The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book (35 page)

His life.

“No,” Galen said and tried to focus the light into his brother. The dark was filling him like a black cloud obscuring the sun. He took a deep breath and forced the light down one hand and into Rob. The thing was filling Galen, the black tendrils had reached his brain and were forcing their way into his consciousness. Galen focused every bit of healing left to him down his arms and into his brother. He slowly withdrew his hands, Rob’s heart was barely beating, his brother had stopped breathing. “No,” he said. Rob was nearly gone.

“Let me help,” his father said softly.
A warm hand was suddenly on his back. Galen knew it was Parry.

 Galen pulled the light out of his father, as he had ten years before, he could see the light in his hands as it flowed into Rob. It was like he was watching through two sets of eyes, his own and the thing’s, and each got something different out of the sight before them. Rob was dying. One part of him was filled with joy with that knowledge, the other with an almost paralyzing grief.  “Rob?” Another hand touched him and he reached out and drew the light out from that touch as well. Power rippled through him, brushing him like the wind on a lake. The thing recognized the touch and tried to pull Galen’s hands from Rob. In a last desperate moment, Galen focused part of himself through the light, hoping against hope that this plan would work.

The thing tore his hands away from Rob. “We are Become!” Galen screamed, blood running from his mouth from torn vocal chords. The chanting reached an orgasmic level as the thing twisted Itself through the last bit of Galen. He screamed, his voice blended with the thing’s as a black cloud gathered over his head. He was chanting, the power he’d pulled from his brother, his own power, blending together to wrap around him. The power whipped around him, buffeting him with its fury. The swirling power focused to a single shaft and impaled him, running through his body in a huge surge.

Its moment had come. It ripped out of Galen, exploded out of his chest and into the air above him, Its huge form hovering over the clearing, Its breath stirring the trees, Its great wings beating with the sound of a thousand drums. “Finish it!” It screamed.

Galen forced himself up onto his feet and reached for his sword.

“Finish it! my Emrys, you are ended, end the other and we are Become!”

Galen lifted his sword and turned to the altar. Rob was covered in blood. Galen looked down at his hands, they were dripping his brother’s blood, splashing drops on the altar as the thing screamed to finish it. The sword glittered in the light, the hilt was cool against his skin. He raised it, and looked at the thing perched on the huge stone at the end of the altar. “Finish and it is done. Finish, my Emrys.” Galen swung the sword towards his brother. Rob’s eyes were open, he smiled at Galen as the sword sliced down.

“Yes!” It screamed, then roared in fury as Galen slid the sword through the bonds holding his brother to the stone. He grabbed Rob’s sword and pushed it into his brother’s hands as the thing reached down and grabbed Galen in a huge clawed hand. It lifted him and slammed him into the ground.

“Galen!” Rob shouted. Galen looked towards his brother, Rob had rolled off the stone and was pushing himself up. A scream pulled Galen’s attention from his brother, he twisted and saw something dark tearing at Flash.

“Help Flash,” Galen called.

“Galen…”

“Flash, Rob!” Galen got a hand under his body and started to push himself up, his arm gave way and he collapsed back onto the ground. The thing laughed, the sound rattling the stones around the clearing. The power humming through the circle resonated through his body.

“My children are here,” the thing said. Galen looked around, small spots of flickering darkness were popping into the clearing, tattered black rags fluttering in the breeze. Another one of the creatures dropped towards where Flash lay on the ground. Rob ducked as it swooped on him, striking out with his sword. Galen watched as his brother impaled the creature tearing at Flash, its dying shriek was answered by the other creatures filling the air, the clearing reverberating with their keening voices.

Galen tried to get up again, his arm wouldn’t bear his weight. He glanced down at himself, the robe was torn, a giant slash ran down the length of his chest. Taking a deep breath, he managed to push himself onto all fours and crawled towards his sword. He could see it, a few feet away, where he’d dropped it. The metal was gleaming softly in the light of the torches, the smoke from the incense drifting down like fog, partially obscuring his vision. As he crawled towards the sword, he muttered an old spell he’d picked up from a passing Rom witch. A small breeze puffed against him and blew the incense away.  He reached for the sword, his hand only inches from the hilt.

