Jack of Ravens (32 page)

‘Greater than any country. My enemy controls kings and queens. They attempted to control Rome many years ago. They may well now be controlling Philip of Spain.’

‘To what end?’

Church chose his words carefully. ‘Power that crosses all borders.’

Will nodded. He could understand this. ‘I am a good judge and you seem like a man of character. I would ask, then, why I have not heard of this enemy, for it is my business to be the queen’s eyes across the world.’

‘A spy,’ Church noted. Will said nothing. ‘The enemy operates in the shadows … the best way to control. They are the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders—’

Church expected Will to mock, but the spy grew intrigued. ‘Spiders? That is their totem? I saw what appeared to be a spider on Don Alanzo’s neck, here.’ He tapped his nape.

‘That’s how they control people. I don’t know how it works, but once the spider has been attached, the person does exactly what the Enemy wants but still appears perfectly normal on the surface.’

Will considered this, but didn’t dismiss it out of hand. ‘And how did you know my men and I were here this eve to steal the box? Do you spy upon the spies, or was it happenstance – one of God’s games?’

Church told Will of Tom’s glimpse of the future. He laughed. ‘The dour one is the hero of the Scots? Why, he would cut his own foot off if you gave him a sword! You spin a strange tale, Master Churchill. I may not wholly believe you, but then I consort with a man who speaks with angels and uses the
elixir vitae
to change base metal into gold.’

‘And how did you find out about the box?’

‘Why, from that self-same friend of angels – Doctor John Dee. You have heard of him, of course.’

Church knew Dee had been a controversial figure with a reputation as a black magician and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I. But Church guessed Will’s association with the man was due to Dee’s work as one of England’s senior spies, who always signed his communiqués ‘007’. In between spy missions and magic, he had invented ciphers, introduced the English-speaking world to Euclidean geometry and developed state-of-the-art navigational techniques. But Church was sure that by this year he had fallen on hard times.

‘Isn’t he out of favour with the court?’ Church asked.

‘He is out of favour with the God-fearing men and women of England who have increasingly taken it upon themselves to hang many a black
magician or witch, or those they perceive as such, without recourse to the magistrate. Nor is he in favour with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who keeps an eye out for God in this world,’ Will added sarcastically. ‘Dee now spends his time abroad, in the employ of rich men, desperately seeking his fortune.’

‘But he still carries out the queen’s work?’

Will smiled. ‘Dee received word of the box from I know not where. And I was dispatched to retrieve it for England. I am to return it to Dee.’

‘And Dee says it contains a plague?’

‘Dee
says
. Only Dee would know.’

‘Then we’d better ask him, hadn’t we?’ Church said. ‘Where is he?’

7

In the distance, the Carpathian Mountains soared up, black and threatening. In contrast, Krakow stood beautiful and cultured beneath a cloudless night sky lit by a crescent moon. It was a good time to be in the thriving metropolis, which was experiencing a golden age at the centre of a prosperous kingdom that stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

Grand gothic buildings loomed over Church and Tom as they waited for Will in the twisting streets at the heart of the medieval town centre.

‘This is an amazing place.’ Church examined the architecture, which appeared more alive than in the carefully preserved modern context in which he had previously encountered the city. ‘You’ve got people travelling here from all over Europe to experience the culture, education and religion and then taking what they’ve learned back with them. Can’t you feel something special in the air?’

Tom grunted non-committally. He still ached from the long journey in the coach that Will had commissioned.

On reflection, Church realised he was sensing more than just the rarefied atmosphere of the city. ‘The Blue Fire is here,’ he noted. ‘I can feel it the same way I did at Boskawen-Un and in Italy.’

‘Of course,’ Tom said superciliously. ‘You may know a great deal with your hindsight on the history of the world, but clearly you do not know everything. Legend has it that a dragon with fiery breath was roused from his slumbers in the caverns beneath where the castle stands. King Krak, who tamed the dragon, founded the city here.’

