Chapter 204

"She said she'd be out in a moment," Valkyrie said, putting her phone in her pocket. She had on her protective jacket, a dark green one with about twenty pockets for various things, and some midnight blue protective trousers that looked fairly similar to jeans, at least when not up close. Her work boots, brown, finished the look nicely, and her white top had been approved by Nadia. Ghastly had been working on making her some casual looks to add to her list of protective outfits, and she appreciated the effort as it made her feel as if she were a normal young woman going out instead of constantly on the job. It made being on permanent call a lot nicer.

"Considering how deep these caves go, I expect she'll be more than a moment," Skulduggery groused. He had on the same suit he'd been wearing for the last four days. It had only a small cut in the hem of the waistcoat and his shirt had been slashed open, however his suit jacket hid that. Valkyrie wasn't sure where his hat was and didn't comment on it. "Have you heard from Saracen recently?"

"No, but I saw Dexter two days ago. Or three. I can't remember," she said, looking at the view. "It's beautiful here."

"It is," he agreed, pulling out his phone to check the time.

Valkyrie looked out over the cliff edge, admiring the vast desert around them. It was nearly thirty degrees at two-thirty in the afternoon. "I always thought deserts would be really hot and dry. But there's foliage and life."

"A desert merely needs to have little rain to be considered a desert," Skulduggery told her.

"I know that," she said. He went quiet and she began to feel guilty for being short with him. "I just assumed there wouldn't be so many plants. Because of the lack of rain."

"Life is rather impressive," he said quietly.

She looked at the dusty ground and didn't say anything for a few moments. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?" He asked, looking at her.

She glanced at him but looked back down, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. "For being rude."

"If I thought you had been rude, I would have told you," he said with a shrug. "There's no need to apologise. Especially when we're all feeling rather snappish at the moment."

She shrugged this time. "Well yeah. But I'm still sorry. I don't want it to seem like I'm mad at you when you're trying to make things better. Because I'm not mad at you, I'm really glad you're trying, and I'm grateful for it. So I just wanted to say I was sorry so you don't think differently."

He tilted his head to show his smile. "Thank you for clarifying Valkyrie. But know that I already understand your appreciation so you don't need to fret."

She kicked the dirt awkwardly. "I wasn't fretting."

"Of course."

"Just didn't want to fuck it up."

"You may have to work on your language. I have noticed you've begun to swear a lot more recently. It's not good for the baby."

"Yeah, I know," she said, trying not to sound too grumpy about it. There was a silence and she chose to change the subject. "I wonder why Mil's here. She told me she had an apprenticeship with the Sanctuary."

"The Northern Australian Sanctuary is not particularly far from here," Skulduggery said, "however it is a rather small branch. From what I gather, it's considered a bit of an outpost and people only work there for the potential benefit of transferring to one of the larger Sanctuaries. For Miss Gnosis, it is also a useful location for her continuing her Necromancy studies I expect."

"She is quite studious," Valkyrie commented. "She wanted to be a teacher. I expected her to live in a city or something. She made it sound like she wouldn't be with a Temple anymore."

He shrugged. "Perhaps it's a matter of convenience."

They heard feet patting their way towards them and turned to the three large, flat rocks precariously balanced in the vague shape of a wonky triangle, leaving only enough space on one side for a person to materialise and step out of. It was harnessing magic, Valkyrie was sure, just as Militsa's skin surely was as she was no longer the epitome of the pale, freckled, redheaded, stereotypical Scot. She'd browned in the sun to a dark olive and her freckles had reacted by coming out even more than before, covering every inch of skin in little dots. Her hair had bleached lighter in the sun and was almost afro-like in nature, holding its frizzy form around her head through some fight against natural gravity. The combination of orange-ish red hair, combined with its volume, and coupled with her darker skin and freckles made her appear like a whole other person with an ethnicity Valkyrie wouldn't be able to name. She was, in a word, stunning.

"Oh wow," Valkyrie said without meaning to, getting an immediate laugh out of Militsa. "What happened to your hair?"

"It doesn't like the heat," she grinned, holding her arms open.

