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Calliann—I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for the props. I am trying to make it so that it's not completely carbon copy of other time travel stories.
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KnightMaiden—You know, I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do with the time thing. I've got a few ideas, but I'm not certain yet.
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Authors note: Sorry this took so long to post! I moved from good old Colorado to L.A. and school started and it was nuts. So… sorry again!
Disclaimer: I own Will, I own Tess, everyone else I'm just barrowing. Oh! I might own a few of the Woads… can't be sure of that though.
Merik shook his head slowly as he regarded his cousin and her friend after hearing the whole story. "I'm never letting either of you out of my sight again." He sounded completely exasperated, with them specifically, and the female gender as a whole.
Arthur and Bors looked more than amused, but they had managed to stop laughing.
"None of this would have happened if Cynric hadn't practically kidnapped them!" snapped Gawain, turning to glare at the only Saxon in residence.
Cynric had been leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, as interested in the girls' story as the remaining Knights had been. But with Gawain turning the attention on him, he quickly dropped his arms and took on a firmer stance, ready for a fight.
But before any of the Knights could move Will stood between them and their victim.
"Leave him out of this." She sounded almost as exasperated as Merik had. "He didn't force us to go with him, we chose to." She emphasized her words with care. "Nor did he lose us. We ran off on our own, remember?" Her hands were on her hips as she stared Gawain down.
After a few moments of their silent battle, Gawain subsided, muttering things under his breath.
"You should have known better." Said Lancelot in a stern voice.
Will glared at him, but caught Galahad smirking over the other Knight's shoulder. Apparently Galahad had received similar dressing downs while he was with the Knights. Will found that thought too amusing and smiled, which completely threw Lancelot off.
"How about," Said Arthur in a pacifying voice. "We eat. Then we'll talk more." He glanced at Cynric. "You're invited as well."
Cynric chuckled. "Thank you but no thank you. I've taken enough chances on my life today."
"And I promise, you won't be able to sneak back in." Said Gawain threateningly.
Cynric smirked and arched his eyebrow. "You want to bet on it?"
Arthur put his hand on Gawain's shoulder. "It would be very unwise." He said glancing at Cynric.
The Saxon tilted his head in acknowledgement. He glanced at the girls. "Last chance."
Will stuck her tongue out at him.
Tess smiled. "Tempting, but no."
He shook his head. "You don't know what you're missing out on." He nodded to the Knights and walked out of the main hall, like he owned the place.
They watched him leave then Dagonet turned to the group. "Food?"
Will and Tess shook their heads. "Men!"
"So…" Will was poking her food, trying to see if it was still alive or not. "Not that I like bringing this up but… how are we going to get home?"
The Knights, who had been eating, laughing, and somehow managing not to choke stopped.
After a few silent moments, Bors voiced a thought all the Knights had been thinking. "Well… you could stay here…"
Merik smiled sadly but shook his head. "You and we know we couldn't do that."
The Knights nodded, but they remained quiet, lost in their thoughts.
"Well…" Said Lancelot after a while. "I guess we had better see if we can help you get home."
Dagonet looked at the younger Knight with a raised eyebrow. "And how do you propose we do that?"
Lancelot shrugged. "We appeared in their time by going to the ruins. Perhaps something there holds the key to how to get them home."
"We'll go over them tomorrow." Said Arthur. And with that statement, dinner conversation returned to normal… well…what was normal for them anyway.
The next day they all got an early start. True to his word, Gawain kept watch of the girls' door, but didn't see Cynric. Which annoyed Gawain, but didn't surprise Arthur in the least.
For the most part, the ride was quiet. There was a bit of murmured conversation, but even it was muted.
Will felt more then saw Tristan guide his horse closer to hers. "I don't want to leave, but I know I have to don't I?"
"This isn't your time. You belong here as much as we belonged in your time."
Will nodded, but in truth, she wanted to smack him for being so sensible.
"It was you though, wasn't it?" His voice was still soft, but curious now.
Will blinked and looked at the scout. "What?"
"The noise… the echo while we were searching for you and Tess. It was you."
