Chapter 199
Valkyrie's POV
One week later
They were finally performing the Ritual.
Valkyrie inhaled in through her nose and out through her mouth, focusing on her breathing. All she had to do was sit in their circle with signals painted on her skin and wait. It was obviously going to hurt, but she didn't need to do anything other than stay still. She could do that.
She'd come close to asking Solomon if she could leave for a few minutes to call Nadia and talk to her, just in case something happened to her, but he said there was no way. There had been a spattering of murders in the villages and tribes not too far from their secret base – she had no idea how far 'not far' was considering how massive Africa was compared to her home – but it put them both on edge. They had known it wouldn't take long for someone to realise she was missing from the Dead Men's care. They couldn't know for sure if it was someone from the Spiders, or just anyone in general that wanted her or Solomon dead. But it felt too suspicious to be coincidental.
"You'll do fine," Norma told her in a no-nonsense way.
"I know," she whispered. Valkyrie wished Helena was with her instead. Helena was that bit younger, that bit gentler, and she seemed to have a soft spot for Valkyrie even though they were no longer theorising her magic was Pure Magic like Norma hoped. Meanwhile, Norma was still kind and nice, but wasn't exactly as interested as before. Valkyrie understood, though, if Valkyrie had had Pure Magic then it would have meant all her work could mean something. Instead, it was just going to be another string of theories in the Necromancer's extensive libraries. "How much longer?"
"I'll be another five minutes," she said in a strained voice as she concentrated. "I have to make sure this last bit links up with everything else."
Valkyrie nodded and looked at the ceiling. Normally a pen of sorts would be used to draw signals onto the body but this Sect didn't do modern technology. So Norma had had someone make up a traditional paste and was now dipping her finger into it and running it along Valkyrie's body. It was as weird as it sounded, made more so by the fact she had to cover every area of Valkyrie's body. Including under her feet, between her toes and fingers, into her hairline, between her legs and all up and around her butt. It had not been what she expected from this part of the Ritual but considering some of the things Norma knew about her from her 'therapy,' she tried to think of it as a further bonding exercise. Also, pretending she wasn't as hairy as a werewolf helped slightly. The only tutoring lesson Tanith had ever seemed to truly enjoy teaching Valkyrie had been feminism so she just repeated what Tanith had ranted about for hours on end in her head until it was over.
It was about to get more embarrassing though. She had to be naked for the whole thing. In front of her not-really-but-as-good-as-dad. Gross.
She shook her head and took another deep breath to clear her thought. The weird Necromancers didn't care less about her body, seeing as how they were all celibate and she was underaged. Norma, Helena and Solomon also saw her as a child. In fact, Valkyrie was pretty sure Solomon very literally saw her as his daughter, so it wasn't that weird, fathers knew what their children looked like, that was normal. She repeated that next to Tanith's voice to herself in her head to try and make it convincing as Norma stood back and looked her over.
"This is really weird," Valkyrie muttered, closing her eyes.
"Try to relax," Norma said softly. "I know it's strange for you, and you're not used to being naked, but I swear it'll be over before you know it. And no one is going to come near you, you'll be as safe as you possibly can be in the Ritual bubble."
"Honestly, it's more the fact people will see me naked at all that I don't like."
Norma smiled. "A couple years from now and you won't care less. Bodies are bodies, and you are still a child with growing to do. No one will ever think about your body again."
Valkyrie frowned. "I know you're being nice but a part of me is kind of offended."
Normal laughed. "You can't have it both ways."
"Sure I can."
Norma smirked. "Well, I'm not getting into that. Are you ready to go in?"
"Yeah," she nodded with fake confidence. "Sure I am."
The hall was full of Necromancers all standing around to observe the Ritual. Most of them were just watching for fun, Valkyrie knew, with just five mid-level Necromancers performing the Ritual in the middle of the room and five reserves who would take someone's place if they became drained or something happened.
