I wake to the feeling of something hot and tasty on my tongue. I swallow it greedily as my stomach rumbles, I am very hungry. I move my neck only a little to find that it and my whole body feels stiff and sore. My head isn't hurting and my ankle only throbs slightly which is a plus.
Wait, where am I?
Then it hits me, all of it. I walked far and was exhausted once I found that cottage. I fell over and then I lost consciousness. Fear cold and quick flows through my whole body, like water as cold as ice as I realize that someone is feeding me, but who? Why? And they could be dangerous. I guess there is only one way to find out.
The palms of my hands begin to sweat as I slowly open my eyes to see a girl standing over me, a little younger than me holding a spoon up to my lips. Her hair is dark blonde in a long braid, and her light brown eyes seem distance somehow.
"You're awake." She begins to say, a little annoyed, and with an English accent. "You're lucky, if Elie hadn't insisted on an extra practice we would not have found you on time. We did though and so you'll live, although you might be a little sore."
Her arm reaches out with the spoon full of more hot liquid about to put it in my mouth but I stop her by asking, "What are you feeding me?"
She sighs out of what I can only guess as impatience and answers with, "Its vegetable broth and herbs to help heal your body."
I nod my head and attempt to push myself up with my arms so that I can sit up but I can't hold my own weight and fall back onto the stiff mattress. I realise now that I am laying on a wooden bed with only a thin quilt over top me and no pillow. I look around to see that I am in a small bedroom with only the bed and a small table and chair beside me. It is quite bare.
"Be more careful or you really will damage yourself permanently." She warns me.
I look up at her suddenly nervous again and a little embarrassed as I say sheepishly, "But I have to, you know, go."
She smirks down at me, as she bends over to retrieve something from under the bed. She stands up after a few minutes and pulls out a small pot like object. She then reaches out to me with her arms which I take apprehensively. She then helps me up so I can go. I am sore and stiff so it is a little difficult and I would have been more embarrassed if I wasn't so tired. She helps me back onto the mattress and under the thin quilt. After she feeds me the rest of the broth I lay back down and drift off into a sleep that is almost instantly filled of strange dreams that I can make no sense out of.
"You know what the prophecy said, don't you! Yet you still choose to keep her!" Yells an angry voice.
"I don't care what the prophecy said she is but a child. She is my child. I cannot, I won't abandon her, especially because of her father. And now you know too much" Says the second voice.
"No! Please I- I won't tell another soul!"
"I wish I could believe you, I really do."
"N-" he is cut off by the sound of a sword slicing through something. And almost instantly I know that it is him that is sliced.
Even in my current dream state I feel sick to my stomach. I then receive momentary consciousness; enough time to roll over and vomit up all of my stomach contents on the floor beside what I am laying on. I notice someone or someone's in the room with me but I don't get a chance to look. I do however hear a young male's worried voice, also with an English accent say, "She vomited, what if she has a fever?"
I fall back asleep after hearing that question, with no dreams this time.
I awake again only this time none are in the room with me which I am grateful for somehow. I sit up cautiously and find that my body isn't sore anymore. My ankle only has a dull ache. I remove the quilt to find that my clothing I came here with is gone and now I wear some kind of night gown. It doesn't feel right, I don't like it.
I push the blanket over and stand up on the wooden floorboards to find that all my strength is back to normal. I sigh in relief that I am healed and healthier. I walk closer to the wooden door while scanning the room hoping to find my own clothing. I look over to the end of the bed to find a mat there with my clothing piled on top. I pick them up and quickly change into the familiar fabric feeling even better with the familiarity. I get confused though as the smell hits my noise, it is different. Someone must have washed it. When I am finished changing I open the door and find myself in a hallway with two other doors opposite from me and a dead end on my right. On my left leads to another room where a few voices are coming from.
