NOT A SEQUAL TO 'RISE OF THE LEERA' AND 'HIS LOST CHILD'!

Morgan Sulfur xXX

"Valkyrie! Duck." Skulduggery yelled at her. But she was too late and The Dreamster's fist hit her in the face. She stumbled backwards.

Skulduggery suddenly shot across the room at the speed of a bullet and knocked in to The Dreamster, sending them both flying.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie had been chasing this madman for a few months now. All leads had lead to dead ends and all witnesses had mysteriously turned up dead. But they had finally found him. Valkyrie hadn't expected him to be six feet tall, extremely thin, with black eyes and a long goatee, but he was. He was also very powerful; he had the power to affect people's dreams.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie circled him looking for a way past his defenses. Suddenly his arm shot out and gripped Valkyrie's hair and dragged her in front of him, using her as a shield. Skulduggery took out his revolver, but Valkyrie knew he wouldn't be able to shoot with her in the way. She struggled to get free but his grip on her hair was too tight.

"Let go of her!" Skulduggery ordered.

"I don't think so." From inside his pocket The Dreamster brought an injection syringe with a green liquid inside. He pressed the small needle to the side of Valkyrie's neck.

"One wrong move Skelton and I'll inject this poison into your partner."

Valkyrie didn't dare swallow for fear of the needle.

"Ok Skelton put your gun on the floor."

Skulduggery kept the gun pointed at The Dreamster for a moment longer then placed it on the floor.

"Back away from it."

Skulduggery once again hesitated before moving back several steps. Once The Dreamster was happy with the distance he pulled Valkyrie back towards the door. When he stood in the door was he learned in close and whispered in Valkyrie's ear.

"Here's something to remember me by."

And he jabbed the needle into her neck.

Valkyrie's knees buckled as she heard The Dreamster run down the stairs.

"VALKYRIE!" Skulduggery roared as he raced across the room.

Valkyrie was quite surprised really, she felt fine. No dizziness, no sick feeling.

"Skulduggery, I'm OK."

He ignored her and picked her up and ran to the Bentley.

They sped down the road, breaking every speed limit on the way.

Skulduggery pulled out his phone and dialed to sanctuary. He told then to have everything ready for when she got there.

"Skulduggery, I feel fine. I'm OK!"

"But you don't know that!" He yelled.

They drove in silence till they got to the sanctuary where Valkyrie was practically dragged into the medical bay.

Blood was taken and analyzed. Different antidotes were injected into her as a precaution.

But Valkyrie didn't know that the fuss was about, she felt normal.

After hours of sitting on the bed everyone had to admit that she was fine.

Nye walked in the room. Skulduggery, who had silently been observing in the corner of the room since Valkyrie had been brought in, came to her side.

"Your blood showed no sign of any sort of poison." Was it just Valkyrie or did Nye sound disappointed?

"So can I go home now?" Valkyrie asked.

"Well, I'd say yes but Elder Ghastly wants you to stay here overnight." With that Nye walked from the room.

Valkyrie looked at her mentor and smiled. "I told you I was ok. The poison was fake, meant to distract you so he could get away."

Skulduggery shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

She nodded. "So, have you any idea what The Dreamster is up to?"

"No idea, but we'll work it out, i'm sure. Get some sleep Val."

Val smiled and snuggled down as skulduggery took a seat.

She fell asleep very quickly, just as the poison started working.