Scepter of the Ancients (19 page)

“Then let’s go.”

Tanith climbed into the van, and Ghastly got behind the wheel.

“Good luck,” Meritorious said to Stephanie as she was about to join them.

“Thank you.”

He shrugged. “You’ll need it.”

T
HE RESCUE TEAM
stood by the side of the road and looked up at the wall surrounding Serpine’s land. It was maybe three times as tall as Stephanie. Beyond it lay woodland, and beyond that the castle.

It occurred to Stephanie that if they didn’t get Skulduggery back, it was all over. Serpine would get the Scepter, and the Faceless Ones would return. The fate of the entire planet rested on the shoulders of a skeleton, and on the five people sent to rescue him.

“What if we
do
go up against Serpine?” Stephanie asked, fighting to keep the dread out of her voice. She had to remain strong. She couldn’t let them see that she was just an ordinary twelve-year-old. “What if we can’t just get in and get out without anyone noticing? Do we have a plan if we have to face him?”

“Oh,” Ghastly said, considering it. “No, not really.”

“I’m going to try and cut him with my sword,” Tanith said helpfully.

“Right,” Stephanie said. “Excellent. What about guards? Do you think they’ll be expecting us?”

“Serpine is used to the Elders taking forever to make their calm, thought-out decisions,” Tanith said. “So he won’t be expecting anything as amazingly rash and reckless as this.”

Ghastly nodded. “That’ll teach him to underestimate stupid people.”

“All right then,” Stephanie said. “Just wanted to make sure we’d thought of everything. So let’s go.”

Without a word, the Cleavers ran forward and jumped, legs tucked beneath them, cleared the top of the wall, and disappeared from view.

“Show-offs,” Ghastly muttered, sweeping both
hands down by his sides. A gust of wind lifted him and swung him up toward the wall, where he grabbed on and pulled himself to the top. Tanith turned to Stephanie.

“Want a boost?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Tanith crouched, interlocking her fingers, and Stephanie put one foot into her hands. On the count of three, Stephanie shot upward. Tanith was strong, stronger than she looked—Stephanie had no trouble catching the edge of the wall. Ghastly helped her up, dropped down the other side, and turned to wait for her. She let herself hang down, then released her grip, and her boots crunched onto dried leaves and brittle twigs. A moment later Tanith landed beside her.

The woodland was thick, and as they moved deeper into it, it became darker. The sun had difficulty filtering through the tall trees, and it was cold enough to make Stephanie grateful for her coat. The Cleavers didn’t make a sound as they walked. The woodland was quiet—quieter than it had any right to be. No birds sang. Nothing rustled in the undergrowth. It gave her an eerie sensation.

They reached the line of trees at the rear of the
castle and ducked down. A small army of Hollow Men patrolled the grounds.

“Oh joy,” Ghastly said grimly. “How are we going to get by
them
?”

“We need a diversion,” Tanith said.

“Any suggestions?”

Tanith didn’t answer, but after a moment she looked at the Cleavers. Ghastly understood immediately.

“But there are too many,” he protested.

Tanith’s tone was flat but firm. “We don’t have a choice.”

The Cleavers tilted their heads toward her, and after a moment they nodded. They stole back among the trees and were gone.

Stephanie waited with Tanith and Ghastly.

“They won’t be able to hold them off for long,” Ghastly said.

“Long enough for us to sneak in,” Tanith said.

“That’s not what I meant. You’ve just sent them to their deaths.”

She didn’t look at him. “They’ll do their jobs. We’ll do ours. Do you want your friend back or not?”

Ghastly didn’t answer.

“Look,” Stephanie said.

The Hollow Men were moving fast, moving out of their field of vision.

“Let’s go,” Tanith said.

They broke from the trees, sprinting across the wide-open space toward the castle. Stephanie glanced to her right as she ran, saw the Cleavers standing back-to-back in the distance as the Hollow Men closed in.

They reached the castle. Tanith placed her hand flat on the lock and twisted her wrist. Stephanie heard the lock break within the door, and Tanith pushed it open slowly. They crept in, then closed the door behind them.

