disclaimer: I do not own anything from King Arthur. What ever you don't recognize is mine along with Thea.

Enjoy

452 AD

Large assemblages of Sarmatian boys were taken from their homes. They would go on to be trained and assimilated into the Roman army. However on certain occasions when there were no boys or young men for the Roman officers to take, they were told to take a girl. Nevertheless that would only occur when there were no other alternatives. Even then, most of the girls never made it to the encampments or training grounds. They were killed, raped or beaten and left by their Roman commanders on the journey. If she was strong enough to fight for herself, then and only then, would she be permitted to train and fight with the boys.

In over 100 years this has not happened, it wasn't until midsummer when the Roman scouts came upon a small village near the woods. The Roman scouts had about 17 boys with them already but more were considered necessary to fill their quota. This village was mostly made up of elderly, woman and children. However there were two girls of about 14-15 years old. One tall and wiry, while the other considerably scrawny and very noticeably pregnant. Not even giving the pregnant girl a second glance he looked towards the wiry girl who stood with her head down. Looking her over the Commander could tell that she would be better off becoming a wife and birthing a whole litter of children, not war, but these were his orders. "There are no boys here!" the elder of the village roared as the officers approached them. "We have nothing of value!" The officers paid him no mind as they walked towards the girl. Her mother clutching on to her daughter's shoulders as the Romans informed her that "She is to come with us."

"Why? She is a girl, no use to Romans. She is no fighter, can barley hold herself up! Please, she is all I have." The officer didn't listen as he walked to the girl. "Get your things. We leave at once." He could see the fear in the girl's eyes as she finally looked up at him. They took the girl and her horse (the only one in the village besides an old donkey), rode back into formation with the rest of the boys and Roman officer. Their post was the southern half of Britain.

About an hour into the ride a tall boy with dark green eyes rode up to the girl. Looking at her before initiating a conversation. She was his age or perhaps a bit younger with hair as like the darkest night, he could see a splash of freckles from her temples down to a small portion on her cheeks. He couldn't see the color of her eyes for at the moment they we downcast and staring at the bracelet on her left forearm. "That's a beautiful bracelet." He said breaking the silence. Her head snapped up and he could finally see the color of her eyes. They were a deep brown but at some points when the light hit them just right they looked almost red, he had never seen such eyes before. She looked at him for a moment before speaking "Th-thank you. It was a gift from my brother." He held out his hand indicating that he wished to examine it closer. She placed her arm into his hand so he could see it closer. It was an intricate piece of leather that had been carved, burned and twisted to depict a horse among the knot work. "He is very skilled," he said amazed by its design, she smiled at the compliment. "Rowan was always creating things like this." Her smile faltered and she grew quite again, the boy noticed her use of the word "was" but didn't press the matter. He smiled again and held a hand out to her, "Dagonet" The girl looked up at him before grasping his wrist and he to hers; "Thea."

Over the next 10 years both of them grew in more ways than one. Thea's dark hair grew longer, developed reddish streaks from her many days in the sun, and now had a bit of a curl to it. She grew in height and now stood at 5'6", nowhere near as tall as her fellow knights but that was to be expected. Her figured had filled out; no longer was she a scrawny little girl who could barely hold herself up. Now she was a woman, curvy and toned from her training. Her freckles had all but disappeared, except for the few the decorated the bridge of her nose, and she acquired a few scars here and there from her battles and training. One graced the left side of her lips, it indented them but their fullness did not go unnoticed.

Dagonet had also changed; he had grown to be almost 6'6", he towered over everyone, including Thea. He filled out with muscle upon muscle, his hands grew rough from holding and fighting with swords and axes. His hair was shaved and he now bore a few scars on his face and numerous ones on his body from enemies that got to close. He looked hard and intimidating, although his eyes still had the softness about them that Thea saw the first day they met. One thing that grew stronger and stronger every day was their feelings for each other. They never told anyone or let them show for fear of being separated. Any free time they had was spent together and away from everyone else, so they could be alone.

