The Knightettes of the Septagonal Table

Chapter One

Once upon a time there were a group of five girls who were really bored. Now this wasn’t anything new to them. Boredom was usually present at some point in their daily lives. In fact boredom, and hyperness with a dash of too many confections, had spawned their random “club”. You see, the previous summer two of them had seen the movie King Arthur. As usual, they had left the theater bouncing with joy and bubbling with ideas. They decided to make their own group of knights, rather female ones, and they stole the names of the gorgeous guys in the movie.

So after much argument, the two movie-goers had decided upon names. Julia, the really obsessive one who tended to drool over older actors, claimed Lancelota. Anna, the slightly saner sporty girl, had ended up with Arthura. Since both agreed Lancelot was hotter, Julia became the head “knight.” After arriving home and planting themselves on the computers, they chatted about who the rest of the “knights” would be. After a few days worth of discussion, they had it.

Their friend Alyssa, the stylish and talkative one of the group, was Galahada. Random and wild Caitlin was Tristana. Jolie, the smartest one who thought too much, was Gawaina. Two girls from Anna’s school, Sam and Megan, were Borsa and Dagoneta. Overall, it was quite an odd bunch. The name of their group was the Knightettes of the Septagonal Table. They often joked about being careful of the pointed edges, especially while passing the mashed potatoes.

So now everyone except Megan and Samantha (who lived too far away) were sitting in Julia’s basement, either sprawled out on a bean bag chair or lying on one of the couches, being bored. Sleeping bags littered the floor. Jolie decided to break the silence, “Why don’t we watch a movie?” There were nods of agreement, so Julia stood on the arm of the smaller couch and opened the cabinet with the DVD’s. She pulled out her favorites that were below the R rating, which cancelled out quite a few, and held them up in the air.

“I got Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Prisoner of Azkaban, Hidalgo, Van Helsing, and Secret Window. Pick one.”

After a bit of a scuffle only Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and King Arthur were left. Since it was a sleepover and they had all the time in the world, they decided to watch all of the movies. More than five hours, three bags of popcorn, and ten cans of soda later, they all sat happily watching the opening credits for King Arthur. It was nine o’clock at night and there wasn’t a single person who felt tired. Only Julia and Anna had seen the movie so everyone was silently staring at the screen. When Ioan Gruffudd’s voiceover echoed on the surround-sound Julia squealed. This was resulted in several shushes and pillows to the head.

By 300 AD, the Roman Empire extended from Arabia to Britain. But they wanted more. More land. More people's loyalty and subservient to Rome. But no people so important as the powerful Sarmatians to the east. In exchange, these warriors were incorporated into the Roman military. Better had they died that day.

A collective “oo-ing” and “aw-ing” rose amongst the girls when they saw the spectacular scenery flying by as a young boy rode past on his dark horse. Moments later, Julia began to sniffle as young Lancelot’s father told him that fallen knights return as great horses. Caitlin chucked the tissue box at her and Anna told her to stop foreshadowing and giving away the movie. In return, Jolie smacked her with a pillow and they were quiet once more.

This silence was broken only a few minutes later as it showed the grown Sarmatian knights on top of a hill. Julia shrieked with joy and attempted to hug the screen when Lancelot, Tristan, or Dagonet were visible. Anna laughed at her friend, and the others yelled at her to stop blocking the view. Alyssa forced Julia to press the pause button so she could see which knight she was supposed to be. Julia pointed and named each knight, happily giving a brief summary of what they were like and which weapons they used.

Jolie had grumbled, “Ew! My person looks like a hippy.” This received a chorus of laughter and a few nods. Alyssa said her person was the cutest one, and kind of looked like Orlando Bloom. When Caitlin saw her character she shouted, “MUFFINS!”

“Ummm…No,” answered Julia. “He is hot, muffins are not.” Before she could giggle and say that she had rhymed, a battalion of pillows were thrown at her. “OK! OK! I surrender! Now let’s continue and I promise to shut up,” she said with her fingers crossed behind her back. Then she picked up the green remote and pushed the play button. It didn’t work, so she pushed it again, but the picture of the row of knights refused to budge. Grumbling she pressed the button over and over, but to no avail.

“Come on Jul, un-pause the movie,” Alyssa demanded.

“It’s not working,” Julia said angrily. “Stupid fucking remote!” She chucked the remote at Jolie in frustration. Jolie ducked and it crashed into the wall, batteries flying out of it. “Whoops.”

“Great job idiot,” Anna chastised her.

“I can fix this, don’t worry.” Julia reached over for the remote and batteries, but the moment her fingers came within an inch of them a bright blue spark lit up the dark room. Screaming they jumped backwards and looked at the origin of the flash: the television. It had shut off immediately, and only moments later turned back on by itself. The picture of the grassy hill and clear sky was back, but strangely the knights were missing from it.

Before any more obscenities came from Julia, there was a loud THUD coming from upstairs. The knightettes panicked. It couldn’t have been one of the two cats; they weren’t nearly heavy enough. It was not Julia’s twin brother because he was at a friend’s house for the night. And her parents were away at some dinner party. There frenzied thoughts could only lead to one thing: A burglar was inside the house.