There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the cure may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
Annya woke up to the sound of things tinkling together. She slowly sat up and looked to see who had come into her room. It was Sir Lancelot carrying a tray of food and a small glass bottle containing a green ointment. Tucked underneath his left arm was a bundle that was tightly wrapped. He placed the bundle at the foot of the bed Annya was lying on.
"Good-morning. I hope you slept well?" Sir Lancelot said as he smiled at her. He strode across the room in a few easy strides and placed the stray on the nightstand.
"I did, thank-you. And yourself?"
"Not too well, I fear. Matters with these people who have been attacking us kept me awake."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You must be exhausted."
"I am. But that is alright." Sir Lancelot paused as he reached over to the tray and held up the green liquid. "I am, umm… I have to…" Sir Lancelot started to blush; "I have to put this on you for your burns."
"Oh." Was all that Annya said.
"Umm, yes. I also have new clothes for you because your dress that you're wearing right now had been burned." Sir Lancelot unwrapped the package he put on Annya's bed. In it contained a deep red dress with light red threads sewn on it in a beautiful pattern. It was a long sleeved dress and the sleeves opened up in a triangle shape. The bottom of the dress touched the floor and the bottom back was longer than the front so it would drag behind Annya as she walked. The back of the dress was open from her shoulders to her lower back. There was the light red thread that was weaved in a pattern across the opening.
"King Arthur asked me to give you this dress. He wants you to wear it for dinner to night. But now, umm, I, err, have to put the ointment on you."
"Oh yes. I thank you very much for the dress. It is lovely." Annya sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her gold hair over her left shoulder so Sir Lancelot could rub the ointment on the burns on her back.
He sat beside Annya on the bed and started to pull down the back of Annya's dress. She looked at Sir Lancelot's face and he was bright red and looked very uncomfortable. Sir Lancelot shook the bottle and poured some of its contents onto his hand. It was a think green liquid that smelled like a mixture of spices. He rubbed his hands together to get the liquid on both hands. He placed one hand on Annya's back and began to rub the ointment onto Annya's burns.
Annya sat up straighter and inhaled sharply when the freezing cold liquid touched her pale skin.
"Sorry, I should have told you that it was cold." Sir Lancelot said as he kept on rubbing the ointment into Annya's back.
"That's ok, at least it's doing me some good."
Sir Lancelot breathed out a laugh. Annya concentrated on the feel of Sir Lancelot's hands on her back. His hands were warm and muscular. The way Sir Lancelot rubbed her back felt like a massage to Annya and she closed her eyes half way. She enjoyed the touch of Sir Lancelot.
When he had finished her back, he started on her arms. He did the left on first, as it was not the one that pained Annya, and then he did her right arm very gently.
"I…I need to do your legs, "Sir Lancelot said. "I need you to, umm, well," Sir Lancelot started to blush, "to roll up your dress."
"Sir Lancelot, I can manage myself now. I would not have been able to do my back and arms, but now I can do the rest." Annya said, saving Sir Lancelot from a lot of discomfort. She touched his broad shoulder gently.
"I thank you, Annya." Lancelot said her name as if it were a foreign word he was trying out. "After you are finished, a servant will be waiting for you outside to show you around the castle so you will know your way around if you need anything." Sir Lancelot walked to the door and opened it a bit and then turned his head back to Annya and said; "And I would advise you to put on the dress King Arthur gave you." He said with a smile.
"I thank you again for all that you have done for me, Sir Lancelot."
"Lancelot. Lancelot will do just fine; no need for 'Sir'." And he walked out of the room.
Annya's insides seemed to melt.
Does Lancelot love me back? She asked herself. She didn't know. He had just given her the privilege of calling him Lancelot without the 'Sir'. But did that mean anything?
Annya sighed and put the rest of the ointment on herself. She changed into the red dress and folded her own dress and put it on her bed. She ate a bit of the food Lancelot had brought in for her on the tray and she gratefully drank the water as she was parched. She put the glass down and walked towards the door and opened it and there was the servant. He had short dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked to be a boy of age twelve. He was a bit shorter than Annya and was skinny and seemed full of life. He looked as if he were always happy.
The servant bowed his head and said: "Lady Annya, I have been instructed by Sir Lancelot to show you around the castle. My name is Merloc and I will be your servant while you are here."
"Hello Merloc. I look forward to getting to know you better."
Merloc smiled. "Thank you, Lady Annya. As do I. Lady Annya, where would you like to begin your tour around the castle?"
"I don't know, Merloc," Annya giggled. "You tell me what your favourite part of the castle is and we'll start there."
"Are you sure, Lady Annya? Not all the places that I like are very clean."
"Yes, I'm sure, Merloc." Annya laughed. Merloc formed his face into a face of deep concentration and thinking. He tapped his index finger to his lips as he thought. Then his face lit up as an idea came to him.
