53For Skulduggery, the time spent with his annoying and slightly obnoxious teenage companion is drawing to an end as Darquesse claws away at Valkyrie's will to remain in control. For Valkyrie, the time spent with her egotistical and sardonic mentor becomes more valuable as her dark side slowly permeates her mind. The answer, the cure, the solution is an untold number of miles away and they can't even be sure they're running towards it fast enough. Meanwhile, the world is threatened by another force; yet another cult of crazy nutcase sorcerers are on the rise, and they seem to be well coordinated this time. Except Skulduggery and Valkyrie cannot afford to deal with them as time is running out, for everyone.
Read on...
PROLOGUE
Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and all the other mans out there was what kept Thomas Blurr on the side of righteousness, fighting the good fight, keeping bad off the streets. Like all superheroes, Blurr wore an outfit disguising his civilian complexion. His costume was of black leather which clung tight to his waxy skin, and would have probably creaked at every step if it hadn't been worn to the point it was deathly silent, frayed in the joints, soft and supple. The one thing his disguise couldn't hide was his height. Blurr was a great deal taller than the average man, standing at almost eight feet – he wasn't exactly sure anymore, every year he grew several inches, and he was fast approaching forty years of age with no signs of slowing down. But he took his height in stride. Quite literally too, as the growth occurred only in his legs, making him disturbingly out of proportion. His closest friends compared him to a crane, and that was the name he undertook, The Crane.
Blurr didn't particularly enjoy being a good-guy, and the work of a leather clad, eight foot vigilante was restricted only to late weekend nights and the dealings with the drunk and disorderly. There was also no money involved. And Blurr had a great mountain of accumulating debt cornered in a single roomed apartment back in Cork. But despite the inconvenience of his night time romps patrolling the streets like a stork searching to spear fish, Blurr always returned to his duties to the town and country, spurred by a romantic notion to exact justice on wrongdoers.
Tonight the streets were as they usually were: sparsely lit, dark, and fiendishly peaceful. There probably wasn't a bad person around for miles.
Blurr tilted his head and scanned the silent streets. There was a clang of metal; he stiffened, as a tabby cat ran out from the shadows further up the street. It stopped under a street lamp and looked back down the dark road, its tail unmoving, and the shine of its whiskers twitching. Blurr wondered what it was it was seeing. Him? An eight foot irregularity that looked more pole-shaped than man-shaped? Something behind him perhaps?
Blurr looked slowly behind him, his sudden movement causing the cat to hiss loudly and sprint away. Certain that there was nothing else alongside him in the dark Blurr shook the tension from his shoulders and walked on.
It was then he heard the blood curdling scream.
Blurr stopped, his black eyes wide, his heart drowning his hearing.
The scream ended quickly.
But in the night silence Blurr could still hear it reverberating against the brick walls, and he started forward until he found himself standing under the streetlight where the cat had stood only moments ago. He looked at the brick wall that boarded the footpath and looked up at the four story building and its many black windows above him.
Then the scream came again, more terrifying than the first. The scream for life – emitting from the third story, the seventh window across.
Blurr took several steps back, skipped towards the building's foundation and ran up the side of the building.
Blurr had no idea why he could do certain things, like run up walls, jump over ten feet, or sprint without tiring. He just could. He always could. He had no parents that he knew of, just some elderly caretakers who never spoke of his ill-fortuned parents, who had themselves killed while crossing a train track. He had always wondered if they had maybe been like him. Always growing, never ageing, with insane kick-ass abilities.
Blurr wasn't worrying about that tonight though. Tonight he used his abilities for good.
The window was open and like a spider, Blurr folded himself into the dark room. There was another death cry and he flung himself into the darkness, hands outstretched, patting down the walls as he navigated his way towards an old brass knob which he twisted. The door flew open aided by a wave of heat escaping into the cooler room behind him; there was the rank smell of burning house-wood reaching his nostrils on the hot air and the flicker of orange lights. Without hesitation, Blurr threw himself down the long corridor, his head slightly bent forward as he approached the room where the lights emitted.
Blurr could feel the prickle of heat transpire through his skin as he conjured his strength to look into the room. Back against the wall, he stretched his neck around the doorframe and peered in.
Smoke had begun to do its work and haze out objects, forcing Blurr to cup a hand around his mouth and hold his breath. In the far corner was a man, about forty years old in appearance, who sat curled in fear and horror, his brow sweating profusely, his mouth quaking in terror. There were severe burns along his arms and legs, blood oozing from the cooked flesh.
