Читать книгу Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 7 – 9: The Darquesse Trilogy - Derek Landy - Страница 30

yren Lament was definitely not happy to see them. Skulduggery and Valkyrie sat at the long table in the dining hall, and Lament stood looking at them with his arms crossed. He looked to be around forty, with long fair hair. He had a long nose and sharp, intelligent eyes. He was dressed identically to Kalvin. From the glimpses Valkyrie had snatched of the other sorcerers on the way here, robes and sandals seemed to be the uniform for mountain-dwelling mages.

“How did you find us?” were his first words to them.

“It wasn’t easy,” Skulduggery said.

He looked annoyed. “It was supposed to be impossible. We didn’t go to all this trouble to be ‘hard to find’. We did it to disappear.”

“We’d never have come looking for you if it wasn’t for Argeddion,” said Valkyrie. “He’s doing something to ordinary people, giving them magic.”

Lament shook his head. “Impossible. No one can transfer magic in any way to anyone who doesn’t already have magic within them.”

“For all we know,” said Skulduggery, “these mortals did have magic within them. But if they did, it was dormant. They didn’t know anything about it.”

“And what do you think Argeddion has done to them? Because whatever you suspect, I can assure you, he didn’t do it. He’s been resting in a coma-state for the past thirty years.”

“You’re sure?”

“Quite sure. He is closely monitored at every moment. The slightest increase in neural activity would be picked up on. Whoever is doing this to the mortals, it’s not Argeddion.”

“If it’s not,” said Skulduggery, “then it’s someone connected to him somehow. We’d like to see him, all the same.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to. You’ve already breached our outer perimeter – I can’t allow you to breach the inner one. I knew you thirty years ago, Skulduggery, but a man can change in thirty years.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“I don’t. And I don’t even know your companion.”

“We’ve saved the world,” Valkyrie said.

“And on behalf of this little part of that world, I thank you,” said Lament. “But you’re still not getting close to Argeddion, I’m sorry.”

Skulduggery sighed, and sat back. “Can we ask about the facility here?”

Lament sat opposite them. “Of course.”

“How many can it hold?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“If there were another sorcerer like Argeddion, someone who found out their true name, could they be kept here, too?”

Lament paled. “There’s another?”

“This is just hypothetical.”

“Hypothetical questions are a prelude to actual questions,” Lament said. “You told me that once. There is another?”

“There might be,” Skulduggery admitted. “Hopefully, there won’t, but there might be. Maybe your psychics here have picked up on it. A sorcerer named Darquesse.”

Lament nodded. “We’ve heard of her. We didn’t know that’s how she got her power, though. Do you know anything about her?”

“No one does,” said Skulduggery. “All we have is the vague promise that she will eventually turn up. How would you stop her?”

“If she hasn’t realised who she is yet, I’d use her true name against her.”

“And if she’s already sealed it?” Valkyrie asked.

Lament exhaled slowly. “Then you’re in trouble. You want to know how we subdued Argeddion, don’t you? You want to use this technique against Darquesse? I’m afraid you travelled all this way to be disappointed.”

Skulduggery tilted his head. “So how did you stop him?”

“There really was nothing to stop,” said Lament. “From what I’ve been told, Darquesse will be a force of destruction. How she comes to be this way, no one knows. But Argeddion was not like that.”

“We spoke with Greta Dapple,” Skulduggery said. “According to her, Walden D’Essai was a pacifist. When he became Argeddion, this didn’t change.”

Lament nodded. “This is true, but... Up until D’Essai, eight sorcerers over the course of human existence have learned their true names. Eight that we know of, anyway. Three of these were killed soon after, before they could exploit what they’d learned. Two of them couldn’t control their power and ended up killing themselves. Two more had their true names used against them and became virtually powerless. And the eighth one simply vanished. We presume he obliterated himself. No one who has ever learned their true name has been able to live peacefully.”

