backward and slammed her onto the table. Valkyrie grabbed the Scepter with her left hand and he grabbed her wrist, keeping it away from him. Black lightning turned a part of the ceiling to dust.
She turned the Scepter toward him, but his hand moved from her wrist to the Scepter itself, and once again he diverted her aim. A section of wall crumbled.
Batu pressed against her, forcing the black crystal around. It glowed and spat lightning, hitting the corner of the table. The table collapsed and they fell, but their positions didn't change. Batu was still on top, and the Scepter was now pointed directly at Valkyrie.
His face was frozen in a mask of hatred and determination. 'End it,' he muttered through clenched and bloody teeth. 'Save yourself the pain of watching the world die.'
She hit him in the ribs with her free hand, and he grunted. She hit him again, but his grip didn't weaken. She tried pushing at the air, but nothing happened, and then she felt the gold ring on her finger.
The ring was bound. It had to be.
She curled the tip of her thumb against it. It was tight, but it moved, down her finger, and then she flicked it off and immediately felt the air against her palm.
She clicked her fingers and summoned a flame that burned fiercely into Batu's side. He screamed and thrashed and dived off her, trying to smother the flames on his shirt. He scrambled up and fled, out through the hole in the wall.
Valkyrie turned over and got up. She had a massive headache and there was blood running down her face, but she seemed to be otherwise okay. She went to Tanith and moved her onto her side, into the recovery position they'd been taught at school, and once she'd done that, she realized that she wasn't holding the Scepter anymore.
She looked back, scanning the ground desperately, but it wasn't there. Batu had taken it. Cursing, she ran through the hole after him, catching a glimpse as he disappeared into the trees.
Valkyrie tore after him.
Chapter Thirty-seven. Falling into Place
Batu led that wretch of a girl between the trees and then changed direction, keeping low. She had broken his nose and some of his teeth, and his left side was badly burned, but he couldn't afford trivialities like revenge. Not now. He hid and watched her pass, then dug a shallow hole and dropped the Scepter into it. He covered it with earth and leaves and doubled back.
When he reached the yard and saw the massacre, he laughed.
A dozen Cleavers were already dead. They littered the ground, an ill-made carpet of broken bodies and blood. The Faceless One, its clothes burned and torn and hanging in shreds, its face blank and smooth and terrifying, walked slowly through them.
A trio of Cleavers lifted into the air, and their bodies folded back on themselves and caved inward. Their remains dropped, forgotten about. More Cleavers, their gray uniforms splattered with the blood of their colleagues, attacked with unceasing determination, but the blades of their scythes merely bounced off the skin of their enemy.
Batu turned as Murder Rose ran up to him and gripped his arm. 'What have you done ?' she raged. 'You told us these marks would protect us! You said they'd shield us!'
'They are not shields,' Batu said, his voice calm despite the exhilaration he was feeling. 'They are invitations.'
Rose stared at him, then turned and sprinted away. Batu watched her disappear into the trees.
A torrent of impossibilities flowed after her, making the trees creak and sway. Re heard her scream, and then there was silence.
There was one more god out there, and Batu went to find it.
Chapter Thirty-eight. From All Sides
Valkyrie stopped and cursed. She'd lost him. There was no point going deeper into this wood--if Batu was ahead of her, which she doubted, he knew his surroundings a lot better than she did.
No, going deeper didn't make any sense. Not for Batu. He'd want to see his great plan coming together, and that meant being where the action was.
There was a sudden sound behind her, and she turned as Remus Crux lurched out from behind a tree.'You scared the hell out of me,' she snapped.
He held his left arm close to his body like it was hurt, and he was limping badly. He was sweating and seemed to be in a lot of pain. There was dried blood on his face.
'Are you okay? Remus? Did you see anyone run by here? An old man?'
'You're under arrest,' he snarled as he dug his right hand into his pocket. Valkyrie lunged, catching his wrist just as he pulled out a small gun.
'Resisting arrest!' he cried as their struggle took them back against the tree.
She whacked her elbow into his injured arm and he yelled, and she twisted the gun from his grip and pushed herself off him. She threw the gun deep into the trees, and he snapped his palm. A wall of air slammed into her and she hurtled backward. Her shoulders hit the ground, and she tucked her chin to her chest as she flipped over gracelessly.
Crux was dragging his leg toward her, summoning a flame into his hand. 'Assault on a Sanctuary official!' he screeched.
Valkyrie launched herself at him, smacking down his right hand as she punched him across the jaw, and he went staggering back.'You could have broken my neck!' she shouted, and lashed a kick into his bad leg. Crux screamed and dropped to the ground, and Valkyrie stepped back, clutching her fist. She hoped she hadn't broken it. Tanith was always telling her to use her elbows, not her knuckles. She really should have listened.
She looked down at him as he writhed and screamed and sobbed. He wasn't going anywhere soon. She turned and ran back the way she had come.
She saw someone ahead, sitting against a tree trunk. Fletcher Renn. His shoulders were slumped forward and his head was down. His shirt was soaked in blood. His hair was matted.
He heard her and looked up slowly, as if every moment brought with it a new kind of pain.
'I helped them,' he said.
'I know. But now we need you to help us. Have you seen Paddy? '
He shook his head. 'Haven't seen anyone. I didn't even fight them. They threatened me, they cut me, and that's all it took. I always thought I'd be the hero, you know?' His laugh was brittle.
Valkyrie looked down at him. 'I don't mean to sound cruel,' she said, 'but we don't have time for this.'
'You want to get out of here? I'm gathering my strength to teleport somewhere, anywhere. Home, maybe. For some reason, I really want to go back to London right now.'
'You can't leave. Paddy--you know that old man? He's Batu. He's the one behind all of this, and he has the Scepter. He's probably already hidden it, or dropped it in a ditch or something. Fletcher, if I can't find it, we'll have to lure the Faceless Ones back through the gateway. We're going to need you to open it.'
Fletcher stared at her, frowning. 'Are you nuts? Opening it the first time wiped me out. I mean, if I could use my power, don't you think I would have by now? Do you think I'm staying here because I'm brave? The moment I'm strong enough, I'm gone.'
'You can't leave us. This is our chance to save everyone. This is the only chance we're going to get.'
'It's not my fight.'
'It's everyone's fight.'
'When the other sorcerers hear about this, they'll all come running to help, from all over the world. They'll stop them. Not me. I'm just a kid.' He looked at her. 'You should come with me.'
