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By Robert B. Hazelton

Disclaimer: The characters within are used without permission for the sheer non profit enjoyment of fans of the Gabriel Knight genre.

Chapter 5

Stagnant air forced a grimace and a sneer as Gabriel flipped open another old cardboard box in Claudia's tiny attic. Most were covered with dust, years had passed them by without any human contact. He pondered why she had so many things so tightly locked away in the past.

The majority of the boxes had been full of knick-knacks, holiday decorations, old pieces of music. Nothing very consequential to his search but certainly revealing. Photos indicated that she had become involved with someone after college and as he pulled out an old wedding photo, he confirmed that she had indeed found a husband.

A bout of selfishness fell over him. 'How could she have done this to me?' He thought then shook his head. 'I was the one who did something...' And he still believed it was the right thing to do. Then he noticed a date at the bottom of the photo. 'June 6, 1996'. A recent arrangement...

There were many pieces of history, specifically from her wedding. A book with a rose within told of the events from the view of one of the bride's maids. Several low quality Polaroid photos had sunk to the bottom depicting the ceremony and the festivities that followed. He frowned at the happiness displayed, the smiling faces. The laughter. Would that ever be him? A man devoting his life to a love?

He tossed the photos back in the box and shook his head. His life belonged to something else. There was no room for such pleasures. And even if there were, his past experience was a clear indication that he needed to keep others out of harm's way. How could he, in good conscience, bring a woman into such a dangerous lifestyle?

He started to turn away but a glint caught his eye-- a sharp light from the tiny flashlight that he held in his left hand. Blinking several times he focused and cast the light upon it, reaching down to seize a cold metal ring. Palming it, he examined it further.

The ring was a beautiful design, a silver band wrapped in tiny carved pieces of ivy. Vaguely tarnished, he rubbed away some of the grime with his thumb, marveling at the excellent condition it was in. Beside the age produced filth, it was flawless. He couldn't make out any blemishes on either the surface nor the interior. He pocketed it and crawled down a small ladder, dropping to the floor of the hallway.

He scoured through Claudia's bedroom once but found no reference to her husband. He frowned as he walked out of the house, again finding more pieces to a puzzle with no image, though at least now there was something faint...

Gabriel fingered the ring again, pulling it out to view under the natural light of the sun. A gleam caught his eyes, forcing him to squint and he fell to the ground clutching his forehead, pain rappelling down his nerves all the way to his feet only to turn around and climb back up to his skull. His mouth opened in a silent scream, eyes pressed tightly shut. Then all at once it ended, the pain dissipated.

Taking several deep breaths, he pushed himself to a kneeling position, glancing down warily at the ring. There was some apprehension within him, something in his stomach that stopped him from snatching it back up. It took a tremendous exercise of will just to pick it up and even then he quickly dropped it into his pocket. Still, the strange uncomfortable feeling remained.

Pressure. Was there anything but this nagging hellish pressure slicing the skull, biting nerves like a ravenous beast? Sweat slid along pale cheeks becoming lost within folds of clothing. Eyes stung, irritated and dry, parched along with his mouth. And the physical pain was the pleasant part.

Gabriel snatched the water from the flight attendant and polished it off in two gulps, leaning his head back wearily. His breath came through thick lungs, contracted by what felt like a gallon of fluid all collected mid breast. The talisman ran hot against his skin almost to the point of scalding...

'Not long now, Gabriel.' He reminded himself, his body falling into a state of semi lucid consciousness. He was lying in a warm pool, floating high above anything solid, his mind completely absorbed by a sensation of nothingness. Had he died?

He rose to his feet his body barely reactive... More just moving via instinct alone, a marionette forced into performance in slow motion. His arms folded over his chest and he took in his surroundings, panic stricken. Fear rose in his heart. He was high above the ground, floating in the open sky... it was as if the plane had simply left him behind.

Again the fear that he had died came rushing back. The creature. Perhaps it has control now. Had it finally widdled him down enough to rip his soul aside? He was tired of fighting...