"Do you like horses, Lady Annya?"
"Very much so."
"Then we shall start at the stables!" he nearly shouted. He immediately then realized that he was being to forward and said: "If that's alright with you, that is. I'm sorry, I did not mean to yell; I got excited."
Annya smiled sweetly and said: "Ha. Ha. I'm not the least bit angry. To the stables we shall go!" And she raised her good arm in the air as if she were leading an army to go forward.
Delighted that Annya was making this a game, Merloc grabbed Annya's left hand and started to walk forward.
"On ward we shall go! Our enemy awaits us at the stables. Fear not, dear Lady, I shall protect you." Merloc said with a lot of drama.
"I know I will be safe with you, good Lord. Let us meet our deadly enemy."
Annya was feeling so lively with Merloc that she had forgotten how tired she was or how much pain she was in and followed Merloc with a happy heart as she skipped along the halls holding Merloc's hand.
Merloc knew the castle as well as he knew his name. While he was walking he would mumble to himself what halls and stairs he should take to make it to the stables in the shortest time.
When they arrived at the stables, they would dart in and out, and behind hay barrels, polls, and doors. Merloc found two sticks and they played sword fighting for a bit. When they became tired, Merloc showed Annya the most valuable horses King Arthur had.
After the stables Merloc showed Annya where the hole was in case she needed to use it; but they did not stay there long because of the disgusting smell. Next, Merloc took Annya to the kitchen. It smelled delicious as the cooks were preparing a feast for King Arthur and the knights. Annya stole a few tastes here and there. Then Merloc took Annya to his next favourite place – the area where the knights are trained and where they practice. No one was practicing at that moment and Annya was glad of it. Merloc showed her the pretend horse to practice lancing on. Annya got on the horse and Merloc pushed her forward towards the fake knight on the other side of the room. After that, Merloc said he would take Annya back to her room so that she could get ready for the dinner with King Arthur and his main knights.
They walked slowly back up to Annya's room for both were tired. When they came to the door of Annya's room, Merloc asked: "Do you want me to wait outside for you so that I may escort you to the round table, Lady Annya?"
"No, it's quite alright," Annya said, seeing that Merloc really wanted to go play with his friends. "I will be able to manage. Thank-you for the wonderful time, Merloc." Annya bent down and wrapped her good arm around Merloc in a hug.
Merloc had a huge grin on his face when Annya let go and he bowed his head and ran off.
Annya went inside her room to clean up. There was a basin of water and a towel in her room and she splashed her face with the icy water. That sure woke her up. She then started to comb her hair. She couldn't put her hair up because of her shoulder, so she left it draped over her shoulders and back. While she combed she found pieces of straw in her hair. She then dusted off the dress she was wearing.
When she was done, she went down the halls towards the round table. To get there she had to walk through the same hall she saw in her vision. She stopped a moment to look more closely at the paintings. There was so much detail put into it that it must have taken a very long time to complete.
Annya walked on towards the round table taking the paths she remembered from her vision. When Annya arrived at the two wooden doors, she wished that she had asked Merloc to accompany her to the round table. She felt her insides go mushy. She didn't know anyone (besides Lancelot) who she would be eating with. What if she went in and no one noticed her come in, what would she do then? Just walk around and do nothing?
Oh well, better go in and hope for the best. Lancelot said that king Arthur wanted me to come to dinner tonight; so did Merloc. Annya thought
Two knights by the wooden doors saw Annya coming down the hall and they slowly started to open the doors for her. As the doors creaked open, Annya could smell the food that was coming from inside and her mouth started to water. She could feel the heat from inside the room bursting from the cracks of the doors to escape. Laughing and chattering could be heard, and she could barley make out the muffled sound from the kitchen.
As the doors opened wider and more light streamed in through the opening, the room behind the doors started to come to a hush. Annya could feel the gazes looking at the opening doors, waiting to see who was coming in. Only when the doors were fully open did the knights usher Annya in.
Annya walked into the hot, bright room full of strangers. As soon as everyone could see her she heard someone say: "Ah! This must be Annya!" said a loud booming voice. The voice sounded kind and happy with lots of leadership dripping from it. A chair could be heard scrapping across the floor and Annya scanned the round table looking for the one who was getting up. She saw a tall man with dark brown hair and brown eyes get up and walk towards her. He was quite tall but rather skinny. As Annya looked closer, she realized that it was king Arthur walking to wards her! Annya slowed down her pace. Should she walk towards him? Should she stay where she was? Annya's questions were soon answered when King Arthur came up to her and introduced himself.
"Hello, Annya! Lancelot has told me your name so that's why I know it. He also told me all that other stuff of why you're here and what happened to you." King Arthur put his hand on Annya's back. "Come, come. Sit down and eat. I will introduce you to the other knights." King Arthur gently pushed Annya forward and guided her to her chair.
