"Valkyrie's taking some time off," Skulduggery replied. An easy lie to tell because it wasn't exactly a lie. Not that lying was ever really difficult for him. Even before losing his face, Skulduggery had always been the best of his friends at poker.
Later, he told himself sternly. Once all the immediate threats were taken care of, once Gabe was back, he'd stop by Valkyrie's house in Haggard, and try to repair the damage. How that visit would go, he had no idea, but he had to give it a try. He owed Valkyrie that much.
Skulduggery wasn't counting on anything where Ghastly was concerned. Even now, a part of him waited calmly for when the tailor told the rest of the Dead Men, waited with a degree of resignation for whatever fate they approached him with. He'd already decided he wouldn't fight them. Not over this.
"As for my guest," he continued smoothly, "he was captured by Sanguine earlier, along with Professor Kenspeckle Grouse. A Soul Catcher was also taken from the Necromancer Temple yesterday. What I'm going to do is talk to Sanguine, try to find out where my friends are being held, and how he plans on getting close enough to the Remnants to use a Soul Catcher at all."
Skulduggery felt Fletcher unconsciously flinch beside him. The teen hadn't been happy to discover what happened to Gabe, even at Gabe's own silent insistence. Skulduggery had continued on with the same level of confidence as he always did, lightly hiding the fact that he was just as worried, so Fletcher wouldn't have twice the burden. Archangel though Gabe may be, he was badly injured in a way he wasn't used to, and this wasn't his world.
"While trying my hardest not to hit him," Skulduggery added belatedly in a reassuring tone. "Would you like to join us?"
~~
Valkyrie's first and overriding reaction was disbelief. Solomon had broken his own cane? Why? Why on earth would he leave himself defenseless for so long? He didn't particularly like guns or blades, he'd told her once, although he wasn't opposed to using them. For as long as Valkyrie had known the Necromancer, his first choice for a weapon had always been the considerable Necromantic power he had at his fingertips. Anything else he might have access to was usually a last-ditch resort, or used with great reluctance.
But then Valkyrie fought through the disbelief to try and pose another question, and a trickle of doubt wormed its way in.
Holy water.
She frowned. If the object a Necromancer channeled their power into was broken, it was easy to make a new one. Solomon had done that, when his cane broke at Aranmore farm - he just got a new, identical one, and channeled all the power that once again flowed through him into that. It wasn't exactly an easy process, apparently, but it was possible. Without their chosen object, Necromancers had little to no actual magic inside them. (Which was probably why Lord Vile left his armour behind, instead of destroying it. It was a completely useless thought that Valkyrie raged at herself for having, but okay, it did have some merit.)
But Solomon dropped his cane into a barrel of holy water.
What happened, Valkyrie wondered slowly, if all of his power was purged, not from him, but from the cane? Not just broken, but honestly and truly cleansed? Would the magic flow back into Solomon and eventually be channeled into something new?
Or would it just be gone?
Valkyrie watched Solomon test a hidden blade inside an ordinary-looking cane, and realised that it didn't really matter. If Solomon had gotten rid of the cane himself, voluntarily, he wouldn't be making another object anyway. All his magic would just be sitting inside him, useless, because sorcerers couldn't switch disciplines after their Surge.
Valkyrie was already angry. She already felt hopeless. She already felt like there was nothing in the entire world that made sense to her anymore. All of those feelings multiplied tenfold as she watched Solomon and the full gravity of what he had apparently done finally hit her.
"Okay, see, that?" She didn't bother to calm herself down this time. "That is what I meant by 'something stupid!'" The world was spinning out of control and Valkyrie had no idea how to stop it. Honestly, she wasn't even sure she really wanted to stop it. Let the entire planet fall into the dimension of the Faceless Ones. See if she cared. "Why? Why the hell would you do that?"
no subject
Later, he told himself sternly. Once all the immediate threats were taken care of, once Gabe was back, he'd stop by Valkyrie's house in Haggard, and try to repair the damage. How that visit would go, he had no idea, but he had to give it a try. He owed Valkyrie that much.
Skulduggery wasn't counting on anything where Ghastly was concerned. Even now, a part of him waited calmly for when the tailor told the rest of the Dead Men, waited with a degree of resignation for whatever fate they approached him with. He'd already decided he wouldn't fight them. Not over this.
"As for my guest," he continued smoothly, "he was captured by Sanguine earlier, along with Professor Kenspeckle Grouse. A Soul Catcher was also taken from the Necromancer Temple yesterday. What I'm going to do is talk to Sanguine, try to find out where my friends are being held, and how he plans on getting close enough to the Remnants to use a Soul Catcher at all."
Skulduggery felt Fletcher unconsciously flinch beside him. The teen hadn't been happy to discover what happened to Gabe, even at Gabe's own silent insistence. Skulduggery had continued on with the same level of confidence as he always did, lightly hiding the fact that he was just as worried, so Fletcher wouldn't have twice the burden. Archangel though Gabe may be, he was badly injured in a way he wasn't used to, and this wasn't his world.
"While trying my hardest not to hit him," Skulduggery added belatedly in a reassuring tone. "Would you like to join us?"
~~
Valkyrie's first and overriding reaction was disbelief. Solomon had broken his own cane? Why? Why on earth would he leave himself defenseless for so long? He didn't particularly like guns or blades, he'd told her once, although he wasn't opposed to using them. For as long as Valkyrie had known the Necromancer, his first choice for a weapon had always been the considerable Necromantic power he had at his fingertips. Anything else he might have access to was usually a last-ditch resort, or used with great reluctance.
But then Valkyrie fought through the disbelief to try and pose another question, and a trickle of doubt wormed its way in.
Holy water.
She frowned. If the object a Necromancer channeled their power into was broken, it was easy to make a new one. Solomon had done that, when his cane broke at Aranmore farm - he just got a new, identical one, and channeled all the power that once again flowed through him into that. It wasn't exactly an easy process, apparently, but it was possible. Without their chosen object, Necromancers had little to no actual magic inside them. (Which was probably why Lord Vile left his armour behind, instead of destroying it. It was a completely useless thought that Valkyrie raged at herself for having, but okay, it did have some merit.)
But Solomon dropped his cane into a barrel of holy water.
What happened, Valkyrie wondered slowly, if all of his power was purged, not from him, but from the cane? Not just broken, but honestly and truly cleansed? Would the magic flow back into Solomon and eventually be channeled into something new?
Or would it just be gone?
Valkyrie watched Solomon test a hidden blade inside an ordinary-looking cane, and realised that it didn't really matter. If Solomon had gotten rid of the cane himself, voluntarily, he wouldn't be making another object anyway. All his magic would just be sitting inside him, useless, because sorcerers couldn't switch disciplines after their Surge.
Valkyrie was already angry. She already felt hopeless. She already felt like there was nothing in the entire world that made sense to her anymore. All of those feelings multiplied tenfold as she watched Solomon and the full gravity of what he had apparently done finally hit her.
"Okay, see, that?" She didn't bother to calm herself down this time. "That is what I meant by 'something stupid!'" The world was spinning out of control and Valkyrie had no idea how to stop it. Honestly, she wasn't even sure she really wanted to stop it. Let the entire planet fall into the dimension of the Faceless Ones. See if she cared. "Why? Why the hell would you do that?"