In the blink of an eye, he was no longer in the sky but rather in the airport, standing next to his motorcycle. He was home. Confusion raked through him and he took a deep breath in an attempt to catch his bearings. His bag was slung on his shoulder, he was no longer feeling awful. What happened? Sleep had never taken him like that...

He got on the bike and kicked it to life, speeding out of the parking garage and headed for home. His mind wandered. Confusion. What else could possibly go wrong? Had something gone wrong? What had he done while he was unconscious? Questions continued to flood him, most unanswerable.

When he arrived in front of Saint George's Rare Books, he stumbled inside and hurried back into his old studio, ignoring Grace as he passed her. Once behind the curtain he hurried into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He heard Grace at the door imploring him if he was okay but his attentions were lost elsewhere...

After retching his last meal up he gazed into the mirror. "Won't be long now, Gabe." He heard his own voice tell him. 'Won't be long 'til it's gone or 'til it has control?' He wondered, pushing the door open slowly. Grace was standing a few feet away, concern etched on her face.

"Gabriel!" She cried examining him through half closed eyes. "Gabriel, are... are you alright?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm just tired, Grace..." He sat wearily on the bed, taking off his coat. "Did you learn anything?"

She sighed. "Since the ring was stolen, Clause never had an opportunity to try and get rid of the thing."

"Check this out." He forced himself to dig into the coat pocket and tossed her the ring. "I found that among Claudia's things." As the ring left his presence, he immediately began to feel better, more invigorated.

"This matches the description of the ring."

Gabriel nodded. "Perchance we can now figure out what Clause did to exercise this thing?"

"It wasn't very detailed but I'll continue to search... I've not heard back from Gerde either."

"I'll give her a call." He replied rising from the bed. "I don't think we have much time..." He glanced down at the talisman. "You know, when I gave you the ring, I started to feel better... When I looked at the ring in the sun, I almost passed out... Some weird pain racked through me... It was almost like I was being electrocuted."

Grace frowned. "That may help us out, Gabriel." She hurried out and sat at the front desk, facing the tiny computer.

Gabriel grabbed the phone and dialed Schloss Ritter, running his hand through his hair as he yawned. He battled exhaustion and found himself pacing to keep himself awake.

"Schloss Ritter?" He heard Gerde's familiar voice on the line and smiled despite the situation.

"Guten tag and all that." Gabriel tried to be light, failing miserably.

"Herr Knight?" She cried. "Ach! I've been worried about you!"

"Thank you very much, Gerde. That's touching." He chuckled. "Have you learned anything about the Maliphrae?"

"Yah, Heir Knight." He heard a rustle of paper. "I've been looking through the library all night but I've only found a few references to the creature. Would you like me to fax it over?"

"That would be perfect, Gerde. Can you do it right away?"

"I'll do it right now."

"Thanks Gerde. I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone and did a face plant on the bed, allowing his body the luxury of real sleep. Grace peaked in from the front room and frowned, walking over and tossing the blanket over the top of him. She observed him for a while, sighing with worry as she returned to her search.

She dialed in the new information Gabriel brought back, including the description of the ring and the reaction he had to it while inhabited by the creature. Leaning back in the chair she contemplated the facts, the chair swaying left and right.

The screeching of the fax machine startled her from thought and she walked over to wait for the cover sheet. It was from Gerde. She considered waking Gabriel but returned her attentions to SIDNEY instead. It really needed to be reindexed, the time to run queries was ridiculous.

She snatched the fax from the machine and riffled through the entries, looking over what Gerde had collected. The information was somewhat scattered but it was expected for the amount of time taken to compile not to mention the vague nature of documentation in the time era that was being explored. There was five pages of typed notes from the Shattenjager library, references from some fifteen books.

As she began scanning the first couple pages, SIDNEY chimed it's completion-- surprising her quite a bit. She glanced at the screen and read the three paragraphs displayed, eyes widening with surprise. She threw the chair back and rushed into the studio, calling out to Gabriel.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she passed the curtain, a bright glow forced her to throw her hand up to shield her eyes. Gabriel was on his back face contorted in apparent agony. The family talisman was glowing bright red and an image... a creature hovered above him. At closer examination, she was able to make out what it was... Malia Gedde?