  “You know, I think you’re lying to me,” his brother said with a laugh.

  “Maybe a little. Gods, Rob,” Galen sighed. He scrubbed his hand across his face and looked back up. “I, Rob, is it…?” He stopped before he let the thought form again.

  “What?”

  “I…Rob…” Galen took a deep breath.

  “Yeah?” Rob put his other hand over Galen’s. “Galen?”

  “I was there,” Galen said quietly, ignoring the simmering fear that came every time he thought of the Legacy. “Rob, I heard you, when you screamed, right before they put you in the hole. I was out in the woods, the sound echoed weirdly, I tried to find you, oh gods, Rob, I couldn’t sense you clearly enough to find you, I thought I was close, but I couldn’t sense you. You disappeared. I left because I wasn’t sure where you were, and I had to get a hold of Dad and Uncle Bobby…”

  Past

  Ten Years Before

  Day Two-Galen

  The rest stop was nearly deserted when Galen pulled in and sprinted for the phone. The need to talk with the older Keepers had become something akin to a physical pain. He was desperately worried about Rob, he thought he could sense a little of his brother through their bond, flashes of fear and pain. Galen dropped money in the phone with shaking hands, counting the rings on the other end until his father picked up the phone. “Dad…” he said softly, the worry, the fear, even a hint of his pain in his voice.

  “Galen?” His father picked up on the tone immediately. “What is it?”

  “Dad, it’s…I…Rob.” Hearing his father’s voice caused what little composure he had to collapse utterly.

  “Galen, what is it?” Under the slightly gruff demand, Galen could hear his father’s concern.

  “Rob, we stopped…Dad.” He heard his voice break, grief pouring out through the words. “Dad, I lost…” He stopped himself, swallowing the lump in his throat. He took a deep breath. “We stopped for dinner last night, something weird’s going on here. They ambushed us on the road and took Rob.”

  “What?” His father exploded, Galen knew the anger wasn’t aimed at him, it was aimed at whoever had taken Rob. “Taken? How?”

  “I tried to get away, we were on our way out of town and they blocked the road. In the end, I tried to get Rob safe. It didn’t work, they grabbed him. I lost him, I lost Rob.” Reaching out, he tried to sense his brother, tried to send a little reassurance through the bond. For an instant he sensed Rob. “Oh, gods, Dad, they got him. I called you as soon as I could. I left you that message earlier, but I knew you wouldn’t be around until about now. I started looking Dad, went out to where…I met someone she…her daughter….Once I got out of the hospital…”

  “Hospital, Galen?” his father cut him off. Galen could hear the concern clearly in his father’s voice. He could also hear his uncle in the background, asking what was going on.

  “I wouldn’t have gone at all…”

  “How bad?” The concern in his father’s voice boiled over into something that sounded like fear. “Galen?” He could hear a tremor in his father’s voice and Bobby’s anxious demands.

  “Not bad.” He lied, knowing his father couldn’t read him over the phone, but he knew it wouldn’t last long. He wanted the older Keepers to focus on Rob.

  “Galen, please answer me when I ask you a question like that.”

  “I just blacked out at the scene, Dad, and they transported me, that’s all.”

  “Galen, answer my question.” His father’s voice was suddenly completely calm. Galen could hear blind panic under the calm.

  “Busted rib, face is a mess. Knife wound,” he said, trying to make it sound like nothing.

  “Galen?”

  “I’m okay, Dad,” Galen said. It sounded like his father needed reassurance. “I made contact with a woman whose daughter disappeared. I think it’s connected to Rob. Dad, her daughter… Her daughter…She’d been…Dad, will that happen to Rob? Oh, gods, she’d been mutilated, she’d been…”

  “What?”

  “She was partially flayed,” Galen said it quietly, wishing he could keep it from his father, knowing that keeping something that important from him was a huge mistake.

  “Flayed? Oh, gods,” Parry said softly. Galen heard his uncle repeating the word.

  Galen took a deep breath, trying to calm the shaking of his hands and the sudden rush of nausea as the memory of the pictures floated before his eyes. “Whoever took her and Rob, I think…Whatever it was—it killed her. She was found in the woods, she had symbols drawn on her. They were…” He carefully described them.

  “Hang on for a minute,” his father said. His father was speaking with his uncle, Galen could hear his father’s voice and then answers back. He couldn’t quite make out the words. “Was her daughter the first, Galen?”