His hand was stopped. Four of the creatures landed on him, slamming him to the ground. Claws dug into his arms, he was pulled up and into the air. They carried him back to the altar, dropped him onto the stone and then settled on him, pinning him to the black surface. Another landed on his body, running a sharp talon along the wound in his chest. It chattered something to the Old One perched on the huge stone at the end of the altar, It laughed, gesturing for the creatures to continue.

The creature sitting on his chest put a hand against Galen’s face. He felt it seeking, digging through his brain, looking for something. It chattered happily, having found what it was looking for. It turned to the Old One and said something, waving a bloody claw. The thing waved a huge hand and the small piece of darkness perched on Galen’s chest flitted away, the creatures holding him down began humming, their voice blending with the chant still ringing through the clearing.

The Old One drifted down from Its perch and walked on huge taloned feet towards Galen, the impact of each step sending jarring pain through his body. It stopped beside the altar and turned towards the people gathered at the edges of the clearing. “The time has come, my people, I walk. With this last moment I am free, with this last moment I am Become, I am yours again and you are mine!” The chant rose, becoming a scream of delight that bounced around the clearing. Galen thought he saw movement to his left, but he couldn’t be sure.

The thing turned back to him. It looked down at him with eyes shifting like smoke. Red to black and back again, like molten rock bubbling under blackened lava. “My Emrys,” It whispered to him, Its voice grating like gravel dragged across a rock. It ran a gentle, almost loving hand down his face, gently cupping his chin before resting Its hand on wound It made when it tore Itself free. “Power, my Emrys, so much, more than any before, and I have had Keepers, my people have fed me Keepers over the years, but never the right ones, never my Emrys,” It sighed, a blast of fetid breath washing over Galen, making him gag. “
My
Emrys.” It laid a hand on his head and a hand on his chest imitating the stance used by
Custodes Noctis
healers.

In a ghastly mockery of the healing, darkness, rather than light, began flowing down from the touch of the thing. Oily black light slid through Galen’s body, cold, filling him with darkness, pulling the last bit of Galen Emrys away, into Itself. Moments later, It pulled Its hands away. “It is accomplished!” he heard It shout. Screams of joy filled the clearing as the thing raised Its huge wings and pushed Itself into the sky. The creatures pinning him to the stone rose aloft with It, dancing in the air in a flitting ballet.

“Galen!” A trembling hand was laid on his arm. “Galen?” He turned nearly unseeing eyes towards the owner of the voice. He knew he should recognize him, but the face, the voice, were meaningless. “Can you hear me?” Even though he heard the words, he shook his head, somehow knowing the man would understand. He heard him, but the words made very little sense.

“Gods,” the man said, looking down at the ruin of his chest. “Galen…” The man closed his eyes. “I understand why now. I hope what you left with me was enough to bring you back.” A warm hand came to rest on his forehead, the man still had his eyes closed, his lips were moving in a soundless whisper. Warmth flowed out of his hands. Slowly, bright white light began to fill him, pushing the dark cold away. A spark of something slid into him, running through his body with an electrical shock.

He could feel the trembling hands on his head and chest, he opened his eyes and looked at his brother. “Rob,” Galen said softly, laying a hand over his brother’s.

“Galen?” Rob opened his eyes.

“It worked,” Galen said, smiling.

“Good.” Rob scrubbed a shaking hand across his face. “Good.”

“Can you get my sword? Before It realizes what’s happened?”

“Yeah,” Rob said, bending to pick the sword up from where Galen had dropped it. He handed Galen the sword. “Galen, your chest…”

“Let’s finish this first, Rob. Help me up.” Rob slid a hand behind his back and help him sit up. Galen took a deep breath, trying to focus healing into himself. The pain backed off a tiny bit. He swung his legs off the altar.

