waved away the words. “Oh, just doing my civic duty! Now, promise me you won’t burst in there and hurt him. He looked quite docile when I saw him. I’m sure he’ll come quietly.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have that option,” Skulduggery said. “He’s mixed up with some very bad people, and the last time we went to talk to him we barely made it out. I’m sorry to say that we’ll have to use extreme force. Maybe even deadly.”
Lillian paled. “I’m sorry?”
Skulduggery stood and put his hat back on. “But thanks for your help.”
Lillian sprang to her feet, quite lithely for someone of her size. “Wait a moment! Now, just wait! Richard wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“He already tried to kill us once,” said Skulduggery. “He won’t get a second chance.”
Skulduggery walked for the door, Lillian hurrying after him. Valkyrie got up slowly, watching it unfold.
“He won’t hurt you!” Lillian insisted. “Just knock on the door! Tell him who you are! He’ll give himself up, I just know he will! Mr Pleasant, please!”
“We’ll try to take him alive,” Skulduggery said, “but I can’t guarantee anything.”
Lillian staggered, as if slapped.
Valkyrie passed her. “Thank you for your assistance,” she said quietly.
“Stop!” Lillian cried. “He told me to contact you!”
They both turned. “Did he now?” Skulduggery asked.
Lillian clasped her hands to her bosom, as if praying. “He’s scared,” she said. “You’re right, he’s mixed up with some bad people. He told me that. He’s in a lot of trouble. He said when you went to arrest him, he panicked. He shouldn’t have done it, he’s sorry, but he’s managed to sneak away, and he wants to surrender.”
“So he spoke to you,” said Valkyrie, “told you to arrange all this, and told you to tell us about Ironfoot Road. Lillian, the moment we read your note, it sounded like we’d be walking into a trap.”
She looked horrified. “A trap?”
“How do you even know we’re looking for him? It’s not common knowledge. The only reason we didn’t break down your door is because Skulduggery has been watching you all night. We had been thinking you were in on it, that you were trying to lead us into an ambush.”
“No,” Lillian said, her eyes wide. “No. Goodness, no. I would never do that, and Richard … Richard is a good man.”
“And he’s waiting for us at Ironfoot Road?”
She nodded quickly. “Apartment 4. Just him. Nobody else.”
“We really want to trust you, Lillian.”
“Then trust me! I promise you, this is no trick!”
“Did he say anything else? Anything about some friends of his, about what they’re planning?”
“He said if they’re not stopped then everything will change. He mentioned a war.”
“What war?” Valkyrie asked.
“The war to come,” she said. “The war between sorcerers and mortals.”
Looking back on his life up to the previous night, Sebastian had come to the conclusion that he was, in fact, a pacifist, who just happened to get caught up in extreme acts of violence at regular intervals.
If he’d had his way, the last few years would have contained far less punching, kicking, destruction and death than they had, and he’d be a happier person for it. Then his nights could be spent reading books until his eyes grew tired, after which he’d fall into a comfortable bed and wouldn’t stir till morning.
Instead, he had spent the previous night on a rooftop, watching a small house on the edge of the Herbal District. He’d been led here from Bennet Troth’s house by the lumbering man in the coat and hat, the same lumbering man who had given that note to the kid, the same one who – Sebastian hoped – knew where Bennet’s wife was being kept.
An entire night spent crouched on a rooftop, all so that he could help Bennet so that Bennet, in turn, would help Sebastian.
All for Darquesse.
Now it was halfway through the following day and Sebastian was still here, waiting for something to happen. He really didn’t want to have to kick the door down. Kicking the door down would probably lead to violence. Plus, he’d never kicked a door down before and was worried his foot might just bounce off.
A little after noon, he saw Bennet harassing people on the street, waving a photograph under their noses until they snapped at him, in some cases shoving him away. Sebastian tried waving, tried catching the man’s attention, but eventually had to resort to shouting Bennet’s name to make him look up.
They met in the alley behind the small house.
“I thought I’d hallucinated you,” Bennet said. He needed a shave and a shower, but at least he was sober.
“Bennet, you should go home. The man I followed yesterday led me to that building, right there. If Odetta is inside, I’ll bring her to you.”
“No, I have to be here, I have to do this. She’s my wife – don’t you understand that? Are you married?”
“I am not, no.”
“Then you don’t understand. But I can’t leave. If she’s in there, I have to go in. Now.”
“We don’t know who else might be waiting,” Sebastian said, placing a restraining hand on Bennet’s arm. “It’s better if we keep an eye on the place, make a note of who comes and goes, formulate a plan, so that when we do go in, we’re prepared.”
“Has anyone come and gone since you’ve been on that roof?”
“Well … no.”
“Whoever has her, they’ve obviously no intention of bringing her back to me,” said Bennet. “We don’t know what’s happening in there. We don’t know if she’s hurt, or how scared she is, and we don’t even know why she’s been taken. But I cannot stay here while the love of my life is being held captive. I’m going in. Now, I don’t know you, but—”
“I’ll help,” Sebastian said, sighing. “Just please follow my lead, OK?”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Bennet confessed. “I’ve never been in a fight in my life.”
“Yeah, well, I have,” Sebastian said. “And I really try to avoid them as much as possible.”
With Bennet behind
