Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain

Chapter 195 - Therapy? Sort of?

Chapter 195

Valkyrie woke early and felt some nausea in her stomach. A hand on her shoulder gently shook her and she opened one eye into the dim room and for a moment thought she and Solomon were still on the road about to walk in the night air again, but then she remembered the evening before and put her hand on his. He stilled.

"It's time to wake. Your first training sessions are today," he said lowly.

Valkyrie moaned quietly and pulled herself into a sitting position, making her stomach gurgle dangerously, but pushed herself to continue. I have to do this, she reminded herself. For Nadia, Laila, my brothers, my family. The rest of the world. Fuck.

Sighing, she let the tension out of her body and stood.

"Your eyes are bloodshot," Norma said as a way of greeting. "Are you well?"

"I have a stomach ache. It'll be fine."

"Oh no. They don't have medicine like numbing leaves here," she said, coming over and putting a hand on her arm, her sister following behind. "How about some hot tea?"

That was the best she was going to get, so Valkyrie followed Norma as she mothered her and enjoyed it instead, despite the chill of the underground and the eeriness of the light. The tea was also different in taste. Obviously, some different leaf was being used for it, and water always tasted different away from home, and they didn't use milk with it. She was not a fan. She drank it to be polite and because Dexter had always told her the best way to know a place was through the food and she wanted to train herself to be accustomed to the taste. After all, how was she meant to travel across the entirety of Africa and enjoy every little amazing thing it had to offer if she couldn't even drink the tea? She considered it good beginner's practice for all the travelling she'd do in the future.

That was what she told herself as she tried not to gag on the last dregs of bog water called tea she'd been given.

"We'll start with your physical training," Norma told her informatively after a brief tour around the Sect. Valkyrie had not been able to take any of it in, considering every tunnel was identical, but it had passed the time for their food to go down and her stomach ache to lessen. "After a short session, we'll assess your magic, work on extending what you can do, and then we'll train your mind. Both psychologically and defence wise."

Valkyrie nodded as they were led into a new cave that had racks of weapons stacked up to the start of the curve of the ceiling, all manners of tools varying from traditional swords to brutish maces to torture devices. Valkyrie, Solomon and the sisters were required to clean their hands and feet again before entering, and Valkyrie washed over her face quickly, and then it was time to spar.

The first, most immediate thing she noticed was loose breasts and training was different.

Her own, despite being somewhere between an 'A' and 'B' cup, still pulled on her skin when they jumped around during her exercises, but she was lucky it only really pulled up to the base of her neck and they weren't heavy enough to strain. Norma and Helena, who were in shape but not combat ready, also followed some of her and Solomon's training, and they seemed to be in pain as their more voluptuous chests flopped. It wasn't arousing, as one may imagine, it just made Valkyrie ache for them.

That was over fairly quickly though, seeing as she was in shape with her four and a half pack – she was working on the rest, it was slow work – and her muscular arms and legs. She was stronger than most and Solomon was happy with that for the point of the Ritual.

Next was magic. She performed as expected, her target practice somewhat accurate as long as she pointed and she had a good grasp of regulating the power. Norma and Helena were quite impressed with that, but they then launched into other areas she may be able to access.