[fic] [Tales of Arcadia] Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet 157/?
Your Future Hasn’t Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
released 13th October, 2023
The world erupted into blinding white.
Outside the door of the workroom, Blinky staggered, shying away, shielding all six of his eyes. If light had a sound, this one did, and it was deafening, heavy and oppressive enough to blank out the world.
The light vanished as quickly as it had flared.
He was left blinking, spots floating before his eyes. "What under the world...?" he murmured.
A great hand landed on his shoulder. "Blinky okay?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you for your solicitousness," he assured Aaarrrgghh.
"The question is," said Draal, "did they succeed?"
"Indeed," murmured Vendel, turning toward his workroom.
Crystal shards and dust littered the room, but otherwise... it was empty.
Blinky gaped. "Master Jim...?"
"Oh no," said Archie. "Douxie!"
"Toby gone...?" asked Aaarrrgghh.
"So it would appear," said Vendel, stepping into his sanctum. "The question, is to where."
Douxie was beginning to hate time travel.
He landed hard and twisted his ankle, stumbling backward and hitting the ground with his rump. His ears were ringing, whether from the explosion or the time travel, or something else, he wasn't sure.
No, actually--
It wasn't his ears ringing, he concluded. It was several overlapping voices screaming different things.
He blinked several times and looked around. His vision resolved into a set of separate images. Krel, Aja, and Varvatos yelling at Zadra, all four of them reverted to their Akiridion forms. Steve clinging to Eli, wailing. Toby and Darci holding on to one another, looking around. Mary white-faced and stabbing her finger at her phone screen like it had betrayed her. And Claire, on her knees--
Claire on her knees over Jim, who was laying prone on the ground.
Memory came back in a flash. The core. The shard.
"Jim!" Douxie said, and was on his feet, ignoring his twisted ankle, hobbling over to his brother.
Armored and half-troll, Jim was clearly trying to curl around the... oh, Odin's balls, around the shard of Gaylen's core that was stuck right through his amulet!
Jim panted for a minute as Claire's worried hands hovered over him and Douxie dropped to his knees beside him. Then he got himself under control, bright blue eyes opening. "Ow," he grated. "This feels uncomfortably familiar."
"Timeline echoes," Douxie said, even as Claire demanded "Are you all right?!"
"It hurts," Jim reported. "But I'll survive."
"You'd better," Claire threatened. She and Douxie helped Jim to sit.
"Uh, not to break up the love fest," Toby said, he and Darci shuffling closer, "but... where are we?"
Mary's voice suddenly added to the cacophony. "What do you mean, no reception?!" she wailed as Douxie looked around.
His heart sank as he recognized the glade. "Oh no."
"What 'oh no'?" demanded Darci.
"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like this?" Claire muttered.
"Doux? You know where we are?" asked Jim.
"Yes, I do." He met his brother's eyes, then Claire's. "And so do both of you."
"Uhh...." The pair of them looked around, then back at him, clearly drawing a blank.
"The last time we were here," he told Jim, "you were in a stasis crystal."
Claire got there first. "You mean we're back in Camelot?" she demanded.
That caught attention even from the half of their group that was yelling and arguing.
"Wait, you mean--" asked Krel.
Douxie swept his hands wide. "Welcome to the dark ages," he said. "Mid twelfth century. And if I remember correctly," he added, looking around, "the knights should be showing up in less than five minutes."
"Knights?" Steve and Eli demanded as one.
"Yeah." Jim levered himself up to his feet. "Knights who don't like non-humans," he said pointedly, looking at the Akiridions.
"Don't like non-humans as in...?" asked Aja.
"As in, they tried to shove me into the sunlight when they knew it would kill me instantly," said Jim flatly.
"Oh." She and her brother and Varvatos and Zadra all looked at one another.
Krel already had his serrator in hand and was pressing on it. To no effect. "Why is this not working?" he demanded. "Either the power surge from Gaylen," he answered his own question, "or damage from the chronic displacement--"
"I can't be in the dark ages!" Mary said. "I need my social media!"
