Talisman Chapter 5
After a great set at the Rat's Nest, Galen and Flash begin to exhibit strange behaviour. Can Rob figure out how to help them before he falls victim to what's affecting his brother and friend?
Characters used with permission. For Muffy Morrigan's birthday.
Featuring Galen, Rob, Parry and Bobby Emrys, Flash Lynch, Rhiannon, Becci, Sarah and Mike.
xposted at fanfiction.net
Disclaimer: The following story uses characters out of a book series called Custodes Noctis. Used with permission.
Author’s Notes: Written for Muffy Morrigan for her birthday a few months back.
Muffy thanks for letting me play in your sandbox
Talisman
Chapter 5
Rob had found a few answers shortly after he’d sent Flash and Galen downstairs. The amulet belonged to Mathew. But to his surprise he found that it had a mate. When they were together they eradicated all doubt the wearers had and filled them with confidence. When they were separated each piece slowly sucked all life from the wearer by making the person do something he or she loved to do until they died.
Aurora had found them somehow, and it had gone back in history to a Celtic woman who had been claimed by a Viking prince. The prince had given her one of the amulets on their wedding night and kept a matching one for himself. Both were in the style of Celtic knots. One was straight lines curved around in almost rectangular shapes. Hers was graceful loops with a circle in the middle.
The man in the village who had fashioned them was angry the prince hadn’t chosen his daughter for his wife. The lore said he’d wanted them cursed and to end the lives of the royal couple within the year. But it backfired somehow and only strengthened their relationship. Several years later when the prince, then king, perished in battle the Queen died shortly after.
“That has to be the worst story I’ve ever read,” Rob muttered as he tried to search through another page and got a similar story. It wasn’t exactly the same, but along the same lines. Cursed amulets, royal Viking couple and the King died followed shortly by the Queen.
Rob leaned back and clicked on the picture filling the screen with it. It wasn’t a photo but a drawing of the two amulets. One was definitely the one that Flash was wearing. He clicked print while considered the lore and studied the picture.
He knew without a doubt Flash’s first love was music. Rob hoped he was wrong but the only thing he could come up with was the amulet would make him play until he died of exhaustion.
Theory on the lore stated it could also affect the ones around him who cared the most about the person. Rob knew without a doubt Flash and Galen were close, as close as friends could get. Flash had been there when Rob believed Galen had been dead and tried to end his place in the line of Keepers.
Sometimes Rob thought that Galen and Flash were more like brothers than friends. Not that it bothered him, not really, he was glad Galen had someone with him when Rob thought he was dead.
There was no question how much Galen loved to play, but Rob had no idea how much. He would have guessed his older brother would have loved running the store, or hunting, or herb lore or a combination of all of it. Just being a Keeper seemed to make Galen happy. There was the tradition, the lore, the fighting and being with his brother. Galen seemed to be content with his life as far as Rob could see.
But on the other hand Galen’s love of music made sense, too. The only responsibility he had on stage was getting the notes correct and singing the right lyrics. It didn’t have the pressures of being a Keeper. Rob wondered if Flash was right, maybe Galen should’ve stayed dead to him.
That thought sent splintered feelings of sadness as he remembered with crystal clarity when Galen was taken from him. The grief had been overwhelming and he couldn’t even speak for the first day or two.
Rob shook his head, trying to keep from spiralling into the depths of sorrow but he couldn’t help it. The years apart from his brother had been bad for him and he’d learned how to survive and cope without Galen. He hadn’t been alone, Rob still had his foster family, but it hadn’t been the same. As good as they had been to him and as much as they had tried to be supportive, he’d been lonely and missing his brother so much it physically ached. The broken bond left him feeling empty inside, and it was almost as if he’d lost the ability to speak in a foreign language or had lost a limb.
It wasn’t anything he could explain to anyone, and eventually his foster family had stopped asking. It had made it better and worse. They gave him the space to find the solace he was searching for, but it also gave him more time to think about his lost brother.
