The Dying of the Light (12 page)

Pleasant lowered the gun, and Sanguine took a step backwards.

“If you want Darquesse dead, why don’t you do it yourself?”

Sanguine grinned. “Because I ain’t the hero in this scenario. The hero does dumb things like go up against the pretty girl-god, and is liable to get himself killed in the process. Me, I have every intention of surviving the next few days. If I see an opportunity, sure, I’ll take it, but I’m not gonna go looking for it. That’s your job.”

“What are her plans?” asked Skulduggery. “Where will she be?”

“You think I’m privy to those details? To Darquesse, I’m the hired help she hasn’t even hired. She won’t even tell Tanith what her plans are. Seems she thinks Tanith’s faith ain’t what it used to be.”

“Is that true?” Stephanie asked.

“To talk to her, my fiancée is just as determined to bring about the end of days as she ever was. But I don’t know. Closer it gets, the more the doubts seep in. Cold feet, as it were. Of course, when she finds out that I betrayed her, she’s gonna want to kill me. So I’m keeping the dagger.”

“You think so, do you?” Pleasant asked.

“Oh, I know it,” Sanguine said. “You know it, too. From this point on, I’m your man on the inside. Because of that, I need some way to defend myself. So the dagger stays with me.”

A moment passed, and Sanguine thought he had overplayed his hand, but Pleasant motioned to Stephanie and she stood up, held the dagger out for him. Sanguine took it, but not by the blade. He kept his hands well away from the blade.

“The Remnants are out, by the way,” he said, once the dagger was back in his possession.

Pleasant tilted his head. “When?”

“Yesterday morning.”

“No. We would have heard something. The news would be full of reports of disturbances and violence.”

“Even more than it already is? Naw, Darquesse gave them an order, so Tanith said. She told them to behave. Guess they’re obeying.”

“Why’d she do it?” Stephanie asked.

“For one thing, she wants an army should she need it. Another, she’s using Remnants to get all these scientist guys to talk to her about magic and quantum mechanics and whatnot. She’s expanding her knowledge in a big way. Last guy she talked to, a guy she turned into a damn chair not a half-hour ago, told her to read something called the
Hessian Grimoire
. I were a betting man, I’d say that’s where she’s going next.”

ood“ morning,” the Administrator said when Stephanie and Skulduggery walked by. Tipstaff fell into step beside them. “Finbar Wrong is here to see you. I asked him to wait in the lobby.”

“Did he say why he was here?” Skulduggery asked.

“He did not. I pressed him, but he seems to believe he has information best delivered personally. I told him you were scheduled to brief Grand Mage Sorrows on your investigation, and when you were finished, if you were so inclined, you would perhaps speak with him.”

“That’s fine,” Skulduggery said.

“Mr Wrong is a most unusual man,” Tipstaff continued, frowning slightly. “He tried to convince me to allow him to give me a tattoo.”

Stephanie grinned at the idea. “And you said no?”

“I did,” said Tipstaff. “I simply don’t have room for another one. Miss Sorrows will be joining you in the Room of Prisms shortly. Have a good day.” He gave them a nod and veered into another corridor, leaving them to continue on on their own.

“What do you think he wants?” Stephanie asked.

“I don’t know,” Skulduggery said.

End of conversation.

Stephanie came to an abrupt halt. “I’m sick of this.”

Skulduggery stopped and looked back. “This?”

“This,” she said, pointing between them. “You and me. The awkwardness. The silences. That uncomfortable feeling.”

He tilted his head.

“I’m not her,” Stephanie said. “But you seem to think that I’m trying to be. Even though I’ve told you a hundred times that I have no interest whatsoever in replacing Valkyrie. I’m helping you because you asked for my help. You came to me and you asked. For
my
help. Not the other way around. I’m not the annoying little girl tagging along.”

“I know that.”

Anger flashed. “
So stop treating me like I am.
”

Skulduggery went quiet for a moment. “I see.”

