“The time for sorry is past, now’s the time to kill,” Rhiannon said, her voice fierce.
“How do we find him again?” Parry asked the room at large.
“They took him for a reason. I think the ritual’s changed. They’re seeking to complete something else. Oh no, oh gods, no.” What little color was left in Bobby’s face had drained away.
“What?” Parry and Galen asked together.
“Parry, it might… Oh gods, it might be the first step. Not just a sacrifice now, but the ritual to let it walk the earth in human form. They need Rob for that and they need…” He stopped himself and looked at Parry.
Galen looked from his uncle to his father. Parry was shaking his head. “They need me, don’t they?” Galen said quietly. “It’s why I was sedated, why it came in my room. It was testing—tasting—me wasn’t it?”
“No,” Parry whispered a soft denial. “No.”
“That’s it, isn’t it, Bobby?” Galen looked at his uncle. “They need…oh, gods.” His mind was replying the scene in the clearing and the moments in Rob’s room. He realized all three of the others were staring at him, waiting for him to finish. He met his father’s eyes. “It knows.”
“Knows?” Parry and Bobby said together.
“About us, about me and Rob. It knows what, who, we are. It’s how they knew to drug you. It recognized me, and Rob said it knew we were Keepers.”
“Keepers?” Rhiannon asked.
“What?” Parry asked, ignoring Rhiannon. “It knew…? Bobby?”
“Yeah, it’s worse than we thought.”
“What the hell are Keepers?” Rhiannon said indignantly.
“It said ‘the other half’ when it touched me during the ritual. It knew. And now they need me to complete the ritual.”
“Galen…”
“Keepers? Hello? Want to answer me?”
“It’s the perfect way to find Rob…” Galen said urgently.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rhiannon grabbed Parry’s arm and shook it. Galen watched his father’s face change as Rhiannon’s rage and grief touched him.
Parry was completely focused on Galen “Out of the question. No, absolutely not, no.” His father was shaking his head slowly.
“Dad, Bobby, it’s the only way.” He glanced over at his uncle. “Tell me what I need to do.”
“No, Galen,” his father whispered.
“I need to know what’s going on,” Rhiannon said angrily.
“Will they come for me?” Galen asked his uncle.
“Yes. Part of it has already been accomplished. The sacrifices before this, what they did to Rob here…” His uncle looked at him with bleak eyes. “How can we ever ask his forgiveness for letting that happen, Parry?” He cleared his throat. “If they can get you…They probably already have that arranged.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“No, Galen. No.”
“Please? Please tell me what you’re taking about. I have a right to know,” Rhiannon begged.
Galen ignored her and focused on his father. “Dad…”
“No, Galen.” His father looked at him. “I can’t let you.”
“Dad…”
“No.”
“Uncle Bobby…”
“No,” his uncle said.
“I can’t, Galen. I can’t.” Parry drew a breath. “I let Rob…I can’t lose you.”
“We can handle this Galen. Let us,” Bobby pleaded.
“Dad, Uncle Bobby, I have to, I don’t have a choice.”
“No. No! Of course you have a choice. Galen, Bobby and I can handle it.” His father looked away. “You died yesterday, Galen. When I was healing you I felt that. It damaged your heart somehow and you died. I can’t, Galen, I…”
“Dad, I understand.”
“No,” Parry said softly. Galen wasn’t sure if he was disagreeing with his statement or denying the whole situation.
“Yes, I do, I understand. And I’m sorry, I really am. But you know as well as I do, we have no choice. We have to get to Rob before it’s too late. What if Rob dies? And Dad, this thing, if it’s—we can’t let it lose on the world. We have to stop it. It’s…”
“No, Galen.”
“Dad…” Galen looked at his father, saw his determination to get to Rob, his determination to keep Galen out of it. Galen put his hand on his father’s leg, opening himself completely to Parry. Galen waited until his father’s eyes met his. “Dad, I have to do this, I have to.”
“No, Galen.” Parry was still shaking his head.
