As promised: the next update. It's a lot longer than usual so I hope you guys like it.
Please continue to review with comments about the Unamed and any feedback you have. Thankyou very much to Deadgirl19, China Sorrows 400 and mysteryHuntress for your reviews and ideas,not means a lot.
Chapter 19
It had been a whole three days since Skulduggery had called China and the Dead Men, and they were still not here. It was understandable, Skulduggery thought, none of them were as skilled as he was, and as such, it was unlikely any of them had thought to memorise, or indeed, even bring, a map. They'd probably, Skulduggery predicted, gotten lost.
He paced around the cave, bored. He was used to waiting and striking from the shadows, but there was no tactical offensive involved here. The only thing he could do was watch and wait. It was doing Skulduggery's head in. A small selfish part of him knew that he wanted the Dead Men here for his own amusement. Whilst the great Skulduggery Pleasant would never admit that he craved the company of another, deep down he missed them all, especially Ghastly, and was looking forward to their arrival.
He was less worried about Valkyrie now that he knew she was going through her purge, but he hated seeing her in pain. She was in much the same state as when he had called Kenspeckle, shaking and groaning on the floor, her temperature fluctuating between dangerously hot and worryingly cold.
But doubts pressed on Skulduggery's mind. He had many criticisms of Kenspeckle Grouse, but for the 300 years he had known the doctor, his peculiar brand of science-magic never, ever made mistakes. If Kenspeckle's tests had said Valkyrie's surge would be in a few months, that's when it should have been. Something, or someone, had sped it up. Skulduggery wasn't sure who, how or why, but warning signs were flashing and the skeleton knew he had to prepared. He sighed again,sliding into a sitting position on the floor. He couldn't do anything stuck in this cave.
A moment later, his phone rang.
"Ghastly?"
"Skulduggery, we're here. Sorry it took us so long." Several slaps and a theatrical groan could be heard through the phone before Ghastly started to rant.
"The two idiots you insisted I brought with me managed to forget the map. We've been walking around in circles. And now, they're trying to convince Shudder and I that's it's all our fault, seeing as we gave them the job of map reading in the first place."
Skulduggery could hear Dexter and Saracen bickering in the background.
"Actually, Saracen, it's your fault we got lost. If you 'know things' how come you couldn't have told us where to go?"
"I never said the things I knew were actually useful," a sulky Saracen pointed out.
Skulduggery's voice became warm and amused.
"I feel your pain, Ghastly, I really do."
This probably would have placated Ghastly if it hadn't been for Skulduggery's stifled laugh.
"Look, Pleasant, just tell us how to get to you and then you really will feel my pain."
Sobered slightly by this thought, Skulduggery gave him directions to the collapsed cave. He had seemingly memorised the route, even though they had been running from the bats, which he had already warned Ghastly about.
Fifteen minutes later, Skulduggery heard voices through the rocks. He could hear Saracen and Dexer, still arguing, and took this to mean that the bats were gone. He immediately stood up and raised his hands. The crumbled rocks blocking the entrance to the tunnel started to shift as Skulduggery trembled with effort at the magic, and the rocks started to fall, slowly as first and then faster. Skulduggery released the grip on his magic as he dropped his hands. He sagged, exhausted. He was unused to being so tired after magic, but Earth was always the hardest power, even for Skulduggery.
The magic had crumbled down one whole side of the wall, and through this gap he could see a light moving closer and closer towards him. Out of the gloom emerged four figures, and from these figures grew faces and eyes and hands and suddenly Ghastly, Anton, Dexter and Saracen appeared. Ghastly had fire flickering in both hands, lighting the way for the rest of them. Hands were shaken and manly (or not so manly, in Saracen's case) hugs were exchanged.
Skulduggery lead them into the cave where they crowded around the fire he had lit in an attempt to keep Valkyrie warm. Even Saracen gasped when he saw her thrashing on the floor.
Dexter knelt down beside her, brushing hair from her face and stroking her cheek. Valkyrie was shivering, despite the fire and added warmth of Skulduggery's jacket. He hastily took his much warmer furry jacket off and gently laid it over Valkyrie, before sitting down next to her and taking her hand.
Skulduggery noticed and cleared his throat loudly.
Dexter hesitantly removed his hand from Valkyrie's and moved to sit next to the others round the fire. He looked slightly embarrassed. Skulduggery smiled to himself. Whilst he did approve of Dexter pursuing Valkyrie, he was 400 years older than her, and Skulduggery didn't want to see her hurt.
The Dead Men sat around the fire, reminiscing, talking, laughing and generally enjoying their chance to mercilessly tease Saracen. But after half an hour of fun, Shudder asked the question they were all thinking. Being Shudder, he asked it bluntly and without subtlety.
"Skulduggery, be honest. There's something you're not telling us. I could be back at my hotel and instead I'm in an underground cavern in the Amazon rainforest. I'm not complaining, but I would like to know why."
"Kenspeckle's tests predicted that Valkyrie's surge would happen in three months. His tests are never wrong. I want everyone here because something is going to happen, I know it is. On my own, we'd be too vulnerable. Let's face it, right now, we're sitting ducks. I need everyone ready because, if I'm honest, I have no idea what's going on."
