Chapter 231
Kitana's scream of fury acted like a beacon to Valkyrie, drawing her in. She was running with surprisingly strong legs despite the ringing of fear in her ears, the utter pain in her body.
She broke the treeline suddenly, finding Kitana hovering in the middle of a dried out, flat area that used to be trees, her family diving in and out of the trees to run rings around her. Without giving herself or Kitana a moment to think, much less see her, Valkyrie piled on the speed and ran forward, jumping in the air with her magic and throwing a punch at the girl's head.
Her shout of anger turned to one of shock, before she turned and saw Valkyrie flying a few inches above her, her lip pulled up like a snarl.
"He's dead," she told Kitana.
Kitana surged forward, throwing her fist around. She had too much strength for Valkyrie to block her despite it having no skill behind it, and Valkyrie took the hit to the side of her head, feeling it shake her brain. She returned it with a kick to Kitana's diaphragm, causing her to start coughing uncontrollably. Valkyrie followed it up with punches to the head, forcing her to pull down to the ground, not giving her a moment to recover. Her family swarmed around them, sending well aimed magic to hurt Kitana more, and Valkyrie kept the punches going though her arm and shoulder ached like hell and she was panting badly. She went to switch arms and Kitana surprised her with a suddenly well aimed jab to her sternum – if her clothes hadn't been Bespoke, she was under no doubts it would have crushed her bones and exploded her heart.
She fell back and a stream of bullets, purple magic and a fireball was sent at Kitana, keeping her in place long enough for Valkyrie to get back up and punch her in the eye.
Kitana screamed in terror and pain. Blood and eyeball juices fell between the claw of her hand she tried to hold at her face. Valkyrie recoiled in horror of what she had done, bile rising in her throat. A shiver rose up her spine and down her arms, her face white as a sheet as Kitana stood there and screamed in front of her. Her other eye was wide and staring into the ground, tears of pain blinding her.
She should have arrested her then while Kitana was in shock but she couldn't make herself move until Kitana shot into the air.
She followed her, just like at the school.
Kitana sent a stream of energy at her and Valkyrie shot higher and sent her magic back. Their streams met in the air and with all the bright white it was hard to see what happened, but neither her nor Kitana turned to ash. They both stopped and looked at each other in anger before they continued, increasing the power dangerously fast. Valkyrie had never, ever tried to use as much power as she did in that moment, straining enough to shout out.
Her hands burnt badly, the pain building until she had no choice but to let go. She was confused and lucky when she didn't die instantly. Kitana was also looking at her hands in pain.
She had no time to consider how that worked as Kitana darted towards her with her fist out. She took a note from Skulduggery and dodged her, losing vision of her for just a moment, where she went flying up and away.
Valkyrie went after her. She couldn't tell if she was as fast as her or slower at first but when they started brushing the bottom of the clouds, she felt herself getting closer. She instantly flipped on her Aura Vision, following Kitana as she tried to cut right and lose her in the fog. They went on a race around the clouds until Valkyrie felt them break free above the moisture. Her Aura Vision turned off and she finally got a grip on Kitana from behind, wrapping her arm around her neck. They struggled in the air, Kitana trying to get away, blood and a glob of eyeball sliding from Kitana's face and down Valkyrie's forearm. She pulled the handcuff from her back pocket and as Kitana tried to use her hands to pry Valkyrie's away from her, Valkyrie used her blindside to inch the cuffs around Kitana's wrist.
Kitana's magic instantly disappeared and she dropped. Valkyrie's arm around her neck kept her up and she wrapped the other around her, holding her tightly despite the struggling.
"Stop," she panted, too exhausted and drained to be angry. "Just stop. You're beaten. Just let it happen. There's nothing you can do now."
"You're sick," Kitana growled, a sob of pain bursting free. "I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU! YOU'RE A STUPID BITCH! YOU STUPID SLUT, YOU WHORE, YOU DICK, YOU FUCKED UP EVERYTHING! YOU'VE RUINED–" she leant her head backwards onto Valkyrie's shoulder and cried to the sky. "You've ruined everything. I hate you so fucking much."
Valkyrie was unsure how to respond, barely daring to believe it was over, and patted Kitana's shoulder – her jacket – stupidly. Kitana reached up and held her fingers weakly, utterly broken and pathetic, sobbing in the sky.
Valkyrie sighed and began to lower them slowly, wishing she had the Cloaking Sphere to keep them hidden from mortal eyes when she felt the cold of a shackle on her wrist. She tried to yank back her arm but it was too late.
The shackle on her right wrist stayed connected with the one on Kitana's left and they fell, Valkyrie holding onto the girl out of fear as they dropped through the clouds and then into open air. She gritted her teeth against screaming, hearing Kitana's voice as they dropped, begging in her head as she scrunched her eyes closed that Erskine or Ghastly was there to catch her.
