Capítulo 5: Threatening royalty
Artie raised an eyebrow.
"I think none of you are fools. Has Sir Mordred already tried?" Lady Morgan paled when Artie asked while Merlin shook his head, chuckling.
"Yes he has, but it didn't come out for him." Artie sighed.
"All of this would be easier if Sir Lancelot could pull it out, but that's never going to happen." She muttered. "Or Gawain, or hell, even Tristain, but their roles are to stay knights, not to lead." She had thought she'd said it quietly, but the knights could clearly hear her, and seemed even more scared of her since it had been proven she was not a monster, nor fey. "Fuck, but maybe me being here has changed things, so who am I to say?" She felt a bit like a madwoman. Sir Percy was the only one bold enough to answer her.
"I feel like you have some right to. You know the future, don't you?" Artie laughed.
"I know you guys have no knowledge about the things I know, or the concepts, but my god. As soon as I fell into this world or final moment, things already changed. All the realities have fluctuated. Whatever was supposed to happen has changed because I'm here. So I may know what happened in the past of my world, but that probably won't happen for this one. If I knew how you guys behaved then, I only kinda know how you'll behave now. I'm essentially useless now that I've arrived here. I never learned how to fight with a sword, like everyone's asking me, and you can't really depend on me with a bow and arrow. I'm decent at hand to hand combat, but I'm also badly injured. Everything I did for my previous job doesn't really exist here. So no matter how long I'm here for, I'm of no use to you." The room was silent for a moment before a sigh filled the air. The one who Artie believed to be Sir Lancelot spoke.
"You said you were a knight in…your time? How can you be a knight when you can't fight?" Artie shook her head.
"I never said I can't fight, but the weapon that I use won't be created for another 1000 years." The colour drained from everyone's face, except Merlin. Artie seemed the most pale at her second slip up. Merlin clapped his hands together, giddy like a child.
"Oh goodie! I'm even more convinced you should try to pull the sword out." Artie shook her head at his antics, before a thought popped into her head.
"Wait, from what I remember you were saying you were returning the sword to the lake, so why are you now saying to pull it out? Out of the lake?" She asked and Lady Morgan snorted.
"No, you foolish…girl. The Lady of the Lake takes care of the holy sword for several days before returning it back to the stone. She's the guardian of it, and she decides when to reveal it." She looked uncomfortable as she continued to speak. "It was only this morning that the holy sword was returned to the stone." That seemed to cause a stir around the room. Artie couldn't see the connection. In fact, if there was one, she was ignoring it.
"Ah. Thank you for explaining it, Lady Morgan. But there is no need to worry. I have no plans to attempt to pull the sword from the stone." Artie smiled, trying to seem like she was not intimidating. It didn't appear to be working.
"My dear, maybe you could tell us a bit more about the future. You said I leave after Arthur passes? What else do they say about me?" Artie tried to think of some things that wouldn't tell too much about the future. She sighed.
"Well, the crazier theories about your origins state that they think you might be an ancient Gaelic god just out having some fun with the humans." Merlin seemed to love that idea, while Lady Morgan sputtered.
"How dare you say that about King Arthur's advisor!" Artie raised an eyebrow at her. She was confused as to why this was such a big deal. It didn't appear as if the others were getting upset either.
"Lady Morgan, Merlin doesn't appear upset at my words." Merlin chuckled.
"Oh, but I am. The gods are not to be imitated." Artie cast him a nasty look, knowing damn well the man was playing it up to get a rise out of Lady Morgan. As if vindicated, she flung her arm towards Artie, pointing at her.
"See? You've overstepped!" Artie was confused as to why Lady Morgan was getting so upset, but she was also getting tired of it. She sighed.
"Listen, Lady Morgan, I'm sorry if what other people said upset you, but I can't help with that. Now, if you are going to continue to speak to me that way, I am going to eventually get offended. You seemed to have forgotten that I know quite a bit about almost everyone prominent in this room. I didn't mention it, but you were my favourite." Lady Morgan went white as Artie finally stepped into the room, coming closer to the woman. "So please, continue to push me to see what comes of it." Lady Morgan, even if her face was pale, glared at Artie. Artie could swear she saw her eyes flash a purple shade before going back to their usual blue shade. Artie could hear laughter coming from the round table, and at this point, wasn't surprised it was from Sir Percy.