"Valkyrie," Solomon greeted gravely. "Are you sure you want to do this? You can still back out if you want to."
"I have to do this," she said quietly. "If The Torment gets my magic…"
"He'll have no idea your magic is worth taking," Solomon whispered to her.
"I'm a target, he'll come for me eventually and work it out. I might not have Pure Magic, but we both know it's similar, and even though I have a bottom to my magic reserves, it goes way deeper than most people's and fills back up too fast to be safe. You know it's safest for everyone, even if it's not fun for me."
Solomon nodded slowly, despite obviously hating it.
"It's for the best," she said, giving him a small half-smile.
He looked at her a moment longer before turning and leading her to the middle of the room where there were intricate swirls and whirls on the floor. She went into the centre with as much confidence as she could muster, knowing every eye in the room was on her, looking critically at the signals on her body, checking the quality of Norma's work for themselves. Surprisingly, she didn't feel nearly as anxious as she would have a few months ago. And when she thought about Nadia instead of her situation, she felt so painfully lonely and desperate to see and hold her again, she almost forgot all about the cold.
She knelt, facing Solomon.
"You'll stay, right?" She asked nervously.
"Of course."
"And you won't let me leave?"
"Only you can make yourself stay in the boundaries," he said, indicating the signals on the floor. They were a similar swirling, looping design inside where she was sitting, then a circle around that with angles and sharp lines where the five Necromancers sat. She had to stay inside her bubble, and the five Necromancers had to stay in theirs, unless they very, very carefully switched out. "But I believe in you. I think you can take this pain, and then we can go home."
Valkyrie nodded and gave him a watery smile. "What happens if I die?"
"You won't die," he said immediately as the others in the room began to sit and get ready to settle for the next few hours. "Don't even think about it. You can do this."
"But what if I do?" She asked, feeling her heart jump painfully. "What if I left Nadia in Ireland crying hysterically and never get to hug her again? She's waiting for me."
"Valkyrie."
"What if I never get to see my brothers again? Erskine won't cope with losing me. He can't take that sort of loss. He still hasn't gotten over losing Larrikin and Hopeless," she said, her voice hitching. "What about Skulduggery?"
"I promise you, the people here know what they're doing, and I've been researching this Ritual for months. You're going to be alright. A lot of people have done this before. No one is going to lose you and you'll get to see your family again," he said with a firm voice.
"I didn't even hug you this morning. I should have. Now, if I die, I'm going to do it without having had a hug."
They looked at each other and Solomon said nothing as he hitched his ratty trousers and sat to stay with her as the Necromancer's began to chant, completely uncaring that she had begun to cry.
She took deep breaths, closing her eyes and telling herself it would be alright. A couple of hours from now, Solomon would scoop her up off the ground and take her to the showers and clean her up and help her eat and drink and put her to bed. All she had to do was take this one bit of pain and she'd have protected herself and everyone else. Her magic was too powerful, too close to anything even remotely like Pure Magic to be allowed to stay free and open like it was.
It was for the best.
She could do this.
Her breath hitched as the first wave of pain rolled through her, and then she let out a scream.
Finally, finally, we are here. I'm not sure how much you appreciate the pain though ;)
Only a week and a half till I get married. I still think I'm going into lockdown the day before.
ValkyrieP: Absolutely! But they are back... elsewhere. I'm glad you liked Nadia's letter, it had some personal aspects I expect a lot of people can relate to with their parents. I'm enjoying Valkyrie's magic, I haven't decided how far to take her. Do I make her full OP for the fun of it, or do I limit her to make her more normal? I'm not certain, I'd love your opinion. Naw, thanks, I love how much you love the word, I am in my Theology Masters class as I post this so I am glad I'm doing something right haha ;)
Remus Crux but on mobile: Yeah, I think Aine's family must be an absolute piss-take to deal with. She's going to be way cooler without depression, she'll have much more fun! Or maybe I'll kill Nadia and the Dead Men and ruin it all, haven't decided yet :)