She felt as arms wrapped around her and Kitana and sucked in a breath of relief. That turned to cold terror when she opened her grateful eyes to see Skulduggery was the one holding her.
"It's okay," he said instantly, his voice almost inaudible over Kitana repeatedly screaming "NO," and "LET ME GO."
She clamped her mouth shut and tried to breathe. Skulduggery lowered them to the ground at some speed and then slowed to a stop at the ground.
"We can't find Saracen," Tanith immediately called out. "And Anton's down!"
"I can find Saracen," she shouted back.
Skulduggery held the shackle around Kitana's wrist in an iron grip as he unlocked the mechanism, freeing Valkyrie but keeping Kitana contained. He swiftly turned Kitana and pulled her other arm into the shackle, and she fell to the floor, crying nonsense.
The next hour was a whirlwind for them all. They located Saracen, who was fine aside from a small leg injury and having been stuck under an entire treetop, while Anton was much more severely hurt though awake. Seán had been left in shackles where Valkyrie had last seen him and had begun trying to run away, but with her Aura Vision, they had tracked him down. Tanith had been the one to grab him and bring him back, her face a furious rage as she desperately tried not to batter the seventeen year old for the disgusting insults he used against her.
The Sanctuary turned up and Valkyrie watched them, too painful to move, as they set about burning the tops of the trees and setting up the fake fire some fake teenagers had caused. Anton was put on a stretcher and taken along with Saracen to be healed while Valkyrie and the others were loaded with Seán and Kitana into the back of a van to the Sanctuary. It would have been more amusing if she hadn't been in pain, to see how cautious everyone was of the now harmless teenagers.
They arrived and by then Valkyrie had finished the energy bar and drink she'd been given by the medics to help her feel a little more normal, and she stood on strong legs when they got out. Strom was waiting at the door.
"I have so many questions," he began, crossing his arms, "but at this point in time, I'm mostly grateful this is over."
"Same," Valkyrie muttered, keeping a strong face as she watched Kitana being passed over to the Cleavers.
"You can't do this!" Kitana sobbed. "I had rights! I was given this gift because I'm worthy! It's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair, bitch. I want my jacket back when she's in overalls!" Valkyrie called out as Kitana was taken away.
She threw herself to the ground and she slipped from one of the Cleaver's grips, giving her even longer to be laughed at by the staff indoors happy to see her downfall. "Don't laugh at me!"
"Fuck off!" Seán growled, trying to pull himself free. Without his magic, he was significantly less strong than Erskine now, who had him held still as more Cleavers came out to collect him.
Strom's eyes bulged at the sight of Seán. "He's meant to be in custody."
"We don't know either yet," she told him strongly before he could begin. "I'm sure the Elders will be wanting to see the security footage too."
"I'd hope so," he sneered, turning his back to storm inside.
"It isn't my fault! You can't charge me for this! I was blackmailed! I was forced by one of your people!" Seán said loudly, being dragged by the Cleavers right behind Strom.
Strom stopped and everyone focused on Seán. The Cleavers stopped. "What? Who forced you?" Strom asked.
"Some man," he growled. "Some official person in a suit. He said he'd let me free if I killed the Dead Men, and I didn't want to go to jail, so I agreed. Then he tried to touch me like a gay pervert so I killed him and ran away."
"Who let you out?" Skulduggery asked, coming into Seán's view and crossing his arms next to Strom. "What did he look like? Did he say who he works for?"
"I'm not telling you shit!" Seán shouted.
"Bare in mind, Mr Mackin," Strom said with forced calm, "that what you say now could affect your sentence. Perhaps you could be honest with us, hmm?"
Seán was silent for a moment as Kitana's screams of rage and sorrow faded into the Sanctuary. "He didn't say his name. He's dead in some cell though. I did it in self-defence!"
Everyone turned and began marching into the Sanctuary at the same time, catching up to Kitana being processed with speed and going further into the building. They met Elder Feie along the way and he went with them. A short search later found none other than Sult, his spine broken and body stiff.
Valkyrie and the Dead Men hid in Corrival's office the moment they could, but everyone could hear as Strom went off on all three Elders about how they could "let" this happen and how it was "their fault" that Sult had let a psychopathic kid out of a cell. They only knew he was done and had left some hours later when Tipstaff poked his head in the door. "You can come out now," he said in a tired voice.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Lord Vile, this isn't the end of Skulduggery's arc! I know some people are excited, though do remember, this story is more about their lives together and the social/romantic aspect of the story, not an alternative Darquesse plot. Though by now I think you all know that haha!
I just moved and got the internet up, I managed to get a few chapters written while I didn't have internet which was fun.