Ok, just thought I'd mention that I wrote this one handed (so there may be some typos) while eating a really yummy apple...ok, I don't know why I had to share that...ubt it really was a good apple! Ok, I 'm just hungry cause I just got off work and I hadn't eaten. So, to the story. Um, I appologize for the end of this chapter, I was kind of forced to do change the second half of the chapter to third point of view...only this once though, I promise! It just wouldn't have worked any other way, and I just had to get in this part. It would have been much easier if I had just wrote the whole story in third person, I know...but its more personal this way and I thought it would help my story to writeit first person. Hey, my writing prof told me I should do all of my writing in first person based on true stuff form my life, mostly because he thought I was huilarious and had really good stories to tell and that my conversation stuff in what I wrote for him was good...so you know, I was told to do stuff first person...not that this is a true story or anything...please, I live in pa...not New Hampshire, and my school is NOT in Vermont. Although, a lot of the horse stuff is true...besides the point, I'm rambling ... again...Ok then, enjoy! I don't own King Arthur...(pouts)

Time May Change

It was a weird feeling. I knew I wasn't really awake, and yet, it felt like I was. I felt really light, like the gravity was turned on low, but not like I was floating or anything. Another odd feeling was that I was hearing voices everywhere, but they sounded kind of muffled, yet enhanced at the same time.

Slowly the voices became more distinct and I could pick out individuals after a moment or two and out names to them.

"Mom?" It was unusual, that I still remembered what her voice sounded like. I guess a mother's voice just isn't something one forgets easily.

"Krista, I'm here." I blinked a few times and her figure began to come in view. Everything looked all hazy and sorts but I could still make her out.

"Mom where am I?" I approached her carefully, unsure of what to expect.

"Its ok Krista, I'm here, nobody's going to hurt you." I could see her waiting for me to come to her, and I went willingly.

"Mom, I've missed you so much. You wouldn't believe the things dad did." I ran to her and threw myself in her arms, the only loving arms that had ever held me.

"Oh wouldn't I?" I looked up and screamed. It was my mom holding, but her face was my father's. It was a horrible nightmare and I couldn't escape it. My body began to freeze like ice and I ached all over. I didn't know what was going on and my father was laughing like he always did when he was drunk.

"Get back in the house and clean up the mess in the kitchen, the gal's coming over later and I don't want it looking like a dump.

'The gal', the name he stuck on the woman that eventually became my step-mom. Like she ever cared if the kitchen was a mess, she never saw it, she sat in her Lazy-boy chair all day puffing on cigarettes and sharing a bottle of brandy with my dad.

"Get moving brat." Smack. It had been years since he last did that, so many years. He never hit me before mom died, but he angry after her death, and became violent. He only once beat me though. It was after that he started letting me take riding lessons. There was a lot of crap going on in the house, especially her moving in after he married her, I wasn't too happy about it. But around the time I reached the eighth grade, he had stopped smacking me across the face. But he would threaten, and I would still remember the sting of that one time.

Smack. "I said get moving. The garbage needs to be taken out and there are dishes everywhere, don't make me tell you again. And you can fetch me another beer while you're at it."

"No, you're not real, you're dead…you can't make me." I stand defiantly before him but somehow I feel like a small child again, and I am scared. I can feel my knees tremble slightly as I try to stand tall.

"Oh no? I can't make you, we'll just see about that." And he was suddenly upon me. I saw a fist coming from the right, the left just behind it, and I didn't think to react. I went down with him swinging like a madman and I shrieked.

"Dad, stop, please stop! It's me, Krista, dad! No, stop, stop, please stop!"

"Krista? Krista? Krista can you hear me?"

"No, stop….stop, please..."

"Krista, wake up, its ok, Krista….Krista!"

"Wha…what…."

"Its ok, relax." I finally surface enough that I am registering what this strange new voice is saying and I realize that it was all just a dream. My eyes begin to flutter open as I gradually take recognition to the voice.

"Arthur…." My eyes finally peel completely apart, which I instantly regret, and I snap them back shut for another moment or two. Again I open them, and after taking a few long weary blinks, I am able to focus on the concerned face bending over me. "Arthur…what happened?"

