Chapter Nineteen
The sound of water dripping beat its way into his brain, each drop impacting with a near physical violence. There was an acrid stench in the air, nearly covering a damp, moldy smell that seemed to seep up from the floor Galen was lying on. He groaned.
“Don’t move.” Rob pushed him flat on the floor. “Let the drug wear off a little more. Trust me.”
Galen opened his eyes to complete darkness. Panic flared. “Rob?” He reached out for his brother, his hand came into contact with Rob’s chest. “I can’t see.” He heard panic in his voice.
Rob grabbed his hand. “It’s okay. We’re in a cellar. There’s no light.”
“Good.” Galen shifted, nausea washed over him in a huge wave.
“Trust me, you want to hold still,” Flash grumbled from beside him.
“Flash tossed his cookies before I could stop him, or help him,” Rob said, putting his hand on Galen’s head. The nausea backed off.
“Thanks. Good job, Flash.”
“I’m a barfer, you know that,” Flash said.
“All too well.” Galen sat up. “You say we’re in a cellar?”
“Or something like that. I’m sure we’re underground. The wall on the far side of the room is dirt,” Rob answered.
“Part of the ritual?” Galen asked.
“Yeah, they need to bury us.”
“What about bleeding us?” Galen reached out behind him, his hand came into contact with a wall. He moved so he could lean against it. The thing in his chest was grinding against his heart in joyful anticipation.
“You have been bled my Emrys for this. Not for everything. Now we wait. Only a little more time and we walk,” It said with a deep pleasure.
“Galen?” Rob asked quietly.
“Did It talk to you, too?”
“Yeah, It said only a little more time and you will see what I can become, what my Emrys will give me.” Rob paused. Galen sensed his brother’s hesitation. “What did It say to you?”
“It said only a little more time and we walk. Rob…”
“It’s okay, Galen, it’s supposed to happen.”
“Would you like to tell me what’s going on?” Flash snapped. “I think we have time.”
“Flash, I’m sorry,” Galen began.
“Yeah. Okay, you know I had a date with Sarah for tonight, right? If this ruins my chances with her, I’ll kill you.”
“Thanks. It’s hard to explain Flash, it has to do with…” Galen stopped. The thing in his chest gave an excited twist. He took a deep breath. Rob put a hand on his shoulder.
“With…?” Flash asked.
“Hang on,” Galen said, straining to hear anything beyond their breathing and the drip of water. Without thinking, he reached out with the Gift, he could sense someone approaching. “Company.”
A door opened and light flooded into the room. Galen blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden light. He looked around, it was a small room, one wall was, as Rob had discovered, dirt. A large stone rested against the exposed wall. The room was empty except for the three of them and the stone. A ladder led up five steps to the door. “Back away from the steps,” a woman’s voice drifted down to them. Rob moved so his back was resting against the wall next to Galen.
The woman came down the ladder, she had a gun in her hands. Galen recognized her, she was the nurse he and Rob had seen as they left the hospital. “Stay there. Okay, bring it down.” A small man came down the ladder, carefully carrying a tray. He put the tray down and then reached up for something else. As soon as the brazier was handed to the man, Galen recognized the scent of the incense.
“I bet that’s my frankincense. Bastards,” Galen said under his breath. Rob chuckled.
The woman walked over towards them and gestured with the gun. “Stand up.” They stood. She walked towards them, stopping in front of Flash. “This one is useless.”
“Gee, thanks,” Flash muttered. She struck him, Flash made a move to grab her and the gun was shoved in his face. “Okay.” He put his hands in the air. “I get it.”
She walked to Rob and smiled at him. “I remember you. Your friend killed my sister.” She laid a hand on Rob’s chest. Galen looked over as Rob’s eyes rolled up. His brother moaned. “Yes, good.” She pulled her hand away and turned to Galen with a cruel smile.
Galen could sense a tiny sliver of It, in her. “Your sister was Ashley?”
