Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked (57 page)

Valkyrie followed Skulduggery to the edge of the circle, their discs floating into their hands. Her hair whipped round her face. It was like standing in a pool of static electricity. She could feel her strength draining, and didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep it up. When it was almost too much, she released her hold. Immediately she started to feel strong again.

“Give it a moment,” Skulduggery said from beside her.

When she was back to full strength, she picked up the disc once more. Gritting her teeth, her body trembling slightly, she watched as all around the field sorcerers sent their power into the beam of debilitating energy that kept Argeddion trapped.

“It’s working,” she managed to say, then frowned. “Where the hell is Kitana?”

Argeddion twisted, tried to reach out beyond the energy, but the beam was too thick. He pressed one hand down, grimacing as he struggled to do the same with the other one. The energy hit his palms and spilled over but still he pressed down. He was focusing on his own energy, pressing it down further, shifted into a better position, and then he pushed. The beam rippled, the ripple hurtling down its length in an instant and the Tempest shook, got brighter.

Skulduggery cried out a warning but it was too late. The Tempest exploded, sending out a shockwave that took everyone off their feet. Valkyrie hit the ground and kept rolling, glimpsed Skulduggery crashing through the door of the old barn.

When she came to a stop, her head was ringing. She looked up, saw Argeddion, floating there, exhausted but recovering his strength quickly. The Tempest was destroyed. Their one chance to stop him, gone. And Kitana and the others hadn’t even bothered to—

A stream of energy hit Argeddion from above and he cried out, went tumbling through the air as Kitana and Sean and Doran swooped down out of the clouds. They all fired, each of their streams connecting, each one sending Argeddion spiralling in a new direction. Doran burst forward, grabbed Argeddion, spun him and hurled him straight down. Kitana cheered as Argeddion hit the ground.

Greta Dapple emerged from her cottage, moving as fast she could. Valkyrie groaned as she got up.

Kitana landed. “Hey there,” she said, and lashed out, sending Argeddion sprawling over the smoking remains of the Tempest. “We don’t mean to be ungrateful or nothing, but we’re teenagers, you know? We need a positive role model in our lives, and you’re not it.”

Her hand glowed and a beam sizzled through his back. He screamed and she laughed, and then he rose into the air, but it wasn’t his own doing. Sean was in control, grinning as Argeddion contorted in pain.

“Sir,” said Doran, “I just want you to know how much we appreciate all this power you’ve given us. It was really very nice of you. Thanks.”

“Stop that!” Greta called. “Put him down! Stop that right now!”

“Stay back!” Argeddion shouted, but she kept coming.

Valkyrie cursed under her breath, started running to intercept.

Sean let Argeddion fall, and Doran hunkered over him, started hitting him. “Thank you,” he kept saying as he punched. “Thank you.”

Argeddion didn’t even try to defend himself. He just kept reaching for Greta. “No,” he gasped. “Don’t. Stay back.”

Kitana grinned. “Nonsense. Come forward, old woman.”

Greta was out of breath when she reached them. Valkyrie was sprinting towards her.

“You let...” Greta said, “him go...”

Kitana looked back at Argeddion. “I have to say, and I don’t mean this as a come-on, but you could probably do better.” She looked at Greta and smacked her across the face, and the old woman was dead before her feet had even left the ground.

Valkyrie roared and leaped and Kitana turned, punched her in the gut. Valkyrie folded, spinning away, her insides broken, her lungs empty.

“
Greta!
” Argeddion screamed. “
Greta!
”

His screams sliced into Valkyrie’s head and she felt like her skull was going to crack open. Doran stumbled back and Sean stomped on Argeddion’s head until he shut up. Valkyrie sagged.

“Doran,” Kitana said, “stop. Don’t kill him.” She nudged Valkyrie over on to her back, and smiled down at her. “Hear that? We’re not killing him. What, did you think we were stupid or something? It was so obvious from the way you lot jumped all over our little plan that you wanted us to do it.”

