In Which A Tour And A Fight Take Place

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He showed her round the classrooms first. "They are all on the first and second floors, plus in the basement there are the training rooms and the main duelling room, the one they generally teach the larger classes in. Third and fourth floors are all bedrooms. Afternoon activities either take place outside or in the classrooms."

Val nodded, getting hold of how the school was organised.

"Do you have your timetable?" he asked.

"In the room," she told him. "Apparently we are in the same classes."

"He is probably wrong because people being in the exact same lessons as another barely ever happens, unless we have ridiculously similar interests. It doesn't matter anyway. We can look at it later." They had only just got to the basement and seeing as their room was on the top floor it would be a waste of time.

The main duelling room was massive, a circular room that had a diameter of around one hundred metres. It was almost large enough to house the full scale duel that Darquesse and Lord Vile had that destroyed a lot of O'Connell Street in Dublin. She still couldn't believe how she and Skulduggery had managed to get away with that and how well the Sanctuary agents cleared up after them.

She wanted to fight him again.

"Can we have a duel?" she found herself asking.

He gave her an odd look. "Are you sure you want fight me? I am the best fighter in the school, not to brag or anything."

"I want to see how good I am and what my previous training has been in comparison to what is expected here. If you could offer constructive criticism, it would be nice."

Skul nodded. "Okay."

He left to tell a teacher that they would be fighting; a health and safety thing they had to do to in case someone got hurt. Val pulled of the cloak and adjusted her uniform so that it was comfortable and wouldn't get in her way whilst fighting.

"The rules we follow at this school when it comes to duel are as follows," he told her when he came back. "The fight stops when some is knocked out or really badly hurt that they can no longer stand. Your aim is to get them on the ground via non-fatal methods. We should technically have an umpire but this duel really shouldn't get too violent if it is just to test out your abilities."

They readied themselves, standing in the centre of the room opposite each other. He gave a little nod and then they were on each other.

He did not have the same fighting style as the one he had as a skeleton; he was less refined in his movements and slightly more aggressive. Some of his moves were still underdeveloped and his subtlety was missing, but the style she was used to still there and that was enough for her to take advantage of it. After a couple of swipes, she managed to anticipate his false guard, one of his many tricks that he had taught Valkyrie, and she pretended to go for his gap. As his hand descended down, she pulled up at the last second and he lost his balance. She swiped a punch at his abdomen as he fell towards her.

He dropped to the floor, grasping his lower stomach, groaning heavily. "I guess you win," he managed to wheeze out.

She helped him up. "Sorry," she told him. "Come on, I'll take you to our room. I have something that should help the bruising."

She assisted him back to their room. He was still feeling nauseous after the punch she had given him and he was sure that he was bruised all over.

"Are you not hurt?" he asked her. Despite his quick defeat, he had managed to pack in a few punches to her limbs which were bound to hurt.

"I'm used to it. I've had worse. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last either."

He gave her an odd look. She wasn't very old and yet she spoke with the air of experience. "You seem to have a lot of knowledge on the subject."

It was clearly the wrong thing to say. He saw her close up and dismissively said, "Forget it."

He didn't press any further and Val just shrugged it off and began to help him undress.

"Don't get the wrong idea about this," she said with an air of dismissal in her voice. "I'm just helping you."

"I haven't," murmured Skulduggery, although the feel of her hands was soothing and had lulled him into a light trance. He shook himself awake when he heard her speak.

"I'm sorry, what?"

She gave him a glare. "Did you not listen? I said that you need dissolve this stone in your bath water and soak in it for a few minutes. It gives the water healing properties and helps minor injuries. I get into so many scrapes that my doctor gave me a bag of them, so I have plenty." She held out a small pebble.

Skul nodded and plucked the stone out of the palm of her hand. He had heard about these before. Kenspeckle, the school doctor was currently developing some, although where Valkyrie had got hers, he wasn't sure. Then again, it was clear that she was holding many secrets about herself and he doubted she would tell him where she had got these from until she had gained more of his trust. After all, they had only just met.

It was also surprising that she had managed to beat him utterly and completely. He was the best combat fighter in school and the most advanced in his elemental studies, and yet this dark haired girl was using techniques he doubted people had ever thought about using in both her combat and her magic skills.

"May I ask where you learnt how to fight and use magic?" he asked her as he stood himself up, avoiding putting too much pressure on his bruises. "The skills you have are exceptional, so you clearly have good trainers."

He noticed the change in her body language when he mentioned her skills. She tensed slightly before shrugging it off. "I was taught by the best trainer there is. He taught me how to fight and about magic, although I am not the most patient of students. He is my best friend. I owe him my life and he owes me his. He knows my darkest secret and I, his. Together, we saved the world, several times actually. It was a good life, although I don't think I'll ever see him again properly."

And with that, she left the room, which left Skulduggery more confused that ever about his new roommate.

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