Despite the pain and the humiliation she felt, Valkyrie could not help but smile. "You never cease to surprise, Skulduggery."
"It's one of my best sides, I will admit."
Skulduggery twisted his wrists a little and suddenly the chains loosened that bound his magic. In the same moment that his magic coursed through his body he began to untie Valkyrie's chains. It didn't take him more than a minute and Valkyrie sighed with relief when she could feel her own magic flow through her. The disadvantage was that the pain, which she had forgotten when Skulduggery attacked Vladimir, came back with full force and she had to force herself not to moan loud.
Without a word Skulduggery lay his jacket over Valkyrie to cover her wounds and nakedness before he took her in his arms. He used the air to break the window and then jumped out through it with Valkyrie tightly pressed against his skeleton. They landed softly on the ground, but before Valkyrie had time to turn around and look at her surroundings, Skulduggery had already rose from the ground.
The air made her wounds sting even more and everytime her heart beat, the wounds pulsed. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the feeling of Skulduggery's skeleton against her own body, but it didn't help. She bit her lip and took a steadier grip on Skulduggery's shirt.
"Are you in great pain?"
"I'm doing alright... What I worry about... the most is... the blood loss."
"Do not worry, I will take you to Synecdoche so she can patch you back to normal. I will not let you die in my arms, Valkyrie."
"Thank you for making me feel better, Skulduggery." Valkyrie smiled at him. "But... If I now shall die I can not think of a better place than up in the clouds together with the person I respect and love the most."
"I love you too. Until the end."
"Until the end", Valkyrie said before she closed her eyes and laid her head against Skulduggery's bony shoulder.
She must have fallen asleep for a while, because the next time she opened her eyes the forest that had lay under them had disappeared and in its place was a mountain landscape. Valkyrie had no idea where they were and was just about to ask Skulduggery about it, when a sound made her look down. Under them, on a ledge, stood a man with an automatic weapon that was pointed towards them.
Valkyrie shouted a warning and Skulduggery had just enough of time to evade when the man opened fire. The shoots hailed around them and Valkyrie could feel and hear how many of them stretched past close by. Skulduggery managed to evade the first round and while the man reloaded Skulduggery turned towards her and said:
"We may be forced to land. Unless you prefer to get shot at?"
"I've been both shot at and shot more than once and that was one time too many. So I would be really happy if you landed on a little more secure place."
They dived and the ground came towards them fast. Just before it would have broken all their bones, Skulduggery used the air to decrease their descent and soon they both stood with their feet on the ground again. Valkyrie was swaying and Skulduggery took her hand to support her.
"We have to move. We don't know if there's any more armed men close by."
"Just give me a few seconds..." Valkyrie gasped and tried to breath normal while she pressed the dizziness away.
"We have to move now."
Valkyrie looked up and could see the shadows of three shapes move towards them behind a boulder. She cursed and followed Skulduggery on staggering legs. She kept as close to him as she could, but the blood loss made her weak and the dizziness forced its way into her all the time, despite her doing her best to keep it away. She knew that if they would be forced to fight against Vladimir's men she would not be much help and probably be overpowered and killed despite all the training she had been through under her 13 years as a sorcerer.
Voices and the sound of footsteps around them made Valkyrie understand that their pursuers either knew where they were and played a sick version of cat-and-mouse with them, or that they had seen where they'd landed and searched in the nearby area. Despite which, they were much too close for Valkyrie's taste, so despite big protests she forced her body forward. She bit her jaws together hard in an attempt to close out the pain while she concentrated on walking as quiet as possible.
Skulduggery turned towards her and laid his index finger against his teeths in a gesture that told Valkyrie she should be quiet. Valkyrie nodded and followed in Skulduggery's foot steps while she turned her head to try to get a perception of where their pursuers were.
How could they know where we were? They had after all set a trap for us. If I hadn't discovered the man with the automatic weapon in time... Valkyrie thought and a shiver traveled along her spine up to her neck. Vladimir must have put some kind of tracking transmitter on one of us that allows him to see where we are. But on who and where? On our clothes or tattooed on Skulduggery's bones or my body? Maybe he has done something similiar that Cadaverous Gant did on me a couple months ago when he kidnapped Alice?