As Annya walked towards the empty chair beside Lancelot, she could feel the eyes of all the other knights on her. King Arthur moved her chair back and then pushed it forward as she sat. King Arthur went back to his own chair and almost immediately servants came and filled the gold wine goblets with red wine that were beside the plates. King Arthur rose and raised his goblet.
"A toast!" he said. "Long live the people of Camelott and to all the knights that protect all within the walls of Camelott. And to Lady Annya, long life and good fortune to you!"
A chorus of 'here here!' s went up and the knights and Annya drank the sweet red wine. When the toast was done, servants from the kitchen started to bring in the dinner.
There was an assortment of foods being brought to the table. There was roast turkey and chicken dripping with gravy. There was turkey stuffing full of spices. Raw vegetables were brought in on a huge plate and were assorted to look like a giant flower with a dip in the middle. All this food reminded Annya of the feast she missed out on in her world. But that was ok; this feast looked just as good, but not as expensive.
"Dig in!" King Arthur said as he reached over for a knife and started to cut off a turkey leg for himself.
As the food was passed around the table, it was not long before that Annya's plate was full of steaming food. Annya started to delicately cut her food. As she cut the turkey, juice started to pour out from it and Annya's mouth started to water. She put the turkey piece into her mouth and she could feel the warm sticky juice and gravy slither their way down her throat. As she chewed, more juice squirted out from the turkey piece making Annya's mouth burst with flavour.
"Are you enjoying the dinner?" asked a voice to Annya's left. She looked and saw Lancelot looking at her.
"Very much so, yourself?" she replied.
"Oh, King Arthur's dinners are by far the best meals ever." Lancelot took a spoonful of the turkey stuffing and chewed intently. "You see that knight over there?" He nodded his head across the table pointing out the knight.
"The one drinking from his goblet right now?"
"Yeah, him. He's Tivan, our best horse rider."
Annya looked at the knight closely. He had very light brown hair; so light that it was almost dirty blond. His eyes were large and a deep blue that made Annya have a feeling that if she looked at them too long, she would become swallowed up in his eyes. He had high check bones and a pointy nose. His skin was nicely tanned and on his face ran a ropy scar from near the tip of his right eye down to the corner of his lips.
"Where did he get that scar?" Annya asked Lancelot almost in a whisper.
"Oh, that. Well, surprisingly that is not battle scar. He got that when he was a child. His father was a drunk and always beat him and his mother. They were a poor family not getting much from the farm that they had. Well anyways, his dad came home one night with alcohol reeking from his breath. He got so upset that they were so poor and that it was Tivan's fault that they had no money because Tivan didn't work hard enough on the farm. So upset his father got that his father got a knife and was seriously about to kill Tivan, but he only managed to get his face. That scar on Tivan's face is there to stay."
"Oh, that's terrible! What did Tivan do about it?"
"Well, every time he had his dad got into a fight, Tivan would take out a horse and ride it for a long time. That's how he got so good at riding. But that time, he decided that that was enough. So he packed a few of his belongings, told his mother that he was going and that she should get away from his dad as soon as she could, saddled a horse and rode here. He started as a stable boy until King Arthur saw how well he could ride. And here he is today as a knight." Lancelot picked up his goblet and drank from it.
Annya just cut her food still taking in the words Lancelot had just told her. How could a father be that cruel to his son? Some people were truly disgusting.
"Oh," Lancelot said. "Nathyrn over there sitting beside King Arthur," he gestured to the knight with is head, "he's our best archer. He can shoot anything out from the sky over a large distance. He has a great arm on him, that he does."
Annya looked at the knight who was comfortably chatting away with King Arthur. This first thing that she noticed was his jet-black hair. The second thing that she noticed was his icy blue eyes. His eyes seemed full of everything but mercy. It seemed that he could almost cut through metal with those eyes. Annya looked at the rest of his body. His arms were very muscular. Annya could see that muscle rippling underneath his shirt. They looked steady and young, unlike an old man's arm: shaking and weak. His arms were probably the reason why he was the best archer in King Arthur's kingdom.
While Annya was looking at Nathyrn, something sparkled above King Arthur and caught Annya's eye. When she looked at the thing above King Arthur she saw a sword; not just any sword, but the sword Excalibur.
Annya knew the powers that rested in this sword. King Arthur was unconcerned with Excalibur, and so was anyone else who had possession of the sword and fought with it. It was Camelot's symbol, their pride; with out it, the city would most likely fall apart.
Annya decided to distract herself from the sword and try to humble Lancelot.
"And what about you?" Annya asked Lancelot with a look of mischief on her face.
"What about me?" Lancelot said, eyeing Annya carefully.
"Oh, surly the great Sir Lancelot must be well known for one of his skills. Or is it all your skills that you are known for and therefore the best knight?"
