Well, its short, but I wrote it Saturday and Sunday...yesterday I was at my bf's all day, and I wanted to post it today. Besides, I felt it was a good place to leave off. So, I have to finish geting ready for work...I work during the day now instead of night shift...yea...still sucks though, getting up a little after 5 am every day. All well, enjoy the story. I knew where I wanted to go with in this chapter, but I was a bit etchy on the details, but I got an idea from the snow in the last chapter. And what is going on at my house? Pouring rain...again!Ok, off to work, bye!...I don't own King Arthur...still...

Time May Change

I had been riding for near an hour when I began to get an uneasy feeling. The horse started tossing her head like she didn't want to be there, but I couldn't really depend on her for any hint of mischief because she had been acting weird the whole time. It was as though she wanted me off her back. At first I thought she was just being stubborn because she was used to only Tristan being on her, but then I began to realize that perhaps something was wrong. She kept hollowing out her back and shying away, but I told Tristan I would ride her so I wanted to at least take her out for a little exercise. Now she was acting stranger and I felt it too.

The air seemed tense all of the sudden and her movements became rather stiff. I looked down at her to see if anything was wrong when suddenly I heard the screeching of a bird about thirty feet off in the woods in front of me. I looked up just in time to see a young hawk dart from a tree. I would have taken a moment to admire the hawk when I realized that the hawk had just given me warning to the danger I sensed. There in the tree was a single Woad, drawing an arrow from his quiver.

Foolishly, I was unarmed, so I did the only sensible thing I could do; turn and run. The mare agreed wholeheartedly at first, but once we got a safe distance away, she started giving me trouble again. I slowed her to a canter so it wouldn't be too dangerous in the slippery snow that that was lying thick on everything. Every so often I would have to go around a bowed tree or duck under a heavy laden branch, but the shift in my weight triggered her to act up so I eventually settled with blocking the branches with my arm and getting covered in snow.

She was still cantering on when I saw a tree in the way that I would never be able to duck under. I knew I would have to slow her down and find a way around it, so I gently pulled back on her reins and sat down to bring her to a walk. Instead she tossed her head unhappily and snorted. I sat down deeper, sifting my weight into her back so she would have to slow down. Out of nowhere she got upset and bucked, hard. I was experienced enough to know to keep her head up and lean back against the direction that her body was throwing me, but that only made her buck worse.

I was unsure of what was wrong; perhaps she was upset about the bird? That didn't make sense though. She began tossing her head and fighting me insanely. Then it occurred to me that something might be wrong with her. I made to get down but she was still hopping around like crazy and in the slick snow it was hard to find a moment I could jump off and still keep her reins in hand without getting trampled. Figuring the best I could do was either jump off and fall on my butt, as I knew I would as soon as my feet hit the snow, or try and dismount slowly.

Taking my chances with the latter, I slipped my foot from the stirrup and began to swing it over. She began to calm down a bit as I eased off her back and I thought to myself that so long as she doesn't fall over we would be ok. But of course, nothing in life is ever ok, so naturally as soon as I thought this, her back foot slid out to the side, causing her to nearly topple sideways. She caught herself at the last moment, but I was still pounded into the frozen ground side first.

There was about six inches of snow to break my fall so I was, other than being completely covered in soaking wet snow, perfectly fine. The cold snow was quickly invading my already wet clothes. I was not completely saturated with water and it was chilling to the bone. At least the horse is ok, I think as I grit my teeth and glare at her. I go to stand up but I am quick to loose my feet in the snow. The ground is perfectly hard and snow slick, making a bit of a slide if one were to run and dive head first down a hill on it. A small part of my brain in the back briefly recalled eight or nine years ago, when I had done just that all afternoon on a hill near our house. However I needed to concentrate on the present.

I was just scrambling back to my feet when I heard, for the second time, a high pitched screeching of a bird. One look confirmed that it was the same hawk as the one who had given me warning ten minutes ago. I stopped and stared at it for a moment when I finally comprehended that something was once again wrong. I hardly had time to look up when I saw it coming. I let out a short yelp of surprise, but had no other time to react as a huge snow covered branch fell on me. All I remember is feeling sudden weight and my body crumbling back to the ground.