The Sparrow Flies North for the Summer (Valduggery)

Save Him

She stumbled on the stairs, tears blurring her vision.

He had to be somewhere. May as well start checking here.

She burst into her room and threw the wardrobe door open, throwing aside all of the clothes hanging up.

She checked under the bed, behind the curtains, anywhere and everywhere he could be.

And when she didn't find him in her room, she moved onto the next. And so on, and so forth until she was on the opposite side of the corridor.

Guest rooms, bathrooms, studies, spare rooms; she checked them all, trashing the place in a desperate attempt to find him.

She was nearly finished when she collapsed, sobbing. She was never going to find him. He was lost, and it was on its way and-

A groan. That wasn't hers. From his room.

Gasping, she wiped the tears away and burst into the room. The bed was, of course, made, the bedside lamp off, the wardrobe closed, hiding his a small collection of immaculate suits.

"Skulduggery?" She ran to the bed, pulling up the covers and searching underneath. Nothing.

"If you can hear me, shout!" She screamed, desperately running to the wardrobe.

From which a moan resonated.

Swearing, she ripped the door open and frantically pulled away the suits.
And felt her knees give away.

There he was. Skulduggery. Her Skulduggery.

He'd lost most of his suit; he sat only in a shirt and trousers, which were in rags. His leg, stretched out in front of him, had been broken in more than one place, as had his ribs and arm. His head lolled forward, as if he hadn't the strength to lift it. Around his neck was a sort of metal collar that connected to the back wall of the wardrobe.

He whimpered as the door opened.

"Please no more..." he trailed off as he lifted his head.

"Gods, Skulduggery..."

She crawled forward, straining against the loop on his neck.

"V-Valkyrie?"

"Don't worry, I'm here... Again."

"Wha-"

She began to tug as hard as she could at the metal band, but to no avail; it was made of strong stuff, and wouldn't budge.
She cursed, desperately thinking.

"Okay, listen, Skulduggery; I'm going to have to kick it. Which may result in your neck breaking. That won't do any... permanent damage, will it? It can be fixed, right?"

He nodded, then groaned, as if he had a headache.

"Okay, let's get this over with..."

She stood up, putting a foot on the loop. Then, just as she braced her leg, she felt a hand on her shin.

"How?" He croaked.

"How did I know it wasn't you, you mean? I love you Skul, how could I-" she choked on the words, realising what she'd just said.

His head snapped up, causing him to moan, but he stared at her; if he'd had eyes, they'd be boring into hers.

She hesitated before smiling.

"Let's talk about this later; we need to get you-"

"Oh, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, Ms. Cain," a velvety voice said from behind her. Her heart dropped to her feet.