Bruce notified the hospital they were coming in fast and was assigned a landing pad. The trip from Karnak would normally only take a few minutes at the shuttle’s top speed but they had to slow a bit to keep Sebastian from being thrown around by the G-forces. Those with magical skill did what they could for him, stopping the bleeding and trying to brace him as best they could. They got to the landing pad as a medical team was coming out the door. The medical personnel carefully placed Sebastian on a stretcher and then rushed into the building with Chelsea and Bruce right behind them. Trish flew the rest back to Facility 14.
They took Sebastian into surgery immediately. Chelsea tried to follow but with the help of Bruce managed to restrain her from the operating room. Bruce sat with her in the waiting area, but she wouldn’t speak. She just sat in a chair with her knees pulled into her chest. He couldn’t get her to eat or drink anything and she just stared at the door to the trauma ward. About a half an hour later a shuttle arrived with Anna, Bethany, and William, then a second one with Abraham. Abraham walked over to Chelsea, sat down next to her and put his arm around her. She leaned against him and cried. Several hours passed and a nurse or doctor would occasionally come out and tell everyone Sebastian was still in surgery with no other significant updates.
Around dawn, a doctor came out and asked who the closest relative was. Bruce directed him to Chelsea and Abraham. Chelsea looked up at the doctor but didn’t speak. Her eyes were glassy, and she was exhausted from both a lack of sleep and emotional stress. Abraham asked the woman how his son was doing.
“He’s going to live. We’ve managed to knit all the broken bones. He had extensive internal trauma, but we’ve stopped all the bleeding and repaired the damage to his organs. The tissue regeneration process was completely successful, but his own recuperative abilities are amazing. Most men would have been dead from that level of trauma. He lost a lot of blood and will need to remain here several more days until his blood cells are fully restored but otherwise should make a full recovery,” the doctor told them.
Chelsea jumped up and grabbed the woman, hugging her. “Thank you,” Chelsea said.
“Can we see him?” asked Abraham.
“Of course. He’s asleep though and it will be some time before he wakes up,” said the doctor and led them to the room.
Abraham and Chelsea sat one on each side of the bed. Chelsea held his hand and despite numerous attempts by several of her friends to get her to take a nap or get something to eat she adamantly refused.
Abraham finally got up and came around to her. He put an arm around her and said, “Listen, I know you love him, but you need rest and food. As I hear it, you were on a stressful mission yesterday and haven’t had any sleep or food in over twenty-four hours or more. I’m rested and refreshed, and I’ll stay with him. I want you to go get some food and then get a nap in.”
“I’m not leaving him,” said Chelsea.
“You’re not leaving him, you’re just taking a break. I could pull rank and order you but we both know that wouldn’t work so instead I’m asking you, as your friend, to rest up. He’s going to need you to be strong when he wakes up and you can’t do that if you’re passing out from exhaustion and lack of food. So, go. Anna will take you to get some breakfast and then come back and get a nap in. The doctor already told you he’s going to be fine, he’s sleeping off the drugs from surgery. He’ll be here when you get back,” Abraham told her.
“Okay, Abraham. You’re right,” she replied and hugged the old man tightly.
“Call me dad,” he said.
She smiled for the first time since the accident and hugged Abraham, leaning against the man for a moment. “Thank you...dad.”
Chelsea grabbed a quick bite, eating and drinking as fast as she could and then headed back to the room.
While she was gone, Abraham had pulled a bed from another room into Sebastian’s to the chagrin of several young orderlies who he nearly made cry from a scolding when they tried to stop him. For a man of his age, he was still spry and imposing, especially with the scars. He pushed the two beds together and got her some blankets and pillows. She thanked him and gave him a hug then lay down next to Sebastian and curled up against him as much as she could without interfering with the IVs and monitoring equipment. She put her hand on his and fell asleep nearly instantly and drifted off into a dream.
