Author Note: Well here it is then...there's just one chapter left after this, because I have come to a decision. I want Dante's story to run right through Arthur's whole life - I want her to be there for every major event that he goes through, but to do that means that this one story would go on forever. So, by splitting it into two, and writing the rest of the story in at least one sequel, if not two, then it gives me a chance to break the story up a bit etc. Fear not, for I have already started on part 2, and it will be ready to go not long after this one has finished, but I thought I should give you all warning that after this chapter and the next one, this particular story will no longer be continuing.

Part two will be called Hearts of Courage, so look out for that, as it will be coming very soon :)

In the meantime enjoy these last two chapters :)

...

The battle had been raging for what felt like an eternity now, but still the combined forces of Arthur's army fought bravely on, despite their fatigue. Men from the various kingdoms worked together to bring down the Saxons - united in one common goal, just as their respective kings were.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind, however, that Arthur was their true leader. He was shouting out orders left, right and centre, and men were scrambling to obey him in earnest. Even Bayard, Mark and Odin were happy to take orders. Lot was just happy to clear off into his own part of the field and do what he wanted - and in all honesty, Arthur was happy for him to do that, because it kept him from giving Arthur any grief.

The Round Table Knights were the fiercest of all the warriors, without doubt, as Gwaine proved when he powered into the Saxon horde, guiding Gringolet in a spin as the stallion kicked at the soldiers and sliced at them with his razor hooves.

Percival looked over at the damage his friend's horse was doing and laughed loudly.

"Which is the knight and which is the dumb beast?" he yelled across the battlefield. Gwaine grinned in response, but disaster quickly struck as a Saxon crossbowman let off a lucky shot that hit Gwaine squarely in the side and knocked him off his horse.

Percival had moved away by then, and did not see. As Gwaine fell, everything slowed around him.

He hit the ground hard , in slow motion, and lay stunned for a moment, the arrow protruding from his side. He could see that several of the other Camelot knights had already taken care of the Saxon archer and, with great effort, stood up and staggered back over to Gringolet.

Taking a deep breath, he reached down and broke off the arrow, as much as he could. The point was still embedded in his side and would need to be removed by Gaius later, but at least now it could not be knocked or cause any more damage.

As the arrow snapped between his fingers, a white hot bolt of pain shot through him and he grimaced, fighting to continue breathing. Gringolet, sensing that his master was in trouble, stood very still amongst the chaos as Gwaine struggled back into the saddle, whimpering involuntarily in agony. His horse was not the only one to come to his aid, however.

As he remounted, a group of Lord Bayard's blue clad knights gathered around, standing in a circle and facing outwards, swords and shields raised to protect him as he took a moment to conquer his pain.

...

Arthur, meanwhile, had spotted Cor, son of Cordin, whom he'd met with earlier to try and negotiate a surrender - but to no avail. Cor was having none of it and demanded the complete surrender of Arthur and the other Kings, to which Arthur obviously refused. The negotiations had deteriorated rapidly and become rather aggressive, at which point, the two respective armies had also come together, and battle had well and truly raged.

Now Arthur headed across the battlefield, eager to introduce the invader to Excalibur's wrath. Passing Gwaine, he waved an arm and shouted, "Come with me!"

And that was when he noticed that Gwaine was swaying uncertainly in the saddle, a dark mass of blood on his side. The Knights surrounding him were fending off the Saxon swordsmen who were even then moving in for the kill like sharks who had detected the scent of blood.

But there were too many Saxons and too few Knights. Arthur forgot about Cor, the Saxon leader and wheeled his own horse around, crashing into the Saxons with hurricane force, knocking most of them flat. Rearing and kicking savagely, Arthur's horse drove them away from Gwaine and Gringolet. Bayard's Knights followed the retreating Saxons, finishing them off with their swords and shields.

This allowed Arthur to ride up alongside Gwaine. "Are you alright? Can you continue?"

Gwaine smiled grimly, holding his side, and nodded. "I was just about to take care of all those barbarians when you came barging in..."

"Sorry," Arthur replied, knowing then that Gwaine would be alright. As long as Gwaine had his wit and his sarcasm, he was just fine. It was when he went quiet that you had to worry. "I just didn't want you to have them all to yourself."

...

A few yards away, Leon and Tristan galloped through the mass of Odin and Mithian's respective warriors, eliciting cheers from their comrades. Leon spotted Arthur and Gwaine, called to Tristan, and both knights pulled to a stop beside their King and fellow Round Table Knight, temporarily out of the fray as the main bulk of the fighting moved to the west of the field.

Seeing that Gwaine was wounded, Leon shot Arthur a troubled look.

"We were just taking a short rest," Arthur informed him, forcing his tone to remain light and casual.

"I have always maintained, Sire, that you lot are all too lazy to be knights," Tristan said with a broad grin, momentarily taking over Gwaine's role as joker of the pack. "Whereas I, on the other hand, am ready to finish this now and go home to a right Royal feast. "

Gwaine smiled bravely, pretending that he wasn't in pain, hoping that the others wouldn't notice how badly he was hurt. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Leon pointed. "Percival, by the looks of things."

They all turned to watch Percival come galloping up, breathing heavily. He was covered in blood, but seemed to be fine. Arthur realized, with relief - and pride - that it was Saxon blood that stained the huge giant of a knight from head to toe. As Percival rode up beside them, he noticed Gwaine's side. He looked at Arthur and the others, but said nothing. Then he studied Gwaine closely.

Gwaine returned the look with no expression but determination.

"What will Dante say?" Percival asked at last.

Gwaine shrugged, gritted his teeth against the pain, then took a deep breath and said, "She'll probably complain about missing all the action."