An all consuming ache flowed over him and he felt his eyes sting with unshed tears. He couldn’t lose Galen again. It wasn’t just that he wouldn’t survive the breaking of the bond, the very thought of being that alone and unconnected again was beyond distressing.
A shiver ran through him at the very thought of being wholly separated from his older brother and he took a long stuttering breath. He could feel panic building inside of him and he did his best to quell it.
Galen was here. He was alive. He was being affected by something but he wasn’t gone. They’d find the answer and fix it. Simple. It was what they did. Almost every day.
“He’s not gone,” Rob muttered to himself through clenched teeth as he tried to push back the feelings. “Damn it, he’s not gone!”
An almost apologetic wave came through the link and Rob shook himself out of this thoughts. Galen was reaching out to him even as he was trying to hold back from the link. ‘Gods. Sorry. I’m sorry, Galen. I don’t know why I’m doing this.’
‘What? Taking a painful stroll down memory lane, Brat?’ Galen asked gently.
‘Yeah, I guess.’ Rob replied and felt warmth flow into him.
‘Gets to us both sometimes, doesn’t it.’
‘Yeah,’ Rob thought as he ran a hand over his face. Talking through the link had stopped the minor tremors that had been running through his body and had gone a long way to calm him. ‘Hey, I’ve found some interesting things here about Flash’s amulet. Where are you?’
Rob shook his head even as he asked. He shouldn’t need to be with his brother so badly at that moment, but he just couldn’t help it.
‘Talking with Becci. She’s still upset about the other night,’ Galen sent. ‘Thought you had eased some of that, but she’s just as upset today. Hiding it well but I can feel it. She’s better than when I got here and she’s kinda frustrated I’m hanging around and worried about her.’
Rob could feel the affection for Becci through the link and he smiled.
‘I’ll bring coffee. Be up in a minute.’
‘Yeah, ok. Don’t let her give you anything but the good stuff,’ Rob said.
‘Course not. It’s me, Brat. No way is she giving me anything but high octane.’
It was almost a half hour later that Galen joined Rob next to his laptop in the kitchen. It had taken his older brother an extra ten minutes to get past the top of the stairs and past where the guitar cases rested on the floor.
Rob had felt his distress, the struggle against the absolute need to play. He wanted to help, but he could feel Galen fighting through the need until he was able to get past the room and into the kitchen. It had been several minutes of touch and go and if need be Rob would have interfered, but he knew his brother was strong enough to break through the need. For now anyway.
“Hey,” Galen said with a grin.
Rob looked over at him as his older brother sat down at the table next to him. He was pale, beads of sweat at his temples but his eyes were bright and his smile was almost cocky.
“Hi,” Rob said as he took his coffee from him. “Thanks.”
“So, what’d you find?” Galen asked as he settled more comfortably on the seat and took a sip of his coffee.
“It has a mate.”
Galen choked on his coffee and Rob shook his head at him.
“Either you just figured out you have decaf or this really surprised you,” Rob said as he frowned at his sibling. “Really? The fact it has a mate surprises you? Seriously?
Galen wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Shut it. Becci said it was leaded. Supremely leaded.”
“Right.”
“So, the amulet has a mate. That’s important because...”
“One without the other is bad. Disastrously bad. Together they are good, not harmful and well ... good.”
“Eloquent as always, Brat,” Galen said.
“We need to find the other one, but we’ll need to convince Alvin to hand it over,” Rob said.
“Hey, be happy he’s not here to hear you call him that,” Galen warned, having witnessed Flash’s reaction to being called by his first name a couple of times. His friend went from easy going to insanely angry. It was always a startling reaction, even though he’d fought side by side with him several times while they’d been out taking out something evil. But it was always a sight to see in any other circumstances.
“Be happy he’s not right here,” Rob snarled.
“Rob,” Galen said softly. “It’s not his fault.”
“Galen,” Rob growled. “Don’t defend him right now. Just drop it.”
Galen sighed as he felt a surge of animosity from his brother. He decided it was better to just let it go for the time being. “So what do we do? I mean you kinda sound like you’re planning something.”
