Death Bringer

  “That sounded like a threat,” the second cop said.

  “I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “Yeah,” the cop said, “but I was talking to you.”

  Valkyrie hadn’t even noticed the movement in the crowds of people, but suddenly there were four more cops surrounding the Necromancers, done up in tactical gear and carrying automatic weapons. The Necromancers stiffened. Unlike Elementals and other Adepts, the Necromancers kept most of their magic in objects. But right now, their weapons were in their bags and pockets, and any move to get them would result in extreme violence.

  Valkyrie backed away as the cops issued orders. The Necromancers glared at her, and she smiled back, slipping away through the crowd that had formed around them. She hurried for the doors, emerging into the Arrivals Area as more cops ran through to help their comrades. She rejoined Skulduggery and a handcuffed Dragonclaw, and they walked quickly for the exit.

  “You handled it?” Skulduggery asked.

  “I did. I could have used your help.”

  “Nonsense. You’re more than capable of doing these things yourself. Were there many Necromancers?”

  “Twelve or so. If they’re not escorted directly on to a flight home, I’d say, at the very least, they’re not going to be let near their weapons for another few hours.”

  “By which point we should have broken into the Temple. Well done, Valkyrie. You are good.”

  “Yes, I am. What about Bison here? Did he have anything interesting to say?”

  “Indeed he did,” Skulduggery said, his false mouth smiling. “He knows of a top-secret supply tunnel that leads right into the depths of the Temple, and he’s going to take us there, aren’t you, Bison?”

  Dragonclaw sagged.

  “How sweet,” Valkyrie said. “You’ve made a friend.”

  Chapter 27

  Into the Temple

  he warehouse was dark. Three jeeps and two trucks were parked under a thick layer of dust. Dragonclaw led them to the centre of the floor, and stopped.

  “You’d better not be lying to us,” Skulduggery said, his gun out.

  “I swear,” Dragonclaw responded. “Director Solus used to have me guard it when supplies were brought in through here. Only a few people know about it.”

  He stepped on a pebble, put all his weight on it, and the floor beside him opened up, revealing steps leading down. Skulduggery motioned for him to go first, and they followed him into a long stone corridor lit by bare bulbs.

  “This leads directly to the Temple?” Skulduggery asked.

  Dragonclaw nodded. “There’s a door with a lever at the other end. It opens up into a room nobody ever uses. It’s how Solus transports all his best stuff.”

  “No passwords needed? Nothing like that?”

  “No. You just pull the lever.”

  “Good to know,” Skulduggery said, then smacked him with the gun. Dragonclaw spun and fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Valkyrie glared. “You could have warned me.”

  “Of what?” Skulduggery asked, his arm encircling her waist. They lifted off the ground, started moving down the corridor.

  “That you were going to hit him. It’d be nice to be told these things.”

  “Did it give you a fright?”

  They were picking up speed now and Valkyrie’s hair was being blown off her face.

  “A little one, yeah,” she said. “You were standing there all normal and then you hit him. I jumped.”

  “I do apologise.”

  “Just a little warning, that’s all I ask.”

  “In my defence, if I had told you that I intended to hit him, he probably would have overheard the conversation.”

  “Then we should come up with a code or something.”

  The bulbs were blurring into one long stream of light above them.

  “We already have a code,” Skulduggery said. “It’s be brave.”

  Valkyrie scowled at him. “Be brave is nothing. Be brave is you telling me to trust you, you have a plan, when we’re surrounded by enemies. Be brave tells me nothing other than you’re about to do something stupid. We should have another code for when you’re about to hit someone.”

  “Very well. How about the sparrow flies south for winter?”

  “Seriously?”

  “What’s wrong with it? It’s a classic.”

  “And how would you work that into the conversation?”

  “With my usual aplomb.”

  “So if that had been our code, and Dragonclaw had just told you that all we have to do is pull the lever, how would you have worked the sparrow flies south for winter into the conversation?”

  “I would have said OK, Bison, so you’re sure we only need to pull a lever? And he would have said yes, and I’d have said excellent, thank you. Did you know, by the way, that the sparrow flies south for winter? And then I’d have punched him.”

  “I’m going to do my best to ignore the ridiculous things you say from now on,” Valkyrie decided. “What are we going to do when we get into the Temple, anyway? Are we going to fight our way through the Necromancers on our own?”

  “No, we’re going to find a way to let our friends in, and we’ll let them fight while we stand by and look smug.”

  “I like that plan.”

  “It has its moments.”

  They slowed as they neared the end of the corridor, touched down on to solid ground and Valkyrie reluctantly stepped away. She loved the sensation of flying, but it did make walking seem absurdly clumsy.

  Skulduggery pulled the small iron lever set into the wall, and the bulbs went out as the door swung open. They crept out into darkness. It was colder here – it was always cold in the Temple.

  “We should be on the main level,” Skulduggery whispered, “but I’d say we’re half a kilometre from the Antechamber.” Valkyrie’s eyes were adjusting to the gloom as Skulduggery searched through stacks of boxes and supplies. He made an amused sound, and threw something to her. “We’re going to need to fit in.”