Valkyrie met her in the middle and wrapped her in a hug, her face getting enveloped by the curls. "It's good to see you, I didn't expect you to call."

"I know, things have been a bit wild," Militsa said, glancing at Skulduggery before looking back up at Valkyrie. "Have you grown? I feel like you've grown. And I like your new haircut."

"Oh thanks, I hate it," Valkyrie nodded. "How have you been? Apart from the, you know, disappearances."

"I've been good, I've got my apprenticeship still in Relations, it's been really good. I mean, it's not exactly what I want, but it works. I'm saving all my money so I can apply to university to be a teacher soon, I think I'll be able to in the next year or so."

"That's good to hear," she nodded.

"How have you been? Did you, you know…? I mean, I heard some rumours, but I wasn't sure…"

"You mean Nadia? Yeah, we were able to meet again and we're together. We're engaged, actually," she said, before feeling her face get red.

"Ah, that's so sweet!" Militsa smiled. Valkyrie didn't see a trace of jealousy or lie. "Congratulations, how did it happen?"

"While I'm all for you two ladies catch up," Skulduggery interrupted before Valkyrie could begin, "we do need to begin our investigation."

"Oh, sure," Militsa nodded. "Sorry, I just got a bit carried away. Um, I would invite you in, but no one's allowed."

"That's quite alright, I wasn't expecting it. What can you tell us?"

"Well, I know at least fifteen people are missing, maybe more," Militsa said, her face becoming serious. "It's hard to know because some of the people live in Temple's and others don't. I know two of them were recluses too, so if more of our scholars living alone are gone, it's almost impossible to find out."

"I see. Tell me the circumstances. Walk with us."

"Well," she began as they made their way to the edge of the cliff, "I didn't notice anyone talking until a few weeks ago–"

"How many weeks exactly?"

"Four weeks ago, I think. It was then that I overheard some Clerics in the library whispering to each other and I listened in. They were talking about how they were sure one of the reclusive scholars I mentioned was 'gone' with 'the others'. Obviously, I got concerned and I listened some more." They all jumped off the edge and used their own magic to land safely before Militsa continued to talk. "They were arguing about where all these people had gone and from what I put together, about ten people were missing at that point, and only one of the reclusive scholars. They were arguing over who could have done it and were talking about Witches and vampires, and then one of the Clerics suggested it was the Sanctuary trying to slowly kill us off. The others thought it was unlikely, but they started talking about how the Sanctuary had already outright refused to help find out who's doing this because it's only a Necromancer problem, so they don't have to help. They left at that point but I've been listening out and more people are talking now. In the last four weeks, four more regular people have gone missing, including a fifteen year old, and the second reclusive scholar on top of that. And both of those scholars were easy to reach, that's the only reason we know. All the recluses could be gone and we just don't know about it."

"I am concerned the Sanctuary is refusing assistance in light of a child going missing," Skulduggery said, walking quickly the way they'd come towards the rented car they'd abandoned on the side of the dirt road. "Do you know whereabouts the disappearances have taken place?"

"Not exactly, but I do know nine of the ones we know about happened in Alice Springs. Obviously the recluses were somewhere private that I'm not allowed to know, and as far as I know, no one knows when or where exactly the other four were taken or killed. We're only assuming they're dead because we don't know what someone would want with that many hostages. We haven't had any ransom threats from what I've overheard, but that isn't something the Clerics would want to share with anyone lower down."

"I understand. I think it would be best to begin our search in Alice Springs," he said, pulling out his phone. "Luckily, I happened to know of a good Sensitive that may be able to help us."

Militsa nodded and they continued in silence, letting Skulduggery attempt to call his contact and, when they failed to pick up, send some messages. He did check that Militsa was happy to help them, and she was, and Valkyrie was privately happy as she wanted to catch up with her. Almost half an hours later, they made it to the car and got it. Valkyrie could feel the sweat all over but Militsa didn't seem bothered, clearly used to the sun.

After sitting in the back of the little car together, Skulduggery set the air conditioning to high, as per Valkyrie's instructions, and he began driving.

"Well," Militsa said with a small smile. "Will you tell me all your news now?"