“Two birds with one stone,” said Sean.

“That’s it exactly,” said Kitana. “We kill him, we lose our powers, don’t we? I mean, it’s the only logical conclusion. So we’re not killing him. You know what we
are
doing? We’re going to dump him in that cool glowy square thing so he’ll be trapped and we’ll stay like this for ever.”

Sean picked Argeddion up and rose into the air. Doran followed, and Kitana was the last to go. “Oh, Valkyrie?” she said, right before she flew off. “This is over, and I’m the one wearing your jacket.”

She laughed, and they were gone.

Valkyrie tried to breathe.

She heard voices. Someone dropped to their knees beside her. Reverie Synecdoche. The doctor. She felt hands on her, warming her skin, easing the pain, and then her lungs filled with oxygen and she gasped.

“Don’t try to sit up,” Reverie said. “You’ve got internal bleeding. We need to get you back to the Sanctuary.”

Valkyrie grimaced, looked around. Sorcerers and Cleavers were organising themselves, preparing to return. She saw Skulduggery striding over. He had a black metal case in his hand – the case that held Vile’s armour.

“Thank you, Reverie,” he said, scooping Valkyrie up in his arms. “I’ll take her to the Sanctuary immediately.”

“But it’s been evacuated!” Reverie shouted after them as Skulduggery rose into the air. “There are no doctors there!”

They angled towards Roarhaven, quickly leaving the field behind them. “I’m fine,” said Valkyrie as they flew.

“Of course you are,” Skulduggery replied. He’d lost his hat and his jacket was torn.

She did her best to shut out the pain. “Where’d you find the case?”

“Greta’s barn. Argeddion hid it close to home. Vile is the only chance we have now of stopping them. And if by some ridiculous stroke of luck he does stop them, then you need to stop me.”

“How? By bleeding on you?”

“By being your usual charming self.”

“Ah,” she said, trying not to cough. “My secret weapon.”

They reached the Sanctuary and Skulduggery took her inside. They flew gently through the empty corridors and down the steps.

Voices up ahead. Arguing. They heard snatches of the conversation. They’d successfully moved the Cube back inside the Accelerator, but Kitana didn’t know how to open it and for some reason she was blaming Sean. From the sounds of fists against flesh, it seemed as though Doran was in charge of keeping Argeddion unconscious while they figured it out.

They ducked into a room and Skulduggery set Valkyrie down. She leaned against the wall and did her best not to pass out. He didn’t say anything as he stepped into the corridor with the case. He didn’t need to.

He undid the first clasp and then Sean grabbed him, hurled him into the wall.

“Told you!” he shouted. “Told you I felt something coming!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kitana said from the Accelerator Room. “Just kill them, would you?”

Valkyrie stumbled to the doorway in time to see Skulduggery reaching for the case, but Sean picked it up, held it tight to his chest. “You want this? What’s in it? It’s probably important, isn’t it? I’ll let you have it if you beg. Go on, skeleton. Start begging.”

Black liquid dripped from the case, forming a little puddle at Sean’s feet. The dripping quickened, and liquid began to leak from the other end, flowing steadily now, like the case was filled with oil. Sean noticed, and adjusted his hold, and the case sprang open and a wave of black burst forth, splashing down on to Skulduggery, covering him from head to foot, wrapping round him, getting thicker, forming armour. And slowly, Lord Vile looked up.

Sean let the case fall. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”

Vile lashed out, a wall of shadows smashing into Sean and throwing him back.

“Hey!” Sean yelled. “Help!”

Kitana emerged from the other room and froze. Doran came behind her. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s him!” Sean said. “It’s the skeleton!”

Vile kicked him and Sean went sliding across the floor. Kitana’s hand glowed, and a streak of energy hit Vile in the back. He staggered, his armour coiling and thrashing. He’d been hurt.

