Out of Time
xStarletx
Chapter 4: Out of Desperation
A/N: And we get to find out where Addison is running to, and we get to see how Arthur is reacting to losing her. One more chapter and I'm done with Episode one! HEY! Ten points if you can guess where Addison goes when she falls in the lake! Don't forget to tell me what you think!
Addison sprinted through the forest, her skirt hiked up about her knees. She could hear the soldiers chasing after her as they crashed loudly through the underbrush. Luckily she wouldn't have to out run them for much longer. Addison smiled when she found herself at the lake, and then threw herself into it. She sloshed further and further into the lake before diving down.
She swam as fast as she could towards the glowing bottom, blacking out just before she got there.
Arthur paced the throne room. Night was fast approaching and none of the search teams had found Addison. His father sat calmly on his throne as the two awaited the last search team to return from the forest.
Arthur turned to his father again. "I still cannot believe that Addison was stealing. She's never done so before."
"Lady Helena says that she was," Uther repeated. It wasn't the first time Arthur had said something like that to his father, and as always Uther just repeated that line.
"And Addison says Lady's Helena's a witch. Addison has never lied like that before," Arthur growled with a shake of disbelief. Why wouldn't his father listen to him? Did he hate Addison that much?
"And what reason would Lady Helena have to lie to me?" Uther shot back.
"Probably because Addison was telling the truth!" Arthur raged.
Uther shot to his feet and bore down on Arthur. "Addison is the witch! Remember? The only reason I spared her was because she pared your life."
Arthur should have bit his tongue as he knew first hand that Addison had some magical quality. He had caught her surrounded by floating objects once and she hadn't known how she had done it. Still, he couldn't let his father punish her for something she didn't do.
"You know as well as I that Addison was brought here against her will! She is more a victim of magic then you are!" Arthur argued.
Uther's eyes bugged out with rage but whatever he was going to say next was interrupted when the door opened. Both men turned as a tired looking guard came into the room. He bowed to them lowly.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I am just back from the forest..."
"And did you find her?" Arthur interrupted.
The guard had a worried look on his face. "We chased her through the forest until we came to the lake. We had heard splashing and when we got to the lake there was ripples on the surface but search as we might we couldn't turn up a body and she never came back up to the surface."
Arthur was staring at him with a blank look on his face, not sure how to react to this. Uther hadn't said anything either so the soldier continued. "We... uh... we believe she must be dead."
The words hung in the air like a black cloud. A bile rose from Arthur's stomach into his throat, gagging him in an instant. His father dismissed the soldier and then half turned to Arthur who was numb from his head to his toes. He tried to not show it but Arthur was trembling, almost shaking apart. His whole body was reacting badly. He had gone was almost going to cry.
"I know you were fond of her but maybe this is a good thing," Uther said suddenly.
Arthur turned his wildly wide blue eyes of outrage to his father. In what world could this be a good thing? "You were getting too attached to her, I was worried that you and her had started some liaison. No, this will be good for you. Now you can concentrate on your duties," he finished.
Arthur couldn't find the worlds to explain how much that this had hurt him. He could see by the look on his father's face that he didn't care, nor did he want to hear anything else about it. So instead of talking to him Arthur walked out of the Great Hall before his frustrated tears could fall in front of his unsympathetic father.
Addison's head broke the surface and she instantly began to cough. She was getting better at the transition. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. It took three strong breast strokes and she was at the shore. She climbed out and hugged her soaked blue dress to herself. The night sky was caught between fading to black and being lit on fire and in the black part of the sky the stars were already twinkling. The light summery breeze smelt of a million perfumed flowers as it danced through the forest of flowering apple treas.
One of the twinkling stars came close to her and she could see that it was a one of the Sidhe. This little being was a light blue color, with large blue ears, and sharp looking teeth. Addison knew first hand that their teeth could pierce skin. The iridescent wings were beating rapidly as it hovered in front of her face, they looked nothing like the fairies of fairy tales and they hated being called that. They had told her to call them the Sidhe, and then told her to never return.
This particular Sidhe Addison had nicknamed Peasblossom, and hated it. "You were told never to come back."
Addison continued down the dusty path, heading for the tall trees. "Yes, I know. But I want to go home."
"You were told that wasn't going to happen either," it taunted and Addison scowled at it.
She waved her hand the air causing it to tumble through the air. "Don't you have a child to steal Peasblossom?" she asked. The little Sidhe laughed at her and then flew away. Addison shook her head, this place would be wonderful if it weren't for all the terrible Sidhe.
Addison walked a little longer before she came to the familiar little ivy covered thatched cottage. Her teeth were chattering by then, even though the night breeze was warm. She let herself into the cottage and smiled at its owner.
Ygraine had been sitting at the hearth and turned when the door opened. Her long blonde hair was pinned back and as she stood up her golden flowing dress swirled around her like the liquid current of a stream.
She frowned at Addison as she handed her a warm blanket. "Why have you returned to this place child?"
"Because I can't do it!" Addison cried. "I can't help Arthur and I certainly can't help Merlin. Not when no one will believe me when I try to help him. Did you know Uther was going to punish me cause I found out Lady Helena's a witch? He actually believed her over me! Me! The person who saved his son's life."
"I never said this would be easy, and you know you cannot abandon them now. Both Arthur and Merlin need you, you are to be the glue that cements their bond," Ygraine explained for the millionth time.
Addison threw herself down to the seat in front of the fire that Ygraine had just vacated and huddled herself into the blanket. Ygraine put a steaming cup of tea into her hand and Addison couldn't help but assume that the older woman knew that she was coming.
"You still don't get it," Addison complained. "I've read the Arthurian Legends, there is no mention of me, no Addison cementing anything! This is all wrong, I want to go home."
