"DownUnder: King Arthur"

Author: Alasia Moonstalker

Legalese: I own only the three girls, nothing King Arthur belongs to me.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Haley, Karen and Corrie landed in LOTR once. What's to say something similar won't happen again? This time they have to deal with Saxons and Romans and Woads – not Orcs.

DownUnder: King Arthur

Chapter One:

It was easy for Haley Hayes to block out the world at times. Mostly when she was sparring in some form or another. Today she was dressed in a way that would raise eyebrows, baggy tan cargo pants with a tight black tee and big black boots. It wasn't her clothes that looked weird; it was the pair of brown leather bracers on her wrists with the Celtic design in them, with the two small throwing knives attached to the underarm. It was the longsword of elf-make strapped to her side, the unseen Rohirric dagger in her left boot.

Haley Hayes thought of herself as a typical twenty-year-old woman. Usually. She smiled grimly to herself as she looked to the side of the room. There was a bookcase and a set of cabinets alongside a bin. In the bin were a trio of backpacks. Two were jansport, forest green and purple, the last was a black satchel. All three held a myriad of things, ready to travel at last minute. Mostly a change of clothes or two, toiletries, a first aid kit and mostly an elegant medieval style dress. The bookcase was laden with books and notebooks and folders filled with music from the Elves, the Ents, the Dwarves, Hobbits and Man. On top of the bookcase was a guitar case, inside the case lay an electric guitar, blue and beaten with a silvery gray guitar strap. It had been a gift and was threaded with Mithril. The cabinet set was filled with medical equipment. Bandages, ointments and the like. On the windowsill on the other side of the room was a wooden box with ivy and flowers carved into it. Growing out of the box was a flourishing Athelas plant.

"Practicing again?"

Haley looked over to the door and smiled slightly. Karen Upchurch was one of those women who got a lot of double-takes. Haley's light brown hair was layered around her face and always worn back in a low tail, and her green eyes held a guarded look. Karen, though shorter than her friend, had waist length, honey blonde hair that fell in loose waves, creamy skin compared to Haley's tan, and bright blue eyes. Karen had a thin, curvy figure, Haley was all muscle.

"Yeah."

"You miss it?"

"Sometimes." Haley replied, sheathing her sword and striding to the table at the side of the room to grab her water bottle. "Most times."

"Things have changed since then, I know that Hale." Karen said, standing next to Haley and giving her friend a smile. "But it's been two years, settle."

"You want me to settle?" Haley asked. She gave Karen a sideways look. "I've tried Ren. It's not as easy as it sounds. I'm a warrior, and as much as I forced myself into that role, I love it."

"So join the military." Karen said.

"They don't let women into ground combat."

"Oh, right." Karen shrugged.

"What's going on?" A new voice asked as the door opened an closed. "You guys seem melancholy."

"Haley's been dreaming again." Karen said, looking to Corrie Robbins.

Corrie was a tried and true red-head. It was cut in layers, falling low on her forehead and framing her neck. The result of growing it out from a cropped, spiky look. Her brown eyes werehidden behind frameless glasses and her nose carried a smattering of freckles. She was the shortest of the three and was more willowy than Karen.

Together they were a bard, a healer and a warrior. Three best friends who'd gone through hell together and came out changed but happy.

"Mope when your dead." Corrie said with a grin as she did a little dance. She was in a nice black suit. A medical student, third year. "Let's party!"

"Why?" Karen asked. She wore a long jean skirt with a slit up one side to her thigh, tall black, heeled boots and a white tee with a red collar and cuffs.

"Because it's the weekend and I don't have to work tomorrow?" Corrie asked.

Haley and Karen exchanged a look. Haley shrugged and moved to the wall in order to put her weapons away. Her feet wouldn't move. Corrie let out a shriek from where she stood and snatched the box off the windowsill. Karen stared down.

"Not again."

Corrie landed on her tailbone and pain shot up her back. A series of thuds around her made her eyes snap open. She stared. Her pack, and those of her friends sat around her. She set the athelas plant down and sat up, hand on her lower back. Haley and Karen were nowhere to be seen.

"Oi! You!"

Corrie's head snapped around and she stared. There was a very large, burly and bald man sitting on a large, dark bay horse not twenty feet away. She stared openly at him as he got off the horse and walked over to her. He was armed and armored and had multiple scars on his bare arms.

"Where'd you come from?" He asked. Corrie shrugged. "I coulda sworn you fell out of the sky."

"I probably did." Corrie said, getting to her feet with his help. She rubbed her tailbone. "Where are we?"

"In the mountains north of Hadrian's Wall." He replied in his loud, boisterous voice. Another man came walking over. He had long, tangled blonde hair. "I'm Bors. That's Gawain."

Corrie's eyes went wide. "As is Arthur and his Knights?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Well, any possible way you guys would be willing to aim me at that wall?" Corrie asked.

"Sure. We are headed that way." Gawain said. "Come."

Corrie let Gawain take her arm as Bors grabbed the box and the three bags and followed.

Haley hit the ground rolling. She impacted with her shoulder and rolled to her feet and crouched low with her hands on the ground, examining her surroundings. There was no one in sight. And it was snowing. Haley stood and shook the feeling back into her shoulder. That would be sore in a couple of hours she figured. At least she had her weapons. She sighed, now she had to pick a direction. She held her arm out in front of her, pointing and spun in a circle, counting to ten. She stopped spinning and waited until the world stopped spinning as well before she stared walking in the direction she'd stopped facing.

Karen landed in a tree. Which was not only painful to her stomach, but also not the right spot to be in when wearing a skirt and above a campsite. She slid backwards and let out a shriek as she fell. She grabbed the branch she'd landed on and held on. Because of her shriek the men below her looked up. Two of them had dark curly hair, one was wearing a kilt the other had twin swords strapped to his back.

That was when Corrie appeared, being led by a blonde man and followed by a burly bald man carrying their bags.

"Corrie!" Karen shrieked. She kicked her legs a little as she realized that there weren't any branches lower than the one she was on and she had to be a good six feet from the ground.

Corrie looked up. "Karen! What are you doing up there?"

"Oh, I dunno, seeing which was the lonely mountain is?" Karen shot at her friend angrily. "This is where I landed you nit!"

"Oh." Corrie looked slightly sheepish. She took their things from the bald man. "You can let go of the branch, Bors will catch you."

"Who?"

"Me." The bald man said, moving under her.

"Oh, right." Karen rolled her eyes, closed them and let go of the branch. She fell straight into Bors' arms. He remained upright. She cracked an eye open and looked up at him. "Thanks."