“We need to destroy it. Amulet gone -- problem solved. Really, man, it’s not rocket science here,” Rob said as he studied the screen.
Galen shook his head. “No. No way. Flash isn’t going to give it up. I can feel how attached he is to it already. It reminds him of his aunt, Rob. Look that time in his life was pretty volatile and the time spent with his aunt is one of the most precious memories he has, not that he would ever say that out loud. But I can just feel it when he talks about her or thinks about her.”
Rob turned to look at his older brother. “It’s a cursed amulet. Of course we’re going to take care of it, which in this case is destroying it.”
Galen shook his head. He wanted to go back to playing guitar. This was just … too much. He had to let Flash keep the amulet and they needed to play. “No. I won’t let that happen.”
“Ok. I get that it reminds him of his aunt and that those memories are extremely important to him but this is hurting him. Galen, it’s hurting you and you’re not even wearing it. We have to destroy it,” Rob said and waved a hand in the air. “We’ll get him something to replace it. Something not cursed. Something Celtic and something he’d like, but it one has to go.”
Galen stood up. “You don’t get it. How could you? This doesn’t matter to you. Why should it? It’s not about you. It’s about Flash and me. Something you’ve been jealous about since you started hunting with me again.”
“Galen, wait! It’s not like that!” Rob said and watched, feeling stunned as his brother left the room.
He heard a few clicks from the other room and notes carrying back through the door. Rob’s head fell to his chest. How could he make his brother see how bad this was when he was too deep to understand?
The amulet should be destroyed, but he knew there was no way he’d get it off of Flash. Sure, he could take Flash, the man was no push over, but Rob had moves he would never expect. As another guitar joined in he knew he’d never be able to take on Flash and Galen and win.
Laughter mixed in with the notes and he knew Rhiannon had closed up shop. Her voice joined in with a chorus and he sank back onto the chair. He had to get more information; he had to find the other amulet. Put them together and maybe Flash would give him the other one without a fight. Maybe.
It took a few hours to find more information. The amulets were supposed to be buried with the remains of the children. The funeral home the boys had been taken to had removed the amulets and the few things the family had wanted with them in their coffins and sold them. They had done this to other families as well. There had been a huge lawsuit with over a hundred families. The funeral home had gone bankrupt and the owner had committed suicide. But it didn’t say where the amulets had gone.
He was surprised when he looked up to find his brother sitting down next to him looking contrite. “Rhiannon says I’ve been a jerk and I should apologize.”
Rob’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Really? I mean it's ok. You’re not yourself.”
“Yeah,” Galen said.
The air was thick around them with discomfort and Rob hesitantly reached out and touched his brother’s arm. He felt it. Galen had his gift concentrated on himself on a continual low setting.
“It’s helping,” Galen said softly. “Used some on Flash, too, but it didn’t last. I can’t keep it up all the time but I thought I could help for a bit. Do some research or something?”
Rob could feel how badly Galen was struggling. The offer was sincere and he was in need of a break. “Sure. Hungry? I could get Thai or something.”
“Thai would be perfect. Thanks, Rob,” Galen said and immediately took over where his brother had stopped his research. It didn’t last long. His concentration was short and he reread pages over and over. The words were in English, he just couldn’t seem to process what they were saying.
He wanted to be out in the living room playing with Flash and Rhiannon. He gave himself a mental shake and forced himself to look at the screen again.
Galen flipped a pencil over his fingers continuously until it clattered onto the table loudly. He picked it up and held it between his index and middle finger. He began tapping out a beat on his thigh and started humming along. The next thing he knew he’d closed down the internet and had a word processing page open. He was typing out words, erasing them, adding more. He reviewed what he had.
“That’s terrible. Worst thing I’ve ever written,” he muttered before he closed the page without saving and went into the living room. He talked with Rhiannon and Flash for a minute before he had his guitar in his hands. His fingers slowly and gently picked out a tune as he spoke. Galen only stopped when Rhiannon asked him to.
“The notes are just so sad. Play something light, not so heavy and miserable,” she asked quietly.
