03 The Sorceress by Michael Scott

Author:Michael Scott [Scott, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Magic
ISBN: 9780385735308
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Published: 2009-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

ne more blow,” Dee muttered.

Dee and Bastet had stood in silence and watched the Wild Hunt fling themselves at the metal walls. Unlike normal wolves, these creatures moved without barking or even growling; the only sound was the clicking of their claws on the pavement. Most loped on four legs, but some ran on two, stooped and hunched over, and Dee wondered if here was the source of the werewolf legend. The dogs, the Gabriel Hounds, had always protected the humani; the wolves of the Wild Hunt had always hunted them.

About a hundred of the more agile wolves had clawed their way over the fence and up along the stacked cars. And then the defenders had appeared at the parapets. Arrows whistled into the first row of the Wild Hunt, and the moment the arrows touched the human-faced wolves, the creatures changed. Dee glimpsed apemen, Roman centurions, Mongol warriors, Neanderthal cavemen, Prussian officers and English Roundheads … and then they crumbled to dust on the air.

“Cernunnos is wasting his troops,” Bastet said shortly. She had stepped back into the shadows and was almost completely invisible, bundled up in a long black leather coat.

“It’s a distraction,” the Magician said aloud, not looking at the Elder. It was the first time she had spoken since she had been shamed by the Archon, and Dee could almost feel the rage coming off her in slow waves. The Magician doubted that anyone—or anything—had ever spoken to the Elder like that and survived. He was also conscious that he had witnessed her humiliation; Bastet would never forget that. From the corner of his eye, he could see the great cat head turning to look down on him.

“Those attacking the walls are just a distraction,” he added quickly, explaining himself. “The main assault will take place at the gate.” He paused, then asked: “I am presuming nothing can harm the Archon?”

Bastet’s eyes narrowed to slits. “It lives,” she hissed. “And so it can die.”

“I thought the Archons were only stories,” he said quickly. Dee wondered just how much the cat-headed goddess knew about the creature.

The Elder was quiet for a moment before she answered. “In my youth I was taught that at the heart of every story is a grain of truth,” she said.

Dee found it hard to imagine the cat-headed goddess as a youngster; he had a sudden absurd image of a fluffy white kitten. Had Bastet ever been young—or had she been born, or hatched, fully grown? There was so much he wanted to know. His eyes narrowed as he looked across the street toward Cernunnos. And now here was a new mystery: the Archon. Dee had spent several lifetimes investigating the legends of the Elders. Occasionally, he had come across fragments of stories about the mysterious race who had ruled the earth in the very distant past, long before the Great Elders raised Danu Talis from the seabed. It was said that the Elders had built their empires upon fragments of Archon

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