They kept to the outer corridors, staying away from the cold heart of the castle. They found a stairway leading down, and Tanith went first, sword in her right hand, scabbard in her left. Stephanie followed a few paces behind, and Ghastly came last.

They reached the basement, although Stephanie thought that calling it a dungeon would probably be more accurate. Tanith held up her hand, and they stopped and watched a Hollow Man clump ahead of them and pass out of sight.

They made their way forward. Tanith approached the first heavy iron door and put her ear against it. After a moment, she pushed it open. The hinges groaned in protest, but the room was empty.

Ghastly went to the next door, listened, and opened it. Again, it was empty.

Tanith glanced at Ghastly and they shared a look, and Stephanie knew what it was about.

“We should split up,” Stephanie whispered.

“No,” said Tanith.

“No way,” said Ghastly.

“If we waste time, the Hollow Men will be back outside the door and we won’t be able to get away.”

“Then you come with me,” Ghastly whispered.

Stephanie shook her head. “I’ll be fine. I’ll listen at the doors. If I hear anything, I’ll get you. If I meet a bad guy, you can be pretty sure you’ll know about it. We don’t have a choice.”

They looked at her but didn’t argue. Tanith went to the next door, Ghastly hurried down the length of the corridor, and Stephanie turned back and rounded the corner. She came to another row of iron doors and listened intently at each one. She followed the maze of corridors wherever they took
her. She found herself breathing through her mouth and tasted the foulness of the air on the back of her throat. There were puddles here, stagnant pools of water on the uneven stone floor. The doors were no longer made of iron but of rotting wood. The flickering of the torches in the brackets made shadows dance on the walls.

She saw someone moving ahead and was about to duck back when she recognized Ghastly. He waved to her and she waved back, then started checking the doors closest to her. They were working their way toward each other when Stephanie came to a door and heard a low whistling. She frowned. Could Skulduggery whistle? He could
talk
without lips or breath, so she couldn’t see a reason why he wouldn’t be able to whistle. She didn’t recognize the tune, however. She motioned to Ghastly and he crept forward. After listening for a moment, he nodded.

“That’s ‘The Girl from Ipanema,’” he whispered. “That’s him.”

He held up three fingers, then two, then one, and they burst into the room. Skulduggery looked up and stopped whistling. “Oh, hello,” he said. “I know where the key to the caves is.”

Stephanie closed the door as Ghastly hurried around behind him, stooping to examine the shackles.

“Quality workmanship,” Ghastly said.

“I thought you’d appreciate it. There’s a binding spell woven into the metal.”

“Nice. It’ll take me a moment.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Are you okay?” Stephanie asked.

“I’ve been treated well,” he answered with a nod. “Apart from all the torture. It’s given me time to think, actually. I know where the key is.”

“So you said.”

Ghastly stood and the shackles fell. Skulduggery got to his feet.

“Is Meritorious here?” he asked.

“He’s telling the other Elders what’s going on,” Ghastly said.

“Ah,” Skulduggery said. “So you’re doing this on your own?”

“Tanith Low is here, but basically, yes.”

Skulduggery shrugged. “I must admit, it’s going rather fabulously so far.”

“The key,” Stephanie said. “You didn’t tell Serpine where it is, did you?”

“I couldn’t have, even if I’d wanted to. Just worked it out a few minutes ago. Simple, really. It was right in front of us.”

“We can talk about this later,” Ghastly said. “We have to go.”

“Will there be fighting?”

“I hope not.”

“I’m in the mood for some fighting.”

“If there is,” Stephanie said, handing him his gun, “here’s something you can use.”

“Ah, bless. I’ve missed her. Do you have bullets?”

“Uh, no.”

Skulduggery paused. “Excellent,” he said, and tucked the gun away.

“Let’s go,” said Ghastly, and stepped out the door.

Stephanie and Skulduggery followed, and they hurried down the corridor and turned a corner. A group of Hollow Men froze in mid step and regarded them vacantly. Time stood still.

“Yes,” Skulduggery said. “This is a fabulous rescue indeed.”

