The Alchemist's Door Read Free Page A

had found wisdom in his long face, his piercing eyes, and Jane, he knew, thought him handsome. But he saw only the harsh lines scouring his cheeks and forehead, saw that his beard and his neat cap of hair had become almost completely white. He set the ball carefully on its stand.
    The two men prayed, and then Kelley bent over the glass. “I see—it is Madimi who comes to me,” he said. The child-angel Madimi was one of their most frequent visitors. “She says—she is dancing now, she is very pleased with something.”
    Kelley raised his head. “Look,” he said, pointing to one of the chairs. Dee looked, though he knew he would see nothing. “There she is, dancing on the back of the chair. She is wearing a gown of changeable silk, red and green.”
    Dee wondered for perhaps the hundredth time what it would be like to see angels everywhere. If it was true that everything in the world had its own angel—every person and clock and book and stone—then whatever you looked at would be incredibly alive, a constant shift and play of colors and motion. And he wondered again why this sight had been given to Kelley and not to him.
    Kelley stopped. The silence in the room grew. Something moved in a dark corner. It is the fire, Dee thought. The fire is making the shadows dance.

    There is no fire.
    His heart kicked at his ribs. He looked quickly at Kelley. Kelley was bent over the crystal once more; he had noticed nothing. Because there is nothing to notice, Dee thought. It is your imagination, it is nothing … .
    Suddenly he realized how cold he was, how the cold permeated every part of him. A powerful shiver shook him like a seizure. “What—what do you see for me?” he asked, breaking the silence.
    â€œI see eleven noblemen in rich sable,” Kelley said. “One man wears a sable cap and sits on a chair inlaid with precious stones. ‘Pluck up your heart,’ he says to you. ‘You will become rich, and you will be able to enrich kings and help those who are needy. Were you not born to use the commodities of this world? Were not all things made for man’s use?’”
    Dee forced himself to relax. Most of the angels Kelley summoned spoke in convoluted metaphors and parables; this one was far more forthcoming. And he would not mind being wealthy, not for Kelley’s reasons but because, with enough money, he would finally be free to pursue his studies without worry.
    â€œWhat about Laski?” Dee asked. “What do you see for him?”
    â€œHe will become king. He will triumph over the Turks. His name will be spoken in every capital in Europe.”
    Suddenly one of the shadows seemed to detach itself from the rest. A change came over Kelley. He laughed harshly. “All gone,” he said. “All gone. No hope.”
    Dee clutched one hand tightly with the other, only dimly aware that he was hurting himself. “What is gone?”
    â€œCastles, swords, kingdoms, crowns,” Kelley said. “His name will be spoken in every capital in Europe.”
    â€œI—I don’t understand.”

    â€œAll gone. Your books. Your library. What you value most in this world.”
    â€œWhat happened to my books?”
    Kelley laughed gleefully. “Fire, flood, destruction,” he said. “Your library is gone.”
    â€œMaster Kelley!” Dee said desperately. “Master Kelley, stop! Look at me.”
    â€œThe queen is your enemy,” Kelley said. “In England they condemn your doings and say you are a renegade because you left without the queen’s permission. They say you despise your prince.”
    â€œEdward Kelley!”
    Kelley looked up from the glass, his face showing confusion. “All gone,” he said softly.
    Dee felt hopeless, defeated even before he began. Dread weakened him like an illness. Something was about to go terribly wrong, some force was building that would destroy him and