G'day, Bonjour, Konnichi wa, Guten Tag…Hello lol. That concludes my knowledge in languages other then English.
This is my first King Arthur story to be posted, and also the first I wrote so bare with me =)
I've gone with the plot of girls-go-back-in-time-meet-Knights-etc, but before you roll your eyes and press the 'back' button I assure you their not the screaming fan-girl types. Lol.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling and let you form your own opinion. I hope you enjoy it =D
Disclaimer- I'm quite certain I don't own King Arthur. If I did there wouldn't have been so many dead ones at the end of the movie.
BETA work done by Kanae Valentine-Thank you!
Chapter 1-Tree Tops
I blink my eyes several times as they adjust to the light and what I see makes me frown. Blue sky, with a couple of white, fluffy clouds. This is not my ceiling. My ceiling is white and there aren't any tree tops either.
Groggily, I push myself up onto my elbows and then notice that I am on the ground.
I blink again and my eyes slowly come into focus. I am in the middle of a clearing with, what appears to be, forest all around.
Warily I tuck the stray strand of my pale blonde, almost white hair, behind my ears.
Where the hell am I?
This is the point where I start panicking. I don't even remember going to sleep! Let alone here. No, the last thing I remember is riding through the bush behind my house with my friends and then….nothing.
Oh my God! Friends! Where are Ash and Tammy? And our horses, how the hell could I lose my horse? The big tall, four-legged, white thing that you just can't miss?
I whip my head each way and let out a relieved breath when I see my friends lying next to me.
Ashley Wharton and Tamara Groves are my best friends. Ash and I are the same age and Tams is a year older then us, but we had all gone to the same high school.
Tams looks peaceful, her long chocolate coloured hair is loose and all over the place bringing out her pale skin; Ash on the other hand wears a frown and is biting her bottom lip like she always does when she's thinking hard. She has short curly red hair and tanned skin.
They are both wearing the same clothes as when we were riding and after a quick glance so am I. My blue army pattern jeans and white singlet. I feel around my neck for the dog tags that I always wear and clasp my hands around them.
They were my brothers. I had gotten them when he had died two years ago in a training accident.
Slowly, I crawl over to my friends and shake their shoulders urgently.
"Guys," I whisper, my voice hoarse and thick. "Guys, wake up please."
Their eyes flick open and true to form Ash glares at me. "D'you loose yer mind, Lily? Go 'way and lemme sleep."
Yeah, she's not a morning person, though, I have no idea what time it is.
"We have a big problem," I hiss at her.
To my left Tam has already sat up and is surveying our surroundings.
"Where are we?" she asks slowly, her green eyes displaying her confusion.
Ash sits bolt upright as well, her strange but stunning crimson eyes flicking between confusion and anger. "What the cheese sticks?"
"I don't know!" I glare at her, ignoring her strange saying. "I just woke up and here we were. What happened? All I remember is riding with you guys and then...nothing."
Tam slowly shakes her head; she is the logical one and always tries to sort out the logical answer to everything. Ash often scoffs about it and says it is a twenty year old thing since she and I are both nineteen.
"I…I don't know, the last thing I remember is Bolt dropping his head then nothing." She mutters. Bolt is her five year old brown gelding, named because of the white mark on his shoulder that is shaped like a lighting bolt.
Ash cocks her head to the side thoughtfully. "I remember a white light, like how the sun reflects off a mirror or watch. Then zip."
I lean back on my shins and sigh.
"Lily," Tammy says suddenly and a worried expression flashes on her face as she reaches her hand up to my face and brushes her thumb over my cheek. I hiss as the action had stung. "You've got a…scratch. It looks like a half moon though."
I touch my hand to my cheek and feel the crescent-shaped pattern and the dried blood that had dried on it.
"I don't remember getting this…" I mutter and drop my hand. "That doesn't matter. We've got to figure out where we are and what to do."
They look blankly at me. We are an odd mix, the three of us.
Tam is the clever one, the brains. Ash is a case of 'hit first ask questions later' and I'm, well, I'm the shy one.
Ash starts at least seventy percent of all fights she's involved in and has a different guy nearly every week. I will back down even if I am right and my shortest relationship lasts five months.
Tam is a mix of us both, taking the route that will give her the most advantage. She balances us out and so, surprisingly, we are a perfect fit together. Even though we disagree on pretty much everything.
Ash blows her bright red fringe out of her eyes and stand up, dusting the dirt off her brown riding breeches and black t-shirt and adjusting her red belt. "Where's Arrow?"
She narrows her eyes and look around for her three-year-old chestnut stallion.
I shrug. "Don't know. Bolt and Bells weren't here either when I woke, but that was only about five minutes ago."
They nod and Tam sighed before heaving herself to her feet and copying Ash's dusting off. She is wearing light blue jeans, tawny coloured quarter sleeved shirt and a light tan long sleeved shirt over the top. She has the palest skin out of the three of us and is constantly worried about sunburn.