"Brazen of you to threaten royalty in front of the round table." He commented. Artie frowned.
"The way I see it, I'm already living on borrowed time. This is all a bonus." Artie cast a glance towards the other woman in the room. Lady Guinevere hadn't said anything this whole time, and in fact seemed rather shocked. Her hands were clasped in her lap and her frame was shaking. Artie wanted to say something to comfort her, but didn't know how to go about it. How did you comfort someone who you knew was powerful in their own right, but they didn't know you knew that? She was pretty sure that if Lady Guinevere got her hands near her she would strangle her to death for the interruption. Lady Morgan would probably help her.
Like usual, Artie wasn't making any friends with the girls. In fact, she was pretty sure the only person who was actually excited to have her here was Merlin, but his reasons couldn't be trusted. He probably just was happy something interesting was happening. Artie realised she had gone about this wrong. She should have claimed she was fey or something. Maybe she wouldn't have this bitter taste in her mouth if she had.
She huffed, the air leaving her in a great gust and in great pain. She could feel it showing on her face, but didn't make a comment on it.
"How quickly can I leave this place?" She finally asked and everyone seemed shocked.
"Leave? We can't let you leave. According to you, you know our potential futures. You could tell that to anyone." Potential Sir Lancelot said, his tone was even, but his gaze was serious.
"Who would believe me? I would act differently from the rest of society. I would be a strange woman who showed up with a wound in her stomach and spoke strangely. Plus, I know I messed up this whole introduction thing. I probably should have lied and said I was fey or something and then left." She said. Merlin burst her bubble.
""Fey don't get injured like that."
"I figured that little detail would have escaped some of you, and those who cared enough would have just kept an eye on boring old me. Honestly, all of this is a huge mistake. I got too excited, and in fairness to me, I thought I'd died. Still do." Lady Morgan glared at her, and at this point, Artie was just tired of it.
"You are full of tricks and lies." She hissed and Artie couldn't believe her. The laughter that came out of her sounded a little crazy.
"Me? Full of tricks and lies? That's rich coming from you of all people. Hell, it would be rich coming from any of you. You are all involved in the politics of this land which means you're all liars. If you knew me, or had the ability to travel to my time and speak to my friends they would have laughed in your face. I am exceptionally honest, to a point it hinders my work sometimes." She stopped herself before she could say more, her heart hurting as she thought of everyone she'd left behind. They'd all been so concerned for her when they'd handed her the photos, and now she was never going to see them again. It hadn't quite hit until this moment she was never going back, but speaking about them out loud had stirred the pot. She closed her eyes for a minute just to breathe. Even Lady Morgan noticed the shift, and stepped back.
"Are you in pain?" Lady Guinevere's voice was soft as she spoke, gentle, and without opening her eyes she gave a soft smile.
"Well, the life threatening wound is still with me, and I'm somehow being kept together by faith and magic. That being said, that isn't what hurts right now." Artie opened her eyes and looked over the faces around her. She sighed. All she wanted was to be back home where she knew everyone. She'd even take the stake out again if it would bring her back to her time. No one knew her here. No one cared to know her here. She was intruding on a time that had to be difficult for everyone here. Maybe if she had arrived at a different time, things could have been better. She could have been better. There had been a chance this could have been okay, but she'd already fucked that up royally. There was no way for this to work out. "Listen, I'm not trying to threaten you guys, or anything ridiculous like that. You keep on living your lives. Fates shouldn't be messed with." She gave them a wobbly smile that had a few of them furrowing their brows as she turned and opened the heavy wooden doors. Her wound protested, but she ignored it. No one tried to stop her and Artie took that to speak more about them than the fact she was running away.
Moira was outside, waiting, but when Artie pushed the door open she met her gaze. Artie shook her head, sighing, and started to wander off down the hallway on her own. Moira cast a glance to the knights standing guard at the doors, but they had nothing they could offer her in response. This wasn't a normal situation, and Arite couldn't blame them. She couldn't offer them anything either. She had nothing. No friends, no home, no life, no one to trust, and nowhere to go. She laughed at herself, pressing her hand against the wound that had definitely started to bleed again. Her last final act had been to trust someone who had killed her. Artie didn't exactly have a great track record when it came to trusting people, and she wasn't sure it was going to be any different now.
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