Disclaimer -- I don't own anything related to King Arthur, but I do own characters not recognized from the movies
The Long Road
Chapter 1
She awoke to the sound of a man's voice. Groaning, she opened her eyes to find a man holding a wet cloth against her cheek, where a large ugly bruise had began to form. She scrambled up and began backing away. Well, until she ran into a tree. Using the tree for support, she counted six other men standing among the camp behind the man.
Oh god! What happened? she thought as she felt something trickling down her cheek. Putting a hand up to her cheek, her hand met something warm and wet. When she brought her hand down, there was a dark re... blood, covering her palm and fingertips. She stared at with a horrified expression, until she heard one of the men speak.
"My name is Arthur. Arthur Castus. These are my knights. We will not harm you lady. Of that I promise," he said, stepping forward.
"That is the most cliche line I have heard over and over again in the movies. What makes you think that I'm going to fall for it?" she replied as she began pulling her boots off to check for her dagger. God damn it!!!
"Let us help you," a rather tall, bald man said as he stepped up beside the man named Arthur.
Drew looked around, regarding her surroundings and then asked, "Where am I?"
"Britain. Where else would you be lady?" a man with dark brown curls answered. Her eyes met his and he found they were wide with shock.
"Oh go... What year is it?" she asked.
They all looked at her for awhile before Arthur spoke: "462."
"Holy shit!" she said. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.
- - -
"Is she going to be alright?" Arthur questioned, looking over to the woman who had fainted. She lay in bedroll covered with furs - long, ebony curls framed her face, but it was the strange blue colour that ran through it in different sections that caught Arthur's attention.
"She should be. I think she's just in shock," the tall man, knelt beside her answered.
"Shock? What should she be in shock from, Dagonet?" he inquired. The tall man - Dagonet - merely shrugged and started to stitch up the cut on her cheek.
The feel of something in her skin and the pain from the needle, roused the young woman. "Get away from me with that needle! You arse!" She went to sit up, trying to push the man away, only to be restrained.
"Be still. I have to finish stitching your cheek. It'll become infected if I don't," Dagonet explained.
"I don't care," she retorted, trying to sit up once again. This time she succeeded and met the eyes of six very rough, wild looking men. "Who are you lot?" Arthur repeated what he had said earlier on, only to have her give him a skeptical look in reply. "Oh yeah, I 'member, but I would like to know names, not what "they" are."
A dark, curly haired man stepped forward. He wouldn't have been more than a year or so older than her and it showed in his smile. "I'm Lancelot. And you lady are the most radiant woman I've ever met," he said. And he was the pretty boy of the group.
"As you'll soon find out. I'm no lady, Prance-a-lot," she replied. The rest of the men began to laugh as he frowned.
"It's Lancelot."
"I know." She disregarded him and looked at the rest of the men. "And the rest of you?"
"I'm Gawain, this is Galahad. That burly one leaving is Bors, and the one before you is Dagonet," a blonde-maned man answered, pointing to each man in turn. Blue eyes and blonde hair. He looked more like an Aussie surfer than he did... a knight. Knights? I know some people have strange cultures, but knights still living in this century. Yeah right!
She nodded however and looked over all the men, the one named Galahad looked like he was still in his teens; darks locks and green eyes with a bit of beard stubble, Bors; a large, heavy-set, bald knight with honey coloured eyes, Dagonet like his heavy-set companion was bald with brown eyes, but was taller and had a scar running down his right cheek, just under his eye. The last man her eyes landed on, did not seem to have been named. He was resting against a tree behind the others. When she looked at his face, her ocean coloured eyes locked with a pair of dark charcoal ones from beneath a mess of dark hair and braids.
"Tristan," Dagonet stated upon seeing the direction of her gaze. "May I finish stitching your cheek now?"
"Oh sorry. Forgot," she said, moving to sit down so he could. However she hadn't forgot about it. The stinging pain had been terrible and she had tried everything to keep her mind off it, but nothing had worked. As Dagonet began to stitch her bruised skin, she shut her eyes tightly. Happy thoughts. Ouch! I will not hit him. Ouch! I will not hit him! She told herself.
"Finished." He cleaned the strange stitches with a cloth. She had, had stitches before and she knew what they felt like. These didn't feel normal. I'll ask about them later.
"Thanks," she muttered and stood up. She walked over to a tree and leaned against it, while looking for her dagger again. "Have you any of you seen my dagger?" When they shook their heads, she threw her hands up in the air. "Just great!"
