The Hunt: A Custodes Noctis Book (21 page)

The rider growled and swung down off his horse, drawing his sword and facing Flash he said, “You dare address me, servant?”

“You got a problem with me?”

“Flash,” Galen warned.

“Give me a minute” Flash said, Galen moved towards his friend, recognizing the situation. Flash had gotten them into more than one bar brawl and this looked like the same thing. The rider grinned, his skeletal face lighting with malice, then staggered as the first blow of Flash’s hammer connected with his skull.

The rider stumbled, then lunged forward, shoving Flash to the ground as he drove his fist into Flash’s hip. Grappling with the rider, Flash managed to bring his hammer down on the man’s back. The rider rolled away, dark blood staining his shirt. Standing, he kicked out, his foot connecting with Flash’s head. The champion growled at him and the rider stepped away. Galen moved to help Flash as his friend pushed himself up. The rider started back towards Flash when the sound of a horn rang out through the fog. The horses tossed their heads in the air, neighing with delight, pawing the ground and shifting restlessly as the call sounded again.

“Leave it,” the champion snapped.

“What’s going on?” Flash asked, glancing at Galen.

“Sir,” the rider said, swaying back and forth, his sword raised.

“Leave it, the Hunt calls, we must go!”

“This isn’t finished,” the rider growled to Flash, then walked to his horse, managing to mount, but he slumped forward, unsteady in the saddle.

“Yeah,” Flash answered as they turned their horses and headed into the mists. “What’d he say?”

“That was stupid,” Galen said, frowning at him.

“And that surprises you about me how?” Flash limped towards the car. He opened the door and sat in the seat. “You gonna zap me better?”

“I should let you suffer.” Galen walked around the vehicle. “But I won’t, I might need you when we get to Rob.”

“We headed straight out where you were, but with the fog, it took awhile to get there,” Galen finished and picked up his coffee.

“The fight was way more exciting than that!” Flash said with a grumble.

“You think it was one of the
feorhbealu,
don’t you, Galen?” Rob asked.

“I don’t know, but whatever it was, we haven’t faced anything like it ever before,” Galen replied.

“What was it doing out there?” Rob was picking at his food, Galen could feel worry buzzing along the connection.

“I’m not sure. Like the one that appeared in the parking lot, it was just there.”

“Why? Preparing to break through? The Veil is more vulnerable at Solstice, it’s why the king was always chosen at this time of year.”

“Could be, but why was it…”

“Huh,” Flash interrupted, frowning.

“What?” Galen turned to him.

“That’s kind of strange.” Flash was staring into the distance, his coffee mug halfway between the table and his mouth.

“What?” Galen said again, when Flash didn’t answer, Galen flicked his arm.

“Ow, what was that for?”

“What’s strange?”

“Do you think it’s weird those thingies were there, and so were those guys? I mean they were supposed to be out playing horsie with Rob, right? But they were there, hanging out where those dark thingies just happened to be, where me and Galen just happened to be.”

“It was a coincidence, Flash,” Galen trailed off, thinking Flash could be right.

“I told you, the two of you aren’t seeing this,” Flash insisted.

“The Hunt was created to fight those things,” Rob said.

“Okay, so it was, but what were those guys doing there when they were supposed to be with the rest of them?” Flash asked, looking from Galen to Rob. “And those thingies? And what’s with the guy slapping Galen? And why the hell can’t he get rid of that burn mark? It’s creeping me out.”

Galen raised his hand to the mark as Rob focused on him. He felt the hum of their connection as his brother looked at him with the Sight. Rob gasped, shock ran through the bond. “Galen?” Rob said softly, getting up and coming over, gently turning his face. Unlike most younger
Custodes Noctis,
Rob had the Gift of healing, like the Keepers of the past once had, designed to aid his brother if needed. He placed a hand over the wound, Galen felt the warmth of the healing on his cheek, it spread over his face but stopped at the surface, unable to penetrate the burn mark. “I guess if you couldn’t fix it, I wouldn’t be able to,” Rob said ruefully and sat back down.

“So why?” Flash snapped.

“Ask Rob, he’s the scholar.” Galen chuckled, trying to calm Flash down before he and Rob started sniping at each other. It was good-natured, but he wasn’t in the mood for it.

“You have a Ph.D.,” Flash said to Galen.

“There’s a difference.”

“What?”

“I’m a freak,” Rob said with a frown. “He means I get off on it.”

“Uh huh, right.” Flash made a face. “So?”