Everyone fell silent at this, because if there was one thing that scared and worried them all was Skulduggery admitting that he was completely and utterly clueless. His colossal ego rarely allowed it to happen. So when it did, it was time to get serious.
"And one more thing."
"Oh god. Whenever you say that, you're always about to tell us something awful." Saracen complained. "I know you are."
Skulduggery ignored him.
"Before we had to run away from those bats, we found something carved onto the roof of that huge circular cavern you passed through. I think it's in Gaelic."
Skulduggery passed Valkyrie's phone around the group.
"It translates as: 'I am coming". It seems these rumours about the Unnamed are more then just rumours."
"Oh joys." Saracen muttered.
The rest of the men paled. The threat of The Unnamed was not something they wanted to think about too deeply. They'd all heard one too many horror stories. Mevolent had been bad enough, but Mevolent's mystery master was terrifying.
Only Skulduggery was optimistic.
"Don't worry, we're not going to die yet. And right now, one of us is unconcious, and won't even die at all."
His bright voice persisted.
"And come one, everyone would admit that we've all wanted to see Saracen ripped from limb to limb by a nameless monster at some point during our lives."
The protests from Saracen and sniggers from the others were abruptly cut off by Shudder.
"Sshh! I can hear something."
The men instantly fell silent and Skulduggery tilted his head in the direction of the cave opening.
A distinctive thud of footsteps could be heard in the distance. Stones trembled on the floor of the cave as vibrations were felt through the rock.
"You didn't bring anyone else with you, did you?" Skulduggery whispered to Ghastly.
"No."
The Dead Men were up on their feet. Dexter and Skulduggery positioned themselves in front of Valkyrie protectively, and with a flick of his wrist, Ghastly extinguished the fire, plunging them all into darkness.
Through the gap in the cave Saracen caught sight of what was making the footsteps.
"Oh hell", he breathed.
"Saracen, what is it?"
"About ten cleavers. They're coming fast. And they're wearing black."
"Oh, crap. This really is bad. One black cleaver is hard enough." Skulduggery muttered to himself.
Saracen stiffened.
"Tanith Low is also here. But she's hanging back for now. Trust me on this one, I know things."
Ghastly cursed and the Dead Men settled into fighting positions. Seconds later, the first black cleaver stepped purposely through the hole in the rock and into the cave.
Skulduggery stepped up. "Stand down. We are with the Irish Sanctuary, so by order of the Grand Mage, stand down."
The cleaver didn't falter.
"Well it was worth a try." Skulduggery snapped his hand and pushed at the air, creating a solid, invisible wall. The cleaver just walked straight through. His uniform was resistant to direct magical attacks, and, it seemed, to bullets, as Skulduggery fired six shots with no effect. Dexter and Saracen waded in, dodging scythes and exchanging punches as two more cleavers entered. The cave was crowded and small and the other cleavers couldn't get in. They formed an orderly queue outside the cave, an undefeatable line of attack.
A screeching sound filled the room and Anton's gist was released. It ripped through the chest of one of the cleavers, passing straight through the uniform and making the cleaver fall to the floor, unconscious. Skulduggery smiled. A gist could do that. But unfortunately that was all Anton's gist could do, as it retreated back into Shudder's chest and Anton sunk to the floor. The gist was too much to sustain.
Although one cleaver was down, another took its place.
Skulduggery and the Dead Men were being pushed back towards Valkyrie. Scythes flashed and Ghastly stepped to one side, dodging the blade of one cleaver. It was a feint, and the cleaver swiped upwards, slicing into his chin, ghastly hissed and retreated back further, blood spattering on the floor.
The Dead Men fought as one, dodging and attacking, defending and retaliating like a single oiled machine. Dexter lashed out with a punch and Saracen dodged, jumping and flipping over Dexter, who had ducked to avoid a punch from a different cleaver. Skulduggery was twisting arms and throwing sneaky trips whilst Ghastly threw heavy, purposeful punches.
Skulduggery retreated. "Keep them busy. I have a plan."
He flicked his wrist, sending water spilling over the floor. The cleavers were slipping and sliding and their attack halted for a second. A second was all Skulduggery needed. He raised his left hand and sharply dragged it to the right. A chunk of rock came off the side of the cave, zoomed through the air and hit a cleaver on the back of the head. It punctured the helmet and buried into the cleaver, who fell to the floor and didn't get up again.
"Two down boys!" Saracen yelled.
But they were still being pushed further and further back, and Skulduggery couldn't perform the earth power when he was busy defending himself. As the men retreated more and more cleavers entered the cave, Ghastly nearly tripped over Valkyrie, and it was so cramped that Saracen, in the front of the group, couldn't avoid the scythe aimed at his stomach. The blade slit open his bulky midriff and the cleaver moved forward. It launched a vicious kick, which snapped Saracen's head back. Blood lured from his nose as the cleaver moved in for the kill. Dexter took over as Saracen slumped to the floor.
The remaining three could see this was desperate. As Dexter, Ghastly and Skulduggery were crowded into the wall, still trying to defend Valkyrie, Skulduggery looked around. How would they get out of this?
Cliffhanger! I'll try to update within the next week. Please review and let me know what you think!