Valkyrie laughed quietly, not wanting to break Skulduggery from his musings. "It was all very sudden I guess. I literally ran into her at a pizza place before summer and we immediately got back together and it was a bit slow at first but we worked everything out. Honestly, it feels as if we were never apart most of the time. I ended up getting injured and had some temporary memory loss for a while."

"No!"

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. And Tanith and Ghastly broke up while I was in a coma too. Or maybe that was when I was awake but not myself? I forget exactly, but I wasn't me, you know? Anyway, Nadia stood by me the whole time and didn't leave my side. She did almost everything for me, she left home and refused to move countries with her family to be with me even though no one could be sure I'd ever be the same again. She became my carer, I suppose, in the last few days I had memory loss and had to help me with everything. She was amazing."

"That's so sweet, she obviously loves you a lot," Militsa said with a small smile.

"For sure. Well, not long later, I quit my job at the Sanctuary, Tanith had her baby, and she is so cute by the way. I'm her godmother, but not in a Christian way. We had to go to America for some Dead Man work and we had a really scary moment where I was held captive and tortured, the baby got kidnapped and so did Nadia. They were selling Nadia to someone horrible, we don't even know who exactly, and the baby was almost killed and the whole thing was just a mess and a half. We all got out alive and alright, but it was just a massive shock and I decided not to wait anymore and to just ask her to marry me."

"Did you do it on the spot?" Militsa grinned excitedly.

"No, no, I put a bit of planning into it. I got the ring immediately, though only because I happened on the right one when I went out the first time, then took her to New York for her birthday week, and on her birthday I tricked her with a car so she'd think that was her big present and wouldn't suspect anything else was going to happen, and took her to the Natural History Museum. She'd told me for years it was her dream to go there, so we spent the day and then I got her into a room alone with a view over the city, and everywhere was white with snow, and I asked her. She screamed and said yes."

"Aww, that's so romantic! I can't believe you're going to get married, you're younger than me and everything. Do you have a dress yet?"

"No, Nadia's doing some light planning but we're keeping it fairly quiet as we haven't told her family yet. They might find out, and we're okay with it, but we're not doing any wedding stuff until after the war and Nadia's able to reunite with her family. It'll be a several year engagement I expect, assuming this war doesn't take years like the last."

"But it might not be a war though. There's got to still be a chance this can be talked out," Militsa suggested questioningly.

Valkyrie shrugged, her face falling slightly. "I doubt it. Or, really, my family doubts it. They say its tensions from the last war doubling with greed from non-Cradle countries, alongside blatant unwillingness to admit there could be a legitimate threat of war from the Children of the Spiders. They'd rather believe Ireland's just incapable of looking after itself and then attempt to take it forcefully in the name of stopping us hurting ourselves than admit they might need to help us against the Spiders without any benefits for themselves. It's a lot of factors at once and everything we do gets twisted by them into making us look worse."

"It's really going to happen then," she stated quietly.

"I think so, Mil," Valkyrie said with a kind smile, putting a hand over Militsa's. "Do you think you'll be safe at the Temple?"

"I don't know. I guess it depends on who's taking the Necromancers," she said fairly matter of fact. "If it's the Sanctuary, I guess I might try and leave the country, maybe pose as a mortal and go to University there. It'll be an adjustment, and my education won't be worth much, but I guess I could do something like maths or a language, something that doesn't involve magic so it'll still be transferable. It would keep me out of any fighting. But I don't really have those types of resources."

"I would offer to help but if you're seen getting too much help from us, it could bring you unnecessary attention."

She waved a hand. "Don't worry about that. I knew before I called you it would bring me problems. You and Skulduggery Pleasant sort of attract trouble, don't you know."

"Yeah, we're good like that," Valkyrie smiled. "We'll help as much as we can. Maybe even crack the case."

"Hmm, that would be good. Maybe I'll learn something exciting along the way."


Original content, oh my!

I forgot if I mentioned, but I didn't get married on Sat 7th this month. And I have an assignment in on the 18th. It's the 13th. I haven't started. I'm in a constant state of panic. BUT I'm getting anti-anxiety medicine for the first time ever and I'm hopeful for that :)

I'd love to see a review from anyone reading, it always makes my day!