“Do you? Because I don’t think you do. You’re caught up in our mission and that’s fine. You’re in mourning for Valkyrie, and that’s fine, too. That’s understandable. But don’t punish me for everything that’s happened.”

“I don’t want to punish you, Stephanie.”

“Then stop making me feel like this.”

“I’ll … try.”

All at once, her anger vanished. She felt bad. His best friend had, essentially, died, and she was berating him for not being his usual cheerful self.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes you did. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with you, either. You’re a good person, Stephanie. Or you’ve become one, anyway. You’ve proven yourself. And I appreciate how difficult it must have been to say that just now. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she mumbled.

He swept his hand before him. “Shall we continue on? We don’t want to keep the Grand Mage waiting.”

Stephanie smiled, and they resumed walking. She opened her mouth to speak, but Skulduggery held up a finger to silence her. He tilted his head at the look on her face, took her arm gently and led her down an adjoining corridor. She began to hear a raised voice. Female.

They got to the corner, saw Eliza Scorn standing toe to toe with China. It looked like Scorn would have thrown a punch if the Black Cleaver hadn’t been standing at China’s shoulder.

“Why don’t you just admit it?” Scorn snarled. “You sent Vincent Foe and his gang of degenerates over to the Church to join us. I want a Sensitive down here right now to pick the truth from the filthy recesses of your mind.”

“That’s hardly necessary,” China said, the epitome of calm. “Even if I did do that, which I did, the fact is your weasel-faced little man didn’t know any better, and he allowed it to happen. So the raid you’re here to lodge a complaint against was entirely justified.”

“You set us up!”

“And your man fell for it and, in doing so, broke the terms of your Church’s agreement with this Sanctuary. This is all very regrettable, though it isn’t really, and I wish to assure you that I, in no way, derive any personal satisfaction from any of this, even though I so obviously do. If you feel the need to vent any more of your frustration, please feel free to do so, as I intend to build a collage of this moment and I’d like some more amusing anecdotes to go along with it.”

Scorn jabbed a finger at her. “This isn’t over.”

“I dare say you’re right,” China said, and smiled as Scorn stormed away. She waited a moment, then turned her blue eyes on Stephanie and Skulduggery. “Good morning. I take it you heard all that?”

“We did,” Skulduggery said.

“Was I as marvellous as I thought I was?”

“You were supremely aggravating and terrifically smug.”

“Oh!” said China. “The perfect combination! Come walk with me. Tell me good news.”

They took up positions on either side of her and moved down the corridor, the Black Cleaver a silent shadow behind them.

“I’m afraid good news is in short supply,” Skulduggery said. “Darquesse has freed the Remnants.”

“She did
what
?”

“We sent people to the Receptacle to check. Most of the guards there are dead or injured. Two are missing, probably possessed.”

For a heartbeat, it looked like China might narrow her eyes in anger, but she took a deep breath, exhaled, and calm was restored. “Where have they struck first?”

“That’s just it,” Skulduggery said. “They haven’t struck anywhere.”

China frowned. “So where are they?”

“We don’t know,” said Stephanie. “There’s been nothing on the police scanners or news reports, either.”

“This is just what we need,” China said. “Darquesse, the renegades, and now the Remnants. Do you think they’d be nice enough to stay out of trouble while we deal with the first two?”

“It’s always possible,” said Skulduggery.

A pair of sorcerers passed, nodding respectfully to China, and Skulduggery waited till they were out of earshot before continuing.

“The Remnants, in their natural form, are very hard to control. It’s only when they’ve possessed a host that they can take orders. Darquesse may think she has herself an army, and she may well be right, but there’s a chance that she’s overestimated her control over them.”

“I don’t like relying on
chance
,” said China. “The remaining renegades are still lying low, aren’t they? Well, until they resurface, tell Vex and Rue to take the Monster Hunters and track down the Remnants. Once we know where they are, we’ll take care of them once and for all. If the renegades poke their heads up in the mean time, we’ll take care of them, too. No more half-measures. From this point on, when we solve a problem, it stays solved. No matter what. You two, meanwhile, keep your sights on Darquesse. Have there been any developments on that side of things?”