#
Sebastian and Chelsea looked at each other, the breeze blowing gently across the parapet and onto the roof. They were dressed in flowing silks of red and gold and they wore crowns of a reddish-gold metal of a similar color to their robes. He had his arm around her as they looked out over a large city below them. It spread out in concentric rings to the shore a long way off. A massive dragon with scales the color of their crown coasted in the distance, drifting along on a thermal vent. A dreb approached them from behind and motioned for them to follow him. Sebastian nodded and turned to go with him, Chelsea following behind. Sebastian took the staff he was carrying and tapped its bottom tip on the stone of the roof. The orb at the top, made of the same metal as his crown and held in place by a dragon’s claw-shaped socket glowed briefly and the diamonds on the claw that served as its setting flashed. Three pegasi landed and the trio mounted them and flew off.
#
The druids formed a line at the henge. The dark fey had pushed them as far as they would go, and they would not allow blood to be spilled on their most sacred site. Their ranks were greatly thinned but they would stand behind their leader and make a stand here. The only way their enemy would despoil their holy site was through them.
The woman at the head of their ranks looked tired but she could not rest. The creatures that hounded them were strong and individually none could stand against her, but they were in masse this time. Her long red hair was matted and tangled from pieces of dried blood and foliage. She carried a spear that showed signs of heavy use and was as crusted with blood as her skin and clothes.
Around them, the pristine glade was covered in a light fog as the sun was yet to rise and burn it away. The grass and stones of the henge glistened with dew and the land was bathed in silence. No birds chirped. No frogs croaked. The only sounds were the rustling of the druids as they waited anxiously for their foe.
They heard them before they saw them. The bestial sounds of the creatures echoed in the still air of the morning. Howls shattered the silence and the trampling of brush could be heard along with breaking saplings growing louder by the second. Minutes passed, and visibility was poor. When they finally saw them, their enemy was already on top of them.
The creatures were numerous and though the druids had culled their numbers significantly, they still outnumbered them by a large margin. Wolfmen, corrupted nature spirits, undead, and others charged them. At the head of the horde was a massive beither.
The druids cast spells of fire and energy at their foes in the short span they had before they were on them. Boudicca’s spear flashed and burned with white flames and her normally blue eyes shined with the same white fire. The edges of the fire burning in her eyes trailed up her forehead and touched the edge of her hairline but did not burn it. She raised her hands and called on her allies in the Earth. Thick, thorny vines grew and wrapped the fey, stopping some as spikes of stone shot up from the ground and screams of agony came from the entangled foes. Holes formed in the ground and swallowed more of them. Still, they came.
She called on the spirits of nature to imbue her and the spirits of varied predators filled her. She moved like lightning and ran into the middle of the charging ranks. Her spear pierced and stabbed and burned the evil creatures. Claws grew from her fingers and slashed and tore at the monsters. Fire flew from her hands and lightning bolts came down from the cloudless sky. She was a whirlwind of death and ripped through the dark fey troops. Still, they came.
The druids felled more and more of them. Spells and spears and swords left a field of corpses in their wake. The druids' numbers suffered as well as their enemy’s grea
ter numbers took their toll. The dark fey were winning at great cost but they didn’t care. No matter how many times a fey fell, another came to take its place.
The druids and their priestess fought hard and the battle raged on. As the morning sun rose and vanquished the fog, the battle was still being fought. The glade just outside the henge was littered with corpses of fey and druid alike. The number of dead on both sides was staggering.
She stood face to face with the massive beither, it’s bulky form nearly twice her own height. It's serpentine flesh and snakelike head stared down at her. It snapped at her with its venomous fangs but missed. It sprayed acid at her that ran off her skin like water. It slashed and clawed at her but only found air where she once stood. She spun and danced around the creature, slashing and cutting. The beither was no match for the dervish and she rolled behind it, slashing across the back of its knees. The creature howled in pain and dropped down on all fours. She moved beside it and pushed her spear through the creature’s head, twisted and pulled it back out. The beither slumped over and did not move.
