A/N: Thanks to refya and JunoMagic for betaing this for me!
Disclaimer: Characters, settings, or basically anything you recognise are not mine. They belong to the amazing Derek Landy. I make no money from this. I didn't even come up with the title - that has been nicked from the Rolling Stones song by the same name.
Chapter 4
Nye's words seemed to work as a catalyst for Valkyrie's brain to snap out of the fog. She blinked, laid Tanith, now fully dressed again, back down on the operating table – not like she could have supported her weight anyway – and fingered the staff she kept collapsed in a pocket.
She took in the situation, her mind already weighing the options available to them. It was the two of them, her and Skulduggery, against at least a dozen – whatever these things were. She looked at the ones approaching, slowly but steadily, through the door nearest to them. They looked vaguely human – human-shaped, in any case, but… different. Not like the Hollow Men; these things were solid.
She wondered if her Necromancy would even work against those things. It would be worth a try, no matter how dangerous.
Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery, who was standing very still on the other side of the operating table, gun in hand.
"Skulduggery?" she asked.
He tilted his head at her, but kept his attention at Nye. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid we have to disappoint you. Another time, maybe. You see, we're expected back on the outside, and it's really— Oh, look at the time!"
He raised his hand, as if to look at his watch, but instead, took a clear shot at the creature closest to them. It went down with a heavy thud and stayed there. The others kept advancing, still at the same slow pace, paying no heed to their fallen comrade even as one of them stumbled when stepping over the body.
Clumsy, Valkyrie thought. And can be shot down. She filed the knowledge away carefully.
Nye let out an ugly, high-pitched laugh. Like nails on glass, Valkyrie thought.
"Don't think you can get away that easily, Detective!" it squealed. "You and your little friend here are done. Finished. Outside? You will never get out of here again. And if you think you know what death is, you don't know anything yet."
It grabbed a knife and lunged at Skulduggery, who took a quick step back. Nye fell down on the floor but scrambled back up again, taking another lunge. This time, Skulduggery was waiting for it and met the knife with a block. The force of the collision sent Nye flying through the air. It landed a few metres away on its back and scrambled away into a corner.
"Attack!" it shouted, having obviously come to the realisation that getting the creatures to do its dirty work for it was a better idea than taking on Skulduggery on its own.
It was as if a switch had been turned on. Suddenly there was no sign of the slow, steady stumble, as the creatures attacked from both sides at once.
Skulduggery emptied his gun into their attackers, each shot finding its target. Five more creatures went down, but the other six were on them in an instant.
Valkyrie closed her eyes for a moment. She decided to leave the staff in her pocket for the time being and focused her attention on her ring, drawing on the death surrounding them. It was a powerful, heady feeling – the sort of feeling one could get addicted to. Dangerous. Thrilling. It flowed through her body like electricity, making her feel more alive than she had for a long time.
She took a deep breath, not because she needed to, but to let the familiarity of the action prepare her, and let the shadows loose.
As they surrounded one of the creatures, it disappeared with not even a puff. The shadows sneaked over to the next one, slicing through its body as if it was butter, and took down another one right beside it.
Valkyrie swayed on her feet. She reached out and grabbed the edge of the table, trying to steady herself. Skulduggery was next to her. He'd tucked the now useless gun away and was using one of Nye's knives to keep the rest of the creatures away from them, but they seemed oddly resilient to being stabbed.
"Your staff!" he shouted.
"What?"
"Your staff. Give me your staff. I'll keep them at bay until you've recovered."
There were only three creatures still left, but even so, they were outnumbered by the attackers. Valkyrie fished the staff out, expanded it and waited for the best moment to hand it over. Even that left her exhausted. The drain of using her Necromancy had been worse than she'd anticipated.
Skulduggery punched and kicked, using the staff with both hands. The knife he had used lay on the floor. Valkyrie crouched and picked it up, determined not to be left entirely defenceless.
Thump. Thud. Thump. Each time the staff crashed into one of the creatures, the sound was the same. A dull thud, no matter what part of the body it hit. What were they?
Skulduggery drove one of the narrow ends of the staff into one of their attackers just as it was reaching out to punch Valkyrie. It went right through it.
"Oh bloody…" Skulduggery muttered, trying to wrench the staff out of the creature. It bent, but didn't break. It didn't come loose either.
Valkyrie drew on her last reserves of strength and stabbed at the creature with her knife, aiming at the spot right next to the staff. It was enough to free the weapon, and the fighting went on again. Thump. Thump. Thud. Slash. It felt like clay; soft and pliant, yet completely solid.
Skulduggery drove his elbow into the blank approximation of a face of one of the creatures, and it fell. At least that was one good thing about them – once they fell, they didn't get up.
She touched her ring again, wondering if she dared to use it once more. She knew that the effort could drain her completely, but there were two more clay men left and even Skulduggery was slowing down. His clothes were in tatters and his left glove had come off. Valkyrie couldn't be certain but she thought she'd got a glimpse of only three pale bony fingers.
Death flew eagerly into the ring, fuelling it. She reached out her hand and let the shadows fly. They were weaker this time, less defined, but she didn't need to unleash the whole power. At least she hoped it would be enough.
