Skulduggery sat there, flexing the fingers on both of his hands, and Valkyrie grabbed him and hauled him up. He was surprisingly heavy. They got to the steps, jumped down, and ran on towards the mouth of the cave.

“Faster!” she demanded.

“Why?” he asked. “I’m still not entirely sure you’re real.”

“I just picked you up back there!”

“That could have been a draught.”

They left the cave and Valkyrie grabbed her coat off the ground and looked back. The Faceless One hadn’t even reached the steps yet.

She looked at Skulduggery. “I’m not a draught!”

“You look like a draught…”

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“My verbal sparring has been a tad one-sided of late. I should keep moving. You’re welcome to come along.”

“But this is where the portal opens.”

“If the Isthmus Anchor is linked to me, the portal will open near to wherever I am. Come along now, we don’t have much time.”

“How did it hunt you?” Valkyrie asked as they ran through the narrow alleyway. “It can barely move faster than a walk.”

“It has pets,” Skulduggery said. “And its pets have pets.” He pointed to the red sky. “And here they come now.”

She saw them, black against the red, beating their massive wings. Their bodies were the size of buses and their jagged tails were twice as long again. She saw what appeared to be straps, criss-crossing their underbellies, and she realised these beasts had a dozen riders or more saddled on top.

“You’ll know they’ve spotted us when they screech,” Skulduggery told her.

The creatures screeched.

Skulduggery and Valkyrie jumped a low wall and ducked through a doorway, moving through the ruined house and out of the window on the other side. The winged beasts swooped low over the streets and the riders dropped from them.

Two riders landed close by. They were skinny things, with primitive tattoos covering their yellow skin, dressed in leathers and furs and wielding thin, wicked blades. Their teeth were sharp and their eyes were dark, and their hair was spiked like porcupine needles.

Skulduggery went to meet them, blocking the first swipe of a dagger and snapping the arm at the elbow. He pulled the screaming rider into the path of his companion, using the momentary confusion to kick out the other rider’s knee. He left them and took Valkyrie’s hand again, steering them between two houses.

A rider dropped from the roof, but Skulduggery pushed at the air and he flew backwards. Valkyrie spun as another rider dropped behind her. The sword he swung was huge, too big for such a narrow space. She flung her coat into his face then pushed his sword hand down, grabbed his shoulder and kicked his ankle. He fell, smashing his head against the wall.