“Yes.” She stood in front of him, her eyes searching his. “We’ve been waiting for you. Bring the tray.” The small man slithered forward. He held the tray up for the woman on it were two silver cups and two bowls of grain. She picked up the bowls and handed them to Galen and Rob. “Eat.” They scooped some of the grain out and ate some. It had a bitter undertone that Galen tried to decipher. He knew he recognized it, he just couldn’t place it. When the bowls were empty, she handed them the cups.
Galen turned to Rob. “Cheers, Brat.”
Rob raised his glass with a smile. “Cheers.”
“This isn’t a joke,” the woman hissed. “Drink.”
Galen clinked his cup against Rob’s and drank. He handed the glass back to her. The spell the cup contained was already working on him. He could feel the first tingle of it running down his arms. Not just herbs then. And like the incense designed to alter the Gift.
“Put these on.” She handed a red robe to Rob and a black one to Galen. “We’ll be back.” She turned and left, the small man scuttling behind her. Galen glanced down at his robe, black shot with dark red threads, the fabric shimmering like blackened blood.
“Nice,” Rob said, pulling his shirt off and shrugging into the robe.
“Are you nuts? What are you doing?” Flash demanded.
“We have to go through with the ritual,” Rob explained as the cellar door slammed closed plunging them back into the dark, lit only by the eerie glow from the brazier.
“Why?”
“Hard to explain, Flash. I will later, promise.” Galen pulled on the robe, the smooth fabric sliding over his skin. The spell tingled along his legs.
“You’ll explain later? Yeah, you already said that.”
“Flash…” Rob said. “It’s a little complicated.”
“I’m listening…”
“Galen?” the soft, gentle whisper asked.
“What?” Galen said.
“Galen?” Rob put his hand on Galen’s shoulder.
“Did you say something?” he asked his brother. The voice sounded like Rob.
“Galen?” the whisper came again.
“Or think it?” Galen said.
“No, could it be the thing?”
Galen shook his head. “Sounds completely different, the thing hisses.”
“Yeah, it does.” Rob rubbed his chest. “It’s quiet right now.”
“I know, like It’s waiting for something. Are you okay?” Galen asked, trying to get a sense of his brother. The incense and the drink were affecting him.
“So far, a little tingly. You?”
“Same. Rob…” He sighed. “Can you smell that?”
“What?”
“I think this is going to be bad. Whatever’s coming, they don’t want us to go into shock,” Galen said, looking at his brother.
“What do you mean? Smell what?”
“It’s in the incense. Opium. It’s not what’s blocking the Gift, but I think it is helping the thing get better access to us.”
“It’s quiet for some reason.” Rob absently rubbed his chest.
“Yeah, something big is going to happen, It’s waiting, building Its strength for whatever’s coming.”
“What’s coming?” Flash asked in a deceptively quiet voice.
Galen looked at his friend. “I’m not sure. Rob might have a better idea.”
“Is it like what I saw in that vision?” Flash looked at Rob.
“Probably something like that. It was once like a god, It ruled on earth, and an ancestor of ours banished it to a lesser form.”
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“And if all that made sense to me, I’d ask what are you two doing?” Flash said, looking from one to the other.
“We’re going to let It become what It once was so we can kill It,” Rob said softly.
“Why didn’t your ancestor kill it? When he had the chance?” Flash seemed dubious.
“Rob? You know the sagas better than I do,” Galen said.
“He couldn’t. According to the saga he tried, but he didn’t have the power to actually kill It, all he could do was force It into the wood hag.”
“Why couldn’t he kill It?” Flash asked.
“I…” Rob began. “The sagas are unclear.”
“His brother was dead,” Galen said, remembering the vision the thing had shown him.
“That’s not in the sagas, Galen.”
“No, but that’s what happened. His brother was dead, he was dying, he couldn’t kill It, so he left It to us. The Legacy was clear, there has to be two Keepers to face It.” Galen looked at Rob. “Two of us, Rob.”
“Yeah. Galen…”
The door slammed opened again, light flooded down on them. The woman and small man came down the ladder, followed by ten other people. They filed into the room, standing by the large stone. The woman and small man stepped over to Galen and Rob. She laid her hand on Rob’s chest.