The shadows took down one of the remaining creatures. Skulduggery was punching and kicking the other one, trying to keep its hands off him. And at last, the final clay man fell, too.
Valkyrie stumbled again, and sank down on the floor. Her legs wouldn't support her any longer. Skulduggery stood still next to her, holding up his left hand. This time it was obvious: the little finger was missing. He sighed and started searching the floor.
Something small and light caught Valkyrie's eye, a bit further away. "Over there," she pointed. There were a few tiny bones scattered around, one still in the grasp of one of the fallen clay men.
"Thanks." Skulduggery walked over and picked up the pieces. He stuffed them into a pocket. "I think it's time for us to go," he said. "I'll take Tanith. Can you walk?"
Valkyrie struggled to get back up on her feet. She was still very weak, but she'd manage. They didn't have a long way to go – once outside, they'd be safe.
Nye, still crouching in the corner, giggled.
"Nice try, Detective. I don't think so, though." It clicked its fingers, and the now familiar shuffle of heavy, solid feet started again.
Except that this time, there were more of them.
xXx
"Fuck." Valkyrie didn't swear often, at least not in Skulduggery's presence, but he couldn't really blame her. It did look rather bad. Still, this time they weren't caught by surprise, and Skulduggery had one last trick in his pocket that Valkyrie didn't know about.
"Run!" he whispered urgently, not wanting Nye to give the attack order just yet. "I'll be right behind you with Tanith. Just get outside as fast as you can. On my count… one, two… NOW!"
Valkyrie pushed past him and ran, heading straight to a third door. Skulduggery could only hope that there weren't any other nasty surprises lurking behind it. It was the one closest to the outside world – if he was right, Nye's creatures would prefer to stay away from there.
He grabbed Tanith, flung her over his shoulder and ran after Valkyrie. The creatures stumped behind him, surprisingly agile for their bulky bodies. Once he was through the door, he put Tanith down, noticing from the corner of his eye that Valkyrie had stopped in the middle of the room, leaning heavily on a chair to keep herself from falling over. "Can't…" she said. "Too tired. Just need a moment."
Skulduggery didn't waste any more time. "Get down," he said, his voice low but urgent. "Down on the floor, now!"
He took out his final weapon, pulled off the pin and lobbed it inside the room they'd just left. Shielding his eye sockets with his arm, he jumped back, but it was not enough. The grenade exploded immediately upon impact and he was thrown back through the room.
xXx
Everything happened so fast that Valkyrie's mind had trouble to keep up. There'd been an explosion – her ears were still ringing – and Skulduggery was lying on top of her. She'd barely registered how perfectly his thin body moulded into hers, when Skulduggery was already on his feet again, dragging her up as well.
"Stun grenade, with a bit of extra kick," he explained. "Not sure if it works on those things, though. I might only have bought us a minute. I'd rather not hang around and wait. Let's get out of here."
He picked Tanith up and headed towards the door. Valkyrie stumbled after them, still disoriented from the noise and the light and everything that had happened, but the sight of the opened door gave her new strength. Unless Nye had done some serious remodelling since her last visit, that was the door that led to safety.
xXx
The air was fresh. It was dark, but there were stars sprinkled in the sky, and a there was a gentle breeze. A perfect, warm late July night.
Valkyrie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was alive. They'd made it. They'd got out of the warehouse. Away from Nye and its army.
Skulduggery was further ahead, carrying Tanith towards a large tree. He put her down gently and crouched down next to her. Valkyrie caught up with them in a few steps.
"How is she?"
Skulduggery stood up again. "She is alive. Barely – her pulse is very weak. But that's to be expected. She'll need to get to the Sanctuary as quickly as possible, though. Would Fletcher know this place if you told him to come straight here?"
Valkyrie shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Right. Give him a ring and tell him to get to Ghastly's." He took out his phone. "Ghastly? We're done. As soon as Fletcher gets there, come and pick us up. Tanith needs medical help. Yes, I'll tell you where we are. You know the road to…"
Valkyrie made a quick phone call and explained the situation to Fletcher. When she was finished, she walked over to the tree and sat down next to Tanith. The grass was cool and still moist with the evening dew but it didn't matter. She patted Tanith on the shoulder awkwardly. "You're going to be fine," she whispered. "The Remnant is gone. When you wake up again, you'll be back to good old Tanith."
Skulduggery joined them. He crouched down again and unfastened Tanith's shackles.
"How are you?" he asked, looking at Valkyrie.
She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Glad to be alive again. But we did it, didn't we? Save Tanith?"
"We did indeed. It wasn't a bad plan, all things considered."
Valkyrie gave him a lopsided smile. "Even if nothing really worked as I expected."
"Well, we were dealing with something we didn't know anything about. It still worked out in the end."
"I guess so… Speaking about things we didn't know about – what were these creatures? Clay men?"
"I don't really know. Some sort of homunculi."
"Homun-what?"
"Um… People-things, sort of. Different process than Hollow Men, obviously, but same purpose. I was thinking they might have been golems, but I've never heard of golems in Ireland before."
"Golems?"