“There’s nothing in the Sagas,” Rob said cautiously.

“You see something?” Galen knew the answer before his brother spoke.

“You said the king’s champion was the one who hit you?” Rob asked, Galen nodded. “There’s something more to the burn, I’m sure you know that.”

“Yeah, I don’t like it, either.”

“No.”

“Don’t like what?” Flash stuffed the last of his bacon in his mouth.

“The mark, it’s full of the same darkness as the creatures we’ve been fighting,” Rob said quietly.

“Well, isn’t that fucking lovely,” Flash muttered.
 
“You need to get out of this now, pack up, leave town.”

“We can’t, Flash. On top of everything else, Stephen said this might be our only chance.” Rob shook his head as he spoke.

“And we’re back to him.” Flash frowned at Rob.

“What does that mean?” Rob growled.

Galen’s phone rang, he glanced at the caller ID and flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Galen? It’s Hugh.”

“Hey, how’s it going?” Galen asked, mouthing “Hugh” to his brother, trying to distract him from the argument with Flash.

“I have a bit more information for you. I don’t know how much it’ll help, but I’ve been head down in this stuff for about twelve hours.”

“Thanks. What did you find out?”

“That there’s not a lot of information, reliable at least, about this sort of thing. Do you know how many books, only available in dusty basements, I’ve been through for you?”

“Guilt doesn’t work on me,” Galen said, smiling at Hugh’s tone. “I already promised joint publication.”

“I know you did, I just have to stay in practice for the students,” Hugh said with a chuckle.

“Right.”

“I don’t even know if I’ve been chasing the right thing, Galen, but for some reason something you said just stuck and I couldn’t get rid of it, so I went after that first.”

“What?” Galen couldn’t hear over Flash and Rob, so he got up and walked to the far side of the room, watching a raven hop on the ground outside the restaurant. It noticed him, looked up and cocked its head before returning to what it had been doing.

“I don’t know if I’m even on the right track.”

“Hugh? You thought it was worth following, I trust your instincts.”

“I’ve been after Petronius the Alchemist.”

“You have?”

“Yes, I got that funny feeling, you know the one?”

“All to well,” Galen agreed. He knew exactly what Hugh was talking about, that sense that you had to follow a line of research, even if it looked like it was miles off track. He’d discovered the writings of a very obscure Ninth Century physician just that way.

“So I went after him.”

“I didn’t think there was much out there.”

“More than you might think, once you realize what you’re after.”

“Scholarly vagueness might piss me off this morning, Hugh, I had a long night.”

“You sound like it,” Hugh agreed.

“And?”

“He’s an interesting character. I found records that he was nearly burned as a witch.”

“Yeah, Rob told me he’d found that, too.”

“Did he tell you it was after Petronius had been found at a stone circle with blood literally on his hands?”

“No, he didn’t, though he did say he thought a Keeper had helped Petronius out of the charges.”

“I think so, too,” Hugh said with a sigh. “But…”

“What?”

“According to the court records, he claimed…”

Galen heard the hesitation in his voice. “Hugh?”

“Okay, Galen, I’m getting this third hand, chasing it through copies of reports based on old documents.”

“Hugh!” he growled.

“About four years before he was arrested, his close friends and companions disappeared at the Solstice. It’s strange actually, because shortly after they disappeared the stories about the Hunt began to change.”

“Who were they?”

“Gaius and Robert Emrys.” Hugh paused. “They dropped off the face of the earth, Gauis had sons and they stepped into the Keepers role, but no mention was made of the others until the trial.”

“What did Petronius say?”

“All he said when asked if he’d committed the crime was he was trying to free them. The ‘who’ he was trying to free isn’t mentioned, but it was an Emrys who got him out of it all. Petronius himself disappeared after that, briefly resurfacing about ten years later, then he was gone again.”

“How did Rob miss all that?” Galen said more to himself than Hugh.

“Galen, these documents are… Not just anyone can get to them. I had to pull strings.”

“Rob’s
Custodes Noctis
as well as a scholar, Hugh.”

“I know, Galen, but this isn’t the kind of thing he could have gotten to, so he shouldn’t feel bad.”

“Where have you been researching?” Galen asked suspiciously

“Never mind, but you owe me one a big one, because I need to figure out how to use all this without bringing up my sources.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Galen, you know how much trouble I’ve had with this whole
Custodes Noctis
thing and accepting what that actually means, I still sometimes find it hard to believe.”