was terrifying. Oh, believe me: Dee always gets what he wants, he said
bitterly, and what he cannot have he destroys.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
M achiavelli slid the car to a stop, half on, half off the curb. He pulled up
the brake but left the car in gear, and it jerked forward and cut out. They
were in a parking lot on the banks of the river Seine, close to where he d
anticipated Nidhogg would appear. For a moment, the only sound was the engine
ticking softly, and then Dee let out his breath in a long sigh. You are the
worst driver I ve ever come across.
I got us here, didn't I? You do know that explaining all this is going to be
very difficult, Machiavelli added, moving off the subject of his terrible
driving. He had mastered the most arcane and difficult arts, had manipulated
society and politics for half a millennium, was fluent in a dozen languages,
could program in five different computer languages and was one of the world s
experts on quantum physics. And he still couldn't drive a car. It was
embarrassing. Rolling down the driver s window, he allowed cold air to wash
into the vehicle. I can impose a press blackout, of course, claiming it s a
national security issue, but this is getting too public and way too messy.
He sighed. Video of Nidhogg is probably on the Internet right now.
People will dismiss it as a prank, Dee said confidently. I thought we were
in trouble when Bigfoot was caught on camera. But that was quickly rejected
as a hoax. If I ve learned anything over the years, it is that the humani are
masters at ignoring what is right in front of their noses. They ve
disregarded our existence for centuries, dismissing the Elders and their
times as little more than myth and legend, despite all the evidence.
Besides, he added smugly, absently stroking his short beard, everything is
coming together. We have most of the book; once we get the two missing pages,
we will bring back the Dark Elders and return this world to its proper
state. He waved a hand airily. You ll not have to worry about minor issues
like the press.
You seem to be forgetting that we have some other problems, like the
Alchemyst and Perenelle. They are not so minor.
Dee pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and waved it in the air. Oh,
I ve taken care of that. I made a call.
Machiavelli glanced sidelong at the Magician but said nothing. In his
experience, people often spoke merely to fill a silence in a conversation,
and he knew that Dee was a man who liked to hear the sound of his own voice.
John Dee stared through the dirty windshield toward the Seine. A couple of
miles downriver, just around the bend, the huge Gothic cathedral of Notre
Dame de Paris would be slowly taking shape in the early dawn light. I first
met Nicholas and Perenelle in this city almost five hundred years ago. I was
their student you didn't know that, did you? That s not in your legendary
files. Oh, don't look so surprised, he said, laughing at Machiavelli s
stunned expression. I ve known about your files for decades. And my copies
are even more up-to-date, he added. But yes, I studied with the legendary
Alchemyst, here in this very city. I knew within a very short time that
Perenelle was more powerful more dangerous than her husband. Have you ever
met her? he asked suddenly.
Yes, Machiavelli said shakily. He was astounded that the Elders or was it
just Dee? knew about his secret files. Yes. I met her just the once. We
fought; she won, he said shortly. She made quite an impression.
She is an extraordinary woman; quite remarkable. Even in her own time, her
reputation was formidable. What she would have achieved if only she d chosen
to side with us. I don't know what she sees in the Alchemyst.
You never did understand the human capacity for love, did you? Machiavelli
asked softly.
I understand that Nicholas survives and thrives because of the Sorceress. To
destroy Nicholas, all we have to do is kill Perenelle. My master and I have
always known that, but we thought that if we could capture both of them,
their accumulated knowledge was worth the risk of leaving them alive.
And now?
It is no longer worth the risk. Tonight, he added, very softly, I finally
did something that I should have done a long time ago. He sounded almost
regretful.
John, Machiavelli barked urgently, swiveling in the seat to look at the
English Magician. What have you done?
I ve sent the Morrigan to Alcatraz. Perenelle will not see another dawn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
J osh finally caught up with the monster on the banks of the Seine.
He didn't know how far he d run, miles probably but he knew that he shouldn't
have been able to do it. He d sprinted the entire length of the last
street he d thought the street sign said Rue de Marignan without any effort,
and now, swinging left onto the Avenue Montaigne, he wasn't even breathless.
It was the sword.
He d felt it buzz and hum in his hands as he d run, heard it whisper and sigh
what sounded like vague promises. When he held it directly in front of him,
toward the monster, the whispers grew louder and it visibly trembled in his
hand. When he moved it away, they faded.
The sword was drawing him toward the creature.
Following the monster s trail of destruction down the narrow street, racing
past confused, shocked and horrified Parisians, Josh found strange and
disturbing thoughts flickering at the very edges of his consciousness:
he was in a world without land, swimming in an ocean vast enough to swallow
whole planets, filled with creatures that made the monster he was chasing
look tiny .
he was dangling high in the air, wrapped in thick roots that bit into his
flesh, looking down over a blasted, fiery wasteland .
he was lost and confused, in a place filled with small buildings and even
tinier creatures, and he was in pain, an incredible fire searing the base of
his spine .
he was
Nidhogg.
The name snapped into his consciousness, and the shock that he was somehow
experiencing the monster s thoughts almost stopped him in his tracks. He knew
the phenomenon had to be connected to the sword. Earlier, when the creature s
tongue had touched the blade, he d glimpsed a snapshot of an alien world,
shocking images of a bizarre landscape, and now, having stabbed the creature
again, he caught hints of a life completely beyond his experience.
It dawned on him that he was seeing what the creature Nidhogg had seen at
some time in the past. He was experiencing what it was feeling now.
It had to be connected to the sword.
And if this was Excalibur s twin, Josh suddenly wondered, then did that
ancient weapon also transfer feelings, emotions, and impressions when it was
used? What had Dee felt when he had plunged Excalibur into the ancient
Yggdrasill? What sights had he seen, what had he experienced and learned?
Josh found himself wondering if that was the real reason Dee had destroyed
the Yggdrasilclass="underline" had he killed it to experience the incredible knowledge it