“It's not what you think. We're just good friends but he's always late to lunch and I like an organized schedule,” Samantha told her.
“Well, yea. You're not his type and he's married but I didn't realize you knew each other,” Chelsea replied.
“We met after I transferred here, and we've become friends. Now Julius...there's a man I hoped I would never see again. I interned with him after I got my second Ph.D. Is he really Alexander the Great?” Samantha asked Chelsea.
“I most certainly am. I have me a lot of women in my long life, but none left an impression on me as you did. You should have taken my offer. You would have had access to the best technology and resources in the world and been filthy rich,” Alexander said.
In a flash, Chelsea drew her sword and was across the room. She hit Alexander with an energy wave knocking him against the wall and had her blade to his throat. “What the Hell did you with Boudicca and Trish?”
“Ah, the savage and her lover. I did only what was asked of me. I took them to Scotland. She believes she can heal Trish and asked me to teleport them to Stonehenge, so she could do so. It was her request and I saw no harm in acquiescing to it,” Alexander replied coolly.
“You took a seriously injured woman from the hospital unit and transported her to a place with no medical facilities? Are you insane?” Chelsea asked him.
“As fierce as she is a warrior, her skill with saving a life is equally great. I trust her more than any hospital. The best-case scenario for Trish in a hospital is a neural bypass where she'll be able to walk but barely more than that. Boudicca will give her the chance to be whole again,” Alexander told her.
He grabbed the arm holding the sword and pushed it away from his throat. She tried to stop him, but his power was overwhelming. He spun her over and twisted the sword around. She was on her back with Alexander on top of her and her own sword to her throat.
“I can see I have a lot to teach you. Your form is sloppy,” Alexander said calmly.
Sebastian ran into the room. “I heard something strange and...” he said but stopped as he saw Alexander on top of Chelsea with the sword to her throat.
“This isn't what it looks like,” said Alexander as Sebastian waved his hand and Alexander flew tumbling across the room and into a wall.
He hit it upside down and fell on his head against the floor. Sebastian rushed to him and kicked Alexander in the side of the head. The man flipped over from the impact and landed roughly on his back. He jumped to his feet and stood to face Sebastian.
Sebastian drew his sword and blue flame covered it. Alexander still had Chelsea's blade in his hand and parried the attack of Sebastian with ease.
“You are making a mistake, Sebastian. This is a misunderstanding.”
“The only misunderstanding was trusting you. The first action you take when you get here is to try to kill Chelsea. I should never have trusted you,” Sebastian told him as he attacked again.
Samantha was screaming for them to stop.
Sebastian rushed him, but Alexander was too fast. He parried the rush and tripped Sebastian, taking his sword in the process. He kicked Sebastian in the stomach, fast enough and hard enough to knock the wind from him and leave the man on his knees. He crossed the two Excaliburs at Sebastian’s throat.
Chelsea ran towards them but was knocked back by a telekinetic force smashing her into a wall and leaving her stunned and dazed.
“This is all just a misunderstanding and you can sit down, and we talk about this calmly or I can kill you. The ramifications of that are not pleasant. Morgana would not be happy with me. I would suggest we sit,” Alexander told him as he released the swords and offered one to Sebastian and threw the other one on the table towards Chelsea.
“He's telling the truth,” Samantha told Sebastian as he went over to Chelsea and helped her up after he got his own breath back.
The two, along with Samantha and Alexander sat at the conference table.
“Sebastian, it was my fault. I lost my temper and attacked him. I assumed he did something to Boudicca and Trish and he did but only because she asked him to. He took them to Scotland. Boudicca is going to try and heal Trish,” Chelsea told him.
“I'm sorry, Alexander. I heard noises from the hall as I was coming here then I rushed in and saw you on top of Chelsea with a sword out and assumed the worst,” Sebastian told him.
“No harm was done. Considering what you did the last time someone tried to come between you two, we should be happy this was over in a minute,” Alexander said laughing.
“The last time?” asked Chelsea.
“One of the Olympians thought it would be fun to mess with you two. Sebastian went to war,” Alexander told them.
“Really?” asked Samantha. “Do tell.”
“It's considered a myth now, but it was very real. The Olympians were Greek masters who were worshiped as gods. One of them used their magic to make a man named Paris fall in love with Queen Helen of Sparta, Chelsea in a prior life, so he kidnapped her and took her to his city. Sebastian, then called Menelaus, along with his brother Agamemnon started a war that lasted a decade. You call it the Trojan War,” Alexander told them. “It was before my time. Morgana told me the story. She said Aphrodite cast the spell because she was jealous of you.”
“Now as to you,” Alexander said turning to Samantha. “I would never have imagined finding you here. After you turned me down I would have thought you would be in the best facilities the Wardens had building them some deus ex machina to end this war.”
“You could have worked for MM but instead joined the Wardens?” asked Chelsea.
“Not exactly. He didn't offer me a job,” Samantha said.
“I asked her to marry me and she turned me down. Can you imagine a woman actually saying no to me?” asked Alexander. “She chose the Wardens over me.”
“You didn't love me. You were always sneaking around with that older woman, the redhead,” Samantha said.
