*Author's Note* Since it seems to be the source of some slight confusion. The character nicknames are as follows.

Sapphire - Fire (she has a temper)

Niamh - Tempest or Tempy (she also has a temper, and in case some were unsure how her name is pronounced its spelt 'Neev' or 'Niav' in English)

Tegan - Tegan (she doesn't have as nickname as of right now since her actual first name is Lila)

Diana - Di or D but usually Di

Iona - Pax (latin for Peace)

Hope this was helpful, would anyone like a post on character descriptions or traits? Leave a comment, let me know and I'll see about getting around to it. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Ten. Tegan P.O.V.

About One Day Ago

Tegan struggled to the surface. The front and back of her chest were in agony and the icy water was clouded with her blood. Her back was on fire, even in the freezing water she could feel the burn from the lightning bolt blistering.

Tegan remembered everything.

Her brother, the branding iron, the pain he put her friends, sisters, through. She remembered blacking out and whispering to Liam as she faded.

"Father would be so proud of you, defeating five small girls with hired help instead of on your own like a man."

Tegan didn't know what happened after that or how long she had blacked out for but she was jolted back into consciousness by lightning bolt striking her back after a weird dream conversation with an old man who had blue tattoos all over his wizened face.

*Dream*

Tegan eyes opened, or at least she thought they were open, but all she saw was blackness. A blackness so dark she couldn't see her hand an inch from her face. She tried to twist around and strain her eyes to see something, anything in the dark.

Suddenly everything exploded in light and there was a man standing before her. He was dressed oddly, in long robe-like clothing with a cord tied at his waist like a belt. He carried a staff and a small knife. He had a wild white-gray beard and tattoos everywhere.

'He looks a bit like my Grandpa but more wild' Tegan thought ruefully.

The old man started walking toward her speaking in a harsh guttural language that Tegan couldn't understand. He must have noticed this because when he got to her he pressed his palm over her heart and then pressed his other palm to her forehead.

"There" he said "Now the language of your ancestors is known to you."

Tegan stood there in shock.

"How can I understand you now? How is this possible? What did you do?"

She stood there and glared hard at the old man demanding he explain. He had the decency to look somewhat guilty or abashed. He spoke after a few seconds under her glare.

"I am Merlin. I summoned you and your friends with magic and that is how you can now understand my speech. The past needs you, Lady Lila, and your friends' help. Arthur and his knights have a great challenge ahead of them in the next few years. There are knights who will die without you and your friends as their true loves there to protect and save them."

'Oh. My. God. Is this even possible? No, no this is just a wacky hallucination/dream thing caused by the pain in my back. This has to be a dream, how could it be anything else?'

Tegan shook her head clear of her thoughts and decided to just go along with the dream and let it play out.

Suddenly a series of faces flashed before her eyes and "Merlin" continued.

"These men will die before their time unless they have something to return home too, unless they have their true love."

Merlin paused. Then continued after a few seconds, an odd expression crossing his features.

"I must admit, when I cast the spell to find the Knights' true loves, I did not expect to have to search so far into the future only to find all five of you in the same place in the same time."

Merlin stopped the pacing he had begun and met Tegan's eyes. She could not hold his intense gaze for very long as the absurdity of all started to become too much for her and instead she looked at her hands. Tegan still didn't believe that any of this was anything more than the imaginings of her unconscious and pain addled mind but she whispered to Merlin anyway.

"What do you want us to do?"

Merlin gave a small smile and raised his voice to be heard above the sudden wind that whipped Tegan's hair around her head.

"You will know when the time comes. We will meet again Lady Lila, but for now you might want to brace yourself. I apologize but this is going to hurt."

Tegan glowered at the use of her first name but she didn't get the chance to respond as pain exploded in her back.

*Reality*

Tegan was awake, bleeding and struggling through the water to reach the surface. Her head finally broke the surface of the river only to be pushed back under as something smacked into her. She felt panic start to rise in her chest thinking that someone was trying to force her to stay under.

Then she looked up.

It was Niamh! Tegan saw the knife still stuck in the back of her shoulder. At least the cold of the river had slowed the bleeding almost to a stop. At least that's the reason Tegan hoped for. She didn't want to think about the alternative the lack of blood might mean.

Tegan pushed herself back to the surface and caught Niamh's foot before she floated farther away down the river and began trying to get them to the edge of the river. Tegan struggled for what felt like hours but in reality she had no idea how much time had passed.

Eventually they made it to the edge and Tegan struggled to pull herself and Niamh out of the water and into the tall grass the surrounded them. She pulled the knife out of Niamh's shoulder after making sure that she was still breathing. Tegan pulled the knife out and the wound instantly began to bleed again. Her stomach heaved violently but Tegan refused to let herself be sick.

Niamh's shoulder was bleeding heavily now. "Shit" Tegan swore. She didn't have anything she could use as a bandage.

She looked down at her soaking wet clothes. Her skirt had been split higher up her thigh and the other side had been ripped up to similar spot on her other leg.

'Well it's better than nothing.' She thought as she used the bloody knife to cut off a long strip from the bottom of the skirt and tied it tightly around Niamh's shoulder.

After she made a makeshift bandage for Niamh the cold and exhaustion his Tegan full force and it was getting colder out. It was also getting darker all Tegan could think of was how nice it would be to just go to sleep. She dropped the knife as her muscles slowly began to shut down. She made it two more steps before collapsing in a heap next to Niamh on the ground.

(Surprise! It's a two P.O.V chapter in one! \(^.^)/ ) -

Narrator P.O.V

*Present*

Seven horses pounded through the trees following the river. Seven knights and three oddly dresses and shivering with cold maidens rode, following the groups' scout to where he found the violin case belonging to another maiden that they were searching for.

"This is where I found it. It was stuck between two rocks at the edge. If the women were in the river they could have traveled much farther down before being able to climb out. We should follow the river, it is our best chance at finding them. "

The leader nodded at the scout before turning to several others as he noticed the slightly blue tinged lips and feet of the three women they had already stumbled upon.

"Bors" Arthur, the leader, called over. "Ride ahead and tell Vanora that we may be in need of her assistance. These ladies need proper clothing and warmth. Will she mind?"

A rotund, gruff, loud man responded. "O' course Vanora won't mind, she should be able to come up with something for them to wear, big as she is now with Nine."

He laughed before riding off, ecstatic that he was able to go back early to his lover and bastard children.

The Fort was only about an hour's ride away. Far enough to still be dangerous but close enough that Bors would not be likely to have any problems.

"Lancelot, Gawain, Dagonet go with Bors, the women are freezing to death they need to get warm. Galahad, Tristan and I will continue to search and find the missing girls. We will meet you back at the Fort."

The three men carrying the women nodded and took off after their companion, racing through the trees behind him.

Arthur watched them go for a few moments, sending up a quick prayer for their safety. Then he turned to Tristan. "Lead the way." And Arthur and Galahad spurred their horses to follow the silent scout.