  It was a robe. She put it on. The sleeves were gigantic, and swallowed her arms. She pushed them back to her elbows and then pulled up the hood. It wasn’t as easy as it looked, getting the hood to sit just right. It kept falling down over her face. Finally, she got it to where it would stay up, and turned to Skulduggery. He stood there, the black robe flowing around him, his skull barely visible beneath the hood.

  “Good God,” she breathed. “You look like the Grim Reaper.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “It wasn’t meant as one.”

  “I’m taking it anyway. You’re a regular visitor here – any advice on how we should proceed?”

  She shrugged. “If anyone stops us, as long as we mumble something pretentious about the glory of death, we should be fine.”

  “Excellent.”

  They left the storage room, moving quickly but quietly. Valkyrie’s heart sped up when two Necromancers hurried by, but they were too busy panicking about the Sanctuary forces outside to notice them. Occasionally she would recognise something and nudge Skulduggery to alter their course, but for the most part she hadn’t a clue where they were. On all of her trips through the Temple, she hadn’t really been paying attention. Wreath had been the one to lead the way and she’d been happy enough to follow along, continuing whatever conversation they were having without bothering to acquaint herself with her surroundings. She was regretting that now.

  “Hey!” said a voice behind them. “You!”

  They stopped. Valkyrie glanced at Skulduggery and they turned. A Necromancer stalked over to them, his hood down off his head. It was that man, Oblivious or something, the one who hadn’t wanted to let them in days ago.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he ranted. “We have our orders! You think they don’t apply to you? You think just because our enemies are massing at the gates, we should abandon our posts? Is that what you think?”

  “Uh,” Skulduggery said, “the strea
m of death carries us where it may.”

  “That may be true,” Oblivious said curtly, “but we are still bound by the oaths we swore. Or have you forgotten them?”

  Skulduggery shook his head beneath his hood. “My duty is to death, but death’s duty is to itself. As of life, as of death, as of the stream between…”

  Oblivious frowned. “What?”

  “In the stream of life, we are but paddlers.”

  “I’m not sure I… who are you? Let me see your face.”

  Skulduggery looked round, made sure no one else was coming. “The sparrow flies south for winter,” he said, and punched Oblivious right on the chin. He looked up at Valkyrie as he dragged the unconscious Necromancer into the nearest room. “See? It’s a perfect code.”

  “We’re paddling in the stream of life?”

  Skulduggery came back out, shutting the door behind him. “I’m not very good at being pretentious. It’s one of my few flaws. But there’s no denying – that code worked.”

  “And you slipped it into the conversation seamlessly.”

  They carried on, managing to avoid the panicking Necromancers. Finally, Skulduggery took Valkyrie’s arm, pulled her into a dark corner, and nodded ahead.

  “If I’m right,” he said, “the door mechanism is in there. If the door isn’t unlocked in the correct way, an alarm will sound, the door won’t open, and everyone will come running. So you’re going to have to stay here. If I were you, I’d find somewhere to hide. This may take a while.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “You realise,” he said, “that you’re wearing a hood and I can’t see your face, so if you’re glaring at me, or scowling, or raising an eyebrow, I have no way of knowing. You realise that, right?”

  “Why,” said Valkyrie, “do I have to stay here?”

  “Because what I’m going to do is extremely dangerous.”

  “So is everything you drag me into.”

  “Your point being?”

  “What is up with everyone? Fletcher wants to protect me, Caelan wants to protect me, now you. For God’s sake, I can handle what’s thrown at me, all right? I don’t need to be kept safe all the bloody time.”

  “I see,” Skulduggery said. “Well, you make a very good point and I can’t argue with your logic. Except I’m not trying to protect you. If I try to open the door and I fail, then I’m going to need someone else to do it once they’ve killed me. You see?”

  “Oh,” said Valkyrie. “Oh right.”

  “Now, if I fail, the odds are that you’ll fail too. And if they can kill me, they can most certainly kill you, in an undoubtedly horrible manner. But by then I’ll be past caring.”

  “So… you really aren’t trying to protect me.”

  Skulduggery placed a hand on her shoulder. “Not even remotely,” he said warmly.

  He moved off. Valkyrie waited a moment, then backed away, turned and hurried in the opposite direction. She rounded a corner and immediately stepped back. Solomon Wreath passed without looking at her. She chewed her lip.

  And followed.

  She kept her head down as they walked the corridors. He disappeared through a door and she quickened her pace, following him in. A hand grabbed her, tore the hood from her head and shoved her further into the room. She hit the wall and spun, Wreath’s cane stopping right before it met her face. His eyes widened.

  “Valkyrie,” he said, surprised.

  “Hi Solomon,” she responded. “You said if ever I needed a chat…”

  He lowered the cane and stepped back, closed the door before anyone saw. “How did you get in?”

  “Dragonclaw,” she said.

  Wreath sighed. “Oh, him. I assume Skulduggery is with you?”