Will shrugged, not really understanding what he was talking about. "Arthur said that you could… that you knew I wasn't hurt and he asked me to try and… talk to you. I didn't feel anything though, I… did it work?"
Tristan smirked. "Apparently, although barely. I think we should work on your concentration."
Will raised her eyebrow at the man, but when he just looked back at her she groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I'm not even in school and I still have lessons."
"Now that that's out of the way let's start."
Tristan ignored the evil glare she gave him and began explaining a simple exercise that taught her how to focus on one detail of one thing, like the stripe on the petal of a flower.
Tess watched Will and Tristan carry on a low-voiced conversation and she was slightly envious. Technically, she'd only know the Knights for two days now. And even though they were nice to her, she didn't have the camaraderie that Merik and Will had.
"You seem lost in thought, Lady."
Tess turned, startled, and found that Dagonet had ridden up beside her while she had covertly watched Will and Tristan.
"Lost is a good word for it." She nodded and resolutely turned her attention to her horse's mane.
Dagonet chuckled as he watched the girl flush lightly after being caught. "It not that we know each other so much better, it's just that we've had to… pretend we were already friends in order to survive. They helped us a great deal while we were in the future."
Tess smiled a bit at that. "Yeah… guess you're returning the favor."
Dagonet nodded. "Perhaps." He glanced over and saw that the girl was looking at least a bit more relaxed. "Now… perhaps you should go and tease that Gawain of yours a bit. That'll really endear you to the others. Galahad and Bors especially."
Tess giggled and shook tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "That could be entertaining. But… only if you give me fuel to tease him with."
Dagonet smirked at that, and began to tell the girl all he knew about Gawain that the man didn't really want anyone else, least a woman he liked, to know.
After a few more hours of ridding, they made it to the ruins that the Knights had been exploring when they had been transported through time.
"It's just through here." Said Galahad, trying desperately to cover his amusement. The ruins didn't seem to have any form of door, so the Knights were attempting to slip through cracks in the outer wall. Galahad and the girls were having the easiest time of fitting through and shared many amused and knowing looks when one of the other Knights or Merik let loose with a string of curses.
When they finally made it to what was left of the room, the Knights seemed almost instantly confused.
"Perhaps we took a wrong turn somewhere." Said Bors, as he peered around the remains of a wall.
Galahad looked at Tristan confused. "But… no this is the room right?"
Merik glanced at the girls who were just as confused as he was. "Wait, why wouldn't this be the room?"
"There was a stone… right there in the center." Said Dagonet pointing to a spot of barren ground.
"It had ruins etched into it." Said Lancelot, who was kneeling down, getting a closer look at the place Dagonet had pointed to.
"Do you know what it said?" Asked Will looking from Knight to Knight.
The men shook their heads. "Ruins aren't the way Sarmatians write." Said Arthur. "It's more of a Saxon dialect I think."
"And right you are Arturius."
In one fluid motion all the Knights had their weapons drawn and pointed at a hole in the wall, from which emerged a very amused Cynric.
"Not you again!" Snarled Gawain.
Cynric chuckled. "I figured, since in the beginning I had followed you to the ruins, then perhaps the answer was here. Except…" He held up his left hand, which was wrapped in a crude bloody bandage. "I found myself taken by surprise."
"By who?" Asked Bors. The Knights had relaxed now, knowing that for the most part, Cynric was not a threat to them.
Cynric smile held pure irony. "By Woads of course."
Lancelot smirked. "And what were Woads doing here?"
Cynric actually laughed at that, and rubbed his head. "They were taking that stone that you're looking for. The one called… Merlin I think… he said it was magical."
Suddenly Tess paled. "Wait!" That got the attention of everyone. "So… the possible key to getting back to our time is now in the hands of the men who wanted to marry us!"
Will rubbed her eyes. "This is bad."
The Knights looked confused, except for Arthur and Bors.
"Why?" Asked Arthur. "Aren't you already married?"
That caused all the men to chuckle, but Arthur had to take a step back as Will turned to face him quickly. "Yeah, but they want to challenge our husbands. I doubt they'll pass up the chance again!"