"Clay men. I don't think they were clay, though. Probably earth, with some clay mixed in, and possibly some bits Nye had appropriated from his previous, uh, specimens. I'm quite sure at least one of them had some bones in his arm and hand."
"Eww."
"Indeed."
"Why did shooting them work so well?"
Skulduggery shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe they were allergic to bullets."
He sat down on the ground next to Valkyrie. She leaned awkwardly into his side, resting her head on his shoulder. He smelled of gunpowder and death and adventure.
"When will Ghastly and Fletcher get here?"
"Twenty minutes, give or take a few, I'd expect. One of us should probably go with Fletcher and Tanith, explain the situation in the Sanctuary. They have good doctors there."
And if Tanith wakes up, it would be good to have one of us there to keep an eye on her. Just in case she does remember. About me. The words hung between them, unspoken.
"And one of us has to tell Ghastly the truth now," she said. "I suppose I should do it."
Skulduggery put his arm tentatively around her, letting her snuggle closer. "I can do that, if you'd prefer to go with Fletcher and Tanith. Don't worry about Ghastly. Once Tanith wakes up, he won't have time to be angry with us anyway."
"He won't forget, though. And he is an Elder."
"He's also my oldest friend. But yes, he won't forget. Still, as long as you are you, Valkyrie Cain, we don't have anything to worry about. Not from Ghastly."
"Good."
They sat in silence for a while. Valkyrie was close to nodding off, when she heard a car in the distance. Skulduggery let go of her and stood, activating his façade as he walked closer to the road. Valkyrie noticed he kept his left, gloveless hand in his pocket.
xXx
The van pulled up next to them. Fletcher jumped out first, followed by Ghastly who headed straight to Tanith, kneeling down next to her.
"You look terrible!" Fletcher exclaimed. "I didn't think you'd gone off fighting."
"When do we ever not end up fighting?" Valkyrie asked with a tired grin. "I'm fine. Just tired. No broken bones or anything."
She gave Fletcher a quick kiss. "I'll come with you and Tanith, explain the Sanctuary people what's wrong with her. I think she just needs to recover, but the doctors there will know best."
Fletched nodded. "Ghastly rang the Sanctuary when we were on our way, so they'll know to expect us. Come on, then!"
He walked over to Tanith and took hold of her arm. "She'll be in good hands in a moment," he said to Ghastly. "Don't worry!" He wrapped his other arm around Valkyrie and in a flash, they were off.
xXx
"I know this place," Ghastly said. "I've heard of it."
Skulduggery said nothing.
"Thank you. I know the risk you took. Both of you."
"It was Valkyrie's idea. She's the one you need to thank."
"Probably," Ghastly conceded. "But you went with her. I suppose I understand now why you didn't want me to come with you, even if by the looks of you, you could have used the help."
Skulduggery gave a light shrug. "We managed. Although it would have been easier with you around, that's true. Are we going now or will we just stay here and chat?"
"I suppose we can talk in the car. I want to head to the Sanctuary, too."
"Of course. I can pick up the Bentley tomorrow."
They got into the van and Ghastly drove off. They were quiet for a few minutes, until Ghastly spoke again.
"So, Valkyrie is Darquesse."
"That she is."
"How long have you known?"
"Since Christmas. She found out last year but only told me once she'd got her name sealed."
"That explains why she knew about this place."
"I was furious when I found out. Not because— Not because of what, or who, she is, but because she didn't tell me. Didn't trust me enough."
"I know the feeling."
Skulduggery tilted his head. "Touché."
"So… What are you going to do about it? Or rather, what is she going to do about it?"
"Nothing. We'll just keep an eye on it, see how things develop. Now that she knows, we're both rather hoping that she'll make the future change."
"I hope so. I really do."
xXx
Tanith opened her eyes. She looked around curiously. The room was white. White walls, white ceiling, white curtains around her bed. A hospital, she realised.
She reached out, marvelling at the way her arm moved, and drew one of the curtains aside.
"Tanith!" Valkyrie rushed to the bed. "It's… it's really you, isn't it?"
Tanith tried to raise her head, but it felt too heavy, so she leaned back on the pillows. "Of course it's me, Val. What happened? Did we win?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" Valkyrie asked.
"The Remnants… They'd taken over all these people, and we were in the Hibernian. Oh – is this where I am? Where is Kenspeckle?"
Valkyrie looked oddly hesitant. "A lot has happened since then, Tanith. That was seven months ago."
"Seven— Have I been here all this time?"
"No. Just for the last two weeks, since we… Oh, never mind that now. There's someone outside who will want to hear the news. We've taken turns watching you; it was my turn now. We'll tell you everything later."
She went to the door and pushed it open. "Ghastly? Tanith's awake."
Tanith grinned at the warm feeling Val's words had given her. She remembered Ghastly, and how they had finally stopped dancing around each other and…
Ghastly hurried in, with Valkyrie trailing after him. She looked from Ghastly to Tanith and back to Ghastly again. "I think I'll leave the two of you alone for a few minutes," she said. "Tanith… I'm so glad you're back. So glad."
Tanith smiled. She wanted to hear about everything she'd missed. "Me too, Val. Me too."
The End.