"Probably," Percival nodded with a slight laugh.

"Let's finish this and go home," Arthur said firmly, turning his horse to face the main force of the Saxons. The Knights formed a tight line on either side of him, placing Arthur at its centre. Then they looked to him and waited.

He looked to each man in turn, admiring their courage and feeling truly humbled to have such good, loyal friends. Then he raised Excalibur, pointed it towards their assembled enemy and began to ride hard.

The Knights roared out a great war cry as they thundered across the field, and soon other mounted riders had joined their lines, adding their swords and their voices to the charge, whilst those on foot cleared the way.

...

Hours later, the survivors marched slowly and painfully back into Camelot, bloodied, exhausted, but victorious none-the-less.

Arthur's final courageous charge had turned the tide well and truly in their favour, and the Saxons had realised their inevitable defeat. Cor, son of Cordin pulled his men back and retreated from the Kingdom to one of his much stronger holdings to the South, conceding to Arthur and his men this time, but promising revenge in the form of reinforcements from overseas.

Arthur was not worried - for the moment at least - because Camelot was safe again. Now he and the other Kings could focus on a more sound strategy to drive the Saxons from these lands once and for all.

The returning victors were greeted with cheers from those who had remained behind - the women, the elderly, the weak and the children. As Dante had predicted, Gwen had fortified the Citadel's defences in her husband's absence and taken as many citizens inside the safety of the walls as physically possible.

Now that news of victory had filtered through to them, the citizens were slowly emerging once more.

Merlin was waiting beside Gwen, Gaius, Annis and Mithian as Arthur, the Camelot Knights and the four kings rode into the courtyard. Seeing the many wounded men who accompanied him, Gaius immediately began to usher people into the Great Hall. He'd been expecting a heavy number of casualties, and had prepared the room to become a makeshift hospital, as was the usual custom during times of battle and warfare.

Gwaine was helped from the saddle by Percival, and led inside, whilst Mithian and Annis helped to lead the other wounded casualties inside also. Merlin and Gwen ran to Arthur, who looked weary and fatigued, but otherwise unhurt.

"Where's Dante?" He asked, noticing that she was missing from the gathered crowd who'd greeted their return.

"Ah...long story," Merlin muttered, taking the armour as Arthur pulled it off there and then, in the courtyard, breathing a huge sigh of relief as he did so. Hearing Merlin's falter, however, he paused and glared at his manservant suspiciously.

"Merlin. Where is Dante?"

"She's gathering reinforcements," Merlin replied, forcing his tone to remain casual. He even managed a slight shrug under the weight of the armour that had been dumped in his arms.

"Gathering what?" This hadn't been the reply Arthur had been expecting.

"She's gone to the druids," Gwen supplied helpfully as she extended a supportive arm towards her husband. "She knows you're against magic, but given the circumstances, I think it's safe to say you need all the help you can get."

Arthur wanted to protest - he really did - but now was not the time, and he knew that Gwen spoke the truth. If magic could help them spare innocent lives then, perhaps, it was time to let it back into his kingdom. Still, he wouldn't let Dante get away with such an act so easily. He'd make her work for it. Because after all, he was supposed to be dead set against magic in any form, and she'd deliberately defied his order to return to Camelot.

Oh yes, he'd make her regret defying him...at least for a little while.

He sighed as finally he allowed Merlin and Gwen to gently guide him inside, away from the prying eyes of his men.

"These Saxons are unlike anything we've ever fought before," he admitted, once they were alone together in a deserted corridor.

"They fight without fear," Merlin agreed, remembering back to the ambush that he and Dante had barely survived. Arthur looked at him, surprised.

"You weren't at the battle."

"No. But Dante and I were ambushed on our way back here," Merlin replied, feeling bad for deceiving Arthur. But then, it wasn't exactly a lie. Morgana's hut WAS on the way back to Camelot...sort of.

"You were ambushed?!" Arthur repeated incredulously. "Are you hurt? What about Dante? How did you escape?!"

"You underestimate our abilities," Merlin replied, sounding wounded. "We not only defeated them, but Dante even took one of them as her prisoner. He's down in the cells right now."

Arthur laughed incredulously. "I want to seriously believe that you are joking with me, Merlin. And yet I bloody well know you're not. Is there nothing you won't do, just to prove me wrong about you?"

"You'd be surprised," Merlin smiled wryly. Then he shrugged. "Let's face it though, I'm no Arthur."

"No, you're not," Arthur agreed, though not in an unkind way.

Just then, they were interrupted by Mithian striding towards them, beaming proudly. "You did it, Arthur. I've heard all about your heroic charge, like something from a fairytale. Songs will be sung of this day, of that I'm sure. And your name will become a legend. Everyone will know the brave deeds of Arthur and his knights."

"I wouldn't go that far," Arthur shrugged, attempting modesty, even though he flushed a deep crimson. Gwen grinned and patted his arm, whilst Merlin merely rolled his eyes. Arthur already had a huge ego as it was. He didn't need anything to inflate it even more.

"Yes well, I do have to admit," Mithian continued conversationally as she fell into step beside them, walking down the corridor together. "Without the combined forces of all our kingdoms, we would not have won this victory."

"Victory?" Arthur suddenly asked with great scepticism, stopping short and causing Gwen to stagger slightly as he tugged accidentally on her arm. "Victory? Mithian, there was no victory today."

"What do you mean?" she asked uncertainly.

"This is just the beginning." His words hung in the air about them, thick with emotion and concern - as dire a prediction as anyone in Camelot had ever heard uttered. And then he said it, and the truth of the matter hit them all so hard that it literally knocked the wind out of them.

"The Saxon Wars have only just begun."