The Maleficent Seven (From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant) (19 page)

ne of the interesting things about the English Sanctuary, Tanith reflected, was that they had an actual dungeon. The prison cells were on the floor above, with their clean lines and sanitary conditions, but the dungeon was where the real magic happened, as it were, with the bars and straw on the floor and chains on the walls. It was all dark and lit by flaming torches. All very Gothic. All very moody. All very London.

The wardens of this delightful place were an odd pair. A handsome fat man and an ugly skinny man who only stopped bickering long enough to debate on whether they should hang Tanith upside down on the wall. The consensus reached was that she was a Wall-Walker, and so she’d probably be quite used to hanging upside down, so really what would be the point?

So here she stood, arms shackled above her head, alone in the dark and the cold once again. She didn’t care. The important thing was that by now Sanguine would have taken the God-Killers to the furnace and melted them all down. The important thing was that Darquesse was now safe. Tanith smiled. Then she looked around. God this was boring.

Someone approached and looked in through the bars at her. He didn’t fling ill-conceived insults, so it wasn’t either of the wardens. He stepped into the light and she met his eyes, but her defiance quickly turned to curiosity.

“I know you,” Tanith said. “I saw you in Germany. At the party.”

“Indeed you did,” said the dark-haired man.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Moribund.”

“Moribund,” she said. “From where do I know that name?”

“I was a prisoner,” said the man, “in Dublin. I was held in a cage, and you released me.”

“So that was
you
... Forgive me for not recognising you immediately – I’d just been stabbed and my mind was on other things. I got into a little bit of trouble for that, you know. I explained that I was not in control of my actions, but when Thurid Guild took over, he was all set to throw me in a cell for helping a known murderer escape.”

“He didn’t, though.”

“Mr Bliss convinced him I was telling the truth.”

“A good man, that Mr Bliss. Terrible what happened to him.”

Tanith laughed. “You know, the regret in your voice would almost be believable if I hadn’t read your file.”

Moribund smiled sadly. There was something under his arm, something long and wrapped in cloth. “And what did it say, this file?”

“From what I can remember, you started out as just another sorcerer, though probably a humourless one, judging by your name... And then you turned into a sadistic psychopath and killer.”

“That’s all?”

“It was a few years ago. I may have forgotten some details. So what’s a humourless, sadistic psychopath and escaped convict doing working for the English Sanctuary?”

“I don’t work for them,” said Moribund. “I broke in here, the same as you.”

“Why?”

“To help, of course.”

She frowned. “To help me?”

“I owed you a favour. When you released me, I went into hiding. I didn’t hurt anyone, I didn’t kill anyone. Ever so slowly, I started building a new life for myself. It was small and humble, but it was my own.”

“Good for you.”

“And then I heard that a Remnant had bonded with you, and I knew that if ever you needed a favour repaid, it would be now. So I found you. And helped you.”

“You helped me? How, exactly, did you help me?”

“Two men with guns waiting for you in Chicago. Another with a sniper rifle that you never even saw.”

“That was you?”

“And then, while you fought Crab on that beach in Poland, two Sanctuary agents about to call in your position.”

“You’re my guardian angel?”

“I’m no angel. I had avoided the use of violence for the last five years. It has been... distressing how easily I can slip back into my old ways.”

“And now you’re here to get me out, right?”

“Of course.”

Keys rattled in the lock and the door swung wide. He picked another key from the collection in his hand as he came forward, and a moment later, Tanith’s shackles sprang open. While she rubbed her wrists, he unwrapped the bundle of cloth, and handed over her sword in its black scabbard.

“I liberated this on my way here,” he said. “I thought it might hold some sentimental value.”

“It does,” Tanith said. “Did you know that Valkyrie Cain used this sword to kill the Grotesquery? That was the first time she ever saved the world. Wasn’t the last.”

They walked from the cell, and Tanith sighed as she felt her magic flood back into her body. They passed the wardens slumped on the ground.

“Dead?” she asked.

“Unconscious,” Moribund said. “I do not kill if it can be avoided. You don’t have to, either, you know.”

“I’m grateful for the rescue, but if you’re going to start lecturing me...”

“And what if the lecture
is
the rescue? Releasing your physical form is easy – setting your spirit free is much more difficult.”

“Oh, man,” said Tanith, “you’re not religious, are you?”

He led the way up the stairs. They passed another unconscious man. “Would you hold it against me if I were? But this isn’t about religion. When I talk about your spirit, I’m not talking about some elusive idea, I’m talking about your actual soul, which the Remnant has grafted itself on to.”

“Well, let me save you the time and the effort. The Remnant’s a part of me now and it can’t be removed.”

“That’s quite true.”

“OK then.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to change who you once were.”

“Uh, yes, it does.”

Out in the corridor now, Moribund was walking with the confidence of one who knows he will not be discovered. Tanith stuck close to him.

“The Remnant erases your conscience and removes your ability to empathise,” Moribund said. “It turns you into a sociopath. It also affects other aspects of your personality, but none to any significant degree. You are still, essentially, who you have always been.”

“What are you, a Remnant expert?”

“Yes,” said Moribund. “But you can relearn the skills you need to empathise, and you can fake a conscience until it becomes a natural part of you.”

