Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own King Arthur.
NOTICE: This story will be updated once a week or more. Please check back every Wednesday!
She was crying as she drove. Driving while emotionally compromised was never safe. Driving in the heaviest down pour of the year while emotionally compromised was even worst but she couldn't stop now. The further she drove, the further she got away from him, the better.
Pushing the accelerator as far as it would go she jumped, jerking the car slightly when he phone rang. Lifting it out of the cup holder in the center console, she gave a soft heart-wrenching cry and tossed it carelessly into the passenger seat. He was calling her, to convince her, to fix the very thing he'd broken.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see the phone on the edge, teetering and then suddenly drop off onto floorboard. She was going to leave it there but the familiar chime rang out alerting her of a new message and as she ducked below eye level of the dashboard to blindly search for it in the darkness of the car she heard a horn growing ever closer and the car suddenly flooded with light. Sitting back up she didn't even have time to scream as she jerked the wheel, veered off the road, skidded into the ditch which doubled as a man-made ramp launching her small vehicle into the air.
Everything seemed to slow down as if it were in slow-motion and right before her eyes a bright light appeared, engulfing the car whole. Just as quickly as the light appeared it vanished, time returned to normal and the car came crashing down to the earth. It flipped several times over and she was thrown from the vehicle, a price to pay for not wearing her seat belt. As she was thrown, she could honestly say she felt nothing. When her head first hit the hard ground she heard a crack and then, nothing.
Lancelot had decided to patrol the wall tonight. It was raining and he always enjoyed the rain, it helped him to think, as if the rain washed clean that which was dirty. Things had been particularly quiet these days since the defeat of the Saxons and the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere. If he was being honest with himself, he was only making this patrol because of his restless mind. For some reason he felt as if something or maybe even someone was coming.
Maybe he was just being overly paranoid. After 15 years of hell he could finally stop, finally rest, finally stop fighting for his life day in and day out. That and maybe he just needed to keep away from the ale for a while. He turned abruptly, torn from his thoughts as a strange, sharp and loud blaring noise ripped through the night and with it came a bright light that appeared out of nowhere, lighting up the night sky as if it were day. He could see it, a good 100 yards away as an object flew through the sky and crashed to the earth below and then, silence. His horse protested at not only being jerked sharply in the opposite direction but also to the noise and light as well.
He patted the side of her neck to ease her nerves and guided her into a gallop to inspect whatever had decided to disturb his night. As he approached the foreign object he could not help but dismount and circle the now crushed metal machine. He kicked a black wheel, which had broken off during its crash, he frowned in disbelief and sheer wonder, "What on Earth—"
That's when he heard it, a moan of pain. It sounded like.. yes! There! He spotted her crumpled body about 15 feet away. He ran to her, rolling her over to assess her injuries. Aside from a large gash on her head where her skull had cracked open she barely had a scrape on her, though he was sure she would hurt tomorrow from such a fall. The rain continued to fall, soaking through the odd clothes she wore and slowly washing the blood from her hair.
He wasted no time by lifting her up and carrying her to his horse that he was careful to mount once more. It wasn't that easy with the extra cargo he came with but he made it work. Taking a deep breath he turned the horse back around and rode for the entrance of the wall.
Amelia woke to the warmth and soft bedding beneath her skin. Her head was throbbing and her body ached all over but when she opened her eyes both things quickly vanished from her mind. This was not her bedroom; first off there was barely anything to it, the large four poster bed she lay in, a roaring fireplace across from it, a small table beside the head of the bed and a chair in front of the table with a sword and her destroyed clothes draped over its backing. That's when she realized, aside from a large shirt probably belonging to a man, she was completely naked. The door creaked open and a timid looking girl entered, carrying a tray. Apparently startled upon seeing she was awake she gasped and dropped the tray which had been carrying a bowl full of steaming water and fresh cloths.
