"The Time Travelers in King Tannen's Court"

Synopsis: Nearly a week after the last (for now....) Back to the Future movie leaves off, Doc Brown returns to 1985 and pays an urgent visit to Marty McFly. It seems while staying in the Middle Ages, Clara was taken prisoner by the king of the villiage and Doc needs Marty's help to smuggle her out. Unfortunately, something goes wrong in the escape attempt and Marty is taken captive, too. However, King Midas Tannen decides to let him go AND free Clara -- on the condition that Marty "Robin Hood" McFly competes against him in a tournament two days away. If Tannen wins, he will marry Clara. But if Marty beats him, she will be able to return to her family. Marty agrees, as it is the only way for him to be freed, returning to Doc's place with the news. Doc, along with help from his sons Jules and Verne, begin a rigorous training with Marty to skill him in the arts of jousting, sword play, and archery. The day of the tournament dawns and it is a close game--but with some luck (and a little help from technology!), Marty is able to defeat the King. King Tannen keeps up his end of the bargan and returns Clara to her family, even throwing a party in "Robin Hood's" honor to show there are no hard feelings. Unfortunately, King Tannen has a few ulterior motives up his sleeve....

Length: Approximately 52,000 words.

Written: August 1992 - May 1993; July 1993 - May 1994

Revised: July 1996 - January 1997; April 1999 - June 1999

What's New in '99: This story took a lot of time to revise, a pattern that may or may not continue with the others, because I was rewriting about every sentence in the entire story. Every chapter has been rewritten in essance, even a couple new ones added, with a lot of new dialogue, new situations cropping up, and some clarifications on certain aspects of character and events. The basic plot remained the same, however. The story also gained about 25,000 words, bumping it up to novel classification. Overall, I'm pleased with this new verision of my first story and I hope you people out there enjoy it, too. Drop me a line if you want to and let me know.

Author's Notes: Originally, this story was two different ones. My very first BTTF story I wrote took place not in the Middle Ages, but during the Civil War. Originally, Doc went to Marty when Clara was captured by a Tannen and held as a POW. So Marty was forced to go undercover and try to get her back. Meanwhile, he accidentally altered his own history and had to put that back together. My second BTTF story did take place in the Middle Ages, and in that story the Brown family was stuck there when the time machine malfunctioned, so Marty went back there to rescue them. While he was there, he accidentally skewed history (again) and was forced to fight in a tournament to put it back. I liked certain aspects of both stories, but was not satisfied with them as they were. Especially with the first one, which I had written while in the 8th grade and at a time when I had not mastered all knowledge of BTTF. I felt that by blending certain aspects of each story I could come out with a better plot, story, and stronger writing. So with some cutting, pasting, and a whole lotta brand new writing, this was the result. Basically, it's like an entirely new story. And I would rather open up my series of stories with this one then with the one I originally used.

CHAPTERS 1 - 6 CHAPTERS 7 - 13