Skulduggery and Valkyrie set off towards the body without saying another word. She could feel his eyeless gaze on her as she led the way. She considered telling him that it had been Darquesse who had noticed the body. But she had a feeling he had guessed that already, and admitting to it out loud would only mean they'd have to talk about it. And talking about Darquesse was the last thing she wanted to do right now.
Her ring grew colder and the presence of death stronger with every step she took. It was easy to track now. Left here. Now straight ahead. Left again...and there it was, a corpse laying face down in the water. Valkyrie gagged. The smell was definitely worse down here. Not only had the body started to rot but it was blocking the flow of the river and causing a buildup of sewage. Trying to suppress her gag reflex she took a step closer. The body was bloated and coated with filth. But underneath the dirt she could just about see a hardhat and an orange jumpsuit. Just like the ones they were wearing, but better fitting.
She watched as Skulduggery approached the body, examining it with care. He took his time, kneeling over it and drawing clean water from the air to wash away some of the muck. Valkyrie forced herself to help him, despite her churning stomach. She didn't see any obvious cause of death and from Skulduggery's silence she assumed he was as clueless about it as she was.
They turned the body over and Valkyrie took a moment to study the dead man's face. He had been middle-aged, with no remarkable features, but his expression was one of fear. Despite the fact that his body bore no signs of injury, Valkyrie could tell that he hadn't died peacefully.
"He's been dead a while, but I don't see any signs of a fight or our monster. We'll have to take the body to the Sanctuary. I don't think we'll find out much without an autopsy." Skulduggery said, straightening up. Valkyrie agreed. She wondered what kind of monster had done this. She knew there were plenty of ways a mage, or even a mortal, could kill without leaving any evidence behind. But a monster? Most of the proper monsters they'd dealt with before, had been like wild animals. Unintelligent, their killing messy and instinctive.
"Skulduggery?" she said, as a sudden idea stuck her, "I just had a thought...you know how most monsters we've fought before have tried to eat us?"
"Usually it's just you they try and eat,"
"Yeah well, my point is that the monster didn't eat this man."
"Obviously,"
"So why would it attack two grown men who were just going about their job?"
"That is an interesting question" he titled his head, thinking it over. "People kill other people for all sorts of reasons: power, money, revenge, boredom...the list goes on. Monsters on the other hand usually have more primal reasons: they're hungry, they're protecting their young, they feel threatened."
"Exactly," she nodded in excitement, causing the helmet to slip over her eyes once more. She fixed it and then glanced at him. He met her gaze. She could tell they were on the same page.
"I remember something my reflection learnt in school. About how hippos kill way more people than lions because they're a lot more territorial,"
"Ah, you think these mortals were attacked because they wandered into the monsters territory?"
She nodded again, holding her hat in place this time. He paused, mulling over the suggestion.
"I've heard worse theories. Of course that doesn't explain how this man died or why it hasn't attacked us yet."
"Oh right yeah," she said a bit disappointed. Then she shrugged it off, "Maybe it's asleep?"
"Well there's an easy way to test that theory,"
"There is?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't think of one.
He turned back towards the corpse, plucked the helmet off the dead man's head, and threw it as hard as he could. Valkyrie cringed as it bounced off the tunnel walls making a loud clattering sound that echoed all around them. He must have used magic to propel his throw because it went a lot further than she expected it to. She only just heard the sound of a distant splash of water as it came to a stop.
"Do you want the monster to know were here?!" Valkyrie hissed at him.
He glanced back at her, she had a feeling that if he'd had any eyes he would have been rolling them. "If we can not find the monster, we'll let the monster find us."
She huffed in annoyance, "Yeah well, I sort of have this unspoken rule that I never let monsters know where I am when I'm hunting them."
"That's very wise," he said. "But my way is quicker. And believe it or not, I'm dying to get out of these clothes. It pains me to say it, but you were right: Orange jumpsuits are not our thing."
She opened her mouth to speak, a witty retort the tip of her tongue, but shut it when she heard the faint sound of wet footsteps. Skulduggery motioned to her to get ready. She moved into a solid fighting stance, summoning a fireball into her hands, while he did the same.
A discernible mass appeared in the tunnel before them. It was dark. It was large. It was coming straight at them.
The monster belted towards them on all fours at a tremendous speed. Valkyrie barely had time to register it's slimy scales, quivering muscles and long thick tail before it was upon them. They thew the fireballs and it roared in pain. But it kept on coming. It barged past them, knocking into them like they were bowling pins. Valkyrie crashed into the wall with a painful thud. Her helmet went flying off her head. It hit the ground and the light on it flickered and went out.
She scrambled to her feet. It was pitch black for a moment before Skulduggery let loose a long stream of flames. They licked at the monster's scales and it roared again. It reared back onto it's hind legs and Valkyrie watched as two large spikes extended from it's front legs. They were as long as swords and as thin as needles. The monster rushed at Skulduggery, forcing him to cut off the flames, as he dodged it's attack.
She summoned another fireball and threw it at the monster. It turned it's great bulbous head away from Skulduggery and charged at her. A swipe of it's tail knocking Skulduggery back. She summoned more fire and threw it. But it kept on coming. She tried to take a step back but she tripped over the corpse and fell to the ground.
In desperation, she tried to gather more flames. She needed to see. She needed to...The monster loomed over her, back on it's hind legs. One of the spikes lunged towards her chest and she lashed out with shadows in one hand and flames in the other.
