The Seal of Solomon

by Jeffrey Ellis

  He tapped his staff again and lights and flames shot into the sky reminiscent of a fireworks show. The dais had two great thrones on it and Sebastian took one while Chelsea took the other. The dreb took a smaller seat on the side of Sebastian’s throne. Morgana sat in a similar chair to the side of Chelsea.

  #

  Chelsea awoke and looked at Sebastian who was still asleep and she woke him.

  “Sebastian, I just had a weird dream where we were flying on horses and in a big amphitheater. I think it was Atlantis,” she told him.

  “I did too. I had a similar one before, but I can’t recall when,” he said.

  “It was when you got out of surgery. I laid down with you and fell asleep. What the hell is going on?” she asked him.

  “I don’t know but it felt so real,” he said.

  “Yea, very real. And why was Morgana there? I only remember her from dreams or visions or whatever the flashbacks about Camelot are but that was her. Why would she be in a dream about Atlantis?” Chelsea asked.

  “I don’t know but it’s probably just coincidence. She’s one of the four Masters we have information about, we found Nefertiti, so Bethany’s theory will get explored and Atlantis is on the forefront of our thoughts so I’m sure it’s just our subconscious putting together a random series of things on our minds into a dream,” he told her.

  “Maybe but it’s a dream we shared, and you didn’t know Nefertiti was alive when the first one occurred and it’s odd though that we both shared the dream. That just doesn’t happen,” she said.

  “Merlin and Morgana were married for hundreds of years and he doesn’t know where she was born. He’s been here since the Seal broke, yet his power seems to be returning slowly. Even Ra is already showing signs of his power returning and he has barely been awake two days. We’re having dreams of Morgana from what appears to be Atlantis. I want to talk to Merlin,” she said.

  “And talk we should,” said Merlin as he entered the room.

  “How much of that did you hear?” Chelsea asked as he entered.

  “Enough to know Boudicca’s gift has returned,” he told them.

  “Boudica’s gift?” said Sebastian.

  “It was a wedding gift. Boudicca was a powerful sorceress and Druids considered dreams to be sacred. On your wedding day, Boudicca gave you the ability to share your dreams. That’s why you can enter each other’s minds when you sleep,” he told them.

  “Well, that makes sense I guess,” said Chelsea, “But it doesn’t explain the rest.”

  “As Arthur said, it’s just your minds putting together random events to form a dream,” he said.

  “But Sebastian didn’t know about Nefertiti and had no way of knowing the Atlantis research was a go now that she is reunited with Ra as agreed,” she replied.

  “But you did. Why do you assume the dream was yours or his? You shared the dream and its substance was drawn from both of your imaginations,” said Merlin.

  “Maybe,” said Chelsea.

  “How did you just happen to arrive at the right moment?” she said.

  “My arrival right now was chance. Arthur was injured severely, and I came as soon as I heard. I was on the other side of the world researching ancient runes in the Warden library at Athens. I prefer the feel of a real book to those machines you have.”

  “Okay so why is your power returning so slowly compared to everyone else?” asked Sebastian.

  “I don’t know but I theorize it’s because of the nature of my existence up until now. I walked the veil between the living and the dead. Magic is drawn from its connection to one or the other and I was neither. My flesh returned quickly but my connection to the flow of life is returning slower as is my magic,” Merlin told them.

  “That sounds reasonable,” said Chelsea who was still exhausted and didn’t feel like pushing the issue.

  Sebastian got a comm from her on their internal communicator. “His answers are too convenient. I don’t believe him, and I don’t trust him but for now I’ll watch and wait,” she told Sebastian privately.

  “Merlin, while you’re here, can you give us any more insight into Morgana? She was taken home according to the text, but we have no record of her home. Some references suggest she was Irish, but you said she was born of the sea. What does that mean?” asked Sebastian.

  “When I first met Morgana, she was a young lady who had just gotten off a ship in London and walked into the tavern where I was having a midday meal. She looked confused and lost so I asked her if she needed help. She told me she didn’t know if she needed help which of course was odd and further inquiry showed she had no memory of how she got on the ship, where she came from or where she was going. I bought her some food and we talked, and I realized she had the magical ability, but she didn’t know it. I convinced her to let me train her and many years later, after her ascension, we were married. So, when I say she was born at sea, it simply means she got off a boat at London with no knowledge of where she came from and when I inquired on the boat, no one knew how she got there or at which port she came on board. They had been across the North Sea and docked at numerous ports, but no one remembered her. I even traveled with her to all those ports and we were unable to locate even a scrap of information about who she was or where she hailed from. While she was training, she took the name Morgana which in Celtic means sea dweller and it stuck,” the old man told them.

  “That’s amazing. You never found any information on her past?” asked Sebastian.

  “No, we did not. We searched on and off for hundreds of years until the war started. Her past before that ship is a mystery and one we never solved,” he told them.

  “So, you can’t say for certain Morgana is not Atlantean,” said Chelsea.