“Fake it till you make it, you mean.”

“Precisely.”

“And what’s the point of all that? I’d just be lying to myself.”

“The alternative is to surrender and let the Remnant win. Tanith, you have an opportunity to atone for your sins. It’s not too late to turn back. You have friends who love you and who would be willing to give you another chance.”

She laughed as they climbed another set of stairs. “Moribund, all this is wonderfully inspiring stuff, it really is, but I’m a Remnant, and I want the world to die. I’ve seen a vision of how it happens and everything I’ve been doing, collecting all these weapons, is designed to help that along. When she arrives, Darquesse is going to burn this planet to a cinder and I’m ensuring that there are no God-Killer level weapons around to stop her. My old friends aren’t going to give me another chance because we’re not on the same side any more. Do you get that?”

“Why do you want her to destroy the world?”

“Because I’ve seen it, and I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. You wouldn’t understand. I’ve tried explaining it to Billy-Ray and he says he understands, but he doesn’t.”

“
I
understand.”

“No. You don’t.”

“Yes,” Moribund said, turning to her, “I do.” Dark veins spread beneath his skin and his lips turned black.

Tanith fell against the wall and stared, her mouth open.

“This is why I went from being a normal, humourless sorcerer to a sadistic psychopath and killer,” Moribund said. “A Remnant found me, climbed down my throat, and it’s been living inside me ever since. It is as much a part of me now as my own heart or my earliest memory.”

“I thought... I thought all the others were trapped.”

“All those darting black shadow-creatures are trapped, yes, and some like us, bonded pairs, are in gaols. But there are yet others out there, around the world. Some are bonded to sorcerers, some to mortals, some to other... beings.”

“Where are they? Why don’t they do something to free the thousands of Remnants who are being kept in the Soul Catcher?”

Moribund smiled. “Because they’re sociopaths, Tanith. And the longer they’ve been bonded, the less they care. It takes a concerted effort to start rebuilding that part of your personality after decades of neglect. For me, it was difficult, bordering on impossible. For you, it will be hard... but within your reach.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you had seen what I saw. It was beautiful.”

“I would wager that what you find beautiful is not the same as what I find beautiful. Once, I would have been at your side. But not now.”

They walked into the storeroom.

“You can come out,” Moribund said.

Wilhelm stood up from behind a crate. He was pale and sweating and his hand was heavily bandaged, and he looked at Tanith like she had just kicked his puppy. “You cut off my finger.”

“Yes,” she said. “I remember.”

“But I was on your team!”

“Because I needed to cut off your finger.”

“But—”

“Wilhelm. I cut off your finger because that’s what I needed to do. I didn’t tell you about it because I didn’t think you’d be too keen on the idea. With all your blubbering, and with your tone of voice now, I see that I was right. But we did what we came here to do, and I really don’t see what your problem is.”

Wilhelm gaped at her.

“I’m sorry,” said Moribund. “Should I not have released Mr Scream also?”

“Naw, it’s fine,” said Tanith. “He’s just feeling emotional. Do you know how to get us out of here?”

Moribund nodded. “I watched Mr Chabon let you in. Face the wall. You, too, Mr Scream.”

Wilhelm hurried over and stood beside Tanith. He glanced at the sword on her back, then glared at her. “Be careful you don’t cut off another one of my—”

“Be quiet,” Tanith said.

Wilhelm shut up.

The bright light flowed over them and Tanith felt her body tingle. She stepped forward, through the wall, emerging into the morning air. The smell of freedom.

Wilhelm scowled at her. “Next time you assemble a team,” he said, “be sure to leave me—”

“They’re going to notice we’re not in our cells any moment now, Wilhelm. You don’t have time to make a parting quip, even if you could think of one.”

His lower lip trembled, and he spun and ran.

“What a strange little man,” Moribund said. The veins were gone from his face as he looked back at Tanith. “Think about what I said.”

“That’s it? You’re just going to walk off?”

“You helped me escape, and I’ve returned the favour. Now that we’re even, I have my life to get back to.”

“But we both have Remnants inside us. Shouldn’t we, you know, stick together?”

“Why would we? I don’t limit myself because of what I am,” he said as he walked away. “Do you?”

Figuring that pretty soon the rooftops would be covered with Cleavers searching for her, Tanith took a cab. She sat there with her sword across her lap and her coat over it and talked to the driver about famous people he’d had in his back seat. She hadn’t heard of most of them.
Carry On My Wayward Son
came on the radio and they sang along with it.

She got out a mile from her destination and walked the rest of the way, making sure she wasn’t being followed. The building had once been a blacksmith’s all those years before. It still had a working furnace, and she felt the heat the moment she slipped in through the window. It was dark and still, like the whole place was holding its breath.

Movement behind her and she whirled and Sanguine wrapped her in his arms. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

She waited until he was done, then stepped away and gave him a smile. “I’m just glad you managed to get away from those things under the Sanctuary,” she said. “Did you find out what they were?”

He shook his head. “And I didn’t wait around to ask questions, either. I ain’t gonna lie – whatever they are, they worry me. I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“Well,” Tanith said, having wasted enough time on small talk, “the good news is, we both got out, we’re both free and the weapons have been destroyed, right?”