This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction! Please R&R :) x Also I own nothing. Everything belongs to the BBC apart from the story.

Gwen, a female warrior, the first of her kind, had to fight hard to get where she was. Not only physically, but mentally and legally as well. A stubborn, strong and selfless girl, Arthur was immediately attracted to her and was not surprised to find so were half of his knights. It was one of the main reasons he argued so passionately for her not to be allowed to fight. It was not a good idea to distract the men, especially in such troublesome times. His other problem was that she did not even look like she could pick up a sword, let alone use it. How could such a small, fragile looking thing really be helpful in battle? If the men weren't ogling her, they would be trying to protect her. It was a lose-lose situation. But she would prove him wrong and Arthur would end up becoming her biggest supporter and greatest friend.

Gwen arrived in Camelot on horseback, one slightly wet morning with her life in a bag and a couple of coins in her pocket. She was here to make history, and nothing would stop her achieving her aim. Nothing. Without a second thought she went straight to the castle to demand what she knew was rightfully hers. Getting past the guards was easy, a flattering comment and smile was all you need. Leaving her horse in the stable, Gwen smarten herself up and walked into the throne room where Uther Pendragon sat.

"Yes, what is it?" Heart racing, Gwen took a deep breath and began.

"Your highness, my name is Gwen Sparks, and I am here to claim the title that is rightly mine to have."

"Sparks...As in Thomas Sparks?" Uther looked concerned.

"Yes, sire, I am his daughter", Gwen replied, desperately hoping her voice would not shake with nerves.

"Well, what do you want?" Uther's eyes narrowed.

"In honour of his service to you, you swore an oath that his oldest child would be allowed to join the knights of Camelot, regardless of their class."

Uther laughed, "Yes I remember that, but girl you cannot join the knights, you are a woman."

"Your oath did not specify my father's child had to be male" Gwen responded as politely as she could.

Uther rising to his feet began to shout, "This is ridiculous! I will not allow it!"

Gwen was now feeling more confident, "Your highness, I am afraid you have no choice. The oath you swore with my father was blood binding, as I am sure you remember"

Uther's face went grey and he sat back down in his throne. "But I simply cannot allow you to become a knight, it is against the law!"

"Sire, I believe if you check your laws, the only limitations to becoming a knight is class and surviving the training."

Uther turns to the court chief legislator, "Is this right?"

"Well..." he stutters, "I do believe what the young lady says is true, and if you swore a blood oath with her father, I don't think you have a choice sire but to let her participate in the training."

Uther hesitates, then looks up and smirks at Gwen, "Very well, girl you are to join the knights in their training but know this, you will not pass it. You'll be lucky if you even last the first day."

"Thank you your highness" and with that Gwen bowed and left the castle.

Stopping by the stables, Gwen leant against the wall, slid down and sat on the hay hugging her knees. She had done it. She allowed herself a moment to regain her composure and let the news sink in. She then stood up, brushed herself off and with a flick of her wrist, the stable door opened and her horse walked out to meet her. As she jumped up and onto her horse she gave the door a fleeting look and it closed.

Although Gwen had believed she was alone, there was in fact another person in that stable who watched the whole scene. Merlin, another magic caster, couldn't bare the thought of one of his kin leaving Camelot.

"WAIT!" he yelled.

Gwen turned round instantly on guard and gave Merlin a sharp look.

"Yes?"

"Are you new in town?" Merlin's eager face beamed up at her.

"I am"

"Do you need a place to stay?"

"Pardon?" Gwen asked confused.

"Do you need a place to stay?" Gwen became incredibly wary.

Merlin realised and said "Look I'll be honest with you", and he whispered something under his breath. Suddenly the hooves of Gwen's horse turned bright pink.

"Impressive" and just like that Gwen turned the hooves back to their original colour.

"Come and meet Gaius, he'll know what to do with you".

And with a big smile from Merlin that Gwen returned, she got off her horse, grabbed her bag and went back into the castle.

Gwen followed Merlin round to the physician's chambers at the back of the castle.

"Gaius!" Merlin yells while knocking loudly on the door and letting himself in. "Where are you? We've got company! Hello!"

Gaius looked up from his workbench and gave Gwen a quick glance, "Where did you pick up this one, no offence dear,"

Gwen was immediately insulted but after taking a minute she realised that she had been riding for several days, in all sorts of weather conditions and thought actually she must look quite a sight.

With that comment, Gwen apologised for turning up at Gaius's door looking like a drowned rat and launched into her story explaining that Merlin had picked up Gwen Sparks the first female knight to be. Clearly Gaius was taken back.

"Well", he replied giving her a wary look, "if you're going to be a knight you need more than just a sword. Merlin fetch Morgana and let's see what we can do." And off Merlin went.

"Why are you helping me?" Gwen asked hesitantly.

"Dear, Merlin is an extremely good judge of character plus you really do need some help if you're going to become a knight." Gaius came over to Gwen and patted her hand. "I also knew your father. Tom was a very good man as well as being an incredibly talented wizard. If you even have half his skill you will be a very powerful witch indeed."

