01_-_The_Alchemyst

Even though the Yggdrasill was burning furiously, with whole sections
blazing, burning leaves and blackened strips of branches spiraling down,
sticky streamers of sap exploding from collapsing branches, Hekate’s powers
seemed undiminished. Dee ground his teeth in frustration; all his research
indicated that Hekate had brought the tree to life by imbuing it with a little of
her own life force. In turn, as it grew, it renewed and replenished her
powers. Burning the tree had been his idea. He had imagined that as it
burned, she would weaken. But on the contrary: setting the tree alight had
only served to enrage the goddess, and her anger had made her all the more
deadly. When Dee saw Hekate’s lips twitch in what might have been a smile
and the Morrigan stagger and then step back, he began to realize that here, in
her own Shadowrealm, the Goddess with Three Faces was simply too strong
for them.
Dee knew then that he would have to act.
Keeping to the shadows of the trees and tall grasses, he moved around
the trunk of the enormous Yggdrasill. He was forced to crouch down and
hide as a Torc Allta in its boar shape crashed through the undergrowth
directly in front of him with at least a dozen cat-people and twice that
number of birdmen clinging to him.
Dee came out of the undergrowth on the opposite side of the tree from
where Hekate and the Morrigan fought. To his right, he could see that
something was happening with Flamel’s group; birds and cats were
scattering in every direction…and then he realized that he was seeing
ordinary birds and everyday cats fleeing, not the half-human creatures. The
Morrigan’s and Bastet’s transformation spells were failing: was Hekate that
powerful? He had to end this now.
Dr. John Dee lifted the short-bladed sword in his hand. Dirty blue light
coiled down its length, and for an instant the ancient stone blade hummed as
an invisible breeze moved across the edge. The twisting snakes carved into
its hilt came to twisting, hissing life.
Gripping the hilt tightly, Dee pressed the point of the blade against the
gnarled bark of the ancient tree…and pushed.