The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book (31 page)

“Shit, it nearly killed you.”

“I know. It won’t be like that.” Galen sighed. “There was something wrong with that spell, Flash. It was like it was broken, not working right and it exploded.

“So it’s not a spell like that one?”

“No.”
Not at all, it’s much bigger and, oh, hasn’t been done in probably a thousand years.

“That bad?” Flash put his hand on Galen’s shoulder. “Galen…” Flash said softly. Galen could sense his friend’s concern flowing out from the hand resting on his shoulder. “Tell me.”

“I can’t tell you everything, not right now.” Galen paused as Flash sighed. “There really isn’t time. But it has to do with why Dad’s dead. Why I told you I had to stay dead to Rob all those years ago.”

“Why you have a big wet spot on your chest?” Flash touched the spot, his fingers came away covered in blood and black ooze. He looked at his hand in horror. “What the fuck? Are you going to die? Galen?” He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. Not while you do the ritual, not for awhile. Get used to it. Until I’m sure that you’re okay, that the brother’s not wrong.”

“Rob’s not wrong,” Galen snapped.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I am. Gods damn it, Flash.” Galen grabbed his friend’s arm and pulled him back towards the shop. He slammed the door open. Rob looked at him with surprise.

“Galen?” Rob asked, walking around the counter.

“Come here,” Galen snapped.

“Galen?”

Rob walked over, a frown on his face. “What is it?”

“Flash is worried,” Galen said angrily, looking at Rob. He could feel concern and confusion radiating from his brother.

“Galen…” Flash said.

“Shut up.” Galen took a deep breath and laid his hand against his brother’s chest, over his heart. Galen reached out, let the light flow. Rob looked at him for a minute then closed his eyes. Galen let his eyes close as well. He could feel the thing where it rested in Rob’s heart, pulsing as the connection grew. The voice was whispering to him, Galen ignored it. He could feel his brother’s sense of purpose, of certainty that what they were doing, what was happening, was right.
“I’m sorry, Rob,”
he said silently through the connection.

“It’s okay, Galen. I understand. I wondered how long you’d wait. You always were a little suspicious.”

“I don’t doubt you, Rob.”

“You need to know what It’s done to me. You need to know if I am influenced by It. I took It into me after the Ritual of Swords. You have to know. I understand,”
Rob said gently.
Galen sighed. He felt the answering sigh echo in his brother.

“My Emrys Keepers!” the thing suddenly shouted.
Agony twisted in Galen’s chest. He heard Rob moan. “Yes, yes, yes. This is better than I hoped, better than I could wish for. Power!” It shrieked. The vision started.

“No,” Galen said audibly, his voice sounded odd.

Rob was tied to the stone altar, a crowd had gathered, frenzied chanting rang through the air, ecstatic, nearly orgasmic in tone. Galen stood beside the altar,  blood covering his hand. Blood was flowing over his brother’s body as the darkness rose above them. A sound, like the flapping of giant leathery wings filled the air. The crowd’s chanting increased a pitch. Galen raised bloody hands and plunged them down…
“No,” he heard his voice again.
Rob looked at him, a gentle, sardonic smile on his face.

“It’s okay, Galen,”
his brother’s voice echoed in his head.
“Let me…”

The vision abruptly changed. The darkness was screaming in fear, the sound of Its wings beating frantically in the air. There was a shout, a challenge to battle, Galen recognized his voice as having given the shout. He raised his sword, the army behind him charged.  The darkness, the beings suddenly gathered around It, shouting a challenge in reply.

“We’ll defeat it,” Rob said softly. “We’ll defeat all of them.”

Galen had heard the words, not in his head, but audibly. He opened his eyes. “Rob? Are you okay?” Galen could feel the pain as the thing twisted in his brother’s chest, mimicking the twisting agony in his own. They were on the floor, Galen’s knees ached from where he had collapsed on them.

“What the fuck was that?” Flash demanded from beside him. Galen looked at his friend. Flash had his hand on Galen’s back, a terrified expression on his face. “What did I just see?”