Gwen was shocked but kept quiet, still not willing to trust complete strangers. Although at least she could rely on them to keep their mouth shut about her extra abilities. Morgana arrived and instantly they clicked. Morgana was friendly but had an air about her that suggested loneliness and a mouth that didn't smile quite as easily as it should. Gwen liked that about her, it gave Morgana an attitude and experiences that they could bond over.

"Well I'll have to be honest, I've never made chainmail for a woman before so this could be interesting."

Morgana rose to the challenge and made Gwen armour that was light, loose and actually looked pretty good. Her symbol was a pretty mixture of pinks and purples in the design of a lily. If she was going to go into hostile territory since she was a woman, might as well look good doing so.

Gwen arrived for training bright and early the next morning. Clearly Arthur had not been expecting her seeing as his first action was to try and flirt with her.

"Sire, I am here to start my knight's training. "

Arthur laughed, "You're joking".

Gwen shook her head.

"This is ridiculous, my father would never allow this."

"Well he did"

"I won't allow it" and Arthur stormed off towards the castle. Gwen signed, what a great start to her first day.

Arthur eventually came back with a foul look on his face.

"Very well, you shall train with us but do not expect any special treatment or for me to take it easy on you."

"I won't sire."

"Your first job is to muck out the stables, sweep the yard and clean the guard's quarters".

"Yes sire", Gwen couldn't contain a small smile. Wow that's a cute smile, Arthur mentally shook himself.

"What funny Sparks?"

"Nothing sire".

Gwen's smile vanished, Arthur's heart ached a little. Gwen bowed and went to complete her tasks. She had been smiling because this part of training was to help the knights become humble through doing humiliating tasks, whereas Gwen had grown up doing these tasks so it was like second nature. Gwen had nearly finished before the day was up just sweeping the last of the dirt in the guards' quarters. This was when Arthur pounced. In a small closed environment fighting was hard but Gwen was also without the aid of a sword. Using the only thing she had, the broom, she fought back. Although not as strong as a man, Gwen was faster and quick thinking. As Arthur backed her into a corner, the tension in the room was electric. Looking into Arthur's eyes, Gwen knew she was not the only one who felt it. Regardless Gwen, pushed the broom hard against Arthur's sword, not only knocking him back but it cut the broom in two giving Gwen the advantage of dual wielding. Gwen fought bravely and got some very good hits on Arthur but eventually he managed to knock her on to the guard's bed. He jumped on to the bed and pinned Gwen underneath him, holding his sword across her throat. Both of them were panting hard. Arthur moved his sword.

"You fought well and bravely. You have progressed on to the next stage of training."

"Thank you sire…can I get up now please?"

Arthur looked flustered, "Sorry", he quickly got off her.

"Thank you sire. I will see you tomorrow."

Gwen bowed and as soon as she was out of sight of the guard's quarters, ran all the way back to Gaius's with a smile beaming across her face. The prince was very handsome but more importantly he was her boss and the prince of Camelot. Also far too arrogant to be taken seriously. Gwen vowed not to be caught in anymore compromising situations with the so-called Prince Charming. Arthur was thinking the same thing. The tension in the guard's quarters was unacceptable especially as it made him so slow. Not getting off her straight away was stupid and he should not have let her get to him like that. Pretty girls were a curse to men's concentration.

The next day they both kept their distance and Arthur only spoke to Gwen to criticise or command. Gwen only responded with "Yes sire", or "No sire". She was either stared at or completely ignored by the other knights. Neither approach bothered her, all that matter was beating the creeps in the battlefield and giving the ignorant ones something to respect. Eventually it came to Gwen's final task, defeat Arthur in battle. She had excelled throughout the training and had become like one of the lads but this would be the true test of her abilities. Gwen had to admit she was nervous. After her last encounter with Arthur, she really was not sure what was going to happen. She met Arthur in the castle. It was customary that the challenger would fight Arthur on the battlefield but this battle was sure to attract too many crowds so it had been decided the battle would take place inside the castle instead. Gwen was there and waited for Arthur to show. As Arthur arrived he commanded the guards to shut the doors behind him and not to let anyone in. Gwen and Arthur shared a look.

"Sparks, are you ready to face your last task and become a knight?"

"Yes sire".

"Then let's begin."

They started to circle each other, neither one wanting to make the first move. Eventually Arthur attacked and Gwen only just escaped. They fought hard and fast with a lot of glancing hits. Gwen finally won although technically she cheated. In her defence, she would use magic in a real fight so she believed it was her right to use a talent to aid her in this challenge. With a glance to the floor it became wet and Arthur slipped. That minor distraction in his attention was enough to give Gwen the edge. As he fell backwards, Gwen jumped on top of him and held her sword to his throat. Arthur looked up and smiled,

"Good use of role reversal. Congratulations, you're going to be a knight!"

Gwen's face broke into a huge smile and Arthur was blown away by how beautiful she looked. Overwhelmed by the happiness that spread across her face Arthur put his hand on the back of Gwen's head and brought her face down to his and kissed her. Gwen didn't hesitate and kissed him back.

A little while later, when both of them came up for air, they realised what a huge mistake they had made. Gwen quickly stood up and ran out, forgetting to bow or say "Thank you sire". Arthur looked up, watched her flee and then dropped his head so hard on the stone floor he almost gave himself concussion. Then he didn't know what hurt more his head or his heart.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this and continue to read through the next chapters!