This Is My Choice
By: Aelia O'Hession
Disclaimer: I own nothing of King Arthur. The only thing that is actually mine is the character of Fainne. That's just about it. So if you sue me, you won't get much… just a brick maybe!
Author's Note: This little fic is my take of what may have happened had certain events not occurred. The aforementioned events a quite sad and I regret to admit that they are part of the movie. Enough of my drivel…. On with the fic!
Part One
Everything had ended. Time had stopped and I had fallen over the edge. Tumbling through this dark expanse, nothing made sense anymore. I was abandoned and there was nothing to guide me anymore. No where to turn, no where to hide. All I know is that I'm shivering in a pile of snow. "Blessed Goddess" I mutter. My thin shift clings to my frozen body as I stumble forward. As I trip on a hidden tree root, the cold metal of my Trinity slaps my bare flesh. I slump forward, the cold claiming the last of my senses. Closing my eyes, I beg for sleep to take me, and welcome Death's icy fingers.
Sometime later, I awake to the sound of horses' hooves approaching. I realize that this is no dream and that Death has refused to take me. Barely, I muster the strength to turn my head in the direction of the sound. Through the slits of my eyes, I see knights on horseback, wagons and villagers moving along a path. I try to cry out, but I can not find my voice. Weakly, I raise my hand slightly, in hope of catching someone's attention.
"Halt!" a voice cries.
Slowly the caravan comes to a stop. A knight climbs out of one of the wagons. He is tall and serious looking. Another knight rides up tom him.
"What…?"
Wordlessly, the knight walks past the one on horseback. Slowly he makes his way through the underbrush to where I lay. He scans the land, trying to find some trick of the Woads or Saxons. Finding nothing, he kneels at the pile of now that is my body. Gently, he brushes some snow away from me. I make a slight movement of fright, and he catches it. I have told him that I am alive, if barely.
"Get blankets!" he cries. He continues to brush the snow away. From the corner of my eye I see someone approach with an armload of blankets. "You needn't fear me," he says as he wraps my frozen body in the warm blankets.
I am brought to the wagon where the knight carrying me had first appeared from. Inside I perceive a young boy, a young woman and an elder woman who appears to be caring for the young woman. The knight settles me in a corner, near the young boy.
"I am Dagonet," the knight tells me. "You're safe now."
Before sleep claims me, I manage to mutter, "I'm Fainne." My eyes close as the wagon starts to move again. I drift off to sleep, this time not wishing Death to claim me.