Skulduggery Pleasant : The Katahedral Crystals

Corrival and Vixen

Saracen's ears were ringing. He could taste blood in his mouth. The cave had exploded. There must have been explosives planted he thought.
He heard shouts from around him "SHIT, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??"
He became aware of Skulduggery rushing over to him. He arrived beside him, grabbed his hand and began dragging him away with one hand, using the other to fling fistfuls of fire at the incoming soldiers.

He looked around. There were piles of rubble and the cave was collapsing around them.
He dragged him to a pile of rubble and set him behind it. Saracen became aware of Hopeless and Dexter backing up to them, firing at incoming soldiers.
Dexter turned to Saracen and Skulduggery
"There's more explosives. We've got to go, now!" He yelled.
Skulduggery turned to Saracen and hauled him up "On your feet, we are leaving!" He shouted.
Saracen stumbled a little, still dazed from the explosion.

Saracen looked up. There was a huge hole in the roof leading to the surface.
Daylight shone through, illuminating a portion of the cave.
"Serpine must've gone up there," Skulduggery said. Erskine Ravel, Shudder and Ghastly appeared beside them, backing into them, and firing against the oncoming stream of enemies.
Skulduggery yelled for them to move to the exit.

All seven of them advanced to the gaping hole in the roof. The rubble conveniently created a ramp of sorts up to the roof.
They rushed up it. In the distance, clambering his way to the surface, they saw Nefarian Serpine.
They started to move faster, knowing their target was making their getaway.
The cave was collapsing around them. The black crystal from earlier, the one that turned a soldier to dust, was still down there and it was growing unstable.

Daylight illuminating their path, they rushed upwards towards the light, pursuing Serpine.
Around twelve soldiers jumped out from the gloom and ran at them.
Come on Serpine, you could have at least thought up a more convincing distraction Thought Skulduggery. He manipulated the air, summoning a strong gust of wind, propelling him upwards, leaving the others to deal with the soldiers.
Ah, Skulduggery. Ever so selfish as always. Thought Ravel, before engaging the enemy soldiers.

Skulduggery sprinted towards Serpine, who was only a couple of metres ahead of him. They emerged onto the surface, the sunlight blinding Skulduggery for a moment. Skulduggery crashed into him from behind, sending them both crashing to the ground. Skulduggery rolled up and slugged Serpine across the face, breaking his nose. Serpine hissed in pain and rolled away from Skulduggery, getting to his feet.

Serpine backed away from Skulduggery, keeping his eyes on him. Skulduggery ran at Serpine, but Serpine collected purple vapour in his hand, formed it into a powerful beam of energy and sent it at Skulduggery.

Skulduggery was flung back, colliding with a tree. The other Dead Men had taken care of the soldiers and had emerged onto the surface. Serpine turned to face them, clutching his nose. Ravel could see him properly now. His perfect hair was messed up, his tailored suit in tatters. His glove had been torn off, revealing his skinless hand. His hand was clutching his bloody nose, the wet muscles of his hand glistening slightly in the sunlight.

Serpine made a break for it, mounted onto his horse with the remains of his men and rode away. Skulduggery had recovered from Serpine's energy beam and had made his way back to his comrades. One of Serpine's men, a man with a peculiar beard, horse had gone missing, stranding him with the Dead Men.

The Dead Men tie him to a tree. Dexter kneeled beside him.
"Where is Serpine going?" Skulduggery asked.
"I'll never tell you." Said the prisoner.
"Ah, please?" Dexter asked.
The prisoner spat at him.
Dexter punched him. "The audacity" he mumbled.

They decided to head back to the outpost with their prisoner. As they mounted onto their horses, Saracen looked back at the smoking hole in the ground from which they emerged. The house that they raided had partially collapsed into the cave. Saracen wondered what would happen if a mortal stumbles into this mess. The sanctuary has people for this kinda thing Saracen thought.