Nicholas Flamel 2 - The Magician sotinf-2

by Michael Scott

  damaged house, which was quickly being surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances,

  police cars and press. When they d left, Francis had been going upstairs to

  change; he reasoned that all the publicity would do wonders for the sale of

  his new album.

  We ll cut across the Champs-Elys es and then head down toward the river,

  Joan said, expertly maneuvering the Citro n through the narrow cobbled

  alleyway. Are you sure that s where Nidhogg will go?

  Nicholas Flamel sighed. I m only guessing, he admitted. I ve never

  actually seen it I don't know of anyone who has and lived but I ve come

  across creatures like it in my travels, and they are all related to the

  marine lizards, like the mosasaur. It s scared, maybe it s hurt. It ll head

  to the water, seeking cool, healing mud.

  Sophie leaned forward between the front seats. She deliberately focused on

  Nidhogg, desperately sorting through the Witch s memories, looking for

  something that might help her. But even the Witch knew little about the

  primal creature except that it was locked in the roots of the World Tree, the

  tree that Dee had destroyed with

  Excalibur, she whispered.

  The Alchemyst swiveled in the seat to look at her. What about it?

  Sophie frowned, trying to remember. Josh told me earlier that Dee had

  destroyed Yggdrasill with Excalibur.

  Flamel nodded.

  And you told me that Clarent is Excalibur s twin.

  It is.

  Does it share the same powers? she asked.

  Flamel s cool gray eyes flashed. And you re wondering, if Excalibur could

  destroy something as ancient as the World Tree, could Clarent destroy

  Nidhogg? He was nodding even as he was speaking. The ancient weapons of

  power predate the Elders. No one has any idea where they came from, though we

  do know that the Elders used some of them. The fact that the weapons are

  still around today proves just how indestructible they are. He nodded. I m

  sure Clarent could hurt and possibly even kill Nidhogg.

  And you believe Nidhogg is hurt now? Joan spotted an opening in the light

  early-morning traffic and slotted neatly into it. Car horns blared behind

  her.

  Something drove it from the house.

  Then you know what you've just confirmed? she said.

  Flamel nodded. We know Scatty would never touch Clarent. Therefore, Josh

  wounded the creature enough to send it careering madly across Paris. And now

  he s chasing it.

  And Machiavelli and Dee? Joan asked.

  Probably chasing him.

  Joan cut across two lanes of traffic and roared down the Champs-Elys es.

  Let s hope they don't catch up with him.

  A sudden thought struck Sophie. Dee met Josh . She stopped, realizing what

  she d just said.

  In Ojai. I know, Flamel said, surprising her. He told me.

  Sophie sat back, surprised that her twin had told the Alchemyst. Color

  touched her cheeks. I think Dee made an impression on him. She felt almost

  embarrassed saying this to the Alchemyst, as if she was betraying her

  brother, but she pressed on. This was no time for secrets. Dee told him some

  things about you. I think I think Josh sort of believed him, she finished in

  a rush.

  I know, Flamel said softly. The English Magician can be very persuasive.

  Joan slowed the car to a stop. This isn't good, she muttered. There should

  be virtually no one on the road at this hour.

  They had driven right into a huge traffic jam. It stretched down the

  Champs-Elys es directly ahead of them. For the second day in a row, traffic

  on Paris s main thoroughfare had come to a complete halt. People were

  standing beside their cars looking at the gaping hole in the side of the

  building across the street. Police had just arrived and were quickly trying

  to take control, urging traffic to move on and allow the emergency services

  to get through to the building.

  Joan of Arc leaned across the steering wheel, cool gray eyes assessing the

  situation. It crossed the street and went this way, Joan said, signaling

  quickly and turning right, into the narrow Rue de Marignan, driving past a

  pair of mangled traffic lights. I don't see them.

  Nicholas rose in the seat, trying to see as far as possible down the long

  straight street. Where does this come out?

  On the Rue Fran ois, just before the Avenue Montaigne, Joan answered. I ve

  walked, cycled and driven through these streets for decades. I know them like

  the back of my hand. They drove past a dozen cars, each one bearing the

  marks of Nidhogg: metalwork crumpled like tinfoil, windows spiderwebbed and

  smashed. A ball of metal that had once been a bicycle was now pressed deeply

  into the pavement, still attached to a railing by a length of chain.

  Joan, Nicholas said very softly, I think you should hurry up.