Darci hesitated, then stepped away from Toby and put her arms around Mary. Mary grabbed onto her, flinging her arms around her friend. "I'm nothing without TikTok and Instagram!"
"That's not true," Darci soothed, rubbing a hand down Mary's back.
"Douxie, we need a plan," said Claire.
"Okay. Okay." The wizard had his hands in his hair. "Jim," he said first, looking at his brother.
Jim shook his head, holding a hand up before himself. "I have to be in the dungeons," he said. "Otherwise, no Deya."
Douxie nodded. "You're right. Claire, we'll need you with Morgana again. And... maybe Mary too?"
"I'm not a technomancer without technology!" Mary snapped, teary-eyed.
"Then you'll need to find some other way to access your magic," Claire told her. "Like I did, after I lost the Shadow Staff."
Mary blinked, then slowly nodded.
"Steve," said Douxie.
"I want to be a knight, man!" said the blond.
"Me too!" Eli adjusted his glasses. "Shining armor, rescuing damsels in distress--"
"Exactly where I was going to put you," said Douxie, nodding. "Toby, I want you with them."
Toby gave him a thumbs-up. "You got it, Doux."
"Ugh, the power unit is fried!" Krel complained, smacking his serrator again. "This is useless," he complained.
Varvatos nodded sagely. "Sadly, concussive maintenance cannot be depended on for all battle situations."
Horses whickered, not too far away.
Shit, Jim thought, looking at the Akiridions. They were clearly not human, so they were going to end up thrown in the dungeons with him, and that was not going to work well with Zadra's temper. Or Varvatos'. "Can't... can't Mary charge your serrators?"
"Uh, no, Jimmy-Jam," Mary told him, wiping her eyes. "Rule one: magic can't charge tech."
But Krel's eyes lit up. "But magic and Akiridion technology are almost perfectly compatible!" he said. He thrust his serrator at Mary. "Try it!"
"Are you sure?"
"Well, you've got nothing to lose if it doesn't work," Eli pointed out.
"Ugh." She rolled her eyes, then looked at the blue hard light construction in her hands. Dark blue magic gathered around her. "Fine, I'll try."
The initial flash of light that had attracted their patrol's attention flashed again. And again and again and again, each time less bright than the initial beacon, but no less unnatural. Lancelot gestured his men to ring out around the hollow, as silently as might be.
A small crowd stood in the middle of the hollow, all strangely dressed.
He knew the moment he and his men had been seen, because several of the strangers squeaked, eyes widening in surprise.
"What manner of sorcery is this?" Lancelot demanded, striding into their midst. He saw none now, but there was no other explanation for the light. "Magic is forbidd-- troll!" he barked, leveling his blade at the neck of the armored monster who was in the middle of the crowd.
"Sir Lancelot--" one said.
Lancelot spared him the barest side glance, never lowering his blade. Ah. This one, he knew. "Aren't you Merlin's errand boy?"
"Errand boy?" a dark-skinned youth muttered.
Merlin's boy bit his lip, as if holding back words, then nodded.
Lancelot took off his helmet, shaking his hair out. "What are you doing here, boy?"
"Wow," several of the teenagers murmured. "He's so handsome," one continued.
Lancelot ignored them.
"Merlin sent me to, ah, escort our guests to Camelot," the boy said. "They're an envoy from... far-off lands."
"Far off indeed," an old man declared.
"And this one?" Lancelot demanded.
The boy's eyes flickered back and forth between the troll and the others. "Part of their envoy," he said.
Lancelot scoffed. "Monsters are forbidden in Arthur's lands. As you well know," he reminded the mageling.
"Yes, we were just negotiating that point," the boy muttered through gritted teeth.
A girl with white-blond hair stepped forward. "Sir Lance of the lot," she said. "I am Princess Aja of Akiridionfiev. This troll comes from my land, as part of our... diplomatic mission."
Lancelot scoffed. "An insult to your hosts, breaking the laws of their land and bringing a monster with you."
Her expression hardened. "Perhaps we have different definitions of monsters," she said in a tone that promised violence.