"Whistle Bells, maybe?" she suggests, tying her hair up into a high pony tail and the bottom of it still reaching the middle of her back.
Bells is my two year old white mare, beautiful white mane and tail and silky hide. My pride and joy.
Putting my fingers in my mouth, I let out a shrill whistle that echoed through the trees. Seconds later, Bells trots into the clearing, her new black saddle and bridal all still on her and in pristine condition. Thank God, or I would probably have had a heart attack.
"Hello, my beautiful girl," I coo as she comes to me and presses her soft nose against my cheek in her adoring greeting.
I gently take hold of her reins and check her over for scratches, and happily found none.
"She was close, maybe the other two are as well."
My friends nod.
"ARROW! C'MON BOY, FOOD!" Ash yells at the top of her lungs while Tam rolls her eyes and goes in the direction that Bells had come from.
She stops at the beginning of the trees as sticks break in front of her and both of their horses appear and go to their mistresses.
"Well," Ash grins, patting her gleaming chestnut fondly. "That was easy."
Tam grinned from her position at Bolt's head, the gelding was hunting her shirt pockets for his treats. "I suppose, but it still doesn't tell us where we are." She produced a sugar cube and rewarded the persistent beast.
Ash rolls her eyes. "Yeah, but at least now we won't have to walk."
I giggle and hoist myself up into the saddle, the girls quickly doing the same.
Ash rummages around in her saddlebag and smiles. "It's ok. All the lollies are ok."
Tam and I roll our eyes. Ash has a massive sweet tooth, one rivalled only by Bolt. I'm surprised their teeth haven't all fallen out by now.
"No service," Tam declares as she studies her phone and holds it in different places. "We'd better start riding and hope we come across at town or something."
I nod and look at the sky. Still clear and bright. The trees are making it difficult to locate the sun, though.
"I don't know how much daylight we have. I can't see the sun from here," I muse. Typical, the only useful thing taught at school camps and I can't find the damn sun.
"Oh well, we'll find out how long we have when it gets dark, ay?" Ash chuckles and heads off in front.
Tam and I follow without complaint, after all, we don't have any better ideas on direction.
We ride for a couple of hours, through more and more trees and a couple of clearings, but there is no sign of civilisation. We hadn't talked all that much, too lost in thought to form sentences.
Finally, Ash lets out a frustrated sigh and Arrow halts. We are in a small space clear of trees.
"We should make some sort of camp here, before it gets any darker." Then mutters under her breath. "I hate camping."
I look upward and note the pink tinge to the sky signalling the coming of darkness. I let out a breath. At least wherever we are it still gets dark at night and would hopefully get light in the morning.
"I don't understand." I mutter moments later when we are pulling the saddles from our horses and removing the bits from their mouths so they can graze more easily. We don't bother tying them up. They never have gone far from us. They are like dogs in that respect.
Ash silently starts to gather sticks and logs for a fire and Tam and I clear a spot for it in the centre.
"I don't understand," Ash repeats my statement when the fire is up and going and we have settled down around it.
"I don't know," Tam replies after a moment. "It doesn't make sense, we started riding this morning, early. When we woke up it was only about three hours until dark. The terrain is different here. The vegetation is different. I saw a bird before that defiantly is not native to Australia."
"So…so what does that mean?" I ask quietly.
She opens her mouth but closes it again and thinks. "I don't know."
"Well, we're defiantly not where we started. In fact, it means we're in an entirely different place." Ash declares sarcastically.
"Ashley, don't." Tam scolds. "Now is not the time."
"Ok so I got that bit, but how?" I press. It doesn't make sense. "Tam, are you suggesting we're not even in Australia?"
She shrugs helplessly. "I don't know, Lily. I can't say for sure but this doesn't look like any environment in Aus. The climate is completely changed. It's colder here, and the plants are species more suited to colder climates. This place looks…European to me."
"European?" Ash screeches. "As in, on the other end of the bloody earth?"
"That's impossible," I whisper. "Have we been kidnapped?"
Tam is the smart one. She was majoring in biology and plants and that type of stuff. She knows. She has to know!
Ash swears loudly but calms a bit when Tam shakes her head. "If we had been kidnapped, why put us out here, with no guards, and why bring our horses? None of our families are powerful or overly rich. They don't have influential connections do they?"
We shook our heads. My family was probably the richest but my father had inherited the money and had been a doctor.
"Ok, so we haven't been kidnapped," Ash says, sorting out all the pieces in her head. "So what?"
"Now that is a very good question," Tam smiles comfortingly. "We'll figure this out I promise."
I nod but I don't really hear her. I am starting to get drowsy and all too soon I curl up on the ground and fall asleep.
Sooo? Chapter one finished, what did you think? Good, bad, otherwise? I'd love to hear what you thought =). What I'm doing right or wrong (the latter being the most probable probably lol)
Please review (but I won't die if you don't) and let me know what you're thinking :). Have a nice day!
Til next time,
~Angel