“If something happens to Rob, something that I might have been able to prevent…”
“Galen, they’ll kill you.”
“You two, you have to know, you have to understand. If Rob dies, it doesn’t matter if they kill me.”
“Galen, you don’t mean that.”
“If they kill Rob…It doesn’t matter. You know how I feel. You have to know.”
“Galen…no.” His father was trying to deny it. Galen glanced at his uncle. Bobby was shaking his head in unison with Parry.
“You know it’s the truth. What if it was one of you?” Galen felt tears in his eyes.
“You and Rob…” Parry began.
“You aren’t…” Bobby continued. Rhiannon opened her mouth to say something and snapped it shut.
“But we are,” Galen said. “We are.”
“You can’t be.”
“We always have been. I heard him. Not a feeling, but words. More than once. That’s how I knew he’d been taken. He called out to me.”
“Galen…” His father was shaking his head.
“Dad, you know it’s true. And if it were Bobby, what would happen?” He looked at his father. “If Bobby died? You would hunt it down, hunt the people serving it down and then, when it was over…”
“If I lived that long?” Parry dropped his head, his eyes bright with unshed tears. “When it was over I would hand you my sword and I’d join Bobby.”
“Yes,” Galen said softly. “How can you think it would be different for me? You trained me, trained Rob a little already. We’re Keepers, Dad. It’s who we are, what we are and our brothers are part of that. I couldn’t go on without him.” Parry looked up at Bobby, their eyes meeting for a long moment, then Parry sighed and nodded.
“I…” Galen sighed. “What’s the plan?” he said gently.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Are you just saying that because you think you should?” Galen said, smiling at his father.
Parry laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. They’ll come here for you. I don’t know where they’ll take you. I don’t know where they had Rob.”
“An abandoned farmhouse, Rhiannon showed me,” Galen said, smiling at Rhiannon
“They’ll take him there, then,” Parry said.
“They can’t.” Galen grinned.
“Why?” Bobby asked.
“I kind of torched the place.”
“You kind of…” His father smiled back at him, and looked up at Bobby.
“Good job,” his uncle said.
“Yes, very good. One less place for later,” Parry said.
“Excuse me?” Rhiannon piped up. They turned to look at her. “I hate to interrupt the back slapping, but can you please tell me what’s going on?” She glared at them. “Pretend I have no clue what the hell you’re talking about. Start from there. What are Keepers? What is that thing that killed my Megan?”
“We’re not sure what it is anymore, Rhiannon,” Bobby began. “It was a lesser demon called a wood hag, but something’s changing.”
“It’s not human?”
“No, but the host will be.” Parry’s voice was sad.
“I know, Dad, but this human is serving that filth. Allowing…”
“Keepers don’t kill humans, Galen,” Bobby added.
“We do, sometimes, you know that.” Galen looked at them. “Sometimes we have to.”
“Back to the que
stion—what are Keepers?” Rhiannon asked. “Do you hunt things like the demon?”
“Not usually,” Parry said. “We usually hunt bigger things. Custodes Noctis hunt the things that the dark creatures fear.”
“Of course,” Rhiannon said looking at Parry for a minute, then she turned to Galen. “What?”
“Think of it this way. There are demons like the one that took Megan and there are people who hunt those things. Then there are Custodes Noctis, the Keepers of the Night. We hunt the things the demons fear, the things the demons serve. The dark that the night fears.”
“Ah, I think I understand. Some people hunt little things like house cats and you hunt things like tigers.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Galen smiled at her.
“And if you don’t want to kill the humans,” Rhiannon paused. “I will. You just get the boys safe,” she said, looking from Parry to Bobby.
“Thank you,” Parry said quietly, acknowledging the gift she offered. “We can do it. If we can even find him, we still don’t know where they have him now.”
“Follow them. Wait till they take me and follow them. Simple.”
“I don’t like it,” his father said, then held up a hand to stop Galen’s protests. “But it’s all we’ve got.”
