“I never thought I could let her go, never thought I could get beyond this place,” she said softly. She looked at Galen. “I think I finally can, because of the two of you.” She stood on her tip toes and kissed each of them lightly on the lips, then turned away. She put a small offering—flowers, a small plush kitten—down on a flat stone.
“I can finally walk away from here, Megan is at peace. I can be too.” Rhiannon was silent for several minutes. They stood with her, Flash put an arm over her shoulders. She smiled at Galen, tears running down her cheeks.
Galen noticed when his brother moved closer and leaned against him. He glanced at Rob, his brother’s face was tight with grief. Galen gently nudged Rob with his shoulder. “We need to go,” he said softly.
“We’ll wait here,” Rhiannon said, looking at them then frowning at Mike and Flash daring them to defy her.
“Fine, we’ll wait here, but if we hear anything that sounds bad, we’ll come running,” Mike said.
“One peep and we come running,” Flash confirmed. “Got it?”
“Got it.” Galen looked at them. “Thank you, having you here—it means a lot.”
“Yeah, it does,” Rob said quietly. “Let’s go.”
Galen took the lead, following the path as it brought them to the clearing where the ritual had taken place. As they got closer, Galen could sense the tension in his brother. They walked out into the ritual clearing. Rob stopped, looking around, swallowing.
“Rob?” Galen said softly.
“I…it’ll be okay, Galen.” He walked over and put his hand on the tree that Galen had found him hanging from. Rob looked up at the branch, part of the rope still dangled there, frayed broken and weather-worn, but still there. He looked over. “Galen?”
“We’re here together, Rob,” Galen said softly, hoping to reassure his brother. It was as if the thirteen-year-old was standing there, too. The pain in his brother was almost too much to bear.
“I…” Rob looked away. “It’s still there,” he said, walking towards the stone altar that stood in the center of the clearing. Galen felt the whisper of darkness again. It was trapped there, in that clearing, in the stones and earth. The thing that had taken Rob, the wood hag, part of it still echoed there. Rob stopped before the altar then pushed at it, harder, and harder, a desperate, frantic motion. Galen started moving towards his brother as the depth of Rob’s emotion hit him. He got to the altar faster than he thought he could. Rob was crying, shoving at it. He looked up at Galen. “I can’t move it. I have to destroy it!” Rob’s voice was determined, but under that Galen could hear the younger Rob, frightened, full of panic. “Can you help me?”
“Of course.” Galen put his weight against the stones. They didn’t move for a moment, then slowly, slowly began to shift. The stones fell, breaking apart with a sharp sound that echoed over the forest.
Galen listened to the echo, remembering—he looked around the clearing, seeing it not as it was at that instant, but the place as it had been. Empty, with Rob’s shirt and blood on the now destroyed altar. Empty except for the sound of his brother’s scream. Empty except for the vision of his brother hanging from the tree.
“Galen?” Rob said from beside him. “I’m sorry.”
“No sorry needed,” he said quietly, feeling the truth of that settle in his own heart. “No blame, no apologies. It had to happen the way it did.”
Rob looked at him for a long moment. Galen felt the steady hum of their connection, Rob nodded. “You’re right. It had to happen so we could stand here, so we could serve together as who we were meant to be,” Rob said quietly.
“It did.”
“Do you want to start?” Rob asked, handing Galen his sword.
“Together this time, I think, Rob.”
“Are you sure?” Rob looked at him.
“Very sure.” Galen took a deep breath and let the song rise in him. The clearing was filled with the sound of their voices, with the hum of the swords and the light, twisting around them, touching the forest. There was no explosion this time, just the light touching the edges of the dead trees ringing the circle. A small fire began. Galen knew that it would only burn those parts of the circle touched by darkness.
The song wound to its end. Rob looked over and smiled. “Can you get that down?” He pointed up at the rope.
“I think you can reach it,” Galen said softly.
“I know I can, but I think you need to,” Rob said, his voice sure, the hint of sadness, of grief and guilt that had been there gone.
“You’re right.” Galen pulled on the rope and broke the end of the branch off with it. He reached in his pocket and handed Rob his lighter. “You burn it.”
“Thanks, Galen.” Rob lit the end of the rope, watching it burn. Then, turning to Galen, he smiled. “This is the last of it. It’s finished.”
Somehow Galen wasn’t sure this would finish it, the small whisper of darkness was still there, nearly gone, just a tiny echo in the sounds of the earth. He wondered if it was always there, that whisper, that voice of the things the night feared. That sound of the things he lived to stop. For the moment he let it pass, instead drinking in the healing that was needed for his brother. For himself.
“It all ended here,” Rob said softly, looking at him, his eyes bright in the flames as the clearing burned around them.
“It all begins here, too,” Galen said.
“Custodes Noctis.” Rob was smiling at him, an open candid smile.
“Yeah, Keepers, together.”
“About damn time.” Rob slapped him on the back. “Is it nice to be alive?”
“Yeah, I’m glad my death’s over, Rob. Thanks. It’s nice to be back and be what I, we, are supposed to be.”
“Yeah, and let me repeat. About damn time.” Rob chuckled, the soft sound became a laugh. Galen joined him.
As one they turned to leave. When they reached the last turn in the path, Rob glanced back at the clearing, the smoke rising gently above the trees. The forest felt warmer, smelled cleaner. Rob stopped, and stood looking back down the path, back towards the clearing. Galen walked back and stood beside him. His brother leaned against him. They stood together, watching the fire that was still burning, then turned and walked down the path to where their friends were waiting, out of the dark forest towards home.
The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 31