Skulduggery Pleasant: Arbiters

1

Locust Beacon walked through the streets of Dublin towards the Sanctuary, a large building that was a cross between a fortress and the White House. Next to him strode a black suit of armour that seemed to draw to shadows into the dark metal.  The helmet retracted into darkness, revealing the face of Lady Vile, framed by golden-brown hair. 

Four Cleavers, in their dark green uniforms, stood at the entrance, two on each side. Their scythes were strapped to their backs while their various array of guns sat in the holsters on their belts. Locust and Vile showed them their Arbiter ID cards. The Cleavers stepped aside as the huge gates swung inward of their own accord.

The pair made their way through the courtyard to the main building, where the Administrator met them with a bow. "If it isn't my favourite two Arbiters," Tipstaff smiled.

"And if it isn't our favourite Administrator," Lady Vile replied with a cheeky grin.

"Thank you, Miss Pleasan-"

"Just Echo will do, thanks," she cut him off.

"Of course," Tipstaff bowed again. "Your father is already with the Council, as is yours, Mr Beacon. If you will follow me?"

Locust and Echo followed Tipstaff through the building to the Council room. Imagine that courtroom from Harry Potter, the one with that chair in the centre of the room and everyone else is sitting on the tiers around it. It was like that but without the chair.

All the most powerful and important mortals and sorcerers sat in places that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. The three Elders: Echan Meritorious, Morwenna Crow, and Sagacious Tome. A few representatives of the Irish government were there, but Locust could never remember their names.

"I'm afraid another problem as arisen," Ghastly Bespoke said. As supervisor of Locust's team of Arbiters, he was technically their boss. "But first, how goes your investigation?"

"We have discovered that Silas Nadir was the first to escape," Echo said. "We believe that he had help, but we don't know who."

"Ribcage Goal is not the kind of prison that people escape from," China Sorrows said. "If there are people who can get in and break Silas Nadir out, then we have a serious breach in security."

"One that you may be able to help us with?" Morwenna Crow asked with an arched eyebrow.

China gave her a small smile and dipped her head graciously. "Of course. But may I also suggest the Engineer? He's rather good at this kind of thing."

"Anything else?" Skulduggery Pleasant asked Locust.

"We're working on it," Locust promised. "But it's rather hard to track someone who can travel through the multiverse on a whim."

"Which brings us to our new problem," Gordon Edgley interjected. "You are aware of the Void, I presume?"

Locust nodded. The Void was a network of caves underneath Gordon's house. Until recently, it was thought they housed only creatures that were unaffected by magic. But not only was that not true, but the caves and tunnels stretched across the entire world, just underneath the crust of the planet.

"Well, some of the more...recluse inhabitants have started disappearing," Gordo explained. "Some of their species have made the journey to the surface to find out the truth. According to them, they started flickering before vanishing entirely."

"Sounds like their Shunting," Echo mused.

"But these are creatures that can't perform magic like we can," Locust said. "Which means that someone else is Shunting them. The most obvious suspect being Silas Nadir. But why?"

"It does not matter," Sagacious Tome said. "We have successfully placed one of these creatures in a circle, stopping them from Shunting. Every time they step out, they start flickering again. We want you to go with them to this other dimension. With luck, it'll take you straight to where the others are. Take Creyfon Singate with you so you can Shunt back here. We need this to stop or-"

"Or it will cause tensions to rise between us and the inhabitants of the Void," Gordon said. "These creatures are unaffected by magic, which means a war would be very one-sided. Silas Nadir can wait for the moment, if you find him, great! If not, then focus or returning the creatures and stopping any more from Shunting."

"We understand that, as Arbiters, we have no official jurisdiction over you," Morwenna Crow said gently. "But this needs to stop."

"We understand," Locust told them. "I'll gather my team and get ready."

*****

Locust and Echo were just halfway across the courtyard to the entrance of the Sanctuary when Locust felt the air shift.

He turned around to see Ghastly Bespoke and Skulduggery Pleasant walk over to them. Echo's armour retracted into darkness as she ran over to her father, hugging him enough to crack his bones.

"You take care of my daughter, you hear?" Skulduggery told Locust. The boy went pale a bit and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"You know he will," Ghastly said, walking over and wrapping his arm around his son's shoulder. "It's really your daughter who should be careful. She's scary powerful with that armour of hers."

"We'll both be careful," Echo promised the two of them. "Besides, it's not as if the team will give us a moment alone. They think if we pair up then we'll just stay at camp while they do all the work."

"Just come back to me," Skulduggery whispered in her ear.

"Same goes for you," Ghastly said to Locust.