1.
The quiet of the woods around Camelot castle was shattered by a loud mechanical wheezing. Suddenly, a large blue box materialized between two trees. Leaves blew wildly out of the way as it appeared.
The door creaked open and a young man with wavy brown hair poked his head out, sniffed the air and looked around. A wide grin spread over his face. He whooped as he bounded out of the box. "Earth, Britain, forest; good Tardis. This is nice."
"What's so interesting about a forest, Doctor?" a girl asked as she followed the Doctor out of the Tardis. She was beautiful and tall with long red hair. She was also wearing an extremely short mini-skirt and looked completely out of place in a forest.
"Can't you smell it, Amy?" the Doctor asked as if it were a very stupid question. "The lovely fresh air, the horse dung, the turf fires? No?"
Amy took a deep breath. "Nope, nothing. When are we?"
The Doctor laughed cheerfully and led Amy through to the edge of the forest. A beautiful castle loomed over the landscape. Its beige towers soared to the sky and pennants fluttered from the walls.
Amy gaped in wonder. The Doctor grinned at her reaction and said: "We're in 520AD. That, Amy Pond, is the city and castle of Camelot."
"Camelot?" Amy repeated. "You're serious?" The Doctor nodded. "Can we go see King Arthur?"
The Doctor gave her a look. Amy began to wither, thinking that she had shown ignorance again. Maybe King Arthur was a myth. But then, the Doctor grinned again. "Of course we can go see King Arthur. Come along, Pond!"
The two bounded through the forest, laughing and chatting. The Doctor kept pointing out shrubs and trees to Amy, who pretended to be interested.
They reached the city with no mishap. The place was bustling as there was a market on. The Doctor delightedly ran from stall to stall in the marketplace, every bit a little boy in a candy story. He insisted that Amy see and try everything there was to offer.
"I'm surprised that it's all so clean," Amy commented as she walked through the city with the Doctor, both of them munching on freshly baked herb bread and cheese. "I always thought the medieval middle ages were dirty. Like there'd be horse dung everywhere and people emptying buckets out of windows."
"Well, I'm sure we can find you some horse dung to step on if you want, Pond," he said teasingly. "They do try to keep clean and avoid the 'vapours'. They believe the 'vapours' create diseases and evilness…" he trailed off as he spotted something. He grabbed Amy's hand and quickly strode forward as the crowd surged, also going in the same direction. "Look, a public flogging. That is textbook medieval middle ages."
"Why is everyone gathering to watch?" Amy asked. "It can't be a very nice sight."
"It's like a car crash," the Doctor explained. "Everyone wants to see. There isn't any YouTube or HBO. This is their form of entertainment."
The crowd was certainly starting to build and a group of particularly eager peasants rudely pushed Amy aside to get a better view.
"Oi!" she protested, but the group did not pay attention. In fact, they were jostling others and attempting to push their way to the front. The Doctor just grinned in amusement at Amy's annoyance.
The guards announced the name of the man to be flogged and that he had been caught housebreaking and stealing. His sentence was 10 lashes and two hours in the stocks. That group of peasants began applauding when the whip began to fall and tear open the man's flesh.
Some other people, like Amy, looked away after a few lashes. The Doctor too, was serious for once – he did not like violence of any kind.
At the sixth lash, the Doctor nudged Amy and made a motion for her to leave. Amy was all too glad to. She did not enjoy that spectacle at all and said so. "It's sick how this is entertainment."
"These are more violent times," the Doctor said. "Come on, let's go see the castle."
Amy brightened up at the suggestion and they both wandered into the beautiful courtyard. Amy had not seen such a castle before. She was used to castles that were dark, empty crumbling ruins. This building was full of light, vibrant and bustling with life – servants hurried around performing their tasks, men in chainmail and large swords practiced in the yard, nobles (clearly, judging by the finery of their dress) bustled around importantly. No one paid Amy and the Doctor any heed.
The Doctor explained that since it was a time of peace, there were few guards and that King Arthur encouraged communication between the ordinary folk and the nobility.
He then led Amy to set of large oaken doors. He quietly opened them and they discreetly slipped inside. There were people inside and, at the front of the hall, the King and Queen sat on ornate thrones.
"Amy, welcome to the court of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere," the Doctor whispered.