"Aja, wait!" The dark-skinned boy grabbed at the princess' arm. "We do not want to start a fight until we are sure of what we are doing."
She looked at him for a minute, then nodded, softening. "My little brother, Prince Krel," she said, introducing him.
"Whatever," said the troll, sighing. He touched the crystal that grew out of his chest, wincing. "Ow. Just throw me in the dungeon until we leave."
"Jimbo," protested the short redhead in armor.
The troll gave him a weak smile. "For Deya," he said, which made no sense.
But the other's eyes widened and he gave an understanding nod. "For Deya," he said, and knocked his fist against the troll's.
Lancelot sniffed. "You'll be lucky to earn such a merciful fate from our king." To his men, he bellowed, "Bring the wagon!"
"Ugh," said Krel, following the wagon that held Jim. "You really grew up in this place?" he asked Douxie, eyeing the primitive buildings that surrounded Camelot's castle.
"Yes, well." The wizard shrugged.
"The hygiene here is decidedly lacking." Krel's nose wrinkled at the smell of excrement.
"I know," Douxie said in a put-upon tone. "The people here are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have," he muttered.
Toby, for his part, was eyeing the castle itself. "This place is cooler flying," he decided. "Also, cooler with fewer buttheads living in it."
Douxie sighed. "Want to hear something funny?" he asked, in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
"Uh." Jim, in the cart, exchanged glances with Claire and Toby. "Sure?"
Douxie smirked. "Sir Lancelot's family name? Is Du Lac."
They all looked blank. "Which means what?" asked Krel.
The wizard's grin widened into a slash. "Lake," Douxie said with relish.
Jim jerked against the bars of his cage. "No way! I am not related to that, that--"
Douxie laughed; it was infectious. "After forty-five generations? You probably are, Jim. All of you probably are, somehow."
"Not me," put in Krel.
Douxie rolled his eyes. "Yes, all right, you and Aja and Varvatos and Zadra are far more distant cousins to the rest of us."
"Lancelot have any kids?" asked Toby. "Because, you know, I'm thinking Steve might his descendant," he said. "They sure look a lot alike."
"Also, do you think Steve thinks he's straight?" Claire asked. "I mean, he's mooning over Lancelot there the same way he moons over Aja. And Mary and Eli aren't doing much better."
"What does my sister have to do with this planet's satellite?" Krel asked aloud. "Wait, never mind, I am fairly sure I do not want to know."
"With the way Steve and Lance look alike," said Jim, "it's kind of like seeing a parakeet falling in love with its reflection in a toy mirror."
As one, they all turned their heads to look at where Steve was walking beside Lancelot's horse, looking up at his new hero. Aja was mounted behind Lancelot, looking unsure whether she wanted to be there or not. But the knight had insisted that a princess not walk through the muck like a commoner.
(It was good to know, Krel thought sourly, that no matter the time or place, Aja would always be rated more highly than himself.)
"Birds do that?" he asked, considering the similarities of coloration and build between Steve and Lancelot.
"Yeah, sometimes," said Toby.
Krel nodded. "Then I think Jim is right."
Toby snickered. "Would you fuck a clone of yourself?" he suddenly asked.
"No," Douxie said instantly. "And thank you so very much for bringing up that meme, Toby."
"Hey," Toby told him. "You're ace, so you're an outlier and should not have been counted."
"I wouldn't," said Claire.
"Me either," added Jim.
"What about you, Krel?" Toby turned his attention to him.
"Eh." Krel shrugged. "For data gathering purposes, maybe?"
"Steve," said Toby with the air of an expert, "totally would."
They all burst out laughing.
"Ow, owowow--" Jim said. "Don't make me laugh, Tobes. It hurts."
"Open the gate!" Lancelot bellowed. "We have foreigners awaiting judgment for King Arthur!"
Douxie's eyes narrowed. "More or less than last time?"
"Nnn... less, I think?" Jim asked questioningly, slumping against the side of the cage. "It doesn't feel as deep."
"I think your amulet's fucked, though," said Toby, peering closer.