  “No, she was the sixth.”

  “So Rob’s the seventh?” More conversatio
n back and forth that Galen couldn’t make out. Then one thing came through the line “What? Oh my gods, no!” It was louder than the rest of the conversation. “Galen?”

  “Yeah, what is it?” he said, keeping his voice calm.

  “We aren’t all the way sure, but we don’t think it’s very serious, a lesser demon called a wood hag. It can offer powers as long as you sacrifice to it. One child and one adult on the full moon.”

  “Dad?”

  “Yes, Galen?”

  “When did human sacrifice become not very serious?” Galen asked, a little exasperated. “Okay, lesser demon is maybe easy, at least for trained Keepers, but Dad, Rob hasn’t really started training yet, not the more formal training. We’ve been working together for years, but not really training. I’m only five years into the formal training myself. I think it’s serious and I suspect you’re not telling me something.” Galen could here it clearly in his father’s voice.

  “No. We’re on our way, but I don’t think we can be there until tomorrow.”

  “Dad, please answer me when I ask a question like that.” He tried to keep his voice calm.

  “Okay, Galen, you do need to know Rob’s special, he’s the seventh sacrifice.”

  “Can the wood hag be killed? A lesser demon shouldn’t be too hard, well, as those things go.”

  “In a way. You have to erase the symbols. Without them it can’t find the sacrifice and it’ll die. You have to remove them from his skin and from around the base of the tree.”

  “Tree? Tree? What does a tree have to do with…And get the symbols off? Dad, her daughter, the symbols…”

  “Galen, listen to me. I need you to stay calm for your brother’s sake, okay?” His father said it quietly, offering comfort. “You need to get to him and get him out of there. You need to be calm. No matter what you see, no matter what he looks like.”

  “Dad? This really isn’t helping. And think, Dad, how calm would you be if it were Uncle Bobby out there? I remember…” He stopped when he heard his father’s gasp on the other end. “I’m sorry,” he said, shutting off the memory of his father’s desperate search for his uncle not too long before.

  “They’ll hang him from the tree, Galen. You need to cut him down and get those symbols off of him, understand?”

  “What?” Galen hadn’t actually heard anything after the word “hang”.

  “We’ll get to you as soon as possible. I just don’t think we can be there before tomorrow. The ritual—they’ll be in the forest somewhere. There’s a ritual tonight, too. It would be better if you found him tonight, before they start. Bobby isn’t exactly sure what’s going to happen. We’ll try and find out more.”

  “Dad? What? What are they going to do tonight? Dad!”

  “We don’t know, Galen. If we knew we’d tell you, you know that. We’re just not sure. Try and find him if you can, Galen, but be careful. And as bad as the first ritual probably is, it will get worse from tonight. We need to get on the road. Where did you call from?”

  “A rest stop just outside of town. The number’s…” He read the number off the phone.

  “Okay, we'll call you back at this number at six in the morning.” His father paused for a moment, then spoke again, his voice gentle, “we’re on our way, Galen, hang on till we get there. We’ll find him, we’ll get Rob back, okay?” And his father broke the connection. He tried to reach out for his brother again, wanting to reassure Rob he was there, needing the contact himself. There was nothing there, just a soft velvety darkness. “Rob?”

  He walked back to the car. “I want to head back out there, can I drop you someplace?” He looked over at Rhiannon.

  “Let me come along, please. You might need help.”

  Galen looked at her for a long moment. Something told him taking her along was a good idea. One thing his father had drilled into his head over the years of training—Keepers trust their instincts. “Sure,” he said as he got into the car.

  It started raining. He drove back the way they came and took the turn onto the narrow road. About half a mile down he noticed another road turning off the right. “What’s down there?”

  “An abandoned farmhouse.”

  Galen drove by the road then stopped. He thought he sensed something, he wasn’t sure what. He put the car in reverse and followed the road to the farmhouse. It was raining hard. The old building was dark, it looked deserted. Galen got out of the car and walked around the building. If anyone had been there recently, the rain had erased all evidence of their presence. He noticed a small hill behind the house. Something drew him towards the hill. He had a feeling…The top of the hill was empty. Nothing but mud and rocks and still…He thought he felt the shiver of his brother’s presence.

  “Rob?” he called out, his voice echoing over the forest. “Rob? Are you here?”

  “Galen, what is it?” Rhiannon said, coming up beside him.

