The Sorceress (34 page)

The Crow Goddess stirred. “We have been trapped within the Morrigan for a long time. She’s had lifetimes of fun; now it’s our turn. And we decided that there would be no place more exciting than Alcatraz in the hours to come.”

Perenelle eased herself up on her elbows to look down at
the creature. “Exciting? I think we might have two different definitions of that word.”

The Crow Goddess moved her head and eased her dark glasses down her nose with a long black-nailed finger. One red and one yellow eye blinked at the woman. “Remember, humani, we are the Badb and Macha. We are Fury and Slaughter. Our sister is Death. For millennia, we have been drawn to battlefields the world over, where we feasted on the pain and memories of the dead and dying.” Black lips pulled back from long white teeth in a terrifying grin. “And right now, this island is exactly where we need to be.” She licked her lips. “I think there is going to be a banquet for us soon!”

ires spinning in the mud, the heavy taxicab lurched forward. Sophie gasped as her seat belt locked tight, pulling her back into the seat. Josh groaned as his jerked across his aching stomach.

“Sorry!” Palamedes shouted. “Hang on. Here they come ….”

Nicholas grabbed the rubber strap over the door and leaned forward. “We’re heading straight toward them!” he said, voice rising in alarm.

“I know.” Palamedes’ bright teeth flashed in the gloom. “Best form of defense is …”

“… attack,” Josh finished.

A solid line of the human-faced wolves launched themselves at the cab. Barreling through the still-steaming fire, they did not see the carpet of snakes until it was too late. The serpents rose like question marks, mouths gaping, heads
jerking … and the front line of the Wild Hunt dissolved into filthy dust that exploded onto the window, completely coating it. Palamedes calmly squirted water on the glass and hit the windshield wiper switch, but all he succeeded in doing was turning the gray dust into a thick paste.

A trio of huge wolves, bigger and broader than any of the others, leapt across the moat … and straight onto the hedgehogs. Bristling spines rose to pierce the wolves’ legs and paws. The beasts crumbled to powder with looks of absolute surprise on their faces.

Cernunnos howled and bellowed as he blundered onto the carpet of serpents and hedgehogs. The snakes struck at him, hedgehog spines stabbed, but without any obvious effect. Josh shuddered and felt sick to his stomach as he watched snakes curl and twist up the Horned God’s trunklike legs.

Palamedes revved the cab’s engine, then threw it into gear and roared across the narrow metal bridge that spanned the moat, meeting another trio of the Wild Hunt head-on. Two disappeared beneath the tires in geysers of grit, while the third leapt onto the hood and hammered on the glass with jagged claws. The windshield cracked and the Saracen Knight stood on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt, sending the wolf sliding off the hood, straight into a nest of vipers.

Josh turned in his seat to watch more of the Wild Hunt fall as they brushed past the oily skin of the poisonous toads; he saw others turn to dust as they stumbled across the newts or trod on worms. The air grew thick and gritty with explosions of opaque dirt. Owls swooped out of the night air, claws
extended, scything through the beasts, leaving clouds of dust in their wake.

“Shakespeare created all these?” Sophie asked in wonder. She was staring out the back windshield and could see that the ground was carpeted with the heaving mass.

“Every single one,” Palamedes said proudly. “Each one generated within his imagination and animated by his aura. And you have to remember, he is mostly self-taught.” The knight glanced in the rearview mirror and caught the Alchemyst’s eye. “Think what he could have achieved if he’d been properly trained.”

Nicholas shrugged uncomfortably. “I could not have taught him this.”

“You should have recognized his talent, though.”

“Dee!” Josh snapped.

“Aye, Dee did,” Palamedes agreed.

“No. Dee. Directly in front of you!” Josh shouted.

Dr. John Dee had crawled out of the smoke and was spinning Excalibur loosely in his left hand, turning it into a whirling circle of blue fire. His right hand dripped yellow energy. And he had taken up a position directly in front of the entrance to the compound, blocking their path.

“What—does he think I’ll not run him down?” Palamedes said.

Dee pointed the sword at the cab and then lobbed a ball of energy. It hit the sodden ground, bounced once and then rolled beneath the car. The engine cut out and all the electricity in the vehicle died, sending the car coasting to a halt, power steering locked and useless.