"You won't need it here, no one will hurt you and we can protect you from Woads," Arthur said.
"That is not the point, it's my dagger and I want it back," she retorted.
"Would you mind telling us what happened?" he asked. "To your face, I mean," he added, when she gave him a confused look.
"Yes, I do mind," she stated, sitting down in front of the fire the knights had made earlier in the evening. Gradually, the knights began to sit back around the fire. Drew sighed; they were all staring at her again. "In other words - I'm not answering," she added. They continued to stare at her, and it was beginning to irritate her. "What?!"
"Your hair? It's very strange," the young knight, Galahad remarked.
"What do you mean?" she questioned, raising her hands to cover her head.
"Blue. You've got blue in your hair," Gawain said pointing to her hair. Drew merely began to laugh out loud at them.
"I made it that way," she said between laughs.
"Really? How?" Lancelot asked. She slowly stopped laughing to see all the knights looking at her in confusion.
"Um - its hard to explain, kind of like paint but its not," she answered. "Don't worry." They nodded, but still continued to stare at her. "Will you lot quit staring at me!" she half-yelled, they all slowly looked away, moving into their own conversations, well except for Tristan that is. She ignored him and stared into the fire. Galahad suddenly jumped up, trying to stomp something. "Stop!" she ordered, pushing him out of the way. "Its only a spider, for crying out loud," she added, killing it.
"You were scared of a spider?" Gawain inquired as all the knights began to laugh.
"Oh, be quiet!" Galahad demanded, punching him in the arm which made all the knights laugh harder. Galahad just pouted and waited for everyone to stop laughing, until he noticed that Drew was sitting back down calmly - a slight smile on her lips. "Why aren't you laughing?" he asked. She glanced up at him.
"Everyone has fears Galahad," she answered.
"I'm not afraid of a spider," he retorted. She raised an eyebrow. "Well... maybe a little." He looked at her, his head tilted as he regarded her. "What's your name by the way?"
"Drew," she answered.
"Strange name," Gawain said as he stopped laughing as did the rest of the knights.
"What's strange?" Bors asked, looking at Drew who sighed.
"Drew?" Lancelot replied. "Did your parents think you were a boy?"
"No. You're a fool. It can be a girls name too!" she grumbled, punching him in the arm.
"Ow!" he drawled sarcastically, rubbing his arm. She just smirked and turned back to the fire as the knights started to laugh again.
"You know what," she started, a few minutes later. "I'm going to bed." She stood and walked over to a random tree and leaned against it. After a while, she fell asleep against it, ignoring the knights who were watching her.
- - -
Drew stirred. Footsteps moved quietly nearby.
"Where are you going?" she questioned when she saw Tristan mount his horse.
"Scouting," he replied without looking at her and rode off.
"Well, that was interesting," she muttered. Standing up, she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling a hair band from her wrist and used it to tie her hair up into a pony tail, letting some tendrils fall into her eyes. Walking around the camp, she tripped over something and suddenly found herself landing on top of Lancelot, knocking the wind out of him.
"Sorry, sorry," she mumbled, trying to get up.
"It's ok, you need only ask," He smirked, holding her down.
"Let me go, jerk off!" she demanded, hitting his chest. All the knights were woken up by the sound of pair struggling. Drew's hand connected with the knight's forehead and without warning, his head slammed into the ground. White, hot pain exploded into his vision and he let her go.
"Alright." She quickly got up, brushing herself off as the knights hid their sniggers.
"Let me check your stitches," Dagonet said. He stood up and walked over, she nodded and leaned forward so he could check the stitches and clean the wound.
"Thank you, um... where are you lot going?" she asked when Dagonet finished.
"Hadrian's Wall," Arthur replied. "You're coming with us."
"I am? Why?" she inquired, looking at him in curiosity.
"Because I can't just leave you here, it's not safe," he retorted.
"Safe? Why would you care if I'm safe?" She asked, more to herself than to Arthur.
"Because," he answered and finished tacking his horse like the other knights.
She sighed, "Well - when do we leave?"
"As soon as Tristan returns," Arthur said. Just as Arthur finished speaking, Tristan rode into the camp.
"So that means... now!" she said, climbing into the saddle behind Gawain. He was about to protest until she gave him a hard puppy look to which he merely sighed. She smiled and wrapped her arms loosely around his waist as they started to ride out.