His face relaxed a bit and he sat back in the chair a bit more, which was better than his on the edge, almost falling off from leaning forward, pose, that he had been holding.

"You were knocked unconscious, we found you in the woods yesterday, near covered in snow with a branch on top of you. It must have fell and hit you." Then it all suddenly came back to me.

"That hurt you know." And then, the pain. "Ow, it still does." I felt like a horse rolled on me good and hard a few times.

"I imagine it will hurt for sometime…you almost died to be honest."

"How'd you know where to find me?" I try to sit up but Arthur holds up his hand telling me no. From the jolt of pain I received in my back from the action I decided to let him win this one.

"We didn't. We didn't see you all morning, but we thought perhaps you were hiding in the stables somewhere and thought best not to disturb you. It was when I went to see Tristan that he asked if you had taken his horse out. I hadn't thought to check the stalls, as the weather was rather dangerous to go riding unless by necessity. And of course we found her stall empty. We checked with the guard who had been on duty that morning and they said they saw nothing. We didn't think it likely, but we checked with the evening guard just in case. They said they saw a figure slip out close to morning on a grey horse but thought nothing of it. We figured that was you. But why you hadn't returned yet was a sign that something was wrong."

"I guess it was. So how exactly did you find me in the woods?" I started rubbing my eyes as they began to feel heavy again.

"You should rest." He began to get up, but I quick grabbed his hand and restrained him, which ultimately sent a dizzy spell upon me.

"No, I want to know."
"Very well. We went out after you. The snow had all but stopped, but the ground was still slick, so we had to ride carefully. I left Lancelot here to look after things while I was out and took along Gawain in hopes that he could possibly try and fill in for the loss of Tristan's tracking skills and sharp eyes. He did figure out the general direction, but not so good as Tristan." At this I smiled, knowing first hand how good Tristan's senses were. "I also took Dagonet along, just in case I needed another set of arms. Good thing too, I needed the two of them to lift the branch. It was so heavy with snow….but enough, you need to rest. You're three rooms down from Tristan's, but I don't think either of you will be visiting anytime soon. If you need anything…..rest well." But I didn't hear him, I was already fast asleep.

(Third person change…sorry….)

When Arthur learned what happened, he knew he had to act. This girl, this stranger with the wild tongue and icy glare was his responsibility. He had tp go find her. He knew Gawain and Dagonet were his best hope for aiding him, so as soon as they could, they were on the trail.

Gawain got them going in the right path, but oddly enough, there was a bird that kept circling overhead in the same direction. About an hour in to the ride, perhaps more, they heard a rather familiar sound; a horse neighing in the distance.

"Tristan's…up ahead." They increased their pace slightly, careful on the slick ground, and listened as the horse cried out again. They soon rounded the bend and they saw the mare standing there tossing her head, neighing to the other horses. But there was no Krista.

Then they saw it; the large snow laden branch now blocking the path, and they could just make out Krista beneath it. Arthur was off his horse in a moment, kneeling by her head.

"Krista? Krista? Can you hear me? Krista? My God she's freezing. Gawain, Dagonet, the branch." The two of them were just able to heft it up off her, so buried in snow it was. Arthur then signaled Dagonet over to help him while Gawain chopped the branch into quarters and threw it off of the path.

After a close look Dagonet determined there were no broken bones, just a nasty hit and very low body temperature. "We need to get her back where it's warm. Get her warm again, and she should be fine." Arthur was already covering her in his cloak.

"Help me get her on the horse. Gawain, you ready?" Gawain was just throwing the last hunk of wood to the side. He then picked up his axe, brushed the snow off it and nodded.

"All set, lets get out of here." Gawain lead Tristan's horse back, who now seemed perfectly content. They all knew they wouldn't have found Krista near so quick had the mare not stayed close and alerted them where she was. They were all thankful for the time spent teaching their horses to stay put, but the question puzzling them was, what happened to Krista? They all knew she was an experienced rider, true anything could happen, but what could have gone wrong.

As soon as Krista was better rested, these were just some of the questions that Arthur would put to her. Something had happened, and he was going to find out what. It was about time he found out more about her too. Arthur shook his head after he left the room. Something just didn't seem right.