‘A metaphor.’

Tom snorted. ‘You think the Blue Fire is a big secret known only to such wise and adept personages as yourself. The truth about it, and the places where it is strongest, is written large in the old stories. If you are clever enough to know where to look.’

‘Do you think that’s why Dee came here?’

‘I think he is a powerful and knowledgeable man who has, perhaps, been using the energy unconsciously.’

Every now and then Church glimpsed a hidden store of knowledge in Tom, secrets and mysteries that made his agenda difficult to read.

‘You must have learned a great deal while you were in the Court of the Yearning Heart,’ Church said.

‘She encouraged me to learn.’ Tom’s tone suggested dark depths that Church could not fathom.

‘Not a wholly enjoyable experience, then?’

‘Under the queen’s orders I was dissected down to the smallest part of me and then put back together, complete with my new abilities.’ The horror of his experiences shadowed his face. ‘My torment is beyond imagination.’

‘The Tuatha Dé Danann are arrogant and cruel, but I’ve never known them—’

Tom rounded on Church with blazing eyes. ‘Then you have never been to the Court of the Final Word! The gods have a secret agenda.’

‘Even Niamh?’

‘All of them. Behind their contempt, they fear us. They will lead us on with smiles and promises of heart’s desire, or from simple mischief, but their sole aim is to destroy us.’

Church couldn’t tell whether Tom was speaking the truth or if it was just the bitterness of his experience.

‘Most humans are secure in their blind ignorance,’ Tom spat, ‘happy to believe they have reached the summit of God’s mountain, when in truth they are mice in a vicious universe filled with predators waiting to pounce at every turn.’

There were tears in his eyes, of anger or despair, Church couldn’t tell. Will chose that moment to hurry up to them, and Tom looked away.

‘Dee has agreed to see you,’ Will said. ‘You have ignited his curiosity, Master Churchill.’

‘Are you coming?’ Church asked Tom.

‘I will await your return.’

As Will led Church into the winding maze of streets, Church glanced back to see Tom standing lonely and forlorn, a hero of legend disguised as a broken man.

8

Even at that late hour, Rynek Glowny, the city’s sprawling Grand Square, was alive with men and women taking the air. The ten-acre plaza, the largest in Europe, was beautiful, with tall trees framing the gothic Basilica
of the Virgin Mary and the leaning tower of the town hall gleaming like silver in the moonlight. The mood was intensely peaceful. They passed the town hall and headed to the corner of Jagiellonska and Sw. Anny, where the Jagiellonian University stood.

‘Dee is a master deceiver,’ Will noted, his tone respectful. ‘He spends his days performing magic tricks in the street for money while secretly performing his own work in a room provided for him in one of Europe’s most prestigious centres of learning.’

Dee’s room lay on the second floor of the Collegium Maius, the oldest of the university’s colleges. It overlooked a large courtyard surrounded by arcades, with a well at the centre. The room itself was a treasure trove of magical artefacts, crumbling leather-bound books, phials and flasks. A brass telescope stood at the open window, while skulls and bones, powders and liquids, parchments and maps cluttered every available space on walls, tables, desks and chairs.

Dee stood poring over a volume, his thin frame and grey skin turning him into one of the relics that filled his quarters. He wore threadbare purple robes and a matching pill hat. His wild, white beard added to the image of eccentricity, but behind his small spectacles his eyes were sharply incisive.

‘Is this the one of whom you spoke?’ Dee came over, never once taking his eyes from Church’s face. He took Church’s hand in his bony fingers. ‘Show me the sword.’

It took a moment for Church to register what Dee was asking, and then he pulled Llyrwyn partway from its scabbard. The Blue Fire flickered brightly along the exposed blade, responding to the city’s potent atmosphere.

‘In the secret knowledge of the adepts there is talk of a great hero who carries a sword like this. He has many names – Jack the Giantkiller, the King Beyond the Water … He always appears at the darkest hour of England’s history to fight for right, before once again disappearing into the mists.’ Dee searched Church’s face. ‘Are you this hero?’

