Out of Time

Chapter 9

Dani resisted the urge to run that bubbled up in her as the short conversation came to a close. Fear ran cold through her veins, both freezing her in place and urging her into action at the same time.

How could he have seen through her so easily? Everyone else seemed so willing to believe the facade she'd so effortlessly donned. Why was he different? What would he do? Even if he believed in his promise to mean her no harm, that didn't mean it wouldn't come to her. After all, intentions did not guarantee results.

Then another thought torpedoed her mood even further. What if he figured out the rest of her secrets? While dressing as a boy was pretty bad if they found out, and people treating her as a girl a fate she would rather not see, she shuddered to think how she would be treated if they knew she was from the future. Countless stories ran through her head of treatments for those that were different over the centuries. Beheadings, hangings, drownings, burning at the stake.

"I'm dead," she mouthed to herself as life continued on as normal around her.

#

The next morning, she made her way to the great hall, each step taken with hesitation, dread. When she arrived, a matter of inevitability rather than choice, she let out a sigh of relief when the young man didn't occupy any of the tables.

Arleigh spotted her as if she had a GPS tracker on Dani. She waved with her whole body, rushed over, and dragged her to a table. "Sit, sit," she said before she disappeared. Within moments, she returned with a serving of food, staring Dani down as she ate it. Arleigh would glare at her every time she started to slow down, every time she showed signs of stopping.

Dani put the last bit of food in her mouth, feeling half sick from eating too much, and sped off out of the keep, afraid Arleigh might insist on her having seconds to put some meat on her bones.

Once outside, she paused. Her mind drifted back to the man from yesterday. Was he really gone? He'd flown like a bat out of hell into the bailey yesterday. She would recognize the horse anywhere.

Dani decided on a detour, heading for the stables. If the horse had disappeared as well, she could let out a breath of relief. She stepped into the stables, and started peeking into each stall.

By the fourth stall, a man with leathery skin and greying hair confronted her. "Can I help you, lad?"

She jumped. "Yeah, I was wondering if the man who arrived yesterday had left. I was looking for his horse."

"Oh, Merlin? He left early this morning."

It took all her power to keep her jaw off the floor. That scrawny little punk was Merlin? The legendary wizard? "Thank you," she managed to get out before turning and walking away.

Merlin. Merlin knew she was a woman. Well, of course he knew. He was a wizard. How could he not know?

Her feet took her to the archery range without her explicit knowledge. She picked up the bow and continued her seemingly futile effort to retrain her muscles. As she pulled back the string a little more than the day before, she cursed herself for not paying more attention to the Arthurian legends.

And the worst part was that she knew more about the legends than most in her time. But so many of the details changed from one telling to the next. Names changed from one legend to the next, and even their roles changed from time to time. She seemed to remember that Merlin wasn't originally a part of the legends. At least, not the earliest ones, but she didn't have any idea how that would affect the legend.

Oh, if only she'd specialized in Camelot.

So what was truth? What never changed? Well, first off, Camelot always fell. Arthur always died as a result of treachery. If Merlin was in the story, then that meant Merlin would see his end at the hands of the Lady of the Lake. The rest she would just have to take as it came, fitting the pieces into the puzzles she had, to form a complete picture of this ancient world.

On the plus side, with Merlin in the picture, she probably didn't have to fear getting burned as a witch.

#

Nearly a half day's ride out, Merlin lucked upon a traveler. He slowed his horse from its gallop, and trotted up alongside the wagon. "Ho there."

"Good day, traveler," the wagon driver called back.

Merlin absently continued the polite conversation as he focused on the man's future. The information—images, words, impressions—all flooded his mind at once, telling him all he ever wanted to know about a person and more. He smiled, thanked the man—even if the man knew nothing of the real reason behind the appreciation—and turned back for Camelot.

He'dconfirmed it. Danielle Carpenter, acompletely powerless woman of no obvious import, had somehow managed to changethe fate of Camelot. He just needed tofind out how... and why.    

Author's Note: Well, today was a crappy day at work.  And yet, interesting because it was so crappy.

I've been fiddling with editing my Patreon page today.  I think it looks a lot better than it did before, though I do need to re-make my video.  I kind of hated it.  But then, I'm not a cinematographer, so what do I expect?

I started writing again in The Alien's Pet yesterday.  I'm just going to keep teasing you guys with it until I'm ready to start posting it.  Mwahahaha!