  “He’s around here somewhere.”

  “Then things are probably going to get very loud very soon.”

  “More than likely.”

  “In that case,” Wreath said, “now that we have a minute, I’d just like to say that I’m sorry for what happened. If I had known, if I had even suspected, that Melancholia might go after you, I would have—”

  “You would have what?” Valkyrie asked. “Grounded her? What could you have done? Everyone’s saying she’s more powerful than anyone alive today. If she wants to slice me half to death, she’s going to slice me half to death, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”

  Wreath shook his head. “This isn’t how it should be.”

  “You’re right. She should be on a leash.”

  “No, I mean she shouldn’t have this power. It should have been you. At least it would have come naturally to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Wreath rubbed his face. He suddenly looked very tired. “Craven did something to her. He’s been studying the languages of magic for years. He can’t be as expert in the art as China Sorrows, but he’ll be good, nonetheless. You’ve seen the scars on her face, right? They’re all over her body. He says they’re to protect her, but I think he carved those symbols into her skin to heighten her power during the Surge.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “In theory. Of course it’s highly dangerous, and extraordinarily unstable. If that is indeed what he did, he stood a higher chance of killing her than succeeding.”

  “But you think he did succeed.”

  “Yes I do. It doesn’t matter, of course. All the Death Bringer is, all it ever has been, is a Necromancer with a certain degree of power. No matter how she got there, Melancholia does seem to have reached that level.”

  “She said something while she was kicking my ass. She said, if you’re not on my list, you don’t get saved.”

  “I doubt she was making any sense at all. With that much power reverberating inside her head, I think we can expect her to babble every now and then.”

  “What is the Passage?”

  “I’m sorry, Valkyrie, there are things we don’t share with—”

  “Solomon, for God’s sake. You never give a straight answer to that, yet it’s supposed to be a wonderful thing where the world is saved and made a better place. Why do you need to keep any of that a secret?”

  “Because some people aren’t going to understand.”

  “What people? People who like being miserable? I’m sure they’ll get over it. What’s she going to do? What happens in the Passage?”

  “The walls are broken down—”

  “Between life and death, yes, I know. That much you’ve told me. The energy of the dead will live alongside us, and we will evolve to meet it. That’s what you said. I haven’t a clue what that means, but that’s what you said. We’re going to evolve, are we?”

  “In a manner of speaking.”

  “Solomon, you have the Death Bringer. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. So why not just tell me? Should I be worried? How much will the world change? Will everyone know about it? Will my family suddenly know that magic exists? Will people still have jobs? Will we still live in houses? Will people still be people?”

  “It will be better, that’s all you need to know.”

  “No, Solomon, it isn’t. The fact is it’s a pretty scary prospect. It’s made even scarier by the fact that not even your average Necromancer knows what’s going to happen. Only you guys. Only the High Priests and the High Clerics. Only the people who run the Temples. Why don’t you tell the others? What is so awful that you have to hide it from your own people?”

  Wreath looked at her. “How much is a better world worth to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what would you sacrifice? Look at this world. Look at it. From the moment mankind took its first awkward step, it’s been a long road to disaster. We hate each other. We fear each other. We’re going to kill each other. One of these days, someone’s going to go too far, and every single one of us will die.”

  “What do you care? You’re a Necromancer. Life flows into death and flows back into life, right? That’s what you believe.”

  ?
??That is what we believe, yes. But it’s not what we want.”

  Valkyrie frowned. “What?”

  “Our souls, our life force, flow through that never-ending stream – but not our minds. Not our memories. When I die, my essence will move on, but this man you see before you, this mind, this personality, this being, will be gone. I’ll become something else. Someone else. But it won’t be me.”

  “You’re… you’re scared of death?”

  “We all are.”

  “But you’re Necromancers! You embrace death!”

  “We study Necromancy because we’re trying to defeat death. That’s what this is all about, Valkyrie. This is all it’s ever been about.”

  “So what does this mean? You want Melancholia to break down the walls between life and death so that you’ll never have to die? What was all that about evolution? We will evolve to meet the dead, or whatever it was.”

  “Society will evolve. It’ll have to. Evolve or perish. We figure it’s worth the risk.”

  “Solomon, what the hell is going on? What does the Passage mean?”

  “The energy stream that flows through this world, this reality, it links up with the next reality, and the next, and it loops around again. It’s a natural force and a natural system.”

  “OK. So?”

  “So we want to stop it. We want those alive today to remain alive for ever.”

  “So no one dies? What about new life? What about babies being born?”

  “No life leaves. No life enters.”

  Valkyrie stared at him, and immediately thought of Alice. “You can’t do that. Are you insane? You can’t do that.”

  “Society will adapt to the new way of living.”

  “No more babies? Solomon, come on! That’s nuts! It’s a biological need!”

  “Having children is a biological need only because we are mortal – even sorcerers. We die. And we know we’re going to die, and so we have children, to continue our bloodline, to continue our legacy, to try to ensure our own immortality. But when we are immortal, we won’t have that need to procreate.”