He turned, and sharp tendrils of shadow converged on Kitana’s position. She fell to her knees with her hands covering her head, but the shadows could only slither across the force field surrounding her body. She looked up, the realisation that she had somehow protected herself making her braver. She stood, still flinching whenever the shadows snapped at her like angry snakes. Those shadows withdrew at Vile’s command, and Kitana grinned.

“Get him!” she commanded, and Doran and Sean flew at Vile.

Valkyrie stumbled sideways, almost falling to the floor, and when she’d sucked in another breath she tried to straighten up, and found Kitana standing in the doorway.

“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” Kitana said, and she punched through Valkyrie’s chest, grabbed her heart and squeezed—

—and Darquesse felt her heart burst, and it was like a million suns exploding inside her, a cascade of sensation that burned through her mind and lit up her thoughts. She felt, even in that instant, how her body was preparing to shut down, how it was all going to judder to a stop in the next few moments.

The next few moments were, of course, an eternity for someone like Darquesse. If Kitana had really wanted to kill her, she should have destroyed the brain. Without the ability to think, there’d be no way that Darquesse would be able to ignore the trauma and heal herself over while Kitana’s hand was still inside her.

Kitana’s big blue eyes widened, and she tried tugging her hand free. Darquesse gave her a smile, allowing herself to be dragged forward a few steps. It looked like Kitana’s wrist had fused to Darquesse’s chest. All very amusing. Finally, Kitana freed herself, and Darquesse healed again even before the blood had fallen to the ground.

Kitana backed off. “How can you do that?”

Darquesse didn’t pay any heed to the words. The girl was trivial, and didn’t deserve her attention. The power she wielded, however, was something that demanded more study. She saw how it flickered around the edges of the girl’s being, lapping like hungry fire. Such a delightful thing. Darquesse reached out to touch it but Kitana slapped her hand away.

Darquesse laughed, and hit her, and Kitana went away and Darquesse stepped into the corridor. Doran was on the floor, trying to get up. Lord Vile had turned his full attention on poor little Sean. He was using a trick that was affectionately known as the death bubble. She watched it expand to envelop the boy, and the life energy around his body dimmed immediately, losing its colour, fading into grey. His face, meanwhile, went white, eyes wide and mouth slack.

Darquesse watched it all unfold, waiting for Vile to draw the bubble back into himself, taking Sean’s life with it. The force field couldn’t do anything against an attack like this. This was magic, not instinct, and none of these children knew the first thing about magic. They’d been presented with a gift, and then just figured out the best ways to use that gift to hurt people. They were clumsy, awkward creatures with no understanding of the power at their fingertips.

A stream of energy hit Vile and he stumbled. The death bubble collapsed and Sean dropped to his knees, sucking in lungfuls of air. Kitana waved her arm and Vile flew backwards, smashing through the wall. She reached out with both hands, straining, and Vile contorted amid the rubble. Magic twisted in the spaces between them, invisible to the human eye but oh so obvious to Darquesse, who saw things much more clearly. Kitana was trying to tear Vile apart. It was fascinating to see, this girl with so much undeserved power going up against a weaker but more skilled opponent. And she was trying so hard, bless her. Her teeth were gritted, muscles were straining, and sweat was starting to roll down her red face. She was putting everything she had into this, but Darquesse’s brand-new partner still managed to hold himself together. What an impressive creature he was.

Darquesse moved in, shoved Kitana back and kicked at her leg. The girl’s force field was adapting, reconfiguring itself to defend against physical attacks. Darquesse kicked again and again, her boot smashing against the force field, driving the leg back slightly but not inflicting any damage. Darquesse ignored Kitana’s laughter and focused instead on the fields of power she was picking up whenever they clashed. Kitana’s power was purely instinctual, the force field a defence conjured up out of desperate necessity. But there was no thought behind it, no design, no subtlety, and as such it was a brittle thing, easily broken. Darquesse kicked again, and at the same time she sent her magic twisting downwards. The force field held against her boot but her magic slipped through, curled round Kitana’s leg, went taut and then snapped. Kitana’s leg broke backwards and her scream was like something a wild animal might utter.