“Rob!” Galen moved towards his brother when Rob moaned and dropped to his knees.
“Stay back,” she hissed in a voice that sounded like the thing. She drew a silver knife and slashed Rob’s arm. The small man scuttled forwards and held a golden cup underneath, letting the blood flow into the cup.
“I’m okay, Galen,” Rob said through clenched teeth.
“Silence!” she demanded. She looked in the cup and nodded to the man. He handed it to her, then bound Rob’s arm in black and red fabric. She walked to the large stone and began chanting, pouring the blood onto the stone and the ground around it. The others began chanting with her. Galen remembered the sound of the language from ten years before.
“It’s talking,” Rob whispered. Galen looked down at his brother, Rob’s eyes were closed and he was holding the arm they’d cut. “Galen, I’m sorry…” Before Rob could finish, two men came down the steps, grabbed Galen and pulled him over to the stone. Galen heard Flash’s protest and Rob’s anxious voice trying to calm Flash down.
They pushed Galen down onto the stone. One of the men held him down while the other bound one arm to an iron ring on the stone and the other to similar ring in the dirt wall. They wrapped a black and red cord around his legs, holding him immobile against the cold, flat stone. Galen looked across the small room and met his brother’s eyes. Rob gave him a small smile. Galen’s heart was pounding against his chest, the thing was beginning to hiss, a rhythmic hiss, like the chanting of the people in the room. The woman approached, she smiled at Galen and held the small knife over his chest.
“We begin what was begun, we undo what was done, we give of ourselves to achieve what will come,” she said, plunging the knife down into the scar where the thing was hissing and writhing in anticipation.
“Yes, yes, my Emrys, it is time. It is time. Soon, very soon we walk, very soon we become.” It was nearly singing.
The woman turned to the others in the room. “The vessel has already given what was needed. She made the perfect sacrifice, her gift was not wasted. He is here. Let it begin.”
“Yes, yes, my vessel she that held me cradled in her heart,” the thing hissed. “See what she gave.” The vision unfolded, a woman in her late fifties standing beside an altar, the child Galen had touched in the hospital was tied to it. The woman was whispering to the child, telling her of the things she had done, of what she was giving. She laid her hands on the child and the girl started screaming. The woman sank to her knees, her life flowing away. Her voice joined the screams of the child as darkness ran over her body and into the child. The woman sighed and fell to the ground. The child was lifted away from the altar.
Galen blinked as the vision ended. He looked around the room, sensing the others that had been there as the thing had lodged in the child, waiting for him to come to heal her, waiting for him to touch her so It could invade. The chanting increased in volume, some of the people were swaying as they chanted. Rob was still on his knees, his head cradled in his hands. “Rob?” Galen reached out for his brother, the incense was blocking the Gift. “Rob?” he tried again. His brother lifted his head. “I’m here, Galen.”
“The moment of our joining has begun,” the thing hissed happily.
The woman with the knife called out, cut her hand and held it down on the bloody wound in Galen’s chest. He felt the small sliver of It in her slither down her arm and into his chest. Pain ran out from the point of contact, shivering along his body. She lifted her hand and staggered to lean against the wall, a smile on her face. The small man approached, cut his hand and laid it on Galen, more of the thing was transferred. Each of the remaining ten did the same thing, each walking away obviously drained, all with a smile of joy lighting their face.
It was hissing now, Its voice full of the same joy reflected on the humans’ face. It twisted with delight, sending shafts of pain, of hot agony, lancing through Galen’s body. “Yes, yes, your family took my life. You will pay before we become, my Emrys, before the final Joining. Yes, yes.”
“We will wait until the appointed hour, and then at last He will be free,” the woman said, walking towards the ladder. The others turned and followed her. The door closed, leaving them in the dark again.
