Short stories +++

1001 knights

What would you do if you were ripped out of your own time, and sent far away, to some time you had only ever read about? What if you thought you were dreaming, but only to realize that you were not, when face to face with death? What would happen if you fell in love, but could not follow your heart? How would you get back? Who would believe you? Would you ever be the same again? These were questions I had frequently asked myself for a long time. I had never been a normal person, never fitting in, never knowing where or who to go to.  My problem was that I read too much, and imagined that I was in the books, living the story.

One day I went too far. I had been reading about time traveling. That night I decided to build my own time machine, I stayed up all night studying how to build it, and when morning came it was ready. I decided to try it out. I locked the garage door, and turned it on. To my amazement it actually started beeping and the lights flickered. I stepped in and turned a knob. The machine started shaking, but nothing had happened, I thought. Deciding that I needed to adjust some settings I stepped out into the dim light.

At first I did not notice the cold, wet, stonewalls. I did not notice the knight staring at me, his eyes filled with disbelief.  I was swearing to myself, thinking the machine was broken; all the lights had turned themselves off. I turned around to fetch some things in the kitchen, that was when I realized I was not in my own house anymore. It seemed I was not even in my own time!

A while later I was sitting on a stone bench, waiting for the king to finish giving out punishments to the people in front of me. I had been sitting there listening for a few hours, and the judgment had almost always been the same; behead them!  Finally it was my turn, I stepped out in front of the crowd, and saw a few ladies gasp and faint. Everyone was staring at me, apparently seeing a girl with baggy sweatpants and a singlet, short hair, a stripy black and red hat and lots of black makeup, was not a normal sight in the middle ages. Huh, I guess I should have thought of that.

A knight walked up to the king and whispered something to him. The king shook his head, and looked like the knight had told him flying metal boxes existed. Although that might actually be spot on, it was the knight who had seen me arrive, in a flying, metal box. Well, whatever he had said, the king waved to some men, they grabbed hold of my arms and held on to them as though they were dangerous snakes.

            “What have thy done to come before Us?” the king asked me.

            “Um, I don’t know. I just jabbed a few buttons on my time machine, and when I got out, I was looking straight at this moron.” I nodded towards the knight who had seen me arrive, “So I have no idea what the heck you’re talking about!” Nobody answered, and everybody looked at me like I was some sort of mindless zombie who had started to eat brains, or something.

            “Pray, what did thy say?”  A knight asked me, and it dawned on me that none of them understood my “new” language

            “I came here in a flying metal box,” I said slowly, deliberately trying to annoy them.

            “Thy spoke the truth?” the king asked the moron knight, who nodded.  “Take this peasant to Our chambers and clothe her in something worthy of court!” he ordered some knights.

That night the king got a new heir. He adopted a girl, he adopted me.

Two years had passed, and the people were getting used to the thought of a female ruler. I was now supposedly nineteen, but it did not feel that way. I had not changed since my arrival, other than in social status and style. I still had the body of a seventeen year old. It was painfully obvious that I was immortal, literally.

It happened a day when we, the king and I, were riding. A group of bandits jumped out from the bushes and shot an arrow at me. They would have missed if my horse had not reared up. The arrow went through my heart. All I could do was hold on; I could not feel the pain, but thought that it was because I was in shock.

When we arrived at the castle gates, soldiers were waiting. Some ran to get help, others lifted me down from my horse, and laid me in a bed. A medieval doctor pulled the arrow from my wound, but still I felt nothing. The blood had stopped flowing, although it should have kept coming, the heart is what makes blood. I should have been dead by then, but I merely felt light. I felt like I could float away, I was light as a feather. But then I felt myself slowly sinking, down, back to reality, not that reality seemed real, but it was reality nonetheless.

I went out again three days later, back out into the woods. I met the bandits; they were terrified, probably thinking they were seeing my ghost. I just stood there. I let them stare. Then I left, it was that simple, the king wanted to take revenge, but I did not need more than that.

More years passed, I stayed immortal and young. But one day, whilst sitting in the courtyard I met a beautiful, young bard. He looked like an angel, and I immediately fell in love. I also fell into the fountain. He rushed over to help me, and when he reached out his hand I could do no more than stare at it, the flawlessness of it was nearly unbearable. He managed to get me out of the fountain, although he probably though I was about as helpful as a dead fish. When I looked into his eyes, all I could see was an endless well of feelings and thoughts. I could see love, sorrow, pain and happiness, all at once.

That night I cried. I would never be able to be with him. I would stay young forever, never ageing, never dying. All I wanted was to be with him, but how could I do that if I was hindering his chances of a happy life with someone who would grow with him?

 That is the reason I am standing here now, on the roof of the highest tower in the castle, ready to jump. Hoping that the fall will kill me, not just leave me broken, unable to move, not feeling the pain.

As I am about to jump, I hear footsteps in the stairs. Who can it be? The whole guard is down there, waiting for me to jump, not knowing how to stop me. I cannot be bothered to turn around. A strange calmness has come over me, I am sure that this will indeed kill me; I know that I have to jump.

            “No, do not jump! I need you! I love you.” The heart shattering voice brakes through the calm. I know that voice. It is Joseph, the bard. He said he loves me. He must have run up all those stairs, just for me.

            “I have to, I can’t live with the pain.” I croak as the tears are welling up in my eyes.

            “Let me share your pain,” He says softly, he is right behind me now. “Turn around, I am here. If you want, it is me you see. Please do not jump, I will jump for you. Please, I can hold you when you reach for me, I will do anything for you. I love you.” I can take it no more. I step away from the edge, turn around and throw myself into his outstretched arms. He loves me, that is all that matters right now. We will deal with the future later, together.

I have been working on my time machine and I think I have made it work so that it will take us back to the time I belong in. Joseph has agreed to come with me; he used to feel like he did not belong in the time he lived in. He is just like me. As we step into the machine I am unsure if it will take us to the right time or not, it does not really matter. As long as I am with Joseph, everything is perfect.