  “No more than you can say she is except for one detail. If she were that ancient, more so than Ra by thousands of years and had access to the kind of magic you think Atlantis may have held, she would have made some mark on the world before I found her. Which is more likely? She’s a member of an ancient race of very powerful wizards and has hidden for all that time or she’s a woman who lost her memory? It’s not so strange no one remembered her. She was in the rags of a peasant and most people would simply have overlooked her. The simplest answer is usually correct,” Merlin said.

  “Occam’s razor,” said Chelsea.

  “Occam?” Merlin inquired.

  “Logic theory. Look it up if you have time,” she told him.

  “If those Wardens had some insight into her home they didn’t get it from me,” Merlin said.

  “Where did you live? Maybe they didn’t mean her ancestral home but her literal home,” said Chelsea.

  “We lived at Camelot. I built that castle before I met her,” said Merlin and added, “It was the only home she ever knew but I know that castle inside and out. There are no secret passages or hidden alcoves.”

  “There weren’t in the Sphinx until after the Seal and we had the tomb and library at Camelot built in secret after your death. We can’t be certain that the Wardens didn’t do the same and it was abandoned as they described her home. We just don’t know exactly when or why,” Sebastian said.

  “Chelsea, can you put together a team with Merlin and go over Camelot? Go stone by stone if you have to?” asked Sebastian.

  “What about finding Boudicca for the wedding?” she asked him. He sighed.

  “Once again, we’ll have to wait. I don’t know why but I feel like Morgana is connected to this somehow. Let’s at least give Camelot a look over,” he told her.

  “Surely that can wait until you’re up and on your feet in a few days,” she said.

  “We don’t know what tomorrow holds and having the Masters all awake is something we shouldn’t take our time on. We can go after Boudicca once I am recovered and until then a little poking around at Camelot shouldn’t hurt,” he said.

  “Okay love, I will,” she said.

  #

  “The clan is tired of waiting for you, Mordred an
d we demand action,” said the dreb.

  “D’ras, my friend, you know as I do that they have three Masters awake and more that are strong in magic. Not only that, the dragons are still an unknown variable. I have put things in motion that will hurt the Wardens and keep them off guard while I restore my lost abilities,” Mordred said.

  “Your pace is slower than we have the patience for. We demand action and we demand it now,” the dreb said.

  “Then action you shall have. I have new allies that will harry the Wardens until I am ready to take this world. I have an army now and that army will be my hand against the Wardens,” Mordred told him smugly.

  “This is good. We have waited almost twelve thousand years for our revenge. Two thousand years ago you promised us that revenge and failed. I would not fail again if I were you,” the creature told him.

  Mordred glared at him and said, “Your words are hollow. We both know you can’t use the power I have. Your people are denied access to the ancient powers of the sphere and without me, without my bloodline, you have no options,” Mordred said.

  “We will act when and how I say. Now, go home to your superiors and remind them that I am the one in charge here and I am the one making decisions because I am the one with the power, not you and your people,” Mordred told him with a smug smile on his face.

  The dreb glared at him a moment then teleported away.

  Mordred smiled again and looked at the silver sphere on the table. It sat in its claw appearing as nothing more than an ornate decoration. The drebs had helped him awaken its power and learn some of what it could do but he suspected there was more to it. There was a piece of the puzzle they were not telling him. He could wait. Patience was easy to come by for an immortal.

  #

  Sebastian, Chelsea, the Masters and the rest of the Camelot division sat around the table discussing things.

  “We’ve finished going over Camelot with a fine-tooth comb and there is nothing here. Either she’s here and so well hidden we can’t find her or she’s somewhere else,” said Bruce.

  “As much as it saddens me to agree, Bruce is right. She is not here, and more searching is not going to produce results. As much as I long to see Morgana, I must accept that,” said Merlin.

  “What about Boudicca? We know where she likely is, and we should pursue her next,” said Bethany.

  “Agreed,” said Sebastian.

  “Scotland awaits. Sebastian, who do you want on the team?” Chelsea asked him.

  “How about you decide the team. You know our people as well as I do,” Sebastian told her.

  “Well let’s go with our usual five and one Master. I want to continue to keep the Masters separated for now in case of an incident, so we don’t lose them all at once. So that means Sebastian, me, Bruce, Xavier, Trish and Merlin. This is Merlin’s home country and he knows Stonehenge. Ra and Nefertiti can continue working on the runes with Bethany,” she said.

  “Okay, that’s the team. We leave at dawn,” said Sebastian.

  #

  A short while later, Chelsea and Sebastian walked through the castle. “Are you sure you are up to this? You’ve been out of the hospital for two days. As soon as we stepped off the shuttle at 14, we got the notice that Camelot was ready enough to move in, so we packed and left. Now we’re leaving again tomorrow morning. I don’t think you’ve slept more than a few hours since your release,” she said.

  “I’m fine. You heard the doctor yourself. I made a complete recovery in record time and I may not have slept much last night, but I slept plenty in the hospital. Other than a few scars you can’t even tell I was hurt,” he told her.

  She looked at him with concern.

  “Really Chelsea, I’m perfectly fine. I have no lingering injuries and feel as good as I did before the accident. I’ll prove it,” he told her. “Let’s go to the training room, you can see for yourself.”

