Back in the castle, Kai looked over as Linwood stirring, turning over on the ground with a groan. Lorrie walked over

to him. "Sir?" she asked. "Are you alright?" he stared up at her for a few moments before jumping up, gasping in shock. "Did it work? Did it? Are you- who are you?" He glanced around the room, gasping as his gaze landed on Arthur before turning his attention back to Lorie.

"I am Lady Lorie," she responded.

"Why have you summoned us here?" Arthur asked, moving forward towards him.

"I- I am sorry, sire, but I felt that it was necessary." Linwood said. "With the state that the kingdom is in- well, I didn't think that we could restore the kingdom to its proper order by ourselves. There are too few of us." He bowed slightly.

Arthur nodded. "You felt that you could not manage on your own, so you summoned a higher power."

"Forgive my interruption, sire," Gawain interrupted. "But would you mind telling us your name, and where we are exactly?" he asked Linwood.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, of course! I am Baron Linwood of this fief, Dacton, in the kingdom of Araluen, which was formerly known as the island of Britain. It is the year 1247."

Arthur nodded distractedly. "And what is the state of the kingdom? Why did you find it necessary to summon myself?"

Linwood hesitated. "Well, sire, the current king, King Duncan- he-" his face grew hard. "He is trampling on the rights of the people. I- I didn't know what else to do. I am too weak to change things by myself, and I found this spell, and I thought- well, I could think of nothing else."

Natalie began to stir. Linwood hurried over to her and pulled her head into his lap. "Natalie?" he said gently, patting her cheek. "Natalie, we've done it, it worked, wake up!" She stirred, turning her head slightly as her eyes fluttered open. "What? It worked?" She turned her head to stare at the strangers. Gawain waved cheekily at her, smiling. Lorie rolled her eyes and hit him in the chest with her elbow. "Behave, you," she muttered.

"Your majesty," Linwood began. "May I present my wife, the Lady Natalie."

Arthur nodded to her as she curtsied deeply. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Natalie. May I present my seneschal and brother, Sir Kai, my nephew Sir Gawain and his wife, Lady Lorie, Sir Lancelot-"

Natalie gasped, staring at him in amazement. Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh, no, not one of those," he muttered to Gawain.

"And Lady Eileen. And the Lady Morgan has not yet awakened."

"Welcome back, sire," Linwood bowed. "Now, why don't I show you to your rooms. We can discuss things later."

"Of course," Arthur responded smoothly.

Linwood and Lady Natalie led the way out of the room with the others following. "Arthur," hissed Kai. "Are we really going trust them?"

"I don't know yet," Arthur responded softly, his lips barely moving. "That's what Terence is supposed to find out."

"But how is he supposed to get back here to us without them noticing?"

Arthur sighed softly. "Have you ever noticed, Kai, that Terence can do almost anything when he puts his mind to it?"

"But still-"

"What else can we do? We are in an unfamiliar land in an unfamiliar time. All we can do now is wait and see what happens."

Terence clung to the side of the tower unsteadily. He had thought that he was completely recovered from being asleep for who knew how long, but apparently he hadn't. He took a deep breath and moved farther down the tower, holding tight to the jagged stones. A few feet from the bottom, he jumped, landing in a crouch on top of the castle battlements. He carefully made his way to the door to the main part of the castle, moving confidently. The servants' quarters were relatively easy to find; the layout of castles hadn't changed very much from what he was familiar with. He quickly snagged a new change of clothes and a pack from one of the castle's manservants. In the guards' quarters, he was able to grab a bow and arrows. They were the rather flimsy hunting kind, but they would be useful anyway.

Terence slowly worked his way unnoticed through the rest of the castle, borrowing whatever he thought he would need. He did regret stealing from the servants, but there really wasn't any other alternative. Silently, he slipped through the castle gate and into the nearby woods.

. . .

Terence walked carefully down the path to the nearby village. He had made his way through the woods surrounding the castle, avoiding the road so he wouldn't be seen. He came upon a small hunting path and began following it. A small path like this would be better than just making his way haphazardly through the trees. He heard shouts from in front of him, further along the path and just around a bend, so he couldn't see what was happening. He slid of the path and into the trees, making his way slowly and carefully towards the sounds. He came up to a small clearing and peered out from around the trees.

There was a large group of soldiers, wearing what Terence recognized as the local baron's coat of arms. He had seen it earlier scattered throughout the castle. They were accompanied by some mounted knights, all surrounding a single man. To the side of them, around fourteen of the soldiers lay, some not moving and others being tended to by someone who could have been their healer. They all looked to have been hit with arrows. He looked around the clearing again and this time spotted a man tied to a tree. One of the commanding officers appeared to be questioning him, before hitting him and walking away. Terence backed away from the tree and started ghosting through the trees over to the tied up man.

Will leaned his head back against the tree he was tied to. Somehow, they had known that he was coming. And while he was good, even he couldn't fight thirty men at close quarters by himself. He smirked to himself. It was somewhat gratifying to know that they feared him enough to send that many people.

"Having a bit of trouble?" he heard a quiet voice say from behind him.

Will barely managed to stop himself from flinching. "You might say that," he said, barely moving his lips. "What's it to you?"

He could practically hear the shrug. "Nothing much, I was just curious."

"Who are you, anyway?" Will asked.

"My name's Terence. I'm- ah, that is, I transport goods."

Will gave a barely noticeable smile. "You mean you're a smuggler."

"You might say that." There was a hint of humor in Terence's voice. "And you? What'd you do to annoy them so much?"

Will hesitated. "My name's Will. I'm a King's Ranger."

There was a pause. "I guess I should rephrase my previous question. What did they do to attract your attention?"

"That's not really important right now," Will said carefully. "Do you have a horse?"

"No. Why?"

"Do you think that you could steal one of those over there?" he nodded over to the soldiers' horses, standing tied to a tree.

"If you distracted them, then I think I could."

"Good. If you take a message for me, then I can make it worth your while."

"You do realize that you're tied to a tree, right?"

Will rolled his eyes. "The people you take the message to will reward you, then." He waited for an answer.

Terence sighed softly. "What's the message, then?"

Will relaxed slightly. Things were looking up again.

. . .

Terence glanced around the tree. He was standing next to the horses, waiting for Will to move. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the man, and he had no idea what a king's ranger was, but even from the brief conversation they had had, he liked Will. There wasn't much information he could glean from the message that Will gave him, but maybe he would be able to learn more at Castle Araluen.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye as one of the soldiers walked past Will. Almost quicker than Terence could see, Will snapped a leg out right as the soldier walked past him. He tripped, his arms flailing as he tried to catch his balance again, but without hope. The others looked over as he crashed to the ground, the commanding officer running over to yell at Will. While they were distracted, Terence slipped the reins of one of the horses free, slinging himself into the saddle. He kicked the horse into a run as he raced through the trees and onto the small deer path that he had noticed earlier, dodging branches as he did so. He made it onto the path and glanced behind him. He could hear the soldiers starting to pursue him, but none of them had made it through the trees yet. He grinned, racing down the path again. With his skills, it would be simple to lose them in the woods.

Sorry it's been so long. I'll try and update again soon.