Movement caught his eye again. He glanced towards the forest beyond the small building and saw a flash of light in the dark. Galen nudged Rob, his brother looked over as well. The flash again, this time Galen realized what it was. “Rhiannon. She’s waiting for a signal.” Rob nodded.

“We’re waiting too, Galen,” his father said
.
Galen saw a shimmer of silver light beside him.

“Rob and I have to kill the Old One, the others will have to take care of everything else,” Galen said.

“We understand,” his father said.

Galen looked at Rob. “Ready?” His brother nodded. Galen raised his sword. The Old One caught the movement and turned in the sky, diving down towards them, the dark creatures flowing down behind It chattering and shrieking as they descended. The thing slammed into the ground with enough force to topple some of the stones lining the clearing, the creatures dropped down beside It. Galen took a deep breath, “Now!” he shouted.

The clearing suddenly shimmered, silver light began pouring into the dark circle of stones. The people surrounding them stopped chanting. One of them screamed as Rhiannon burst from behind a tree, sword in hand. The woman who had led the ritual turned towards her. She dove towards Rhiannon, pulling a knife from her belt as she ran. Rhiannon stopped, looked at the woman, held her sword in front of her and waited. Galen could hear her counting as the woman plunged towards her. Rhiannon looked over at him with a grin, pulled out a gun and calmly shot the woman.

The Old One screamed with rage. The dark creatures were fighting for their lives as the shimmering figures moved between them. Galen recognized his father and uncle, and the man from his vision, the first Emrys. Dark and light swirled around him, the sounds of screams, of shrieks, of death flowed over him.

His entire focus was taken up by the thing as It approached them.

Rob put his hand on Galen’s arm.
“I’ll move to the rear,”
Rob’s voice played in his head.

“Okay, be careful,”
he thought back.
Rob nodded and slipped to the side. One of the silver figures moved in front of Rob, blocking his brother from view. The thing struck out at the shimmering form. Galen heard a scream of pain and the light was abruptly gone.

“Yes, My Emrys, yes, I can kill them, my children can kill them,” It said, dark laughter bubbling out of It.

Galen looked around, the battle was raging, bright light blending with darkness, disappearing as one or the other was killed. The air was full of human screams, defiant battle cries and the shrieking of the dark creatures as they died. Galen’s focus wavered for an instant when he realized a figure curled on its side was Flash.

The thing acted in that moment, swiping at him with a huge hand, claws like steel catching him and lifting him away. He felt himself move through the air and then slam down against a stone. A silver figure bent to help him up, the hands holding him were no more than a whisper of warm air. He met the sparkling emerald eyes and smiled his thanks. A gentle breeze wrapped around him, he felt a tiny shiver of energy radiate out from the touch. “Thank you,” he said, the figure dipped his head in acknowledgement and turned to slice through one of the dark creatures in an easy swing.

Galen forced himself back towards the Old One. It was waiting by the altar, watching the battle around it, occasionally reaching out to cut through a fleeing human. “Fools, abandon me now and die,” It roared.

Rob had edged around behind It. He looked over and caught Galen’s eye.
“Wait for me, Rob,”
he thought, hoping it would reach his brother. Rob smiled and nodded.

“Right, you wait for me, too,”
Rob answered.

“Yeah, we need to kill it together. Our swords have to pierce It at the same time.”

“That’s not in the sagas.”

“Yeah, well, fuck the sagas.”
Galen saw his brother blink at the unaccustomed profanity. Galen grinned, then grimaced as his legs dropped out from under him. He tried to force himself up, knowing he was very nearly at the end of his ability to keep going. One of the dark creatures landed on him, tearing at him. “Galen!” his father shouted, he realized he heard the shout audibly. Galen felt flesh tear before the creature was cut in two. Hands pulled him upright. “Galen, can you go on?” Parry asked.

“Yeah, can you and Bobby try and keep them off Rob and me while we finish this?” The shimmering form of his father nodded.