Disclaimer: As much as I would like to I do not own Arthur, his Knights or anything to do with the film 'King Arthur'.
A/N: After a loooooooong break of not writing anything I have returned to the world of fanfiction and have to decided to write something :) Reviews are very much welcomed, positive and negative, but obviously positive ones are preferred ;)
Much love,
Lennapie.
Chapter 1
A Heavy Night
Before Anna could react she was on the floor, her face in the dirt and grass poking invasively into her nostrils. She fought for breath but the pressure on top of her skinny frame was too much and she squirmed desperately. Her bones poked into the hard summer ground and she tried to force out words. "Puh-leeeease…" She choked as the pressure lifted off her slightly and a forceful prodding began on her side.
"Yield! Yield!" Came a loud giggling voice in her ear.
"Fine," She gasped finally flinging the weight off her back. Anna rolled away and sat up on her knees looking at the curvaceous young woman rolling on the grass next to her. "Twenty-one and we're still acting like kids," Anna laughed.
"Would you change it?"
"Not at all Mary!" She grinned through her mop of straw-coloured hair. The cold northern wind blew across them as they lay on the grassy slope.
Anna watched as Mary spiked mussed her dyed ginger crop and lit a cigarette. "Reckon we should head back to the dig yet?" Anna asked sitting up and peering towards the rest of their class digging in the light yellow of the summer sun. "Nah," Mary replied. "I can't be arsed with archaeology today…"
"Ginge," She sighed using Mary's pet name. "You've never been fussed with archaeology in the three years I've known you."
"You mean since I started a degree in the subject?" Mary replied. They giggled and Anna blew her fringe out her eyes. "Do you ever wish you could go back to simpler times?" She asked the ginger girl who offered her a cigarette."Thanks," She said and lit up.
"You mean like when you were a kid?" Mary asked sitting up to join her.
"No… Like go back to the end of the Roman occupation. When it was all wooded and the Celts were there and all that chivalry and knights and..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, Digby," Anna cringed at the name; it was the name of the halls of residence she had stayed in during her time as a fresher. "There are so many things wrong with what you just said. I despair!"
Anna frowned and took a drag on her cigarette. "Firstly," Mary began. "The end of the Roman occupation is not when you'd want to live. All that upheaval and the Saxons and all sorts of crap! Secondly, yes there were woods but as you so academically pointed out there are woads in the woods… ergo not good. Also chivalry never existed it was just a stupid medieval construct, the kind of 'knights' you'd find there would be dirty, smelly, uncouth men with foul mouths in so many senses… think how much you'd miss the metro-sexual man who uses a toothbrush!" Mary paused for breath and to grin at her. "So, in short: no I don't think about it."
"Just thought it'd be cool."
"Being here at Hadrian's wall in that time would not be cool, Digs."
That evening they sat outside the one pub in the entire place on a bench smoking cigarettes and slowly working their way through a bottle of cheap white wine each. "I," Slurred Mary happily. "I think we should congratulate," She stopped to burp, "Ourselves on a day of hard graft uncovering the mysteries of the past!"
"I'll drink to that Ginger!" Anna said wobbling her glass up to meet Mary's.
"You'll drink to anything!" The blur of drunken hilarity flushed through them as Mary attempted to pull anything that seemed to be male and remotely single and Anna stood on the sidelines hoping she might bump into that Mr. Right that had eluded her the entire time at university.
They really didn't remember finding their way back to the hostel being that hard the night before. Then again, the night before they had been sober enough to remember James Donaghy getting so drunk he wet himself when they woke up in the morning. They stumbled over the lumps in the road that felt a bit grassy holding each other up. "Cigarette!" Mary demanded. "We're out!" Anna replied. They huffed in sync and laughed, stumbling on a bump in the ground.
The joy of inebriation… they didn't even realize as they started to topple over the side of a steep ditch. Neither of them felt anything after respective and numerous blows to the head.
-
"Heavy bloody night," Anna moaned sitting up and holding her head in her hands. She didn't dare open her eyes in case they hadn't drawn the curtains that night. "Did you leave the window open Mary? It's so cold!"
"No… go away…" Was her muffled reply. Anna yawned and opened her eyes looking at the grassy expanse. "Ginge…" No response. "Mary!" She roared and elbowed the sleeping lump next to her. "We're outside…" Mary sat bolt upright.
"What the hell?" She exclaimed. "Oh. My. Pie."
"What?" Anna asked.
"Turn around right now." She turned and…
"Jesus Christ is that? Is that? Is it?"
"Hadrian's wall."
"How did we get here? What did we drink? Or did you make me take something? Oh my God I'm going to fail my degree."
"I think your degree is the least important thing right now, Digby." Anna tried not to hyperventilate as the usual sound of machinery was replaced with the clack of horse hooves and the sounds of tradesmen. "I think the most important thing is," Mary said standing up and stretching. "Is what the greasy poo are we going to do without nicotine?" She screeched.
"What is this noise wench?" A gruff voice interrupted.
"Wench? I'll wench you if you say –" Anna hit Mary in the leg and looked up. A man with shoulder-length dark matted hair and facial tattoos looked down with a cold eye. "Are ye Saxon?"
"I – I – I don't think so," Anna stuttered, his gaze turned to her and she froze her words disintegrating in her mouth. "You will come and see my commander, he will deal with you, I have little patience for women's matters."
"Who is your commander?" Mary asked huffing as he dismounted his horse and pulled his katana-like sword from the sheath between his shoulder blades. Anna took cautious step back and the surly man caught her eye.
"Arthur Castus."
Mary and Anna exchanged looks as he led them in through the main gates. "The Arthur Castus?" Mary hissed at her. Anna shrugged. "I blame you for even bringing up this scenario yesterday. You know what I'm not convinced this isn't just a crazy dream – Ow!" The man had poked her in the back with his sword. "Keep walking."
"Doesn't seem much like a dream…" Anna replied to her.
"Well, if it isn't I still don't see how I'm going to survive without nicotine. I'm already getting narky and I've only been up for ten minutes."
Anna looked around the now bustling street, feeling terrified in her jeans and checkered shirt. "This is so not what I needed first thing on a hangover day…"
A/N: First chapter done! Yaaaaay :) More to come.
Hit the little review button… you know you want to ;)