In truth he didn’t even realize he’d been playing at all. He frowned down at his acoustical guitar then over at Flash. Galen shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
Flash blinked at him for a moment before his face lit up with a huge grin and he began to strum out some notes. Galen smiled back and joined.
It’s all the same, only the names will change
Every day it seems we’re wasting away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I drive all night just to get back home
I’m a cowboy on a steel horse I ride
I’m wanted dead or alive
Wanted
Dead or alive.
Rhiannon joined in on the chorus but stopped before the last one. Her attention was focused completely on Rob. He stood on the last step before the living room. His face was pale but his eyes blazed pure anger. His jaw muscles clenched before he shook his head and went into the kitchen.
She got up and followed, not understanding what the problem was. Sure Rob and Galen weren’t always thrilled with each other, and she’d been around them long enough to know when there was a problem. They usually kept it to themselves and worked it out in short order. This felt different, though. There was no acknowledgement from Galen that his little brother had returned home. Usually Galen would give Rob a nod or a smile as he continued to play.
This time there hadn’t been anything to show Galen had even realized Rob had returned. What was even more curious was that Flash and Galen had started to play what she thought was Dio’s 'Last In Line.' She stayed for a minute longer because the version they boys did acoustically was one of her favourites, as was the original song.
We’re the ship without a storm
The cold without the warm
Light inside the darkness
That it needs, yeah
We’re a laugh without tear
The hope without the fear
We are coming, home
It was all she could sit and listen to before she felt the overwhelming need to find out what was wrong with her friends. She got up and went into the kitchen to see Rob had left the boxes of food in their bags on the counter and was back in front of his computer.
“So, you going to tell me what’s going on between you two?” Rhiannon asked.
“What?” Rob asked as he turned and looked innocently at her.
“Right. Don’t even try. Just tell me,” she said as she sat down sideways on the chair so she could look directly at him.
They both turned slightly to the open doorway as Galen and Flash belted out some of the lyrics about evil or divine.
“Honey, I saw that flinch. I can see the frustration and the pain,” Rhiannon said gently.
“What are you talking about?” Rob snapped out and immediately looked at her sheepishly.
“Well that and I can see it in your eyes,” she said with a slight smile. “Now suppose you let me know why the guys out there are still playing with bleeding fingers?”
Rob nodded and slowly began to tell her everything he’d found so far. He didn’t realize how badly this whole thing had been affecting him until he’d finished and felt like the some of the weight had been taken off his shoulders. Before it wouldn’t have been a problem. He hunted on his own, dealt with everything on his own, after all his brother and family were dead. But since coming back he’d come to rely heavily on sharing the load with his older brother. Not having Galen to back him up made him feel cold and weirdly naked.
Wearily, he sighed and leaned his arm against the back of the chair.
“Ok, so we destroy it. It’s what needs to be one. Then we find the other one and destroy that too. It’s simple,” Rhiannon said.
Rob shook his head. “Wish it were,” he said feeling drained and realized Galen was pulling energy from him to keep playing.
He shook his head. “Rhiannon, can you do something else for me?”
“Sure.”
“Can you see if you can trace where this amulet went?” Rob said, showing her the picture of the Queen’s amulet. “Need to find where it’s gone so we can get it.”
“What are you going to do?”
Rob glanced towards where his brother and friend were playing. Phantom pain in his arms and exhaustion was oozing though the link making him feel dizzy and light headed. “I have to take care of them,” he said as he stumbled to his feet and went into the living room.
He just stared for a minute. Both of them were bleeding from their fingers and Rob could see them trembling under the strain to keep playing. Rob knew Galen had tried but hadn’t researched for more than ten minutes before going back. It meant both men had been playing now for almost three hours straight.
Rob knew he needed to put a stop to it before it was too late. He walked over and stood between them.
“Stop,” Rob said sternly as he looked between the two of them.
Remarkably both did. They glanced at him and then back to each other.
“You know, he’d make a good roadie,” Flash said.
“Yeah, he would. He’s strong and tough. Lugging our equipment shouldn’t be an issue.” Galen nodded in agreement. “You know we should start playing all over. Start a mini road trip? Maybe a four states in four months?”