  I don't like driving fast. She glanced sidelong at the Alchemyst, and

  whatever expression she saw on his face made her push her foot to the floor.

  The small engine howled and the car lurched forward. What is it? she

  demanded.

  Nicholas chewed his bottom lip. I ve just thought of a potential problem,

  he admitted finally.

  What sort of problem? Joan and Sophie asked simultaneously.

  A serious problem.

  Bigger than Nidhogg? Joan jerked the stick shift and slammed the car into

  top gear. Sophie couldn't see that it made any difference; she still felt she

  could be walking faster. She pounded the back of the seat, frantic with

  worry. They needed to get to her brother.

  I gave Josh the two missing pages from the Codex, Flamel said. He twisted

  around in the seat to look at Sophie. Do you think your brother has them

  with him?

  Probably, she said immediately, and then nodded. Yes, I m sure he does.

  The last time we talked he was wearing the bag under his shirt.

  So how did Josh end up guarding the pages of the Codex? Joan asked. I

  thought you never let the book out of your sight.

  I gave them to him.

  You gave them? she asked, surprised. Why?

  Nicholas turned away and looked out at the street, now littered with the

  evidence of Nidhogg s passing. When he looked back at Joan, his face was set

  in a grim mask. I figured that since he was the only person amongst us who

  was neither immortal, Elder nor Awakened, he would not be involved in any of

  the conflicts we d face, nor would he be a target: he s just a humani. I

  thought the pages would be safe with him.

  Something about the statement bothered Sophie, but she couldn't put her

  finger on it. Josh wouldn't give the pages to Dee, she announced

  confidently.

  Nicholas twisted around to face the girl again, and the look in his pale eyes

  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 Yggdrasill: had he killed it to experience the incredible knowledge it

  contained?

  Josh glanced quickly at the stone sword and a shudder ran through him. A

  weapon like this gave the wielder unimaginable powers and what a frightening

  temptation it was. Surely the urge to use it again and again to gain more and

  more knowledge would become uncontrollable? It was a terrifying thought.

  But why had the Alchemyst given it to him?

  The answer came immediately: because Flamel didn't know! The sword was a dead

  lump of stone until it stabbed or cut something only t
hen did it come alive.

  Josh nodded to himself; now he knew why Saint-Germain, Joan and Scatty would

  not touch the weapon.

  As he raced down the street toward the river, he wondered what would happen

  if he managed to kill Nidhogg with Clarent. What would he feel, what would he

  experience?

  What would he know?

  Nidhogg burst through a stand of trees and darted across the road and down

  onto the Port des Champs-Elys es. It stopped in the parking lot on the

  quayside almost directly in front of Dee and Machiavelli and dropped onto all

  fours, huge head swaying from side to side, tongue lolling out of its mouth.

  It was so close they could see Scatty s limp body caught in its claws and the

  Disir astride its neck. Nidhogg s tail lashed, buffeting parked cars and

  smashing into a long tour bus, staving in the engine. A tire popped with a

  deep boom.

  I think we should get out of the car , Dee began, reaching for the door,

  eyes fixed on the swinging tail as it flipped a heavy BMW onto its roof.

  Machiavelli s arm shot out, fingers closing on the Magician s arm in a

  painful viselike grip. Do not even think about moving. Do nothing that will

  attract its attention.

  But the tail

  It s in pain, that s why the tail is thrashing about. But it seems to be

  slowing down.

  Dee turned his head slightly. Machiavelli was correct: there was something

  wrong with Nidhogg s tail. About one-third of its total length had turned

  black it looked almost stonelike. Even as Dee watched, tendrils and veins of

  bubbling black liquid crept over the creature s hard flesh, slowly encasing

  it in a solid crust. Dr. John Dee immediately knew what had happened.

  The boy stabbed it with Clarent, he said, not even turning his head to look

  at Machiavelli. That s what caused the reaction.

  I thought you said Clarent was the Sword of Fire, not the Sword of Stone.

  There are many different forms of fire, Dee said. Who knows how the

  blade s energy reacted with something like Nidhogg? He stared at the tail,

  watching as more of the thick black crust grew on the skin. As it hardened,

  he caught a brief glimpse of red fire. Lava crust, he said, voice hushed in

  wonder. It s lava crust. The fire is burning within the creature s skin.

  No wonder it s in pain, Machiavelli muttered.