On Monday Arthur and Merlin were at their London office. Merlin had been helping one of the other offices with some work and was making his way back up to see Arthur when he was called by the reception; it seemed someone had come to visit him. Wondering who it was he wandered down he couldn't think who it could be unless it was Gwaine. Security had been tightened and no one without a pass was allowed in the building without authorisation. But Merlin couldn't believe that would apply to Gwaine. The only other person he could think of was Gaius.
Half hoping it would be Gwaine he made his way to reception only to find a young man, about his age waiting. As Merlin got closer he could sense magic and put himself on the defensive, he considered calling Arthur but decided that would be stupid. If it was a magical threat he was the best one too cope with it. The man had dark brown hair and as he turned round Merlin noticed he had green eyes. The young man smiled as Merlin approached and stepped forward holding out his hand.
"Merlin Emrys?" he asked.
"I am, and may I ask who you are?" Merlin said taking the offered hand and shaking it. He noticed the man had Mediterranean accent.
"You don't know me my name is Mordred Vlahos, I share a talent with you and wondered if we might talk."
Merlin looked at the man and remembered where he had heard the name before. It was Killi and Gaius. Mordred was one of the magic users they had traced. Now what did he do? Merlin took one look at the young man and decided for now he would trust him, he wasn't sure why. "Come on, there's an office empty over there" Merlin grabbed the key from the desk and took Mordred into the small room that was usually used for minor meetings of junior staff.
"What can I do for you? And how did you find me?" Merlin asked as soon as they had sat down.
"I have been looking for you for awhile; I was contacted by a Morgana La Fey sometime ago and asked to join her and another high priestess in some sort of plan. I didn't like the sound of it so I declined. But it got me thinking about people like us and how many more there were. I have been looking and also trying to sense our kind. I felt the magic of the world shift recently and traced it to a man called Kilgarrah and from there I found you." Mordred told him.
"I thought I'd try to talk to you, you must know what it's like, I wanted company of my own kind." Mordred looked sad. "It's lonely for years I thought I was the only one since my family died. My mother and father were killed in an accident. Dad had some power and was helping me, but when he died ….. well I thought I was alone. But I don't want to cause anyone problems and Ms la Fey seemed to be on some sort of power grab, she didn't tell me much, but as I said I wasn't interested."
Mordred's story made Merlin think; it touched a cord deep in him, a wish to not be alone, to have someone who truly understood. "Look wait here I need to ask my boss permission to have time of, but I would love to talk to you." Merlin left the room and went to a phone and rang Arthur.
"Arthur can I have the rest of the day off, someone has come to see me and I would like to talk to them" he asked.
Arthur was immediately curious "Who?"
"A person with my talents, I remember Killi mentioning him, just this afternoon please" Merlin pleaded.
"Is this something you should be risking? After all you don't know him."
"He's OK I'm sure of it" Merlin said and then jumped as Arthur tapped him on the shoulder.
"You're not going anywhere without me meeting this guy." Arthur told him.
"Why didn't you say you were coming down instead of making me jump?" Merlin demanded.
Arthur grinned "You should be more observant Merlin. Now where is this young man?"
Merlin went back to the small office with Arthur in tow and introduced him to Mordred.
"Hello Mr Vlahos, I'm sorry but I don't feel that comfortable with this. You have to understand that we have had dealings with others with your skills and they have not been good ones." Arthur said
"I am sorry to hear that Mr Pendragon, but as I explained to Merlin, I to have been approached and didn't like what I heard. All I want with Merlin is the chance to talk and get to know him. Can you understand that, its lonely thinking you are the only one, a freak." Mordred looked desperate and lonely.
Arthur made a decision and one he hoped he wouldn't regret. "Why don't you hang around for a bit, then come home with us, you can join us for dinner and then spend time with Merlin. I have a responsibility for Merlin and his mother would never forgive me if I didn't look out for him."
So it was decided Mordred would return at five and go home with them. Once back in his office Arthur rang Gaius and asked him to join them with any information he had. He also rang Gwaine to make sure he would be about. There was something about the young man that made Arthur uneasy. Merlin also has some doubts but only because Killi had warned him about the 'Greek' but was that Mordred or someone else? His instinct was to trust him.
Morgana had been to Wales and had retrieved something that her family had always held in high esteem. Although generations had known of its existence, as far as she knew she was the first in fifteen hundred years to hold the object in her hand. A distant cousin of the first Morgana La Fey, had found the artefact and hidden it when the then high priestess was murdered by the warlock over a millennia ago. The artefact was something that many outside the family had looked for. It was the sword that Aithusa had forged all those years before. Forged in a dragons breathe, all be it a baby dragon, it had never blunted or rusted, unfortunately it was still missing the piece of metal that had lodged in the chest of King Arthur.
Morgause had been to the Louvre having retrieved a staff set with a blue jewel and covered in ancient writings and runes, the Louvre had it catalogued as a shaman's staff but in reality it was a Sidhe staff for years it had been wrapped and stored out of sight. Then travelling to England she visited London and in a museum vault there had collected a cup, it was a fairly plain chalice, found near Glastonbury. The cup of life was one of the most prized items ever found from the old religion, yet it had been unrecognised for what it was. With it was some bracelets made of base metal. These objects would give the two high priestesses the ability to defeat Pendragon and his tame warlock. Then they waited for events to bring them all together.
