Hello! Sorry about the wait! I need to actually spend time writing now!

Sub-Chapter's POV = 1-Valkyrie. 2-Fiend. 3-Valkyrie. 4-Ghastly

Enjoy! =)


Chapter 12

As soon as she hit the ground she was running. Over dirty piles of rubbish and around the odd rubbish bin. The whole time she could hear Wane Fiend behind her, slowly catching up, but she wasn't going down easily.

In her mind, the only thing she could see was Skulduggery going over the roof tops and the clatter of him hitting the ground. She used that anger that fear of what happened to push her faster. By God, she was not going to lose to this man.

However, in the rush to get to the river, she must have taken a wrong turn. She ended up at the end of an alleyway, and used the air to go straight over the brick wall, and carried on to the end. Trying to use logic in her head and Think of Geography in her head, she carried on running.

She remembered learning about rivers and how they meander and erosion and where they start. Most likely, this one meandered as well, and as there was a slight drop in the path now and then, and the houses were mostly on their own platforms to stay level, if she just followed the slop, she will either reach of see the river at some point.

With this in mind, she turned left and with new speed and purpose, started to gain speed. When Fiend had run at her earlier, on the roof, he had been all speed. But not much muscle. So he was beginning to slow, while her strength let her carry on with her speed.

She crossed a road, followed a lane and eventually left the buildings and houses. She ran along a country road, not the one Skulduggery had drove them down. The ground was hard and occasionally uneven, the only sounds being two pairs of running feet and two sets of breathing. Fiend's breath was coming out fast now, gasping for air, as she led them to the river.

And there it was, to her right, about five hundred yards away. Veering off in that direction, she dropped the jug in the bush, knowing that Fiend wouldn't find it. Gripping the book, and still running, Valkyrie was about fifty yards from the river.

But she had done to well for it to last. Valkyrie was pushed off her feet, and sent hurtling through the air, landing in a thorn bush which scraped and cut as much of her skin as possible when she scrambled out. Realising that he wasn't holding the book any more, she looked for it, hoping to see it outside the bush so she didn't need to lung in there again.

It wasn't there. It wasn't anywhere. Not seeing it there, and assuming she had dropped it when 'flying' she spun around again. There was Fiend. His cheeks were still a little pink from his running experience, but his breathing was normal again; and there, in his hand, was the book.

"Ah," she said. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, that's too bad, now isn't it?" Fiend replied. He looked angry and victorious and, she noticed, a little arrogant. Like he had known all along that he would have got the book back eventually. "But don't worry, sweet, I'll make your death quick. After all, you were only doing your job. You can hardly be blamed."

Thinking fast she said, "Does that mean you're gonna do it? Your actually gonna win, aren't you!" She exclaimed excitedly. She looked around, as if cautious someone would overhear. "How? What needs to be done? I will help, I can do it! Skulduggery would be so mad, but he always had it coming. He tried to make me one of the good guys, but where is the fun?"

"Where indeed," Fiend replied, sounding superior. Her acting really was impeccable.

"And now he'd dead, and I bet that has ghost dissipated after his fall, and now I'm free of him! You saved me! I need to do something in return. Tell me what to do, and I will do it," she said, trying to look eager.

He pondered this for a moment. Then: "I know! Die!" And he raised his spare hand, which had a gun had seemingly materialised in, and shot.

The bullet could never have gotten through her clothes. She knew that. Fiend must have also, because when that bullet hit, it went into the gap between the waistband of her trousers and the bottom of her jacket. His aim was amazing. Maybe as amazing as Skulduggery's aim. The eleven millimetres of lead went through her skin and intestines and all the other important organs about an inch and a half below her belly button.


Fiend smiled. His shot truly had been good. He actually had forgotten about her protective clothes, but he had wanted to see the mark he made with the bullet and so had shot the skin at about her hips. It was a good feeling. But he didn't like that he had forgotten something. That was bad.

As she sunk to her knees, the poison on the bullet taking affect, he lifted the book and started to read. The Jug may not actually be with him at that moment, but the secrets would transfer to him once her said it.

