Michael Scott - The Necromancer

“Think of all that mankind has achieved in the last two thousand years,” Nicholas continued. “Think of the inventions, the accomplishments, the discoveries-atomic power, flight, instant worldwide communications, even space travel-and then remember that the civilization of Egypt lasted more than three thousand years. Babylon was established over four thousand years ago, the first cities in the Indus appeared over five thousand years ago and Sumer is six thousand years old. Why did those great civilizations not achieve what this civilization has accomplished in a much shorter time?”

Josh shook his head, but Sophie was nodding. She knew the answer.

“Because the Elders-what the humani called the gods-lived with them,” Perenelle said. “They provided everything. The Elders needed to retreat so that mankind could grow.”

“But some stayed,” Sophie protested. “The Witch, Prometheus…”

“Mars…,” Josh added.

“Gilgamesh,” Sophie said. “And Scathach. She stayed.”

“Yes, a few remained to guide and teach the new race, to nudge them along the road to greatness. But not to interfere, not to influence and definitely not to rule,” Perenelle clarified.

Aoife grunted a bitter laugh.

“It is true that some Dark Elders tried to rule the humani, and the Elders fought with them, blocking their efforts. But everyone who remained had a reason to stay… except you,” Perenelle said suddenly, looking at Aoife. “Why did you choose to remain in this humani Shadowrealm?”

There was a long pause while Aoife’s eyes grew lost and distant. “Because Scathach stayed,” she said eventually.

A series of terrible images swirled through Sophie’s mind and a name popped into her head. “Because of Cuchulain,” she said aloud.

“Cuchulain,” Aoife agreed. “The boy who came between us. The boy we fought over.”

A young man, mortally wounded, tying himself to a pillar so that his very presence could hold a terrifying army at bay…

Scathach and Aoife together, racing across a battlefield, trying to reach him before three enormous crowlike figures swooped down on his body…

The crows carrying the young man’s limp body high into the air…

And then Scathach and Aoife fighting one another with swords and spears, their almost identical gray auras coiling around them, twisting and shifting into a score of beastlike shapes.

“We should never have fought,” Aoife said. “We parted with angry bitter words. We said things that should have been left unsaid.”

“You could have left for a Shadowrealm of your own creation,” Perenelle said.

Aoife shook her head. “I stayed because I had been told that one day I would get a chance to redeem myself with my sister.”

Even as Aoife was speaking, Sophie caught a flickering image: Scathach-or was it Aoife?-clinging to the back of a monster that stood on human legs but had two coiling snakes’ heads. It wore a robe of living serpents, and these struck out, again and again, at the red-haired warrior. “Who told you that?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.

“My grandmother: the Witch of Endor.” The vampire’s face was grim. “And she is rarely wrong. I cannot go with you, I cannot help you. I have to find my sister. I will go back through time if need be.”

Nicholas looked over at her. “Even now Saint-Germain is going to see if he can travel back into the past to rescue Joan and Scathach.”

Aoife grunted. “There are less than a handful of Elders in this realm with that power. And none of them are pleasant.”

“The Saracen Knight is taking him to his master, Tammuz, the Green Man,” Nicholas said shortly. “Like Chronos, he has the power to travel along the strands of time.”

“And you expect him to help Saint-Germain?” Aoife’s laughter, dark and ugly, rang out across the water. “Tammuz will tear him limb from limb.”

“W e could just fly to San Francisco,” Virginia Dare said quietly. “I quite like flying. Especially if it’s first-class, and particularly if you are paying.”

“I hate flying,” Dee muttered. “Besides, there are two problems with that: booking a ticket will leave a trail that anyone can follow, and the first flight is not until tomorrow morning. Then it’s an eleven-hour flight to the West Coast. We’d lose too much time, and it would allow the Elders to organize a welcoming committee for me when I land.”

“What about a private jet? You’re rich enough to do that.”

“Yes, I’m rich enough, but the paperwork would take hours and leave a huge trail also. No, this is a much better idea.”

“When you say better, does that mean dangerous?” Virginia asked softly.

“That has never bothered you before.”

“I am immortal, not invulnerable. I can be killed… and so can you,” she reminded him. “As I get older, I appreciate my long life. I have no desire to end it.”

The couple, looking like any other pair of tourists, were standing beneath the shade of a tree admiring the brightly lit facade of the Tower of London, the pale cream stone turned the color of butter in the warm lights. A recent shower had swept across the city and created puddles that reflected the lights. Even at this late hour there were still plenty of sightseers enjoying the cool air, admiring the London landmark on the Thames River. Occasionally cameras flashed.

“All my life seems to have been spent in and around the Tower,” Dee said wistfully. “I visited Walter Raleigh here just before his execution,” he added. “And when I was a boy my father took me to see the lions here, when it housed the Royal Menagerie.”

“Very touching,” Dare muttered. “Do you want to tell me now why we’re here?”

Dee nodded, a tiny jerk of his head. “There is an entrance to a Shadowrealm inside.”

“The Traitor’s Gate Shadowrealm.” Dare nodded. “I’ve heard of it.” She shuddered, her shoulders rolling beneath her coat. “Rumor has it that it is an evil place.”

Dee ignored her. “Together, I believe we’re powerful enough to activate and enter it. Once we’re in the Shadowrealm, we can hop from realm to realm and then drop out in America.” He grinned with genuine good humor.

“Once you activate the gate, you will have betrayed our position,” Virginia said.

“True. But once we’re in the Shadowrealm, no one will know where we’re going.”

Virginia Dare shook her head, her long hair flowing down her back. “Can I point out one or two very minor flaws in this plan?”

“Such as?”

“Let us assume we can overpower the guards in the Tower…”

“Easily done. You can spell them to sleep with your music.”

“And then let us assume we can leap into the Traitor’s Gate Shadowrealm.”

“We can do that,” Dee said confidently.

“Do we know whose Shadowrealm it is?”

The doctor shook his head. “No one knows. Some minor Elder, perhaps-but you know that many of the Shadowrealms that border the earth are empty.”

“I also know that the Dark Elders have been calling their brethren who live in the outer Shadowrealms to draw closer as Litha approaches. Something might have taken up residence there.”

Dee opened his mouth to comment, but Virginia pressed on.

“But let us assume that we find it empty. We then have to move through it to cross into one or two or three more Shadowrealms before we end up in a realm that touches the Americas.”

“Yes.”

“And it could be anywhere in the Americas from Alaska to Florida?”

“Yes. At worst we’ll be a couple of hours away from San Francisco.”

“So tell me why we are going back to San Francisco? I thought that city was about to be overrun by your Elder’s nightmare army?”