Sophie caught a hint of movement behind them and turned … just as the snake-wrapped Archon stepped through the thick gray clouds. “This is no good,” she muttered, tugging Josh’s sleeve.

“This is bad,” her twin agreed when he saw the Archon. “Very bad.”

“What do we do now?”

“It’s always best to fight just one battle at a time. You win more that way.”

“Who said that?” Sophie asked. “Mars?”

“Dad.”

osh!” Nicholas shouted.

Josh Newman pushed open the left-hand door, checked to make sure there were no snakes underfoot and hopped out. Clarent whined and keened as he brought it around to bear on Dee. “I’ll keep him busy,” he shouted. “Can you get the car started?” he asked the knight.

“I’ll try,” Palamedes said grimly. He twisted around to look at the Alchemyst. “Battery’s dead. Can you recharge it?”

“Josh Newman,” Dee said pleasantly as the boy approached. “You cannot honestly be thinking about fighting me?”

Josh ignored him. Holding Clarent tightly, both hands wrapped around the hilt, he felt the sword settle comfortably into his grip.

Dee grinned and continued patiently. “I want you to take a moment and think about what you are contemplating
doing. I’ve spent a lifetime with this weapon; you’ve had Clarent for little more than a day at most. There is no way you can defeat me.”

Without warning Josh launched a blistering attack on the Magician. Clarent actually screamed when it hit Excalibur, a screeching cry of triumph. Josh didn’t even try to remember the moves Joan and Scatty had taught him; he allowed the sword to take control, to jab and thrust, to cut and parry. And somewhere at the back of his mind, he knew he was analyzing Dee’s every move, noting his footwork, how he held the weapon, how his eyes squinted just before he lunged.

Clarent tugged Josh forward as it slashed through the air. It was all the boy could do to keep both hands around the hilt. It was like trying to hold on to a lunging dog: a ravenous, rabid dog.

And for an instant, Josh had the ridiculous thought that Clarent was alive and hungry.

“Sophie!” Nicholas roared.

But she didn’t hear him. Her only focus was her brother. Sophie pushed open the right-hand door and climbed out, her aura sparking the moment her feet touched the ground, sheathing her in a mirror image of the armor she’d seen Joan wear. Unlike Josh, she had no weapon, but she’d been trained in Air and Fire magic. The girl deliberately lowered the barriers Joan of Arc had put in place to protect her from the Witch of Endor’s memories. Right now, she needed to know everything the Witch had known about the Archon Cernunnos.

Rumors, fragments, whispered tales.

Once it had been beautiful. A giant; tall, proud and arrogant. A respected scientist. It had experimented first on others, then, when that was forbidden, upon itself. Finally, it had become repulsive, bony outcroppings appearing from its skull, its toes fusing to thick hooves. Only its face remained, a hideous reminder of its former beauty. The incomprehensible passage of time had destroyed its great intellect, and now it was little more than a beast. Ancient, powerful, still with the ability to warp humans into wolfkind, it inhabited a distant Shadowrealm of dank rotting forests ….

No animal likes fire, Sophie reasoned, and if the Archon lived in a wet forest world, it was probably afraid of fire. She felt the briefest flicker of fear—what if her fire failed her again?—but she savagely quashed the idea. Her magic would not fail her this time. In the heartbeat before she pressed her finger against her tattoo, calling upon the Magic of Fire, she used a tiny portion of her aura to bring the Magic of Air to life.

A whipping tornado appeared around the Archon. The remnants of the Wild Hunt, every particle of dust and grit swirled up to surround Cernunnos in a thick buzzing blanket. Blinded, its mouth and nostrils filled with dirt, the creature covered its face. Then Sophie pressed her thumb against the circular tattoo and ignited the dust cloud. In the last second before she slumped to the earth, unconscious, she was aware of the Horned God’s scream. It was the most terrifying sound she had ever heard.

“Josh,” Dee gasped, desperately parrying the tremendous blows that actually numbed his arms. “There is so much you do not know. So much I can tell you. Questions I can answer.”

“There’s a lot I already know about you, Magician.” Blue-white and red-black sparks exploded every time the twin blades met, showering the fighters with burning specks. Josh’s face was flecked with black spots, and Dee’s ruined suit was pitted with a score of holes. “You. Were. Thinking. Of. Killing. The. Archon.” Josh drove home each word with a blow.