“What?”

“I think he got dragged in when he touched you, when we fell.” Rob patted Galen’s hand where it rested on his chest.

“Galen?” Flash whispered. “What the hell’s happening? What was that thing?” Flash blinked.

“It’s an Old One,” Rob offered.

“What?” Galen and Flash spoke together, Galen whispering a denial, Flash chuckling a little.

“An Old One. A dark force, like a demigod. It ruled on earth, wreaked havoc, created chaos, fed on humanity…”

“So it’s bad?” Flash said, looking at Rob.

“Worse than bad, Flash.” Galen looked at his friend. “It’s the end of the world stuff the reading was about.”

“When I said end of the world, or when she did, I guess I thought…uh…I don’t know, it was metaphorical or something. I didn’t think it meant the actual end of the world!”

Galen chuckled at Flash’s offended tone. “It’s the actual end of the world.” He frowned at Rob. “Did you guide that vision?”

“Yeah,” Rob smiled. “I told you that I lived and worked with a shaman. Guiding visions is one of the things they do best. He taught me…I can also…”

“What?” Flash said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Can you influence people?”

Galen took a deep breath, Rob stopped him with a look. “Yes,” Rob answered quietly. “I can guide visions, dreamwalk.”

“Dreamwalking is dangerous, Rob,” Galen snapped.

“We’re missing the point here. He can influence people, Galen. He could be influencing you.” Flash was glaring at Rob.

“He’s not.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I can be,” Galen growled. “He can’t alter…”

“How do you know?”

“Flash…”

“Galen!” Rob stood and dashed out of the room.

Flash looked at Galen. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know.” The thing was suddenly alive, twisting in his chest, agony grinding against his heart. Galen gasped, trying to stop the movement. The dark center of the thing was sending tendrils out, a spider’s web slowly filling his chest. “Don’t touch me Flash,” he managed to get out, fearing the contact would allow It access to his friend.

“Here, Galen.” A bottle was pressed against his lips. He drank, feeling the spell slowly work through his body, the tendrils stopped their seeking movement, though they didn’t retract. Galen took a deep breath. The voice was whispering happily, anticipation growing in Its laughter.

“Galen?” Rob asked softly. “Are you there?” He put his hand on Galen’s back. Warmth flowed into Galen.

The voice sighed. “Power, power, power. Yes. Better than I hoped. Much better. Better even than the first.”

The warmth changed, pulsing with white light, silencing the voice.
“Not yet,”
Rob’s voice was loud in Galen’s mind.
“Not yet.”

“I’m okay,” Galen said, opening his eyes and looking at Rob. “Thanks.” Flash looked from Galen to Rob. “I’m okay, Flash.”

“Uh huh. Galen…”

“Don’t start again, Flash. Rob can’t alter…”

“What?”

“It’s hard to explain. It goes with the zapping I do, he can’t change how I perceive him through that, and there’s more, Flash. You didn’t know Dad and Uncle Bobby, but, we…” Galen broke off, wondering how to explain who they were to his friend. Flash was shaking his head.

“I’m on Galen’s side,” Rob said, looking at Flash. “Believe what you want. Galen? We need to perform the ritual before it’s too late.”

“Galen, no. You can’t. Even if you trust him. You can’t. Last time…Shit.” Flash was frowning with concern.

“Last time?” his brother asked as Galen pushed himself up, Rob put a hand under his elbow to steady him.

Galen shrugged. “It was a little rough, Rob, but I figured it out. The spell was wrong, I didn’t find out until too late.”

“How bad was it?”

“Bad,” Flash answered for Galen.

“This is different, I told you. Rob’s here.” Galen smiled at his brother. “I have a small garden in back, will that do? I assume we need to be in contact with the earth?”

“Galen…” Flash put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“Watch the shop, okay?” Galen smiled. “I’ll explain everything later.” Galen turned and walked slowly out of the shop. He could hear Flash’s deep voice and Rob’s baritone answers. His brother’s voice sounded angry. Galen shrugged and wandered across the parking lot to his garden.

