Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [128]
They came to a dead end and there was some jostling, and Scapegrace led them back a bit, took the first turn they came to, and the roars started up again and the thunder echoed in the caverns and Scapegrace waved his hand in the air. “Back,” he said, “back. It must be the next turn,” and they turned round again and charged back the way they had come.
Chapter 49
The Pre-Emptive Strike
e crouched in the bushes with the others, all fourteen of them, black-robed and scared, watching the people come and go from the Requiem Ball. Craven refused to allow his own fear to show through. Great leaders did not get scared, after all. Plus, he had an advantage that none of the others did – he had the White Cleaver to protect him should anything go wrong.
“This is highly dangerous,” Cleric Solus whispered. “We must leave now. If they find us—”
“We are done discussing this,” Craven snapped. “I have made my decision, Solus. You will obey.”
“You are not the High Priest,” Solus said.
“Do you wish to test me? Do you wish to test my resolve? You say we are surrounded by the enemy. I say we have the enemy right where we want them.”
“And how do you plan to get us inside the house?” Solus asked. “Did you happen to have the zombies steal another disc that would make the Rippers abandon their posts?”
“Of course not,” Craven answered. “I have something much more rudimentary planned.”
There was a gunshot from inside the house. They watched the Rippers run towards the sound. Once the path was clear, the White Cleaver led the way from the bushes to the side door of the house. Craven darted back through the trees, found her waiting there with her back to him.
“It’s time,” he said softly.
She turned slowly, and took down her hood, releasing her blonde hair, letting the moonlight fall across her scars. Melancholia allowed him to take her hand, and he guided her into the house behind the other Necromancers.
Once they were inside, and the music started up again in a far-away room, the White Cleaver killed two Rippers and four guests, and the only sound was the soft splatter of blood on walls. The bodies were hidden and they continued on, Craven keeping Melancholia close to him as they moved.
They found the cellar empty. Craven led them down the steps, three Necromancers remaining behind, dressed in ill-fitting tuxedos. They were Temple-born and got nervous easily, but all they had to do was stop anyone from entering. Even they couldn’t mess that up.
The cellar was filled with glorious darkness. The caves were beneath them, and provided a last-resort exit in the unlikely event of things going disastrously wrong. There was a secret door somewhere in here, he knew, but it was so well disguised it would take a less intelligent man weeks to find. But Craven had all the angles covered. He took a stone from his robes, gave it to Adrienna Shade.
“Walk with this held close to the ground,” he instructed her. “When it glows blue, tell me.”
“Yes, Your Eminence,” she said, and did as she was told.
Amid the junk that had been collected in the cellar, there was an old table upon which Melancholia sat. She closed her eyes and breathed, preparing herself for what was to come. Craven considered it best to leave her alone. He turned to find Solus looking at him.
“Your Eminence?” Solus said, mocking. “Is that how we address you now? You’re a Cleric, Vandameer. The same as me.”
“Be careful, Cleric Solus,” Craven said. “The last man to question me like you do was Solomon Wreath, who then tried to assassinate me. If you continue to act like him, I might start to fear for my life. And then the White Cleaver would be forced into action.”
At the mention of the Cleaver, Solus’s face went slack. To cover his fear, he nodded to Shade. “And what do you have her doing? Walking around with a stone?”
“Below us,” Craven said patiently,