Blurr stepped out. "Hang on," he said, approaching the man quickly, stepping across the room in only several long strides. He coughed as he approached the gentleman whose eyes were threatening to suicide fall from his skull. The old man weekly spluttered a few words. "What?" Blurr shouted over the crackle of flame, and coughed. "What!?"
The old man pointed to the opposite end of the room. His hand shaking as ribbons of blood flowed down his fingers, dripping unheard onto the floorboards. Blurr turned to look and at first his sight registered nothing.
He saw the attacker a moment too late.
The man had literally emerged from the fire engulfing the wall, a dark silhouette carrying flames on his back as he leaped with frightening speed towards Blurr. The eight foot man stepped backwards, into the old man who howled in pain and tumbled, probably saving his life as the human flame went soaring overhead.
"Oh my god!" Blurr grunted, rolling to his feet as the attacker righted himself and turned on him once more.
Blurr took a fighting stance and felt his arm scream in pain at the elbow. He looked down. In the crease of his right arm the leather had melted into his skin, and upon seeing it he could taste the smell of his own burnt flesh. Bile flew to his throat as blood pooled quickly in the bend of his arm. He had severed a minor artery.
The pyromaniac lunged again, missing Blurr's head by a hair, the heat searing off his left eyebrow. He would have cared if he hadn't suddenly come to the realisation that he was out of his league.
The man in flames suddenly laughed as more of the room became fuel for the fire. "Good to see how fast the sanctuary reacted to this! And for a minute, I thought, that they were losing their touch."
Blurr put a hand to his wound, trying to stem the blood. "Leave this man alone. Now!" He ordered, hoping that might give the man the incentive to pack up and leave.
"Oho! But I have an important job to finish!"
Blurr swallowed rising panic in his throat. "And that is?"
"To melt this old fart's bones! And then yours," he added thoughtfully.
Gritting his teeth, Blurr charged forward. He was sure that there lived no person who could out best him in speed. The man, still engulfed in flames, failed to do in time and Blurr's right hand collided with the man's jaw with a crunch.
Blurr pulled his hand back, the flesh raw and his attacker stumbled backwards screaming in rage. Blurr turned to the elderly still trembling in the corner. "Go! Run!" He shouted.
The old man seemed to take courage and crawled to his feet and began to run as fast as his bloodied legs would allow him.
Blurr rounded back onto his attacker. Now he just had to buy the man enough to get away and hide, then he could make a run for it himself. He would survive the fight, and live to see another day.
But the human flame was charging towards the door and Blurr had no choice but grab the man from behind, his arms and legs wrapped around the fiery man's torso and bring him crashing back to the floor which shuddered dangerously.
The room was well and truly on fire now.
Smoke filled the room so thick Blurr's eyes began to swell shut and his throat close. He let go of the fire-man, who got to his feet, looking pityingly down at the smouldering figure of Blurr.
"Almost, sonny," said the man sadly, raising a dark fist of flames over his head. "You almost saved the-" he cocked his head as sounds of boots marching in unison reached his ears. He hissed loudly and lunged onto Blurr, pulling him up by the neck of his leather jacket so that they were face to face.
Blurr could hardly make out the man's features, cloaked as they were by flame. It was like his skin was emitting a gas that kept him alight, but man controlling the fire was no more detail than a shadow. Blurr coughed, and tasted blood in his mouth as the pyromaniac shook him like a doll.
"You may have won this time, sanctuary scum, but now I got a bone to pick with you and the old man. So, I'm just gunna leave you with a parting gift."
Blurr's ribbed parted like ice under running hot water as the man's hands burned their way into his flesh. He couldn't make out if he was screaming. The world of heat and pain suddenly seemed a lifetime away.
And then there was nothing except coolness.
In his fading eyes Blurr watched as the room filled with grey cloaks, menacing weapons held high above their heads. They seemed unperturbed by the fire around them as they flooded the room, searching.
Blurr heaved a last cough as darkness enveloped him.
A Cleaver broke away from the group, observed him like an interested hawk through the shine of its helmet, and stooped down to pick up the elongated body of Thomas Blurr.
Chapter One: Dead End, where Skulduggery and Val beat up an old lady...is coming soon, to you!
Hi there peoples! First fanfic ever :D Please review with ideas, criticism, support if you have a moment right about now-ish. ENJOY