Satya stretched her arms, chugging down the water from the bottle Mr Bliss handed her, "Thanks," She said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
"Eka, I would like to introduce you to Tanith Low," He said, his voice flat and calm. Tanith Low stepped out from behind him, a blonde women clad in tight black leather with a long, sharp sword.
"She will be joining you on the mission in my stead."
Satya smiled at Tanith, "I do love a girl in leathers but I'm curious why you won't be joining us?" She replied.
"China and I are not on good terms and my abilities are better suited here," Bliss replied, not really answering her question, "I'm heading to join Skulduggery and the Elders."
Satya nodded, not pushing the issue.
"Satya-" Saracen called, his finger pressing against the earpiece he had in. Satya turned to him, "Skulduggery says we're to go in five. Start the shield."
She nodded, swallowing before cracking her knuckles, shaking out her hands and closing her eyes. She felt Saracen place a hand on her shoulder, "Deep breaths," He reminded her.
She took a deep breath before holding out her hands, feeling her fingers begin to warm.
After a few moments, her eyes flickered open, "It's done."
"We're good to go," Saracen muttered into the earpiece, "Going dark in five, four three..."
Tanith and Dexter flanked Saracen and Satya, the two silent Cleavers following behind.
Bliss stood by, his eyes wary as the team descended into the cave entrance half a kilometer away from Serpine's castle.
0000000000000
Skulduggery clenched a fist, his other hand resting on his gun as he surveyed the area. On his left stood Hopeless and Erkskine, on his right Morwenna Crow and Sagacious Tome.
Behind them stood fifty cleavers, their helmets gleaming in the sunlight, scythes held across their chests.
Infront of them was the gleaming gates, hiding Serpine's castle. Skulduggery hated this place. He could almost smell the blood that had seeped into the ground. Almost hear the screams of the tortured.
If he concentrated, he could almost make out the trees where he had seen comrades hung, their souls laid bare to the enemy.
"Enough, Skulduggery," Hopeless murmured, "There is no good in dwelling in the past."
"I thought you couldn't read my mind," Skulduggery replied.
"I can't, but I know you well enough to know what you're thinking about," Hopeless said back.
Skulduggery was going to reply, only for his phone to ring, interrupting.
"It's Valkyrie," He said, reading the name. He answered.
"Yes?"
"It's a trap!" Valkyrie whispered, "Serpine is here- He has the sceptre!"
"Valkyrie, calm down. Where are you?" He switched the phone to speaker, moving Hopeless and Erkskine away from the Elders so they could hear.
"In the caves- I got separated from the others," Valkyrie was whispering, her voice tinged in fear, "But the sceptre isn't working- Serpine tried it on one of those paper zombie things-"
"Hollow men."
"Whatever- Wait- They're saying something."
"How did they even get the key?" Erkskine muttered, slightly confused.
"He said something about needing blood to charge the sceptre- Oh god, he's sending people after me-"
"Valkyrie, calm down," Skulduggery ordered her before turning to Hopeless, "Try and call Ghastly, they need to get out." To Valkyrie, he said, "You need to get out, find the others and run. We need to make sure he doesn't get his hands on you."
0000000000
Hopeless stood back, dialing Ghastly's number.
" Hopeless- Bad timing."
"Ghastly-" Hopeless closed his eyes, thanking all the gods that his friend had answered, "Serpine has the sceptre and Valkyrie has eyes on him. You need to get her and run- Go check on her parents, make sure Serpine doesn't go after them."
"Easier said than done- Some tentacles stole her but you can count on us."
Hopeless ended the call and turned to the others. Skulduggery was still instructing Valkyrie on what to do. Erkskine was starting to pace, "We sent them into a trap," He murmured, pale.
Hopeless winced, Erkskine's dark and fearful thoughts washing over him. "Erkskine," He warned, "Satya, Dexter and Saracen can handle themselves."
"Sorry," Erkskine muttered.
"Oh god- Robin, you're covered in tentacles-"
Skulduggery visibly relaxed.
"What is happening?" Bliss had arrived and he and the two Elders walked over. Skulduggery ended the call before answering, "It's a trap. Nefarian Serpine has his hands on a weapon that could end us all and he baited us with China and the Grand Mage so we would think that he wasn't aware of the weapon's location," He said this calmly and bluntly, his skull giving no emotions.
But Hopeless knew Skulduggery Pleasant well enough to know that the skeleton detective was pissed. Pissed that he had underestimated Serpine, the man who had tortured and murdered his wife and child.
"And this weapon is...?" Elder Crow asked, her robes dragging across the ground as she joined the group.
"The Sceptre of the Ancients."
Elder Tome threw back his head and laughed, "You mean to say that Serpine is after a children's fairytale? Next you'll be saying that his right hand man is the goddamn tooth fairy."
Hopeless sighed, "It's true, old friend," He said, reaching to rest his hand on Tome's arm gently, "And Serpine has a hold of it. But it has no power as of now."
"What do you mean?" Bliss asked.
"It needs to be charged with the blood of the Ancients," Skulduggery answered, "And the only family that we know of with that blood is the family of Valkyrie Cain."
And that was the first time Hopeless heard Mr Bliss swear.
00000000000
Satya felt a drop of sweat trickle down her forehead, her breathing heavy.
Suddenly, Saracen stopped, "Drop the shield," he ordered.
The others looked at him in confusion. "Are you sure?" Dexter asked.
Saracen nodded, his forehead tense and his next words made Satya swear, "The castle's empty."
"It's a trap," Tanith said in realisation, "It's a goddamn trap."
Satya dropped her shield, almost kneeling over in pain, "Serpine's gone after the fucking sceptre and we just sent Valkyrie into the caves after it."
"China's still in here," Saracen said, handing her a bottle of water.
"Wait- what about the Grand Mage?" Dexter asked, pulling out his phone and stuffing it away almost immediately, no signal.
"I don't know," Saracen said, pulling a face.
"We keep going," Satya said with a sigh, "Get China then get out."
Tanith nodded, sheathing her sword.
"You two-" Satya turned to the cleavers that had come with them, "Go back and join the Elders, tell them what happened."
The cleavers said nothing, turning and began jogging out the way they came.
They reached the main hall of the castle, ugly stone walls surrounding them with flame torches sitting in their brackets on the stone.
"That way-" Saracen led them down stairs and into hallways, into doorways and past empty cells until finally-
"China-" Satya gasped. "Keys," Saracen pulled out keys that hung on the wall next to the cell, "This is too damn easy."
"Don't say that," Dexter groaned, taking the keys and unlocked the door.
Satya ran in. The cell was covered in sigils, sigils that became into darker hues of blue as the got closer to the woman tucked in the corner of the cell.
Tanith swallowed. She had seen China Sorrows before. The beautiful enchantress who wielded sigils like they were nothing. And now she looked more like a broken doll than anything.
China lifted her head slightly, looking up at Satya with beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Satya swallowed, her fingers gently tracing the line of bruises against her jaw, the gash across her eye that was puffy to the point that she couldn't open it.
"I guess we're even now," China whispered, her tone filled with amusement.
"Up you get," Satya said, helping her to her feet. China let out a small gasp, "Ribs-" Dexter came to her other side, helping her feet.
"We can use the front exit- The castle is totally deserted," Saracen said.
"Serpine's ditched this place- Left me as a calling card," China rasped, "Meritorious is dead and Serpine's set up shop somewhere else."