The druids were calculating in their fight. They were taking great care to keep the battle away from their sacred henge.
In the middle of the newly forming graveyard, the fey had formed a circle around Boudicca and her remaining priests who were tiring, and it was showing. The fey were winning and Boudicca lowered her spear then dropped it to the ground.
“It is time,” she told the priests.
They formed a circle around her and she dropped her spear then placed her hands on the ground. The druids held fast, holding the fey back but they were starting to fall from the overwhelming odds.
She began chanting as the fire from her eyes and hands bathed her. Black clouds formed above her, and lightning and thunder crashed. Vermin, insects, and animals of all forms came forth from the surrounding woods and swarmed the fey. The ground rumbled and fomorians arose from it, beautiful and deadly like giant fairies. She stood and put her arms to the sky and floated upwards until she hovered several feet off the ground. Numerous bolts of lightning crashed downward and struck her. She screamed as the lightning radiated outward and passed harmlessly through the druids. It shot into the fey and arced through them, forking through the remaining fey. The ones who didn't die instantly writhed on the ground, taking their final breaths as their skin blistered and their blood boiled.
When the spell ended, the clouds quickly parted. The fey surrounding them lay dead or dying and the fomorians retreated to the Earth. Boudicca dropped and went down to her knees, her energy momentarily spent. That spell was her last effort to stop them and though her power returned as the Earth fed her, the spell had momentarily drained her. Her second in command helped her to her feet and gave her back her spear. They looked around and she smiled because the henge was unspoiled.
As she surveyed the terrain, she heard hoofbeats coming from the southeast. A group of knights bearing the symbol of a red dragon on their shields approached. The horsemen stopped a few meters away and the druids all readied their weapons except for their leader. She approached the lead horseman, who dismounted and removed his helmet. Boudicca noticed the knight who rode as his second was a woman. The oddity of a Briton woman in armor caught her attention. To ride as the second in a group of knights was unheard of among her cousins to the east.
He kneeled before her, his other knights following suit, and spoke. “Lady Boudicca, I am Captain Arthur, an envoy of Master Merlin who sends us to aid you in defense of your holy site. The creatures attacking you are minions of the wizard Mordred and as we share a common enemy, we would offer our swords in your aid.”
She walked towards him and stumbled, the woman in armor jumped to her and caught her. The armored lady then helped her to stand.
Boudicca bid the Knights rise and replied. “We have beaten the horde and won. You are late.”
“Our intelligence informs us this was merely the first wave and another horde approaches. We are here to offer you assistance if you would have it and await your orders,” Arthur told her.
As if on cue, another howl was heard in the distance and she smiled. She was tired, her druids likewise, and her energy was yet to fully return but that old bastard in Camelot had sent her reinforcements. The day might yet be won.
“Arthur, your aid is most appreciated. My orders are simple. No blood must be spilled on the henge and every enemy of Druid and Briton should die to spear and blade this day,” she told him.
“Then by your order. Knights at the ready. Form a line and nothing crosses it. No blood on the henge. You heard the lady,” he said.
She laughed. “I have been called many things in my life but never a lady.”
Arthur laughed as his blade, and its twin carried by the female knight, ignited in blue flame and they readied for the onslaught.
#
The sun burned above the group as a cool breeze blew through the leaves. The great stones raised around them were casting shadows that slowly walked across the ground as the sun followed its path across the sky. The ceremony had concluded as the sun set atop the keystone on the summer solstice, or Litha as Boudicca’s people preferred to call it. The Druids, or Celts as many people called them before they took the formal name Druids, normally would not allow outsiders into a sacred place like this, especially on this holy day but their high priestess had made the decision because of extenuating circumstances and none would dare question her.