“It’ll be okay,” Galen said. “Do you think they’ll go back to the clearing where they held the first ritual?”
“It’s as good a guess as any,” Bobby sighed. “We can try and follow them, but if something happens we’ll head for the clearing.”
“So we have a plan.” Galen smiled, trying to still the pounding in his heart. He was afraid—for Rob, for his father and uncle, for himself.
“Galen?” Bobby said softly.
“I’m okay, sorry.” His father put a gentle hand on his chest, calming the slamming of his heart. “I’ll be…What do you think they’ll do?” He had to ask, he didn’t want the answer, but he had to ask. “Will I be like Megan?”
“Oh, gods, Galen…” Bobby grabbed his arm. “I…I don’t know.”
“Promise me something, please, Dad,” Galen said, looking at his father. “Promise me you’ll help Rob first, no matter what happens to me, you’ll help Rob first.”
“Galen…”
“Please, Dad. I can focus the healing enough to keep myself stable while you heal Rob. Please, promise me.”
Parry put his head in his hands for a minute. “Okay.”
“Thank you.” He knew what he’d asked of his father, what it had cost Parry to agree. “You three should go get a cup of coffee or something. They might be waiting for you to leave. And I need to get this over with. I need to get to Rob and I don’t want you hurt if they come now. You need to be able to follow them.”
“Good idea,” Rhiannon said walking to the door.
“Galen…” His uncle pulled him into a tight hug. “We’ll be there, you won’t be alone.”
“I know.” He returned the embrace and then turned to his father. Parry pulled him tight against him and Galen felt the healing light warming him as his father held him. “It’ll be okay, Dad,” he whispered. “Just don’t make us wait too long.”
His father pulled away. “Right. We’ll see you soon.” He and Bobby turned and walked out of the room without a backwards glance. Rhiannon shrugged and followed them.
Galen stretched out on the bed, wondering if he’d see them again. He reconnected the IV to his hand without turning the drip back on. “Rob? We have a plan, we’re coming.” He reached out, trying to sense his brother. Silent dark was all that was there. No warmth, nothing of his brother at all. Galen sighed and let his eyes close. He’d been listening to a radio playing from somewhere down the corridor when a man with a beard came into the room. He had a doctor and the nurse Galen remembered from his brother’s room with him.
“Good,” the man said. “We can begin soon.”
Galen sat up. The doctor moved quickly across the room and grabbed him, forcing him back down onto the bed. Galen struggled against the hands, trying to make it as believable as possible. The nurse grabbed his arm, Galen felt a cold touch in the woman’s hand, he felt the sting of a push against the port in his hand. And that was all.
He could smell damp burned wood, the scent twisted through returning consciousness. There was also the scent of gasoline. Maybe I’m in a garage? Galen opened his eyes. He was in a small room. There was light coming under the door, but no windows, nothing to let him know what time of day it was. Galen pushed himself up. He was still dizzy from whatever they’d given him. He thought he could smell the incense he remembered from the farmhouse coming under the door. Galen wondered how long he’d been out as he slid over to the wall and levered himself up. He was leaning against the wall, waiting for his head to stop spinning, when he heard the latch on the door turn.
He launched himself at the door, knocking down the man who was on the other side. Galen looked around. It might have been a garage or a converted stable. He guessed he was back at the farmhouse—or at least where the farmhouse had been. Galen remembered there were several outbuildings, and hoped Rhiannon would do the same.
There were two doors to his left and three to his right. He turned right and started opening them, looking in, not finding what he was looking for. He headed back the way he’d come, realizing too late the man he had knocked down was up again. He sprang at Galen.
Galen took a swing, knowing it was futile, and braced himself for the hit he knew was coming. It caught him in the stomach, he felt the nearly healed wound in his side pull and his legs went out from under him. He felt himself lifted and dragged back across the floor. “Rob! Rob!” he shouted, hoping his brother would hear, and would know Galen was there, too.
