this will be one of the last chapters i'll be publishing for a while. i thought i'll leave you chapter 13 as it joins with 'Sanguine's luck' chapter. so you wont get confused. Thanks soo much for your R&R's!! please keep them up. Im just resisting temptation to post everything at once but im gonna leave you with a cliff hanger for a while...so enjoy this chapter and the next...coz it may be a while till i'll update...mwhahaha...im so mean!!
I hope new readers would take alook at this story too, so im gonna slow down.
thanks sooo much for you're much appreciated support!!
Rhos Furey!!
x
Chapter Twelve.
Invasion of the Warlocks.
Fire suddenly erupted in the room and bullets flew everywhere. Skulduggery dived and rolled on the floor and ended up underneath the table. All the others had followed suit. Ghastly was at Skulduggery's side already. Ghastly had a look of pain in his eyes.
"You've been shot?" Skulduggery asked concerned.
Ghastly shook his head. "My legs. They hurt when they move." He grimaced.
Skulduggery produced the twin pistols from his jacket and crawled out from under the table. Once the firing had subsided he found his opportunity and ducked over the table and aimed his shot and fired. He saw that Elsa and Theodore had back up and five more people were fighting with them.
Skulduggery got out and produced a flame and threw it square in the face of one burly man with a bandana across his forehead. He was incredibly huge, his head just skimmed the high ceiling of the room. With a mere swipe with his bin lid hands he waved the flame away and stomped towards Skulduggery. The man's muscles were growing larger and tore through the material of his shirt. Skulduggery was astonished to see his skin turning green and stared dumbly at the man before him, not believing his eyes.
"You got to be kidding me!" he laughed, "The Incredible Hulk?"
The man roared when his metamorphous was complete. And Skulduggery muttered the words, "Don't make him angry."
He hurled fire balls to the Hulk Man and was glad to find that he couldn't approach him as he was being distracted by the fireballs. Skulduggery took the opportunity to look around the room.
Ghastly had recovered and was fighting a lizard-like woman, with scales and claws. Her forked tongue sprouted from her mouth and she swiped with her claws to Ghastly while Ghastly was threatening her off with his crutches he branded. The crutches seemed to produce bullets from the end. Handy, Skulduggery thought.
He found also, Mr Spite shooting a sleek revolver to Elsa Wild, she had seemed to spare her powers and continued to used her deadly grenades and her gun.
Mr Envy had used his powers, to be able to read minds and read his oppositions to dodge the attacks. He used a handsome hand gun to defend himself. His opponent was a tall, slim man who wore black on one side and white on the other, with a cape and mask with the same theme. He held a cane and his cane stroke lightening and he jumped about on furniture and ceilings. He jeered at the older, less fitter Rowan Envy.
Skulduggery returned his attention at his Warlock just when the Hulk swipe his tree trunk arm at Skulduggery's direction and threw him to the other side of the room and painfully hit the mirror over the mantelpiece.
Bits on mirror and debris landed on Skulduggery as he fought to get up. The Hulk bounded towards him, roaring and beating his chest. Skulduggery just in time conjured wind and the Hulk was sent flying through the window.
The wall collapsed and stone bricks crumpled out on the garden where the Hulk laid hurt. Skulduggery saw Ghastly now combating what looked like a boy. He wore a type of helmet, similar to what the Cleavers wore. Lightenening appeared from his hands and stroke Ghastly square in the chest and pinned Ghastly to the wall. Skulduggery found a ball of spikes connected to a chain and threw it to the bolt of lightening. They tore and Ghastly was realised.
He tried to find Elsa, but she had disappeared. The now invisible Theodore was now fighting off the determined Spite and now Spite was using a spray can that he had in his brief case and sprayed it in to thin air, and the red paint caught parts of Theodore moving around Spite. The American hit the spot where the paint found the boy and conjured flames, which made Theodore lose concentration and become visible.
Spite saw Skulduggery watching.
"Elsa went that way!" He shouted and pointed to the broken door. Skulduggery ran to it, dodging flying jinxes and falling debris.
Skulduggery skidded in the hall and decided to go upstairs, and found a corridor full of doors.
Skulduggery held his pistol above his shoulder and kicked each individual door and found empty rooms.
The last one, he kicked open and sure enough Elsa was found in the room where the body of the reflection of the Major was found.
Elsa smiled and held something behind her back. Skulduggery pointed his pistol to her head.
"So, you were one of them all along."
"You bet I was. But being a warlock...or a witch and all that, I had to make sure you were manoeuvred away from our real plans."
"And what are your real plans?"
Elsa moved towards the window.
"Don't move!" Skulduggery commanded, Elsa stopped and laughed.
"What are you going to do? Shot me? I like to see you try!"
She hissed and flew over Skulduggery's head and Skulduggery shot overhead, trying to catch her. But she was too fast.
She fled the corridor and shot shadows to Skulduggery. Skulduggery tried to see what she held, and chased after her. They made it to the staircase and Elsa flew down the stairs and blew the front doors open. But behind the doors was Ghastly and he produced wind that blew her away up to the chandelier.
