The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

“Sorry. They said no.”
    The three bear warriors started arguing amongst themselves in savage growling voices.
    “If they attack, do we split up or stay together?” Sophie asked.
    “Split up,” Josh said immediately. “We’ll race halfway down the room, then I’ll turn and engage them. You double back and get to the door as fast as you can. If you can get out into the corridor and raise the alarm, we’ll be fine.”
    “We’ve decided,” the biggest berserker announced. “We’re going to kill you both and take the swords. We’ll draw lots for them later.”
    “I bet you’re hoping to win this one,” Josh said, holding up Clarent casually. He looked at the other two bears. “You know that if he does win it, then he’s been cheating.”
    The largest bear growled, the sound echoing around the empty room. “I’ve never cheated in my life. That is an insult to my good name.”
    “Do berserkers have good names?” Sophie asked.
    The creature’s jaws opened, showing his massive teeth. “Bad names are better.”
    “Before you kill us,” Josh said, “who sent you here? I think we have a right to know who ordered our deaths.”
    The three berserkers looked at one another and then nodded. “Anubis,” one grunted. “Jackal-headed Elder. Ugly,” he added. “Real ugly.”
    “Though not as ugly as his mother,” another said.
    The berserkers nodded in agreement. “Very ugly. She probably put him up to it,” the biggest warrior said, his eyes narrowing on the twins. “Now, enough chitchat!” With that he launched himself forward, knife and ax whirling in a deadly blur before him.
    Josh shouted in alarm and brought both swords up in an X in front of his face. More by accident than design, he caught the descending ax. It screamed off the swords in a shower of sparks. But the berserker ducked and with his left hand plunged his knife straight toward Josh’s chest.
    Sophie screamed.
    And the obsidian knife crumbled to dust on contact with the ceramic armor.
    Josh lashed out with Clarent. It scored a shallow scrape across the berserker’s torso, and instantly the sword pulsed. Josh felt it with his entire body—a single heartbeat—and in that moment he knew that if he could feed it blood, the blade would know what to do.
    The other two berserkers circled Sophie.
    Drawing a deep breath into her lungs, she screamed.
    The sound ricocheted across the walls, echoing along the chamber, and both berserkers staggered back, shocked by the noise. She darted between the two creatures, left and right swords lashing out. She missed one of her attackers but caught the other on his meaty rump and he bellowed, a mixture of surprise and pain.
    Josh attacked the creature standing before him, blindly hacking and slashing with both swords. Sweat was already pouring down his back, and his shoulders were starting to ache. Surprised, the berserker backed away, leaving Josh to join his sister.
    “Not so tough now,” Josh panted.
    “You were lucky,” the bear grunted.
    “Oh, I don’t know. You’re chest is pretty cut up, and your friend there won’t be sitting down for a week. We’re unscathed.”
    “Un-skat-ed?” the bear asked, shooting a confused look at his companions. “What’s skating got to do with it?” The two berserkers shook their heads.
    “Unharmed,” Josh explained.
    The three berserkers spread out. “We were going to kill you quickly,” one said. “But not now. Now you will have to—” He stopped.
    Sophie and Josh looked at one another. “Have to?” Sophie prompted.
    “What will we have to do?” Josh asked, and then he realized that the three berserkers were no longer looking at the twins, but behind them.
    Sophie and Josh turned together.
    A woman stood in the center of the room on the circle of gold and silver sun and moon tiles. Slender, in white ceramic armor, she held the metal-bound Codex in her left hand and a golden kopesh in her right. She raised her head and looked at the children with slate-gray eyes, and they both experienced the same shock of recognition. She was somehow familiar.
    The woman walked out of the circle and handed Josh the Codex. “A gift from Abraham the Mage,” she said. “You have the pages needed to complete it, I believe.” Then she slipped the second kopesh from its sheath and faced the three berserkers. The beast-men were suddenly looking unsure.
    “Which of you wants to die first?” she asked. “You?” She pointed to the biggest berserker.