Out of Time

Chapter 16

A month had passed since Lady Guinevere and her father visited. Dani had gradually become resigned to the idea she would probably never see her home time again. She shook her head, realizing she was probably too practical for her own good. She'd been too focused on survival since she arrived here to think too terribly much about home. A few times, she'd gone for walks in the woods in the hopes of being able to forget that home was lost to her, but mostly she just struggled to survive.

First, it had been a struggle for survival in those God forsaken woods. Then she'd struggled to regain the muscle she'd lost, to be useful, to adjust to Old English in spoken form. She focused so much on each goal, she seemed to push everything else aside.

Dani sniffed, feeling a good cry coming on, and rolled over in bed, curling up deep in the covers. She should have got up already. She should have been outside with Lancelot, practicing at swords or in the great hall eating breakfast.

Instead, she hadn't got up yet. She couldn't seem to find the motivation. It was as if all the things she'd been ignoring had ganged up on her, assaulting her unprepared brain upon first awaking.

She pushed a fist to her mouth, gasping as tears started to come to her eyes.

And all the things she'd lost started popping into her head all at once.

Her family. Friends. Her books. Her computer. The internet. Her cute little car. Her job as a professor. Indoor plumbing. Her little townhouse she'd slowly remodeled until it was her own.

She thought about curling up on the couch with a book and reading for so long she wouldn't notice when it got dark out. How her mother would always drive her crazy checking in.

With each thought, the tears came harder and harder, her entire body shaking with the depth of her loss.

#

Dani ducked her head as she left her room, crossing the great hall and bailey without slowing. She was sure her face was bright red and puffy from crying, and didn't want anyone to see her like this. She knew the stables always had water there, and she figured it would be a good, out of the way place to splash some water on her face in the hopes of looking a bit more human.

And less like the crybaby no man of this time would ever willing admit to being. Nothing would raise red flags like seeing the evidence of her upset broadcast all over her face.

Dani slipped into the stables, relieved to see that the stable master wasn't there. She walked to the back of the stables, and dipped her hands into the cold water, splashing it across her face, shivering as the icy cold water numbed her everywhere it touched.

"Well, well, well, that is one mighty fine ass you have there," a young male voice said.

Dani jerked, whipping around with water dripping down her chest and arms. "Excuse me?"

The young man leered at her, looking her up and down, clearly liking what he saw, making her wonder if he saw straight through her like Merlin did, or did he simply swing the other way. He leaned against a stall, his arms crossed over his chest. "I must admit, when I just saw you tearing across the bailey, I thought you a boy, but when I saw that ass, it screamed woman."

So, definitely the former. "I'll be going now."

Dani stepped forward to walk past him, but he slammed his palm into the opposite stall, blocking her way.

"I think not." His smile sent chills down her spine, and set her stomach churning in apprehension.

She grabbed his arm, and tried to strong arm him into letting her pass, hoping her training would aid her, but he just used the move against her, pushing her into an empty stall and up against a wall.