But the feeling he got from defeating both enemy before he had the power was amazing. It proved his worth as an all-powerful leader, as a villain. He felt good. So, as he started to read, he smiled slightly, even though he didn't like people smiling when they read. But who was going to see? Cain's head was bowed, her arms around the wound, slowly dying.


Valkyrie fell to her knees. Fiend was reading from the book, and she could feel the power, a slight wind and a tingly feeling, radiating from it. She was going to die. Or Darquesse was going to come out and destroy them all. She heard herself wish that she simply died. She wouldn't mind that, but at the same time, Fiend would be all powerful, or whatever the Jug was going to do.

Or was he? She could remember, vaguely, that someone had to touch the Jug after, with a sacrifice of blood to get the Secrets from the Jug.

She felt her mind go a little blank in areas. A voice was taking to her, but she ignored it, pretended it wasn't there. Eventually it went. Just like every other thought in her mind. She wasn't cold or hot or anything. She couldn't feel a thing. Slowly she drifted. Until a face came into her mind's eye.

It was a skeleton. She remembered this man, for she knew this was a man, not just a skeleton. She remembered his beautiful voice. Never had she told him this, but she loved that voice. As she thought of him, her thoughts started to sharpen, if only slightly. She could feel the cold of the floor against her left side, where she must have fallen at some point. And she could hear something again. Faintly.

A man, screaming. Another man, the one with the beautiful voice, shouting. And other things. She heard bangs and feet running and the occasional splash and the cold ground leave her side.

She tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy, and she was exhausted. But she knew she was alive. That was good. Alive was very good, especially as she wanted to keep living.

She felt herself bob up and down, as the person ran with her in their arms, and it wasn't particularly comfortable. There was more noise for a moment, mostly pounding feet, but then they faded away, as she was placed, she presumed, on a stretcher, and taken away.


Ghastly was waiting in one of the vans which held Skulduggery's and Valkyrie's reinforcements. He had got a text from Valkyrie a few minutes earlier, telling him the Detectives were about to go in. Sending his luck had been the only thing he could do, so he had done it.

Waiting in the van, other than himself, was six Cleavers and Daniel Strong. Strong was driving. The Cleavers were in the back. He was in the passenger seat. He didn't fancy being in the middle of five Cleavers and have one in the passenger seat. Tipstaff had said that that was the seating plan, but he hadn't really warmed to the idea. It wasn't Ghastly's style, so to speak, to be heavily protected.

And so, he sat. And sat. And waited. Ghastly got bored after a while. But there wasn't much to do-

His mobile rang. Ghastly had been so bored, that when it rang, he was faster than lightning, having pressed the green 'RECEIVE CALL' button before the tone had even started. He felt slightly smug.

"Hello?" He said to the phone.

"It's Skulduggery," the phone said. "Valkyrie has the Jug and the book. She has Fiend on her tail. I can't find them, but I suspect they will be at the river, or going towards it. I want you to go to the edge, a little way back from where you are stationed and travel along the river edge, until you find them, and I will meet you in the middle."

"OK," Ghastly replied. "One moment." He hurriedly said the instructions into the radio, speaking to Strong and all the other drivers at the same time. He went back to the phone again. "OK, were driving again. Where are you?" He questioned.

"Just about to reach the river at the outside of town."

"How? If Valkyrie has already got to the river, you shouldn't be that far behind."

He heard Skulduggery hesitate. "Fiend threw me off a building."

Ghastly sighed. "Do I need to know anything else before I leave you to run down a river?"

"Um, I think Fiend has my gun. I might have lost it when I fell, as I did lose a few body parts which needed to be reattached-" Ghastly filed the information for further taunting, "- but he may have grabbed it in the scuffle or whatever."

Saying goodbye and hanging up, Ghastly looked straight out the window, just as he spotted movement up ahead.


YAY! More story! I know I left you on another Cliffey, but I Don't want there to be to much else in this one. It will become to difficult. I home you understood!

I will write the next as soon as possible! =)