A sound made her look up and in the same moment that she had time to register the danger it was already too late. A fist hit her right cheek and made her fall backwards down on the ground. Her head spinned from the punch and before she had time to orient herself she felt the weight of a mans body sit down over her waist. The weight made her wounds crack open and begin to bleed again.
"So, there you are! Me and my buddies thought we heard the sound of foot steps nearby and went to investigate and look what we found! I believe it is our lucky day today." The man turned his head and called for his comrades.
Valkyrie tried to push the man away, but she was too weak and he too heavy. She could see Skulduggery a few meters in front of her where he was busy fighting against another man and she became relieved when she understood that he was in no immediate danger so far. She turned her attention towards the man that sat on her. He had a goatee, dark brown hair and green eyes. He was dressed in some kind of leather attire that would make him look cool, but which Valkyrie only thought looked silly and rather made him look like someone that has been kicked out from a motorcycle club.
The sound of rolling stones and stomps of boots made her turn her head and what she saw got a lump of fear to paralyze her for a moment. Five men with identical outfits like the man that sat on her walked forward with a smile glued to their lips. They all had a weapon in their hands and if Valkyrie had been wearing Ghastly's protective clothing she would not have had to worry about bullets.
But now...
A gust of air swept past above her and the man that sat on top of her flew away like shot from a canon and hit the others with a loud bang that echoed in the otherwise so quiet mountain landscape. While the men were busy with untangling themselves from each other she felt a hand in hers that pulled her up. She looked up into Skulduggery's black eye sockets and saw a glimpse of worry reflect in them.
"Can you fight?"
"I think so." She gave him a smile. "I simply have to be the one that strikes first."
Skulduggery did not answer her smile but instead lay his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Be careful."
She nodded. "Always. And you too."
Skulduggery nodded and they both turned at the same time to face the angry group of men. They had managed to stand up and had laid their hands on the weapons they had brought with them. In the same moment that they fired the weapons Skulduggery laid a protective shield of air around them and Valkyrie shoot out lightning from her fingertips that made on of the men to fall in a faint to the ground.
When the men was forced to reload Skulduggery flew towards them and gave one of the men an elbow in the face while he at the same time hew down another one with a kick to the knee. Valkyrie could hear the sound of bones that broke and the landscape was filled with a heartbreaking scream. Quickly, while the remaining three men was busy with staring at their fallen comrade, Valkyrie ran forward and tripped one man before she stood up and knocked out another one.
She was just about to turn towards the last man, when a white-hot pain in her back made her scream and fall down to the ground where she curled into a ball. Her teeth rattled and her body shook of spasms. She had been tased!
Come on, move! You will die if you do not move!
A foot appeared in her field of view. It was a black boot with steelcap. It was pulled back and without her being able to do anything it hit her with full force in the jaw. She heard how something broke and a flavour of blood filled her mouth. She panted of pain and curled even more to protect herself from more kicks.
"You surely aren't that though when it comes around. I that has heard so much about the feared Valkyrie Cain. So wrong I had."
The man with the goatee stood over her and when Valkyrie glanced up she could see that he was smiling. He had a electroshock baton in his hands. So it was that one I felt in my back... she thought.
"I have to admit that I feel a little sorry for my brothers. Vladimir has promised us that we can do whatever we want to with you if we manage to capture you." The man shrugged. "Well, it will be more over to me, so I shall not complain."
Where is Skulduggery?
Valkyrie tried to sit up but her body did not want to obey. She was still shaky after the shock and needed a few more seconds to get herself under control. She let her gaze sweep over the landscape and saw to her horror Vladimir stand a few meters away with Skulduggery's lifeless body in front of him on the ground. How had he come here?!
The man with the goatee turned his head and also caught a glimpse of Vladimir. "That was about time. Now that you've had your little fun it has to be our turn?"
Vladimir nodded. "I've already cleansed her soul from sin. She has felt pain and she has understand why. The only thing that's left now is for her to accept the pain and embrace it. That I assign to you and your men. I understand that it was a long time since you last saw a women, let alone felt and touched one."
The insight hit Valkyrie like a hammer blow. "No..."
"Yes, my dear Valkyrie. I am unable to do such a horrible action towards a women or man, but that is these men. They are barbarians and doesn't live on anything else but people's suffering. In other words they are a perfect tool for me when I need a little extra help with getting sinners to realise their mistakes."