“So while Argeddion was a pacifist and showed no inclination towards violence, you didn’t want to take the chance that he could change his mind.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make. I liked Walden. He was a good man. I trusted him. I couldn’t trust Argeddion. How could I? All it would take is one bad day. Maybe that’s what sets Darquesse off. Maybe she’s a normal sorcerer, doing good work, but sometime in the near future she’s going to have one really bad day, and she’ll make the world suffer for it.”

“So what did you do?”

Lament hesitated. “Argeddion enjoyed talking about the things he was learning. Every day he’d develop a new ability, or he’d understand a new law of magic that no one else had even guessed at. He talked about the Source. He talked about the Cradles of Magic and how they related to each other and how they affected everything around them. He was a fascinating man. He was starting to view things in a completely new way.”

“And then you ambushed him.”

“We did. The problem with adopting a radical new perspective is that you lose your old one. We couldn’t afford to let him abandon his humanity. We couldn’t let him start to value magic over people.”

“Was that where he was headed?”

“Possibly. Very possibly. The moment I realised this, I knew we had run out of time. So we ambushed him.”

“How?” asked Valkyrie.

“When Walden was a child, his mother was murdered right in front of him. Her killer, a man who was never caught, turned to Walden and spoke to him. He said three words to a traumatised little boy, and ran. We found out what those three words were, and we used them against him. He froze, and we struck. We didn’t use violence. We just trapped him, sent him to sleep. He hasn’t woken up since.”

“How did you send him to sleep?”

“We targeted his brainwaves. Took them over, regulated them... He was asleep within moments.”

“Could we use that against Darquesse?”

“I don’t know. Argeddion underestimated us. Maybe it was his new power, making our attempts against him look harmless. Whatever the reason, he didn’t view us as a threat, and so he was already calm when we struck. Darquesse, from what I’ve heard, is not going to be calm. If you tried this against her, she’d fight it and win easily.”

“But if we managed it,” Skulduggery pressed, “could she be contained in here?”

“Here? No. This entire facility is equipped for only one patient. But if you were to build an exact replica of this place, I don’t see why not. She would need constant monitoring and supervision, however.”

“If she was trapped in somewhere like this,” Valkyrie said, “that’d be it, though, wouldn’t it? There’d be no chance of talking to her, of getting her to control herself or anything like that?”

“That would be impossible. The only reason Argeddion hasn’t escaped is because he’s been kept in an artificially induced coma. We can’t allow him to wake up – ever. With Darquesse, it would be even more important to keep her sedated. If you give someone like that a moment of consciousness, she’d kill you and everyone else.”

“Well,” Valkyrie said, frowning, “that sucks.”

Lament looked surprised. “You’d prefer the alternative?”

“No,” she said quickly. “No, I was just thinking, from her perspective that sucks, not from our… Never mind. Could we have a copy of the plans?”

“I don’t see why not,” said Lament. “But do you have enough people to monitor her? Do you have anyone who’d be willing to give up the rest of their life to spend with her?”

“I would,” Skulduggery said.

Valkyrie looked away.

A girl rushed in. Petite, blonde hair, huge eyes, somewhere in her twenties. “People,” she gasped. “But…”

Lament smiled. “It’s OK. They’re not our enemies. Lenka Bazaar, this is Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain.”

Valkyrie stood to shake her hand and Lenka jumped on her, wrapping her up in the biggest bear hug Lenka’s little arms could manage. “People!” she screamed. “There are people here! New people!”

Valkyrie couldn’t help but laugh, and finally Lenka released her.

“Hi. I’m Lenka. Will you be my friend?”

“Uh,” said Valkyrie, “sure.”

“Tyren,” Lenka said immediately, “I only have room for a certain number of friends in my life, so you’re not my friend any more. I’m really sorry.”

“I’m sure I’ll survive.”

Lenka grinned at Valkyrie. “I don’t want to alarm you,” she said, “but there’s a skeleton in a hat standing behind you.”

“Don’t worry, he’s supposed to be there,” Valkyrie said with a smile.