He sank down on the bench and looked around. The garden was full of plants. The cold weather had done some damage, but the mints were still growing. The valerian and pleurisy root towered over the soft gray-green alecost and dark green wood betony. The aconite and mandrake were drooping from the cool wet weather. He smiled and took a deep breath, the scent of wet leaves and decaying berries drifted on the air, touched with a slight scent of mint, hyssop and lavender. A sense of peace flowed over Galen as he sat there. The twisting agony in his chest and the voice that accompanied it were suddenly quiet. He sighed and closed his eyes.

“Galen?” Rob asked softy. Galen opened his eyes, his brother was standing at the edge of the garden. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” He stood and stretched. “This part of the garden is bolted.”

“Bolted?” Rob walked into the garden, stopping beside Galen. He looked around and sighed.

“Magical plants to protect the garden.”

“I can see that,” Rob said with a smile. “I can feel it too. It’s not just the plants, you know.”

“Bringing that up, again?” Galen smiled at his brother. “We’ll see.”

“I do see.” Rob walked out of the circle of plants Galen had been sitting in, to the other side of the garden. “I can see this, too.”

“What?”

“You’ve channeled a lot into here. It’s concentrated magic. It will focus whatever ritual or spell you perform here. It looks almost like a vortex.”

Galen laughed softly. “I’m glad, most of the time, that I don’t see the world the way you do. I think I’d be nauseated a lot of the time.”

Rob chuckled. “Yeah. That’s one of the reasons I went to Billy. I’ve learned to turn it off and on now, like Uncle Bobby did. I’m always aware of auras around things, but I can turn most of it off. I can shut down visions too, if I need to. There for awhile…” Rob trailed off and Galen had a brief impression of flashing colors, shouting voices and blood. “I was losing my mind, Galen,” he said softly. “I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Uncle Bobby couldn’t help. I called more than once, you know.”

Galen walked through the garden to his brother. “What?”

“I think he thought it was because the bond was broken, because of what had happened. I was trapped somehow.” Rob shook his head.

“I’m sorry.”
How many sorrys is that now?
Galen stopped himself.

“It wasn’t your fault. We need to start.” Rob carefully laid the things he gathered in the shop down on the ground. “I grabbed the—our—swords. We need them for this.”

“Rob? If we need them? You used this spell to summon me how?”

“It wasn’t nearly as big, you know, and I used my knife and bracelet.” Rob pulled the small knife from his pocket. “You gave them to me, the traditional gift. They didn’t have as much magic, but there was enough.”

“There was only a little protective spell, Rob.”

Rob snorted. “Galen…” He walked over and laid his hand on Galen’s arm. “Look at it.” Galen felt an odd jolt, the connection between them altered a little. Suddenly the world looked different. The knife in Rob’s hand was gleaming with a bright silver light, fluid, like mercury flowing around the small object. Galen blinked. Rob’s bracelet had a similar shine. The garden, near the bench, had a soft curtain shimmering around it, the place where he stood was a swirling mass of colors. Galen swayed, dizzy, as the thing in his chest purred with pleasure.

“Rob?”

“I wish I could show you yourself, Galen. I’m not sure how I’d manage that.” Rob smiled, letting his hand drop away.

“I…” Galen swallowed.

“Yes, yes, power, true power. Unlike any Keeper I’ve had. I’ve waited for you my Emrys,” It whispered against his heart
.

Galen grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him towards the bench, towards the part of the garden he’d bolted against evil. As they stepped through the ring of plants the voice fell silent.

“If you think that is just the plants, Galen, you’re crazy.” Rob stopped and rubbed his chest. “Nice to have It quiet.”

“How bad is it?”

“Nothing like what you experience. It hurts, but…” Rob met his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Galen punched him lightly on the arm.  “It can’t hear us here. What do we need to do?”