15th Century Girl

Chapter Twenty One: Escape!

"Dragon!" A knight cried as Arthur helped me up and ran with me out of the ceremony chambers. The roar came again and lit the hallway before us with fire, orange, searing fire. Arthur pushed me back and covered his eyes, running to the other end of the room with me, but just before we reached it, the dragon's fire barricaded the way before us. Again, Arthur pulled me back, but this time I stopped in the very middle of the chambers, for, I saw the dragon's eye, the eye was twice my size and colored blue.

Through the broken window an intense wind came inside, caused by the dragon's wings, the dragon's eyes widened at seeing me. The dragon's scales were orange. But, I felt like I knew those eyes, that's when I heard a knight scream "that's the prisoner! The prisoner is the dragon!"

"Carter" I said breathlessly, a smile spread across my face, Carter turned and I saw the entirety of his body, he was huge! He was probably the size of Camelot and his muscles bulged, even in dragon form! Carter's front arms came through the window and pushed it apart, enlarging the broken window and causing some of the ceiling to fall. I cried out and covered my head in my hands, but after moments of not being crushed I discovered that Carter held the rubble of the roof. He set it down beside me and just stared at me for a moment, that's when Arthur came out of no where, wielding a sword, Arthur pushed me behind him protectively and pointed the sword at Carter.

"No, no Arthur! It's okay, it's Carter!" I yelled over Carter's wing beats. Arthur remained in position, that's when Carter bit Arthur's sword in half, spitting out one half and turning back to us. Arthur still held his ground, holding me behind him "Arthur, listen to me, it's okay, Carter won't hurt anyone" I said, placing my hands on Arthur's shoulders, but Arthur wouldn't listen. I walked out from behind Arthur, and Arthur tried to grab me.

"You're mine! Remember? Mine! Not his!" Arthur yelled grasping my left hand and showing me my wedding finger "mine" he whispered.

Now Carter roared, it was a sad, angry roar. I then felt Carter's hand wrap around me and yank me from the celebration chambers, I grasped onto his hand and Arthur yelled for me, grasping a bow and arrow and shooting at Carter. But, Carter's thick scales protected him from the arrows. Carter flew away with me, holding me close to him as Camelot disappeared and we sunk into the woods. Carter landed in the woods and placed me on the ground, in the middle of a few wagons.

Carter laid down, that's when I saw him shrink and turn back into himself. I ran up to him and jumped into his arms, kissing his neck and cheek. Carter wrapped his left arm around me, whilst his right held my bottom, holding me up. Carter was stiff as I kissed his cheeks and held him close to me, saying my thanks to god that he was alright. Carter placed me back down on the ground and softly caressed my cheek.

I saw the sadness that covered Carter's face as he looked down at my ring "Oh, Carter, let me explain" I began, then he cut me off.

"I already know, Percyla, I know you did it to save me...but it doesn't hurt any less" Said Carter, my heart dropped and I ripped the wedding ring off of my finger, I turned around and found Mordred standing behind me.

"Take this, Mordred, sell it, burn it, do whatever with it, just...take it." Said I closing his small hand around it, Mordred smiled and pocketed it, I turned back to Carter and hugged him as hard as I could, with his left hand Carter rubbed my back, and with his right he twirled a piece of my hair. His face was buried in the angle of my neck. "Take me home, Carter, I want to go home" I whispered, I was tired and I longed for the life Carter planned for us, Carter's warm breath ticked my neck as he sighed and gently kissed the soft skin of my neck.   

"Where is home, Percyla?" Asked Carter, his voice was muffled.

"Back in our own time, with your aunt who only lives around the corner from me. I'll go to school and work at a drug store somewhere, you'll finish school too, you only have a few more months. We'll live happily together, I know it. Let's go home, Carter, please, take me home." Said I, holding Carter closer to me and hugging him ever tighter, that's when Mordred spoke up.

"We can help you with that" Said he, I broke away from Carter and smiled to Mordred "we are druids, after all." Now there was a large crowd of people, all different ages, sizes and genders, and they all had the mark of the druid on their wrists. "All we ask of you to do is hold each other tightly and think of your home" Said Mordred, I grasped onto Carter, and he held me close to him.

"Wait" I whispered, looking quickly to Mordred who gave me an attentive expression.

"What's going to happen to Camelot? To Merlin, to Gaius, to Morgana, Guinevere, Arthur, and Uther?" I asked, looking from Mordred to Carter, Mordred smiled.

"We will cast a spell upon them, save Emrys, he will always remember. But, to everyone else, this never happened, you never came to Camelot." Mordred said, I sighed and nodded

"What did you mean, Mordred, when you said that the destiny of Camelot would be changed if I married Arthur?" I asked, Mordred sighed.

"Sir Carter stopped that before it started" Mordred said, smiling to Carter, Carter kissed my cheek and told me it was time to go, for, we heard the yells of the knights of Camelot. "Hold on to each other tightly, now, think of your home" Mordred said to us, I closed my eyes and held onto Carter as tightly as I could. Carter held onto me with equal tightness and a kiss to my head. I heard the druids mumbling something in their own language, my feet didn't feel ground and I buried my head into Carter's shoulder once more.

"Goodbye Camelot" I whispered as I heard the druid's voices become distant and I felt my hair lift off of my shoulders.

"Open your eyes, Percyla, we're home" Carter whispered, I slowly lifted my head to see that we were in an open wheat field, a golden wheat field and the sun was sinking behind us. The sunset burned orange and red and gave me the impression that the wheat was glowing. A warm breeze blew, but I would not let go of Carter. "It's okay, Percyla, look, there's your neighborhood" Said he, freeing one of his arms and pointing across the field and over a hill to white, hardy board houses and putting cars. I looked down and observed that my wedding dress had not changed, and Carter still wore his chain mail and knight's uniform.

"How far to your aunt's house?" I asked and Carter sighed, turning towards the sunset.

"Let's worry about that to-morrow, for now, let us rest." Said he, grasping my hand and sitting down, I sat down next to him and we watched the sun fall behind the hills of golden wheat. Soon, the moon rose high above the earth and the stars twinkled like little stage lights. Carter and I layed back, looking up at the stars, Carter pointed out all of the constellations and told me their stories. I smiled and rolled over to him, laying on his chest, I closed my eyes and I felt myself float away to the land of sleep, lying in Carter's arms, listening to the soft 'swish' of the breeze tickling the wheat.