“The dark will remain, my Emrys. Once I become, we will rule a world filled with dark. The Old Ones will walk again,” It hissed against his heart, sending a grinding agony through his bones. Galen groaned as the visions began, he tried to stop them, but they welled up. The Old One was there, standing in the circle of stones, the Keeper before It. The Old One was afraid, the Keeper was chanting a soft spell. It roared defiance, reaching out with a huge clawed hand it ripped at the Keeper. Pain shot through Galen’s body, he struggled against the bonds holding him, fought the voice as It hissed in his chest. He was losing himself to It, he could feel pieces slipping away into the abyss of darkness.
“Galen,” the soft, gentle voice whispered. “Galen, fight it.”
“Galen?” Rob’s voice asked. Galen opened his eyes, he could just make out his brother in the dim light from the brazier. “Fight it.” Rob untied the ropes holding Galen and pulled him up and away from the altar. He guided Galen to the far corner, away from the brazier, away from the stone. “Galen?” Rob asked again, his voice desperate.
Galen fought his way past the vision, focusing on the sound of his brother’s voice, focusing on the warmth of Rob’s hand resting on his back. “I’m here,” he said, his voice rough. “My throat hurts.”
“Probably because you were screaming,” Flash said.
“Screaming?” Galen looked from Flash to Rob.
“Yeah,” Rob said softly. “Galen…”
“It’s all in me, except for the last in you, Rob,” he said to his brother.
“I know.”
“Did you know?” Galen demanded, trying to ignore the thing as It sang in his chest, dancing happily as It pulled Galen away bit by bit. “What are you doing?” he asked as Flash pulled off his t-shirt and Rob began tearing it into strips.
“Trying to…” Flash looked away, swallowing convulsively. Galen looked down at his arms, the symbols carved on his body ten years before were bleeding again, the slashes on his arms open and dripping blood.
“Did you know?” he repeated, grabbing Rob’s arm.
“Know what?” Flash asked.
“About the final part of the ritual. The part in Rob has to be in me to finish this. Rob…”
“I know, Galen.” Rob looked at him with an sardonic smile. “But we’ll stop it before anything bad happens.”
“Before anything…” Flash sputtered. “Hello? In a cellar? Galen’s bleeding? You’re bleeding? Crazy people
with knives? And there’s more? Are you two nuts?”
“Yeah,” Rob sighed.
“Galen?” the soft gentle voice whispered. “Galen?”
“What?” He looked at Rob. “What?”
“Galen? What is it?”
“You don’t hear that?” Galen demanded.
“The thing? Yeah, I hear It. It’s happy,” Rob said, looking at him with concern.
“No, no—the other voice. It sounds like you a little.”
“I don’t hear anything.” Rob looked around. “The Sight isn’t working right. The drink and the incense…”
“Yeah. Rob, how can you fight if I succumb? Will that kill you?”
“I don’t know, Galen. We just won’t let that happen. If you’re right, we both have to be there to kill It.”
“Rob…” Galen paused. “It’ll be like the visions, won’t it?”
“I think so. You have to go through with it, no matter what.”
“I know, we have to stop this before…All of It is in me, except that last part, if we die will it stop?” Galen asked on sudden inspiration.
“I’m not…”
“Try and die, my Emrys, this time it won’t work. It’s come too far for a simple death to stop me. Die and I become, live until I become. Either way, it will happen,” the thing said.
“I guess that answers that,” Rob said.
“Yeah.”
“Galen?” the gentle voice whispered again.
“What?” he snapped. Rob frowned at him.
“Galen, Rob’s right. It has to become so you can defeat it,” the soft voice whispered.
“I’m going insane,” Galen muttered.
“Galen?” Rob finished winding Flash’s shirt around the slashes in Galen’s arms.
“Galen?” the soft voice said.
“What?” Galen shouted.
“Galen, we’re here. We’ll help, trust Rob. Trust us,” the soft voice continued.
Galen blinked, the voice was suddenly more than familiar. He finally recognized the soft tone, the gentle call. He looked wildly around the dark room, hoping to see the owner of the voice. Tears sprang into Galen’s eyes, he looked at his brother. “Dad?” he whispered.
The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 26