"Illyanna, I told you to be careful!" Snapped a masculine voice, foot steps echoed as the man approached from somewhere down the hall. The girl he called Illyanna scrambled to soak up all of the water with the cloths she'd been carrying as a tall man appeared in the doorway behind her. He had a head full of dark curls atop his head, deep brown eyes, average nose, lips pressed into a hard line and a strong jaw covered in a modest but very attractive beard. Her eyes dropped lower, his arms were huge crossed over his chest, the clothes he wore didn't really allow for a good visual but from what she could tell he was very toned head to toe. To put it simply, he was breathtaking. When her eyes made their way back to his face she was surprised and embarrassed to find him staring right at her! She turned her head away, his eyes burning a hole through her skin as she listened to the girl finish cleaning the mess she made.
"Go and tell the doctor our guest is awake and fetch more water while you're at it."
When the girl was out of sight he moved into the room, closed the door, emptied the chair of it's cargo and took a seat next to the bed.
"What is your name?" He asked.
She licked her lips, "Amelia." She whispered. Her voice felt rough, thick. Then again crying non stop for almost an hour could do that.
He nodded, "And what are you doing here, Amelia?" He bit out harshly.
"I.. I don't know. I was in my car driving after.." She couldn't finish, her voice cracked and she couldn't stop the tears from falling.
"Do not cry I mean-" He was interrupted when the door was opened.
"Lancelot, you're upsetting the poor girl. How can you question her so?" Asked a voice, feminine.
He stood. "Apologies, my Queen. Where is the doctor?"
"He's busy with the patients he already has and I asked if I could take his place so that I may not only patch up her head but also to meet
the woman who has the entire castle talking. Especially since it is in our room she was taken to and not the infirmary with the doctor." She replied.
Amelia had calmed down and frowned as she listened to their conversation. Why did he call her Queen? And did she just say castle?
The woman continued to speak, "Please tell Illyanna to bring the bath and freshly warmed water. I'm sure your guest would like a nice hot bath right about now, am I right?" She asked, briefly turning to Amelia and just as quickly back to the man in front of her. Lancelot nodded, gave a small bow and left, closing the door behind him.
"Please excuse him, he's just protective of those he cares for and your sudden appearance does raise some questions. Forgive me, my name is Guinevere. What, may I ask, is yours?"
"Amelia." She croaked out once more in a whisper.
"You must be thirsty. How thoughtless of Lancelot to ignore such a sign, here." She poured water from a pitcher into a cup, both of which had been sitting on the bedside table. Amelia hadn't noticed them sitting there until now, she reached for the cup and with help from Guinevere sat up to drink down the water in two large gulps. Her head spun from sitting up and it throbbed painfully for even that brief moment but it was worth it for the water.
"Where am I?" She asked, her voice more clean now that her thirst had been quenched.
"Camelot." Guinevere said simply.
Suddenly their names hit her like a slap to the face. "Camelot? As in.. Camelot?" She sounded like a broken record. "What year is this?" Surely the girl had to be playing some sort of joke on her.
Guinevere frowned, "It is the year 1213."
Panic began to set in as everything felt as if it were closing in. Too small, the room was too small. She couldn't breathe. Too much. How did she end up in 1213? How did she end up in Camelot? Wasn't that somewhere in Wales? This is why she failed horribly in subjects like History and Geology. She never paid any attention to it. Her heart started racing and she began crying as the panic increased. How the hell did she get to Wales? What happened to her? Would she be able to go home? How would she get there?
Worry was written all over Guinevere's face as she watched a hundred different emotions passed over the girls face but before she could ask if she was alright the door opened and the poor unstable girl took the chance to run.
Amelia didn't know how she was able to get up so fast or shove past the wall of muscle in the doorway but she paid greatly for it when her head gave a sharp sudden stab of pain and she fell into the opposite wall as her world began to spin. She only made it a couple of forced steps when strong arms wrapped around her waist, good timing, because in the next moment her legs gave out and the darkness consumed her.
Author Note:
Dear readers,
I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
I know I changed the year a bit but I wanted it to be an even 800 years separating Lancelot and Amelia.
Also, please bear with me as I have not seen the movie King Arthur since it came out. If I get something wrong feel free to leave a review
with a polite correction so that I may not only give you credit but also correct my mistake :)
Please let me know what you think by following the story, adding it to your favorites or leaving me a review!
Thanks for reading!
XoXo
W.S.