“We’ve spoken to Billy-Ray Sanguine.”

“You have him?”

“We spoke to him.”

“You let him go?”

“Sanguine finds Darquesse’s long-term goals objectionable,” Skulduggery said. “In his own way, he seems to be on our side.”

“He’s been on our side before, and he’s betrayed us.”

“He’s given us three God-Killers as a show of faith. The ones he destroyed were forgeries.”

“I see. Did he tell you where to find Darquesse?”

“He told us her next move. She’s looking for the
Hessian Grimoire
.”

China frowned again. “The
Hessian
? But that … that’s all theory. There’s nothing at all practical within those pages. I could name a hundred grimoires that would be more useful than the
Hessian
.”

“The
Hessian Grimoire
contains
knowledge
,” Skulduggery said. “That’s what she’s after. The only reason most of those theories remain theories is because there’s been no one powerful enough to test them. Until now. If she gets her hands on that … it’s all over. The one advantage we have is that we know where the grimoire is being stored, and Darquesse doesn’t.”

“It won’t take her long to find out,” China said. “You need to get to it before she does.”

“Agreed,” said Skulduggery. “I was thinking we go and get it tonight, actually.”

“What a coincidence,” said China. “So was I.”

They walked to the lobby and found Finbar Wrong asleep on one of the chairs. His tattered denim jacket was covering him like a blanket and his Doc Martens were off.

“Finbar,” Stephanie said, shaking him gently.

“Mmm.”

“Finbar, wake up.”

He opened his eyes slowly, blinked up at her and grinned sleepily. “Oh, hello. Mmm. Sorry. Where am I?”

“Roarhaven,” Skulduggery said. “You have something for us?”

“I’m in Roarhaven?”

“You are.”

“How did I get here?”

“We don’t know.”

“Maybe I drove. I think I drove. I probably drove. Can I drive?”

“Tipstaff said you had information for us.”

“Who’s Tipstaff?”

“The Administrator. The man you were talking to about tattoos.”

“That’s Tipstaff? I was calling him Kevin. Aw, man, that’s so embarrassing.”

He held up his hands and Stephanie pulled him out of the chair.

“You’re not used to early mornings, are you?”

He shook his head. “Early mornings were invented by the system to keep the people occupied. But not me. I’m on to them. They’re not gonna catch me napping. Metaphorically, like. Obviously, they can catch me physically napping like, four or five times a day, but, metaphorically, I am so far beyond their reach.”

“Finbar,” Skulduggery said.

“Hey, Skul-man.”

“Hello, Finbar. You told Tipstaff you had information you could only pass on to us personally. So here we are.”

“There you are,” Finbar said, his eyes narrowing as he looked around. “Can we trust the others?”

“There’s no one else here,” Stephanie said.

“Oh. But aren’t we being monitored or something?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Well, OK then, though I’d seriously look into planting a few microphones around here. You never know what people might be whispering about.”

“Finbar.”

“Right. Yeah. Something big has happened. Something huge. Last night, while I was asleep? I had a dream about Valkyrie.”

Stephanie looked at him. “So?”

“So, um, so I had a dream about her.”

“So what?”

“No, no,” said Finbar. “I don’t mean I just had a dream and Valkyrie was in it. Although, yeah, I do. But what I also mean is that Valkyrie came to me in a dream.”

“What do you mean, she came to you?” asked Stephanie.

Skulduggery tilted his head. “What happened?”

“I was in some vast city,” said Finbar, “full of neon lights and skyscrapers. I was a Power Ranger. I don’t know why I was a Power Ranger, but I was. I was the Red Ranger. Sharon was dressed up like Princess – y’know, from G-Force? Anyway, we had to rescue our son, who was this weird turtle thing, from all these kaiju – Godzilla and Mothra and Rodan, and for some reason King Kong was there as well, but I don’t think that’s relevant.”