Krel shrugged. "We can repair or rebuild it. We'll just have to yank the shard out to do so."
"Don't!" Douxie yelped, even as the wagon started moving forward again and Jim's hand raised to the shard.
Jim froze.
Douxie swallowed, as they all resumed walking. "It's possible," he said, "that that shard being in contact with the Time Stone is all that's keeping us here."
"So what's the problem?" asked Toby. "Jimbo pulls it out, we all go home."
"Yeah, without Callista ever having become Deya," Claire told him pointedly.
"Or Aaarrrgghh getting out from Gunmar's control and becoming friends with Blinky," Jim added.
"Or Arthur having decided to take a stand together with the trolls," put in Douxie. He shook his head. "No. We need to stay here until all those things are seen through."
Jim's hand fell away.
"Well," said Krel, "you are the ones who have been here before. I, for one, will follow your lead."
Douxie sighed. "Every time we follow my ideas, we just end up deeper in a disaster," he muttered.
Okay, Mary decided. I can deal with historical rankness if all the guys are as hot as him. She snuck another sideways look at Sir Lancelot.
Just enough cute to make him worth her while, and definitely enough manly presence to make up for looking like he was Steve's big brother or something.
She split from the cluster walking by his horse and made for Douxie. "Quick question," she hissed, tugging at his sleeve. Douxie looked at her. "Sir Lancelot - is he single?"
Douxie stared at her for an instant, then face-palmed.
Mary bristled at the implied insult.
"I need a lot more drink to deal with this," Douxie muttered into his hand.
"Mary!" Claire hissed. She jerked her head at Lancelot. "He's been dead and buried for nine hundred years!"
"So?" Mary shrugged. "If I have to deal with being stuck in the dark ages, with no working phone and no working potties," because she had not missed the smell, going through town, "then I want some compensation. And he's hot."
Douxie had recovered. "So far as I know, Sir Lancelot is indeed single," he told Mary. "But, Mary - he was always known as the queen's man."
Mary made a circle of her hand, indicating gimme more info.
Douxie sighed. "Queen Guinevere is dead. Lancelot has never shown interest in any woman since - or any man, either," he added. "You're free to try your luck, Mary, but be warned that there's a long line of competition ahead of you." He glanced over at Steve and Eli, still by the knight's stirrups. "Both from this time, and our own."
"Girl, you serious?" asked Darci, who had followed her.
"Hey, you gonna date a white boy and say I can't?" Mary shot at her.
Darci held her hands up. "I'm just saying, there's no future in setting your cap at a dead guy."
"I don't want a future with him," Mary stressed. "I just want to let off some stress. Because all of this?" she said, indicating Camelot at large. "Is hella stressful."
"Hey." Claire's hand found Mary's shoulder. "If you want him, go for it, Mary. We just want to make sure you're not going to get your heart broken."
Darci grinned. "I'll put in a good word for you on the training field." She glanced up at Douxie. "If they even allow girls to train here?"
Douxie shrugged. "If you can get them to believe you're noble enough? No problem."
Darci nodded. "I'll ask Aja to put in a word for me."
"Good luck," said Jim.
The cart jostled to a halt. Lancelot dismounted and held out his hand to Aja. Ignoring him, she jumped down from the horse and made her way over to them. "All right," she said. "What is our plan?"
"Gunmar is threatening our borders," Arthur said, standing in the sunlight that streamed through the windows. Warm. Safe. But only for so long as the sun stayed high in the sky and it did not rain. So, not much safety at all. "Double the patrols," he ordered Galahad. Our people must be kept safe.
"As you command, my king," said Galahad, bowing low. The ancient knight, old but loyal, stumped off to fulfill his duty even as Sir Lancelot entered the throne room, guiding in a large array of strangers.
"Here are the trespassers, my lord," the knight said. Arthur's gaze swept over them. An assortment of older teenagers including Merlin's boy, an old man, a tall, muscular woman, a--
"A troll," growled Arthur, his eyes narrowing. "I thought I made it clear your kind are unwelcome, when I banished you all from the realm."
