Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [85]
Skulduggery threw a fireball but Melancholia sent the darkness to extinguish it. He pushed at the air and she staggered, sent a spear of shadows his way in return. He twisted, the spear missing him by inches. Valkyrie whipped the darkness at her but Melancholia rose on to a wave of pitch-black. Columns of dark shot out, too fast to dodge. One column struck Valkyrie, taking her off her feet. Skulduggery was hit square in the chest, and twice more as he tried to recover.
The wave lowered Melancholia to the ground, and at a gesture it turned towards Skulduggery. It crashed down on top of him, dispersing into tendrils that threw him down the corridor.
Valkyrie swept the air in around her and hurtled towards Melancholia. She almost reached her, too, but a wall of darkness appeared between them. Valkyrie hit the wall and it drank her in. She struggled, tried to pull away, but it was like quicksand. Her arms and legs were already in and she turned her head away, arching her spine. The corridor lit up with flame and suddenly she was free. She dropped to the ground while Melancholia dodged another of Skulduggery’s attacks. He had run in close, trying to get his hands on her.
Melancholia kept throwing shadows between them, but the shadows were flimsy. She was panicking, trying to give herself some room to manoeuvre. Given the space, she could send out an attack that was impossible to defend against. Skulduggery was making sure that didn’t happen, and he was using skill, determination and luck to do it. But while his skill wasn’t going to fade and his determination wasn’t going to falter, his luck was an element he had no control over.
Another panicked move by Melancholia sent a tentacle of shadow whipping for him. He saw it coming and ducked, weaving under it, but the tentacle flexed at the last moment before it dissipated, and it caught him in the side of the head. He stumbled, and Melancholia struck, sending him spinning backwards.
Something heavy landed on Valkyrie’s back as she tried to get up. A mass of shadows, keeping her pinned to the floor. She cursed and strained, but couldn’t move.
Skulduggery groaned. Melancholia was doing something to him. Shadows curled out from the cuffs of his jacket, out around his collar, through the buttons on his shirt. But then Valkyrie saw the expression on Melancholia’s face. She was frowning – not with intent, but with curiosity. Whatever was going on with Skulduggery, Melancholia wasn’t the one doing it.
Skulduggery arched his back and darkness burst from his chest in a steady stream, writhing and twisting in the air, collecting on the far side of the room. A shape formed, the stream broke from Skulduggery, and the shape became solid. A tall man, encased head to foot in black armour that shifted and moved on his body. Valkyrie stared.
Lord Vile hadn’t been hiding in a cave or an old base somewhere – he’d been hiding within Skulduggery himself.
Melancholia stepped back, her eyes wide with fear. Lord Vile held out his arm and his hand lengthened to a sharp point that flew at her. She cried out, barely managing to deflect the strike. He went at her again, and again, and she stumbled from each attack, her hair in her eyes. The darkness that had been holding Valkyrie down was gone, and she got up, watching Melancholia being stalked like a deer.
“Help me!” Melancholia cried. “You can’t let him kill me! Please!”
The Death Bringer, begging for help. The only person who had the power and the intention to kill three billion people, begging for someone to step in and save her. Valkyrie wasn’t going to do it. She couldn’t do it. She had to let Vile kill her. It was the only way to save all those lives.
“Valkyrie!” Melancholia called. “Please help me!”
And suddenly Valkyrie was running, and she was running straight at Lord Vile, while every part of her mind screamed at her to stop. But her body kept going, it wouldn’t listen, and Vile waved his hand and she went flying back through the air. As she spun, she saw shadows grow from beneath Melancholia’s robes, and then she felt the air