Ygraine knelt down beside her. "Child, Legends change over time and your time is very far from this one. You've already told me that all of your legends fail to match up to what you are witnessing, so why make such fuss over one missing character?" she asked. Addison gave her what was most likely the most frustrated look she could manage. "Besides, I've already told you that I do not possess the power to send you back."
Addison groaned and rolled her eyes. "See, now I don't believe that either!" she cried. "You're telling me that you had the power to pull me out of my time and deposit me in Medieval Camelot but you can't reverse it and send me back to 21st century?"
Ygraine stood in front of her. "Like it or not, you are stuck here. The boys, they need you. You will need to return."
"I don't want to return. I miss my bed, and my room and electricity and road and running water and wifi. I really, really, really, really, miss wifi," Addison sobbed.
Ygraine turned quickly and marched off, she rummaged through a large chest before she returned and when she did she had a familiar white and pink thin device. "My iPod!" Addison cried happily snatching it from her. Then she frowned up to the older lady. "Lot of good it'll do here if I can't charge it."
Ygraine revealed a second item, a smooth stone about the size of Addison's iPod. "This is a lightning stone, if you leave this in the sun with your music box on top it will collect the energy and keep your little device working."
Addison half smiled. "Oh wow! Really? That's pretty awesome!"
"Well you go back now?" Ygraine asked.
"Fine, but I want to stay here a bit until Uther calms down a bit, is that okay?" she asked. Ygraine seemed anxious to send her back for the first time but Addison chose to ignore it. She was going to get reacquainted with her iPod. Arthur could wait.
Arthur sat in his room, his head in his hands. He was still in shock, still couldn't believe that she was gone. There wa s soft knock on his door and when he looked up Morgana was let herself in. She started at Arthur with such pity in her eyes that he could barely stand to look at it. So he looked away.
"I heard about Addison," she said, moving towards him.
Arthur refused to show his emotions, but as he spoke his voice betrayed him. "She pushed her luck too far."
His throat was thick with his unshed tears. He had been trying to hold them back, but when Morgan put a hand to his quaking shoulder he nearly lost it. "Are you okay?" she asked.
A single tear slipped from his eyes, he brushed it away before Morgana could see but he had a feeling she had noticed. "I failed her," he managed to cough out.
Morgana swooped in and hugged him and while he wanted to push her away he allowed it. He couldn;t keep it at bay anymore, so he let it all go, allowed that flood of emotion to break through the walls he had put up. She comforted him with soft words but he could only think of the guild and the newly gouged out hole in his heart where Addison's smile used to be.
Merlin walked the desolate night corridors. He hadn't been able to sleep too much, guilt over what had happened to Addison plaguing him. The whole castle had been a buzz about the news, many weren't taking it well, apparently Addison had been a favourite to a lot of the staff. He hadn't planned on going for a walk, but like that morning in the cells, he could suddenly hear that deep voice calling his name, and with nothing else to do he decided to follow it.
The voice led him to a caravan deep under the castle. He stood there, torch in hand, not sure why he had been brought all the way down. He heard a sinster chuckling and Merlin tried to remind himself that he was brave. With a shaking voice he called out: "Where are you?"
There when suddenly there was the rustling of chains and the massive thumping of flapping wings. In a flash there was a dragon sitting on the rocks across from him. "I'm here," it said in the same deep voice that had been calling him in his head.
The Dragon cocked its head at Merlin almost curiously. "How small you are, for such a great destiny," it said.
Intrigued, Merlin moved closer. "Why? What do you mean? What Destiny?"
The Dragon hunched down, lying down on its rock so it could be closer to Merlin. "Your gift, Merlin was given to you for a reason."
Merlin felt his heart soar, here he was thinking that this was some cruel twist of fate but he was wrong. He had a purpose. "So there is a reason?"
The dragon nodded. "Arthur is the once and future king who will unite the land of Albion," the dragon explained. Merlin wasn't buying it, he nodded along and the dragon continued: "But he faces many threats from friend and foe alike."
Merlin didn't like where this was going. "I don't see what that has to do with me and my gift," he snapped.
"Everything!" The dragon snapped back. "Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you there will be no Albion."
"No!" Merlin cried. "No, you've got this wrong."
"There is no right or wrong, just what is and what isn't," the dragon said in a wise and stern tone.
Merlin still wasn't buying it. Wise words or not, this had to be some big mistake. "Seriously, if anyone wants to go and kill him they can go ahead. I'll even help them."
The dragon chuckled. "None of us can choose our destiny, and none of us can escape it."
"No, no way, no. There must be another Arthur, because this one's an idiot. He... he doesn't even like me! He blames me for what happened to Addison," Merlin explained frowning and shaking his head.
The dragon peered hard at him. "Addison?" it echoed.
"Yes! Addison, his ward, who for some reason lives in the dungeons! She's dead and he blames me!" Merlin cried throwing his arms around wildly.
"A yes, the song bird who was misplaced through time," the Dragon mused.
Merlin blinked his eyes. "Misplaced?"
"Well you can't kill what's already dead yet, besides that's a problem for the lady of the lake, the songbird was her experiment," he said with a casual shrug of his scaly shoulders. "Well, perhaps your destiny is to save her and change Arthur."
It unfolded it's wings and with two giant flaps disappeared into the upper caverns. Merlin called after it. "Wait! Wait! Stop! I need to know more." But the dragon didn't listen.
Merlin was left in shock, this couldn't be happening and he certainly wasn't going to listen to anything it had said. He and Arthur weren't tied to anything and Arthur was not going to be some amazing king. No, this was all just some big misunderstanding.