‘Never believe legends. You’ll only be disappointed.’

Dee smiled and gently patted the back of Church’s hand. Lounging in a large wooden chair, Will looked bemused. ‘A great hero? You hide your light under a bushel, Master Churchill.’

‘Enough of your banter, young Swyfte,’ Dee said. ‘You are like a bird, always chittering and chattering.’ Dee swept a pile of papers off a table to reveal the Anubis Box, and set a candle nearby. ‘So small and insignificant, yet it has the power to destroy us all.’

‘Does it really contain a plague?’ Church asked.

Dee harrumphed and glanced at Will, who was now peeling an apple with his knife. ‘That was for the benefit of Master Swyfte and his men so they would not be tempted to look inside.’

‘I am cut to the heart,’ Will said flatly. ‘Such a lack of trust from one of my own comrades.’

‘What
is
inside it, then?’ Church moved closer. In the still air of the room, he thought he could feel a deep cold radiating from the box.

‘I do not know,’ Dee said.

‘Then how—’

‘The angels told him,’ Will said wryly.

Dee flapped an irritated hand at Will. ‘There is no point in discussing esoteric matters with a knave immersed so fully in the pleasures of the flesh. But you …’He motioned to Church. ‘You understand the power of the Azure Flame and the force it represents that joins all things, living and inanimate, known and unknown.’ He did not wait for an answer. ‘And you know that there are higher powers that live in that force. You know them. You have seen them.’

He rifled through some papers and plucked out a black crystal. ‘On the twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord fifteen eighty-two, an angel came to my study window in the form of a boy and gave me this. The stone provides visions for my good friend and partner Edward Kelley—’

Will raised his eyebrows. Dee picked up a paperweight and hurled it. Will ducked, smiling mischievously.

‘There are some who consider Edward a charlatan and a drain on my resources,’ Dee said pointedly, but I have seen the evidence of his abilities as a medium with my own eyes. With this stone he brings the angels down to earth. On one occasion, Uriel himself came.’ His voice rose with passion and he dived into another pile of papers, pulling out a thick sheaf. The manuscript for my
Liber Logaeth
, detailing all the spells I have used to control them—’

‘Perhaps you should also have snapped a leash on them to walk them in the streets like dogs,’ Will noted.

Dee turned his back on Will to talk directly to Church. ‘The angels revealed to me such secrets! Of the workings of the Blue Fire, and what can be achieved by any man who can bend it to his will! The Blue Fire is the very essence of Gnostic thought. Gnosticism is the ultimate truth – it shows us the inner workings of everything!’

Church was intrigued by the eccentric old man, but Will clearly had little time for Dee’s ramblings. Ah, Gnosticism,’ he said with irony. ‘How many times have I heard this little speech? Five? A hundred?’ He did a plausible impression of Dee’s cracking voice. ‘Gnosticism is a quest for redeeming knowledge and a quest for oneself.’

Dee ignored him. His excitement was palpable. ‘In the Zohar of the Qaballah we are told of a king with a casket of fabulous treasures who ensured they were guarded by a poisonous serpent. The king entrusted a friend with the secret of how to seize the casket without coming to any
harm. The Blessed Holy One, the Qaballah tells us, acted in the same way when he placed a serpent near his sanctuary, telling only his friends the angels the secret of how to remove the serpent and approach the Shekinah. The parable is clear to all eyes: the serpent is not autonomous but acts as God’s agent.’

‘Not quite how the Good Book would have it,’ Will said.

‘Then the Good Book is wrong!’

Church had been allowing Dee to indulge himself, but the story brought echoes of the Fabulous Beast he had encountered beneath Boskawen-Un. God’s agent?’ he asked.

‘Ah!’ Dee raised a finger. ‘But who is God? The God of the Jews, the God of the Bible, the God of Islam, the God of the ancient Britons? All of them? Or none?’