“Very pleased to meet you,” Skulduggery said, shaking her hand.

“Lenka is the youngest of us,” said Lament, “a Sensitive and a gifted engineer in her own right.”

“I never thought I’d ever meet someone new,” Lenka said, her eyes still wide. “I thought that the three people I’m down here with were the only people I’d ever know for the rest of my life. And now look. Two more people! And one of them’s the coolest person I’ve ever seen!”

“Thank you,” said Skulduggery.

“I was talking about her,” Lenka said, and Valkyrie laughed.

“Have you seen the Arboretum? Tyren, have you shown them the Arboretum?

“They’ve only just arrived—”

“Then it’s high time they saw the Arboretum!” Lenka announced, seizing Valkyrie’s hand. “Come! The tour!”

Valkyrie cast a look back as Lament turned to Skulduggery. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Lament said, and they followed Lenka and Valkyrie out of the door.

They met Vernon Plight on the way. He was a narrow, dark-skinned man with a warm smile. Valkyrie had read his file. He was almost 300 years old and an Adept, with a reputation as a fierce soldier. He knew Skulduggery and they exchanged a few friendly words before Lenka dragged them on.

“This is a momentous occasion,” said Lament. “When do we ever get the chance to show someone the Arboretum for the first time? Skulduggery, Valkyrie, welcome.”

They stepped through a wide doorway into a vast cavern, and in this cavern a rainforest sat. The heat, the humidity, the sounds of streams and waterfalls and birds and insects met them and enveloped them.

“Oh my God,” Valkyrie said.

Even Skulduggery was impressed. “This is remarkable.”

Lament smiled. “This is our very own biosphere, maintained by Lenka and Kalvin. There are adjoining caverns, each with a different kind of environment, but this is definitely the biggest. We’ve had to forgo a few luxuries, but we grow our own food here. Whatever we need. Whatever we want, really. We even have our own coffee beans. It’s actually quite good.”

“Are those monkeys up there?” Valkyrie asked, craning her neck.

Lament nodded. “We have animals, birds, insects... It’s a self-perpetuating ecosystem. It helps to make life interesting.”

“I imagine boredom would be a major problem,” Skulduggery said.

“It is, but we have access to the outside world thanks to Kalvin. When he isn’t helping me maintain the facility’s essential systems, he’s building relays and whatnot to view films and read the latest books... I don’t understand technology at all, to be honest, but Kalvin... Kalvin can access the world without leaving a trail that leads back here. He is invaluable.”

“That must be difficult,” Skulduggery said, “to view the world but not be a part of it.”

“That was the big debate we had when we first started,” Lament told them. “Do we cut ourselves off completely? I was in favour of total informational shutdown. I thought the alternative would be too hard to handle. But now I see the value in being open to it all. It reminds us of why we do what we do.”

A butterfly landed on Skulduggery’s finger. “I have to say, you have my admiration,” he said. “What you’re doing is astonishingly good and decent. I tend to forget there are people like you out there.” The butterfly flew away again.

Lament smiled. “We’re not saints, Skulduggery. We argue and squabble like the most ill-tempered family you’ve ever seen. But that’s what we’ve become. A family.”

“It’s a shame no one knows what you’re doing,” said Valkyrie.

“They can’t know.” Urgency entered Lament’s voice now. “You can’t tell anyone about this place. It’s bad enough you’re here – and I mean that in the nicest possible way. But there are sorcerers out there who would tear this facility down with their bare hands to get at Argeddion – either to find out what he knows, or simply to unleash him into the world. They would ignore the simple fact that controlling him is impossible, and focus only on the rewards they think he would bring. Can you imagine what would happen if a Sanctuary were to send its Cleavers in here? Once we were all dead, they’d start their experiments, and Argeddion would inevitably awaken.”

“There are people out there you can trust,” said Skulduggery. “Starting with us.”

Lament looked at him, looked at them both, and didn’t respond.