He was tossed back into the room. He hit the floor hard and just stayed still. As he lay there, he tried to reach out for his brother again and just at the edge of his awareness caught a tiny hint of Rob. Pain, fear, despair. “Rob? I’m here. You’re not alone.” That was what came through strongest from his brother, the fear he was alone.
The door opened, Galen looked up as the bearded man came into the room. He had a brazier in his hands, it was smoking and Galen knew it was the incense he had smelled at the farmhouse. The man put the brazier down and set a golden cup beside it. The incense drifted around the room, Galen blinked as his mind tried to identify what was in it. Frankincense, myrrh, pine? Maybe pine, that might be hellebore…
Another man came into the room, carrying a tray. Galen couldn’t see what was on the tray. There was a third man, Galen recognized him.
“Nice nose,” he said with a smirk. The man kicked him. “Where’re the other two? They both dead?” He was kicked again.
“Stop!” the bearded man said. “We must begin.”
The two men wrenched Galen up off the floor. He tried to get a sense of them through the touch, but he could barely “feel” anything. The incense, there’s something in it, it’s stopping the Gift. The man with the broken nose pulled the hospital shirt off of Galen. They pulled his left arm out. The bearded man started chanting.
He watched as the bearded man picked up the cup. Galen looked in it and felt relief wash over him when he realized it was empty. The chanting continued. The bearded man approached him. He had a silver knife in his hand, held the cup under Galen’s arm and sliced deeply into his forearm. Blood ran into the cup. Galen heard himself swearing at them. He felt a little disconnected. Hellebore and, hmm, what else is in that incense. It’s affecting me pretty fast. When they were satisfied that they had enough blood, they put the cup back by the brazier. I wonder how they decide that? Is there a line in there, “fill to here with blood”?
The chanting increased in volume. The men holding him tightened their grip on his arms and pulled them away from his body. The bearded man had the knife in his hand again. He took a golden saucer from the tray and put ashes from the brazier in it, then poured a little blood from the cup. He dipped the knife in the mixture and turned to Galen with the saucer in his hand
s.
Galen closed his eyes, waiting for what would come. He jumped when he felt something run down his chest. The chanting got louder. Another trickle of the liquid down his chest, another and another. The bearded man put his hand over Galen’s heart. He felt the cold of the thing, then the hand was pulled away. The chanting went on. I think they’re carving symbols into me like Rob. Galen sagged. Well, that wasn’t too bad.
Then he felt the touch of the knife again.
It slid slowly along the path of the liquid, drawing a line. The knife stopped its downward path, then…Oh gods no. It slid under his skin and started back up. The knife paused, twisted and began to move again. He heard himself screaming, unable to stop the sound.
He didn’t know how long it went on. He was still conscious, but only just, when they stopped. They wrapped him up in something, then lifted him onto his feet and dragged him out. He was dropped into another room, unable to move. Galen thought he heard something, he listened, someone else was in the room with him.
“It was my birthday,” a voice whispered, sounding like it was talking to itself. “I wish Galen were here. I wonder what they’ll do to me? That scream a little while ago, it sounded like Galen. I wish he were here, I don’t want to die alone.” The voice paused for a minute, Galen heard a sob. “Dying alone will be hard.”
Not believing his ears, Galen pushed himself up onto his right arm. He looked over… “Rob!” He crawled to his brother and gently turned him over. “Rob?” He was limp in his arms. “No. Come on Rob.” Galen lifted a shaking hand to Rob trying to get a sense of how badly his brother was injured. He found a pulse, faint, but there, and nothing else. He pulled his brother against him and put his back against the wall so he could support Rob’s weight. Galen tried to focus the healing into his brother, but he couldn’t bring the light to his hands. The incense had blocked the Gift. “Rob?” he said gently.
“Galen?” Disoriented, confused, still limp, nearly lifeless in his arms.
“Rob, I’m here, it’s okay. Can you hear me? I’m here. It’s okay.”
Rob whimpered. “Galen?”
The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 19