“You knew about Morgana? She wasn't my lover. She is my occasional teacher and I am her sometimes apprentice. She's a Master and has been teaching me on and off for nineteen centuries. You had nothing to fear from her in matters of the heart.”
“I... I didn't know. You would sneak off and lie to me about where you were going and what you were doing and then I saw you leaving with her when you told me you were going to a late meeting and that was the last straw. What was I supposed to think?” Samantha said.
“I can't fault you for my misinterpreting my secrets. It must have been painful for you and for that I am sorry. I thought you would not find out I was lying to you, but I couldn't tell you the truth. I made a promise to her a long time ago. I was torn between my love of you and my duty to her,” Alexander said. “It was my mistake for not trusting you. My loss is the Warden's gain.”
“I'm sorry for misjudging you,” said Samantha.
“It seems there has been a lot of misjudging of Alexander recently. Will Morgana be joining us?” asked Sebastian
“She will not. She is still with Absillion. I can't say for sure how long she will be there. Dragons are fickle beasts,” Alexander told them.
“I'll leave you to talk,” said Samantha.
“Stay. There have been too many secrets as of late. Xavier and Bruce will be here in a moment. Bethany will join us if she is up to it. Everyone else is otherwise occupied,” Sebastian said. “I would prefer my entire command staff be here but with the injuries and missing people we'll just have to go with who's here.”
Bruce came running into the room. “I heard shouting and fighting. What's going on?”
“Nothing now. We were just saying high to Alexander,” Chelsea told him.
“Is Bethany joining us?” asked Sebastian.
“Not this time. She's tired. I'm only going to be here as long as necessary so can we go over the important stuff first and you can handle the pleasantries after I leave?” Bruce asked them.
Xavier walked in a moment later. “So
, what did I miss?”
Chelsea started laughing and a moment Sebastian joined followed by Alexander and Samantha.
The group spent a few minutes listening as he told them about the conversation with Morgana, Atlantis, what little he knew of the dragons and Alexander.
“That's a bit hard to swallow mate,” said Bruce. “You really expect us to believe all of that?”
“To be honest, I don't know what to believe anymore. Every time I think I have things figured out, we go further down the rabbit hole,” Chelsea said. “I believe Morgana, though. I feel a connection to her. I don't know if Atlantis is true or not, but she is my mother. Or was. Or something. I don't know how to explain but I can feel it.”
“I respect you feel a connection to her, but we operate on facts, not feelings. We need some evidence,” Xavier told them.
“It's all true. I've known Morgana over two thousand years and she has been training me. She's the reason I survived the creation of the Seal. She is the one who kept me from trying to kill Merlin when I found out he's the one who poisoned me,” Alexander told them.
“Poisoned you?” asked Sebastian.
“When I was Alexander the Great and was conquering the world, I was poisoned. As I lay on my deathbed, Merlin came to me and offered me a deal. If I agreed to never try to resume my former life, he would save me and teach me magic.”
“A long while later, I was in the Carpathians with several other Masters trying to stop Merlin. We arrived and met the Master who lived there. He was an alchemist and told me he wanted to clear his conscious. He made the mystical poison and gave it to Merlin and recently had made more for him.”
“The poison was tailored so only powerful magic could stop it. If I had refused, I would have died a very slow, painful death. I didn't know if it was the truth so based on the information he gave me, I searched Merlin's private chambers and Morgana caught me. I told her the story and together we found the proof. Merlin had more of the poison as well as letters to and from a servant of Constantine the Third. I believe that would have been his next target had Carpathia went well but we lost that fight and would soon after start work on the Seal,” Alexander told them.
“She convinced me I wasn't strong enough to fight Merlin and to wait until the war with Mordred was over. She said she would train me and help me learn the magic needed to fight him. I was most pleased to learn he survived the Seal, so I can kill him myself.”
“That sounds fishy. That would put the Seal in the 400's instead of the 600's. How do you account for the missing centuries?” asked Sebastian.
“Missing? How long do think the war lasted?” asked Alexander?
“A few years at most. Mordred was in his teens when he left and his mid-20's when the Seal was formed,” Chelsea answered.
“Physically, yes. Chronologically, no. That war lasted more than two hundred years. Mordred ascended sometime after he left. He was never a Master in name, but he was a Master in power. Do you think some child with only a few years of experience could fight the combined strength of the Council? Do you have any idea how long it took to research and craft the spells necessary to create the Seal?” Alexander asked.
“There is so much you don't know. Locked away in your memories you know these things but unlocking that information is going to be a slow and possibly painful process. In the meantime, in lieu of Morgana, I will tell you what I can and answer what questions you may have,” Alexander continued.
“I would love to sit and talk about the past but right now the present is our concern. If we all make it through this, we can talk about the good old days until we run out of oxygen. For now, let's focus on beating Mordred,” Sebastian told them.
“As well we should. The threat he poses is no small thing. I would suggest our first order of business is finding his masters, the ones holding his leash,” Alexander told them.
“You don't think he's calling the shots?” asked Bruce.