"You can't... I won't allow you to..."
"You can not change what is already predetermined, Valkyrie", Vladimir interrupted her. "Now enjoy your last moments of life. It will soon be over, I promise."
The man with the goatee grabbed her hair and lifted up her face so it floated just some centimeter from his own. "This will be fun. You maybe don't want to confess it to yourself, but I can see on you that you're a girl that likes it rough, right?"
"Fuck off!"
"Oh, a feisty little girl! This will be better than I first thought."
The Goatee grabbed his belt and unbuttoned it without releasing his hold of Valkyrie's hair. She ignored the pain in her hair and instead concentrated on getting her paralyzed body to obey her. She felt a weak tingle in her leg and could move it without problem. She concentrated and managed to move her other leg as well. She closed her eyes and relaxed, in hope of getting the Goatee to believe that she had given up and that he thereby would lower his guard.
"Are you giving up already? What a shame, I that had hoped on a little resistance. But you take what you have."
Valkyrie let a sob escape her closed lips to maintain the illusion of her resignation and bent down her head so the Goatee should not see the grin on her face. Now she could move her whole body and just waited for the right moment to strike.
The Goatee leaned forward against her and whispered in her ear: "This I will really enjoy..."
Valkyrie lifted up her head. "Me too", she said and kicked the Goatee right between his legs.
He gave out a scream of pain and released his grip of her. His hands lay around his crown jewels and he had to struggle to get air into his lungs. Valkyrie took the opportunity and kicked the Goatee in the head so he lost consciousness. She then turned towards Vladimir.
"Skulduggery. What have you done to him?"
"Oh, not really anything. He's just a little unconscious, that's all. He'll probably come around just in time to see me kill you."
"What makes you think I won't have time to kill you first?"
"Because of these."
Before she had time to register what happened, Vladimir suddenly stood next to her. She was just about to hit him in the jaw, when a flaming pain made her pant and go down on one knee. When she looked down on herself she could see Vladimir's hand that was inside her wound on her stomach. He turned his fingers and Valkyrie screamed.
"This is what I mean. You sinners believe that you're better than the rest of us and that no one or nothing can get to you. That's why you're so easy to assault and overpower. That's why you always fall in the end."
"If you... think that... I will... give up... you're wrong."
"Oh, I am fully aware that you are not going to stop struggling until you are unconscious or dead. I've counted on that. The reason why you're not dead yet is because I want the skeleton detective to see you die. I want him to see when your life slowly flows out from you and I want to see when the insight strikes him that he could not do anything to stop it."
Valkyrie did not answer. Instead she smiled and spit Vladimir in the face before she pulled back and with a gasp pulled away from Vladimir's grip on her stomach. In the same moment as she'd break lose Vladimir fell to the ground. Behind him stood a furious Skulduggery. He took a hold of Vladimir's collar and pressed his face so close to Vladimir's that Skulduggery's nasal bone and Vladimir's nose touched each other.
"I warned you, did I not?" Skulduggery said with such a voice filled with so much fury and hatred that Valkyrie was forced to take a step back and which made Vladimir turn pale with fear. "I warned you to hurt my partner. You that state to know so much about me and Valkyrie should know that when I get pissed off you do best to run and hope that I will not catch up."
Before Vladimir had time to answer Skulduggery grabbed his neck and turned with such force that Valkyrie thought Vladimir's head would rotate 180°. A high cracking of bones that breaks filled the landscape and echoed between the cliffs.
Valkyrie twitched when Skulduggery threw away Vladimir's lifeless body that fell to the ground with a thud. When she turned her gaze towards him he stood with tied fists and with his gaze fixed on the dead man. She could see the fury that surrounded him and that made her worried.
"Skulduggery...?"
He didn't answer. He just continued to stare at Vladimir's dead body.
Valkyrie walked over to him with a slightly limp walk and laid her hand on his shoulder. The movement made Skulduggery turn his gaze to her. They said nothing, just looked each other in the eyes. No words were needed, since they could read everything in each other's gaze.
Skulduggery laid his arm around her and lifted her up in his arms. He lifted from the ground and started to fly away. Valkyrie did not care where they were going. She was so exhausted and had horrible pains, which did that she could not think of anything else. The only thing she wanted to do was to sleep.
"I'll disappear away for a while..." she whispered and closed her eyes.