I muster up any courage I may have and walk down the hall towards the other room. Walking out of the hallway I find myself in a larger room that looks like it serves as a kitchen and living room with its large brown wooden table in the centre along with a stove at the far wall and more chairs around. There are three people seated at the wooden table, the girl from before, a guy around my age maybe a little older with black hair and brown eyes, and an older man who is at least sixty.
When they all notice me standing in the door frame their conversations stop and all eyes land on me. The girl only briefly looks at me while the boy looks at me like he is sizing me up, but there's kindness in his eyes along with a curious undertone, and the older man only looks at me with a calm and somewhat curious expression.
"It's about time you woke up, I had to miss morning practice because of you." Says the girl.
I immediately feel a little guilty and say to her, "Sorry."
She looks very annoyed as she responds with, "Well I have to take you back to the village. You can find your own way after that. Let's go." She gets up quickly walking over to me, grabs me by the arm and starts to pull me towards the door but the boy's voice stops her.
"Wait, shouldn't we give her a meal and at least tell her our names while learning hers, Al." The boy says.
The old man, or Al seems to be thinking. After a few minutes of this and silence, he says, "Yes. I don't know of that to be wise but my curiosity has gotten the better of me." He chuckles a bit as he speaks, and then continues more seriously. "Sit child and tell us your story. Elie will get you some soup and bread. I'm afraid there's no meat this spring. As you can already tell my name is Albertan, Al for short. This is Alexandra or Alex, she may seem a bit tempered but she is a sweet one. The boy is Elliot, he prefers Elie. Finally what is your name child and how do you come to be here?"
By now Elie has set a bowl with a bit of bread to eat for me already as I sit down in the empty wooden chair. I am taken back by her name, Alexandra, my name. I don't want to make her temper any worse no matter what Al said, so I decide to make up one. They all have long names so I choose one that I heard in a story once.
"You can call me Missy, short for Missione. How I came upon your lodgings I'm a little unsure of myself. Where exactly am I?" I ask, a little scared to hear what he has to say.
He chuckles again and says, "You are in Camelot territory, under the reign of King Uther."
I sit stunned, staring in to space at his words, they shock me. How did I get here? And more importantly, why? How is this even possible? But then again for as long as I can remember I've thought anything was.
"Missy? Missy?" Elie asks while waving his hand in front of my face.
"What?" I say.
"Are you alright?"
"Of course she's fine, let's just go all ready." Interrupts Alex.
"Wait! May I ask you something?" I ask Al hurriedly.
"You can ask." He says.
My question is, alright it sounds a little bizarre and crazy, maybe even stupid but if this really is Camelot I want to be able to defend myself. I've read how dangerous it is here with Saxons and bandits, and I don't want to die an early death.
"Do you know where I can seek apprentice ship for the art of swordsmanship?" I ask a little unsure of how I said it.
They all look a little taken back but quickly recover.
"Why do you want to know?" Asks Elie a little suspicious.
"Well if this is Camelot, I need to learn how to defend myself. Besides swords always held an interest for me." I answer as honestly as I can.
They don't look convinced so I continue pleading my case. "I know I'm not that strong now or whatever, but I want to learn, I have to."
This answer seems to satisfy Al as he tells me, "You will room with Alex. She will get you started and Elie will teach you the basics. I'll teach you the more advanced techniques and knowledge later on when you're finished the basics."
"Al," Alex tries to argue but a firm shake of his head stops her from further argument.
"Fine then, but what is with your accent and strange words? I've never heard it before," She asks.
"Don't be rude" Elie scolds.
"It's all right. I come from very far away, very far." I tell her thinking of home and how it really is far away.
Will I ever return? Somehow it seems I never will. It makes me feel sad, but also happy.
"But-" She is interrupted by Al who says, "You can ask her about her past if you tell her yours. If only one side is told it's unfair."
That shuts her up and no more questions are directed at me the rest of the day. I finish my soup then am shown the outhouse area and the rest of Al's land. The next day is a lot more difficult though.