Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 7 - 9

Valkyrie checked her phone, more out of curiosity than any expectation that it would actually work. No signal and no Internet. She tried to find her position on a map but the phone informed her she could not be located. Out of the two things she had grabbed, why couldn’t she have dropped the phone instead of the ring? The ring at least would have worked.

They found a clothes line that apparently belonged to a big fat man. The trousers were a fine length but they were far too wide, so Valkyrie had to use a piece of string as a belt. The coat was fine, though she had to roll the sleeves up a little. The boots were the worst, though. They were battered and tattered and much too big. But at least she had boots. The reflection was barefoot, and didn’t have a coat, but it did find some loose change in one of its pockets so at least now they had money – even though they had no idea how much the coins were worth.

They were heading for the next town over. The plan was to keep to the back roads and they were succeeding admirably, as every road so far looked like a back road.

“What time is it?” the reflection asked.

“Why, do you have somewhere to be?”

“I’m just asking because your first visit here lasted twenty minutes. We’ve been here hours. It’s nearly dawn.”

“Yeah,” Valkyrie said. “I noticed. Nadir said this echo thing will build its own pattern, but I have no idea how to work it out.”

“We could be here for days.”

“Yeah,” said Valkyrie, her mood failing to lift.

Dawn split the night sky and glorious orange spilled across the horizon. They saw farmers in fields working with mules and horses, sweating in the morning sun. It was just like travelling back in time.

“I wonder if the whole world is like this,” she said. “There has to be one country where things have progressed, where things have been invented. Life evolves, right? It doesn’t just stay in one place and that’s that.”

“It does if you’re a slave,” said the reflection. “That’s what the mortals are in this dimension, aren’t they? Slaves. The sorcerers keep magic for themselves, their lives evolve and their society progresses, but for mortals? They’re kept down here in the mud. They aren’t allowed up.”

Valkyrie looked at it. “That sucks.”

“Yes, it does.”

They got to the next village and bought some bread. Their money didn’t stretch very far, but it was enough to satisfy Valkyrie’s hunger. People looked at them oddly, seeing a set of twins in badly fitting clothes, but didn’t bother them, and Valkyrie and the reflection stayed out of the way as much as possible. The houses here were the same as in Haggard, and the stony trail that acted as the main street was covered in horse dung.

They watched the people ignore a woman who was pleading for help. She grabbed the arm of a man and he tried to shake her off. Valkyrie turned away from her wailing and begging and only glanced back when he threw her down.

“Hey,” said Valkyrie, and before she knew what she was doing she was halfway across the road.

“Please!” the woman cried. “Please help me!”

The man cursed her, raised a hand to hit her and Valkyrie clicked her fingers. The fireball flared and the man recoiled, turned and ran. She let the flames go out, fully aware that the street had practically emptied and that her reflection was shaking its head. The woman was on her knees, and she clutched Valkyrie’s leg.

“Please help me.”

“Here,” Valkyrie said, “stand up. Stop crying. What’s wrong?”

The woman allowed herself to be pulled up, but she transferred her hold from Valkyrie’s leg to her wrist. “Please. My son. They took my son.”

“What happened?”

“He was talking with his friends, just talking. It wasn’t anything more than that. There was nothing about the Resistance or about fighting, it was just... He didn’t mean anything by it. He wasn’t complaining. But the Sense-Wardens came out of nowhere, and before he could explain himself they arrested him.”

Valkyrie went cold. “Sense-Wardens patrol out here?”

“They patrol everywhere,” said the woman. “They arrested him. Just him, not any of his friends. It’s all a mistake. He would never have had anti-Mevolent thoughts. Please. Please, if you could talk to them, make them understand that my son isn’t a threat...”

“I’m sorry, I can’t talk to anyone. I don’t know them.”

“But you’re a sorcerer, aren’t you? You’re...” The woman’s eyes widened. “You’re part of the Resistance.”

“I’m not part of anything.”

The woman tightened her hold. “Could you help him? Could you rescue him?”

“I can’t,” said Valkyrie. “Sorry. I’m not even from here.”

“They have my son. Please. They might execute him. You have to help me. Nobody else will.”

“If they’ve brought him beyond the wall, then there’s nothing I can do.”

“But they haven’t,” the woman said. “The Barge doesn’t return to the Palace for another three hours.”

Stay out of trouble, Ravel had said, and it had seemed so easy at the time.

“The Barge,” Valkyrie said. “Where is it?”

“It leaves here in a few minutes, then joins the other Barges and they all return to the City. Please. There isn’t much time.”

Valkyrie sighed. “Wait here.”

“Please don’t leave me!”

“I’m going to talk to my sister, OK? Just stay here for a moment.”

She pulled her wrist free, and hurried over to the reflection, which stood in the shade with its head down.

“I’m going to see if I can help this woman,” she said.

“Skulduggery told you—”

“I know what he told me. I want you to follow. Wherever I go and whatever I do, you follow. You don’t interfere unless it looks like I’m about to be killed or something.”

“I thought we were supposed to stay within reach.”

“Plans change.”

The reflection looked up. “I really don’t want to be left here alone if you return without me.”

Valkyrie hesitated. “I know. Listen to me, if that happens, go back to Haggard, where we arrived. I’ll come back for you.”

The reflection nodded, then said, “Please don’t get killed.”

Valkyrie gave it a shaky grin. “No promises.”