She felt pressure over her heart as the spike dug into her clothing. It pierced her jumpsuit but stopped short at Ghastly's clothes. At the same time she dug the shadows into it's face. They cut through the creature's scales and blue-green blood dripped onto her. The wound was shallow but it was something.
The creature hissed, withdrew the spike, and plunged it towards her again. This time it it aimed at her exposed throat.
Move you stupid girl! Darquesse yelled. She obeyed without question. Twisting at the last moment, so the spike only scratched her rather than skewering her. Even still, she yelped as white hot pain filled her skull. For a second it was as if someone had shone a flashlight straight into her pupils. But then the light faded and she was back in the dark sewer. She reached out blindly with the shadows, digging them deeper into the monster in front of her. More blood dripped down onto her.
You know, this would be a lot easier if you'd let me handle it.
Shut up! She thought, and then: Where the hell was Skulduggery?!
Three shots answered her question. Her ears rang as the sounds of gunfire filled her ears. The monster turned away from her. She used the opportunity to stand and create another fireball. It seemed like it did more to anger the creature than hurt it. But it was her only way she could see what was going on.
Three more shots rang out. She didn't know how many had hit the monster. She attacked again, hoping to give Skulduggery the time to reload his revolver. The monster lunged towards him, and at the same time, slammed its tail into Valkyrie's stomach. The force of it send her flying through the air backwards. She landed awkwardly on her back and groaned. Her clothes had absorbed most of the impact, saving her a few broken bones, but she knew she'd be feeling bruised tomorrow.
She sat up. The sound of gunfire filled her ear's once more. The monster gave a primordial shriek of pain, louder than any before. She summoned another flame, so she see what was going on. She saw the monster racing towards her, on all fours again. She saw it leap over the corpse, with no signs of slowing down. It reached her, and instinctively she ducked and it kept on running.
Skulduggery was hot on its heels. As he passed her he grabbed her hand, pulled her up and suddenly they were darting through the air. They were gaining on the monster now, but then they reached a junction and it turned a corner with surprising nimbleness. They overshot the turn and Skulduggery cursed. He slowed them down, turned them round and they gave chase again. They'd almost caught up, when it turned down another tunnel. Skulduggery decreased their speed as rapidly as he could, tried to turn and ended up slamming into the wall. And then Valkyrie slammed into him.
"Jesus! Skulduggery!" she said through gritted teeth, clutching her side.
"Sorry," he grunted, "Are you hurt?"
"Cuts, bruises. Nothing's broken. I'll live." she managed to get out between winded breathes.
They didn't continue the chase. It was too fast, too nimble. It knew the tunnels better than they did. They'd need to find another way to catch it.
Once Valkyrie had got her breathing back on track. She turned to Skulduggery, "What now?"
"We go back, grab the corpse and get someone from the Sanctuary to take it to Roarhaven for a post-mortem. Hopefully, we'll have a report by tomorrow and then we'll have a better idea of what happened down here."
"And the monster?"
"If we're lucky it might die of it's injuries. If not then we'll think of something,"
"That is so reassuring," she muttered sarcastically.
"I do try."
They retraced the route they had flown on foot. Now that her helmet was gone, Valkyrie had to use firelight to see. Its red glow gave the tunnels a hellish quality and she wondered if anything else lurked down here.
As they walked Skulduggery phoned the Sanctuary and arranged for a van to pick up the body. Valkyrie paid no attention to the conversation. She was too busy peaking around corners and listening for footsteps. She half expected another surprise attack but they made it back to where they had left the corpse without incident.
Everything was as they had left it except for the location of Valkyrie's hardhat. Which had floated downstream a little and then gotten caught on the corpse. Skulduggery picked up it up and flicked the light-switch on. It still worked.
"You should put this back on,"
She wrinkled her nose in disgust, "I'm not putting that on. It'll ruin my hair. It's filthy."
Skulduggery hesitated, like he wasn't sure he wanted to say what he was about to say but didn't have much choice in the matter. "Uh, Valkyrie, your hair is already filthy"
He shown the light on her and she looked down at the long strands of her that fell over her shoulders. They were wet and tangled and covered in muck and monster blood and god knows what else. She felt like crying but settled on an angry wail.
"Oh my god! Ew! Ew! Ew! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I assumed you already knew."
"If I knew, I would have started yelling at you sooner!"
"And here I was thinking you were being unusually calm about the matter,"
She glared at him and Skulduggery sighed, moved his hands and drew water from the air once again. Water droplets accumulated in a cloud above their heads and fell like rain onto both of them. She let it rinse away the worst of the dirt that had collected on her skin, clothing, and hair. It couldn't compare to a hot soapy shower but it was better than nothing. The rain stopped far too soon for her liking and Skulduggery handed her the hardhat which was now soaking wet but a lot cleaner. She put it on.
"Do you feel better now?"
"Marginally," she admitted begrudgingly. The adrenaline had completely worn off now, and exhaustion was quickly setting in. She didn't even have the energy to yell at him any more.
"Are you going to complain if I ask you to help me carry the body to the van?"
"Only a little bit,"
"Arms or legs?"
"Ugh, arms, I guess," she said with a sigh and then, for his benefit, half-heartily added, "Have I mentioned how much I hate you?"