She crashed into it and the chandelier came smashing down on to the marble floor.
She struggled up, "That's it. No more Mrs Nice!"
And she turned the staircase railing into a huge, thick venomous snake. It slithered down and hissed, it's fangs thick and unwelcoming. Ghastly and Skulduggery ran away together from the hallway into the dining room. The demented Elsa, screamed hysterically to the snake, and the snake followed the two Sorcerers.
Ghastly and Skulduggery blocked the door with the tables and chairs stacked up on it, barricading the door.
"How do you hide from a snake?" Skulduggery asked Ghastly.
Ghastly shrugged, "I used to breed dogs. Not snakes!"
They stood where they were for a moment. They couldn't hear anything on the other side. Perhaps the snake couldn't get through the door. Or maybe Elsa summoned it elsewhere. They both looked at each other, body tense.
Then a loud rumble came from the centre of the room, the tiles sank under and a burrow was made. Skulduggery whispered.
"Uh oh."
The burrowing snake crashed into the room, its head wagging around, it's tongue sprouted out of it's mouth continuously.
It was silent, and Ghastly and Skulduggery stood on the spot, unmoving. They were too shock to do anything. Then after a few moments, the snake's head turned towards them. They both held their breath, posed for a sudden attack. But the snake didn't seem to have noticed them. It hissed frustratingly. And the two noticed that it had a head of scales over the eyes of the snake. The snake, luckily, couldn't see.
But they both knew that a snake, or any other reptile had great hearing.
The snake seemed to grow bored and started to go back underground until Skulduggery's phone started to ring.
The snake snapped at their direction, screeching, fangs bared.
Ghastly and Skulduggery ran around the blind snake and Skulduggery stopped the phone from ringing. He found out it was Valkyrie ringing.
"Valkyrie, now is not the time!"
Over their shoulders they flew flames and water from their hands which struck the snake unawares. They found the kitchen and it was almost medieval. The most dominant part was the fireplace. It stretched to either side of the wall.
Skulduggery went to Ghastly, "Stay in the corner. I have a plan!"
Through the unclosed door they saw the snake appearing around the corner, skreiching with anger.
Skulduggery held his phone in his hands and switched a ring tune on. The phone was soon playing a song.
The snake paused, heard the music, and speeded up. Skulduggery waited next to the stone fireplace, the phone underneath the chimney.
"C'mon, slither!" And he chucked the phone as hard and high as he could up the chimney. The snake followed the sound and slithered towards the phone, up the chimney. It continued to go up until the chimney started to get narrower. The snake got stuck and wriggled to save itself. It cried and screeched, but the two Sorcerers had stopped the snake.
They both sighed in relief.
Remembering the other detectives they ran to the room where the chaos had begun and to their horror the detectives were beaten and was captured in magic shackles.
The detectives tried to warn Skulduggery and Ghastly but their mouths were bound and both Ghastly and Skulduggery were hit over the head from behind. They both fell unconscious.
Ghastly woke up and Cleavers were before him, Mr Bliss kneeled down to Ghastly and asked,
"Are you alright?"
Ghastly rubbed the back of his head where he had been hit and sat up. "Yeah, a bit bruised but otherwise alive."
Ghastly saw he was in the same room where he had been hit. It seemed the Warlocks had just left him. The room was full of rubble and one of the walls were gone, the room looking at the garden.
"Where have they gone?"
"We are not sure. Do you know what happened?"
Ghastly nodded, standing up. "The Warlocks came. Elsa Wild, she was one of them. Certainly fooled Skulduggery. Then me and Skulduggery were chased by a giant snake. Its stuck in the chimney."
Mr Bliss raised his eyebrows like he had never heard anything quite like it. He turned to one of the Cleavers. "Check if there is a snake in the chimney. It could still be harmful."
"Do you have any idea where they could've taken Skulduggery and the others?" Mr Bliss asked Ghastly.
He shrugged. "No, I don't have anything to do with it. I was just giving Skulduggery a hand."
Suddenly the Grand Mage entered the room.
"Fantastic, absolutely fantastic! Why didn't Skulduggery tell me about this?"
"He's been kidnapped. The Warlocks have got him."
Guild looked angrily at the mess. "Major Riddle would be turning in his grave if he saw the state of his home!"
"He isn't turning in his grave, Grand Mage. Riddle's alive, and he's helping the Warlocks in whatever they are trying to achieve."
Guild stared at Ghastly as if deciding whether to believe him. "He's alive?" Guild whispered. "He's alive?!" And that time he shouted it.
"Who on Earth came to this ridiculous conclusion?"
"Detective Pleasant." Ghastly answered.
"Skulduggery Pleasant?!" Guild hissed, "Why would he think such a thing?"
"The real Riddle wasn't dead but the body had in fact been the dead body of his Reflection. It seems he has used his Reflection a great deal. It's almost fool proof."
"Yes, fool proof…" Guild muttered. "…TO A PAIR OF FOOLS!" He erupted angrily.
It had taken time to calm the Grand Mage down and Ghastly and Mr Bliss left the Cleavers clearing up the place with other councillors.