Several years earlier, after the dark fey had attempted to raze the site, Arthur had fought in defense of the Druids and their sacred henge, fighting back to back with Boudicca and her warriors. The fight had been fierce, and many lives lost but in the end, the actions of Arthur not only saved the henge and a great many lives but that action also convinced Boudicca to join Merlin’s Council and the Druids had initiated Arthur and his knights into their circle as honorary members for his actions. As high priestess of the Druids and their warrior queen, she had offered to perform a Celtic wedding for him when she discovered his intent to marry Guinevere.
After the ceremony concluded, a great feast was held. After the food was done and much drink consumed, their friends presented them with gifts. They were given a small fortune in precious gems and jewelry, but several gifts were beyond mere wealth. The Council gave them a pair of rings, forged by Ra and Nefertiti. They were a flat band of platinum covered in gold links resembling the scales of a dragon and a gem representing each member of the council adorned them. In the center of the ring was the crest of his family, Pendragon. Merlin and Morgana presented them with twin blades known as Excalibur. Ra and Nefertiti gave them golden shields adorned with a lion for Arthur and a lioness for Guinevere. Socrates, Solomon, and Alexander gave them a gift of a blessing. The three all agreed that knowledge was the key to power so the trio crafted a spell that would allow them to read, write and speak any common language.
Then came Boudicca’s turn. “Arthur, Guinevere, I thank you for the privilege of allowing me to preside over your wedding. With all the violence in our lives right now, being able to bring together two who so obviously love each other is a greater gift to me than anything I could give to you. You have given us all an opportunity to take leave from the secret war we fight and celebrate life and love and that is something that is too infrequent in the gathering storm we live in and so we gather here, on this holy day, to do just that. To celebrate life. To celebrate love. To remember that there is more to life than this war. Those assembled here, your fellow knights and the Masters have given you lavish presents of high material value and great magical power. I have something different for you. Each of you, take one of my hands, please,” said Boudicca.
They took her hands and she closed her eyes and began to glow. The light flowed from her to each of the two betrothed and then receded. Boudicca opened her eyes and continued talking. “I give you the blessing of mother Gaia and bestow upon you a special ability. Druids place great importance on our dreams and many have the skill to walk with
in their own dreams. Rarely there are those with the knowledge of how to walk within the mine of another and I have given you that ability with each other. As you share your lives, so may you share your dreams.”
#
Ra and Nefertiti sat in the commissary. It was pasta day and Ra had a huge plate before him with spaghetti, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, and garlic bread. A large cup of sweet iced tea sat beside it and he was eating and drinking with gusto.
“The world could change a thousand times over and you will always be Ra,” said Nefertiti. “If ever we are separated and lost from each other, I need only find the most exotic foods to find you.”
“My dear Nefertiti, it is a passion for pleasure I have, be it good food and drink or your company and I have eighteen centuries to catch up on. We shall be busy day and night for some time to come.”
“I am yours for eternity and look forward to spending that eternity in your bed but for the moment, we should talk. Is it true what they tell me about a cataclysm brought about by our actions and the death toll as a result?” she said.
Ra put down his fork and his expression changed. “It is. I did not want to believe it at first, but Bethany has shown me how to use a machine called a satellite surveillance and a computer that can scry upon the world and show things that have happened and are happening now. I have also seen it with my own eyes. It saddens me to no end to know that my actions helped cause such suffering and death,” he said.
“I have no words to express my sorrow,” said Nefertiti. “We will do what we can to make amends, but I fear that scale can never be balanced.”
“You are right as always, dear wife. After the events of Giza, we swore to protect life and even though many years have passed, I do not believe that excuses me from my vow,” Ra told her.
“It does not, my love. I must go to Arthur. He nearly sacrificed his life for me and I must thank him for that,” said Nefertiti.
“Now is not a good time. His wounds were great and while he does live, he is healing, and I fear Guinevere may blame you. She is not as docile as she was in her first life and we should not risk her ire while we are still weak. Their power is surprisingly great,” said Ra.
The Seal of Solomon Page 30