"Don't you mean 'betrayed'?" his sister demanded, sweeping into the room.
Merlin's apprentice put his hands on the shoulders of two of the teenagers, tightening his fingers as the pair visibly reacted to Arthur's witch sister. When they looked at him, he shook his head.
"You gave the woods to enchanted creatures like these," Morgana said dramatically, gesturing at the troll who had been forced to his knees. "You'd break that vow?"
Arthur snorted. "These beasts care not," he reminded his sister. "Especially not this spy of Gunmar's."
"Spy?" one of the foreigners, the dark-skinned boy, muttered.
Another, the short redhead, snorted. "Of Gunmar's?" he asked incredulously.
"Jim is not Gunmar's," said yet a third, the blonde girl, stepping forward. Her eyes slid sideways to the shackled troll, then back to Arthur. "Nor is he yours. He is mine."
"And you would be?" Arthur asked mildly.
She raised her head proudly. "I am Princess Aja, of Akiridionfiev, and you are restraining a member of my entourage. One might question your hospitality."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "A princess? Traveling with such a... motley entourage?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Do you question my breeding, or my friends?"
"Oh, come now, Arthur," Morgana chided. "It's clear by her carriage alone that she speaks the truth. And she clearly has a wider worldview to share with us."
"Do not try my patience, Morgana," he warned her. "In any case," he told the foreign princess, "even visitors must obey the laws of the realm. And for a troll to leave the woods... the penalty is death."
In one smooth move, the blonde princess drew, out of nowhere, a glowing blue blade. She stepped between Arthur and the troll.
"Magic!" Lancelot barked, his hand going to the hilt of his sheathed sword.
The princess scoffed at him. "Your king has his own magic blade and you have problems with mine?"
"I hate hypocrites," one of the princess' party muttered.
"Me too," said another.
"Oh, this is getting way tense," whimpered a third.
"Steve, chill."
"Aja." The troll touched her on the shoulder. The princess glanced at him. The troll smiled. "It's fine," he said, and walked past her, toward where Arthur stood in the sunlight. The troll stopped just shy of that line of demarcation. He looked at Arthur for a long moment, then reached out into the blessed sunlight, God's safety for his faithful and chosen.
It did nothing to him.
The troll rotated his shackled wrists one way then the other. Unharmed. A pin could have been heard dropping on the floor of the throne room. Then he looked up, blue eyes meeting Arthur's own.
And he broke free of the shackles. Bits of solid iron rained down on the floor.
Arthur flinched.
"I'll see myself to the dungeons," the troll said levelly. He turned on his heels and walked away.
Some of his party gaped as he left, heading, indeed, toward the dungeons. "Holy shit, did you see the cojones on Lake?" the blond boy demanded.
The short dark-haired girl smirked. "Oh yes," she purred.
The redhead gaped at her. As did the two other girls.
Merlin's boy just smacked his palm to his face and shook his head.
"Well," said Morgana, "this little state visit does seem like it will be most interesting, Brother."
Douxie, Claire concluded, would be useless at trying to wrangle anything in Arthur's court. She needed to take care of things herself.
She grabbed Mary's hand, the latter still spluttering and shocked from the implication that Claire had gone all the way with Jim, and dragged her after herself, beelining for Morgana, who was retreating from the room while Varvatos and Zadra were settling arrangements with Arthur for the lodging and training of his "guests."
"Princess Morgana!" Claire called.
The woman stopped. Then turned, a pleasant court smile plastered upon his face. "Please. Arthur may be my brother, but I am a mere Lady."
Claire stopped in front of her. She glanced around, to make sure no one else was in range, then lowered her voice. "And you're a shadowmancer."
Morgana's expression went painfully blank. Her hands raised.
"And so am I!" Claire said hastily. She raised her own hand, hidden between them, and let shadows wreath it briefly before banishing them again. "And Mary has some magic too, but she's having problems shaping it. Please, will you allow us to study with you?"
