The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

years.
    Prometheus was waiting outside the door. He was dressed from head to foot in ornate red armor, and a massive red-bladed sword was strapped to his back, the hilt projecting above his left shoulder. Behind him stood a troop of Torc Allta, the wereboars created by Hekate. Two of the huge creatures took up positions outside Hekate’s bedchamber. Their bodies were those of enormous muscular humans, but their faces were porcine, with flattened noses and jutting tusks. Their eyes—bright blue—were human.
    “The Torc Allta will watch over her while she sleeps. None will get close,” Prometheus said.
    “Will they fight with us?” Scathach asked. “They would be more than a match for the anpu.”
    “No, the Torc Allta are loyal only to Hekate,” Prometheus said. “And it is better that humankind stand together for the final battle.” He turned to Huitzilopochtli. “It’s time.”
    Without another word, the two Elders set off down the long twisting corridor.
    “Wait!” Scathach called. She raced after them, leaving Shakespeare, Palamedes, Joan and Saint-Germain to bring up the rear.
    More heavily armored Torc Allta appeared out of the shadows and crowded around the root-covered entrance to the inner cave. The creatures did not speak, but suddenly weapons were visible in the dull green light.
    “I think they want us to move on,” Palamedes muttered.
    “I didn’t know you spoke Torc Allta,” William Shakespeare said, a touch of awe in his voice.
    Palamedes shook his head. “For a bright man, you can be very stupid sometimes. When someone—man or beast—bares his teeth and produces a dagger as long as his arm, that’s a clue.”
    “I’ll make a note of that,” Will muttered.
    Palamedes raised his voice. “We need to get out of here now. The two people who know us and can vouch for us—Huitzilopochtli and Prometheus—have left, and our red-furred friends are looking a little agitated. And with those tusks, I doubt they’re vegetarian.”
    The four immortals hurried to catch up to the others.
    “What’s the plan?” Scathach asked, falling into step with the two Elders.
    “Plan? We will lead the People of the Tree into Danu Talis,” Prometheus said. “We will free Aten and overthrow the Elders.”
    “Just like that?” she asked in astonishment. “I thought you two were great warriors.”
    “It is simple and effective,” Huitzilopochtli said.
    “And we have the advantage that it’s a new stratagem,” Prometheus continued. “The humans have never risen up before.”
    The wooden corridor opened onto an enormous staircase leading up into the body of the tree. The steps were shaped out of gnarled roots, polished smooth and glassy by the passage of centuries, and each one was a different height, width and length.
    Prometheus took the stairs at a run, and Huitzilopochtli and Scathach jogged along, staying one step below. “If humankind have never risen up before, then how can you be sure they will do it now?” Scathach demanded.
    “They worship Aten,” Huitzilopochtli answered. “For generations, the humans were enslaved by the Elders. When Aten came to power, he formally recognized them as an intelligent species and granted them the rights of citizens of Danu Talis.”
    “Many of the Elders resisted, but none dared move against Aten,” Prometheus added. “Until now, that is. Bastet must have been planning this for centuries.”
    “But are you sure humankind will rise when you appear?” Scathach insisted.
    “I have been told that they will,” Prometheus said coolly.
    “Who told you . . .,” she began, and then shook her head. “No, don’t tell me. Let me guess: a hooded man with a hook for a left hand.”
    “So he is known in your time also?”
    “I know of him. And I know that the Elders will not give up without a fight,” she added.
    “We know,” Prometheus said. “We want peace, but we are prepared for war.”
    “In my experience, when you turn up at someone’s gate with an army behind you, there is always war,” Scathach said grimly.
    Huitzilopochtli glanced over at her. “But if we do not move now, then we doom the humans to an eternity of servitude. Or worse. My sister, Bastet, has been advocating the eradication of the entire human race and replacing it with the anpu or some other Were clan. If she can put Anubis in power, then nothing will stand in her way. She will control Danu Talis.”
    “Why are you doing this, Huitzilopochtli?” Scathach