When the time came for the knights to be paired up with their new commanding officers Thea was one of the last people to be placed. None of them would take her because of what she was. "I will not be stuck here Dagonet! I will not be stuck here to grow useless, I'm a Knight just like you!" she shouted at him, "I was taken from my home and trained along side all of you! And now the only reason I wasn't chosen was because I'm a woman. I can fight as well as any man here. Perhaps better!" Dagonet looked at Thea getting flustered, her sword was by her hip, her hair whipped around her face from the wind. They stood on the hill over looking the fort that had been their home for the last 10 years. "Thea, calm yourself. Becoming discouraged and angry is not going to help." He tried but knew it would not work. During their argument neither of them heard someone walking towards them until Thea drew her sword. Spinning around to catch her "attacker", her sword was met with another. The resonance of metal upon metal echoed through the valley.

Thea eyes grew wide as she saw that her opponent was wearing the garb of a roman officer. His sword was raised in defensive mode protecting him from the attack that would have ended his life (and if she had killed him then Thea's as well). Lowering her sword she quickly started to apologize when the man held his hand up stopping her. "I heard what you said." The man said, "is it true no one chose you?" She looked at him, "yes sir, it is."

"What is your name."

"Thea." He smiled; she had no idea what he had to smile about! He was probably like every other officer just going to ridicule her yet again.

"So you say you can fight like any man? I wish to see this." His face got serious, "You and I will fight. If I believe that you are as great a warrior as you say, then I will take you." He turned away from her and started to retreat down the hill towards the fort "And if not." He said stopping to turn around and look back at her, "you turn in your sword and leave for Rome. I'm sure you'll make some fat aristocrat a very fine wife." He smirked as he walked away.

Thea was stunned "how dare he," she yelled in her people's old language. Dagonet grabbed her shoulders forcing her to look at him. "Do you know who that was? That was my new commanding officer, Arthur Castus" Thea eyes widened, "Arthur? Rome's new protégé? " Dagonet nodded. She wasn't fearful of fighting Arthur, she was only fearful of what would happen when she defeated him.

Two days later:

Arthur had closed a section of the training grounds for their sparring session; both contenders were dressed in their armor though this was not to be a battle to the death. They were to disarm only. Thea had butterflies in her stomach, not from nerves but from the adrenaline she felt. If she could beat this Arthur then she would officially become a Knight. The sooner she became a knight the sooner she and Dagonet would be able to leave and have a life of their own, free from the Roman Empires grasps.

Walking into the training arena Arthur took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles. He waited for his opponent to ready herself. He looked to find fear in her eyes but found nothing but calmness. She wasn't tense and her expression was unreadable. If she was scared she wasn't about to show it, not in front of all the knights and certainly not in front any Romans. Dagonet watched from the sidelines with Bors, a fellow Sarmatian and one of his newly sworn brothers. He was more nervous than Aryael was, if she didn't prove herself to Arthur she wouldn't be a knight and they would be separated, and it could be for years.

Thea took her stance across the yard from Arthur, she was ready to go but Arthur held up his hand. "A new challenge." He smirked. "Let us do this without armor. Since this will only be a fight to disarm." She was shocked by this at first but the shock wore off as he started to remove the little armor he wore. She started to remove hers as well till she was in nothing but her tunic and vest. The air felt warm as it breezed over her shoulders and moved her hair round her face. She gripped her sword in front of her as Arthur moved closer. "You prove yourself to me now and you will join my knights. If not, go to Rome and make a wealthy man happy or go home back to Sarmatia. Women are good for nothing more." He said that with a smirk knowing it would set her off. She reacted quicker than he expected and he stumbled back as their swords collided sending a sound ringing in the air. She charged at him but he dodged and swung his sword towards her to which she blocked as it came flying en route for her back. Arthur's sword came back to hit her left shoulder but she ducked and allowed the dull blade to pass over her head. She swung her feet and catching Arthur off guard and knocking him to the ground. She promptly straddled him and had her sword to his neck. "Women are good for nothing else?" She asked breathing heavily. Two Romans grabbed her from behind and hauled her off the fallen Roman. She struggled against their hold. "No, release her!" Arthur called out. The two officers shoved her and she fell. He had gotten to his feet and walked over to when she was on the ground. "You fought well." Arthur held his hand out to Thea, offering to help her stand. "Will you fight with me and my knights?" Looking over at Dagonet, then back at Arthur she grasped her new commanders wrist as he held hers saying, "I will."