Now it was surprise crossing Morgana's face, then understanding and compassion. She glanced back at the throne room. Back at her brother. "If your princess would be pleased to release you into my service, I would happily take both of you as my handmaidens." Her own voice lowered. "It is as much safety as I can offer you, in Arthur's kingdom."
"Handmaidens?" Mary murmured, but Claire hushed her.
"We accept," Claire said. "There won't be any problems with Aja," she promised.
"Would you rather not study with Merlin?" Morgana asked carefully. It had the air of a delicate question. "He is a greater wizard than I, and far more knowledgeable."
Claire had to laugh. "Definitely not," she said.
Now a genuine smile blossomed on Morgana's face. "As you say. Now, come along, handmaidens." She turned to go.
Claire glanced back at the throne room, and caught Douxie's eye. He smiled at her and gave her a double thumbs-up.
Okay. Okay. It was all being settled. And for all of Douxie's sudden nerves about being back in Camelot and trying not to mess up the timeline yet again, he had to admit that so far things were going well. The Akiridions were being accepted as royal guests, with Varvatos their advisor and Zadra their bodyguard.
Zadra. Douxie wanted to have words with her about screwing up delicate magical procedures and in the process injuring his brother and king--
He breathed, and set that desire aside for later.
Steve, Eli, and Darci were being offered a chance to study warfare with the knights of Camelot, which was all according to plan. "And me too!" Toby put in, offering his hand to Lancelot, who took it, looking unsure of what the gesture was meant to mean. Toby, ignoring that unease, shook Lancelot's hand firmly. "Duke Toby, of the house of Domzalski, at your service."
Lancelot's face cleared. "My lord," he said, offering a slighter bow than the one he gave to Arthur.
Claire had arranged for herself and Mary to become attached to Morgana. And Jim was making his way to Deya in the dungeon.
"Boy," said Arthur, glowering at Douxie. "Shouldn't you be with Merlin?"
"Ah, yes, your Majesty," Douxie said, bowing. He hated bowing. Only one king was worth his bow, and it wasn't the one in front of him. But he also rather liked keeping his head attached and not messing up the timeline, so he had to play the part.
"Then get you gone," said the king.
"Yes, your Majesty," Douxie repeated, then bowed himself out of the room, casting hasty glances at his friends. He had to trust that they would do their parts.
Micromanaging did no one any good.
Besides, he had a younger self to find.
Jim walked himself into the cell and allowed the nervous guards to lock the door behind him.
I've got to stop getting put in cages, he thought, sitting down against the back wall. His fingers drifted, as if by habit, to the crystal sticking out of his chest. He forced them away. If Douxie was right, which the wizard had admitted before was as good as a coin toss, accidentally knocking the shard out of Jim's chest might send them all rocketing back to the present.
A present which, if they didn't manage to keep things on track here in Camelot, might be very different than the one they'd left.
Jim sighed and let his head thunk back against the wall of the cell.
"So," said a voice from the cell opposite his, "what're you in for?"
Looking up, Jim had to suppress a smile. Deya. "Oh, you know." He shrugged. "Being a troll where I'm not supposed to."
"Same. Arthur has a sick sense of humor. Steals my homelands, then says I'm trespassing there. Now trolls are forbidden, along with anything else that's not a fleshbag."
He'd forgotten how bitter she'd been in the beginning. Not that it was in any way unwarranted. Jim tried to remember how the next part of the conversation had gone, but failed. "They're not all that bad," he defended.
Deya-- no, she was Callista right now, snorted in derision. "Doesn't matter if some of them aren't that bad, as long as the one in charge is."
"Fair enough," Jim said. The same was true of trolls, after all. It didn't matter if some of the Gumm-Gumms were salvageable, like Aaarrrgghh, as long as Gunmar was the one in control of them. Bad humans and bad trolls were all alike, ruining the world for everyone who just wanted to bump along. "I'm Jim, by the way."
She snorted. "Callista," the troll introduced herself. She gestured at the rest of the dungeon, at all the captured and imprisoned magical creatures. "Welcome to the rest of your life."
Jim nodded, trying not to give anything away, and settled in to wait for a jailbreak.