Lancelot smiled as Annya teased him.
"Why narrow a knight down to one of his skills when he triumphs in all?" Lancelot said with a slick smile and a raised eyebrow.
Annya was about to answer him but was cut short as something crashed through the glass ceiling causing the glass to land on the table, upsetting some of the dishes.
Almost as instinct, Annya made herself smaller and covered her head with her arm. When she heard the glass stop falling, she slowly took her arm away from her head.
"Are you alright?" she head Lancelot ask her with concern.
"I'm fine, a bit shaken, but fine. Are you hurt?"
"A but cut, but alright."
Lancelot got up and looked around to see what had been dropped from the sky. The round table was cracked in half and in the centre was a stone about the size of a cartwheel, but many times thicker.
King Arthur was just about to tell one of the guards by the wooden doors to call for others when a voice was heard from above.
"Plunk your ass back down in the chair, Arthur. There'll be no needing to get your other men, we shut those doors from the outside." Boomed the voice.
King Arthur's men were defenceless against this attack. They brought to weapons to dinner.
"Murtag." Kind Arthur said in a loud whisper full of hate.
"Hey! Hey! This ol' chap here remembers me!" said the man on the roof over his shoulder. A chorus of laughing could be heard from outside and Annya knew that there were many of them. "Mind if some of us joins you, Arthur?"
Without waiting for a reply, an abundant amount of ropes came whizzing down from the roof, and Murtag and some of his followers slide down the ropes.
Murtag landed in the middle of the table and picked up a drumstick of a chicken and tore into it with his teeth.
"This is pretty good." Murtag said between bites. "Oh, and a word of advice, I wouldn't try anything stupid because I got archers right up there on the roof."
And sure enough, there were about two-dozen archers lined up around the roof with their bows fitted ready to fire.
Annya looked at Murtag dancing on the table chewing on the meat of the chicken. He was pale, very pale, and that made his black hair and eyes stand our on his face. He was surprisingly short with hardly any muscle on him, yet it seemed that everyone in the room (except for Murtag's followers) feared and hated him.
"Let's make this short, Arthur. Give me Excalibur and I'll leave. If not, I'll have to take it by force and kill some of your knights."
Annya could feel Lancelot shake with anger beside her.
"I told you before never to show your face again in my kingdom." Hissed King Arthur, with fire dancing in his eyes. "And now you come to take Excalibur from me and my people?"
"Well, that was the plan." Murtag cut in.
"This is absurd! Never will you take Excalibur from us! Get out! Get out now!" screamed King Arthur.
"Arthur, honestly, this is no way to treat your guest." Murtag said with a smile, shaking his head disapproving.
King Arthur was beside himself, fuming with rage. Quick as a flash, he grabbed Excalibur above him and charged at Murtag. But Murtag's archers were just as fast and an arrow went through King Arthur's arm. He cried out in pain and dropped Excalibur. He crumpled up on the floor, withering with pain.
"Don't move!" yelled Murtag furiously at the knights who started to rush to their king and others upon Murtag. "Don't move or I'll have arrows strike you clean in the heart!" Murtag said as he swept the room with his eyes, and that's when he saw Annya. As his black eyes fell upon Annya, she felt herself shiver. "Oh look! You were kind enough to bring us a treat!" Murtag nodded to two of his men and Annya felt hands on her arms. She tried to struggle free, but the hands only gripped tighter.
All of a sudden, Lancelot punched one of them men holding Annya in the face. He fell back, clutching his face when the other man let go of Annya and jumped on Lancelot and started to punch him. Annya ran away while more knights and Murtag's men ran to join to fight.
While Annya started to run to the doors, a hand grabbed her arm and swung her around.
"You're not going anywhere, honey." Murtag said with a sinister smile. In his other hand her carried Excalibur. He must have picked it up when everyone started to fight. "And I would advice you not to struggle in case I drop you." Murtag said as he grabbed a rope and pulled Annya closer to him. Annya had no choice but to listen to him and did not try to struggle. She felt Murtag and herself being lifted into the air. They were being lifted to the top of the roof. When they were almost at the top, Annya looked down and felt queasy. She was very high up.
At the top, Annya felt herself being hoisted up onto the top of the roof.
"Look men!" Murtag yelled. "I brought you a present!" And he threw Annya on the ground. 'Ooo's and whistling was heard and Annya gave Murtag the furious look she could give.
Stay strong. She thought. They wont do anything to you. Help will come soon.
A hand started to venture up her leg and she kicked the man in the face. The man yelled in surprise, then said: "Ho, ho! She's feisty! I like that!"
"Not now, men. Work is to be done. Knock her out first; she can't know where we're going.
Annya went stiff. Knock her out?
All of a sudden a club was racing towards her head and struck her true. Pain burst through her head but them subsided as blackness crept over her.