  “I don’t know, I just have this feeling that he’s here, somewhere.”

  “There’s nothing here.”

  “I can’t shake the feeling, though.” He sighed. “Rob?” he called again. Then, his heart started pounding. “Did you hear that? That was Rob!” He grabbed her arm.

  “I didn’t hear anything, I’m sorry. There’s nothing here.” Her eyes were compassionate, full of tears, for him, for Rob.

  “No, that was him! I know it! Rob! Answer me! Please! Rob!” He listened, nothing. No one answered. Had he imagined it, that tiny sound? Taking a deep breath he tried to reach out, tried to find his brother. There was nothing except velvety darkness. Rob wasn’t there. A stab of grief twisted against his heart. Can Rob be dead? He shoved the thought away as quickly as it formed. He’d know if his brother had died. It had to be something else. But what? Galen reached out to the darkness. “Rob? I’m here, I’m looking for you, hang on.”

  He turned and walked with Rhiannon down the hill and back to the car. Galen stopped beside the car, looking back across the forest. The sense of his brother was completely gone, like the dying sun. Whatever had drawn him there was gone as well. He sighed and dropped back into the car.

  * * *

  “You were there,” Rob whispered, looking at Galen, a smile lighting his eyes. “You were there. It’s okay, Galen, you were there.” The look on his face was almost serene.

  “Yeah. If Dad and Uncle Bobby had known what to expect I might have found you.”

  “I don’t think they could have known anything at all about it, really, Galen,” his brother said. “I think that group had deviated from the standard ritual, even then, even before…Like the girl tonight, the ritual has altered again, she was meant to die, her blood feeding the earth, her life giving It life to come again. I wasn’t meant to die, not then, not until after…”

  “My god, what happened to the two of you back then?” Mike said, aghast. Galen looked over at the doctor, he’d forgotten Mike was there.

  “We had a few bad days,” Rob said with a soft, sardonic laugh.

  “Can I go home?” Galen asked as Mike ran his eyes over the machines beeping and whirring around him. “I’m fine, it wasn’t a seizure.”

  “You damn near died.”

  “What? What? I thought you said…I’m fine now, it’s not something you can treat, really, Mike.”

  Mike looked at him, trying to stare him down. Finally he nodded. “You can go, but I’m coming with you.”

  “Mike…”

  “Do you want to leave, Galen?” Mike asked sternly. “Then I come with you.”

  “Mike…”

  “Galen? Let him get you home, and once he’s sure you’re safe there, he can go.” Rob looked at him, understanding in his eyes.

  “Okay.” Mike unhooked the monitors and Galen pushed himself up. The room spun a little, Rob put a steadying hand under his elbow until he could stand without swaying. “Thanks. You’d better drive.”

  Rob helped him to the elevators. The nurse they had seen earlier that day was standing at the other end of the ward.
“She’s one of them,” Rob said quietly.

  “Yeah.” Galen leaned against his brother. “We might be getting ready for a couple of bad days again.”

  Chapter Seven

  The valet opened the door of the jeep so Galen could get in. He dropped into the passenger seat with a sigh. The old scar was twisting and throbbing in his chest. It knows we’re here, that we’re together. Rob got in the driver’s side and pulled out. Galen could feel his brother’s eyes on him.

  “I’m okay, Rob.”

  “You know that I can see you’re not, right?” Rob said with a shake of his head.

  “Probably feel it a little, too.” Galen said, looking over at him with a smile.

  “Maybe a little.” Rob drove silently for a several minutes. “Galen? How…?”

  “How what?”

  “I could always sense you, even when we were kids. Then, after you died, you were gone…How?” Rob laughed, but there was confusion and confused hurt in his voice. “Since you weren’t dead?”

  “I was, you know,” Galen said quietly.

  “I know.” Rob swallowed. “I was there with you, remember?” Galen put a hand on his brother’s arm, aware of the pain there.

  “I remember.” Galen sighed. “I do. I remember my heart stopping, I remember you holding my hand. I remember It screaming as we died, as It twisted in my chest,” he sighed. “Dad did something, I think, blocked it somehow. He needed to make sure It couldn’t find you. Then, when I was better, he showed me how to block it, too.”

  “I can sense you now.”

  “Yeah,” Galen said, looking at him. “Something happened when I saw you, I let it go. I didn’t mean to, it just shattered as I stood there, when I realized it was really you.”