  “You don’t have to prove it. I believe you,” she told him.

  “I think I do need to prove it,” he said and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder as she squealed then carried her to their bedroom and set her down.

  “That’s all you got? You carried me a hundred feet down a hallway and that’s supposed to prove something,” she said smiling at him.

  He forcibly undressed her and lifted her up against the wall with her legs pinned up against her. She couldn’t move and was completely at his mercy and spent a long time in that position with him making love to her with the frenzy of an animal. After they were done, he carried her over to the bed and lay down next to her.

  She laid back on the bed and smiled. “I think I need more convincing.”

  #

  The next morning the group prepared to leave. They had recovered two Masters and both times had resulted in incidents, losing one team member and nearly losing another.

  “I want everyone to be extra cautious. Everyone comes home. We’ll be at Stonehenge in less than ten minutes. Merlin, anything we need to know?” said Chelsea.

  “Stonehenge is an ancient Celtic site. Boudicca’s people built it and the Druids had a deep-rooted belief in nature as a divine being. Their magic was built around that belief and they had great power over plants and animals and the Earth itself. For example, the corrupted fomorian you had in your dungeon was a creation of theirs. Druidic magic is as dangerous as any other and if they have any guardians left they might think we’re hostile, so we could come under attack. Keep your intent just and your actions pure because not inciting them is our best defense. Their creations were as varied as nature itself so predicting the results of Druidic magic is next to impossible,” Merlin told them.

  The group loaded and launched. The shuttle was fast, and Stonehenge would not take long. They landed a short distance away so as not to disturb the ancient monument.

  “I would recommend keeping weapons away for now. This isn’t some dark tomb hidden in the desert isolated from civilization. This is the middle of the Scottish countryside with numerous villages and towns nearby,” said Bruce.

  “It’s also a tourist attraction and we could have non-coms in the area. Keeping weapons out of sight, for now, is a good approach,” Chelsea said agreeing with him.

  They approached the henge cautiously and found it as normal with the usual mix of sunrise tourists looking for spiritual meaning or hidden codes in the shadows or just watching a beautiful sunrise at a wondrous monument of the old world. It was as it was every other day of the year just less crowded due to the drastic drop in tourism after the cataclysm.

  During the past few centuries, during the numerous wars, monuments had often been the site of attacks so many nations had walled off and strictly controlled access to their monuments. After the cataclysm, many more of those had been completely closed to the public while security and other personnel were diverted to public safety or reconstruction efforts.

  With most of the strategic importance of the British Isles housed in England, Scotland had been spared much of the pain of history. There were no invasion attempts and its cities remained untouched by the violence of war for the most part. The Scots themselves always stood fast against tyranny and fought on the side of the British and American brethren in the major conflicts but the wars never spilled into Scotland itself. The countryside was as idyllic as it ever.

  Though many monuments and historic sites were closed completely, the henges were left open. The Scottish government felt they belonged to everyone and thus had no authority to close them. The people who visited them always remained peaceful and no security was needed, though a small token force did patrol to handle the rare case of trouble.

  Some people were milling around taking vids and telling their companions their theory about the henge without any realization that approaching were people who not only knew the true origin but possibly somewhere nearby was the woman who engineered part of its creation.

  They were an interesting site to the motley crew of tourists. The six of them were dressed in civilian cl
othing carrying backpacks with their equipment and one of them walking with an old wooden stick. Though they did their best to fit in and look casual, the way they walked, the way they observed everything in their surroundings, they seemed out of place.

  Just before they reached the henge, a local man came up to them carrying several brochures.

  “Good day mates, this is your lucky day,” he said.

  “Oh really,” said Chelsea.

  “Aye lass, I have right here the truth of Stonehenge for only thirty credits each and I’ll give you a guided tour. It’s a bargain, where else will you get the truth AND a tour guide for only a few credits?” he said.

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” said Sebastian and they continued walking to the henge.

  “Okay I can see you need convincing, so I’ll make it a hundred and fifty for the lot of you,” he said.

  “I don’t think we need a guide,” said Chelsea, “But thank for the offer. Now please leave us be.”

  “Okay, okay. I see you drive a hard bargain,” said the man who pulled a gun from his satchel.

  “How about you give me your valuables and I don’t take them by force,” he told them.

  Bruce laughed at him and grabbed the gun. The hulking man hit the would-be thief once and knocked him to the ground.

  “What the bloody hell is wrong with you, mate? What kind of idiot would rob a group of Wardens?” Bruce said.

  The man was sitting on the ground nursing a bleeding nose. “I didn’t know you were Wardens. I’m sorry. Please don't call the police. I’m not a bad person there’s just no work since the quakes. I have a family and you looked like you had money,” the man said. “I’m sorry I really am. I don’t want to do this I just have no option. Please don't send me to jail.”

  “That’s a likely story,” said Xavier, “Now get the Hell out of here.”

  “Wait,” said Sebastian. He walked over and kneeled.

  “Tell me that story again,” Sebastian said and stared at the man.

  Sebastian's eyes turned white as the man talked and when he was done, Sebastian took out a chip, coded it with an amount and gave it to him.