“I do not. Based on what Morgana has told me of these drebs as well as my own limited experience with them, they don't share power. Their war didn't end after Atlantis was destroyed. They fought for centuries, their remnants versus the last of the fey. Their last Great Alpha was beaten, and they seem to have lost their taste for direct conflict, but they've still been very active. They hide behind puppets and pull their strings,” Alexander said.
“Morgana has told me everything she knows about them which unfortunately is limited to their actions at Atlantis and shortly thereafter. Recently, we have become aware the drebs are still alive but what their plans are and why they're using Mordred is beyond anyone's guess right now. We just don't have enough information to go on.” He continued, “There is a lot I could share but it would be lengthy so rather than direct the conversation why don't you ask whatever questions you have.”
“Why would Morgana help you and train you to kill her husband?” asked Chelsea. “She loved Merlin.”
“You're right. She loved Merlin. Past tense. After Mordred was born they clashed often about how to raise him. Their constant bickering and Merlin's heavy-handedness treating his son like a student and not a child was, in my opinion, what drove Mordred away. Morgana never forgave him for that though it was hardly something she would want him dead for. After that, more of his actions came to light. He was manipulating villages and forcing them to pay him tribute for helping them. He was subverting religions and going the path of many of the old Masters like the Olympians and Asgardians. He wanted to be treated as a god and she would not allow this.”
“When Ra spoke to him of the days of old Egypt, Merlin was fascinated and tried to encourage Ra to regain his status. He was becoming obsessed with being worshiped. He felt Masters should take a more direct control of the lives of others. Mordred was much like his father in that regard. Merlin's sanity was slipping, and I believe he was starting to see himself as a god. He started requiring tribute and worship for his protection. We didn't know this at first as he did so in secret. Once she found out, Morgana confronted him but with the Seal looming and the fight with Mordred going bad, she dropped it for the moment,” he told them.
“What would Merlin want with material goods? He was a Master. He had no need of gold,” said Xavier.
“He was not paid in gold. His tributes were more personal. I would suspect he has children other than Mordred,” Alexander replied.
“That's disgusting. Why would people do that?” asked Samantha.
“It was a difficult time. To a village about to die at the hands of a plague or warlord, it meant the difference between life and death. Sacrificing the chastity of a few of your maidens and paying lip service to Merlin as a god was a price they were willing to pay, and one Merlin was all too happy to take. There was no Unified Government to come to your aid and the local nobility answered to the Masters.”
“After finding out he poisoned me to force my service and was going to do that again to another, his actions with the villages and his treatment of their son, she lost faith in him. She is not the type to take life, but I have no problem with killing someone who deserves to die so she offered to teach me. In secret, I became her apprentice and started learning the magic of Atlanteans,” Alexander told them.
“Then the war turned bad, the Seal was formed, and we thought both he and Mordred dead, so it became a non-issue.”
“Even that would not have been enough for her to take such an action. This was a man she once loved, and she is not a killer. The last straw was a small village just before we formed the Seal. It was besieged by a dragon and for killing it, he took one of their young women as payment. Morgana has a special love for dragons, I am sure you can understand why, so she was adamant he not kill it. Even the ones descended from the mindless were precious to her. Merlin coerced the dragon into the area, so he could justify killing it and claim its remains for his experiments in magic,” Alexander told them.
“That's beyond reproach,” Sebastian said sounding disgusted.
“What i
s a mindless one?” asked Bruce.
“When the dragons summoned their combined magic to shatter Atlantis, it backlashed. Many of the weaker ones could not tolerate the overwhelming power and their minds, at least the higher-order parts, were destroyed. They were left as beasts and nothing more than powerful animals. Any of them discovered after the island was shattered would be relocated to Avalon, the dragons' new home in Antarctica. The dragons would act as their caretakers, but they were never able to find them all and they bred throughout the centuries, each generation of offspring equally as animalistic.”
“Merlin had a different agenda. He discovered numerous uses for their component parts so maneuvered them into positions where he could justify killing them. Near the end, Morgana would dispatch Arthur and his knights because she trusted him to help her capture them for relocation, so it became more common for dragons to show up while the Knights were otherwise occupied. She had enough,” Alexander replied.
“What a bastard,” said Chelsea. “I've not trusted him since he returned. He's lied, withheld information and been generally either unavailable or made things worse.”
“That's Merlin. He's so self-centered he doesn't care about anyone or anything. He's not a threat though. I'll see to Merlin personally. You should stay focused on Mordred,” Alexander told them.
“So, you plan on killing Merlin?” asked Sebastian.
“I do. It's not a matter of if but when. We should be focusing on things more relevant to Mordred,” Alexander said.
“I don't like the idea of Merlin being killed. I can't remember any of those things, so I'm not qualified to judge him. If it's all true then I can't say I'm opposed to the idea,” said Sebastian. “Assuming the rest of the Masters agree.”
“You would be okay with killing a man in cold blood?” asked Xavier.
“It's not cold blood. Merlin's crimes are from a time before UniGov and we're not qualified to judge them. He was a member of the Council of Masters. As such, it is their place to pass judgment on him. It's not a matter for us to decide,” Chelsea said agreeing with Sebastian.
The Vanguard Page 19