Flash nodded. “Yeah. Sound like a good way to do it.”
“No,” Rob growled.
“No what?” Flash looked up at him in surprise. “You don’t want to be our roadie?”
“Or you don’t want to go on tour with us?” Galen asked.
A wave of pain and exhaustion hit him so hard Rob actually stumbled back a step.
“Yeah, ok, a four state tour. Seattle, Oregon Idaho.”
“Dude, that’s only three,” Galen said. “Montana or Nevada or California?”
“Cali’s too big. Montana’s probably more country than us. Nevada. We could hit Vegas.”
“Sure,” Galen said and adjusted his bloody finger tips back onto the frets. He smiled.
Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire
Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There’s a thousand pretty women waitin out there
And they’re all livin devil may care
And I’m just the devil with love to spare
Rob knew Rhiannon was watching from the kitchen. With a deep breath, he beat back the feelings from the link until it was just coming through slightly. A moment later he had his hand over Galen’s heart. He was almost slammed with a vision of his brother playing on stage, but he could feel it being pulled back. ‘Just rest, Galen. I’ve got you. Just sleep.’
‘No. Rob. You don’t understand. I gotta keep playing. It’s the only thing that’s important now.’
‘You need to rest. You can play when you wake up, ok? I promise,’ Rob said as he nudged Galen into sleep. He leaned his older brother against him as he unstrapped the guitar and leaned it against the table. He eased Galen down onto the couch, being careful of his fingers.
He heard a gasp from Rhiannon’s direction but didn’t look. Flash was almost done his guitar solo. Rob put his hand over his heart and was assaulted with a picture of Flash on stage performing. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on putting Flash to sleep. It was harder somehow than with Galen. The surge of adrenaline and the overwhelming need to keep playing seemed to work against him, but he managed to do it. He was surprised to see Rhiannon next to him as she took the guitar off of Flash. Rob’s arms were shaking badly as he eased Flash back onto the chair.
A moment later he too was eased down into a chair with the help of Rhiannon. “I’m ok,” he murmured. “Just need a minute.”
“Alright. But then you’re telling me what you’ve left out.”
Rhiannon was sitting on the arm of the chair waiting patiently for Rob to recover enough to tell her what was wrong. His iron grasp on her arm told her how badly this was affecting him. It was more than just the amulet that was affecting Flash.
“The amulet on Flash is affecting Galen,” Rob said softly. “They both have to keep playing. They keep saying it’s more important than anything.”
“Ok. So, Rob, do you think it might be affecting you a bit too?” she asked softly.
Rob shook his head. “Can you take the amulet off Flash?” he asked. He wasn’t sure he could handle another hit from him like he’d just had.
“Sure, but you need to let go first.”
“What?”
Rhiannon held her wrist up slightly.
Rob blushed. “Oh ... ah ... yeah.” And really what was it with him and Rhiannon. The hug earlier and now holding onto her for dear life? As she walked away from him he could see red marks where his fingers had been and he knew bruises would be there shortly.
“It won’t come off,” she said as she looked over at Rob. “Stay there. It’s just a leather cord. I’ll get the scissors and cut it off.”
Rob nodded and closed his eyes for a minute. He could hear her in the kitchen looking through drawers and heard her come back into the room.
The sound of metal dropping onto hard wood floor made him open his eyes. Rhiannon stood over Flash looking perplexed at the pair of scissors in her hands. Well part of them anyway. Half of the metal was now on the floor.
“I had barely touched it and they just broke,” Rhiannon said bewildered.
“How about pulling it over his head?” Rob suggested.
She tried but there wasn’t enough give or length to do it. Rhiannon looked back at Rob in alarm. “Just what the hell is going on?”
Rob leaned forward and buried his head in his hands. He had to find the other amulet.
Songs used in this chapter without permission, no profit is made on no violation of copyright is intended:
Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Prestly
Last in Line by Dio
Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi
To be continued....
Chapter 6: http://infinit-shadw.livejournal.com/6424.html#cutid1