The Lost One This fanfic is the result of a random inspiration that turned into a fanfic after I read the book Greenwitch for the fifth or so time in my life. At the time, I was pondering what to do with my fanfic. After reading the book, I was struck with the inspiration to turn my inspiration into an original character insert into the series by Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising. If you haven't read the books, I probably wouldn't recommend this. Don't know right now how much explaining I will do, but I tend to get impatient. Any reviews are welcome, even flames. * cringe * Please be nice. I'm 15 and though I have an imagination, my grammar and tenses need work rather badly. Also, my muse has a tendency to bite. The third stanza of the prophecies that you see here is my self- created one, after many, many tries at trying to sound prophetic and right. Also appreciate any comments on that.

On the day of the dead, when the year too dies

Must the youngest open the oldest hills Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks There fire shall fly from the raven boy And the silver eyes that see the wind And the light shall have the harp of gold

By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie On Cadfan's way where the kestrels call Though grim from the Grey King shadows fall Yet singing the golden harp shall guide To break their sleep and bid them ride

Forgotten by all, save those outside time A soul centuries old, trapped within her mind Her body lies in a forest under an empty hill To waken her from sleep, this is harder still A fallen angel with a forgotten name A strong, but lonely spirit that none save one can tame Asleep, she is beautiful of face, but her secret will forever bide Awakened, her secret will change the fate of mankind

When light from the lost land shall return Six sleepers shall ride, six signs shall burn And where the midsummer tree grows tall By Pendragon's sword, the Dark shall fall

She had been so like me and yet.she hadn't been. She was almost a decade my junior and yet there were times she had made feel like a young squire again. If she would but wake, I would not mind this feeling if she would but wake so that she might speak. She was ever more beautiful now, though she was in a rough cavern and not in a lofty castle as she should be. Even asleep, her regal bearing seemed to show through. However, the sadness that seemed to surround her at all times had now left. I could see now how young she truly was and it makes me immeasurably sad that such a beautiful, young woman would be fated to this cruel destiny. Perhaps, I regretted the cruel turn Destiny had given her more than she. No young girl of her age should bear such responsibility. No girl should hold herself up like she did, as if the weight of the world rested upon her and she strained every day to prevent her collapse. The small silver sparks in her eyes had only lit up rarely in laughter. Perhaps now, she would sleep, to later awaken and live the life denied her. The eyes that held too much wisdom for her years are now shut in the blissful sleep that had never come while she had fully lived. How ironic that she had spoken to me before this last battle of how tired she was. Sleep would keep her for many years now, perhaps forever. My eyelids grow heavier and my hand grows weaker as I write. I know that should I succumb to sleep, I shall never wake. My wounds are severe and I have not been able to staunch the bleeding fully. I shall not live much longer, yet I know I must write of these days. I pray that my trust has not fallen into the wrong hands. I suspect though that the Dark has once again been foiled and knows no more about it's whereabouts than I. Somehow, I know that she does know where it lies. If so, then it will be safe for as long as it takes. The Pendragon shall find her in years to come, in regal state over sea and under stone. He shall find my bones and perhaps this account, though I plan to seal it in metal and send it out into the sea. He will find no scorch of lightning on m'lady Nanashi, though the lightning struck her. There are wounds deep within her however, and this is why she sleeps. She sleeps to heal so that one day, she may waken to guard the grail again, as she and I did together. Heal m'lady. My spirit shall guard your sleep and this manuscript will tell your story. Let the one who finds this account know that m'lady Nanashi, in protection of the most sacred of objects, flung herself off the headland above us and was stricken by lighting while still falling. I followed her, so that I might escape the Dark Lords as well, keeping my soul from their foul touch. I fell into deep water and remember little for some time. Finally, I fully awoke with no scratch on me and found Lady Nanashi lying in the water. Following a light that seemed to come from inside the headland, I came upon a cavern. A slab of rock waist high was within and placing my cloak beneath her, I left her here. She still wore upon her brow the crown that's beauty equaled hers. Delicate vines of silver twined together, their leaves veined with silver thread. Silver jasmine flowers lay between the leaves, dotted with small diamonds in the shape of dewdrops. Many a time, I had wondered if perhaps they smelled, so real they did look. I had never seen her remove this crown and am glad that she still retains it, even after her fall. I somehow feel she would be incomplete without it. We had hoped, together, that we might leave my trust with an honest Cornish vicar, but the Dark is clever and had slain him even as he wrote the pledge to his children to guard it and clues to a forgotten hiding place. I think that this is the hiding place the Cornishman spoke of, over sea and under stone. Perhaps, what the Cornishman wrote will finally fall to someone's hands that may use this account and those words to find us, in our prison and safe haven, over sea and under stone. I pray that God Almighty will find it in his grace to deliver these clues to the right hands, in the right time and that m'lady Nanashi will not merely lay here for eternity. That one day, the Pendragon shall rise again and he shall seek and find my trust with the Lady and that someone will wipe the sadness permanently from her eyes. I succeeded in this but a few times, but each time her smile seemed a radiant sun to my eyes and I feared I had ascended to Heaven for the joy I felt. Let another feel this joy again and make her happier than she has ever been. For by God, she deserves it. I sign my name to this record before I seal it in cloth and iron. Hopefully, someone has heard my prayers and as I go to join my comrades and king, I may leave without a heavy heart. For the dark rose, and fell, but will again. And I hope that the new world will not be raped of its good men as the Dark has done to this age. Sir Bedwin, Knight of the Round Table, Last Guardian to the Grail