The Hollow Men came at them, and Skulduggery and Ghastly went into action. Skulduggery worked with elbows and knees, wristlocks and armlocks.
Ghastly deftly wove in and around attacks, firing punches at whoever got close.

Beyond the silent Hollow Men, Stephanie saw Tanith sprinting forward. She ran up the wall and across the ceiling and continued running, upside down.

Stephanie stared. She hadn’t known Tanith could do that.

From the ceiling, Tanith joined the attack, swinging the sword and slicing through the tops of heads. Within a matter of moments, the Hollow Men were reduced to tatters and a foul smell.

Tanith jumped down, flipping to land on her feet. “There are more coming,” she said, then added helpfully, “We should probably leave.”

They reached the stairs without encountering any more opposition, but as they were running for the exit, two massive doors were kicked open ahead, and the Hollow Men reinforcements arrived.

Skulduggery and Ghastly stepped up, clicking their fingers and hurling fireballs at the ground. Stephanie watched their hands move, manipulating the flames until there was a wall of fire keeping the Hollow Men back.

Tanith turned to Stephanie. “Coat.”

“What?”

Without giving an explanation, Tanith gripped Stephanie’s collar and pulled the coat off. She then ran for the window, covering her head with the coat, and jumped. She crashed through in an explosion of glass.

“Oh,” Stephanie murmured.

She ran over, climbing through the window as Tanith got to her feet.

“Thanks,” Tanith said, handing her back the coat.

“Watch out!” Ghastly shouted.

Stephanie dodged to one side as Ghastly and Skulduggery dived through the window—Ghastly lower down, Skulduggery above him—like two lunatic acrobats. They hit the grass and rolled, came up at the same time.

“Flee,” Skulduggery said.

As they ran for the trees, Stephanie saw one of the Cleavers who had accompanied them. Judging by the tattered paper strewn around him, the Cleavers had obviously put up an amazing fight, but the sheer numbers of Hollow Men had proven too much. He lay dead on the grass. She saw no sign of the other one.

And then they were in the trees and not slowing down, and Hollow Men were crashing through the undergrowth after them.

Ghastly reached the wall first, swept his hands beneath him, and let the air lift him over the wall.

Tanith just kept running. Right before she was about to smack straight into it she gave a little jump, and then she was running up the wall.

Before Stephanie could ask Skulduggery for a boost, his arm wrapped around her waist and she found herself rushing upward, the wind in her ears, and the top of the wall passing beneath her feet. They landed on the other side with such ease and gentleness that Stephanie almost laughed despite herself.

They got into the van and Ghastly turned the key and pulled out onto the road, and they left the castle behind them.

L
AUGHTER DRIFTED IN
the distance, and Skulduggery looked toward it. They were standing on the roof of Ghastly’s shop. Dublin City twinkled as it got ready for sleep. Stephanie could see over rooftops, over streets, down lanes. She could see the cars passing, and here and there people walking. When he turned back, he said, “So, Valkyrie Cain, eh?”

“You don’t think it sounds silly, do you?”

“On the contrary, I think it sounds perfect. Valkyrie. Warrior women who guide the souls of the dead off the battlefield. A tad morbid, but then,
who am I to judge? I’m technically dead.”

She looked at him and took a moment before speaking again. “So was it bad? The torture?”

“It wasn’t fun,” he said. “I think that after the first few hours, he knew I had no idea where the key was. After that, he was torturing me purely for the sake of torturing me. Did I thank you for coming to my rescue, by the way?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Nonsense. Thank you.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Your friend Tanith seemed a bit quiet on the trip home.”

“I think she regrets using the Cleavers as a diversion.”

“I would have made the same decision,” Skulduggery said. “The Cleavers have a job to do. Let them do it.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Ah, but it’s one thing to understand that, it’s quite another to accept it. Until that happens, she’s going to have one or two nightmares about it. But she’s a warrior. She’ll make it.”

“She’s a good fighter.”

“Indeed she is.”

“If I started training now, would I be able to fight like her when I’m her age?”

“I don’t see why not. Sixty years of good solid training is enough to turn anyone into a tidy little scrapper.”

“What?”

“What
what
?”

“Sixty years? How old is she?”